Snow Globe

In my opinion Ramiel's arc is not, and will never be, part of the Incarnate System. Just as I don't consider Montague's arc to be a part of Cimerora.

And, again, I'm not asking for them to throw out the new arc. They did open the door however when they tied those tasks to the Incarnates by the end of task rewards. Even the two actual Incarnate TFs do not award Incarnate Component salvage. They award shards.

So on one hand they are saying "these tasks are related to Incarates" and on the other hand they are saying "these tasks are not related to Incarnates".

Ramiel's arc allows for other means to unlock the ability. It also says that there are Incarnates that don't know they are connected to the Well.

It already is "just another purple system", just another form of loot. It drops, you have to craft the abilities, you have to slot those abilities.

In addition, in this case, re-purposing older content that is already connected to the Incarnate System to unlock the Alpha Slot allows players to avoid the problem that Cimerora has today: people may feel like doing a task (ITF), but didn't realize that they haven't unlocked the zone on that character.

As to the "waste of time and resources", that time has already been spent. The unlocks were already made and tested. The reward tables were modified, twice.

One problem with that: after you talk to Ramiel at the end of the arc you can't go back to see the information. Isn't it great that a helper / background info NPC completely shuts up after you've done what he wants?

Yeah, and if someone just wants to do a harder bit of content, why can't they have the option?

No, but when the new rewards are already being awarded for OLD content, then it isn't a stretch to make that same content unlock the ability.

Nice straw man, I love how you have stuffed him.

That is funny. This MMO is the most alt-friendly game out there. That is exactly what sets City of Heroes apart from every other MMO out there. So you are pretty much for throwing that out the window?

The most recent version of that file in my Mids directory was from September. No, it wasn't locked. Yes, the program reported (at least twice) that it fully downloaded the patch.

I don't see Ramiel's arc as Incarnate-specific. At best I see it as a prologue (and a poorly written one at that), nothing more. Incarnates are what happen after this arc currently.

And they could have used that time to beef up the rationale for those other methods to unlock the slot as well. Or they could have left those other means for those that were HAPPY with them. That way those that complained could have this new arc to do, while those that were ok with the previous unlocks could do them.

This could have been a win-win situation (people that wanted an arc to explain things and the people that were happy with the TF/SF/Trial/Raid unlocks) rather than having people upset.

You're right. Doing the arc IS a Hobson's Choice. We have the choice to either do this arc or go without.

In a way I'm torn between calling the "choices" in dialogue a series of Morton's Forks or just plain unimportant. Nothing you do changes the final outcome. In the end it doesn't matter, because either way it is completely immersion breaking.

However, it is also a Faustian Choice in that the Well is portrayed as an entity with a decidedly sinister motive for granting its power to the character.

Short term sales that don't promote re-reading and causes a high turnover rate in their fan base. Also comic readers eventually grow up and leave because they are not mentally stimulated enough.

I thought the goal was to increase long term subscribers.

If that is where they are headed, that might be slightly interesting. However that would require far more work creating multiple storylines. It would also be a powerful disincentive for players to run the arc NOW. Players wouldn't know if they'd get completely shut out of a future reward because of a choice they made in the past.

There is a reason why some comic books don't do well.

Stories that are predictable aren't really stories (or at least not good stories). Stories should, if properly crafted, make the reader (or player) want more information. The arc fails on this point.

That is funny, as absolutely no one is suggesting that.

In fact people are suggesting that you should be able to choose to do a longer series of missions (ITF, LGTF, STF, RSF, Khan, Cuda) or another task (CoP, Hami Raid) that is actually harder to unlock the slot.

Way to misrepresent what people are saying.

There are nine more Incarnate Slots left to unlock (one of the rednames had badges for the following):

Alpha, Judgement, Interface, Lore, Destiny, Hybrid, Genesis, Mind, Vitae, and Omega.

As to seeing Trapdoor again, all I can say is "Big whoop."

The Well puts it this way: "I must say, I'm disappointed that you chose not to finish him off. He will come back to hunt you down, even if he is saved."

So we either get a NPC with no other purpose or he survives you "killing" him in an even more contrived way. Either way he'll "hunt you down". Can the story get more contrived? Apparently it can. They are already planning on negating a player's choice to kill him in yet another clichéd way. I can see it now: "Oh you just thought you killed me, but I split myself in the last moment and got away". Even worse, it just reinforces my statement that the player's choice to spare or kill Trap Door is a Faustian Choice. No matter what the player chooses, they get the same NPC "hunting" them at a later point.

Is it by any chance hard coded to send the mhd.mhz file to the following directory:
C:\Program Files\Mids Hero Designer

My Mids install directory is:
C:\Games\Mids Hero Designer

Yeah, if only to allow heroes turned villains access to Arbiter Leery's arc (or flashback).

Before you go into the first mission go to one of the three contacts in person. As I was a hero turned villain, I didn't have any Sharkhead contacts. Good thing I knew where everyone was.

I could talk to either Dubrowski of Cage Consortium or Ansaldo of the Family. I chose Ansaldo. I could access the radio when I entered the mission.

The next mission Ansaldo wouldn't talk to me, but Diviner Maros did. When I entered the mission, I again talked to the radio just inside the door.

From there I switched off between Ansaldo & Maros each mission. At the end of the second last mission I got both of the badges.

That would be an interesting trick. I'm running Vista Home Premium (32 bit) with UAC off as an admin (that is not something I'd recommend for anyone else mind you, but it works for me). I tried autoupdate on starting (5 times), then by the autoupdate from the menu (after telling the startup to get lost), then twice more on startup. I finally had to find your direct link on the Titan Forums & download & install manually.

There is a radio just inside the mission.

There is a reason why most players don't play in godmode all the time. There is also a reason why game developers lump godmode in with cheats. The so called "Arch-Villains" pose less of a threat than rikti monkeys. The monkeys can at least damage you. So instead of any meaningful story progression all that is left is a huge freaking waste of time. The ghosts don't even provide any useful dialogue to drive the story forward. The first mission is a complete waste of time, bandwidth, and developer time.

There is also the point that we will NEVER get that much power. Even a level 50 can get hurt by something 30 levels under you. I've had a level 20 minion actually do damage to a level 50 controller (admittedly not much, but still moved my health bar). In this mission I'd have no worries about taking my controller, not activating my defences, get as much aggro as possible, and then going AFK for 20 minutes. I know that I'll still be there and the ghosts will still be trying to scratch even a sliver of health off me.

Bugs Bunny cartoons make more sense than some of this drivel.

The Trapdoor mission is hardly new content. It is a council cave map using bits of the last mission of the Hess TF with a bit of some other Striga mission maps. The mission doesn't move the plot at all. Even worse, it gives the player a Faustian Choice. Do you want to help Trapdoor or kill him? It simply doesn't matter as the results are the same: You never see Trapdoor ever again. Great use of a throwaway NPC.

How about the choices when talking to Ramiel in the first mission? No matter what you choose, the response dialogues are pretty much the same.

Worse, the "talks" with Statesman & Recluse end up being pointless bragging of an unseen entity. Big whoop.

I've done a grand total of 7 AE arcs (start to finish) in the last year on the live server. Of those, 2 were to get the new Issue 18 alignment badges, 3 were to help a friend, and 2 were Guest Author arcs.

LGTF, why yes, I did know what to do. The mission objectives were clearly stated.

As to the STF, again, the mission objectives were clearly stated, and even if you can defeat Recluse without defeating the towers, none of the teams I've ever done the STF with would be able to succeed doing so. The towers provide clear cause/effect (buffing Recluse) to show that defeating them will be a step toward defeating Recluse.

No, the story (and I use the term loosely), builds up to you being given the choice between drinking from the well or "taking the long road" to becoming an Incarnate. You are set up to have this literally climatic choice, you face off solo against a EB/AV, and then what? Oh, Nemesis/Silos & Ramiel get into the room ahead of you, have this cut scene explaining that there are many paths to becoming an Incarnate. This is an outright lie, as this is the ONLY method the game now provides.

The last mission is an excellent example of Deus ex Machina, and shows a clear lack of creativity of the author of the mission.

My reasoning is completely valid. I would expect that if I wrote this exact story for my creative writing for interactive media class that I took last year that I would have got a fairly low grade. Then again, my teacher has been writing/acting for the last 30 years and would have recognized the cliché driven attempt and would have stopped me long before I got to the point of handing it in.

"To Kill a Mockingbird" is one of my favourite movies. It was an extremely well told movie. The Ramiel arc barely qualifies as an Ed Wood movie in comparison (okay, it is as much of a train wreck as "Plan 9 from Outer Space").

I don't agree. If there is enough lore for the components, then players have enough lore for unlocking the Alpha Slot. Besides if YOU (or others) feel that there isn't enough story, then you can CHOOSE to do the arc to unlock the Alpha Slot. On the other hand those who wish to CHOOSE to unlock the ability with those other means should have the same rights. That right to choose should be restored to players by the return of the TF/Trial/Raids unlocks.

Not most of the players. The people complaining about it numbered less than a quarter of the Beta Testers at that point (7-8 players complained in that thread, if I remember correctly). The majority of players didn't respond at all. Not exactly "most people who beta tested GR".

If Hamidon has nothing to do with the "lore of the well", then the Incarnate Salvage award should be removed from the raid. If the other tasks have nothing to do with the "lore of the well", then the Incarnate Components rewards should be removed from them as well. However, if they stay, then they have a connection to the lore of the well & the ability to unlock the Alpha Slot should be restored to them.

Again if you, as a player, choose to do the arc for an explanation of the unlock, go right ahead. However you should let me have the same right to choose one of the other methods that were available in testing. It makes zero difference to you how I've unlocked the ability. The arc itself tells us that there are Incarnates, and characters linked to the well without knowing they are linked. So there is an in-game rationale that there should be other methods to unlock the ability.

And I have to say that I'm absolutely not happy about having to run this arc on every single 50 I have (and I only have 8 atm).

Just to be absolutely clear: I am not asking for the arc to be removed. I'm only asking for the end of TF/SF/Trials/Hamidon Raid reward tables to be put back in place.

This way if someone values the lore more can do the arc. However if the player wants to unlock the Alpha Slot another way, they would have the OPTION to do so.

It sucks the fun out of the game in the first mission as that has less than zero challenge. All you need to do is ignore everything but the mender, talk to him, and end the mission.

The exposition is dull talking to either Recluse or Statesman.

The mission with Trapdoor is so far out of left field that it serves little purpose in the story.

The talk with Lady Gray is somewhat interesting, but only after you do a mission with poorly defined goals. The ever flowing portals can be avoided and still be able to complete the mission, yet that isn't readily apparent to most players.

The final mission is completely anti-climatic.

I find the whole arc to be a nearly forgettable waste of time.

They didn't have to be unique. As far as linked to the Incarnate lore, that too is a failed argument due to the Incarnate Component rewards at the end of most of those tasks.

• If there is enough lore attached to those tasks to provide Incarnate Components, then there is enough lore attached to unlock the ability as well.
• If there isn't enough lore attached to unlock the ability, then the Incarnate rewards should be removed from those tasks.

So which is it? Is there enough lore or isn't there? In my opinion, there is enough lore in the tasks that drop Incarnate Components to allow for both the end table reward AND unlocking the ability.

1. ITF
2. LGTF
3. Khan TF
4. Barracuda SF
5. Statesman TF
6. Recluse SF
7. Cathedral of Pain
8. Hamidon Raids
9. Vanguard Merits (aka Mothership Raids)
10. Reward Merits
11. Alignment Merits.

We had (and I repeat HAD) 11 more options that were tested and working removed at the same time as the Alpha Slot was pulled, so don't even try to play that card. So zero development time, as the options were already done & tested.

With several of the missions I listed you have no choice: you either have to do the mission or use the mission dropping "feature" (which you can only use once per 3 days). Other missions (cape & aura) there are limited vet rewards & booster packs to get around them, but that is just avoiding the issue rather than actually dealing with the problem. There is the additional problem of what happens when I want to get an aura, but I'm forced to redo the cape mission first.

Any reward that most characters would want should have multiple ways to unlock said reward.

Also, the contacts should not:

• Place themselves in my contact list without permission. Any active contact (and all the ones I list are active) should be able to be dismissed completely.
• Force me to go to X NPC to be told about a feature that I already know about (Hollows, PVP contacts, "tutorial" contacts).
• Force players to use a mechanism designed to report and get around faulty missions because there is no way to bypass them otherwise.

And that mission/contact should bloody well check if you have the invention tutorial badge and be smart enough not to offer it again. That isn't exactly rocket science. That is newbie programming 101.

Edit:
Just found out tonight that you HAVE to complete the Ouro Intro arc to access Ramiel's arc. So what was this about the Ouro arc being optional?

Completely irrelevant. During the GR Beta, the only time players were given the option to unlock the Incarnate Alpha Slot was when they were level 50 (and only level 50) and had not unlocked the Alpha Slot prior to the reward window appearing on screen.

I know, for a fact, that this was the case on the ITF, STF, and the CoP (I tested on all 3). The Barracuda SF was broken (wasn't showing a reward window at all), but that was the only one that was broken that I knew of.

I haven't the faintest idea what you are trying to say here.

Wrong. It is "Let us choose how we become Incarnates."

This, in a nutshell, is my position. The people that are intending to say there should only be one way should realize that not everyone plays or even wants to play like you do.

People have been complaining literally for years about content that has to be repeated to the point it gets stale, yet the developers ignored all that and took the original plan of multiple ways to unlock the Incarnate system and reduced it to a single arc. An arc that some people don't like. It has nothing to do with being able to beat it or not (and I've done it solo and with groups). It has to do with repetition.

List of already annoying/repetitive tasks:
Go to the Hollows to talk to Wincott (heroes)
Go see Perez Park Security Chief (heroes)
Go to the Bloody Bay Rep (heroes/villains)
Cape Missions (everyone)
Aura Missions (everyone)
Go to the Siren's Call Rep (everyone)
Go to Stephanie Peebles (heroes)
Go to the Mission Architect Tour. (heroes/villains)
Go to the University/CDEC (everyone, multiple times if you switch)
Go to the Warburg rep (everyone)
Intro to Ouroboros (everyone)
Intro to Cimerora (everyone)
The Incarnate arc will be there for every single level 50 to do. And we'll have to do it in order to unlock the Incarnate slot.

Every single one of these tasks should have other options to either unlock account wide or have other means to unlock the abilities/content.

The thing I liked about the original way was that there was a choice: Players could do any of the task/strike forces/trials/raids (even using alignment merits) and unlock the slot. It was the player's choice, not a forced arc.

The new arc is worse than the pulled unlocking options.

It is the exact same mechanics as before, minus the various unlocks. The intro arc is new (and pointless), and the time spent developing it could have been put to better uses (in my opinion). One better use would/should have been making the Apex & Tin Mage TFs better or adding more zone events (at least the new zone events are fun).

And they removed all the other end of TF/SF/Trial/Raid options to unlock the ability as well. Otherwise accurate though.

In my opinion, no, it wasn't enough of a reason to delay the Alpha Slot. Some other players whined and complained that they were not force-fed a story reason why they got the power though. About the only thing that was changed between July and now is that the Rare and Very Rare Alpha Slots (not out yet) are to be given more protection from ED.