Panzerwaffen

OK, I guess the next question, which is one that probably no one here can answer, would be: Has the menu that /Help brings up now actually been useful and "helpful" for players, compared to using the actual Help channel?

I just took a quick look around the Help menu, and I did not see one obvious reference to the Help channel in there. I would think something like that should be one of the first things a player sees when they open the Help menu.

I just wanted to check with other players and see if they were noticing the same thing I have been. Before the Help chat command was changed to /hc the Help channel on my server, Protector, was used quite a bit. I used to see players using it several times a day, at least. Now, ever since the change, it is basically completely silent. I actually had to check and see if I still had it enabled on my chat window, as I have not seen anything in Help for weeks.

I'm wondering if the change in commands has kept all the newer players from being able to use it. /Help seemed like such an intuitive way to use it.

Any similar experiences to mine out there?

[ QUOTE ]
You know, a team is up to 8 people with 1 leader. You are telling me that there are so few people now that anyone that wants to play the old way, they have to be the leaders? If i actually want to play the game the way it was made, i have to go and search for the few others hidden on the other corners of the globe? Yes i can do that, but my question is why? Why is it that now, the only people that want to play the other 95% of this game are an underground society? Whatever, if it's gotten to the point that people that just want to PL are calling me lazy, maybe i should just leave this game for good.

[/ QUOTE ]

What people are telling you here, is that the more effort you put into the game, the more successful you will be. If you sit back, and wait for teams to come to you, and do nothing else, you will be sitting around a lot. On the other hand, if you put forth even a bit of effort, you will get great results. It's not really that hard.

As far as the super-secret, "underground" global channels, they are neither secret nor underground. In fact, most of them are posted right here on the forums. If you want to interact and team with other active players, globals are the way to go. Just last night on Protector, over a span of a couple hours, I saw at least 5 taskforce teams being formed, as well as our usual RWZ ship raid.

[ QUOTE ]
Ma killed my family and my dog- don't know if I should writre a Country Western song about love , betrayal and loss or go all Punisher and hunt it down.

[/ QUOTE ]

If there was no beer involved, you can't write a country song about it. On the other hand, if MA killed your family, your dog, drank all your beer, and your truck broke down, THEN it would make a perfect country song.

Just yesterday, I was sitting at home trying to relax when MA broke down my front door, charged in and shot my dog. At least MA apologized and said they "got the wrong address" before leaving.

You could also slot the Rectified Reticle +perception IO into Build-Up or the equivalent. You get the benefit all the time, not only when using the power.

Brand new registration date: Check.

Ultra-low post count: Check.

AE is ruining the game thread: Check.

Conclusion:?

[ QUOTE ]
I can see why the developers would not want to do this. I believe the TF merit farming by certain builds(*cough* Ill/rad soloists) and PLing characters with those builds specificially to do so would occur.

[/ QUOTE ]

There is nothing really stopping those who want to farm TF's for merits solo from doing so now. The type of player that is dedicated/hardcore enough to want to farm TF's for merits, is not deterred by the current requirement to pad the team to start a TF.

Add to that, the whole point of farming is to maximize rewards vs. time. There would be very few, if any, players or builds that could speed through any of the TF's faster than the current speed teams. The only exception to this that I can see, is Positron, which can actually be done much faster with a small team or solo.

Does the Gaussian's proc get multiple chances to go off if it is slotted into an AOE, such as Soul Drain, that hits several targets?

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
They drop to match however many players are left on the TF, whether they are logged on or not. Example: 8 players start a Positron TF. 6 quit, leaving 2. New spawns will be sized for 2 players.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmm, that is not my understanding of it, I thought that is how it used to work, but they changed it to not go below the minimum requirements of the TF some time ago (about I10 or 11). Hmmm, I wonder how easy it is to verify this.

[/ QUOTE ]

Very easy. Start a Posi TF with 3 people. Notice that many spawns now contain bosses and the size of those spawns. Have one person quit the TF. Spawns are now smaller, and there are no annoying bosses, other than the ones that are mission objectives.

I run Posi solo or duo about once a week or more, and I can verify that this is the way it works.

[ QUOTE ]
I do have one inquiry about the current TF/SF mechanism:

I know that a while back the devs went in and mucked around, but I don't recall if this change is currently in place;

When a team does drop below the minimum required, do the spawns continue to spawn for the rest of the TF/SF at the minimum required level, or the actual level of the number of teammates on the team, logged on or not?

I recall being all happy about the spawns remaining at the minimum required level, but don't believe I experienced that when I soloed the hero side main TFs.

I ask this because IF the spawns do not remain at the minimum required team size level, then TF/SFs degrade *by design.*

My suggestion removes any difficulty degradation and would actually improve the value of the TF/SFs over their current configuration. Granted, it would also make it more difficult for teams that lose players by no choice of their own, but I don't personally see a problem with that.

[/ QUOTE ]

They drop to match however many players are left on the TF, whether they are logged on or not. Example: 8 players start a Positron TF. 6 quit, leaving 2. New spawns will be sized for 2 players.

[ QUOTE ]
Are you part of the global channels dedicated to your servers of choice? I find those are the best places to find teams, certainly a lot better than broadcast.

[/ QUOTE ]

That would be my question as well. I play on Protector, and rarely touch AE, yet my experience there is very much at odds with what the OP is encountering.

Protector has two active global channels: Protector Watch and Jello Shooters. There is almost always something going on that players can get involved in.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm not sure if you can choose specific salvage at the ticket vendor because I blew all my tickets on unlockable conent for the MA and then never looked at the vendor again.


[/ QUOTE ]

At the AE ticket vendor, early on I acquired a piece of salvage I needed, but I might have dreamt that.

I know for certain that I sold a Random Bronze Level Recipe for 34 million influence in Wentworths.

[/ QUOTE ]

You can select specific rare or uncommon salvage, or make random rolls for common salvage. There are 6 pieces of common salvage of each type at each of the 3 level ranges, so you have a 1 in 6 chance per roll of getting the common salvage you are looking for.

First thing you should do (if you have not done it already) is go to the Steel Canyon University and complete the invention tutorial missions that are given out by the guidance counselor contact there.

That will give you a basic overview of the crafting system. I'd suggest doing this after level 12, that way you will get a free level 15 or higher common IO out of it.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It isn't that hard to understand. I really do think that the farmers/pl'r are pretty much complete jerks for not understanding that by now.


[/ QUOTE ]

Please define "farming".

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't make fun of the 'special' kid!

=P

[/ QUOTE ]

Not like he'll ever see it.. He has half the forum on ignore for being "exploiters".

[ QUOTE ]
Panzerwaffen wrote:

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
In my opinion, having an all Boss enemy group IS an exploit. There is no Dev-created group that conforms to that formula, and therefore there is no "natural" encounter that will resemble that situation.

[/ QUOTE ]

Luckily, the dev's opinions seem to differ from yours...

[/ QUOTE ]

If you're going to split hairs, we don't know their opinions (although I can guess). All we do know is their official policy, which is, "Do it until we make it illegal."

--NT

[/ QUOTE ]

Fair enough...

[ QUOTE ]
How much would the requested change further degrade one's ability to get a team going for a TF/SF?

These are worthwhile questions. Questions that only the devs can answer.

[/ QUOTE ]

Or how much would the requested change INCREASE the ability to form teams for certain TF's? I've seen players attempt to form TF teams and either give up, because they couldn't find enough people to start the TF, or switch to a different TF that was more popular and easier to find team mates for.

[ QUOTE ]
If this was a democracy, you'd have a point. But since the devs make the rule, the only "argument" anyone needs is "because the devs have deemed TFs/SFs as team content."

[/ QUOTE ]

As Bill said, you are 100% correct, the devs make the rules. This is not a democracy, this is a business. Your point is also completely irrelevant to this discussion. Based on your logic, no player should ever bother making any type of suggestion for improving the game here on the forum. "Because the devs have deemed [....] as [....]" can be used as a basis to shoot down absolutely anything.

The very subject of this entire thread, the new team difficulty settings, originated here on the forums, along with many other things that have been added to the game over the years.

*Still waiting for anyone to actually have a valid argument as to what is wrong with the idea of relaxing TF starting requirements.

[ QUOTE ]
Having been part of this thread, I've seen only ONE argument against changing/improving how TF/SFs are started: "It's supposed to be team content!"

[/ QUOTE ]

And they also seem to conveniently ignore the fact that a "team" does not have to consist of 6 or more players to, in fact, be a team. There aren't any particularly good arguments against allowing solo players to access TF's, and there are NO good arguments against allowing smaller teams to access them.

Yes, there are limits to discourage hoarding and to force players to supply the market. Now, having said that, you have some options.

SG bases can have storage racks for salvage and for crafted enhancements.

You can store salvage in your personal vault.

You can place items into market slots, but not put them up for sale. Up to 10 identical recipes or salvage items can be placed into one market slot.

[ QUOTE ]
We tried, and we failed... we didnt have enough DPS to beat Reichman without temp pets, so instead...

[/ QUOTE ]

Disappointed to hear that.. Sorry I couldn't make it. No one had any Shivs or nukes to use on Reichsman?

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Out of all of the content in the game, the task forces and strike forces stand out as special because of the requirements of them. It's generally understood by most people that it takes some time and effort to put together the team, and there's generally dedication on the team to stick with it because of the extra work involved in getting the team together.

There's more commitment amongst the teammates to see it through.

Taking away those elements makes it not much different than any other radio mission or story arc and they'll get treated as such by the playerbase. The game should have special content with higher requirements just for teams. These missions are the only ones that fill that role. Remove those requirements and there will be nothing designed for teams any more.

[/ QUOTE ]

Therein lies the issue of the solo mindset.

They don't care. They don't care if there's nothing in the game that can't be soloed. They -want- to solo it. They don't want teams so they don't want team oriented content. Appealing to the side that accept there's stuff in a game which encourages teaming is a waste of time. It's not their playstyle so why should they care?

-Rachel-

[/ QUOTE ]

It's already been said, but it is NOT just about solo'ing. Many of the TF's require 6 or more players to start them. That excludes a whole lot of smaller teams, doesn't it?

[ QUOTE ]
The question was about farming. If you're farming, a Fire/Kin will drastically out perform a Fire/Rad.

All of the other discussion if valid and I tend to agree that a Fire/Rad bring more to a team.

But for farming, it's no contest.

[/ QUOTE ]

I disagree, to a certain extent. Yes, kins are faster. But it is not quite as drastic as you seem to imply. A good fire/rad can do a fair job of keeping up with an average fire/kin.

It also depends on what you're farming. As the targets get harder, the gap between kin and rad shrinks quickly. Rad has the advantage on hard targets in my experience.

[ QUOTE ]
In my opinion, having an all Boss enemy group IS an exploit. There is no Dev-created group that conforms to that formula, and therefore there is no "natural" encounter that will resemble that situation.

[/ QUOTE ]

Luckily, the dev's opinions seem to differ from yours...

Based on my experience with a well IO'ed fire/rad, I'd say the difference is primarily one of speed vs. safety.

Fire/kin can defeat groups at a much faster rate, but stands a greater chance of being defeated if they lose focus. More damage, but less safety & control.

Fire/rad will defeat groups at a slower pace (although not all that much slower), and will have much greater control & safety due to Choking Cloud. Once you are in a spawn with CC running, that's pretty much it. Bosses can be just about insta-held with CC & Cinders.

Fire/rad needs more of an IO investment to work well than fire/kin. It is not cheap. Fire/rad really needs to have perma-AM to be able to run all the endurance heavy toggles, along with the + recovery uniques. Fire/kin is very self sufficient when it comes to endurance.

I am biased, but my opinion is that a good fire/rad will bring more to a team than a fire/kin (and you won't be getting pestered every 5 seconds with 'SB PLZ').