Neuronia

Voting for Ashcraft.

Pretty much Elf Stalker, isn't it in his sig?

Arts & Crafts vs. GDHRT

7-4 A&C Tech Lab (Emp, Blaster, Dom vs. Elec/Kin, Sonic/Pain and Mind/Fire)
2-1 A&C Graveyard (Emp, Fire Blaster, Therm vs. Ice/Rad Corr, Sonic/Pain, Mind/Fire (?) )
4-1 GDHRT Cargo (Psy Blast, Fire Blast, Therm vs. Elec/Kin, Mind/Fire and Sonic/Pain)

GFs, that Elec is pretty nasty

I think you can find "A Hero's Hero" in Ouroboros, at least I did on my main...but she already had done the arc. :s

Kinda disappointed they took out Siege from the new arc, very clunky having to do the old arc to access him.

Two votes for option two (myself and offline friend).

We'd rather have the legacy pieces, with new ones perhaps added to the "top" of their appropriate menus to indicate new shinies.

The "crisis points" I've seen are:

i)Nexus of Thorns: The vines DOT and the tree, combined with Circle of Thorns holds makes this messy.

ii)Dr. Aeon: He clones, you lose target on the original, he Energy Transfers you for a zillion, no Clear Mind/Clarity on you, you die.

iii)Ghost Widow: The hold and pbaoe heal do it here.

You can overcome (i) by carrying some Sturdy and a Break Free or two and managing your health bar. You can overcome (ii) by simply being careful. You can overcome (iii) by bringing enough colds to start a freezer sale, good emp/sonic/pain on team to keep CM up, some Lucks/Archmage or just good positioning without gimmicks. If you have your standard Stone Tanker or Willpower Tanker or Shield Tanker, they just taunt Ghost Widow while you wail on her and defeat.

The Flier spawns can be an issue as well, but you just need to have some awareness of surroundings and blast them when they show up, as well as remembering the spawn timer.

I've bugged the copy tool, temps being broken, the 'exit' of matches before start, etc.

My Spine/Dark...lots of fun but massive end hog and having difficulty tanking massive spawns with him.

My Mind/Cold is great on teams but a little slow solo.

My Dual Pistols/Traps Corruptor gets left behind a lot on teams because of the setup times, but love him anyway.

Afternoon all,

The eternal refrain springs from players, whether tabletop or MMO, about "End-game content". Specifically, these players want challenging tasks against which they can pit themselves and their finely tuned avatars.

When designing End-game, where do the developers start? Are ancillary systems such as costume creation, role-playing, badges, marketing, reward accumulation, base building, PvP and other activities truly "End-game" in that some require level-capped avatars and canny play habits, or are they simply time sinks?

I refer to time sinks simply because they are the base of any game or MMO.
Now, in our specific game, we have players getting to 50, accolading and kitting out then...finding tasks lacking. Are they, though? Here are a few things level-capped players can accomplish:

-Task Forces
-Hamidon Raids
-Rikti War Zone (RWZ) Raids
-Purples
-PvP

Of course, you can accomplish the first and obtain the fourth without doing much more than running missions. Hamidon and Rikti War Zone raids are certainly the two major tasks (outside Cathedral of Pain) that require large-scale coordination with a good reward. Cathedral of Pain is an oddball. Some teams roll over it, others...not so much.

Where do the Devs go from here?

Do their base their endgame on current structures such as the RWZ raids or Hamidon raids? Do their base it on instanced task force content with challenging mobs such as the Cathedral of Pain? What about the Incarnate System? If avatars are granted additional buffs, it stands to reason they'll overcome current challenges that much quicker, perhaps resulting in downward trending Merit rewards.

Do the developers skew new challenges to the tried and true "SOd character" mantra, or do they examine potential power creep from invention and say: "Ok, we're tailoring this task for characters with X Regeneration, Accuracy, Recovery..." and go from there? Given the abundance (often to absurd levels) of buffs, debuffs and raw damage in the game, are tasks heading toward more of a "large-scale attack" model seen in the Reichsmann TF ambushes, zone events and so on, overwhelming players?

Lastly, and more importantly, where do the Developers draw the line for item acquisition (as gear treadmills are a true part of MMOs) with the Incarnate system or events, and will these systems create a planned obsolescence of the IO system? Likely not as IOs still help greatly for most of the tasks.
Given the Incarnate system is power (?) slot (?)-based, how do the Developers continue adding these slots and increasing power levels while maintaining growth of the Praetoria zone and keeping the current base happy? Do powers come into review for adjustment because of IOs or the Incarnate system itself? How much work should the Devs put into end-game, given the reputedly low number of people that get to 50 in the first place?

Do the developers borrow from other MMO models and time-gate encounters, or are players allowed to manipulate the environment to create these events? How does the super sidekick system tie in to potential zone events? Can the devs use existing structures, modify them for use later in the game?

Transitionally, it may be important for the Devs to scale tasks as more challenging as players progress through their careers. The common refrain of the game being "too easy" may well be met by end tasks being "too hard", as the player is used to a certain amount of challenge. Of course, this is part of the challenge...adaptation and survival before conquest.


Here's to hoping that the Incarnate system and its associated rewards and tasks are entertaining enough for repeatability and challenging enough that you will want to repeat them, without reaching levels of MMO frustration.

...when I log into an underplayed alt, she has tons of base salvage and it sells!

...when I buy recipes on my level 17 Tanker and vendor them, giving me SO range influence.

...when I find out that stuff in my base is, indeed, valuable and I sell it for a hefty markup.

...because it's an easy way to make money while trading goods to other players.

...because it's a mini-game that benefits everyone that uses it!