Dr_Automaton

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Something about fighting dessert that just seems silly.

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The boys in Monty Python sure thought so.

Ya gotta get up pretty early in them morning to scoop the forumites, Arctic.

I think most players are focusing on another part of the article, LH:

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New Test Method

We first need to make sure that the system is ready for prime-time, and we determined that the best way to accomplish this is with a closed environment server. This means that we will be closing the North American Training Room shortly and using it to test Issue 9 in a more private capacity. Once we get enough feedback and incorporate the necessary changes so that we feel it's ready for public, we'll open the Training Room for all, and the full on testing can begin. We are proud of this new system and not only do we hope that our existing players will love it, but we also think this is a compelling reason for new players to get in and check it out!


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One thing I would like to know, am I right in thinking this, that if you use a pet summon power with a special bonus-granting IO in it and the power does not summon any pets because they are already out, does the bonus still activate?

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Yes, per Castle's response in another thread.

Castle,

Will the enhancements that add extra abilities, like the +Regen and Aura, provide any sort of visibile Icon below the health bar and/or combat spam, to let players know when they are in effect and expire?

Forget it! I'd delete the resulting drop just on principle!

Man, I hate that property.

Right, which is why I would only sign on to the idea of Pool B drops in SFGs/MMs if there was a time gate of some sort. Being able to earn a drop every 1-3 days on a level 50 doesn't seem out of the question to me.

It would be very farmable, which is why I like the idea of adding a Pool B drop to Safeguards/Mayhem's for the mission holder but restricting the drop from those missions to once per day, similar to the HO limit in the LRSF. The Pool B drop could even be restricted to lvl 45+, so that it's only available to those character who no longer have Story Arcs available.

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Hey, I know this is gonna be a bit backward but I'm gonna ask it anyway. Is it possible for Heroes and Villains to team up on a Statesman Taskforce? My big reason for asking is character driven. My main toon has no love for Recluse and even less respect for him. He would rather side with Statesman in taking down Recluse then to do anything to help Recluse. So just a thought there.

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Signs point to "no."

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I'm absolutely positive I saw a mention about the new Hami Trial being on a 24 hour timer, not the reward. On the other hand, my searchfu with my dialup prevents me from finding it (it'd take me several hours...no kidding, REALLY bad dialup here at work).

That said, if the LRSF is on an HO timer (new info to me, thanks), I can't deny the possibility that the StatesTF will be the same. I did say my stuff about the StatesTF was speculation. Who knows? They may change both, or neither. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

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I think the quote we're bothing thinking of is from the MMORPG.com interview:

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MMORPG.com: What can players expect from the new Hamidon encounter?

MM: Smaller raids, better tactics, and less potential for griefing. Since the Hamidon encounter will be much more do-able with small groups now, we’ve had to go ahead and put the “once per 24 hours” restriction on the Hamidon Enhancement you can get from it, so it doesn’t become farmed 10 times in a day. Once players start seeing the power of the Set based inventions, they may start picking the “Rare Recipe” option upon defeating Hamidon instead!


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Positron specifically notes that the timer applies to the HO reward, but then mentions that he doesn't want Hami raided multiple times back to back. I suppose we may not know for sure until it hits the Training Room. Given that many of us will be over on test working out new strategies when it does, I certainly hope that Hami can be raided more than once a day.

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I think both sides will have the 1 HO per day limit.

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Technical correction: I believe it's "you can only do the Hami Trial once every 24 hours" not "one HO a day". So if you don't get an HO out of it, you still can't go again until tomorrow. However, if the StatesTF also offers HOs, I'm pretty sure you can do that even if you've done the Hami Trial that day (StatesTF stuff is merely speculation, though).

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AFAIK, the LRSF allows for one HO reward a day. I believe you can run it as often as you want, but after you select that HO, you're stuck snagging something else every time after until 24 hours later. With I9, there will also be TF Pool rewards available as rewards. STF should operate the exact same way. I'm thinking that Positron mentioned that rare drops will be avilable as rewards upon Hami defeat/complete with no suggestion that he could only be raided every so often, only that the time-gated HO mechanic would be making its way Hero-side.

It be late and I be sleepy, so someone else will have to looking for redname posts/interviews if the want the word straight from the horse's mouth.

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Wonder what kinda reward we'll get? Villains get a HO, so I doubt we will get one since we have Hami.

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Think again. Come I9, Heroes and Villains will each have access to both Hami and a TF/SF. AFAIK, the TF/SF will offer an HO or TF Salavage, while Hami will offer an HO or Trial salvage. I think both sides will have the 1 HO per day limit.

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The Statesman TF looks like nine kinds of awesome (although isn't it going to break a certain story arc to have Statesy physically handing out this TF?)

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That's the only other issue I have with it at this point. Depending on how it pans out on Test, I may ask that States be moved to inside the FC ship with the door unlocked by the badge. AFAIK, Recluse will only hand out his SF to a leader who has his Patron badge, so it wouldn't be dissimilar in that regard.

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Although I'm still really looking forward to the STF, I question the decision to include an Oranbega map mission. Do we really need another CoT connection in a TF/SF?

(yes, I know I mentioned this in the other STF thread, but this being the "official" thread and all . . . )

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I'm seeing a lot of posts where people are suggesting that implementing the Flashback system should be used to open up Start Arc drops to level 50s. Guys, I think it's safe to say that ain't happenin'. There's a fair amount of code that would likely need to be added to make Flashbacks a reality, and Cryptic seems to be pretty frugal with its man-hours. Use the KISS priniciple, here. The simpler the solution, the more likely it will be considered.

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I actually wanted to go with Drops II: Drops Harder

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*sniff sniff*

Hmm. A faint odor of a positronic suit, there. Must be my imagination.

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No way, I would have gone with Drops II: Attack of the Drops.

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Let's stay on topic, Positron. You don't want LH to lock the board again, do you?

The issue with Safeguard/Mayhem missions dropping from the Story Arc Pool would seem to be that it would make salvage that would seem to be meant to be relatively rare common as Hydrogen. As mentioned in another thread, how about limiting Story Arc drops in Safegard/Mayhems to once per day? This would provide a repeatable source of Story Arc drops, but the limit technology would keep the farming relatively low.

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Shivans don't have - regen ?

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Nope.

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All they even need to do is nerf Shivan's debuffing abilities and vola it's fixed.

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Shivan's don't debuff, AFAIK, except for Def with their Rad attacks. What shivan's offer is a whopping lot of extra damage to overcome ATs/GMs huge regen rates along with nice solid EB hit points that allow them to survive AT/GM attacks.

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Does that 30-40 minutes include the time it took you to get Shivan's and/or nukes? If not, how long do you spend in prep time before each of these solo runs?

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/em Golf clap.

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Advantage: Castle.

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Getting close to the 30 page mark. Here's my updated, annotated list of preferred solutions:

* Giving TFs/Trials and Story Arcs the same Drop Pool
My personal favorite. TFs/Trails require some time and effort to complete, but, unlike Story Arcs, are repeatable with the same character. Only real down side I see to this is that it would change the 4-pool system to a 3-pool system.

* Slim chance of cross-Pool drops from mobs
Allows for the occasional special drop for those users whose playstyle differs from dev expectations. It could, however, provide incentive to farmers to street hunt.

* Story arc drops for entire team on final arc mission
Encourages teaming to counter a player's desire to solo and run only his own Story Arcs to maximize Arc drops.


As for ideas I'm against:

* Story Arc Pool drops for completing Mayhem/Safeguard missions
A large team could easily minimize the number of "filler" missions needed in order to unlock large string of Mayhem/Safeguard missions. Additionally, Safegards take at most ~5 minutes to complete. This would greatly encourage MM/SFG teams over running Story Arcs. I would be against this unless the chance of a Story Arc drop was reduced to make it happy, but uncommon occurance, on finishing the mission for the mission holder.

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Could we have private sales at Wentworth's thus being able to sell our recipes or drops to our specific level fifty's from our lower level characters that run story arcs?

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I see little reason to code for this when trades between alts are easy enough to carry out with the help of a friend or an SG storage item.

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Tying Arc drops to Safeguards sounds like a bad idea, as Story Arcs take a long string of missions to complete (especially hero side).

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Yeah, but if it's only tied to Safeguard completion you end up needing to do six missions for each result. Excluding the 40+ Hero arcs, most story arcs are seldom more than ten or twelve missions (and the 40+ hero arcs have their own reasons to go for them). Just give Safeguard's a 50% chance for a Pool A rare (drop from enemies) and a 50% chance for a Story Arc Pool recipe.

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Nice tweak. My only concern about adding drops to MM/SFG completes is that, since completing them or paper/radio missions count as broker credit for everyone on the team, people would abandon Story Arcs in order to farm 8+ MM/SFG missions in a row. Reducing the chance of Story Arc Pool drop would probably lessen that, but it still would likely be an unintended consequence of the change. Maybe lowering the Story Arc Drop rate on MM/SFG missions even more, to something like a 10% chance?

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Thanks Doc.
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* The majority of sets are available exclusively through defeating enemies. This means that all the pieces of the set are attainable by beating up things.


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Will specific enemies, have specific drops?
Lets say I need something dropped by Council Warwolfs. Great I head to Strigia, but as a level 50 guess what? NO DROPS. The same thing can happen for Cabel, Fir Bog, Red Caps, Warriors and any other enemy that a character has out leveled.

No team is going to exempt/malfactor a higher up player, just so he can street hunt for drops.

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I belive it's already been said that mob drops will depend only on mob level, not Faction.

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What about giving every teammate a Story Arc drop when completing a player's final Arc mission? Wouldn't that remove the incentive to break away from the team in order to complete one's own Story Arcs to maximize Story Arc Pool drops?