Barata

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So why punish the soloist or the married couple that wants to take their time clearing all the missions and reading all the text?


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What punishment? Why do people, as soon as they're told they have to meet a certain requirement for something, think they're being punished? If you want to run a task force or strike force, start a team. The very name of them ("task force" and "strike force") implies a team.

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TBH, Demon Farming/Family farming is one of my most favorite things to do, when I have nothin else to do.

Since I got tired of askin strangers to fill, I have all but stopped farming. I really just dont like to ask people to fill.

Since I have stopped farming, I also have not really been playing much at all.

When I farm more, I play more, I team more, I am happier in general
I'm so excited

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Not to be picky, but that doesn't make sense. You're saying you farm and imply you do it solo (by asking people to fill), but then say you team more when you farm more.

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When I Farm in this game I am playing it. Usually I will get bored eventually and join a team to break the monotony...

When I don't farm at all, I don't actually log in at all which means no teaming at all.

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Makes sense.

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Therein lies the issue of the solo mindset.

They don't care. They don't care if there's nothing in the game that can't be soloed. They -want- to solo it. They don't want teams so they don't want team oriented content. Appealing to the side that accept there's stuff in a game which encourages teaming is a waste of time. It's not their playstyle so why should they care?

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Why should they?

Why should they care when the average team's approach to this 'special' team content is "how quick can we speed through this TF for the merits?"

If Task Force storylines were more accessible to everyone, rather than solely to the team leader, and if more teams actually played them the way they were meant to be, there would be less calls for them to be made soloable.

I've teamed on regular missions which I could have solo'd, but felt like teaming with others. I've teamed for invasions (a lot - getting Heavies to spawn is definately 'team' content') Making TFs soloable would not kill teams. All it would do is open them up to those who either find it difficult to put teams together, or find the experience at some level less satisfying than it ought to be.

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My displeasure with making them soloable is NOT that it would kill teams, but that it would take the only special content in the game, and make it commonplace and bland. Like you said, they suffered enough with merits applied to them so that people are speed-running them as fast as they can, they don't need to get hit again by turning them into something like you'd get from any old contact in the game.

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Dude I have played every way there is to play this game... except EXPLOIT the AE...

Just play to have fun...

*looks down at all the AE exploiters*

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Maybe farming the AE is fun to some people? Everyone preaches "play to have fun!"... as long as it's the kind of fun everyone preaches. Otherwise it's "don't play at all!"

*looks down on the anti-farming bigots*

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She never used the word "farm" in her post and wasn't referring to it.

You're talking mini games within the game. Like you find within Pokemon or Final Fantasy. UO even has them. The chessboards and backgammon boards aren't just decoration, they work like everything else in the game.

I don't have any inherent problems with it. I don't even have any problems with "puzzle" games. Fulmens had a point, but it's not quite the same. The "puzzles" were always something in the way of the mission objective. That's different from the objective being the puzzle itself. Though I do agree that anything static will be posted on the internet within hours.

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TBH, Demon Farming/Family farming is one of my most favorite things to do, when I have nothin else to do.

Since I got tired of askin strangers to fill, I have all but stopped farming. I really just dont like to ask people to fill.

Since I have stopped farming, I also have not really been playing much at all.

When I farm more, I play more, I team more, I am happier in general
I'm so excited

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Not to be picky, but that doesn't make sense. You're saying you farm and imply you do it solo (by asking people to fill), but then say you team more when you farm more.

Out of all of the content in the game, the task forces and strike forces stand out as special because of the requirements of them. It's generally understood by most people that it takes some time and effort to put together the team, and there's generally dedication on the team to stick with it because of the extra work involved in getting the team together.

There's more commitment amongst the teammates to see it through.

Taking away those elements makes it not much different than any other radio mission or story arc and they'll get treated as such by the playerbase. The game should have special content with higher requirements just for teams. These missions are the only ones that fill that role. Remove those requirements and there will be nothing designed for teams any more.

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I just have to ask it, why? Just what the hell do you plan to do with that character after getting to 50 in such a short time and skipping over 90% of the game's content?

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^^^ This.

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I strongly agree with this sentiment.

There's not much inherent difference in the game throughout the various levels. Racing to 50 as a new player is .... stupid. If you enjoy the game now, there's no reason to race to 50. If you want 50 because you're not enjoying the game, you will almost certainly not like it any more once you hit 50. Just pay to have someone level you, say "I hit 50", and cancel your account. Even after paying someone to level you, you'll save money in the long run.

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You have two choices.

You can go to the AE building and politely ask everyone using it to go to another zone.

Or you can use Galaxy as your starter zone.


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This.

It's not the servers' fault if people decide they don't want to play the game anymore and hang out in Atlas' AE building instead.

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That is an awesome option. No more fill requests. I probably can get even level AVs without going Invincible from what it sounds like. That feature may be my favorite.

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If they let us solo TFs/Trials the smileys will go into overload!



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Let's not get crazy now!

Seriously, though, to the best of my knowledge we won't be changing minimum sizes of TF's/SF's. The minimum sizes stand as "warning labels" to newer players that these missions are more difficult/time consuming/whatever than other missions. It's a small, but important function.

EDIT: By the way, in the meeting where this feature was proposed I specifically mentioned that "Perfect Pain is going to love this change." Glad to see, at least on first glance, I was right!

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I'd like to add a voice in that I strongly want to keep the TF/SF size limitations the same as they are now. These are specific content that's designed for a team of people. I'm not talking about the fact that the content's difficulty was designed for a team, but that in the game world, the mission is of such importance it's only given to a team to ensure its success. I've played many MMORPGs, and I've seen that over time, development teams start to focus so much on the mechanics, they forget the genre they created, and that genre starts suffering. As much as I'd like to try to run some of these TFs solo, I don't want to see the size restrictions changed.

Truth be told, I hope that whatever changes they make to customize the difficulty of your missions is excluded from TFs, SFs, and Trials altogether. These are special missions and I think it will be a detriment if they can be changed making it so that if you join one, you have no idea what to expect.

I ran an AE mission with some people last night. It was one of those all-boss ones. I felt very "meh" about it. I like variety in the enemy groups, and even though there were different character models and powers, everything was of a similar difficulty. You had to work on each enemy just as much. I like it when you know some of the mobs will fall quicker, and some take a lot longer and more work. In spite of the fact that you're winning, it doesn't make you feel that powerful when everything takes a lot of work and time. It feels good when a minion runs up to you and you just go "oh no you don't!" and take them down in a second or two.

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One thing I can GUARANTEE power customization will NOT change is animation duration and power effects. The old Storm Kick is slower than absolutely everything in current Martial Arts, with the possible exception of Eagle's Claw, and it's mostly DoT, which no Martial Arts attack does. It's highly unlikely such a thing will come true.

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It's not as bad as you think. Flares was very much in the same camp as Flurry and Storm Kick. He revamped the graphics and the result is something that still has all the flavor of the old graphic, but animates more quickly. There's no reason why Storm Kick can't have that old flavor brought back, but executed more quickly.

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I 16

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Super Strength and Martial Arts will each receive an alternate animation for their powers, and Stone Armor and Necromancy will include limited customization.


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Could we be getting acces to the old version of Storm Kick. (Picture Flurry but done with on leg, while standing on the other. Like Chun Li from Street Fighter)

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I LOVED the old version of Storm Kick. For the same reason I like the graphics of Flurry. It's unique, colorful, and looks like you're really doing something different. The newer version looks just like a kick and is very 'meh'. I'd love it if the old version came back.

hahahaha I laughed at the OP. I never realized it until he said it, but yeah, they're pretty sad.

This will have a big impact on my gameplay.

I always believed everyone has one or two things they're anal about. With me, I discovered it's the fog of war in CoX. Whenever I'm traveling, I wind up altering my route to clear away more of the fog on whatever map I'm on. If I have a few minutes, I'll take out a few minutes to clear away a section of the map.

I didn't realize I was that anal about it until I saw this thread and thought "but..... but...... what will I do during those few minutes downtime?" I'm starting to have a sad realization that I'll probably still do it manually.

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lastly if ur a blaster and u dont have all ur debt badges bye lvl 40 your obviusly ned to switch to a controller cus thier the ones that sit back and hide like cowards.

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Debt badges are the mark of a good Blaster? Please learn how to take the alpha and survive.

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I've always contended that if you're not getting debt now and then, you're not trying hard enough.

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That needs clarification as it's coming off a bit flippant....

I was on a team last night running level 17 missions with other players in Steel Canyon. We had a particularly nasty Tsoo mission and there were faceplants three or four times during the mission by about half the team. One player kept making a big deal about the debt. He was a 21 month vet, so he probably doesn't know what debt used to be like before they nerfed it near-nonexistence.

Him: Great. I have debt now.
Me: It's no big deal.
Him. It sucks! I hate it!
Me: It'll be gone in five minutes though, if even that long.
Him: That's five minutes I don't want to spend.

Later.....

Him: Great. Died again. It's ten minutes now!

After the mission was over...

Him: Thanks for the "fun" mission. I earned debt like four times. Well, at least it's gone.

I said if you never earn debt, you're not trying hard enough, and I really do mean it. If dieing is something that doesn't happen except in the most of extreme circumstances, then you're basically playing without danger. You're not challenging yourself. Why play a game if there's no chance of losing? It's not a game then, it's just an exercise.

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iam a 24 vet player, and now my 50s have nothing to do. i go to PI and no one there, then to RWZ and nothing. finally i step into Atlas Park and everyone is there doing boring farms. Game should be renamed to "City of Atlas Park AE". Since most players are in one building trying to Power Level.

Even if i try to stay away from AE, i still can't find or get enough people to do regular missions... Gonna have to move on to another game looks like...

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I've been a player since closed beta; and pretty much from day one - level 50ies honestly haven't had much to do; as aside from the Hamidon, the Devs have never really put in ANY 'Post 50' type content (eg bigger NPCs and Villians TFs that any player under 50 would have a hard time completing). The Statesman TF/Lord Recluse SF is probably the only TF/SF that comes close. With I8 and inventions, I suppose you could then IO out your 50 (took me two weeks and I was all that focused on it either.)

So, saying "My 50ies have nothing to do' is definitely NOTHING NEW for CoX; and is still one of my major complaints of this game.

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I've contended that if you can't find enjoyment from the game, then it's time to move on to a different game. Level 50 is not inherently better than level 10. My level 50 is one of the most enjoyable characters to play because I can do ALL of the content. I run level 50 task forces. I run level 40 task forces. I run level 30 task forces. I even go to Talos and send a tell in combat that I'm a level 50 looking to exemp down and run with a team, and get on a team VERY quickly (well, if they're not too busy AE farming). It's a breath of fresh air to be a low level again.

If you only want to play 50 content, then you're just self-imposing a limitation on yourself. If you find that the content just doesn't do anything for you, then you have to just admit that it's time to take a break. Nobody can do the same thing for years and not get tired of it.

The problem with level 50 content is that it takes a long time to design, and then a week before it's old-hat. If the devs put out a few more level 50 missions, it'll only be a couple weeks before you've played them and are saying "we need more level 50 content".

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They should just make a button for these people that lets them immediately start at L50. No more need for farming...

Of course, no more need to play either...

People don't seem to realize that the reason for playing isn't to BE L50, but to enjoy the trip TO L50.

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if the game ends at 50 - is that the players fault ? 5 years and they cannot come up with end game content? You could try pvp - that keeps some of us in the game - oh wait they screwed that up....

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Why do you think the game ends at 50? There's a ton of content in the game, all of it is available to level 50's.

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Hey, I like baloney.

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Fried. With mustard.

Much better than farms.

Seeing as AE already gives at least 2X experience, I'd be happy if it wasn't included as part of that weekend.

I like the idea of shutting it down for maintenance that weekend. It kind of reminds me of those parents who disconnect their teenagers' internet so they have to get out of the basement and get soem fresh air every once in a while.

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thanks very much guys, i will defintatly roll a new char and relearn the game it is just SO HARD solo without ae, like i tried to do missions at the begining and i was struggling like crazy!

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It could be difficult at times, but that just makes it more rewarding. You don't get better doing easy things, you get better doing hard things. It's when you're up against something that seems impossibly hard, and you keep going at it and trying harder, that it feels great when you finally win.

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All joking aside, I just wanted to say that it took some guts to admit your problems and work to improve on them. I'm glad to see you sticking around and learning from the people here. I hope you stay for a while.

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But..... but.... he doesn't need to stick around. He already won the game!

That is the best guide I've seen yet!

Don't let the grammar police pressure you into line breaks and punctuation, people need to read the information as fast as possible, and reading those extra RETURNS will just slow you down. You're kinetics, after all.

When I was a kid (many many moons ago), my family and my aunts' and uncles' families would get together at my grandparents house for cookouts. The day before, we'd all get pails and containers and head out into the mountainous woods and pick wild blueberries. Grandma would turn those into the most amazing blueberry pies you could ever imagine. Wild blueberries are smaller and tarter and have a more intense flavor and totally blow away pies you make from cultivated blueberries bred for their size and sweetness.

Pies rule.

I put it in Fireball and LOVE it! Fireball's graphic is one of an explosion, and when one or more of the mobs get tossed up into the air, it's just seems sooooo right!