Bad_Dog

All I know is this flagging emails as spam isn't working. It's not slowly getting better, it's slowly getting worse.

I can understand some of you not wanting in-game email disabled. I, for one, would love it as an "option". As long as it is an optional setting, those of us who want to turn it off could and it wouldn't effect the rest.

That can't be a hard request to implement to the game. We have options for hiding from searches, tells, invites, and players, disabling xp, etc. This is just one more element that might make the quality of life better for a good portion of the play base and make life harder for the email spammers...

but that's only my opinion.

(edit for spelling)

I understand why our ignore lists are limited, with all the email spammers we are all marking/ignoring, everyones ignore list would quickly eat up server storage space if they were not. But this is also part of the problem.

If the devs were to implement a game wide, master spammer list, (which had no limit), that might help. When someone marks an email as spam it would mark it for everyone. The ignored party would not part of your own personal and limited ignore list.

That way our ignore lists are truly ignoring the morons in the game and marking an email as spam actually helps all of us.

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I would dearly like to see a "delete all email as spam" button. That would be more useful than removing emails and forcing spammers to find a more direct route to annoy and interrupt gaming.

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Like marking emails as spam works so well now.

I don't know about anyone else, but every time I delete an email as spam its un-ignoring a spammer on my global ignore list to make room for the new spammer. This doesn't accomplish anything.

Any possibilty we can have an option to disable receiving in-game email?

I was logged off for 7 days and came back to 56 spam emails. That is ridiculous and annoying. If we can't stop the spammers from spamming, then why not give us the ability to turn it off?

In over 5 years of playing CoX, I have received a grand total of 0 emails from legitimate players.

I see no need for email other than to allow spammers a way to advertise to me. I personally, want my email disabled.

Mender:
My rant wasn't directed at you, it was more the general chorus on the boards I kept reading "don't worry it goes away and things go back to normal" or "you're not looking hard enough for teams".

If anything, I think I agree with most things you stated other than two minor issues.

First, any team of 8 level 1's and 2s can muddle their way thru 2 mobs in a farming mission, even without all the vet temp powers some of us inherit. They will have gained 3-4 levels each. Exit, buy some training-Os, restart and ta-da piece of cake. That was my not-very-likely-but-still-possible scenario. I have personally seen a farm team with no one higher than 20 on the team fighting lvl 54 rikti. My point was that level is not really a factor any more.

The only other point of (minor) disagreement is that sooner or later we will hit an equilibrium point again. The level of farming is not always static. But there is a point that exists where the devs tolerate farming. I agree, sooner or later, the club will come back to hammer out the AE farming issues. All I am saying is I don't mind if people are farming once it goes back to a level prior to i14. I suspect the devs would be happy with that as well.

To me, it is a little bothersome that the devs are publicly pretending its not happening. I certainly hope its a priority to all the devs. Because this game can't afford to drive away players who repeatedly show up to team and can't solo thanks to all the nerfs we've endured over the years and a Create-Your-Own-Farm-Mission creator.

I am NOT in the opinion that farming in AE is only temporary and that things will go back to "normal" farming levels later. The facts and the history do not support this.

Firstly, we went from the tolerated farming system where:
1) someone had to have one of a few ideal missions at lvl 50,
2) for each person under level 45 you wanted to power level you have to have someone over level 46 to sidekick them

To the new and improved AE farming system:

1) Anyone level 1 or higher can make or find farming missions
2) You can do a level 54 Rikti farm mission with 8 level 1s on your team

I generally don't care if people farm or not. But, I am casting my ballot here in opposition to it as this has taken the majority of the dwindling available players out of the teaming pool and put a majority of them into the farming pool.

All I am saying is that anyone who says this is only a temporary thing is nuts. Power leveling has historically been worse every time it became easier to do so. If you give players the option of a 2-day lvl 50, most are too tempted not to. And others will just venture into it "just to get themselves through the boring levels".

A witch hunt for players with farming missions is a bad idea. Its not good for business to alienate players who were doing something legal in the game until a new ruling comes along. Afterall, the problem isn't the players who are motivated to get a 50. The problem is the mission creator is flawed and is allowing more people than ever to skip content in favor of quick levels.

So what is the fix? I suggest that the custom content we all are creating should adhere to the same rules as any other missions already in the game.

1) I, as a creator, should decide up front what the level range of the mission is and then the mission creator will only gives my story arc access to the appropriate level enemies/allies based on that range.

2) Custom enemy groups must adhere to certain rules. Like you have to have at least 1 minion, 1 lieutenant and 1 boss for starters.

And after I publish my arc...

3) You have to be in that level range to get that mission.

4) No player is auto boosted to the minimum level of the mission. Find someone to sidekick you or you do not recieve xp. It's completely absurd to have a full team of level 1's and 2's gaining massive xp for fighting a mission full of nothing but level 54 Rikti Communication Officer's.

If all that comes to pass then the players also need...

5) the ability to sort the missions into level ranges

My suggestions don't stop power leveling all it does is return the sanity back to the power leveling and make the mission creator more non-farming friendly. Anyway, this is all just my opinion. Take it for what its worth. :P

In my opinion the event is cool the way it is. Good job Devs!

I agree with others who pointed out that for some reason it brought out the moron in alot of players. I think the mobs being trained on the door clicker isn't a bad idea. I have had a few idiots come through click my door and dash, leaving me to deal with their mess when they dont get a treat.

If there was a shortage of doors, I might understand, but this is just inconsiderate to say the least. I usually try to find an out of the way place (away from the general population) to do the ToT thing. So it's exponentially more annoying since they go out of their way to ToT at exactly the same door where I am, when there are dozens all around that are unoccupied.

I dont know if this was already mentioned but, I'd like to see some more plain looking room styles added ---

Walls: concrete, marble, wallpaper, plain metal, etc
Floor: marble, carpet (maybe not as much a carpet texture, but a smooth carpet-like covering), etc
Ceiling: stucco, corporate ceiling tiles, etc

These are already in the game, just not in the base editor.

Then give us some smaller ceiling and floor trim options. IMO they are currently way, way, way, too big and I have to put wall details like vents over them to get them to go away. I might use them if they were smaller. This would make me very happy.

In general, some simple options can give flexability and creativity with what we already have. There are alot of style things that I like, but sometimes you don't want every bit of your walls and floors cluttered with designs. And with no plain styles, its hard to be creative and mix and match style elements to come up with something unique.

I like the idea too. If they have some opposition to reorganizing them, I wish they would at least alphabetize them like Serpine suggeted. That would be a very simple thing for them to do and would be very appreciated on my part.

I think I got it. I remember a Star Trek episode where there were two realities. The normal one and the one with the evil Enterprise crew. The episode where evil Spock was sporting a goatee.

So this is my theory based on all the clues we presently know:

We are all in the alternate timeline. Due to power fluctuations caused by a class 2 comet landing on and killing Dr. Aeon, we are transported to the real timeline.

Statesman is evil is this time line. We are all going to have "flashbacks" to the ED implemtation when we get another round of devastating nerfs.

It will feel like "Groundhogs Day" as we must repeat the Outbreak tutorial everytime we log in.

In the alternate reality Jay's Costume Request Thread is still there but its locked so you can't post... (because Jay is evil and there's nothing sexy about him). Jay's new costume "upgrades" for i11 are to replace all costumes with his three new ones: Male Citizen, Female Citizen and Huge Citizen.

Positron has combined all tasks forces into one and called it "The Positron Task Force". Its located in Steel Canyon and you have to be level 10-13 to get xp. You'll get a badge but only if you beat the dozen or so arch villains at the end and the giant monster which spawns in the Rikti War Zone. The monster is of course a 200 ft tall 5th Column soldier.

No one will be allowed to have more than 5 powers, unless you live in Columbia or your character name is Fnord. (Now we know why Recluse and Manticore bolted for Columbia).

.... then again..... maybe not....

Sounds like it got worked into the Council missions. I don't remember doing that mission in ages. I miss the 5th... sniff sniff...

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Please allow me to add to the weird speculation. Does anyone remember a story arc in the mid 30's hero side about a Council experiment to go back in time and change history? Anyone remember the Archon badguy at the ends name? I really think this is a parallel reality replacement. Kinda reminds me of the Age of Apocalypse series from back in the day. The council gut goes back in time messes with things and the fifth column ends up in charge of the rogue isles.

Master Gabriel

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I don't remember the Council story arc, but I remember the 5th Column one. The 5th Column storyarc was Ubelmann and he was trying to take our technology back to WW2 to change history, or produce an alternate reality where the outcome of WW2 is entirely different.

The last we heard of him is that he was imprisoned (presumably in the Zig) suffering from trauma brought on by time traveling. Ahem... Paragon Times Report anyone?

I vote its the 5th Column.

My vote is just to give me the ability to turn off the messages in the "chat" window. I am fine with it being in the "global" window, but I like my chat window to only display team, supergroup and pm messages.

I have been playing that way since CoH beta and I like it that way. If I want to know anything more than my immediate gameplay communication, I look up into the Global window and there's the rest of what is going on. This to me makes sense. The admin spams in my chat window are forced on me in a way that I cannot work around it. And /ignore Admin doesn't work, I tried it.

Hence my vote for giving me the ability to turn it off in the main chat window and I am good with everything else.

Anyway, my 2 cents worth...

Speaking as a person who has done this task force at least 50 times in two years I have some observations I can share.

This task force can be done in 2.5 hours but some elements must be in the right combination to pull this off. Generally it's a small team of either very experienced Synapse TF veterens or at a level far greater than 20 and exemped down to do it. Or both.

With that in mind, the best way to do this task force is with the bare minimum and with higher level people. The more 20 or higher players you have the easier this will be to pull off.

For example, I can take my level 50 scrapper into the task force with 3 level 15's and I can successfully complete the task force in about 3-4 hours with little or no assistance from the others. Give me a second damage dealer >20 and I can usually finish it in about 3 hours.

The trick is to keep the task force smaller. Smaller team = smaller mobs (and less bosses) = faster finish.

All that being said, you will find 2 times in the task force where you come to a problem:

1) Babbage. in my example a level 50 scrapper exemped to 20 with 3 level 15s can have a real problem with Babbage. The work around here is to invite other players in the area (Skyway) to assist. People are quick to come help and you still get your xp and badge for the defeat.

2) The Clock King. For a level 50 scrapper exemped to 20 this shouldn't be a life or death struggle if your build is relatively solid. But, it can be. The key here is being careful and respecting his power. No one, regardless of level, is beyond his ability to defeat you. He can take out a level 20(50) scrapper in 2 or 3 quick, well timed and successful hits. If your 4 players are actively contributing here, he should be reasonably easy to defeat.

I know it is hard to find a person 20> to do the tf when they know they wont be getting xp, but some people will. Look for those people first. If this isn't panning out, then build this TF team like you would a missions team. Don't take just anyone who wants to do it. If you weren't in a task force, would you take a team full of 15's into a mission full of level 20 villains? Of course not, that's a disaster, build your team accordingly. A little extra time up front can make the difference between finishing the tf with a couple levels or a washout with a boatload of debt.

Anyway, thats my 2 cents worth. Hope it helps.

I'd like to add that I have used Tornado and Lightning Storm in the Reactor during the respec tf. While it may be annoying to some teammates, (especially melee teammates who dont necessarily want villains scattered all over creation), but Tornado and Lightning do a pretty nice job of keeping villains from standing next to the reactor beating it down.

I have an Ice/Storm controller and it is pretty cool to throw out an Ice Slick and Storm Cloud to protect the reactor, then unleash a series of Tornados and Jack Frosts to entertain the villains. You can basically sit back and watch the fun.

Im not saying this solely justifies taking these powers but I feel they do have their moments of glory and the reactor is one of them. Very situational powers for sure, but I like them.

Anyway, just my opinion.