Nethergoat

I converted a couple this AM and got the *exact same* Hecatomb both times, one converter each.

Random is random, sure, but this makes me nervous about the next batch I process.... =P

I've been playing this game a loooooong time - it takes quite a bit to make me sit up straight and say HOLY CARP!

What that crab did was up there with some of the nuttier stuff we could get away with pre-ED.

I didn't notice anything like this on Yin or Positron.

In my experience the newer TFs deliver engaging gameplay and give the *sense* of a story to players who care to pay attention without having it get in the way of busting heads.

I wouldn't appreciate a TF that replicated, say, the Twinshot arc, where most of the "action" takes place in character dialog boxes.

But that's not what the newer TFs do.

There's no reason the journey to a goal has to be a tedious slog.

this was exactly my problem.
Slots I had a fair number of, it's just that my alt-itis rendered them insufficient.


Thanks for the tip about the store/rewards icons on the GUI- I popped into the options and disabled them last night.

So this morning my son wanted to check out "a guy" and chose my fire/ice blaster Paraleghell from the pack. Lately he always wants to pick the server himself but ends up choosing either Freedom of Virtue because they're eternally yellow/red. He likes Para because he has big horns & he also knows he has Rain of Fire, one of his all time favorite powers. Also, being an IO'ed out recharge junkie RoF is up pretty much every spawn with him and that gets him bonus points- the boy hates waiting around for things to recharge.


I was in Steel Canyon for some reason, and while running around we came across that hilly wooded area full of Circle of Thorns. My son insisted we rescue all the "nice people", so we spent ten minutes or so AoE'ing grays and accepting the thanks of a grateful citizenry- whenever there's a word bubble anywhere near us he makes me read it.

We tried to run a tip mission, but his difficulty is set pretty high and trying to deal with big spawns of Longbow with a toddler on my lap proved beyond my talents. It's nothing the character can't handle, but it does take concentration. Compare and contrast to when I play one of my brutes, who would have rolled right through the mission even with the Toddler Handicap.

So I logged out and came back in with SilverRage, my heroic street justice/shield guy for him to run around with. The first thing he did was hit the Pocket D teleporter and should "WATCH WHAT HAPPENS NOW, DADA!"

So yeah, he knows what it is and that's definitely what happened to Night Bee. =P

I *know* I have this costume saved, so I left him to it and cleaned the kitchen. A bit later he shouts again,

"DADA! DADA! COME HERE, YOU GOTTA SEE THIS!"

"What is it?" I inquire, drying my hands and strolling over.

He's got SilverRage standing on the railing by the big windows surrounding the dance floor, and his nose is pressed up against the monitor.

"Dada, look, it's a FLOATING TRUCK!"

I don't know why it was so fascinating for him, but he was there checking it out for a good five minutes. I expect he'll be *really excited* the next time they open up the Ski Chalet and we can get the Trucker badge. =P



Last night I got in a bit of game time and had my first genuinely bad teaming experience since my return.

Was on Scab Factory, hoping to catch on with a TF or alternately run a few tips before bed. Some guy was advertising a level 50 tip team accepting all comers, so I took a chance. I was going to run tips anyway, why not get more XP for my trouble?

I joined up mid-mission, hopped to Grandville (why run tips in the most annoying zone in the game, I asked myself) and got in the door in time to help clear the last few spawns.

After a couple of players bolted and the guy runnining things said he'd recruited a "tricked out 50" so he was going to "crank" the difficulty. Looking at our team I wasn't sure that was such a great idea- we had me at level 30, an electric blaster at level 18, a brute at level 40 & the leader, an MM at level 50. But whatever, I figured- some characters can solo on +4/X8, maybe this guy was one of them. I wouldn't mind tagging along for a quick level.

So the guy shows up, and I can instantly tell he's one of those squirrley ADD types you usually find advertising farms on Freedom. Not unusual, except this was Virtue...and his bio claimed he was an RP'er?!?

Very strange.

Anyway, we go in and it's a Nemesis mission and everything is purple.

My bad feeling intensifies.

I mean, I don't care how l337 your build is, Nemesis is nobody's idea of a fun farm faction.

So we engage the first spawn, and things go, ah, not so great.
The blaster dies instantly, the l337 d00d is doing okay, the mastermind's pets are getting slaughtered, I'm just about dead but gamely wailing away on a Dragoon that I can just barely hit after eating a couple of medium yellows. The other brute is doing alright, as befits a level 40, but there's a problem.

"STOP STEALING MY AGGRO!" shouts the l337 d00d.

"???" I think to myself.

We finish off the spawn and the other brute says "I hope you weren't talking to me."

"SO WHAT IF I WAS!" exclaims the l337 d00d.

"Thanks for the team, I'm out." And the other brute bails.
I know I should join him, but even with the headaches the XP is phenomenal and I'm already here, so I decide to stick it out.

Team leader & l337 d00d have a short discussion about how some people can't take a joke- these guys are giving me some serious flashbacks to my days running CounterStrike servers.

So we go to the next spawn and the l337 d00d gets faceplanted, which results in a team wipe.

Team leader recruits another 50, a Crab Spider who spends the rest of the mission blowing my mind, basically doing what the l337 d00d was *supposed* to do but couldn't really pull off.

The l337 d00d faceplants again, then quits the team saying he has to go help out a pal he "trades farms" with.

Again, this is on VIRTUE.

But you know what?
We don't miss him at all.
Because that Crab Spider ROCKS THE BOX.

With the Crab doing most of the work the rest of us are able to pick around the edges of spawns and help a bit without getting annihilated. It takes a bit, but we finish off the mission and it got me basically an entire level- I have like half a nugget to finish off, and that was from a standing start.

I want to get Scabby up to Granite Armor level so I can see what the deal is with it- hopefully I'll be able to catch on with a TF tonight, or I might even be pro-active and try to start one up myself.

Anyone got a suggestion for a fairly quick level 30 redside TF?

frontpacks are better.


/unsigned.


=P

Which is by and large what they've done with the newer stuff- I haven't played everything, but of the more recent TFs I have played all were well written, mechanically interesting, exciting, engaging content that showed the game in its best light.

Also, not really blaming the current team for the general wretchedness of the 'original' TFs, just noting that IMHO all of them answer the question is this measurably better than running random repeatable content? with a resounding NO.

Weird, I haven't had that problem unless I'm fighting low cons.

Caltrops is my second favorite spot for that proc, just behind Rain of Fire.

Barring an unforeseen life changing event, I'm VIP to say.
I can't go back to not having access to ALLLL of my character slots.

Plus, as I think I mentioned earlier, the VIP point stipend has actually been saving me money by imposing some discipline on my market purchases. Before if I wanted something I'd just buy it. Now, I check my points and often as not decide to wait for the next dump so I can get it 'free'.

It already happened.

You're playing it now, they just called it 'Freedom' instead of 'CoH 2'.

You can work around it, certainly.
But as long as ATs exist that don't *need* to work around it, it remains a handicap for those which do.

I don't see the value of being pointlessly annoyed just because I want to play a blaster or other mez susceptible AT.

the style hasn't bothered me yet, and didn't notice anything annoying with Nightfall- but playing my ar/dev has given me a *lot* of experience with finicky, narrow cones. =P

This assumes an optimized run- I had the misfortune of doing this one recently, and it was a grind that timed out closer to two hours than one.

For a non- PUG that more or less knew what to expect, I can see it being fairly quick. For us, it wasn't.


I'm not here to dictate anyone's fun- if a basically random assortment of outmoded game types loosely strung together by a story that nobody other than the mission holder has access to entertains you, terrific!

I used to really love running around in Dark Astoria blowing up huge spawns of zombies with my fire blaster, so I don't judge.

I'd suggest that's more of an efficiency thing than an 'enjoyment' thing.
Not that people aren't having fun with it, but I doubt anyone wakes up in the morning positively elated by the prospect of running newspapers.

It's a convenient way to rack up a lot of rewards quickly- no zoning, no visiting your contact, predictable and to some extent selectable enemies (if you get a crappy draw, just abandon the mish and try again), controllable travel time (again, if you get one in the middle of nowhere, abandon and re-select)....it's a nice, straightforward way to run with a big team that doesn't require any real commitment from anyone. Most paper teams I catch on with are in a state of constant flux- people drop out after almost every mission, others replace them.

In entertainment terms newspaper missions are like the neighborhood bar- you drop in, have a drink, chat with some people, and take off whenever you like. A TF is more like attending an opera recital- once seated, you're in for the duration and can't leave without attracting the scorn of your fellows.

I hold that the greater commitment of the TF should be held to a higher standard of gameplay than that of a random newspaper team, and judge them accordingly.

Of the stuff I've run over the last few months, Penny Yin was a lot of fun. Both Positrons are a lot of fun. Silver Mantis was fun, even though our team was underpowered and we had the difficulty up way too high.

Manticore?
ZZzzzzzzzzzz.

Bastion/Citadel?
ZZZzzzzzzzzzz.

Synapse?
UGH ZZzzzzzzz.

See above, mostly.
It's one type of 'fun', the fun of getting rewards efficiently.
Switching zones for a good reason can work, but the way its generally deployed in the older TFs is pure time wasting filler.

And yes, I'm saying street hunts are basically pointless and not fun, all the more so when they require visiting an out-of-the-way location. Again, pure time wasting filler.

The exception is the sort of interactive 'hunt' as seen in the Habashy arc in Atlas- there are a couple of missions that are basically go. hunt. kill hellions., but the hunts have a visible impact on the zone and so don't feel pointless in the same way as the older "go beat up XXX until one of them tells you where XXXX is hidden!" hunts do.

I just think TF content should deliver a generally better gaming experience than running random repeatable missions.

It's like that aphorism "one death is a tragedy, a thousand deaths is a statistic."

Phipps' crimes are more grounded in reality and thus more relatable than the comic book histrionics of many higher profile and objectively "worse" villains.
Nemesis is an impossible cartoon.
People like Phipps exist, right now, all around us.

I generally save a copy of all my newer characters, but Night Bee may predate the 'save' system- I'll have to remember to take a look.

I didn't know you could get rid of those- good tip. I'll poke around and get them out of harm's way.

He's not so much interested in making characters yet, he just likes to run around with mine. When he gets ideas about making his own I may have to get him his own (freemium) account- my alts are legion.

Actually that's EXACTLY what matters for any rewards-driven player...which is most gamers.

Time is the only meaningful currency in this type of game.
Characters that complete objectives quickly & efficiently are 'better' than ones that can't. The same logic applies to individual powers- ones that enable efficiency are popular, ones that don't aren't.

And I say this as someone with more than my share of oddball non-optimized alts that I enjoy playing.