MrCaptainMan
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Posts
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Joined
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And Phase Shift and MoG.
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Not very serious, no
. But GG at least would get another 1000 'this [whatever] is awesome because it is!' posts out of them 
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Quote:Originally Posted by 80sBaby
Electric-Knight, you need to start and ALL-TOON SG.
I'd join.
Me too that robo-bunny is so cool I'm considering doing one myself.
Also, I find the fact that this argument is still going on to be fairly amusing. I use toon all the time, and if someone wants to call Knights in Chess Horsies then let them.
Calling missions quests and powers spells, however...
Keel them!!!
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Maybe they went about it the wrong way. It takes X number of normal story arcs plus a bit of street-sweeping and the odd TF maybe for a toon to get from 0 to 50, and I believe it can be done wihout repeating any content.
Perhaps they should have worked out how many iTrials ( or empys or astrals or threads or whatever iRewards they want to use as a metric) it will take for a toon to get from 50 to the maximum tricked out incarnate progress state (after all, theoretically once you've crafted every single Incarnate ability for every single slot you're done for the time being until they introduce new slots) and then released that number of different iTrials, lockig toons out of them once they'd done them and gained their rewards.
So if it would take like grinding iTrials 1000 times to get to uber-Incarnate, they'd need 1000 separate iTrials.
That would certainly slow down the i-progress, which would keep us subbing for longer.
And it wouldn't cause any storyline problems.
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The more I think of it, the sillier the iTrial narrative design seems. I used to think tge BAF and LAM were treatable as repeatable narratively. Seige and NS are trying to release mindwashed again, and we have to stop them again, and look, Cole's filled up his weapons caches again, time to go destroy them again.
But if they're really only supposed to actually happen once for each character's story, then what are the endless repetitions supposed to be?
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Quote:Well if that's what you meant by 'you must be new', then I'm not sure how I could have known. Pretty cryptic.Originally Posted by DreadShinobi
This is an MMO, in MMOs content gets farmed. The enemies you kill will still be there the next time you run the content.
Who are you referring to to when you say 'you' in terms of 'the enemies you kill will still be there the next time you run into them'?
If you mean 'you, the player', then yes, Stephanie Peebles ring is gone again the next time I go to Striga with a different toon.
But I'm not talking about the player experience. I'm talking abput the narrative.
MrCaptainMan, my main, is a lvl 50+3 en/en Blaster. He has rescued Stephanie's ring once, he has discovered the Truth behind Faultline once and he has defeated Frostfire once in his frozen base in the Hollows. If he goes back to the Hollows now, Frostfire will not be there for him, because that narrative strand is finished. If he visits Faultline, Jim Temblor won't be all "oh I'm very sad cos everyone says my dad was a villain' and Cap won't get to fight Arbiter Sands or that Lost psychic with the giant head again.
The only way I can have Cap fight past enemies from normal instanced cobtent is via Ouro, and narratively that's explained by being time travel.
The TFs are one place I can repeat content and find the same enemies in the way you describe, but the vast majority of the game we play does not work in the way you describe it for individual toons.
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Quote:New in what way? I've been playing for quite a long time, only lapsed my sub once accidentally for 3 days.Originally Posted by DreadShinobi
You must be new.
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Quote:I would have rather they design the iTrial stories as some sort of 'fighting back the tide' thing, allowing a narrative reason fir the repetition.Originally Posted by Golden Girl
You do know that the Trials were being designed at the same time as GR, don't you?
Or do ou think that they were just planning to give us 3 level shifts for things like the ITF?
The change in the I18 beta was Mender Ramiel's arc - originally, the Alpha slot could just be unlocked with reward merits, but a lot of players asked for a more story-based unlock, so we got the Incarnate intro arc.
The Praetorian war was always a part of the GR storyline, right form the very first info we got on GR.
With most of the other content in the game, my toon will play it through once from start to finish. Once I've done the striga arcs, I don't get to go speak to Stephanie to find she's lost her wedding ring again with a toon who's already found it for her.
The TFs are repeatable, but the effect of repeating their storylines on the same toon isnt as jarring since they're not often run ten times or more in quick succession.
To get a non-ludicrous PraetoriN Storyline experience, my toon needs to run the Praet zone content, and then run the iTrials just ONCE EACH, in the right order, and then not do any again.
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Quote:The problem with the 'right now' bit is that the way they're trying to shoehorn linear end-in-sight story into the raids, which are not just repeatable but outright grind-intended, I get no sense that yesterday we dealt with Nightstar snd Seige, this morning we destroyed Lambda's weapon manufactory and disabled Marauder, this evening we blew up the Keyes Island reactor and put Anti-Matter out of the picture, and tomorrow we'll dust off our hands after firmly dealing with Cole's propaganda machine before moving on to Motjer Mayhem. The trials are so insanely more repeatable than anything else in game, even the most popular TFs, that having them try to tell a linear non-repeating story was a terrible idea IMO.Originally Posted by Golden Girl
It's possible he could pursue us - plus, we've git a good chance to beat down one of the major loyalists and add to Tyrant's problems.
We're not just doing hit and run attacks, or only tyring to teach Tyrant and the loyalists a lesson - the purpose of the war is to totally destroy the dictatorship - the more top loyalists we take out of the picture, the weaker Tyrant's grip on power becomes.
Each Trial deals with aspects of the dictatorship that were revealed in GR - and step by step we're dismantling the fascist state that he's set up, attacking his brain-washing and prison system, his military might, his power supply for creating Warworks, his propaganda network, his thought police, and discovering the truth about his "victory" over the Hamidon, and the lies he's told the people that he claims he's "protecting".
Right now, Tyrant's in a very difficult situation, with his key henchpeople dropping fast, his support amongst the population collapsing, and the various arms of state repression being damage, taken over or outright destroyed - but that makes him all the more dangerous, because he's likely to try just about anything now to try and hold on to his crumbling empire - including forming some kind of alliance with the Hamidon.
I deal with Seige and Nightstar, then minutes later I nip to Keyes and bash up Anti-Matter, then I head back to the BAF cos apparently the two comedy droids are releasing mindwashed again, and then I go bliw up the Lambda sector, having a fight with Marauder, then whaddaya know, Seige and Nightstar are back to their old tricks and Anti-Matter's back on top of his reactors, ranting again.
When the Tyrant iTrial arrives, after I've helped down Tyrant and 'destroy Praetorian war machine' once and for all, I'll be ablevto immediately discovervthat Seige and Nightstar haven't been informed.
MoM SPOILER maybe:
Doesn't Mother Mayhem die in the MoM? Makimg her appearace in my very next BAF cutscene a bit stupid.
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And how exactly do 'pacification grenades' work? Are they like tranquilizing gas grenades, maybe? I don't think I've noticed any gas effect in a LAM.
Hm, but if they were tranquilizing gas they'd affect some of us too I guess. Unless they were keyed to M's specific DNA or some guff like that (which I'd have no beef with). Are they explained anywhere?
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The more I know about the Praetorian iTrial 'storyline', the less I wish I knew. The Praetorian content in the normal Praetorian zones struck me as quite enjoyable, apart from First Ward, of course. Did the writers change or something?
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Quote:You didn't source that quote of yours, so I don't k ow how it's delivered in game terms.Originally Posted by Golden Girl
Here are the full details:
By taking out Lambda Sector, we're able to step up our assault on the loayalists by moving on to take contol of the Keyes Island reactors.
The Pacification grenades were made on Tyrant's orders to have a way of taking down Marauder if he got out of control - storing them close to him is more effective for taking him down than storing them on the other side of the city - kinda like putting fire extinguishers in a building rather than having to go to the fire department to collect one if you need it.
But anyway, if our aim is to destroy the weapons caches at the Lambda facility, and we do so, why do we have to fight Marauder afterwards? Why don't we all just fly over the wall and escape?
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Quote:What, so the grenades are just specifically designed to calm Marauder down? And they're made by Cole's guys? Why? Idon't see him attacking his own guys or doing anything anti-Cole.Originally Posted by Hopeling
Exhaust ports by their very nature must usually be at least to some degree exposed, in order to emit exhaust. Engineers might be forgiven if they ended up too exposed. Military installments have a much lesser need to contain the specific rare weapons and chemicals that uniquely disable their own defenses.
If I were Emperor Cole, and I wanted to keep a bunch of pacification grenades around in case Marauder went off his leash (and it's pretty a long leash, apparently), I wouldn't store them in Marauder's own facility.
Hm. That's pretty lame. What's the general story behind the LAM anyway? What are we supposed to be doing nesides going in to beat up Marauder?
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Here's something I don't likeabout the iTrials: plot holes or storyline that makes me go 'hmm...hang on...'
BAF: If I had 2 robots who couldn't stay defeated unless both were within 10 seconds of each other, I'd have them work alternate shifts, or better yet, have them work at co pletely different locations.
LAM: i've runoads of these but because sLAMs are such rapid wham bang thank you mam affairs with no time for anything but spamming attacks and following the leader, I have no idea what we're actually supposed to be doing. Marauder has a drink of something and then goes mental is about all I got. No idea if there are any plot inconsistencies withthe LAM, then.
Keyes: he can stop time, right? Only...not for very long? What?
And what's with the AM herding? If i was AM, I'd be like 'uh, I'll just stay over here away from the computers. Thrrrp, noobs, you got nothing now!'
UGh: Only run it once, so can't comment.
TPN: Everyone knows about the rocks by now. Terrible.
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Quote:Originally Posted by Hopeling
You find a warwalker which has been built to quickly repair itself (with nanobots or something? Who knows). The lichen scattered through the tunnels impairs its self-repair mechanisms, so you use that. Then, in a twist nobody failed to see coming, the Devouring Earth lichen takes over the warwalker and makes it regenerate, so you have to fight it again.
Ah, I see now.
That's actually quite cool. Shame it's in such a terrible slog of a mission.
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Can someone explain what exactly the lichen and the warwalkers are doing together, story-wise? I've only done the UGh once - never again - and I was like 'wtf? Robots and...lichen? Eh?'. It's so difficult to actually catch what story there is in these things.
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My pc has been suffering from a very weird malady lately. About 5 mins after I dit down at it, it crashes. Not 5 mins after booting up. 5 mins roughly after I sit down at it. My gf can use it all day fine, and then she's finished snd I sit down and 5 mins later, dink-blackscreen. I got a message that my nvidia drivers were out of date from coh yesterday, and I had to have her uninstall them and download and install new ones after 4 or 5 attempts by me failed lol.
It hates me.
Haven't seen any of the GUI problemd in the OP though
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They could solve all speed run exploits by naking every mission in the game including all TFs and trials Defeat Alls on top of their other objectives.
Apart from street hunt 'Defeat X Mobs in Zone Y' type missions. Defeating all the mobs in a zone would take far too long.
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Quote:Are you typing in an irish accent?Originally Posted by Cobalt Azurean
You left out this part: (and the changes to Keyes is a direct result of feedback from players), which would be the 'squeaky wheel' I referred to earlier.
Also, data-minin' just says that it wasn't bein' run as often as somethin' that people were more comfortable with. Which is normal. People don't like change. They stay within their comfort zone. It doesn't actually say why. However, as above, the why is stated as bein' based upon player feedback, which it must've been negative as it wouldn't have been changed otherwise. Thus, again, squeaky wheel.
Who's 'us'? You? Them? Not certainly I. You can't please everyone. No news is good news, and they shouldn't think that just because a few people were forced to do grouped content in a MMORPG, and therefore complained about it, shouldn't be appeased. Or because they didn't like the 'gimmick' o' the trial, or couldn't form up fast enough, or couldn't lead their way out o' a wet paperbag, or couldn't succeed with just facerollin' their way through the content.
What about those o' us who didn't have a problem with it, who still ran the content with the original challenge o' it, and enjoyed it? Just because we didn't feel the need to run to the forums and proverbially heap praise upon our content overlords doesn't mean that I wasn't pleased by their efforts and output. We just went about our business and pressed forth. That's what I meant above by 'no news is good news'. Keyes is referred to as lolKeyes now because o' the changes. It's not a challenge anymore. It's a joke. Even if you have 1% regen, you'll be back at full health before the next pulse hits. Why bother havin' it now if it's not goin' take effort on part o' the league to overcome it?
Thanks for the break down. I didn't know I could only be in either o' those two options that you gave me from your strict outlook that's biased towards bein' on the other side o' this. I'll keep that in mind as this isn't my first rodeo on the intarwebz.
See above for what I said about data-minin' and what part it actually plays.
I've said what I wanted to say, and clarified for those that questioned, and now I'll get back to actually spendin' more time playin' the game than talkin' about it.
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Quote:That may be due to some folks having unfortunate prior experiences with RPers. I rember one time I was on an LGTF and it failed because the tank was an RPer and that was fine until his orc mask slipped down over his eyes and he couldn't see the monitor. Because he was IC he couldn't just move it back up so he was all like 'WAARGH!!! My arch-enemy Gandalf the Grey hath surely cast Blind Abjuration of D'Thatatahapath on me! Forsooth I am BLIND!!!' in chat and that was that TF over.Originally Posted by Tyger42
It's not "cliquish elitism" when the wariness isn't totally uncalled for. RPers are quite often the favorite targets of trolls and griefers.
I must point out that's meant as an affectionate ribbing of RPers.
I RP myself often.
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The things I dislike about iTrials:
Crap story, boring repetitive mechanics, no actual challenge when on a full league and everyone knows what to do, being lost in a sock-inducing cloud of particle effects and spammage, and GGs 'Stepford Wife married to Mr Incarnate System' routine.
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I think its all in flux. I view the story arcs and TFs as kinda like comic books. The Sig arcs are always going to be there for me to play, I hope, like my comics are always on the shelf for me if I want to revisit The Day The Law Died or Born Again.
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Quote:So I can buy it and they can have my money.Originally Posted by Zamuel
...why?
Everyone's happy!
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Bug Hunter doesn't induce reporting of exploits among anyone who likes to exploit exploits, and annoys badgers who like to see clear criteria for gaining a badge. They should make it buyable.
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Haven't read the whole thread, but...
I'm a bit irked at all the 'game engine's ten years old, where's CoH2, it's like playing Manic Miner!' moaning.
The older faces etc could do with sprucing up, sure, but I've got no complaints about what the game looks like for the most part. It's awesome - I can fly and shoot energy blasts and punch supervillains off buildings.
And one of my heroes has a brain in a jar for a head!
I hope the game's still around for threads complaining about the 20-year old engine
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