RoboBug

Originally Posted by Borderline Boss

kid kid kid, no.

Originally Posted by RoboBug

i would like to point out that I was actually running a regular mission the other day against some Freakshow and it is really annoying that i can't target them during their rez. not game breaking, just annoying. great QOL fix devs.

Originally Posted by Hazygreys

Real tanks don't fly taunt Recluse

Originally Posted by New Dawn

"EMP Arrow


This arrow can unleash a massive pulse of electromagnetic energy on impact. This EMP can affect machines, and is even powerful enough to affect synaptic brain patterns. It will incapacitate all foes in its radius. Additionally, most machines and robots will take moderate high damage. However, this power uses a lot of endurance and leaves you unable to recover endurance for a while."

A buff thats not hard to introduce to the set could be here. I wonder why the hell I have lost end recovery after firing this arrow. Is it because I've been so near to it and therefore exposed to it? I don't get why this arrow has to be so special it effects your end rec to the point of making your hero feel like they've just ran a marathon. If it's there so that the set is balanced when most everyone thinks TA is anything but balanced I especially don't understand it conceptually.

Originally Posted by HelinCarnate

The ones that just earn XP are not an issue. The ones that exploit the system and make it so you can get massive rewards with little risk are the ones causing the problems. Please do not lump those "farmers" in with the rest of us.

Originally Posted by Dispari

Do you farm on toons who are soft capped, RES capped, immune to slows, and ALL status effects, and fight enemies who are -ToHit floored, -DEF floored, -RES floored, -recharge floored, held, confused, and stunned? Because you could if you were using the right pets.

Originally Posted by Yogi_Bare

I don't think the Devs care about your 'fun'. That's not what it boils down to when you look at it from their perspective.

For many players (not most or all); the game ends at the first 50 or the next few 50s thereafter... and so does their subscription. Players blazing to get nowhere have their fast fun and then many say meh and take their money with them.

I'm sure there are those players that stick around after their umpteenth 50 but it's probably not the majority of the playerbase and hence; not the majority of the money.

Originally Posted by Flameshot

Incorrect. You could easily stack Defense/Resist bubbles, making you invincible for the most part. You're only thinking of buffs such as Speed Boost or Fort etc. You're forgetting about Dispersion Bubble and Sonic Dispersion

Originally Posted by Dispari

Then you were doing it wrong. Toggles are always on, and offensive debuffs are always used. Give the buffbots Dispersion Bubble or Sonic Dispersion and you have pets following you that ALWAYS grant DEF/RES and ALWAYS stack. All it takes is a couple FF users and you're soft-capped. You don't need them to cast individual buffs when they have toggles that are always on. Things like Quicksand and AoE mezzes work just fine too.

The issue is this change pretty much gives people permission to have an Earth/FF pet in every farm mission they make, while making it easier and not impacting the exp any. But it simultaneously breaks legitimate missions.

I would say that the exp drop happens based on the powers the pets have. If they have all offensive or self-defense powers, no reduction, no matter how many you have. But you start getting reductions the more buffs/debuffs they have. Even if you only have one. That would be the right way to do it.

Originally Posted by Yogi_Bare

It was broken since the cow farms. I even suggested this getting ghosted months and months ago. Its one thing to have an ally or two in a mish; that fight alongside you and die. (like in normal, canon CoX ally missions). It's a horse of a different color to have 20 allies stacking enough buffs to keep the whole CoX playerbase alive (cross-server even ).

There's no learning experience there, there's usually no story there, there's no challenge; no risk. Why should anyone that plays an arc like that expect to be rewarded (for pretty much... door sitting). And why should the author expect to get accolades and rewards for providing a weak, hollow and lackluster experience? IMO, of course.

Players that chose to do this screwed everyone over; not the devs... you had to know the nerfbat was coming... again... again... yet you played the odds (again); betting with everyone's potential gaming experience and losing...

Originally Posted by Redoubtable

I think your definition of "a little bit" is somewhat off. Putting enough buffbots in a mission makes any character practically unkillable, which is a pretty big exploit when there's no corresponding reduction in XP gain.

Originally Posted by Noght

Well at the risk of getting flamed...

I guess there is no such thing as "harmless" exploit farming, in or out of AE. There I said it, fire away.

Is this the 2nd or 3rd time that servers were taking offline to fix an exploit farm? People can't play when servers are down, so they get hurt. Authors of AE arcs have to rewrite or unpublish, so they get hurt. Enormous amounts of infamy/influence has been generated using exploit farming causing potential inflation, maybe people are unable to buy the stuff they want in that environment, so they get hurt.

I don't care what people do, it's your $15/month, farm away....but don't ever say the exploit farming doesn't hurt the game. I just gave you three examples. I'm sure there are many more.

Farm regular content, running 0/8 is exceedingly profitable that's not-exploitable.

Just a quick FYI: I ran the infamous Jellybean arc one time on a Ninja/TA MM even level as Giant Monsters and I rolled it with common IO's. That's an exploit gang.

Originally Posted by HelinCarnate

So you expect to be able to get full XP when you are at a lower risk by having multiple buff bots follow you around? Even if you only have 3 allies you are still at lower risk and should get lower XP due to that.

Originally Posted by Predatoric

Its not always that simple though, particularly with the mobs running around on patrol. Im putting it down to the fact theres so many mobs and a built up area why the lags occuring in the first place.

Wonder out of curiosity if it could be anything to do with the big robot further back... Perhaps the draw distance is capturing the robot as you move back and forth in the area trying to draw it all in and in fact its nothing to do with the so called 'lag alley' at all.

Originally Posted by Electric-Knight

I understand the change for multiple allies.
However...



If what Venture says here is correct, that does not sound good to me.

Including battles and patrols in this change hurts potential story telling as an alternative way to gain rewards a good deal.

It guts our options more than I'd like to see.

I have to ask, is this working as intended? Battles and Patrols count in this ally change?

I suppose it could be a preemptive move. After multiple buffbot allies were taken away, those mission creators might turn to custom friendly patrols and/or battles? (That seems to clunky to me for a good farming exploit, but I don't know)


Hrm

Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha

Yeah, that'd be the markets even more Fu-bar than they already are, a bunch of level 50s not knowing how to play, and people put off from even touching the game because 'all people do there is farm'.

What they are fixing here is exploits. Farming, as a whole is kind of hard to stamp out, and I would say its not something that should really be wiped out. Some people do validly enjoy it, and I, and the Devs too it seems, dont mind that so much. Its when something is exploitable, such as 1-50 in a few hours, that they have to take action, and have been doing so.

The sooner that people understand that, the better.
Still, this thread doesnt dissapoint, it seems.