GadgetDon

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My friends and I were very discouraged when we saw how much we had vs. how much we needed to build even the smallest base, and now we have 998 rent due on our entrance portal. Anyone know how to erase your base?

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Just ignore the rent. It doesn't pile up, you can only be one month in arrears, and the only effect of being in arrears is that your functional items are disabled. Since you have no functional items, it doesn't matter.

Personally, I'd do away with rent, and instead have a "maintenance fee" on your functional items.

Actually, given the onerous costs...I'd do away with rent completely. It's just rubbing salt in the wounds.

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If you get raided at some point ALOT of that work can be thrown out the window when your gens, control, defeneses get destroyed.

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Not everything blown up during a raid stays blown up afterwards. A percentage of the items are automatically fixed. This percentage can be improved by building certain aux items for the workshop.

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I know this violates the "keep the players in the dark" policy...but what is that percentage?

If there's a 75% chance of a destroyed object surviving, that's still going to hurt, but it's worth considering. If there's a 5% chance of a destroyed object surviving--I'll never contribute my prestige to a SG that will waste it by being raidable.

While it's better being forced to visit a contact outside the zone rather than inside, the issue is being forced to do so before you can deal with the contact.

Personally, I detest PvP, I greatly wish PvP had never entered the game. But, I recognize others differ, and it is here. For the most part, it's easily ignored. Being forced to travel across several zones to talk to one contact I will never ever get a mission from, well, I dislike it. And when every contact offers it as the only option, that is not good.

I would also add the Hollows, Striga, and Croatoa to the list. I hate the Hollows, the story doesn't interest me and the terrain is not friendly to a character without a travel power. Striga I like very much...but if I am talking to a contact, I want a mission, not a command to go see Stephanie Peebles. Croatoa...haven't made up my mind yet. But it's definitely no Striga.

Here's my proposal...at the appropriate time, I am offered the contact for the new zone as a contact. I can accept or reject, and whether I accept or reject I can still get a mission from the contact.

Alternatively...ask us if we want to follow through with that mission. We say no, it goes away. It's not like we're actually giving up anything, we can go see that contact on our own.

(If you do that, please add that to the "Go see the security chief for a mission to hunt in a hazard zone that you'll need a team for or else Jack Emmert will mock you for trying to solo and getting killed" missions.)

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Ah dude everyone in the base raid is the same level. Trust me a group of 15s can kick a group of 50s [censored] in that situation. Seen it happen in the pvp zones.

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A group of 15s with fewer powers, at most three or four slots power powers, fitted with DOs and TOs, sidekicked to 40 can kick a group of 50s with more powers, most powers six slotted with SOs?

There may be some groups where it's possible, based on AT and skill level, but given the same AT and roughly equal skills level, the level 15s are going to spend a lot of time examining the patterns on the floor.

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This unfortunately would give olde and larger supergroups an unfair advantage over newer and smaller supergroups. I don't think that's what the developers want at all. I think they want everyone too be on an even level for superbases.

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Sorry but that isn't true. The currentl system favors new SG and lower level players as it is easier for them to gain prestige. That hardly seems like a "level" playing field.

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How does it favor new SGs? Existing SGs get the same 20K Prestige per member up to 15 that new SGs get.

But I agree, the removal of influence/infamy in the lower levels is something I strongly disagree with.

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A Supercomputer costs 1.5 mil to place... loose that in a base raid as well and you just got a huge chunk of hurt put on ya.

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Taking down an item in a raid does not automatically mean it is permanently destroyed. There is a base chance that any destroyed item is fully restored at the end of the raid (I don't have the stats in front of me so I can't quote the number). This chance is increased by building Robotic Fabricators and the Flames of Hephaestus. Each adds a percentage to the recovery chance.

And, of course, for in instant raids everything is restored to full at the end of the raid.

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But there's a very good chance it will be destroyed. And if it's an item created by salvage, particularly if it's an item created by rare salvage, the hit on prestige is only part of it.

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Actually when i went to some PVP areas with some people in my super group...i would get about 0 or 1 prestige for each person we defeated while everyone else who where side kicked or about the level of the area, got a heck of alot more.

So um....for me its not about extra prestige...its about an equal share so I can contribute.

I mean i go do one of my missions i have and get awarded 50 prestige with about 1 to 3 pretige for every thing i deafeated even level that was in my mission.

Someone else in my group does a mission and they get 300 and where getting 10 to 20 pretige for each thing they killed in a mission.

Only difference was that they where lower level.

In addition in the PVP zone called warburgh, i would get maybe 1 pretige for each player i and a my group defeated, many times i got 0, but others of lower level got got alot more.

So again...for me personally I could care less about extra prestige...i just want to get some equal amounts and feel like I am contributing.

I mean call me crazy, but only getting 500 prestige in 6 hours compared to someone else egtting 8000+ prestige int he same time period....is a bit silly for me.

I realize that i am not the greatest character....a lowly controller who cant even hold people as well as a Tank or Scrapper in PVP due to the game design.

But I figure I should at least be getting more prestige then 10 for going into a base filled with level 50 nemesis and defeating them all.

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I would have to imagine that's a bug. Like they're comparing the villain level against your security level.

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I can't think of a reason why the devs would want to "avoid" having level 50's generate extra prestige. It sounds like a perfect reward for maxing out your character, to me.

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Why would you want anything other than level 50's in your SG then?

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Why would you want to keep a level 50? Why is the idea of giving a reason for working with your level 50 something to do?

More...the reward for either operating at 50 or exemplering was you got double influence in exchange for getting no XP. Unless you're over 34th in SG mode, where you get no influence. Then, you're just screwed.

More likely, if you have 17 rikti monkeys attacking you, and you attack the chief soldier, one of the monkeys looses interest.

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Yep - this is the AI change to "fix" herding...

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Good idea, number way too small.

Between in-mission ambushes and groups that are STILL close together, fighting two groups at once is common and fighting three groups at once is hardly rare. I know you say it shouldn't happen, but it does, and I don't see anything in the patch notes for I6 about "spawn points on mission maps changed to avoid aggroing more than one group at once".

Even if you avoid that, there are situations like the mission to defeat Infernal and those zero-xp demons that come pouring out of the portal.

It needs to be doubled.

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What really needs a fix is powers with 600-1000 second long recharges.

These powers have such high recharges to prevent perma-ing that was once possible with:

50% HOs and
Perma-hasten

Being HOs are down to 33% and Perma hasten is not possible anymore, these powers need their recharge reduced to reflect this.

[/ QUOTE ]Perhaps the devs don't want perma powers. If so, don't expect a change.

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The point is that they were given ridiculous recharge times so that, with perma-hasten and six-slotted recharge, they were down to what they apparently considered reasonable time (since they were the ones suggesting perma-hasten and six-slotted recharge).

Since hasten is no longer perma and six slotting recharge will now do less than four slotting recharge used to do, the issue isn't making them non-perma, it's making them more than once per blue moon.

I'm as anti-this as anyone, but I've been seeing the 50% reduction figure and it doesn't seem accurate.

Basically, the amount an enhancement adds from six-slotting of the same enhancement is essentially cut in half (for group A like damage, six slotting did get you 200%, now gets you 110%). But, that's the amount added to the original power. So six slotting with damages used to do 300% of non-slatted damage, now will do 210% of non-slotted damage. So, it's about a 30% reduction.

It's still significant, particularly for those who find themselves on the edge of viablity now. But best to know what we're dealing with.

All powers have had a substantial reduction in endurance use. Thanks.

But that means the usefulness of slotting Endurance Reduction SOs is even less. Changing an enhancement that improved the powers functionality to one that reduces the cost is now LESS useful. But still, it's a nice thing to do.

Now, what about protection powers (defense/damage resistance/regeneration) that got sliced with I4 and I5? Will those get adjusted?

And recharge rates set to ridiculous numbers to assure that, with six-slotted recharges and perma-hasten couldn't be made perma--since perma-hasten isn't available any longer and six-slotted recharge is worth a lot less than it used to be, how about some adjustments there?

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but we’ve finished making large changes to the power sets.

LMAO - this is too rich.

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Apparently, they are done with the power sets.

Silly me, I thought that meant they were done with the nerfs.

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When I'm soloing, I'm pretty cautious, I move forward slowly. As such, I don't get that much debt on mission maps while soloing.
Where I do get debt is outside. Not from random street hunting, but the killer ambushes (2 lieutenants plus six minions) or from force hunting missions. I got two bubbles of debt from clearing the maw in striga, and (after waiting to hit 22 and getting influence from a high level character so I was completely fitted with SOs) three bubbles of debt from clearing the bog.

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Soloing in a Hazzard Zone is a great way to replentish a failing debt bar.

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According to Jack Emmert, you should be able to solo your own missions at heroic.
Striga has many hunting missions that are required to progress to the next part of the story.

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He has also said that Hazard and Trial zones are intended for groups.

The missions he's talking about are instanced missions, which are affected by your difficulty setting. The difficulty level of a Hazard zone (like Striga Isle) is not affected by your difficulty setting. The villain groups you will find there are typically larger than those in a mission set on Heroic difficulty. Some Heroes may be able to do their own hunting missions there (using appropriate tactics) without being defeated. Most will find that the safest way is to group.

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If you are required to take missions to proceed, then they should be soloable at heroic (with the possible exception of elite bosses and definite exception of archvillains).

If a contact is throwing out hunting missions, and one is in a hazard zone, then that's one one thing. But when either it is required to progress in the story arc, or every bleeping contact is telling you to go talk to the contact for a mission in a hazard zone, either it should be possible to solo that hunting mission or it shouldn't be required to progress.

And, again, the other situation where you should get half debt when killed in the outside is due to ambushes.

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When I'm soloing, I'm pretty cautious, I move forward slowly. As such, I don't get that much debt on mission maps while soloing.

Where I do get debt is outside. Not from random street hunting, but the killer ambushes (2 lieutenants plus six minions) or from force hunting missions. I got two bubbles of debt from clearing the maw in striga, and (after waiting to hit 22 and getting influence from a high level character so I was completely fitted with SOs) three bubbles of debt from clearing the bog.

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Soloing in a Hazzard Zone is a great way to replentish a failing debt bar.

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According to Jack Emmert, you should be able to solo your own missions at heroic.

Striga has many hunting missions that are required to progress to the next part of the story.

It's longer than one minute, but rest did have its recharge greatly reduced.

Why is debt only halved on mission maps?

When I'm soloing, I'm pretty cautious, I move forward slowly. As such, I don't get that much debt on mission maps while soloing.

Where I do get debt is outside. Not from random street hunting, but the killer ambushes (2 lieutenants plus six minions) or from force hunting missions. I got two bubbles of debt from clearing the maw in striga, and (after waiting to hit 22 and getting influence from a high level character so I was completely fitted with SOs) three bubbles of debt from clearing the bog.

I understand you want to encourage people to do missions, and half debt is a carrot for it. But doing missions means you get ambushes, and doing missions means you get assigned hunting missions as part of story arcs. Why not half debt on mission-related combat?

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At least they said why they're not rewarding badges retroactively. Take that as a small grace.

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They've said why they aren't rewarding the badges retroactively for those who did the TFs before I5 went live. It was understandable, albeit did not speak well that they were so shortsighted they didn't put in tracking before I5.

For them to release I5 where one of the features is that all TFs grant badges, for them not to change the text from the TF granter warning you that it's broken, and then refuse to do anything is very poor form. And in a service business, poor form is poor business.

Thanks for the update. I'm still going to rag a bit about not realizing people would want badges for TFs. Given the number of people who asked about the lack of SS badges in the I2 days, and that you gave one for Hess, I'll say it was shortsighted. But, that's water under the bridge.

I am bothered by the cavalier attitude towards souveniers. You say it could not be awarded reliably to people who actually completed the task force, but by the time I3 came out, I was reliably getting souveniers from all the Freedom Phalanx task forces. It was being awarded reliably, the only unreliability was with SS or the Striga task forces. How was it possible that you couldn't get it working reliably for those task forces when you could on the freedom phalanx? And why break what was working just because you were having trouble fixing something else?

For those who are interested in the stories, getting the stories for the TF is VITAL. Even more so than story arc souveniers. There, you're getting all the mission briefings, getting all the mission debriefings. In a task force, unless you're the leader, you're not getting those. And most teams don't want to wait for people to read them. Either the souveniers must be fixed and restored, or there must be a way to view the stories from the badge.

And while reworking the Quartermain TF is good, waiting for I7 or I8 is not good. I6 is not good. I5.5 would be good.

I'll repeat a question I asked in another thread. In your CoH planning meetings, does anyone raise the point that you've got a lot of pissed off customers?

The phase shift nerf is slightly less offensive once we learn it was "easy", but will we ever get a dev response thread or comment about WHY the phase shift nerf is necessary in PvE?

Positron, I get the impression that you're a tech type guy, I am to, but in the planning missions does the thought "You know, we're pissing off a lot of paying customers" come up in these discussions?

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...please do not flood the GMs with /petitions trying to get the badges. They can NOT award them.

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Can you give technical details behind why a GM cannot award a player a badge on /petition?

I understand why datamining to verify that a player has earned a badge would be a challenge, as has been mentioned, but this in no way explains why a GM can't simply reward the badge on petition.

You see, you guys are the ones who dropped the ball on this one. You did. Not the players. There are players in your game that are entitled to receive an item that, due to a problem with your game design, were mistakenly left out of the receipt of such a reward.

You have created a player feedback system for this very purpose.... /petition. This system allows players to notify GMs that something has gone awry, and, if it is relatively simple to do, the GMs correct the issue.

By rewarding a badge to anyone that /petitons with the claim to have been left out of the badge obviously opens up the possibility that certain petitioners will be falsely rewarded. However, to this I say, so what? It's just a badge. It is nothing more than a sign of accomplishment.

In fairness, it is better to give players that have earned the badge the opportunity to receive it with the possibility of minor player abuse than for those unfortunate players to be abused by the game and to be stuck with it.

Of course the best solution, if it were practical, would be to have every player have badges if and only if they've earned them. But, as you state, since this cannot occur, it's better to err on the side of allowing players the rewards they are entitled to.

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Let me second this. Yes, they can do a fast check to make sure they are of the right level (my 8th level tanker petitioning for the Quartermain badge should be rejected).

But either those badges will have no impact on the game, in which case there's no problem with some people getting them falsely, or they will have an impact at some point (unlocking an epic AT), in which case there's no excuse not to datamine.

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I'll pop in here so you guys have a new target.

The original Task Force Datamine took 3 months to finish. That was to go over 2 months worth of data.

We now have 18 months worth of data. We looked for a more effecient solution, but our estimates still come out at 2 years to datamine and get you your badges.

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If CuppaJo had specifics like that to be given out with the first announcement, a lot of angst would be avoided.

I can understand the reasoning. But I'm disappointed for two reasons.

First, as soon as you realized that you (a) had taskforce badges and (b) taskforces without badges (which occurred to us when the first group completed a ShadowShard TF), you should have started collecting data immediately. If memory serves, the ShadowShard appeared at the same time as badges. How is it possible that they went without badges until I5, and how is it possible you don't already have a complete list of people who need it? And how is it even conceivable that Moonfire was added to the game without a badge?

Second...why are there never resources for things the players want, but always enough to nerf them? It had to take some serious hacking of the system to add clicks that automatically shut off after 30 seconds, but that was worth the effort. And yet no time to fix the bugs where some taskforces didn't give souveniers (so remove them from the task forces that was giving them). And no time to grant old badges.

When City of Heroes was released, the challenge of the fights was part of the game, but only part. I3 is the last issue where I really felt the devs care about anything but the fights.

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And it's not like you can't ghost Quarterfield in 3 hours with a team with 4 people with stealth.

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Maybe, if concealment powers hadn't been nerfed to hell.

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Clarification - Monsters in TF's do not count towards the badges for those monsters (Adamastor or Jurrassic for ex). It has been this way for some time.

Also - after much pushing and shoving - we were told that there will NOT be data mining for TF badges. So if you did a TF before I5 - when I5 goes live you will not get a badge for it auto-magically.

I know - it stinks - I'm sorry about that.

**edited to read correctly - note on top of all that - Babbage that is in the TF will give you the badge - IF your group does the most damage to it - if someone helps you defeat Babbage - you may not get it if your team does not do the majority of the damage**

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Quoting CuppaJo's edited post to make sure it gets seen. She's only talking about Jurassik (she also mentions Adamastor but that's not a TF).

I still think it's a stingy decision that is completely unwarranted, but it's the unwarranted stingy decision that was made in the past, not a new unwarranted stingy decision.