Ulyses

For what it's worth, I'm glad the devs provided this means of feedback that not only allows for civil discourse, but civil disagreement on the impact the MA is having on the game.

Having participated in other threads where people have raised these issues, it's refreshing to be able to espouse a contrarian view about I14 and not be insulted or shouted down by people who would support the devs in whatever they made (even if it sucked!)

As I see it, there are 2 ways you (the devs) can go: put time and resources into fixing all the problems the MA has introduced while it's live, or take it back to test, fix them there, and bring it back at some point in the future when you've got a product that addresses the issues raised. I think it would be a mistake to keep applying live fixes that trickle out, or to put countless man-hours into stomping out farms as you find them, when it may be more productive and less painful in the long-run simply to take it back to test and fix it there.

I, for one, would respect you doing the latter, and would definitely re-up both my subs if I felt the game was going to be made stronger in the long-run for it.

But that's just my opinion. Take it for what you paid for it.

Oh, and speaking of "charging power levelers", notice the new spam e-mails? Web sites spamming in-game e-mails for power-leveling services provided through AE.

I'm sure they're not complaining about the MA and the effect it's had on their business.

And one more thing: charging for PL'ing is not reserved to PI now. I've seen spams in broadcast in Talos and Atlas for lowbies willing to pay for AE farms and "runners" willing to charge for them.

So before you blindly accuse people who hate the MA as being only those who "charge for power leveling", you'd better get your facts straight. The MA hasn't stopped farming: it's only made it insanely lucrative for anyone who wants to engage in it.

The devs have created a Hydra with this one: lop off one head and 2 grow back to replace it. Good luck with trying to stomp out farming in AE: you've only created a virtual "drug war" that will only end when you either throw up your hands and "legalize" it, or pull the MA out of the game altogether. Either way, you've created a real mess with this one; a mess that threatens the very viability of the game itself.

Hope you all have current resumes.

I've already cancelled 2 subs over this. Dead zones and spams for "AE farms" across every zone. No one has to leave AE...EVER. You can go from 1 to 50 in a couple of days never having once had to leave the building!

The MA has virtually destroyed the social aspect of this game, making finding teams in the zones for people who don't enjoy the express lane to 50 a chore at best.

Terrible idea, terrible execution.

"Actually, you can."

Not with it maximized, however, which is the way it opens until you "customize" it.

But thanks for the clarification.

"It doesn't annoy me because you have an opposing point of view..."

Apparently it does, given your history of personally attacking virtually every poster with a POV that doesn't agree with yours. You must take great pleasure in being the Fanboy's "thread cop."

"...your "reasoning" is inane, beginning with the fact that you consider Freedom to be the whole game."

Not that it's any of your business, but I have toons on Champion as well. Champion is virtually a "ghost server" except for the times when an event or new issue comes out, which is why - before the MA - Freedom was the best bet you had - population-wise - of finding a team virtually any time day or night. So Freedom is - by nature of its overwhelming player population - if not the "whole game", a major part of it. That noted, I see the same issues happening on Champion that I see happening on Freedom now, only less so because the population is so much smaller to begin with.

And it didn't "move it around a little." It moved it around a whole lot, something you wouldn't know if you spend most of your time designing missions or playing in MA, because you can't read chat with mission creator open, and you don't get broadcast in AE missions! Come out in the zones once in a while and actually see what's happened to them, and stop sipping the devs' Kool Aid.

"Your bitter overreaction made you quit the game, nothing else."

Your snide and laughable characterizations aside, I quit the game because MA has taken the social aspect out of the game and turned every zone into PI, with all its attendant spam. That may make scintillating gameplay for you, but I see no further point in paying for 2 subs to play a willfully crippled game.

Enjoy your AE farms while they last.

"I can't wait until your account time is up. You quit, why do you keep coming back to complain?"

Ah, er, I don't know. Because I can? (D'uh!)

Can't handle opposing points of view? Don't read them.

Oh, and add this to the list of PI spam brought to the masses, only now with a new twist:

"Lowbie lf AE farm", seen in every zone from Atlas Park to PI, inclusive.

Yeah, got a real winner with the MA there.

"if your into PLing you love it if your into story content forget it, I have played MA since it came out and I'm bored with it already. I play for story content but 99% of the supposed story arcs are set up for PLing. Now we don't have the pling only in PI and grandville but all over the place. Forget about getting together a team for running missions or pretty much anything else. which is one of the reasons "

I suspect most people who defend the MA on the grounds of the "new content" it delivers, are nothing more than people who want to be PL'ed through the whole game. They simply can't be honest about this, or the devs would know how really badly they screwed the pooch with this one.

I used to hate getting to level 41 and having to go to PI to get missions, because virtually all the teams there were farming teams, and the bloodsuckers who ran them insisted on payment. Now this behavior has spread to virtually every zone, and all Miller can say about it is how the MA has "wildly exceeded their expectations" (or some such nonsense).

Well, if City of Heroes/Villains has now become City of PL'ers/Farmers, they better add 2 new costume sets to the tailor: overalls and diapers, because that's what the entire player base is becoming: a bunch of babies who want farmers to play the game for them. It's disgusting, really.

"that it exposed I13 type of broadcast spam we had in Peregrine to the new comers in Atlas Park."

And another feature of the PI farming culture introduced to other zones: "Need a couple of fillers, please."

Again, congrats on bringing the very worst of the farming culture to every freaking zone, Miller. Was it worth the short-term bounce in subs you'll get for the long-term destruction of the game as a whole???

You should cut your losses now and trash the MA. It's already having a deliterious effect on the community.

Count me among the minority who hates I14 and the MA and have cancelled 2 subs over it. I'm sure you'll have no trouble replacing my 2 accounts, but it's clear the devs didn't put enough (any?) thought into how this would affect player populations in the zones.

If your goal was to turn all the zones into the equivalent of the Abandoned Sewer Network after nerfing the Kraken Trial: congratulations! The MA has been a huge success!

If your goal was to turn every zone into a "PL meh!" zone: congratulations! The MA has been a huge success!

All you've done is succeed in creating an "all-farm all the time" game in every zone. Again, if this was your goal, you succeeded beyond your wildest dreams!

But in the meantime, I'll take my entertainment dollars elsewhere. I14 is a waste of my money.

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You're not doing yourself any favors. By acting that way you almost guarantee that your viewpoint will be largely ignored, because you will be seen as an unreasonable extremist.

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As if it makes any difference. This isn't about the paying customers. It's all about Emmert's "vision", his ego, and his idea of "fun."

You can all keep sucking up. I won't.

Got the mods pulling down posts you don't like, I see.

Don't like what the customers have to say, just shut them up, eh?

Nice.

The only thing consistent about Emmert's "balance vision" of this game is to keep suppressing this power and that power until all the fun is completely suppressed out of it.

And yet people applaud the AV changes while powers continue to diminish? What a god-awful shame to see this game circling the rim.

You've simply proven my point: no travel powers (by your own math) equals more time an account is open. Nothing you wrote disproves my original assertion.

If travel powers are good enough for Peacebringers and Warshades at level 1, they should be good enough for anybody who wants them.

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After all, it's not really heroic to commit suicide just to avoid the drudgery of a 5 minute run to a gate and then a few more minutes to get to the trainer in Atlas just to face the same amount of time running back to a mission.

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Time is money, right? Everything in this game is geared to keeping people playing longer and thus on-line longer. And the longer it takes you to do everything from run to a trainer to slot enhancements, the longer your account will be open.

Good for business. Bad for gamers.

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What in the world is the justification for having it at level 14 anyway?

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I think Statesman has stated that this is so people don't gimp themselves by taking movement powers at levels where they should really be taking attacks and defences.

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Speed is the best defense any toon could have. Remember the fighter pilot's motto: "Speed is life."

Denying legitimate travel powers until level 14 simply means you have to wade through the same old "content" with every new alt you create and you have to do it painfully slowly at that.

As to the argument that people are missing "great content" when they PL through the early levels, I'll simply raise my earlier question: "How many times does someone have to do Frostfire before they 'get it?'" I've done it at least a dozen times, along with a number of those early missions. If nothing else, I feel I've earned the right to "skip" some of that so-called "great content."

BTW, the best on-line PVP game I ever played was F-15 Strike Eagle III, because every person had the same load-outs and aircraft and you won or lost based on the manner in which you handled your virtual aircraft in a virtual dog-fight.

When the tools are equal, skill makes the difference. When the tools are not equal, the developers make the difference, which is why I won't be playing PVP here. It's neither "great content" nor much fun, IMHO.

BTW, using Statesman's logic, no travel power should be available until level 41. That way, no toon would ever be "gimped" for lack of attacks or defense, as by that level (by level 34 actually), your primaries and secondaries are already pretty well set: you'll have all the O/D you need.

So why level 14 instead of 34, 41 or 49? Because travel powers make the game more enjoyable by taking the tedium out of "sprinting" (there's a misnomer) to and fro. And if that's the true justification for level 14, then it's an equally valid justification for levels 2, 4, or 6.

"Suicide travel will be more common. I know I'll use it on early alts. On the wrong side of the zone, or need to get to some spot closer to the hospital than where you are? Kill yourself and you get a free port to the other side of the zone.

This isn't game breaking, but pushing the debt free levels up to 10 means that people will have more opportunity and reason to exploit a game mechanic for an unintended side effect."

Simple solution: make Super Speed and Fly available at level 6 instead of level 14. What in the world is the justification for having it at level 14 anyway? Keep people out of PI? (Like that works. Saw a level 3 at Portal Corp. the other day).

Super Speed or Fly at level 6 shouldn't be an issue: even level 1's are "superheroes" in this game. Give them the travel powers they need to explore the zones earlier.

BTW, I rarely do Flux missions in The Hollows until I have - essentially - outleveled them precisely because it's too dangerous getting to and from them. Of course by then, they're not worth doing.

Travel powers at level 6 are a better solution all the way around, and would make the game more fun for the casual gamer.

"I don't know about babbage but octo XP seems to have been nerfed on test to the point of not being worthwhile..."

Yeah, like Krakens: nerf the xp but not the debt. All risk, no reward. What a screwed up solution.

When the game becomes all risk and no reward, no one will play. Fine with me: golf season is starting and I could use some new clubs.

Of course you're welcome to your opinion, but as noted in a previous post, it's just a game and people who pay to play have as much right to be as "stupid" with their characters - within the rules - as you do to be "smart" with them.

But nevertheless, keep "tweaking" the game in the directon it's going, and I'll simply cancel both my accounts. It's getting as difficult to deal with the time wasted in trying to level as it is in having to deal with some of the effette snobs running around preaching their "gospel" about how the game should be played.

I play to level and try out new builds. The content essentially sucks and the animation for everything from firing a shot to slotting enhancements just wastes more time. How many times does someone need to do Frostfire before they "get it"? I've already run it at least a dozen times. Put something else in the zones to increase the interest level.

FWIW.

I've noticed the zones less active, too. I came to the game in January and had the most fun I've ever had in it hunting and fighting Winter Lord with a bunch of other people, and leveling at an excellent clip: leveling means new powers, better bad guys and more overall fun. It's simply more fun killing monsters than slogging through missions or street hunts.

Level 25's and above have Octo and Ghost Ship, 36's and above have Krakens, and 45's and above have Hamidon, but the newbies and lowbies have nothing equivalent to help them gain xp and other rewards the way higher levels do. It's a shame because leveling is what the game is all about: make it harder to do that, and you take away the greatest (not the only, the greatest) incentive someone has to play.

Personally, I don't care about the story arcs or badges or clues. If I want to read a comic book, I'll buy one and read it, not try to get that kind of content here. You want the game to be more appealing? Make it easier to level. Encourage teaming by putting more monsters on the streets. Bring back level-appropriate monsters for all levels and in all zones and let people team and level like that. And for people who think leveling that way is "cheating" or "immoral", they can still do their missions.

It's ironic that the zone with the greatest number of monsters is the one that allows the fewest number of participants based on level. And I see as many 50's die in the Hive as I saw 5's die at the hands of Winter Lord, so what's the difference?

Make PL'ing a valid part of the game concept by creating more monsters and let all players earn their xp by having fun killing something big.

One more thing about monsters: If the rumors about lowering Kraken xp from 50-80k to 5k per kill are true, especially given the debt incurred just getting into and out of that mission, then you're creating yet another empty zone. I would never take another toon into the ASN to kill Krakens as it would simply not be worth it.

IMHO.

At the bottom of it all, it's just a game. PL'ers. Non-PL'ers. Who cares? The goal of all these "tweaks" anyway is to make it harder to level and thus keep people playing longer. And the point of that is to keep accounts open and keep the money tree alive for the developers.

The only "vote" that any of us have is the one we cast with the CC number.

And reading about people taking this stuff so seriously makes me glad I don't read the boards all that much. How depressing.