Memphis_Bill

I hardly think they're all that broken up over (well deserved) criticism today or any other day. Or that it will "impair their future performance." Then again, having seen past performance, I'd say present and future are already there (how's that Eden trial that's been designated WST? Oh, can't start with what?)

The resort of someone with a nonargument - pointing at post count like it means anything.

I'm sorry... "Emotional milestone" for "Hey, a game's been in existance for so long?" Unless you're involved in its development, I don't see it. I CERTAINLY don't put it up there with actual life events like a wedding or birthday.

If you do, perhaps some perspective is needed.

Yeah, this is a bad general assumption to make. Just look at the snipe sets for some *really* bad examples (one that's high ED-capped and wasted acc, with half an ENH worth of recharge, damage, range, etc.)

There's a lot you CAN do with sets, though - bonuses can add up (and as I recall generally ignore ED,) though you're capped at five of the same type and percentage. Perma-doms (who get enough recharge to make Domination permanent, which you can't do with SOs) are a good example of taking advantage of set bonuses and unique IOs.

Alternately, if you want to ignore set bonuses (or mostly ignore them,) you can get more slots worth of benefit out of the same number of slots. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but by "frankenslotting" from multiple sets, you can use (say) two Acc/Dam (again, from two different sets) and get more benefit than from the same level common IO or SO in a 1acc/1dam slotting. (And it goes on from there - getting accuracy, damage, recharge, END, etc. in with fewer slots than SOs.)

There are a few guides out there on it... I'm blanking on names, ATM. Search on "Frankenslot" in the guide section.

Edit: Of course, there's always the wiki, too.

/this.

I have issues with many things as the Incarnate system stands (and looks, near-term, like where it's going.) With appropriate content being added and such, no.

Incarnates themselves, I think the idea works out better this way (as a system) than it was as Incarnates were initially mentioned years ago, as an EAT. It does (or should) "give 50s something to do" and create an alternative leveling system so they don't have to deal with raising the level cap and all that would break with it.

I dislike the bevy of new currencies and the punitive rate of earning and conversion from shards. I don't mind that there are two ways to unlock the system (iXP in raids and the Mender if you don't want to do that,) and yes, a solo/small team way would be a bit slower - I have no argument with that. I do have issues with the *vastness* of the disparity in speed (and, again, cost.) I don't really hold out a lot of hope that the vaguely alluded to "story arcs" will make a huge difference on that, when/if ever they see the light of day.

I am, however, keeping in mind that incarnate *anything* is new and the system is unfinished. I have a few misgivings and things I'm keeping an eye on - but I don't dislike the system as a whole.

/this.

I've mentioned before - lag when we start getting more than, oh, a team and a half of people in one place doing something (as opposed to standing for a costume contest) is not new. It's part of why they redid Hami (the old slideshow) and limited the number of people in at a time. It's been mentioned for the mothership raid. It's commented on in Zombie and Rikti invasions.

Whatever it is in the code that bogs down the server (as they can't do much about graphics, given how some peoples' cards can handle more than others) with any sort of gathering should have been looked at *very* hard and worked on before we were given more multi-team raids. Give me a new sports car but forget to put air in the tires and I won't be very happy with that car...

Before the patch, I'd put the lag at - 1-10 scale - 1-2 during the initial phase (not bad, barely noticable,) 6-7 during the escape phase, and maybe 4 at worst during the dual-AV phase.

Now, it's pretty much all 8-9. At least after the initial nightstar fight (where I *think* it was OK, or not at an unexpected/surprising level.) 10 would be old-hami slideshow (3SPF - seconds per frame), but that would also need to have severe graphics lag added in. So this is a close second at this point.

It's worse if playing as a tank (which I was) - since there were long stretches where not only powers weren't recharging, but I couldn't MOVE, which could lead to everyone around me being sequestered.

Right. So get rid of badge rewards. Or, depending on who you ask, all of villainside. After all, the majority is heroside, right?

NEWS FLASH - Just because it doesn't interest YOU does not make it a waste of time.

Pre-I13, the PVP zones *even on Pinnacle and Victory,* not exactly the two most populous servers, could be very active, and a great deal of fun. Why is there less interest now? Because it might as well be a very different game. Powers behave differently. You went from a learning curve to a learning brick wall.

For a very basic example? Take a tank and find an agony mage. What happens when they try to hold you? Nothing. Now take that same tank and find an agony mage in Bloody Bay. You still have status protection... no, wait, you don't. Agony mage looks at you, you're held... just not for as long as that Blaster over there.

That doesn't even BEGIN to get into things like heal decay, travel (and recovery/regen) suppression *for using an inspiration* and the like.

Wanting to play the game has no bearing on that. My sub is still up, logged in just last night (and planning to do so again today.) And I do that because I do, indeed, want to play the game, and enjoy doing so. Doesn't mean you can't speak up and say what's wrong or you don't like.

Even when people were referring to me (amusingly) as a "fanboy," it wouldn't take long for anyone paying attention to see I'm quite free with criticism. Why criticize and "really speak my mind?" Because I want the game to be better.

The world isn't black and white. I can criticize something I love. Sometimes (admittedly a lot more, recently) harshly.

Not sure why you think I'd cringe.

I've made suggestions before for two layers of content to be put in DA - one that's zone appropriate investigating what's going on in the zone, and one where you come back later to finally end it (essentially, you're strong enough to patch the problem in the 20s, and experienced enough to put in the final fix - after the magic folks have researched enough to know what needs doing - in the 50s.)

My only issue with having it be "incarnate" content is one I think the dev team is going to have to address - I'd want it doable by non-incarnates, which for incarnates would make it rather a walk in the park. If it's geared toward Incarnates, it'd be a pain for most non-Incarnates (even without the "Oh, you're now -8" nonsense.) And possibly even for some incarnatelings.

I wouldn't want a conclusion to that locked behind having to be an incarnate.

Of course, a way around that would be an - "Epilogue," I suppose. Fix the immediate problem at lower levels, defeat and banish or rebind the "Sleeper" at 45-50, and in Incarnate levels, re-banish the Pantheon's gods who have started getting "too close to this reality" or some such. Should be doable solo, scaling up to a (single) full team.

This isn't just that chat. They've been spewing out that answer for some time now.

Exactly.

This is what I mean by "Learned the wrong lessons from Faultline," as they (especially melissa) LOVE pointing at how much work it would take.

Now, yes, the Shard would take a lot of work. But the shard is not "A" zone, the shard is FOUR of the larger zones. So pointing at that and saying "It would take too much work to revamp old zones" is like pointing at a porsche and saying "It'll take too much time to move five people and luggage across the country" while ignoring the SUV, van, or bus next to it.

Faultline took a lot of work. They opened up an area that (a) was inaccessible and (b) had nothing (behind the dam,) and altered the geometry of the zone. They added a bunch of new things to the zone (those elevators sure as hell weren't there before, they added more scaffolding, etc.) Pointing at that as an example of "taking too much work, so we'd rather give you new" is BS, as well - but that's what I'm fairly sure they have in mind.

Give me a three issue cycle of work. Much like Intel's "tick-tock" when it comes to their chips.
1. Add contacts and storyline to empty zone.
2. Add new zone if needed.
3. Revamp old (and still in use - such as Atlas) zone's content.

Keep the ENTIRE game fresh. Don't just keep piling crap on top.

How about "Having a damn story in there in the first place?" Sounds more like excuses to me, quite honestly. Especially when we're looking at zones like DA which HAVE no "old content to remove from play." And haven't since they were created.

Hell, if they just "need a story reason," why wasn't Boomtown touched when they brought back the 5th? Big story reason there - that's where the Freedom Phalanx's headquarters was, with Reichsman on ice.

I highly doubt we'll see "a revamp of several zones at once." Rather, I don't think I want to see it, having seen the crap that gets shoveled out when they feel rushed. (see VEAT "arcs.")

Plus, you have Melissa's whole "We just want to give you new!" line she's given over and over. As I've said before, I STRONGLY suspect she and a good chunk of the rest of the team got entirely the WRONG idea when they redid Faultline.

We have, in general, far too many zones at this point. And more TO the point, far too many with no reason other than the occasional hunt to go there.

I keep using the old one out of habit - I use the new one when I remember. (Which is a bit less often since I stopped playing Aion. That was my big reason to keep it easily available.)

TCS is not "all the villains."

Been withholding judgement long enough. Pretty much gave up on it with the repeated refrain from War Witch that they'd "rather give us something new than work on redoing old stuff" (paraphrased from multiple interviews.)

So, yeah, they'll just add zone after zone until we have one person per ten zones, while DA and the like remain empty of anything to do.

She can do both, I'm sure.

I think they're counting actually "on character." (I want to say CIT does this too, but I'd have to check or have a CIT person say.)

Someone with, say, five 2 billion INF bids on non-fillable items and 500k on the character would only count as 500k.

But that's just a guess.

Have I ever said they haven't?

However, I've come far from the starry-eyed "ooh, they said they'd think about talking about discussing it, it's as good as here!" crap that gets thrown around, too. Often praised with excessive smilies and no thought. Especially for things mentioned in a giant marketspeak letter.

Of course, the dev team has *also* changed, and seems to be far more interested in being involved with the various gaming websites over the actual playerbase.

Didn't realize the game's anniversary was a holy day to you. Good a day as any to criticize the team, AFAIC.

... and again, they were pretty enamoured with AE, pretty gung ho about their PVP changes...

There's a reason for the *very* deep cynicism and distrust (among other things) here.

And the official statement from War Witch was what, paraphrased? "We don't want to go back and redo old stuff, we want to keep giving you new!"

Yeah. Wrong lessons learned from remaking Faultline, and a really crap attitude to have about it.

There was also talk of further work on PVP after I13, of continuing Devs Choice awards to free up slots, of "taking base concerns seriously" and the like.

No, it's got a purpose. It helps them keep their fluff answer skills strong for the next interview on Ten Ton MMORPGer.

"So, Issue 20 is out, that's exciting!"
"I can't confirm excitement at this time."
"So what's your favourite pizza place?"

Then why have you been hitting such storytelling lows?

mmm hmmm. Sounds like marketingspeak and - I hesitate to say "smoke and mirrors," since THAT at least led to a good arc.

We'll see.