RemusShepherd

Was that record all with a group of friends and/or guildmates?

I don't have that many friends in this game. I'm loosely attached to a crowd that's as organized as a herd of cats, in more ways than one. I don't have any SGs anymore -- my old SG all left. I have level 40s that have never been in a SG. I've soloed and PUGed them all.

Where do I get 24 'friends' with enough discipline and coordination to allow me to 'enjoy' this 'WoW-style raiding content'?

I think the answer is that I don't. End game systems like this are not meant for casual players like me.

To be clear: I am not complaining about how hard the trials are. I like challenging new content. But I like mastering it then moving on. I mastered the Apex and Tin Mage TFs, and now I only play them when I want to.

We are being forced to grind this new content -- only this new content -- upwards of 10 times per incarnate slot. It's an order of magnitude more effort for about the same reward. (I could argue it's less reward, as the slots don't seem that great. Only Judgement looks as though it'll affect gameplay at all.)

Bring on the hard content. But don't force us to do it ad nauseum.

No! No, it's really, really not. This is not what good end game design looks like. I could think up a half dozen better end game systems for CoH without even cracking one of my books on game theory.

All I'm left with is the hope that this is an unfinished system, in the same way that ED was unfinished until the IO system came along. I have to believe our devs will eventually put into place mechanics that will discourage griefers, allow solo play, and encourage good play instead of mindless zerging. I...I just have to.

On a BAF that got to spawning Siege (no idea if that's the final stage or not), I got 10% experience towards some slot.

So I need to fail this TF ten times before I even unlock the slot that might, once it's slotted, give me enough power to succeed at the same content??

This redefines grind. In most grinds you at least get a change of scenery every once in a while. How will I not be sick to my stomach even thinking about this TF by the time I'm able to actually play it?

Is it possible to win with only 8 players?

The addition of special xp even for losing runs seems to indicate that players are now officially going to be rewarded for beating their heads against walls, with no regard to play skill. This is bad, bad design. How do we disincentivize those who will grief their leagues or just play sloppily, when everyone knows that they'll be rewarded even if they fail?

As a geek who's into game mechanics and game design, I'm just appalled. I thought our devs knew how to build a game system. I trusted them. This looks like the work of an amateur.

I sit corrected. I've now done a Lambda trial with some friends, and on that third trial I received a Springfoot recipe. Haven't been keeping track of the salvage. I expect to get this many friends that I know can play and who I trust together maybe once a month.

Three TFs, one (worthless) recipe. I think that qualifies as an extremely low drop rate.

But thank you for pointing out that there is only one new currency, despite it appearing in half a dozen new denominations.

With those in mind, I'm willing to say that this may not be the worst game advacement mechanic ever conceived. It's still without a doubt the worst one ever put into this MMO.

This is terrible. This is awful. Were our devs replaced by automatons? Were the beta testers drunk on Enriche? In my opinion this is, like, i3 level of fail for a new release. What happened?

Captain Cue-Ball-in-a-Converse supports this message.

Whether or not old faces show up again, what I want to know is whether anybody found Sokka's Star Sword. A weapon like that could be a nice macguffin for a new series.

Lemmon was in "Bell, Book, and Candle". It was sort of a primordial version of 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch', with a talking cat and magic spells and so on.

This can't be repeated enough. I watched Quantum Chef and all I could think of was that this guy needed to be slapped. I understand that reality television is all about people yelling at each other for no good reason, but this ***** goes out of his way to screw people over. I like cooking shows, but why would I want to watch a show starring a guy like that?

The TV show Mad Men is not about smoking. But smokers should not watch it. That's all I'm saying.

Of course I am. I'm a schizophrenic, remember?

Look, people who are trying to quit smoking shouldn't watch Mad Men. The show has nothing to do with smoking, but they display it in unhealthy ways. It's the same issue here. I'm just saying.

Brazil is a Monty Python film; the looks are not important. But for all that it does look pretty good. I didn't like it much, myself.

If the main character in Sucker Punch ends up lobotomized, it is not a movie I want to see. I don't care why it happens. I want a movie that either celebrates schizophrenia (Donnie Darko) or celebrates one's power to overcome it (A Beautiful Mind). I have no interest in a movie that says, 'Well, as a dreamer in a cruel world, you're better off dead.'

Oh, god. A 'Fan Convention' zone event. It would happen around one of the hotels in Talos. Tons of civilians milling around wearing costumes copied from the heroes in the zone. I love this idea.

Other people have corrected you on that.

I find it's more efficient to put only 1 endrdx in toggles and powers (except for very end-hungry toggles, like Arctic Air), while pumping up endurance recovery with the Miracle and Numina procs in Health. You might have more endrdx at lower level when you're not IOed out yet, but once you reach 50 the Health procs are the best solution.

But that's just me. I'm sure your method works just as well.

This is in the Director's cut of the original film, if you can find it on DVD. Connor becomes omniscient and all-powerful. I don't think him becoming mortal was mentioned. The Prize was godhood, not mortality. (Mortality's kind of a sucky prize, after all.)

You know, normally I answer these kind of questions with a realistic perspective, taking into account what's possible given the current game mechanics.

Not this time. I have a vision that would probably require a new codebase.

1. Add a destructible environment. Windows should break when you shoot at buildings, walls should crack when someone is knocked back into them, railings and pillars should be destroyable. Have a NPC with a fleet of telekinetically controlled trucks ('Civic Man'?), or an arachnos workcrew, show up in outdoor zones to fix any damage a minute after it appears.

2. Massive expansion of power pools, to allow for more character customization. There should be a Fire Affinity power pool, granting minor fire resistance, melee attack, and a first level blast -- and we should have one of those pools for every element. Then get to work on multiple 'gadgets' pools. Then skill pools (detective work, gunslinging, arcane knowledge, etc.) A player should have so many options that they should never have to pick a power outside of their character's concept.

3. New meshes for player characters. Beyond just Male, Female, and Big Male, we need options like Fat, Stretchy, Child, Man/Woman with Staff, Big Head, Four-legged, Four-armed, Wheelchair, Leifeldesque, and more. Some of these meshes should unlock special power pools that only characters with that mesh can use, like Stretchy Defense or Staff Melee.

4. New IOs that offer enhancements that partially ignore ED, like the incarnate boosts do, but with drawbacks that make the powers more unique. An extra-powerful accuracy enhancement might change half of any elemental damage to lethal. A super-damage enhancement might come with a de-hancement of recharge. A super-high debuff enhancement might zero out any damage the power does. Give the players more choices, including the choice of being an extreme specialist if that's what they want.

5. Completely redo the superbase system. Make bases attached to outdoor doors, so you have to find the right building and doorway to get in unless you have a teleporter. Link SG rent to door location -- Talos would be High rent, Perez Park would be Low. Allow invites to characters who are not online, so players can easily put all their own characters into a SG. Give more options for superbase maps, including some outdoor zones. Allow the creation of statues of SG members, so you can create memorials to characters in the base. And let SG designers create text on the walls and on signs in the base -- it's their base, the worst they can do is spew profanity that only they and their SG mates can see.

Some of these would be doable now, but most would require huge changes in the codebase. Which is why I keep hoping to hear that a CoH2 is in the works.

One accuracy, one endurance reduction, and three damage enhancements.

But these auras are often great places to put in procs. Lightning Field, for example, takes a chance to stun proc. If nothing else you can find a damage proc to put into the power, making it just a little more deadly. So you may as well six-slot the power and throw a proc in the sixth slot.

If you're going to put in an IO set, I personally prefer Obliteration for its bonuses, or Scirocco's Dervish if you want a set that's cheap.