Beef_Cake

Originally Posted by Black_Mute

Has someone actually have done this to you?!?

I would have to keep the inf. just to teach them a lesson

Originally Posted by Golden Girl

Fixing exploits is never totally pointless - but the problem with these AE fixes is that it leaves behind a pile of abandoned farm missions as the exploiters move on to the next exploit they've found, which just clutters up the AE mission list.

Originally Posted by Severe

afk in a base while posting on the forums doesnt count

Originally Posted by xfunk

lol at the guy who claimed there was pvp on victory. Lololol.
I'm rolling toons on exalted but i have 50's everywhere so it doesn't matter. Also, everyone worth a damn on pinn is leaving for star wars.

Originally Posted by Father Xmas

While they may be able to get the costumes and powers from the Vet rewards, do they actually get the BADGE? I'm guessing no. So while someone may have the boxing outfit or samurai armor, they won't have the corresponding Vet badge.

Originally Posted by rian_frostdrake

you know moo, this could not have been in one of the other threads already on this topic? you are just too special to contain this particular comment to one of the several other threads already discussing this?

Originally Posted by Dark_0mega

Teams are the best. I have gotten so many characters finished from teaming its sick. My drop ratio is through the roof.

Originally Posted by Bill Z Bubba

BC, of all the hoarded shards you had, how many came from running the TFs that grant shard components? That's not soloing and that's not the topic of this thread.

Originally Posted by Mr. DJ

From my experience...I still don't see the need for Shards anymore. I took three of my 50's who only had their T1 Alpha, each of them did one BAF and one Lambda and had their Tier 3 Alpha and Level Shift after it was over. Much quicker than when I took my Tank through all the shard grinding and doing TFs, even w/ the luck involved getting a rare drop from the trial reward table.

Originally Posted by MrCaptainMan

"run a few TFs"?

a few TFs?

Haha my immediate reaction was to type 'Beef, it's like you and I are playing completely different games!'.

A little reflection allows me to say that I'm glad that the game is varied enough to be able to produce such different impressions.

There's no way I could cram all that into a weekend, let alone a single session

And I don't think I'd want to, either.

Adopting your playstyle would give me conniption fits, Beef, but if you like it, more power to you.

But easymode for me, please!

And NCSoft? I'll happily pay for that, too!

Eco

Originally Posted by MrCaptainMan

I'm not convinced that grinding TFs is a welcome alternative to grinding iTrials for those 'who prefer to solo' lol. I can't comment on the tip farming, though.

Eco.

Originally Posted by TonyV

I'm sorry, but I really, really, really do not see the problem here. I understand that some people don't like trials, I really do. I understand that some people who want the rewards quickly find it "grindy," I really do. But it all boils down to a very, very simple concept:

If you want x, you must do y.

That's it, end of story. Maybe someday they'll tweak exactly what y is; in fact, based on history, I can almost guarantee it. But that doesn't change the fact that in the here and now, you're stuck with the y we have. This has always been true. No matter how you slice it, no matter how you dice it, always. Either do y, or wait until they make it easier.

Want to get to level 50? You have to first get to level 49. You can do it quickly via lots of teaming, or you can do it slowly via soloing, taking time to read all of the mission text, role-playing and doing various other non-experience-gaining activities. There's no way around it. At some point, you're going to have to buckle down, go out there, and defeat some enemies. You can't get to level 50 just by exploration badge experience. You can't get there by dancing in Pocket D. It's going to require some time and effort on your part.

About the best analogy I can think of are purple recipes. Some people hate dealing with the market. Seriously, they despise it. Do you have any idea how long it would take to get a character completely kitted out with purple recipes without engaging in some marketeering? I'm not even sure it's possible, it's that long. Sure, you can do it through A-merits, but my god, man, even that would take forever. Assuming you collect them as quickly as possible, one every two to three days, it takes, what, 30 or 35 of them to get just one specific purple recipe? So that would be two to three month's worth of work just to get one recipe. Now multiply that by 30 or so powers and umpteen slots, if you've made up your mind that you're never going to use the market, it would probably take you decades to kit out one single character.

That's what I feel like when people say stuff that boils down to, "This is so unfair! I'll never be able to get all of this incarnate stuff!" First of all, you're not supposed to. Do you really need every single aura, every single emote, every single costume piece, every single everything? That's like saying, "I have to have all of my characters completely kitted out with all purples!" Sure, you can do it, but that was never the intention of putting this stuff out there. You're supposed to figure out the stuff you really want and get it quickly. Then figure out the stuff that would be kind of cool, and collect it over the course of several weeks. In the coming months, you'll still be collecting stuff just because you've got the merits and it's silly to let them sit there collecting dust, and some day, you'll find that you've pretty much got it all.

Second of all, I've said it before and I'll say it again, these are long-term rewards. That means that you're not going to have all of the cool stuff today. You're not going to have it all tomorrow. Issue 21 is still probably a few months out, and Issue 22 will probably be four to six months after that. If you had it all today, what would you do tomorrow? People really used to vehemently insist that purple rewards were too hard to get and that they would never have a full set. Over the course of time, the hubbub subsided as people figured out that yes, it is indeed possible--nay, likely!--that they actually will be able to obtain these things, given enough time. This is no different.

So instead of thinking, "ZOMG I'll never be able to get everything!!!" and refusing to do trials and coming here and grousing constantly because you're so miserable, the devs are so unfair, everyone must love grinding crap over and over, and talking about how this game has become [insert other game here] and that's not what City of Heroes is about, try this instead.

Pick one thing you like. I suggest an aura or an emote because they're relatively cheap. Now go get it. It's not that hard; it won't take you more than a night or two max. That wasn't so hard, now, was it? Stop thinking so much about what your character doesn't have and focus on what he or she does have, and what he or she wants next.

Do people do this in real life? Holy crap, if I want to go skiing, I'm going to have to request vacation from work, gas up the car, buy some food for the road trip, save up some money for a hotel or lodge, pack a suitcase, drive there, find a place to stay, buy or rent ski supplies, maybe take some lessons to keep from busting my butt, and--oh, crap, I just realized, it's summer! Skiing is time-gated and I have to wait another four to six months before I can go or else spend insane amounts of money to fly to South America or something! This is so unfair, I'm NEVER going to go skiing again, EVER! Skiing SUCKS! People who like skiing must just really like grinding away at menial tasks like driving and scheduling stuff! I'm entitled to some alternate path to skiing besides doing all that work!

Yeesh.

Originally Posted by Winterminal

Enter the Trials and the content (costumes, auras, etc.) now locked behind their Merits. If you want this stuff, there is only one way to get it, and it is going to take a LOT longer than 30 seconds. The player is left with one option of game-play-mechanic by which to get this new stuff: play the trials. Suddenly, the player's experience has been diminished; to get what they want, they can no longer choose what avenue of game-play they wish to pursue. Thus, you have your "force."