NightshadeLegree

I don't feel there is a double standard. Farming Lib TV or the hero side equivalent is far less prevalent than the epidemic of AE farms, and also requires a more specialised team set up. It's also not right in your face the first time you zone into Atlas Park or Mercy, which is, I suspect, a significant part of why this is being considered a problem.

Given these differences I don't think that what needs to be done to 'fix' AE is necessarily required for regular missions.

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There are two really simple things that could be done to all but kill AE farming (powerleveling at least, which seems to be the real issue.)

1) Remove the auto-SK from the AE, or force everyone to auto-SK to the same level. Powerleveling is currently easy because the AE can be used to mass "bridge" seven people at the same time.

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This.

I don't think anyone really cares if veteran players and PvPers want to farm/PL within their own groups with their perma-46s. If newbies have to go back to finding 5mil Inf for a run on Lib TV or an AE boss farm or whatever that will end the current craze.

Hadn't thought of Pocket D, but seeing as I have the TP from the GvE edition that could work very well

I'm still getting used to finding my way around blue side. After so much time in the Isles I sometimes find Paragon quite complex to navigate.

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Faultline is a brilliant zone (I'm doing the arcs for the first time at the moment and really enjoying them) but at the best of times I'd not imagine it was very appealing to a typical let's-chain-radios PUG - too hard to get around for one thing.

I kind of like it the way it is. It's easier to get caught up in the story if broadcast isn't full of AEF LFM

Buuuut... it is a nuisance to get to, with that long long run through Skyway every time I want to visit Wentworths, so a PTA link would be welcome for that if nothing else.

The problem I have with the idea of massed underling spawns is that it only provides the illusion of overwhelming odds, not the real deal.

The only time rikti monkeys have been a problem for me (not really a problem, more of a nuisance) was in wide open maps, where they got in the way when I was using tab to select my next real target. So as a threat they're on a par with a parking meter in a mayhem mission.

I'd like to see the Devs play around with the mission spawns more - solo mobs of 3 minions or 1 minion and a lieutenant can get very predictable, and being vastly outnumbered and still winning is always fun.

Personally if I see a 10 strong mob of even cons or (depending on the character) +1s, I'm always tempted to dive in and see if I can take them all down.

Happily my level 36 scrapper has just discovered the Abandoned Sewer Network

I know I wasn't the only one who was wondering about this after seeing Manticore and Ghost Widow in the GR trailer. Manticore in particular seems like he could stray off the straight and narrow if pushed.

I'd like it if they did shake up the signature characters a little - even if it did require redoing some of the existing content. At the very least it would give the impression that the world of Paragon City and the Rogue Isles isn't standing still.

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Cimerora is primarily a vehicle for the Imperious Task Force (ITF).

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Which is why I find the actual zone underwhelming. I was disaponted when I decided to explore Cimerora only to realise how small it is, and the wall loses a lot of its grandeur once you know that there is nothing behind it.

It doesn't feel like a place. It feels like a film set.

When it's done well it can be very entertaining. I remember duoing on a BNY mission with a blaster named, I think, Original Patriot, who was like a cross between Captain America and Hugh Hefner. He had two sets of binds - one for blasting the enemies, and one for socialising with any heroine or villainess he encountered.

Every so often he'd get them mixed up, and start flirting with Winter Lords

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No.

I'd imagine it's better to learn the limits of your powersets against Hellions and Trolls, not Nemesis and Malta.

That and... one of the things I really enjoy is hitting a new zone for the first time - exploring the streets and taking out new bad guys (or good guys) If you 'start' at 50 the first time you see a new zone it's all grey to you, and that's much less interesting.

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If that were the case, why wouldn't we be tired of running through all the states after 25 repeatedly? Or breaking out the level 50s, where there's literally nothing to do besides what you've already done before?

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That's a fair question. I don't have enough high level characters to be really able to comment on the replay value of the post-25 game, except to say that the levelling speed may be a factor - meaning that if I roll a new alt then I'll go through AP or Mercy in a single night, but unless I'm really going fast it takes longer to do the later zones, so you're less likely to revisit the same stuff as quickly. Just a theory.

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Maybe it really is the game design that's the problem. If the late game can keep our interest, the early game can too. It doesn't. That's a problem.

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I don't disagree that the early game could use some work - red is too linear, blue is too bitty (go here, now go here, now go back there etc) I just don't think that making low level characters more powerful is the answer.

Oddly enough the character of mine who currently has the most end issues is my lvl 35 scrapper, who I respec'd last night and is now running 5 toggles. Combining that with a non stop attack chain and she runs through End in a manner that makes my lowbies look like godmode.

And she does have Stamina

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Fun isn't about slow leveling, it's about action.

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In your opinion. Personally I spend enough time in the higher levels running through hordes of unthreatening enemies that I find the slower, more cautious pace of the low level game quite refreshing.

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Eliminating TOs and DOs entirely and starting with SOs at level 1, as has been proposed by others, would go a long way towards fixing the problem, but it's still not sufficient because there simply aren't enough slots available to a pre-22 character to make a significant difference. Something like a universal reduction in end costs to every power in the game, or something easier, like a universal boost inherent regen and recovery, is needed in addition to that.

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Are you seriously proposing that the upper two powers of the Fitness pool should become an inherent? Why not make the Tier 9 an inherent as well? What's the difference?

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Oy. Where did I say that the Fitness pool should become inherent? Where?

Reading incomprehension+straw man argument=epic fail

I am not proposing that. I merely said one of the simplest solutions would be to increase the inherent regen and recovery rate. Nothing about movement or jumping speed, nor did I imply it should be a boost up to the level of Health and Stamina. *sigh*

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Alright, then we'll call them Health Jr and Stamina Jr. If they were significantly lower than the two pool powers would they actually have that much of an impact?

Also, I said nothing about movement or jumping speed. I added some bold to my original comment to draw that to your attention, so please don't make remarks about my 'reading incomprehension' when you're demonstrating that you didn't read what I said.

I've noticed that most of the suggestions about making the low level game easier and/or faster come from vets of several years. Did you ever think that maybe it's not down to the mechanics of the game that you don't enjoy the low levels so much, but rather that you've been playing it for a very long time, and have, presumably, ran through those stages so often that you've exhausted your interest in them?

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The game doesn't even start to become fun until after 22.

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I disagree. I often find the post-22 game less fun. The slowest levelling I've had on my higher level characters has come at points when they are trouncing just about everything they meet.

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If the end redux were actually effective it might be a different story, but until you reach SOs, you might as well not even bother with enhancements; the difference they make is negligible.

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Do you solo much?

The reason I ask is that I solo a lot, and if my TOs or DOs go red I will notice. On a team... not so much, if it's a reasonably competent team, but then a lot of carelessness can go unnoticed in a team.

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Eliminating TOs and DOs entirely and starting with SOs at level 1, as has been proposed by others, would go a long way towards fixing the problem, but it's still not sufficient because there simply aren't enough slots available to a pre-22 character to make a significant difference. Something like a universal reduction in end costs to every power in the game, or something easier, like a universal boost inherent regen and recovery, is needed in addition to that.

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Are you seriously proposing that the upper two powers of the Fitness pool should become an inherent? Why not make the Tier 9 an inherent as well? What's the difference?

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Downtime is bad. Downtime is boring. Forcing downtime on the players is not good design.

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Handing everything to the players on a plate isn't good design either.

End isn't that big a deal if a) you slot some end red in your attack chain and toggles, and b) you don't try to play like you're already level 22.

I miss Power.

Half naked chick guns down fully naked zombie. This is what we mean by Violence and Suggestive Themes.

[Broadcast]Lord Recluse: 50 Incarnate LF Meow

*A level 40 villain in search of a patron enters the Tangle and finds it empty except for Lord Recluse himself.

Recluse: [i]Ghost Widow, Mako, Black Scorpion and Sciricco went to AE to farm Rikti. They said they'll brb if you want to wait."

/signed

Even if a new player avoids the farms and wants to run regular content there are very few teams available in AP and Mercy at the moment, and those who are LFT are drowned out by LFAEF spam.

I'd prefer to see AE in a separate zone, ala Pocket D. Not only would that get rid of the spam, it would get rid of the lag around the AE buildings.

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I know my first character was a energy/energy blaster and i thought the more KB the better...besides, it just looked cool.

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After almost 6 months I still build NRG/NRG blasters like that. It is cool

Problem is, the overnight 50s will have a steeper learning curve by far than those of us who took the slow road to 50. Not having a good grasp of what your powers can and can't do isn't so bad when you're fighting Skulls or Family on Villainous, but it will get you killed very quickly indeed when you join a team comprised of people who've been running Relentless since the mid 20s and are fighting Malta or Nemesis.

Which could, in turn, lead to the new player becoming frustrated and disillusioned, because he's got this level 50 character and he's not nearly as powerful as he'd expect to be.

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read that as..."oh! I stood around atlas for an hour! nobody asked me on broadcast to form a team.....even if I was running a lvl 45 scrapper"

Meanwhile in PI, teams are forming all over the place because they !GASP! put on their LFt flag and started forming a team instead of being a lazy [censored] and letting someone else do the work.

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Well, no.

I was level 1 through to level 4. I wasn't particularly looking for team myself - just wandering around hitting hellions and watching the broadcast spam.

Pre-I14 I would have probably had one or two random invites - which I might or might not have accepted depending on my mood - but I'd definately have seen more than a single solitary attempt by someone to form a sewer team.

Let's not kid ourselves that there are as many non-AE teaming opportunities out there for the casual/new player as there were pre-I14. We both know that isn't true.

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How ironic that NCSoft puts out its new box, and related advertising, to pull in new players when the game they're being introduced to is a caricature of what it was meant to be.

Regular teaming is dead. In an hour in Virtue AP I saw one LFT that wasn't AE/Farm related, and I'm betting there were zero takers for that. Is this really what anyone wants new players to see?

"Here's this cool superhero MMO. What you do is you create a character, then you go into this building in the start zone and kick the crap out of one kind of enemy. Over and over and over again. Within a day or two you'll have a level 50 character. Warning: if you DO decide to play some real missions you'll find progression unbelievably slow in comparison, so you probably won't want to do that. If you do you'd better get used to soloing."

More importantly, will they stick around if their source of instant gratification is taken away from them? Will they stick around if it isn't?

Of course now the rest of the Freedom Phalanx will be complaining that Positron is soloing his missions for merits rather than being a good team player

Turns out it's actually

Player\FemTaunt10.ogg

However I apreciate your help, and love this thread for making Nightshade playable again. That one sound was just so boisterious and... heroic... it was character killing.

The female 'Aha!' sound that has been added to Provoke since the update today is driving me crazy. I honestly wince every time I have to use the power.

I'd really appreciate it if anyone could tell me the name of the .ogg file I need to silence it.