Crystalblue

Well.. that's what I said to begin with. Ratings are always going to be fail, there is no complete solution (doesn't stop me from trying since the silly stars are still with us).

Categorizing missions is the way to go.

Actually farms are more than just for badges, they are also for low-risk accumulation of tickets and XP.

That's why they are still being targeted hard by GM's.

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I disagree with the practice of zero starring farming arcs (or any arc really). If something is against the rules then people can report it and move on. There's no need to ratings "grief" over it.

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If something is illegal I report it.

If something is utterly Bad I zero or one Star it.

I never said I would *just* rate farms and not report them, where did you all get that from?

Actually, if I meet a really WELL-made Story that is also an illegal farm, I'll 5 star + report it, but in general they are mindless 0-2 star garbage.

All I said in my original piece - If they implement a system where people who zero star stuff they have had a limited look at are blacklisted for future rating, they are going to target more than just the griefers.

Also blocking you from rating something as bad just because you haven't actually gone through a city wide kill-all (where some have fallen through the world so you never can finish) isn't a good solution either.

Instead - make ratings public - show who voted! It might give some backlash with a genuine bad review I know, but it'll keep people honest at least, and draw more comments along with the votes to avoid revenge-voting (which will also be obvious), and add "%-completed" tag to each vote/comment in that log too for much needed detail, so we know where people got so tired they just voted and moved on (or if they tried at all).

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Only stupid griefers brag about doing it. So if even if they get banned, it doesn't make much of a dent in the jerk population.

They need to go a step further, do some datamining, and ban anyone who habitually 1 or 0 stars arcs they haven't even started.

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Ehm.... Some people give Missions that brags about being a farming mission an 0 before goin inside (along with Reporting it).

In general Farm-busting is already worrying enough to do as is, since people - in some cases - need to go inside the illegal mission to be sure. Let's not get the wrong people autobanned.

In general we need a cataloguing system, not a rating system.

Rating systems can only end up as fail.

The next Issue (15) gives the chance to see (if not control) the spawnpoints and tells WHAT points on any maps is back/front/middle. Some maps are still beyond help though.

(sadly theis seems to include the Zig' breakout)

I usually ask myself about the motivation of the Quest giver, that'll helps me prepare how and what to tell to the heroes/villains.

A 'testing/proving' mission? Yes - cause he's not really testing what they can do, but what kind of people they are and how to work with them - he wants to make sure they are up for the (heroic) breaking and entering he has planned for later.

Not telling about Plan B? Yes - it's a desperate measure, he'd rather not go there and he certainly doesn't want to tell people he's willing to go there yet if it turns out he doesn't have to.

If the questgiver is emotionally affected (anger/ fear/ love/ hate) this could also affect the way he deals out the job.

It's important not to make the "Man in Grey" the main hero in the saga and the players secondaries - but still - what would Luke be without Obi-Wan to poke him along, but it's a balance.

Arc Name: For my Friend
Arc ID:164260
Faction: Hero
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Crystalblue
Difficulty Level: Medium (centered around levels 40-41)
Synopsis: The Hero Idun is in a Coma, the Keep sends you out in a long mission to help save her
Estimated Time to Play: Very Long

Arc Name: ..of Roses & Thorns
Arc ID: 188373
Faction: Neutral
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Crystalblue
Difficulty Level: Medium (centered around levels 40-41)
Synopsis: Idun is safe, but is there an evil Clone of her at large? The Keep needs to know.
Estimated Time to Play: Very Long

Hehe.. don't run with the Hamster unless you are ready to have your corpse danced upon.

Normally I only do constructive posts but....

Having to do Explorers and Exploiters again - that hurts!!

This decision sucks!!

It's a matter of manpower eh? So our time spent doing these
taskforces is less worth than your time datamining for it?

Since our time earns you money - but your time costs you money that does make sense in a depressing kind of way.

--- constructive edit ---

Well... how about just datamining the last 3 months of data or so, so alle the people that did these lately knowing badge would come, won't get hurt! (Won't help me - but it'll be something at least)

Hmm... I see phasing is getting hit too now - for most of what I use it for (in mission) 30 seconds is ok (unless the higher recharge time has been put at 10 minutes or something silly like that). [Surviving the first 30 seconds of PvP till you are 'in position', and shaking aggro in mission when things go bad - walking through missions touching glowies phased is gone now, but was a little strange to be allowed anyway]

But... I also have it on my blasters so they can get to their contacts without having those zone-snipers downing them, I hope they do balance out the zone-snipers a little too now also.

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What in the world is the justification for having it at level 14 anyway?

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I think Statesman has stated that this is so people don't gimp themselves by taking movement powers at levels where they should really be taking attacks and defences.

IMO you should never be able to escape a situation quicker than you could by logging with this suggested power. Make it 30 seconds, and I'm ok with it.

Now I've thought about this and I'm not so sure reduced mission debt is such a good idea. Once people hit 32, get their really good powers and already now start getting reduces debt (from the usual ½ bub) play style shifts from slow and cautious to fast and reckless (the larger groups the worse), some AT's may take a few more defeats, but in terms of xp/hour even they are probably better off.

This change - while probably meant to get people off the street - will also go to make this more pronounced.

I'd prefer that strategic play played more of a role post 32, but that's probably just me. Already now I try to avoid too big groups to get a chance to see what's going on, and to use MY abilities (more focused on defeat prevention than fast and furious damage for the win) at their best.

Alas - I have no alternatives to getting people off the street, so...

If you turn hover on (but dont actually fly) are you still unable to use "near the ground" powers.

Is combat jumping (when you cant really jump) still a no-go with Rooted?

So there... just had to add the Channels to the Tabs again.

It works for me now...

Invincibility is the same, I observed that doing Positron. Very usefull, and rather bad when Invinc drops because you didn't watch your END and all the Vahz decide to explode at once.

So... We all enable global Chat, create a Channel and join it, and after all the tedious setting up (and changing of tabs) we get...

Channel does not exist - what gives??

Bugreported it.. I assume that the fact that you have to chatbeta 1 at each login means that you get booted from the channel at each login emptying it and killing it off [or are all channels destroyed every time chat goes offline]. Also I lost default chat handle for non-board-grabbed account upon rewriting chatbeta with a new character on it

Ctrl-# sounds good.

Okay.. 8 pages down all the same so I'll post now.

BOTH fixing the solo/low setting missions to having no bosses AND fixing the bosses back to their old more puny selves, isn't this like solving the same problem twice - or have I misunderstood something here?

I thought the boss bumping was for a reason not connected to the higher challenge (we have the slider for that) but to have threats left after the usual alpha-strikes, and something for the Tankers to do. If people avoid bosses with lowest setting solo, why do they have to be rolled back as well?? (Not that my controller minds at all - just a question here!!)

As an observation of the current state, we did have a BP mission with lots of single Totems and it was a lot of double-hold/endless blast+hold repeat ad nauseum (repetitive to say the least). But the many extra hold we had to stick made it dangerous in the long run and well (if slow) earned xp.

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Might have been
harder if they sent groups paired off to the party size.


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That would have made the doors into too much of an xp automat I guess.

A "badge you dont really need" Automat is ok though.

Also the "once per door" mentioned somewhere is a bad idea. Suddenly you differentiate the fun according to movement powers and previous map knowledge.

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2 INSIGHTs + 2 LUCKs = pwned RED boss

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Well certainly not always....

I've tried some of these red bosses popping 8-10 varying insps.. best i got with the new Eel was him down to 5% before his repeated lightning sapped my last END.

I've even been chain-mezzed by Bedrock when iI finally managed to keep him away from me (chillblain+ice storm), oh the ignomity of being stuck in 1-2 layers of crushing stone for a very long time - he didn't even bother to punch me properly to death. (I think the psi-wielders labor union have to come after him for stealing their gimmicks).

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I cannot stress enough - the +1 mobs everywhere are a BUG. We did NOT notice them on the Training Room server. It happens. I made a mistake. We're fixing it (though it isn't live yet).


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Agreed.. I soloed both Electric Eel and Bedrock on Test with my Tanker who had a badly slotted Lethal/Smash Resist (permanent) a better slottet T.I. (but a toggle affectable by stun), NO resist to Fire/Cold/Energy or any kind of Mezzes (bad Tanker! - useless Tanker!) with little or no problem, and didn't recall seeing any Red Bosses (I'm sure I would have remembered). On live all my characters get nuked repeatedly, so there is a difference which somehow slipped through the testing cracks - it happens - it is being fixed! Chill! The only conspiracy here is the one which awards you the Crey Freeze pistol accolade!

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Well they are addressing the stun/mez's and the +1 mobs.

However, my level 6 encountered a boss in the Hollows, "Electric Eel" who used Thunder Strike (lvl 18 power) and cast Lightning storm (lvl 32 power) and was surrounded by minions with Ice Blast and heal other. Talk about difficult. Even in a group he was hard because he was surround by more minions and Lts, all with special powers!

There is a fine line between being challenged and being frustrated/angered.

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I'm there now.. He is one level above me and boss, thats red, and im a scrapper with dark armor, combat jump and maneuvers. First tryk i pop 6 insps, get stuck in the henchie at the door, get him down (while eel still considers what to do), but before i get to him he mezzez me, and three hits me to death (no damage done this try), had saved a big heal for this day but coudlnt use it being mezzed. Try 2, 8 insps, did 55% to him before dying (he has range and I dont and he has better move and the halls arent made for escape here). Back again - he is now fully healed, 9 insps, him down to 5% and out of END (darn lightning) and even then my attacks are coming slowly (darn wind) - he gets the first lucky punch and down again. Back again and again he is full health. Then I call for my SG to come 'clean' the mission. We have tried it with our other characters version of the mission as well and duo'ed in different ways - but so far no luck! This mission should come woth a warning label like "accept this mission now, but dont enter till you have gone up 1 or 2 levels or invite some friend to join AFTER you enter the mission (else it just gets much worse)"

Maybe lowbie scrappers and blasters should stick to the streets for now and forget about missions.

Well.. eventually my SG will answer my cry for help and I can go somewhere else without having this mission reset and/or block my missionlist for levels to come.

PS! I some of you read this right now, give Weissbier on Victory a hand, he has many bulbs and they arent in a pretty color.

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In terms of the stature badges:

I completed the Crimson story arc and got nothing. I believe it gives the agent badge. I believe it is bugged (I want to die now).

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Statesman has stated that Story Arcs do not give badges (they give souvenirs) only individual missions give badges (hopefully some of the mission during an Arc will be included, Patient Zero certainly deserves a badge fighting at -20%)

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I think Clockstopper is for beating Gears. Not the named boss, but the little things that come out of a Prince after you beat him. I have a badge that is progressing that says "Defeat the Clockwork's animated gears to earn this badge."

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Yup! Counts up everytime I destroy gears but not for any other Clockwork, cant give you numbers yet, haven't defeated enough.