Bill Z Bubba
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Posts
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Joined
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Bummer. Seriously. I've missed BAB's posts around here. I hope the best for him and whoever else got let go.
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Quote:8-10 minutes for 7 merits is what I'm getting on the Ouro arc I'm farming every night. While I have taken nights off from the following, here's what my game time has looked like over the last two or so weeks:Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison
Except merit farming is already done through Ouro and if the AVs were left un-downgrade-able, solo TFs would be the worst place to farm merits.
As it stands now, the best merit farming is going to be done through tip missions, I think. All of which are solo-able.
Log in. Run 7-8 ouro arcs in a bit over an hour for 50 merits.
Turn in Rmerits and 20million inf for an HVmerit.
Run 5 tips and then morality if available. Get that HV merit.
I'm up to 25. 5 more and I have my unique +def pvp IO.
With whatever time I have remaining, I'll either play a lowbie or farm AE for tickets to turn in for recipes/salvage to convert to inf.
I'm now sitting on 1.5 billion inf. When I get to 2 billion, I'll throw it all down on the unique +damres pvp IO.
Once I have my two PvP IOs, I will never have to farm for reward merits again and I will be so happy when that day comes. Which I think is this Saturday.
Of course, when I-19 does drop, I'll be farming whatever it is I have to farm in order to get the maximum buffs from every bit of incarnate levels I can.
A *lot* of this game IS farming for me when I'm playing my main. Right up until I get my build the way I want it. Then I get to spend the time doing what I really enjoy, which is either throwing myself at every challenge the game offers to find out what I can do with my main and what I can't do or by leveling up new characters while solo. -
Quote:I just did in my last post, so yes, it is possible.
Edit: On a related note, I know this is the internet, but can no one debate without tossing insults? -
Quote:1: Because it's a cool game, looks good, has a fun advancement system, has a fun combat systemOriginally Posted by GhoulSlayer
It's up to you how you spend your 15 bucks a month but I can't fathom why people play an mmo if they don't like teamplay. I rarely solo. The only time I do is when I can complete a task quicker by myself (i.e. flashbacks and tips) so that I have the time to run something like an SF/TF with my friends.
2: You don't have to be on a team to be social. I've joined hami and ship raids without ever getting on a team. There's also SGs and global channels to converse on if you feel the desire
3: I won't speak for the others known to solo a lot but in my case, the things I'm doing in game are more fun when I don't have to waste time looking out for or waiting around on teammates. This doesn't mean that I never team. There are some nights that I'll log on and want to do nothing but an 8man ITF.
4: People have different lives than you. Some have to AFK often due to babies. Some are working late at night from home and must AFK often for that. These types of people don't wish to lessen the enjoyment of others so they choose to solo more often.
These are just a few examples. I have no doubt that there are many more reasons out there. -
Quote:If they allowed the AV to EB downgrade, which I would be against, then yea, they'd have to lower the merit reward value, which I am also against.Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison
On second though, I think this would be best. That way the Ouro version could award less merits, as they could likely be done much faster. Additionally, this would probably have the option to spawn the AVs as EBs.
Teams already get an XP multiplier to offset the fact that XP is being shared. This is offset by content becoming easier to get through due to the way teammates aid each other.
Because of this, I am against both the AV-EB downgrade as I am against a decrease in the merit reward. If I'm doing the same task, I should get the same reward. EDIT: But I probably wouldn't fight too hard against it in the spirit of compromise. -
Quote:Interesting. That tells me everything I need to know about why you feel the way you do.
As it stands people like me can ride on their coat tails and help along the way. -
Quote:Sounds great, Dechs. That or unlocking them for level 50s in Ouro. Either solution is perfectly fine for me.Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison
For what it's worth, I'm no longer opposed to removing the "teamgate" to TFs.
Here's my proposition: Change the minimum team size into a "minimum spawn size." Much like Bill's view, it doesn't prevent soloing, but it sure as hell discourages it.
I believe, however, that your solution will receive more pushback from those that are worried about the lack of scaling when they lose teammates.
I wouldn't care, of course, but I've seen that argument before. -
[quote]Quote:Bzzt. Wrong. There are accolades which provide personal buffs that are only attainable by doing TFs.Originally Posted by Torrynt
Because you are not forced to team. You don't need to do TFs at all. There is no need for anything in the game to do so. Everything you can get on a TF you can get some where else.
If you are keen to test your mettle on a TF, or even just experience the content, you can. The ability is in game. Irritating, yes. However, for someone who has gone to the time and effort to get a character to that point it is not much of a barrier I would imagine.
In the mean time, that irritating barrier keeps that content team friendly for those of us that like that sort of thing.
Yes, the workaround is irritating. Just like only being able to trade 99999 inf at a time. The devs fixed that. It was also irritating having split markets and an inability to send inf cross faction. The devs fixed that. Apparently the devs enjoy removing unnecessary irritation from the game.
Removing the min team size gate will in no way make them less team friendly. The TF/SF will not be altered in any way. It has already been stated many times that only a minority are even capable of soloing TF/SFs which means teams will still be running them. Again, your fear is baseless. -
Quote:So I should have checked to see if it was your first post in the thread and treated you with kiddie gloves instead of treating you like an adult that would have bothered reading the thread before sharing your near infinite ignorance with us? Nahhh.Originally Posted by firespray
Hey, you were the one that started with the insults, not me. I was just responding in what seems to be the only manner that you are capable of understanding.
Oh how cute. Instead of accepting the correction to your ignorance based opinion like a big boy you resort to pretending you have the first clue about my life and then go on to project your tightened panties on to me. My wife, son, two houses, and even my dog and cat are laughing at you. Get out of your mother's basement and get a job. (<-- See how easy that is?)Quote:No thanks. There's nothing you're capable of teaching that I need to learn.
You see, I've got you pegged Billy boy. You have no life outside this game and these forums, so you see yourself as the ultimate expert. Therefore, anyone who dares to disagree with you is obviously in the wrong. You take it as a personally, and get your panties in a bunch. To get back at them for hurting your delicate feelings, you start tossing out insults that you composed with the help of your mom's word-a-day calendar. It makes you feel all big inside to have gotten one over on some random guy on the internet.
In reality, it just makes you a ******.
For the record, any and every time I've been corrected (when I'm actually wrong) I'm generally thankful for it. The question now stands as to whether you have enough sense of self-worth to do the same. Based on what I've seen here so far, I won't be holding my breath.
You should first get a better understanding of what irony means before attempting to use it in a sentence. Much like everything else you've posted, your ignorance on that and every other topic is far too plain to see.Quote:Lol. I'd point out the irony here, but I'm not sure you'd be capable of understanding it. -
Quote:Because telling me to keep my fat yap shut is oh so mature of you.Originally Posted by firespray
I stopped reading here. It's obvious that you'd rather hurl childish insults than have an actual discussion. Grow up a bit and then maybe we can talk.
Now go back and read the rest of my reply and learn something so that you won't prove yourself a fool again in the future. -
Quote:You're welcome. Such a completely vapid waste of space needed to be called out for what it was. Perhaps you will learn to read a thread before bothering to inject it further with mindless drivel.Originally Posted by firespray
Thank you for that insulting and utterly worthless assessment of my post. I've not yet posted in this thread, and didn't feel like reading through 5 pages of posts before I did so. Therefore, I wasn't aware that I was restating points that someone else had already made. Maybe in the future, you could skip the childish insults, and focus on what I actually said. Either that or just keep your fat yap shut.
Content with gated min team size requirements is *forced* teaming. You can try to call it something else but doing so shows nothing but ignorance.Quote:You are not forced to team with others. In fact, this game does not force you to do anything. You are welcome to solo your entire career without ever joining a team.
No, there should be content that is probably impossible to complete unless with a team. See CoP and Hamidon.Quote:However, there should be content that is accessible only to teams.
Neither of which need minimum team size requirements. Both of which can be provided by content with a design that necessitates teams due to difficulty.Quote:1. From a game perspective, an MMO should promote teaming for some things at least. Whether you like it or not, that's the whole point of an MMO. It's an inherently multiplayer game.
2. From a story perspective, it's common in comics to see the storyline focusing on a big threat that no single hero alone can handle. He has to team up with others to fend it off. The game should represent that, and does.
Any other useless statements you feel the need to share? -
Don't respec. Did you log off and back on to find that the decrease was still there? Or even zone somewhere to find the decrease still present?
If you crank up your build, exactly as in game including IO levels, how many HP does it state you should have? -
Quote:What a fine restating of all the baseless points already made throughout this and every other thread on the topic.Originally Posted by firespray
I understand the argument that the OP is making, but I don't really agree with it.
City of heroes is a multiplayer game. It's great that they've made it accessible to soloers, but at its heart, it's meant for teaming. There SHOULD be content that's only accessible to teams, and honestly we don't even have that much of it. Add up all the raids, task forces, and trials in the game, and they're still probably only 10% or less of the total amount of content. I think that's a pretty acceptable amount really. It's not going to kill anyone to join a team once in awhile.
"There SHOULD be content that's only accessible to teams..." Which always leads to "Why?"
"Cuz it's an MMO." Which always leads to "So, what? Where does it state that because I *can* team with others that I should be *forced* to do so?"
"Cuz the sky is blue."
Got it.
I'm still alive and I have been on many a team throughout the years. It also won't kill those that wish to team or the game if min team size reqs are removed. -
Do you think the non-farming/PL community noticed the decrease in teams with the introduction of the diff slider? I don't.
And while I am sure, having read your posts, that there is a contingent of players that were put off by the lessened ease of getting on farm/PL teams, just as there were plenty of players annoyed when they could no longer PL to 50 in a day with AE, I don't think the devs give a damn about that part of the player population nor do I consider such reactions to be a strong basis for the fear that TF teams will dry up if players can start them solo.
That said, going back to Memphis_Bill's last post, I would find that to be a completely fair compromise. Leave the "live" TF/SFs alone and allow them to be soloed in Ouro only by those at level 50? Absolutely. Sounds great. Fantastic idea. -
Quote:Yes, it would make sense that you would stop joining the teams that run TFs because they like teaming because someone out there might be able to solo it. Got it.
Which is exactly why I like seeing that team requirement. If those teams dry up, my guess is that I'll just stop joining them. Which is a shame, because that's the part where I get my team groove on.
This game is also full of nothing but Drizzt and Neo clones because we have dual blades and trenchcoats.
That may seem a non sequitur, but it isn't. You have a fear that you won't be able to find teams running TFs if they are changed so that they can be started with any number on a team between 1 and 8.
I find this fear just as valid as the fears people had that the game would turn into City of the Matrix when we got trenchcoats. And again when we got dual pistols.
It's a fear based on the assumption that the only people forming teams for TFs are those that want to solo them but can't. Does this fear make any sense at all when those that actually WANT to solo TFs can do so NOW if they jump through the hoops currently in place? What makes you think that those that DON'T want to solo TFs will suddenly begin doing so because of one change that people can get around anyway?
All we're asking for is the ability NOT to bug other people for pads. It's the same reason I want offline SG invites. -
Quote:If they were transferable, I'd already have both of the pvp IOs I need for I-19 and I'd be selling the farkers on the market until I was inf capped on some arbitrary number of characters.Originally Posted by SwellGuy
If they were transferrable I'd sell them on the market in a heartbeat.
I like the word arbitrary. It makes me happy. -
Quote:Test_Rat,Originally Posted by Test_Rat
So you are telling me that you have never seen someone recruiting for a LRSF/STF, say asking for "Damage" and turning away stalkers?
Never? What server do you play on, I gotta take note for the next free transfer week.
On Pinnacle I see less of "need healer and tank for blahblahblah" than I do "Running X, room for two more, don't care what you bring." Maybe the drunks are smarter than those running around on the larger pop servers... -
Quote:People that want to team would still be able to team, thus making forced teaming arbitrary. By the definition of arbitrary. There are ways to encourage teaming, some already in place within this game. Forced teaming is not encouraging it.Originally Posted by Torrynt
While I agree that decisions made 5 years ago have little bearing on the state of the game today. That does not mean they are necessarily arbitrary. They could very easily have looked at the content, decided they wanted to have a required teaming aspect in their solo friendly game and kept it the same.
Unless you have been in their meetings you can not tell if this was arbitrary or not. They could very well have sided with people who like teaming and reasoned that there are ways around their caps, but they want to encourage teaming. In that case, it is not arbitrary, it's just a decision you did not agree with. -
Quote:I knew someone would try to take this angle on it.Originally Posted by Aett_Thorn
Bill, that is bullsh*t and you know it. Granted, some of the minimum team sizes are higher than they need to be, however, that does not mean that the only way to have those minimum team sizes not be arbitrary are when there are multiple simul-clickies. The Devs could very well have come together and decided that they wanted people to come together and team certain content (i.e., not individual discretion). They could have decided that the minimum team sizes were there so that even if some people did drop, there would be enough people left on the team to be able to finish (i.e., not a random choice). They knew at the time that the TFs came out, or at least after ED happened, for sure, that a large majority of people couldn't solo AVs, and that almost all of the TFs out there end in an AV, and they didn't want people getting to the end only to find out that they couldn't finish it (i.e., based on objective distinction). None of that sounds arbitrary to me.
Just because you don't agree with them, and have built your character to such a degree as to make team-oriented content capable of being soloed doesn't mean that those restrictions are arbitrary.
Even if the Devs decided together that they wanted the TF to require a team size that was larger than they knew was enough to finish it, just in case people dropped or quit, then it was not an arbitrary number.
Glad you brought up ED and the GDN considering how much of my opinion is based on changes like that.
When the min team size requirements were put into place, this game was an entirely different creature. Now we have temp powers, IOs, soon to have incarnate buffs (which will be functioning for any level 50 TF/SF we decide to run) versus how things were five+ years ago. ANY decision based on how things were back then are now moot. Glad you agree.
Basing it on "let's make it high enough that if people drop, there *might* still be enough to finish" is ridiculous. "We'll make it 6, maybe only two will drop." Oh yea? And if four drop? Guess you should have made the min size 8. Oh, but WAIT, this ALSO occurred back in the day when if you DCed during a TF you were kicked out of the TF completely. Another moot point with the current game.
The min size requirement is arbitrary NOW. It is useless NOW. Whatever decisions were made 5+ years ago mean absolutely nothing NOW.
You are correct. I see no sense in any of them. If I want to smash my head against constant failure as I would if I attempted to solo the STF I see no reason why some completely arbitrary minimum team size requirement should be placed in my way.Quote:and it seems like Bill wants to get rid of all of them, not just lower the ones that don't make as much sense. -
Quote:
I thought you were interested in soloing TF's and/or other content, both current and future, that is restricted to teams. If not, I've misunderstood your side in all of this. The answer is the same for both of these: I am able to solo this content by using the exploit of having the last team member log out of the game rather than quit the team. I am not, however, able to START these events without the min team size present. All I've ever actually asked for was the ability to skip a step and avoid having to bother other people for pads. This means that your statement "you want solo access to team-restricted content is asking the game to do something it does not do" is not true. The game DOES do solo TFs. One is simply forced through an arbitrary hoop to get there.Quote:To me, saying that you want solo access to team-restricted content is asking the game to do something it does not do. You want something other than what is offered. Some of the content you pay for is restricted to teams. ... and I don't know if I would consider "regardless" a small word. Should probably keep it to two syllables.
Arbitrary: Based on individual discretion or judgment; not based on any objective distinction, perhaps even made at random; Determined by impulse rather than reasonQuote:Who decides whether it's arbirtary? I let the devs set the rules.
Your turn!
No one is choosing whether the min team size requirement is arbitrary. It IS arbitrary regardless of one's opinion. The proof of that comes from the fact that if the min team size requirement was NOT arbitrary, then it would always take at least that number of players to accomplish the task. The ONLY time the minimum team size requirement is NOT arbitrary is when it matches the number of simultaneous glowies that must be clicked. -
30 HVmerits for the +def pvp unique IO.
2,000,000,000/30 = 66666667 inf
I guess an HV merit is worth a lot to me. -
I like M_B's response. It's dismissive of the poorly thought out original post in exactly the right way.
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Quote:We'll start here. As I've already stated, I'm fully aware that arbitrary minimum team size requirements will remain in place for those events with them currently in place. So what's the point of your statement?
We are trying to force you to recognize that some content might forever stay team-specific as the development team intended.
I'll use small words: Who said they don't want to play the game they pay for? I want to have access to ALL of the content I pay for, regardless of whether I'm teamed.Quote:I can't get my head around how anyone can buy the game, pay the monthly fee, and then say they don't want to play the game they paid for. If I buy a Kia, I can't later go to Kia and demand that they put a Maserati engine in it for me. (Totally unreleated and over-the-top example, I know -- you're welcome!)
Do I really have to spell out the difference between removing arbitrary gates to content and requesting an archetype change that would obviously break the existing xp per hour/archetype balance structure? I hope not.Quote:Am I totally wrong? Should I be demanding that my Blaster get +4000 base HP and crazy +Def buffs in the next issue so I can solo +4/x8? Or should I accept my glass cannon as-is and play within the game's limits until it changes? -
Quote:I don't *need* to play this game. I don't *need* to solo AVs. You don't know what's going to be gated and what isn't going to be. The point is that the less that is gated, the better, because more people will find it accessible.Originally Posted by Aett_Thorn
Okay, but you don't *need* to play that content. If you want to, there are gates there. I am okay with those gates. I know that you are not. And we're going to disagree on that, which I'm sure that both of us can agree to do.
I don't even care if it's flat out impossible to solo as long as the access is there. Blocking access for no other reason but to force teaming is now and forever will be the stupidest design decision ever made.
EDIT: And for all the posts stating "I fear this because it will be harder for me to find a team to run those events" I only have one response: I'm supposed to give a damn why? You want to block me from content for no other reason but that you have problems finding a team? Got it. That's a frelling weak argument. -
Quote:The point, Aett, is that we're about to get new content WITH the new incarnate buffs specifically designed FOR characters with the incarnate buffs and thus my +4/x8 build will be insufficient for the task at hand WITHOUT the incarnate buffs.
The point is that the more buffs you can already get, the less the next step is needed to play the game. Certainly, with just SOs, the basic game at normal settings can become almost ridiculously easy. With IOs, you can make +4/+8 easy enough to do. If you can already do the maximum difficulty with ease, then adding more buffs on top of that won't make you able to do any harder content. Maybe you can do it faster, but that's it. It's like the Defensive soft cap. Once you get there, adding more on top helps you with less and less of the game.
Therefore, I *need* the incarnate buffs to do the upcoming content.