Doctor_Gemini

Legend
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  1. We were talking about moving around servers again last Sunday. I think before there's much point in talking about it we should find out who would be joining us if we were not playing on Liberty every week.

    I notice there's not much posting by the people who used to join us pretty regularly in this forum, either, so it seems more like the AE interest cycle is on the low end at the moment. If that's true we may as well stay put. (of course, with as many characters as I have I always like playing different character and server hopping always works for me).
  2. With 125+ characters I play them all, but for sheer awesomeness and feeling truly super it has to be Storm.

    My Storm/Ice offender is about the only defender I play regularly, and he is an uber-tank (thanks to Hurricane) calling down the wrath of god on his enemies who are usually too busy flying through the air and picking themselves up off the ground to ever hit back.

    My Stormies don't get to unleash their full power often on teams, but when the pancake hits the fan and the team starts dropping like flies, Hurricane, Tornado and Lightning Storm keep my stormie alive and clear out the bad guys long enough for everyone to rez and jump back into it to fight whatever is left.
  3. The game will finally be able to give us pie.
  4. Quote:
    Originally Posted by dugfromthearth View Post
    The trouble with the argument against forced teaming for incarnate stuff is that if all incarnate stuff is teaming, there is no need to get it if you don't team.
    WRONG! If all that was gated behind incarnate content was incarnate powers my attitude would be "no problem, have fun people who enjoy the trials". However, the devs then decided to gate things that have absolutely nothing to do with incarnate powers or things you can only use on the trials behind the content.

    There are costumes, emotes and a couple other things locked behind running the trials. I'm all for team-only content even if I'm not likely to be able to play it because anything that expands who the game will appeal to is a good thing. However, people do not take well when the rule of the game for the last several years has been giving players multiple ways to gain access to items available in the game suddenly being told "we're going to gate certain items behind a single, specific play style". Even PvP IOs can be gained by means other than PvPing, Purples can be gained without farming, so you can't expect us to just shut up and be ok with this.
  5. Quote:
    Originally Posted by TonyV View Post
    There is, however, a fireman. Exactly one. And he dances.
    That's because, on each server, there can only be one Fireman. They try to hire more, but when they're told they have to be Fire.man, or Fire Man, or xXFiremanXx they quit.
  6. I've been burned out on CoH for the last 3 months or so, but spending the last month in a recently launched MMO has rekindled my CoH interest and reminded me why it's now the longest played game I've ever owned.

    1. Travel. Except for the the first 10 minutes of the game, I can get anywhere I need to go quickly. I like having to travel through the environment, it adds to the sense of immersion in the game (which is why I have a hard time playing more than 1 AE arc in any given night), but, I've no desire to spend 5 to 10 minutes getting anywhere. CoH does it just right, a quick trip through the city and you're there. Just like in the comics - you might get a panel or 2 showing your hero traveling through the city, but you don't spend half the book seeing nothing else but.

    2. Inspirations. I get a number of consumables that enhance my performance with no cooldown on their use. If I'm fighting something very tough, I can take multiple heals quicker than I get hit, so I don't end up having the effects of the heal taken away before I can even get another attack in.

    3. Costumes. Not being forced to look like everyone else and have my look dependent upon what gear I want to use, is a major issue for me. Characters looking the way I want them to look makes me want to play them. In fact, I've deleted some CoH characters because I could never figure out the right look for them.

    4. Powersets. You can make an incredible number of completely different playing characters. While a number of powersets play in similar ways, with only different special effects, there are still a huge number of sets that are significantly different from others. On top of that, many secondary powersets can make many primaries play very differently than with another combination. I've 125 characters at the moment, and with the exception of a handful of rerolls, they all feel different. I've never played a game where the various paths you could take within a class made the class feel significantly different from one taking another path.

    5. Money. Money flows like water. I don't have to spend time being a marketeer, or farming, to make enough money to buy almost anything I want. I can get tickets running AE story missions, I can get hero merits running tips or the SSA's. and very easily amass a couple hundred million. I IO out my characters at level 7 and replace those IOs every 10 levels or so. Other than buying purples or PVP IOs, the only obstacle to getting what I want has been its availability, which can also be circumvented.

    6. Teaming. I play for fun and relaxation. I have no desire to learn the most optimal builds or have to study and memorize the proper strategy for playing a role correctly on a team. In CoH I only have to know what my powers do (which is gained through normal gameplay) and have basic common sense. Being willing to work with the team (as opposed to acting as if one is playing solo and there just happen to be some other heroes in the same mission) is the only major requirement to being a good teammate.

    7. Getting Away. I can move faster than the bad guys. If I get in over my head I actually have an option for survival...RUN! Better yet, I've a good chance of being able to get away. In most other games I've played, once you're engaged you're fighting to the death. Nothing is more frustrating in a game than seeing you have no chance and realizing there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. In CoH, I have inspirations and speed.

    There is more, but the post is already more than long enough.
  7. Quote:
    Originally Posted by VoodooGirl View Post


    Is it that hard to do the arc?

    You can solo it, as far as I am aware of.

    So, are you against solo'ing? Or did you need something to complain about to reach your daily quota? Is it that serious? Do you feel one person should carry the burden of having to do the whole arc so 7 other people can join in on one mission and get the badge and have to skip all the work?
    The arc is not hard to do at all. However, when you're running it for the 20th time, it gets a little onerous. I've 125 characters. I can get an O portal for every character without having to run the Faultline arcs 125 times. It's asinine that I have to run Montague's arc 125 times to get Cimerora access for all of them.
  8. As a story arc player, I already get pissed over the things the dev's have done to control PLing in AE. If I have a few hours to play and I feel like running my character that is leveling exclusively in AE I damn well better not run out of the ability to gain xp. That would be the nail in the coffin of my ever using AE again.

    Farming is not the problem. Farming is also not the dev's issue. Nearly all of the AE nerfs have been to combat PLing, not farming, which are two entirely different things. The problem is the devs. The devs made the decision, after initially announcing AE was not to be used for farming, to turn a blind eye to it. Despite deciding to unofficially condone farming, the devs refused to make even a simple fix that would allow story players to actually find story arcs. They already have the tools in place to do it, so there is no excuse why they have not done so.

    The farmer vs. story crap needs to stop. Farmers did not ruin AE, the devs did. They're the ones that deserve the outrage.
  9. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Gaming_Glen View Post
    It's not going to change until we "boy gamers" start seeing more females IN PERSON around the gaming table playing RPGs and other table games. The collectable/tradeable card games do see more females, though.
    I've never seen this complete lack of female gamers. A smaller number, yes, but not non-existent. Even way back in the dark ages, about 1978, when my pen & paper campaign started, it consisted of my 3 closest friends, 2 of their sisters, and 1 of their moms. Between all the P&P games I've run or joined over the (gulp) decades, I'd guestimate at least 1/3rd of the gamers I've played with have been female.
  10. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Arcanaville View Post
    Everyone thought Statesman was a practically indestructible superhero, and then he took an arrow to the knee.
    but that never kills anybody, that just forces them to join the PPD...
  11. I keep subbing for 2 things. Ability to pay base rent, since my SGs are alts only, and, most importantly, having enough slots for upwards of 125 characters. Otherwise, I'd likely drop my sub as well. I've only 2 50's and am pretty much locked out of running Incarnate content due to my playtimes until the solo path gets made, and there has yet to be much free to VIP non-incarnate content I've enough interest in to keep subscribing to get. Without my sub I'd have 15 or so slots. Considering my sub cost is less than $4 a month (after subtracting the cost of my free PPs), it's a great value compared to the cost of buying all those slots.
  12. Sorry I haven't been keeping up with the club. I've pretty much gotten burned out on CoH and a few weeks away has not recharged my batteries so I'm likely out for another month or two. I always get pulled back in, though (and I'd better since I'm buying another year with the holiday deal), so kick me out and take my arc off the list, I'll rejoin the club when I come back.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tubbius View Post
    Arc #271637: Welcome to M.A.G.I., by @Doctor Gemini

    Good overall. 5 stars rating, but a few quick notes:

    1. It might very well be finishable on a level 1-10, but I'm not sure? I was on a 25, exemplared down to 10, with level 15 powers, on a team of 8, at default difficulty settings, and it was tough going in some missions: very demanding in terms of constantly fighting. Plus, a true level 1-10 character won't necessarily have the space to carry the extra Break Frees to use in the last mission.

    2. Azuria's voice didn't quite feel right to me, for some reason. She's always struck me as the wise, serene, water-off-a-duck type, which isn't quite the vibe I got here, especially with her crack about what players have heard at the Hero Registration meetings or what-not.

    3. Something I'm guilty of myself, sometimes: a couple of the NPC chat boxes were slam full of text, making it hard to take them all in when a boss drops amid his flunkies because players are still trying to focus on fighting, not having the time to read the text 'til later, with scrolling up through the chatbox.

    BUT overall, a solid mission with a good story when one takes the time to read the clues. 5 stars, and well worth a replay when I have a little more time and a character of the appropriate level to see if it REALLY works for me at that stage. Good work.
    Thanks for the play and review. Addressing your issues...

    1. I've played about a dozen level 1 characters through of all ATs and they've all been fine. By the time you enter the last mission you're level 5 so you can carry enough inspirations to take in at least 1 break free, and I've never actually needed more.

    2. In designing Azuria's dialogue, I decided to ignore her official dialogue because she, and all those early contacts especially, came across to me as generic and interchangeable. So I had her speak very precisely pronouncing each and every syllable...except when she gets upset. She is still human, so serene or not I see her getting very annoyed when she is constantly blamed for things out of her control, even if it was really a bit of meta-humor.

    3. I know. Far too many dialogue boxes of all types were filled to the brim. Most of my mission dialogues had to be cut down just to fit. If I ever do another arc it won't be so chatty.

    Thanks for the kind words. It's going to get a major revamp, especially in mission 4, when I get over my CoH doldrums and get back into the game again.
  13. Best Lowbie Arc: designed for levels 20 or lower
    1) The Blue Devils #468738 by @Flame Kitten
    2) Cole in Your Stocking #474611 by @Venture
  14. Doctor_Gemini

    City of Sewers

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by rian_frostdrake View Post
    a fair amount of that content just came this issue. its a bit early to call "sick to death" when mercy and atlas are new and fairly low on the running around for more than a mile.
    Not for me. Having run about 6 or my 20 or so new alts through the new Atlas content I'm sick of it. I'm sick of the DfB, too, but at least it's a quicker way to a greater variety of content.
  15. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Thirty-Seven View Post
    Is the incorrect use of "you're" there intentional?
    That just proves that we're doomed.
  16. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Garielle View Post
    I have seen the idea of a flag expressed by others as well, and on the surface, it's a good idea. The problem with a "Story" tag is moderating it. Who would assign the tag? The author? People who play the arc?

    If it's the authors and story arcs show up more frequently in search results, then what's to stop farm writers from marking their farms as stories in order to game the system? Have someone in charge of moderating use of the flag? If they are going to do that, why not have someone just lock the farms altogether? Initially, that's what they did, and they realized there was simply no way to keep up with the number of farms being put into the system, so human moderation isn't really an answer either.

    Okay, so let's just reverse it. Have players have the ability to flag arcs as farms. The flaw there is, once again, if the story arcs get better search placement, what's to stop other authors (either farm authors OR story authors) from flagging a story arc as a farm just to get better placement for their own arc? Please keep in mind, this is the same system where story arcs already get 1 star ratings for not being farms.

    Bottom line, if some people can see someway to game the system, they will. The whole reason the farms are in the MA system to begin with is people looking for the shortest, easiest, path from 1 to 50.

    So what's the answer? Haven't figured that one out yet.
    Story arcs may get 1-starred, but it is not done by farmers. If even a small percentage of farmers decided to get together and 1-star story arcs, those story arcs would forever after be 1-star arcs, and have no chance of getting enough plays to ever be anything else, not knocked down to 4. The players 1-starring story arcs may farm, but they are the "children mad because Mommy spanked them for being bad so they're acting out" niche, not the farmer niche. And that is a very small group. (of course, "very small" is a term that applies to any number of things about them)

    Obviously some from this same niche would tag their farms as story arcs but I very much doubt most farmers would want to. Regardless, it would at least be a step that would, presumably, require very little coding time. If it gets invaded then it does, but at least it would show that they are trying, something they have failed to show for well over a year now.
  17. Congrats Igor. I don't think I've played this one yet. I'll have to check it out when I can stomach the AE again.
  18. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Bubbawheat View Post
    It may not be the sweeping changes the AE needs, but at least it shows that the AE is still on the radar, no matter how faint the blip may be.
    I have to disagree with you on this. To me it shows that the devs have given the middle finger to the story players and writers. Just looking over the patch notes, and the 6 or 7 MA changes, did I see even ONE thing that helps story players/writers? Nope. Is even a simple fix, such as adding a Story Arc tag to an already existing tag system in the build? Nope. I'm sure stripping buffs and reducing rewards for ambushes took far more coding time that adding a new tag.

    For me personally, I'm so disgusted with the devs treatment of AE that I haven't been able to play AE arcs much at all. Just being in the AE building reminds me how their treating the story community and I end up being so frustrated I log out of the game for the night and go do something else.
  19. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow View Post
    Here's the thing, though: People are already paranoid about starting tasks without the absolute maximum number of people you can shove in them. For instance:

    You can start a DFB with as few as four people. I've run it with four and it was very easy. Yet time and again, I see people broadcast "DFB lf4m!" for half an hour, after having sat in Help for a while and know that this DFB team already has four members. They have enough people to start, but they're willing to waste another half hour looking for the remaining four.

    I'm not sure people need much coercion to look for max size teams when said people are inclined to look for teams to begin with.
    Although I haven't worried about it myself, what I keep hearing from others when a DFB has started with few people is not concern about failure but the fact that the rewards are less. If you don't have a large enough team to spawn AVs you don't get many SOs.
  20. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Wicked_Wendy View Post
    I can understand what your saying Doc but the devs cant base every single thing they add to the game on how it will affect a small percentage that can only be on line from 2AM till 5AM on the lowest populated server.

    If they did absolutely everything would be designed to only be soloed.. Like it or not the game is designed around players teaming.
    Odd, but I didn't say anything even suggesting this. In fact, I said it was a good thing for the game to have some content requiring teams.

    Then again, it seems to be the theme of this thread. No matter what someone actually says, you're either a soloist or a teamer, and no one can support both.
  21. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Maudy View Post
    Oof. Rethinking strategy. Maybe I will just go the minimal route, unlock 5 characters, and pay for an inventions license every now and then.
    If you can raise $100 to spend all at once, then you might wait until the end of Dec and see if they offer the subscription deals they have for the last 2 years around Christmas. You could get an 8-month subscription (which would net 8 tokens) for around $75, IIRC.

    Look for box sets that are cheap enough to fit into your budget (like the GR package mentioned earlier in this thread), just make sure they are new. If you can stay subscribed for another year, that will give you your tokens and alot of free PP to use to unlock whatever else you may want as a Premium.
  22. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Lord of Storms View Post
    Welcome to M.A.G.I.

    Over all a good story, with a few (possible) errors I sent in a comment, so I won't repeat them here (and I said possible because I am not sure they are errors). A few non-cannon points that might have some up in arms, but honestly, I am not big on cannon myself and even the devs have made some mistakes there, so only mentioning it as a warning to purists.

    Some good points: Nice variety in the groups you fight, mostly standards - good thing (good at lower levels, customs are generally harder to defeat than standard enemies), kuddos for avoiding the CoT maps (I don't much like them either), and liked how we got to meet the "big bad" early on and yet having him get away so we can face him later, and have it actually make sense! I know we get to do that in stories and novels, but I don't see it often in MA and I think it helps to develop the story. Good Job!
    Thanks for the play and the in-game feedback. I'll take a look at the potential errors when I can get enthused about AE again. I've still got a boatload of revisions to make on the arc.
  23. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Wicked_Wendy View Post
    The reality is players WANT to run thing like the Winter Realm because of the potential rewards. Well if you want the rewards then you NEED to play by the rules. If the rules require an 8, 10 or 12 man team to accomplish said task.. you FORM an 8, 10 or 12 man team!
    Except that, for people who can only play in the wee hours of the morning or on low population servers, you're telling us if we want the rewards to change our sleep schedules in order to play a game, or transfer our characters to a more popular server.

    That said, it doesn't bother me if some of the content is designed for large teams. That's a good thing. The more different playstyles that the game embraces the better. As long as the content does not give access to rewards that cannot be reasonably gained any other way (like the incarnate trials do), then people should stop being troubled that a few things are made for large groupings.
  24. Arc Played: #517859: Crime is Art and Art is Crime, by @Twoflower
    Character: Col. Liberty, L40 Broadsword/WP Scrapper

    Overall: I enjoyed this arc a great deal. Good humor without devolving into immersion-breaking comedy. I was almost laughing too much to fight at Abe Lincoln's lines later in the arc.

    I liked the customs, and the bosses seemed well-done power-wise (although it's hard to judge when running them on a nigh-invulnerable character at only 0/x1). Teddy is the only one that actually gave me any real injury, the self-rez made him an especially tough one. Liked it.

    There was nothing I disliked in this arc and I've no suggestions or criticisms for you. I give it a Thumbs Up (5-stars).
  25. I'd like to know what exactly has been added to the game that you consider gimmicks.