FourSpeed

Yes, I am aware of the published "why".

How many recent changes are due to these "server load" issues?

In the past, there've been issues with particle effects, mob hoarding, certain
trial and mission maps, pets, the market interface in general (not just /ah),
and that's not even counting driver and/or ultra mode issues we've run into
along the way...

It certainly begs the question of what sort of hardware they're running on and
what sort of unoptimised/inefficient code they're putting on it when "server load"
is the reason for repeated feature removal.

It's not like we're running 1 million users on the system, or that there aren't
seperate (or multiple) systems for handling things like maps, instances, etc
in their architecture.

In short, yeah I know the complaint, and I find it lacking...


Regards,
4

So, being unable to use /ah in your base, where you'd be likely to, you know,
have salvage stored, have a crafting table, and maybe have an idea about using
these features to buy recipes, craft them, and sell them on WW/BM from one
simple, sensible and convenient location is intentionally verboten?

/unsigned


4


PS> I'm fine with that in Missions. But in SG Base? That's just Wrong...

Well, just to be clear, /ah and Workbench are two different issues.

/ah doesn't work in instanced missions, which is nbd to me, except that the
SG Base is an instance, and having /ah not work *there* is a real pita.

I believe one of the issues with /ah is server load due to the way the Market
Interface is populated (that's always been problematic and has been improved
at least twice that I know about).

Interestingly enough, /ah works just fine in a PvP zone though...

I've grabbed the odd inspiration that way before -- I know -- Naughty Stalker!
I can't help it, I'm EVIL!


Workbench doesn't have the same problem (as far as I'm aware). I've not actually
tried it in a base (Hmmm) because I have a crafting table in there...

I was musing about possible PvP implications, maybe crafting a team load of
temp powers, but I'm at a loss to see the problem, and/or how making them
zone out before crafting would solve it...

I'm fairly sure that Workbench did work in Bloody Bay (at least) back in the I-11
timeframe or so when I first got it on a toon...


I'm not concerned about /ah other than the Base issue (Fix that Please!), but I
was curious when Portable Workbench was changed (don't recall ever seeing
a patch note about it), and whether a reason was ever given for it.


Regards,
4

Nope.

To be sure, there was a lengthy period after ED where toons felt pretty mediocre
compared to pre-ED days.

That said, Inventions allowed us to go back to feeling like we had truly powerful
characters once again.

Additionally, multi-aspect IOs that never expire actually allow toons to build-in
a more consistent performance level where you can enhance more than just
the core attributes, and effectively do so earlier in the toon's career.

By that, I mean that if you graphed SO's performance, you'd see a sawtooth
effect from slotting a set of +3s that gradually decline to 0 (or even -1) before
jumping back up when the next batch of +3's get slotted.

With IO's, once slotted, performance is smooth and consistent from then on,
and I definitely don't miss the 5-level replacement cycle we used to have (even
though I know other players are still content with that approach).

Finally, the third consequence of IO's - the Markets (WW/BM), have also been
a huge benefit in two key ways - first, by giving me access to IO's I'd otherwise
typically not have access to (tf/trial pool drops for a solo player, for instance),
and secondly, by providing a mechanism that allows me to earn enough inf to kit
out any/all of my toons easier than at any other time in the game's history.

I surely didn't enjoy the transition period from ED to IOs, but I wouldn't want
to go back to pre-IO days.


Regards,
4

Exactly my point...

Most AT's have powerset combos that completely suck in PvP, and there's ZERO
way to know that from their PvE performance.

Experienced PvPer's have learned (mostly from trying them) what works, and
what completely blows chunks.

Little Johnny (or any new or sufficiently inexperienced PvPer) is going to have NO
clue and if he's also a person that is iffy on the whole PvP thing from the get-go,
he's going to have a seriously sucktastic time and will be even more convinced
that PvP is this game is assinine.



Regards,
4

Literally, you *could* play with that. Some folks have dabbled with *just* Brawl.

More in line with what you may be asking for, I can play with just 3 powers
on my Stalker(s) - Hide, Placate, and AS.

1-Shotting mobs never gets old, and having mobs looking around seemingly wondering
"wth just happened?" after Placate still makes me smile sometimes.

Sure, extra attacks are nice if I want to stick around and be a Pocket Scrapper,
but those 3 can get the job done all by themselves...


Regards,
4

I don't hold the position that "stupidity" doesn't exist, or is even particularly rare,
after all, I DO hang out in the Market Forum section and the Market Channel.

We have seen some unbelievably clueless folks rant in there over the years.

In fact, the guide in my signature is the direct refutation of an especially clueless
(imo) poster.

The point I did make however (in my first post) is that I wouldn't automatically assume
stupidity is the only reason, or even the primary/default reason for overpaying,
and some of the reasons are (again imho) perfectly rational in many cases, if/once
all the factors are considered.

Yep. No argument from me...

I have a tendency to stop into the market for a particular task, and sometimes
that involves purchases at the NAO price.

For me, it's always a cost/benefit decision based on the price, the time and
what else I want to get done in that game session.


Regards,
4

For the most part, I'd say this is simply not true.

Some AT's can do more or less ok (maybe even good), particularly Stalkers
and Blasters, but plenty are simply not useful, and a few are completely
worthless.

A perfect example for you... Burn Aura/Ice Melee Tank.

In PvE, nearly indestructible - it can tank Lusca for cryin' out loud.

In PvP - It might be able to bushwhack an 8yr old, with learning deficiencies,
on his first day in zone...

Why?

Ice Patch - worthless. SuperSpeeding, SuperJumpers completely ignore it
(and in zone, about 80% of players have both).
Burn - Even a moron knows not to stand in it.
Blazing Aura - mostly worthless. Nobody will stay in it either. It *can*
break a Stalker's hide (about 50/50 actually, due to Stalker AoE def in Hide)
Healing Flames - mostly worthless. First heal is good - it goes downhill from there - quickly.
Holds - worthless - they last about 2 secs (if that) from a Tank. Never bothered
to actually measure it because they're useless...

Basically, he doesn't have a useful power in PvP - this is (by far) the most worthless
PvP toon I have - despite being demigod-like in PvE...

In short, that toon cannot kill anyone in a PvP zone.

I'm betting he's not the only AT with issues like that - he's just one that I have
practical experience/knowledge of...


Regards,
4

This is a bit ambiguous, so I'm not quite sure what you meant to say.

My Widow ran SSA 1 thru SSA 3 last night for the first time and she was able
to select an A-Merit for each arc.

She then re-ran SSA 1 again and was able to claim a 4th A-Merit.

So, from that context, what you said is not true.

However, going forward (now that she has claimed the "free merit" from each
of the 3 arcs), she would only be able to receive a single A-merit each week
regardless of which SSA(s) she runs.

In this context, your point is true - you can only get 1 A-merit / week from SSA arcs.

The basic process is this:

1> Confirm your Alignment (if necessary)
2> Receive 1 A-Merit for each "First Time" run of an SSA arc.
3> Receive 1 A-Merit per week (total) for running any/all SSA arcs.

After last night's SSA runs, my widow can only get 1 A-Merit per week from the
SSA's now until new SSA's are released.

The week they release SSA 4, I'd be able to run that and get 1 A-Merit for
the new arc, and also 1 A-Merit for any additional run of an SSA arc that week.


The other point Ironblade mentioned is early on, there was some weirdness
(bug?) with *some* characters regarding their Alignment.

What I have personally seen on my own toons is this: If they have the Morality
Power (Hero / Villlain ... NOT Rogue / Vigilante) they're ok, and will be eligible
to select an A-Merit. I have several toons who did this (though some haven't
run tips is a LONG time -- though they were a "confirmed" Hero or Villain).

If they don't have that power, then they need to run tips/Morality mission before
being able to claim the A-Merit from SSA's. The widow mentioned above had
to do this, as she'd never run a morality mission (although, she's always be a
villain).


Hope that clears up any confusion.


Regards,
4


PS> Kudos Devs! SSA 3 from the Villain side was awesome! For the FIRST time
since CoV came out, one of my villains actually *felt* villainous -- Finally! GJ!

Now, *this* I can agree with.

Categorically claiming people are "stupid" if they willingly overpay for an item,
is rude and narrowminded.

Willingly overpaying and then publicly complaining about the prices is pretty
hypocritical.

The prices are fully governed by players (through the economic principles of
Supply & Demand). Additionally, there's more than 1 way to obtain items, and
some of them don't even require inf.

My own rule of thumb is to bid *only* what I'm willing to pay based on the priority
I attach to having the item. Sometimes, that is 11 and sometimes it's 1,111,111.


Regards,
4

Well, the history of those decisions is rather sordid...

In the first place, the game *never* had PvP when it was released.

Consequently, little thought was given to what would happen when one player
used his powers on another player... In the Beginning, Balance was non existant.

Obviously, that lead to a lot of changes...

Unfortunately, there were two problems. The first is that The Game Engine
didn't/doesn't handle some PvP-ish things very well (ie. mezzes comes to mind).

The second problem, and it's a doozy, is that many (if not most) players
were perfectly happy *without* PvP in the game, and when devs started
changing their characters for a reason that was pointless to them, murderous
screams arose.

That lead to a lot of things working differently in PvP than they do in PvE.

Additionally, most of those changes were made by devs who had minimal PvP
experience in the context of their game, and who themselves (as far as I know)
were also not good, or particularly active PvPer's.

Then somewhere along the line, someone got a burr up their behind in a seriously
misguided fit of trying to make PvP palatable for all of the players who didn't
want it in the first place -- and they then decided to revamp the entire system.

To make it worse, their first action was to blatantly ignore everything the people
who actually *did* PvP suggested -- thus was born I-13.

If anything, this widened the gap between the way things work in PvE and the
way they do in PvP...

Not only did this NOT entice Little Johnny to jump onto the PvP bandwagon, it
pretty much also guaranteed he'd never figure out how it works even if he did.

On top of that, it seriously peeved the actual PvPer's off to the point where
many of them left, and iirc got at least one Game/Forum rep fired.

...and that, Virginia, is how we got a PvP system that nobody likes, only
a small handful of people bother with, and fewer still truly understand all
the nuances of how it *actually* functions (apart from "abysmally")...


Regards,
4

Yes, I fully get it that you think there is in fact only one *right* way to do things.

Practically speaking, that supposition is inaccurate.


In fact, taking that mindset to it's logical conclusion, why would you ever buy
*anything* in this game? Surely, if you're patient, it will drop ... eventually...

So, on one extreme, we have the "Buy it Nao" position where players value
time over easily obtained pretend money, and on the other extreme would be the
"Buy it Never" position where players would slot just drops, valuing pricepoint
over time.

Clearly there's a lot of room between those two positions.

Given the typical Levelling times from L1-L50, I think we'd find a pretty large
statistical sample of players buying between Now and Tommorrow for most
commodities in game if we could mine the market transaction data.

With the notable exception of PvP and Purple IO's, the lower limit is probably
four days (ie. run tips enough to get 2 A-Merits). While there are a small handful
of IO's you can't buy with merits, the vast majority would be available for no
inf at all...in four days...

So, why would you ever wait longer than 4 days for any "normal" stuff?
If it's "insane" pricing, why wouldn't you grab it with tix or merits instead?


You're basically arguing the tradeoff between paying more for extended use
(from having it sooner) versus getting it for the lowest price possible even if that
means waiting for X amount of time.

Further, the position you're taking labels any players that don't take the
second approach as stupid rather than a simple player choice.

I find this somewhat amusing in a game whose purpose is leisure entertainment,
and possibly a bit self-righteous, self-centered and maybe even mildly offensive
as well.

The point that seems to continually sail over your head in all this is simple.

How exactly, can you *quantify* what I'm missing or not missing by buying
or not buying a particular item at a price I'm *willing* to pay?

Who appointed you to define "conspicuous consumption" on the part of *other* players?
Spending 0.00075% of my wealth on an item is excessive? Really?

What qualifies you to label the salvage market as "insane" for other players?
Especially given that *every* player who paid for salvage (or anything else
on the market for that matter) did so voluntarily and willingly?

Who made you the arbiter of the game *I* play?


One of the primary benefits of the Market imho is that it accommodates everyone,
regardless of their motivation, wealth, or in your rather narrow view, intelligence.

Need a bargain? Bid low and wait - There's a good chance you'll get what you
want, given sufficient time.

Need to improve Nao? No worries - the 0 key is Your Friend.

Can't buy what you want? Still no problem - with tickets or merits you can
still get what you're looking for with a little time and effort.


In short, there's more than one way to do it, and more than one reason to account
for it.

Anyway, that's enough of a threadjack for me...

To the OP - don't sweat the prices... Bid what you're willing to pay.
If you need more inf - it's unbelievably easy to earn it - check out a guide or two.
If nothing else, when prices seem high ... SELL!!!


Regards,
4


PS> So, of all the times you've been in an actual RL store in November, how
many times did you (Wing Leader) buy something on backorder? Seriously.

To You.

Again, that's your subjective opinion. Others have different opinions.

My subjective opinion for instance, is that I prefer to enhance powers rather than try
to use them unslotted. I'm also of the opinion that some IOs DO matter - procs, for instance
(Karma -KB, Kismet Acc etc.) can make an immediate improvement in a build.

EndRdx, Acc, Dmg, Rch IO's can also make an appreciable difference in a power -
particularily if it's new or underslotted currently.

To you, obviously it doesn't. Nothing wrong with that.

To me though, particularily when I'm selling things, listing sooner means I get paid
sooner - if I need a component to complete that process, NAO can be worthwhile
timeframe, depending on the cost/benefit ratio.

If I'm buying something, *convenience* has value to me there as well.

How often to you drop by a RL store to pick up an item on backorder? *

Far liklier you'll stop by the store, learn they don't have the item you want in stock,
and go elsewhere -- most folks usually won't say "Ok, order it for me and I'll
come back and pick it up when you get it".

Instant Gratification (like it or not) is an accustomed way of doing things...

Again - those are personal tradeoffs and priorities, not uninformed stupidity.


Regards,
4

* Edit: meant to say backorder, not layaway (got Xmas shopping on the brain)

None of those deaths were mine, although I did burn thru a month's worth of
inspirations and 4 Shivans...

That is one nasty tf.

Sorry I was so crunched for time, but I'm glad I was able to stay long enough
to help get that thing knocked off...

I also completed the trek to "Grey" late last night, and expect to be L29 or L30
by next Sunday (hopefully, I can stay later as well).


Cheers,
4

Well, this sounds a bit like Tinfoil Hat thinking to me... <shrug>

When MARTy was released (live), a number of CEBR folks intentionally tried
to trigger it ... and couldn't.

AE nerfs have been ongoing since the day of its release. Most of those were
to stop/fix things that were clearly *broken* (monkey farms, MM pets, etc).

Several other changes were to slow leveling - NPC helpers, Single power custom NPCs,
ambushes, insp-preloading, etc. Most of those were not only predicted, but fully expected.

TopDoc, the CEBR creator, outlined several of those possibilities in his CEBR introduction
thread.

Finally, if it isn't totally obvious, the *elimination* of farming (assuming a definition
I outlined earlier) is, in fact, Impossible.

Farming was occurring on Day 1 of the Game's I1 Release and continues to this
day, in a couple of cases with the same content. Of course, that's not even
including recent dev-added content who's intent is clearly for "reasonable" farming.

Would a clearer explanation of "excessive" from the devs be convenient? Sure,
except for one small wrinkle.

Please predict for us, if you will, every conceivable exploit the players can use,
both now, and in the future?

You cannot. Neither can the Devs. Within that simple truth, lies the obvious
reason the devs will not be delivering any Stone Tablets saying "Thou shalt
not engage in Activities A, B, or C, but everything else is OK".

What they have done, fairly consistently, I think, is state positions on player
harrassment, use of real world cash for in-game items/services, unless explicitly
sanctioned through the Paragon Market, and to a lesser degree of consistency,
taken action on game mechanics that are broken, and/or slow techniques that
historically level folks from 1-50 in single digit timeframes (ie. < 10 hrs) when
they become aware of them.

I think the OP's question was a legitimately valid one.

To that point, the correct answer is "No", although, as others have mentioned,
you can get banned for other things, like chat-spamming, player harassment, etc.
which may be secondary, but possibly related to the farming question.

OTOH, I think your vague paranoia is out-of-place, and largely ill conceived as well.

Mind you, my opinion on any of that is worth zero, as is yours. We may have
our own ideas on where the devs draw their lines, but last I checked, neither
you or I wrote a single line of code for this game - they did. Consequently,
they can set any limits they want, and we are free to abide within them, or
go write our own mmo (or play someone elses)...

End of Story. End of Threadjack.


Regards,
4

That's as may be, and certainly we all have our opinions on whether their ideas
jibe with our own or not.

That said, they won't ban you for farming which is, after all, the OP's question.


Regards,
4