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Time to address the original post, I think.
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Such missions have always been intended to be group activities, hence the reason for the minimum group size requirement to start them.
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There are many ways to incentivise group activity. The above is a negative way. 'You cannot do this unless you have a group of at least size X.' A positive way would be 'If you have a group of at least size X, the rewards are better' or 'This challenge is so hard that you ought to bring a group of at least size X to deal with it.'
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We feel that the group size requirements are certainly not onerous
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Finding a group of 8 is one sort of challenge.
SUSTAINING a group of 8 is another kind altogether. People get disconnected, have to go AFK, have issues of all kinds that mean they have to drop out temporarily or permanently.
You really need to look at how minimum team requirements pan out over time as opposed to the start of a mission.
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and that the need for grouping is a good dynamic in a social environment like City of Heroes.
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Yes, but how do you create that need? Gating content by simply setting a minimum team size on it is about the crudest way to do it.
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We want to continue to offer good rewards based on a group accomplishment through such missions and maintaining that requirement is the reason for this change.
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And this is the point where I really have to stand up and shout. I've not seen it picked up on yet, so I'm going to pick up on it.
A randomly selected Pool C recipe is NOT a 'good reward based on a group accomplishment'.
Some of the Pool C recipes are worth doing a TF for. Some aren't even worth getting out of bed for. If you are going to nail a mechanic in place that says 'you MUST do a certain amount of work as a group in order to earn the reward' then you have to apply a similar level of consistency to the rewards themselves.
The reason why people soft load the Cap TF and do Speed Katies isn't because they don't like fighting the opposition. It's to minimize time wastage caused by the random reward selection system.
Who in hell wants to do a whole TF just to get a - I have to borrow the delightful phrase - Crap of the Hunter recipe, or a Snipe recipe?
Let me hammer it home again: if you are going to make the challenge consistent, then make the rewards consistent. It's unacceptable to require people to do a set amount of work for a mere CHANCE of worthwhile compensation. Guarantee the worthwhile compensation, and you'll be on firm ground.
So how do you guarantee the worthwhile compensation?
Simple. Let people choose which Pool C recipe they get.
That takes the randomness out of the process. If all TF rewards are SUPPOSED to be of equivalent worth - and if they aren't, then why the hell are you requiring people to do the same amount of work to earn them - then there is no reason to prohibit the player from choosing which one they want. Inconveniencing players is not the same as challenging them.
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QFT and
<3 Sadako
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The best thing about this game is... you can play whatever the heck you want, however the heck you want. You can also ignore whoever you want and not team with them.
As a matter of a fact, thats a pretty good ideah!