KittyKrusader

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I count my blessings that you are not a game designer. How many games do you know where the 1st level is as hard as the last? Games start out easy and work in the challenge gradually for a reason. It's called hooking the player. Just like most movies don't show you the climactic final act in the first 5 minutes (with a few exceptions).

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Yeah whatever. What keeps a person hooked is gameplay and the consistency of that gameplay. If a game is easy for the first ten levels, they're likely going to think it's going to be easy for the next umpteen levels... and pre-issue #2, it was that way. The game was super boring.

Now the devs finally bring the gameplay up to where it should have been from day one and of course all the pansy cowards are up in arms because they can't mash buttons without any thoughts toward strategy or tactics.

I would much rather the game be a consistent difficulty from level 1 to level 1 Zillion, if that's even a real number. When I design encounters for D&D and NWN, I try to make them appropriately challenging for the correct level range. All the way from level 1 to the epic levels. The group is challenged. It's not that hard to do. What's harder to do is plan ahead for the wacky and zany tactics and ideas the players come up with. In CoH, the devs have a huge advantage over me. They know exactly what players can and can't do. They can also run battle simluations over an' over that I can't for D&D.

Balancing combat in an online game an making it just challenging enough, as they've done in the Hollows, is much easier than doing so for D&D.

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I need to start another low level character to be able to enjoy the hollows. It sounds like it's a blast in there! You guys should be happy that there is another place for lower levels to go. Why, back in MY day....

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I would suggest you could exemplar down, but it makes all the mobs run away from you as if you were your actual level.

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You might find dying twice in a mission fun. You might find having to run back and forth to get more inspirations fun. You might find having to resort to the elevator-trick fun. I, for one, do NOT find it fun. It needlessly drags out the time to do a mission properly. It needlessly drags out the time to get anywhere, because you end up with so much debt to deal with.

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I don't mind taking a trip to the hospital. It's only debt. And it was only twice. I can run around Founder's Falls at level four and not die. I got the Chaotician badge to prove it. Getting around in the Hollow's is cheesecake. Hit-n-run tactics are a valid strategy to use when facing a superior foe. I see no reason to charge in like a newb and mash buttons in an attempt to kill the enemy before they defeat me.

I also pointed out that I did not need to escape down the elevator. I could have easily lost aggro on the same floor. There was plenty of room to run around. Taking a moment ot rest was like re-grouping and gathering my strength. I'm sure in some comic book somewhere the hero has used hit-n-run tactics and short breaks in the action to recover or catch their breath.

That fact that you want to dumb the game down pisses me off. I'm tired of playing games where there's no challenge. I like to be intellectually challenged and stimulated when I'm playing. If you want mindless, mindnumbing action... www.progressquest.com You don't even have to push any buttons once you get started... you can mindlessly sit there and enjoy the safe and easy leveling.

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... at least TRY to find some validity in what the "whiners" are saying.

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There is no validity. You whiny crybabies want to dumb the game down and make it so damn boring it turns into the Sims with Super Powers! Whoohoo. That sounds so much fun! /sarcasm....

Why don't you see the validity in my viewpoint? The game should be a challenge, otherwise there's no point to playing. You'd be better off in SimsOnline instead of in CoH at that point. Learn to play the damn game better instead of whining on the forums that you can't handle it. If you spent half the time you spend whining on these forums about the challenge of the game, you'd have the tough stuff beat and be done with it.

And I think the challenge belongs in the entire game at all levels once you leave the Tutorial. Otherwise you'll have whiners coming to the forums griping and moanining and complaining that the game past level 12 is too hard. Wah wah wah. It doesn't matter what Cryptic does, someone will btich about about the game being too hard. So far I really haven't seen anyone complain about the Hollows being too easy... so methinks the Hollows is balanced perfectly, as is, for a Hazard zone.

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but your general blanket statement of good-balanced groups not dying - i assume you've never done the outcast door missions. they're ludicrous.

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Yes I have. I've done them solo and I've done them in several groups as several different archetypes. I know what I'm talking about. This morning, I will be solo'ing the Electric Eel mission with my level 10 tanker and prove nimrod wrong. If you can work together and have a good balance of archetypes with people that know how to play their damn archetype, then you can succeed.

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POINT 1: People, by arguing against the change you're arguing to get less XP. Let me make this clear....

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False. I am killing faster and leveling faster now, than I was pre-issue #2.

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YOU STILL GET A CHALLENGE POST FIX AND YOU GET MORE XP. Why is this so hard to understand? Plus the players less skilled than you get more xp because they can take whites. Both sides win. What's wrong with this? You want to lose?

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The less - skilled players don't deserve that xp. *shrugs* They're not earning it. They're mashing buttons with no regard to tactics and accrueing xp. That's wrong. I stopped playing for four weeks before Issue #2 released because I was so damn bored with the game.

Now you and the legion of whining crybabies want to turn it back into that boring game. People will quit a boring game long before they quit a challenging game. Right now, I'm loving Issue #2. It's brought fun back to the game. I've beaten the Eel mission several times with non-uber FoTM builds and people still [censored] and whine about it. Those people just need to learn to play the game better. They don't even have to spend that much effort learning as there are plenty of posts on these forums that explain in detail how to play the game better.

It's that simple. Leave the difficulty as it is. The real gamers will continue playing and enjoy it and the pansy cowards will go back to playing the Sims Online or something where they belong.

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No I just think my character should represent a superhero who is only defeated on rare occasion. For the most part it's been that way since beta. I only die once or twice per level not mission if that.

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See, that's where you're wrong. It's City of Heroes, not Superheroes. Even heroes have a right to bleed... face down on the asphalt. You don't die anyway. The hospital uses the teleportation grid to whisk you away just before you die and then they heal you.

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Would you care to shed a light on this gem of wisdom you posess? ... *snip* .... The few who are like me, who organzie groups find it takes a great deal of time, and it requires continual re-recruiting as players log out/quit.

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If you're in a group that's dying lots... someone's not playing nice with the others. An organized group with a balance of archetypes can take just about anything within their level range and then some. It just requires teamwork. Simple as that.

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n the levels we're talking about, 5 to 15 no one can take a fully stocked group of whites alone (maybe pre SG fix, but not now). So I don't know what you're talking about.

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I can. With my Fire/Dev blaster, Fire/Fire tanker, Katana / Regen can, and with my Force Field / Energy Blast defender. It make take a few ( a lot of) inpspirations, but it's doable. Now if you're talking about just charging in and trying to nuke 'em / slash 'em / bash 'em all down while they all beat on you... no, not going to happen. But if you play smart, use the terrain to your advantage and know how to fully use all your powers, you can take 'em.

My first FF Defender did not take the Force Bolt power. I have no clue why I didn't, but this time I did... and wow. It's a great little power, especially combined with all the knockback effects of the Energy blast powerset. A single mob is lucky to get in one or two hits on me while I blast away. Pin 'em in a corner... behind a barrel or something that makes them jump around and then knock 'em back in the corner. Or run out of range and que the Force Bolt to fire immediately when they get in range and then smash a blast attack.

There's plenty of ways to wear down your foes with hit-n-run attacks before you deliver the final blow. You just have to play smarter.

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Uh... no, outcast minions do a LOT more damage than hellions or skulls. Stone punch and Ice punch especially hurt, as well as the electric blasts from the shocker minions. The DoT from the scorcher minions really swallows up the hp in a surprising amount of time. I'm glad to see the change, really.

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Um, actually... I can stand there and take Outcast blaster attacks far longer than I can take Skull / Hellion baseball bat attacks. They're much weaker than the typical minion melee attack.

First, my scrapper doesn't have Instant Healing yet. That's level 28. Second, I spent most of my time doing the Sysnapse Task Force because it was challenging. Clockworks were the bane of my scrapper because they drained endurance like mad. It made it fun. The DO's from the task force clocks were great as well. It's how I got all my SO's at level 22. *shrugs*

I played smart, saved my influence and sold the DO's at the proper shops to get the most influence I could. If you're not doing that... you're just playing stupid. I have the Electric Eel mission on my tanker now. Will post a demo later.

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Oh, almost forgot, the really really high level ambushes in really really low level zones that run around aimlessly and kill of the low level chars, really not liking that either.

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Those have been in the game since day one. Nothing new with Issue #2.

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Controllers or Defenders have debuffs or holds they can use on Eel. Tankers, and most Scrappers, don't. No staying out of harm's way by hovering or sniping from around a corner. Nope! They HAVE TO BE RIGHT IN HIS STINKING FACE!

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Guess you don't know anything about Defenders. Especially Force Field defenders... and I guess you didn't watch the demo I posted. Typical. FF Defenders only hold power makes the enemy completely immune to everything. Not all that great and I don't even have it yet.

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Better yet, try playing a Scrapper from 1 to 30 under the new difficulty conditions to learn what it is truly like instead of implying that people who complain about the new level of difficulty are poor players, pansies, and cowards. Because at this point, it isn't about being a good player, it is about the difficulty level being too high on some missions; but, go ahead, and keep soloing, you will find that out yourself and I will have the last laugh.

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I played a katana / regen scrapper since release. She's level 27 now. She was 23 when Issue#2 released. I've played her a few times since Issue#2 and have not had any difficulties adapting at all. And my scrapper was far from the perfect build. Hell, I had five slots in fast healing. Any uber build says don't slot fast healing at all. And I even took Gambler's Cut, the wicked attack that no uber goober would ever soil themselves with.

I played a katana scrapper for several months with gimpy damage and gimpy animations. They finally fix 'em and now I'm able to solo much better than pre-issue #2. On my blaster and my defender, I can still solo and it's a challenge now. Before, my former ff/rad defender could solo quite easilly. It was boring. The game is fun now. For all levels that I have played. Including being sk'd up into the 30's.

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(you know - running in and out of your mission to get inspirations from your contact, running back into the elevators or out the door to heal up, stuff like that. You know, REAL tactics).

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I went down the elevator once. I didn't really have to do that, I could've just lost aggro and rested on the same floor easily enough. Plenty of room to run around on that mission. I only used one set of inspirations on the boss mob of that mission when I defeated him. It would've been stupid for me to tackle the boss, use my inspirations, die, visit the hospital and not buy more inspirations on the way back.

I'm not going to play dumb... not going to lower myself to your level of ability. I used 4 healing and 4 endurance inspirations when I beat ElectricEel. I rested once as well. Guerilla tactics. Learn 'em. Or cancel your account and leave the real gamers to the game.

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LOL! 2 Defeats to complete a mission and you are telling someone ELSE to learn to play better!
FUNNIEST POST TODAY! (not really, the BTiLC thread is actually...)

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I expect to die when I'm facing a powerful foe with a character I haven't played all that much. I wasn't too sure how well I would do and so I used my old blaster tactics with three lucks and a couple enraged. It didn't work. I learned from that and got better and kicked Electric Eel's [censored]. Case closed.

Both my deaths however were for stupid reasons. First time, I decided to run up and got way too close and he knocked me down with Hurricane and stunned me. Second time I stopped to try and get a last shot off as I ran away. I had 27 health. At that level, Eel's attacks did 33 pts. I shouldn't have stopped. But oh well. It's my debt.

So yes, I do consider that mission a success. I learned from it and know how to better play my FF/Energy defender now and I beat the mission.

Tomorrow, or late evening if I get the chance. *shrugs* When I have the time. Funny how I prove you wrong and the only thing you can do is come up with something else to nitpick about.

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...and now when I solo, I get my butt kicked every which way but loose and rack up a lot of debt with what are among the best solo archetypes in this game.

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*laughs* Learn to play better than. I can solo my Force Field / Energy Blast defender and be successful. I beat the Electric Eel mission in the Hollows with only two deaths. One of them because I was stupid and got too close. The other because I was stupid again and stopped when I had 27 health and his attack was doing 33. I should've kept running.

Regardless of those two deaths, I loaded up on more inspirations and went back and kicked his butt. I even took a demo of it and a friend of mine is hosting it:

http://www.exileink.com/ElectricEel.zip

I love the new difficulty in the game now. The only problem is that the missions are spawning way too many villains for larger groups. Solo spawn is great. Group spawn over four is borked unless you've got a really good group together.

I cannot wait ofr the difficulty slider and I will boot out anyone in any group I lead that doesn't want to do that hardest difficulty. I don't have time to deal with pansies and cowards. They can go street patrol green and blue cons for all I care. I want a game that challenges me. Not a game that I use my left hand to mash buttons on the keyboard while I read a book with my right hand. Snooze fest will equal cancelled accounts.

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Also, yellow minions = orange lts. = red bosses, and before you get SOs, red bosses are very difficult to deal with.

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3 Lucks, 2 Enrages, 4 Breaths, 1 Awaken. That's what I used to defeat Electric Eel and Bedrock (the two Hollows Ouctast mission) at level 11 with no enhancers at all in my powers. Not even training enhancers. Fire / Dev blaster and the only dev power I used was Caltrops. I didn't even have targeting drone running because of the end drain. It's very possible to defeat red bosses without enhancers in your powers.

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I don't think most of the people who want to keep the +1 spawns realize that they're speaking from the perspective of one or both of: playing characters who have one of their defining powers (like, say, phantom army for an illusion controller) or having fully slotted SOs.

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No, I am speaking from the perspective of a character without full slotted powers. I'll be trying out the Outcast missions with my controller today (she's lvl 10 or 11, no DO's yet) and my tanker tomorrow or the day after.

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Never, I hope. I think that difficulty sliders will only make things harder for casual gamers.

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What the frell are you talking about? Harder for casual gamers? Start the team yourself if you can't handle a challenge. You'll be able to use the Super Easy slider option and killed mobs as a controller, using just Brawl. That sure sounds like a lot of fun. /sarcasm

I want the slider, and I want it as soon as possible. Especially if the mission difficulties are nerfed into boring, pathetic cakewalks. I've been having a blast playing again. Pre-issue #2 I was bored with the game. It was way too easy. Way too easy.

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Just dont add the option to groups this should be a solo option only. When you enter a mission it should turn the option off if you have anyone with you as a team.

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No... I want the slider option for groups and solo play. You have no right to tell me how to play the game with my friends. If we want more difficult missions, we should have that right. If you want to play on Super Easy mode, be my guest... because that's what the missions were like pre-issue #2.