Snow Globe

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Hope this helps.

Given the previous loyalty program, it will be the first time you log into the game on the 18th.

It doesn't matter what the announcement says:
We've already had one reference to multiple submissions removed from the announcement. Asking it in a different way doesn't change the contest rules that the legal department has set. The contest rules trumps the announcement.

http://na.cityofheroes.com/en/news/c...conditions.php

Depending on the amount of detail and layers, a Photoshop file can get fairly large, even for the pixel dimensions specified.

Everyone has to bow to the legal rules.

My thoughts are that you will hit the base item limit well before Steel Canyon is completed.

Yep, next patch on the test server:

It isn't intended to cover every single trial strategy. The interior maps are color-coded to the buildings. The outside map is to show where each building is relative to the others. The text presented on the map is to provide an overview of the trial, not a definitive strategy covering every aspect of the trial.

Also, as an isometric map, everything is on a 30 degree plane.

Edit:
As to your other post, I don't think we'll ever see the problem the same way. I don't think anyone could see the problem you say exists because no one is using your definitions. You aren't even willing to discuss points that you bring up and want to limit the discussion when appropriate examples exist with other aspects of the Incarnate System. Without a means of comparison, we can't see the problem that you insist is happening.

Virtue is the Bizzaro world version of Triumph. I think the same goes for Freedom, but that might be an universal thing. At any rate, Virtue (and Freedom) has the population to run trials like that. Both Virtue and Freedom have more trial leaders and regular trial players. On Triumph if a lot of people decide to farm or do content, then the trial population implodes. Toss in work & real life schedules and you see conditions where succeeding in the few trials being run matters.

=========================

And that was my point.

Yeah, I must say I don't get that one.

Yes, but even without going to Pinnacle, I get that reference.

=========================

Okay, I watched your video. I can say that it would not help with the players I get on the trials. You may ask "Why not?" For one thing it is too long. For another, most players couldn't be bothered to even go watch it.

I was more succinct with my "TPN Incarnate Trial map" guide which said the same thing as your video. I've even posted it while forming to get people up to speed, and people still don't understand the trial.

I'm referring to people's desire to do specific trials. If you want people to do multiple runs of the same trial you need the following:

• Speed.
  • Underground fails miserably at this.
  • MoM is in the middle.
  • DD actually succeeds at this.
• Ease.
  • Underground fails miserably at this.
  • MoM fails miserably at this.
  • DD without enough level shifts to compensate for the trial's level mechanics fails at this.
• Rewards enough to compensate for failure rate.
  • Underground fails miserably at this on some servers.
  • MoM fails miserably at this on some servers.
  • DD without enough level shifts to compensate for the trial's level mechanics fails at this. Specifically, the trial is geared towards characters with more level shifts, but not enough to do with those rewards at that point.

Basically what people in this thread are telling you is that you are drawing the wrong conclusion from what you are seeing.

At the most basic level you are talking about a symptom of the problem, not the problem itself. I really don't care that you think the most crucial matter is why players aren't running specific trials more than once (if that) a day. The core problem is that some trials are more liked than others. Until you discover why some trials are more popular you are going to continue to flail about trying to find answers that will not work.

We've already come to the reasoning as to why some leaders ask for level shifts on the harder trials. So have the developers. Their position is this (as posted in the I21 Beta forums):
The developer's metrics show that most players aren't in agreement with the "More difficult the trials, the better" statement, otherwise they would be played more. The same can be said of Underground, MoM, and DD (which hasn't been publicly run for a week or two on Triumph).

This is the core question that you, Blood Red Arachnid, are avoiding.

You can't make a first impression twice. That is what is happening. Underground and MoM left a BAD impression. Underground with its high failure rate and length. MoM with its high failure rate, annoying AVs, and heavy-handed PSI damage. UG, MoM, and DD are extremely binary in nature. Either you have the requirements met before hand or you have the possibility of a high failure rate.

I'll repeat myself: I have yet to personally be on a TPN that has failed (though I've had to resort to designated terminal clickers). However, the 60 thread reward was added to beta on October 28, 2011, while the trial was released early December.

I've been looking over my personal trial statistics:

• B.A.F.
  Last run: March 31, 2012
  Total runs since introduction: 237
• Lambda
  Last run: March 31, 2012
  Total runs since introduction: 221
• Keyes
  Last run: March 31, 2012
  Total runs since introduction: 100
• Underground
  Last run: February 25, 2012
  Total runs since introduction: 22
• TPN Campus
  Last run: April 2, 2012
  Total runs since introduction: 18
• Minds of Mayhem
  Last run: March 3, 2012
  Total runs since introduction: 18
• Dilemma Diabolique
  Last run: March 24, 2012
  Total runs since introduction: 7

I will usually hop onto most incarnate trials I can find (or start). Notice something? The trials that I find easier are run more often. I'm probably not alone in this assessment. I also don't find UG or MoM particularly fun either. I can see DD potentially being run more than Underground, TPN being close to Keyes, while BAF/Lambda are starting to not be run at all. I don't see a lot of change in either UG or MoM being run 1/10 the amount of times that BAF/Lambda are. I attribute that solely due to the difficulty/annoyance factor of the trials.

No amount of "getting things figured out" will compare with the disparity of level shifts in the trial. The EU players tried and got curb stomped multiple times during beta for bringing less than +1 (and apparently some +1 trials too).

It doesn't matter. Most people:

• Won't bother watching video guides.
• Won't bother reading any of the numerous guides available for each trial.
• Won't CARE if you think that the trial is the greatest work of art since the concept of art began.

I'm not guessing this, I know. Simply put, you aren't going to change people's opinion of the trials. The trials that players don't like will not be run.

Pretty much.

To put it another way:

BAF/LAM/TPN/Keyes = ITF at +0
DD/MoM/UG = ITF at +3 or +4

Sure, you will get some players that like ITFs at +3 or +4, but most of the players would rather do them at +0 due to time vs rewards. What Blood Red Arachnid is seeing is that those willing to do a trial more than once in a day are doing other trials or other content instead.

Don't you, just for a second, think that this might have something to do with the trials themselves and not the players?

Lets take a look at each of these trials.

Underground:

• Without a single doubt this trial is the longest of all seven trials.
• It is also the trial that has some of the most obnoxious trial mechanics in the game, and hasn't been the subject of a revamp like Keyes had. Things like:
  • Hospital teleporter mechanics is unclear. Why do I say that? Well take a look at how console games handle the situation sometime. When they update (move forward), you see where the new destination will be. Not only that, but even in the Death from Below trials (where some players may see this for the first time), the big glowing area isn't explained.
  • The whole thing is one large escort mission, which is consistently one of the least favorite game mechanics across the ENTIRE gaming industry for the last 20 years.
  • Crowd Dispersal, Arrest Mode, Lethal Force. The game doesn't show who is targeted, unlike TPN.
  • It doesn't show which lichens are supporting the Lichen Infested War Walker.
  • The long tunnel of spore damage while dealing with bombs.
  • There is no way to avoid the confusion spores in the final battle other than to take a limited amount of Escape inspirations, Liberation inspirations, or by use of Clarion Destinies.
• It has a huge map (could have easily been 2 missions or even two different trials), and players can get lost.

MoM:

• Death penalty.
• +2 AVs.
• The second phase of the trial stands out as one of the most obnoxious parts of this or any other game.
• Psi damage which tends to be the one damage hole for most the of the power sets in this game.

DD:

• If the group has the right mix of mix of level shifts & powers, this trial is so easy it is boring.
• If the group doesn't have the right mix of level shifts & powers, this trial is so difficult that is it not likely to win at all.

Now compare those to the rest:

BAF:

• Multiple winning strategies.
• Easy to compensate for someone that screws up.
• One of the fastest trials around.

Lambda:

• Multiple winning strategies.
• Easy to compensate for someone that screws up.
• One of the fastest trials around, especially SLams. Yes, even on Triumph I've seen them. However most of the Lambdas on Triumph are plows.

TPN:

• Multiple winning strategies.
• Easy to compensate for someone that screws up.
• One of the fastest trials around.
• Repetitive as nothing else in the game. Even worse than the repetition that was sinking Keyes.

Keyes before the change:

• Annoying amount of time getting killed due to pulse damage.
• Annoying amount of repetition with the terminals.
• Completely unexplained mechanics:
  • Stealth doors in bunkers.
    
  • Entanglement.
  • Disintegration.

Keyes after the change:

• Pulse damage reduced to levels that will not pose an immediate threat on its own, but still something to look out for.
• Not as annoying amount of repetition with the terminals.
• Completely unexplained mechanics:
  • Stealth doors in bunkers still not explained. Stalkers and Illusion Controllers can access a door on the side of the bunkers that doesn't need to be broken down, so they can get 4 power cells per bunker without any danger while other players clear the terminals before Anti-Matter arrives. Most players (even frequent trial runners) still don't know this.
  • Priming the terminals with one cell not explained in game, and most players (even frequent trial runners) still don't know this.
  • Entanglement still not explained.
  • Disintegration still not explained.

All Trials (even the easy ones):

• Hospitals only sell the most basic inspirations and they are simply not effective considering the any of the trial mechanics.
• Death penalties are absurd in every single trial, whether it is the 20 second penalty box in the hospital (which has NEVER succeeded in accomplishing the stated goal of keeping players together on trials) or the asinine (and I use this term deliberately) penalties that MoM or DD have.

In conclusion:
What you are seeing is that some trials are less popular than others. Given that these trials are the harder trials and the trials that tend to fail more, you are seeing less people willing to run them multiple times in a day.

Zwillinger, do you realize that we've had more updates on the Retro SciFi set than we have on this loyalty program? I realize that with several notable departures from the Community Team you are all under a lot of pressure, but this was supposed to be a push to keep players subscribed to the game. A lot of players I've talked to didn't realize or forgot that this program was running.

In terms of money, I suspect that retaining subscribers earns the company more than a single costume pack. There should have been an update or tidbit from this program every single week. That update should have been included in every mailing of the new stuff on the market.

I know a lot of people get after Black Pebble and Ghost Falcon for stuff that they aren't responsible for, but this falls squarely on both of their shoulders. There has been a near-complete lack of marketing of this loyalty program.

To recap: If you are using Vidiotmaps for the location numbers, #6 is faulty on the Nova Praetoria side. To get the badge for that spot, go to the Imperial City side instead.

You didn't offend me (other than a mild irritation over the terms used). I can understand you are scared that they might eventually change something you like to something you don't. It will happen, and with each change you'll have to decide if you want to continue to subscribing or not.

Anyone can view the current user agreements online before purchase.

English US:
http://us.ncsoft.com/en/legal/user-agreements/

English GB:
http://us.ncsoft.com/en-gb/legal/user-agreements/

French:
http://us.ncsoft.com/fr/legal/user-agreements/

German:
http://us.ncsoft.com/de/legal/user-agreements/

Spanish:
http://us.ncsoft.com/es/legal/user-agreements/

They can change the service when they want to.

Then why do you play MMOs? They change. That is the nature of MMOs. Games evolve, sometimes in world, sometimes in the services offered. Case in point: Issue 21: Freedom.

It doesn't matter what your intent in using "Bait and Switch", you are using it in a manner that doesn't fit ANY definition of the term.

It would be like you calling this an apple:


Yet in both video games and comics things change. In comics it is called a retcon. Heck, compare (or even try to keep track of) versions of the Star Wars movie franchise. MMOs are evolving media, they aren't fixed like buying an offline game 10-15 years ago. Even a mostly single player game like the click-fest sequel to the demon game that was put out in 2000 by a company named after a winter storm continued to change even to last year. The last patch to that game was 1.13d on October 27, 2011. As a note, I wish I didn't need to not directly name that game, but people should be able to work out what game I'm talking about.

How about Statesman getting himself killed? That retcon process will be a nightmare and will require a ton of rewrites. Those rewrites would have to be translated before. Now they don't.

Do you know the technical limitations they are working under? I know that I don't, but I can make an educated guess as to what they are dealing with. They simply cannot do what you are suggesting. How things are referenced in game can't permit leaving partial translations. Either everything has to be translated or left alone. The game is far too complex to mix and match.

Should have been section 4.1.12.

Which would then require a mouse click to "place" the power.

Yes, the key beside the 1 key is called the "tilde".

Obviously you don't know what bait and switch means.

Bait and switch is a clearly defined legal term. Your use of Bait and switch isn't applicable in any jurisdiction on the planet to my knowledge. The term you are looking for, by your definition, is "devaluation". As in "They feel the service has been devalued by not being translated to their native language." That is completely different than Paragon Studios intending to defraud the players. To reach the definition of "Bait and switch", Paragon Studios would have to say that "Oh, we're sold out of CoH:German, but you can buy our City of Germans: Hero Edition for 20€ more a month." That is bait and switch.

The spirit of it isn't even there. The spirit of the term "Bait and switch" is that some people in sales commit to an ethics breach and try to lure a consumer in with a bargain, but never intending to sell the item that lured the customer in the first place.

Have you researched the German Market for games?

Um, welcome to MMOs? Hmm... Let me try that again... Welcome to life? Read the EULA sometime. The phrase "subject to change" is in there. No matter how much you gripe, you've agreed to the same conditions that are happening here.

Um, welcome to MMOs? What, exactly, do you think torpedoed several NCsoft titles (Auto Assault & Tabula Rasa) and at least a few dozen other MMOs.

I don't think you know what the term "Bait and Switch" means.
They haven't been told "buy this product at a lower price" then been told that "That product is out of stock, but here is another brand at a higher price."

They have had value for their money. That is, they got a service for their subscription. That service is being phased out. They can choose to continue the service for the same money or stop subscribing.

Interesting factoid: Most Europeans are multi-lingual.

The 12-get-2 wasn't available to European players, and 7 months? At a guess that is fairly close to when Issue 23 will land (I'm guessing July to end of August).

They DID their research, according to Zwillinger:
Their research showed that it might be profitable to keep production in French and German. After reviewing the situation, it turned out that it wasn't profitable. So, because it wasn't profitable, they are ceasing the unprofitable operations.

Um, the costs of marketing in other languages were considered. They weren't getting value for their foreign language marketing or the localization to the other languages. In other words, it costs them more to operate in other languages than they expect revenue from. No business in the world, if they want to be successful, would stick with that situation.

There are NO badges for the optional objectives in the Sutter TF.

Edit:
The only badge in the Sutter TF is Land, Sea & Air. There are opportunities for defeating Failed Experiments, but that is only because they are in the TF, not because they are an optional objective. All the Praetorian bots are IDF, so they don't even count for the praetorian clockwork badge.