Cyyan

I have a mission I was editing, changing the number of destrucitbles, collectibles and adding 2 bosses to fight.

Here's the weirdness:
1. The destructibles # won't change.
2. The collectibles does.
3. The Boss battles register on the description of the mission but they don't display on the Nav once IN mission.

I have the Auto Save on and it says "File(NULL)Saved" when it does its thing. Does that mean it's NOT saving the changes to the file?

Any help? or ideas? Thanks!

Hate to have to re-do the whole dang thing.

How about Lost Connection to Mapserver to start off... and then can't re-log onto the character that I LCMS with because "so and so, is STILL logging out"... 15mins later. Anyone seen THAT before?

The "Group Looking for Members" tab... Oh wait...

Best: Changes to Blasters
Worst: Merits

(gotta do the Yin/Yang, as we all know, balance is everything)

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Subjective:

Merits feel like a grind.

Let me emphasize that, A GRIND.

Before Issue 13, even before it went live, when the Merit System was revealed for what it was, my interest in playing the game dwindled. I lost heart.

Under the old system: Finish Task Force: Oooh, I get a shiny! Maybe it would be something good or useful to that character or that could be shared, or maybe it wouldn’t, but there was instant gratification to this.

Under the new system: Finish Task Force: Oh, gee, um, merits. Kind of dry, tastes like cardboard. Gee, how many more TFs do I have to do to get my shiny? No instant gratification. Even if the task force was long enough to meet the 20 merit goal of being ‘worthy’ of a random roll, the player still has to make a trip to turn them in. There’s no excitement to this.

I understand the goals, both stated and unstated, behind the Merit System. I like the OPTION to save merits to purchase a desired item, to no longer be reliant on market flippers.

What I don’t like is that the zest of doing Task Forces is gone. The excitement of a reward at the end is gone. Comparing and trading rewards with your teammates is gone. I think you have underestimated the importance of this.

My experience:

I just don’t feel like doing Task Forces anymore, where I used to do 5 or 6 a week. Why bother? Where I had a chance at the end of each for something great (or maybe useful to my SG or vendor fodder) I now can save up box tops for the eventual day I can buy ONE enhancement. Just ONE. Or I can invest considerably more time than I used to have to in order to obtain a random roll that I have to visit a vendor to get, also not inspiring.

I also don’t like that 10 or so of the people I did Task Forces with regularly have quit the game. If I actually wanted to Task Force, most of the people I did so with on my main server Liberty are gone. The only suggestion I have for that is to have another Reactivation Weekend soon and hope some of them come back.

I haven't given up on this game, I still play, I still love my friends and family whom I play with here. I have played COH/V for 4 1/2 years and I very much disagree with the attitude that "people that leave are accounts you would have lost anyway". That is simply not true.

Look at my signature. It’s there for a reason. I bought a Lifetime Account on LOTRO a month ago. Issue 13 swept me off to Middle Earth. I play both games now.

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Nailed it.

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Merits have ruined the game for me to be honest. For the first time in almost 4 years I'm SERIOUSLY thinking of leaving CoH, and I'm not sure where I'll go ...yet. I don't know what makes Devs think grinding is fun, but it's not, the whole situation makes me sad and angry.

I don't know what the answer is... not that you'd listen anyways. Seems to me the outcry was pretty loud in Beta and you ignored it then.

Return CHOICE to the game, return FREEDOM to the game. To hell with trying to funnel me into YOUR vision of how the game SHOULD be played and let me play in peace. To hell with trying to defeat Gold Farmers, who cares? Outside of spamming they bother no one. Never once had a Gold farmer gank me and steal my stuff... ain't gonna happen here.

Of course my theory has always been you'd put out a severely tainted product (a la Microsoft), and then come back with a weak fix and everyone would cheer and praise you. When in fact the "fix" is still less than what is needed, a bait-n-switch. Yes, I've lost faith. If you truly played the game &/or listened, this never would have made it to Live.

Dark Astoria: needs a Task Force really badly. I'd like to see a successful Task Force result in the "fog" being lifted from the zone for a few minutes anyways, with the citizens emerging from their houses squinting, shielding their eyes and cheering for Task Force *****!
Task Force completion could result in some kind of Temp Power Toggle for +Perception, that could be renewable, like Shivans. It would be a nice way to earn a workaround for all the Blinding that happens vs Arachnos and the like.

Crey's Folly: this would be a fun kinda Eco/Time Travel TF, a chance to see/save CF before Crey trashed it. It could be an opportunity to play with the Devouring Earth as allies and maybe even get a Temp Power DE Pet, like the Warwolf .

@Aett, that would be a great cost effective way to give the Red Side more content. No real reason they couldn't open certain hazard zones to the Red Side, and they could be completely separate instances. Opens up all kinds of options. maybe even something like a possible concurrent Blue/Red TF kinda thing, with both teams hunting down specific but different AVs. Where in one of the maps the two teams cross paths and come together albiet reluctantly to fend off overwhelming numbers of enemies, and I DO mean overwhelming, and then go on their separate ways after their respective AVs.

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So, I need to spend 7+hrs running TFs to earn myself 1 Knockback Recipe?, when before I may just have been lucky enough to get it as a drop after a single TF OR recieved a Recipe I could sell to buy the one I wanted??, how is THAT a better system?

[/ QUOTE ]Because you only may have gotten that recipe you wanted. Or, you could have gotten nothing but worthless things that you don't want, and sell for little at the market in those 7 hours.

With this system, you're guaranteed to get what you want at the end of those 7 hours.

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Your missing the point. In those 7 or so hours I can run a Katie (30mins), a Manticore (90mins), a Respec (90mins) a Numina (90-120mins) and probably one more for a total of 5 Recipes, even my luck isn't THAT bad. I'm bound to get something I can use/sell, because the current rewards are also tradeable between my characters and friends. The market works because I know other folks are doing the same thing I am, so the supply IS there.

Merits = more Grind and less freedom to play the game your style (whatever that may be). More Grind just makes City of Heroes another boring grind-fest in a virtual sea of MMO grind-fests. Please tell me why, in THIS economic environment you want to be just another undistguishable MMO from all the rest?, that's just dumb.

I know there's an ulterior motive for Merits beyond the hooie we're being sold about it making the game more balanced for players.

I see Merits as a punative measure, penalizing those who just play the game casually. Why punish the majority of players for not being as good as the few power players? ..this is just plain stupid.
Merits will seriously impact teaming in a negative way, especially for those ATs that are not offensive in nature. I found Synapses comment about teammates in groups "along for the ride" and therefore essentially unworthy of earning Merits, to be objectionable.
So, I need to spend 7+hrs running TFs to earn myself 1 Knockback Recipe?, when before I may just have been lucky enough to get it as a drop after a single TF OR recieved a Recipe I could sell to buy the one I wanted??, how is THAT a better system?
We never fully recovered from ED and the loss of power/fun/"wow" that came with it, even though we were promised a "just you wait and see, it will all be worth it", I'm still waiting. The "Heroes" in this game are still shadows of thier former selves, and that will never change.
Merits are just another form of punative control over the way we play the game and will be bad for this game in ways the Devs haven't even thought of, watch the numbers drop "just you wait and see".

No

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Cyyan, i don't know for sure about that stone tank preferance. Now, granted, stones are usually the tank of choice, but i'm seriously wondering about it for STF. There's a LOT of psy flying around in this TF.


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True enough. To the best of my knowledge only Dark is any help in regards to Psi dmg.

@Fire_Brick: ya, I was thinking that same thing, with 2 Tanks 1 could splinter off with a buffer and Taunt a couple of AVs away from group while main portion of team dispatched the other AV... or something to that effect.

Not too sure about Ice Tanks and Psi either, mines only lvl31 and haven't had to deal with it much to date, I'm sure someone more knowledgable will chime in.

Some folks are excited about the new Hammi, some about Inventions... I don't care about either, but this TF has really got it's meathooks into me...

I'm trying to get a feel for what it takes to assemble a successful group, what ATs, what Powers (standard powers NOT temps) are preferable and certain Tactics/Strategies that have born fruit.

Please feel free to add-to or edit anything I may have missed.

ATs:
(not by any means suggesting a "perfect team" only what seems to have worked fairly well to date)
Tank: (Stone preferable) with constant buffs, maybe even a dedicated healer/buffer
Controllers: 2-3, any type (Emp/Rad/Dark/FF preferable)
Blasters: 1-2 any type
Defenders: 1-2 any type (see Contr)
Scrappers: 1-2 any type

Prefered Powers:
Geas of the Kind Ones
Vengence
Fallout
Tactics
(Shivans)

Tactics/Strategies:
Use the Temp Power on Aeon at beginning of fight, make sure the holder of power is aware they possess it
do NOT use "Avoid-type" AoE powers on AVs to prevent running
@ Lord Recluse, find and destroy the "Arachnos Transport Transponder" to stop Flyer and subsequent mob spawns from the Flyer
Ghost Widow: use ranged attacks to avoid her AoE heal
Maco: No "Avoid" powers, Vengence, Fallout, Tactics, Geas

Snipe pulling AVs has shown some success, as well as TPing the "sniper" back after the snipe to a safer location.

Sound about right to you all??

Oh! One additional question if I may? about how long did you take to complete the TF? I believe I've seen up to 5hrs

I guess I'm most intrigued by the widely opposing views on this TF. I'm assuming that those who had an "easy" go of it are the powergamers out there (and I do not mean that in a negative way), with an optimized build and near perfect team setup.

The "not-so-easy" opinions I tend to put more stock in because I think they reflect the majority of the games population. These are the PuG teams, the non Hammi-O'd builds, the average player if you will.

I look forward to running this soon. But I fear that this will become a "specialized" TF, needing certain ATs and team compositions to run well, I hope it's not the case, only time will tell.

Reading these numerical posts always makes me feel like a drooling dolt . . . thank the gods there are some smart sobs out there

Jay,
I honestly would prefer you fix the Display Bug in Icon first and foremost. On almost ALL my Heroes when I first initiate a costume change my Hero shows up displayed with all sorts of costume choices I never gave them: different Hair/Face/Colors/Options/Tops/Bottoms you name it!, very very seldom do I actually get to work on the Hero I walked into Icon with. I first have to "re-build" them and THEN I can start to add Capes or Auras or make small tweaks.

Any news on getting THIS fix completed?

Positron sir, a Praetorian AV list/bar... how nice of an addition to the game would that be. Either adding or removing them as they are taken into "custody"... please.

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the true meaning behind the title, “Forest of Dread.”

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Aptly named, many players dread seeing all the nerfage and reduction in fun that this Issue is going to bring.

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LOL, I left WizKids MechWarrior after 3 years for the same things this game is experiencing with i5, constant nerf-age and a disregard for player sentiment... sigh.

But the funny thing was the name of the expansion that broke the camels back for me seems remarkably close to "Forest of Dread", it was called "Age of Destruction". So I'm calling this i5 mess "Age of Dread".