Venture

Really? Explain that to an infant born with a cocaine addiction because their mother was a crack addict.


He wouldn't have to, because they don't exist -- they're an urban myth fostered by junk science.

You know, Venture, I'm still shocked every time I read your posts post-I6. If there is one thing that I5 and I6 did for the good of the game, it was to bring the board community closer together. :P

I call's 'em as I see's 'em. I was in favor of the I5 changes, but ED is just absurd.

But part of this deal was to lessen the status effect frequency, both by removing them from minions, and by adding status suppression to PvE, like there is in PvP.

As someone earlier in the thread noted, many players are playing nothing but melee ATs just so they can get away from status effects. If the devs make the melees vulnerable, people are going to get disgusted and leave. It's far too late in the day to go there.

In any case this is not a "deal". There is nothing to negotiate over. The game needs less status effects, period. That does not mean that ATs which were previously unconcerned with them should suddenly succumb to the affliction as "compensation". It means the developers have to learn how to challenge the players without breaking out the kryptonite. 100% effective stuns shouldn't be necessary now that everyone's powers have been gutted.

I don't yet have a theory on why the Circle is male-only, unless it's a fraternity type of thing. And really, when plumbing the depths of orders like the Templars, Golden Dawn, Lovecraftian cultists, and whatnot, my recollections are that they are pretty male-dominated.

The CoT are just bodiless wraiths, though, possessing any convenient body. Now, you could argue the original CoT, the ruling body of Oranbega, was male-dominated, but:

a) it is implied that the entire population of Oranbega was cursed, not just the Circle of Thorns proper;

b) it is hard to imagine that they would pass up the opportunity to possess a female body if that woman had money or power that would be useful to them;

c) there is at least one extant example of this: Crash Cage;

d) they are shown in game swiping women for possession.

The next rationalization would be that they polymorph any bodies they swipe to suit themselves, but really now. I think the lack of female CoT's has to be taken as a foible in the game's artwork and not indicative of the nature of the group.

maybe Grendal wasn't an AV then... maybe Atta beating him pushed him to improve...

And if that happened, who would be #1 with a bullet on Grendel's Tear Off Their Heads list?

Superadine is called Supes in the background web pages and Dyne in game. The only reference to "Supes" I've seen in-game is scrawled on the wall in the Skull Drug Lab map.

The Seeker of Monsters badge says Atta defeated Grendel. While it doesn't say that he killed him, it's hard to imagine Atta still being around if Grendel isn't dead, especially if Grendel is an AV.

I think the point here is that you guys regret the current way that status protection works.

The problem is they frobbed all the knobs at once, and now game balance is all over the map.

In your attempts to provide some level of danger to Tankers and Scrappers before I5 and I6, you have made the high end game LOADED with status effects, to the point that playing any build without status protection is just a pain.

Don't get me started. My 32 Peacebringer has about convinced me to delete every character I have without status protection.

That still didn't do anything, so you lowered status protection for melee types.

Which was done on the sly, and never explained or justified.

If you really want to see the melee types get affected by status effects, how about you do this instead:

They could just cancel everyone's accounts instead; it would save time. The game needs less status effects, not more.

Give bosses a high enough magnitude knockback to defeat Tanker/Scrapper/Brute/Stalker knockback protection, unless they are using one of the tier 9 overload powers (and give Ice, Dark Armor, and Fire one of those, please?) or an outside buff like Increase Density. Knockback is a staple of comic book melee fights, and knockback suppression should be enough to keep it from being annoying.

Um, no. Just because something works in comic books doesn't mean it works in a game. I have had more than enough of being thrown around the map. It is not fun, it is not cool, it has gotten the aforementioned Peacebringer killed recently more times than I can count. I don't even want knockback on my own attacks. I don't want it suppressed. I don't want it at all.

Lower status protection (but not resistance) levels on the basic (non-overload) Tanker/Scrapper/Brute/Stalker powers again, so that it takes maybe 2 or 3 of a type to break through, with the exception of Knockback with respect to non-bosses.

Since we're down to magnitude 8 or so that's about what it takes now.

Remove hold/stun/disorient/immobilize/endurance drain effects from ALL MINIONS. Knockback is fine as long as it's considerably lower in magnitude than bosses, and isn't given to everyone.

Knockback is not fine.

Yes and no. The people who focus on doing Family missions should get the badge naturally.

If they're going to get it naturally, then what's the point of making the Contact a stand-alone "unlockable"? It should be difficult enough to open such a Contact that some people will think it requires too much effort.

However, grinding is worse than not uncovering a mystery.

Anyone who thinks getting that badge is "grinding" is just plain spoiled. I've played EQ, SWG and WoW; I know what real grinding looks like.

And not everyone will get a general family badge. What's your point?

You said, and I quote:

[ QUOTE ]
Just make the badge for any family and people will naturally earn it as they level up.

[/ QUOTE ]

This sounds like advocating that the badge should be so easy to get people will earn it as a matter of course with no extra effort.

That takes you through 20, only one contact focused on the family. You work FOR the families more than you have to fight them. Unless you're talking about the newspaper missions.

Why should the newspaper missions not count? In any case, I fought the Family quite often on the way up, particularly in Sharks.

I have done every TF, even the Super Group one and both Respecs. I've played with other people. I still ran out of missions and had to do repetitive crap from 33.5 to 35 and from 37.5 to 40.

My main villain (Vector Alpha, Guardian) is 33 now and doing Hard Luck's missions. I've done Vivacious Verandi (way underdeveloped Contact IMO) and the Slot Machine. Haven't touched Hard Case yet.

What's currently happening instead is that sometimes people get the badge but never know there's a contact that goes with it. Other times people find the contact, but no combination of natural gameplay before that would have allowed them to unlock it. So people either miss a contact entirely or they end up grinding to get something they couldn't naturally get in 30 levels of normal gaming.

Do you expect to uncover all the game's mysteries on the first time through?

How does that follow? Anyone can stand around in Marconeville of Port Oakes and kill any Boss that pops.

But not everyone will.

And even if they change it not everyone will get the badge. You still have to choose to fight the family through your missions. That's not as easy as it sounds.

Actually it is. They are one of the more frequent opposing factions.

The point is that bosses are the exception and a pain to farm.

Which brings us back to: if it was easy, everyone would do it.

Edit: Side note on this contact sequence. When you read through the hostage's clues and history against the Phalanx... are we SURE that they're the good guys, people? Or is it a weird semi-Identity Crisis homage?

I was thinking of starting a thread on that topic. Just more evidence that the Freedom Phalanx think they're gods and little things like laws and Constitutional rights don't apply to them.

Considering that the result is people running out of content before they run out of levels, that idea isn't working out so well.

Since when has this not been the case? It was always my understanding that this was deliberate, to incent people to do Task Forces or help other people with their missions.

But, should unlockable be the same as hidden? I just like some type of hint or something in-game for the non-forumgoers.

Contacts in-game are surrounded by a bright ring indicating that they're not just part of the scenery. If you talk to one it will give you some indication of what you have to do to get missions from it. It could be argued that perhaps some of those hints are too vague, but this is really the best you can hope for. There is supposed to be some value to exploration in MMOs.

There might as well not be progress bars if they're not going to have names or hints.

As it happens, the Gangbuster badge didn't have a progress bar. I watched mine like a hawk while farming the Capos and none of them ever moved. Suddenly, wham! Badge. And yeah, that's not good.

Also get rid of the required newspaper missions. There are 4 contacts from 6-10. Doing the 12 missions required to get them all is almost 2 levels as it is.

You are not supposed to get them all. This is the point. In order for the game to have replayability, it must be the case that you can't get at all of the content in one pass. The game should require you to choose a path, thus leaving some things undone for your next character.

Certainly there is an issue with Contacts like Veluta Lunata, who want you to do something way outside the level range the Contact itself is intended for, but the system as a whole is a sound one.

I agree. We shouldn't have to farm for hours to get content. Just make the badge for any family and people will naturally earn it as they level up.

The point of making the contact unlockable is that not everyone is supposed to have it....

Heroes are smart enough to not trust anything that can think for itself if they can't see where it keeps its brain....

But for all I know the Slot Machine sends me up against an AV the first mission. Or only has six missions to offer.

Now, what do you think the odds are that someone would call an AV-laden contact "hilarious"?

There are no AVs, and two arcs.

That really doesn't tell me anything useful...

Not much more to say without spoilers. All I can tell you is I thought it was worth the effort.

Since I don't know whether the missions from this contact are even worth doing, I didn't bother trying to get the badge.

The Slot Machine is hilarious...worth the effort.

Not possible. It's from the 25-30 contact, Archmage Tarixus.

The Banished Pantheon "Scroll of Tielekku" mission is from Diviner Maros, not Tarixus. It's in the level 25 neighborhood. Whether or not it can be coaxed into spawning masks I can't say...I don't remember if I fought any when I did it.

People get charged with war crimes because they lost a war. As long as you're on the winning side, you're fine.

People get charged with war crimes because they lost a war. As long as you're on the winning side, you're fine.

They're not? A bunch of crime-fighting archers, named after a mythological beast, and they didn't immediately make that connection? My villain is smarter than the entire Phalanx put together?

Have you read the Top Cow comic?

Thank you Manti. So the debate ends. Manticore didn't found the group and most likely just inspired it. Very interesting.

Um, that's not what he said.

For a job like that, for a group of heroes, not taking money would be suspicious? We're talking about broadcasting the great danger all Cap au Diable citizens.

Yes, not taking money would be suspicious, because they're not heroes. They are a "private security force".

Yu think Wyvern who is payed by Longbow to do missions is founding Longbow? Or do you think Manticore is. If Manti was, that's no surpise at all.

I think Manticore is funding both organizations.

For a job like that, for a group of heroes, not taking money would be suspicious? We're talking about broadcasting the great danger all Cap au Diable citizens.

Yes, not taking money would be suspicious, because they're not heroes. They are a "private security force".

Yu think Wyvern who is payed by Longbow to do missions is founding Longbow? Or do you think Manticore is. If Manti was, that's no surpise at all.

I think Manticore is funding both organizations.

Really? If you remember, Wyvern take money for the jobs they do around the Rogue Isle. People like Vines of WSPRD paided Wyvern to defend the generators. It was the right thing to do, it was a very big deal, and they wanted to be paid.

It would have been very suspicious if they did not want to be paid.

Now we know Manticore is rich, really rich. He can afford to have obscenely expensive trick arrows that are one use only. If he was Wyvern's backer, they wouldn't need to charge for their services. They'd do it like Longbow, for the right cause. Manticore can't possibly have anything to do with Wyvern except maybe inspiring their theme.

Manticore is rich, not stupid. He might be able to provide all the funding needed for Wyvern but then it would be even more obvious than it already is that they're little more than Longbow's black-bag arm. If they're supposed to be a "private security force" then they'd better have clients and they'd better charge for their services.

Who do you think is funding Longbow in the first place? Why is the military arm of the Freedom Corps (itself a subsidiary of the Freedom Phalanx) named Longbow?

Not only is it clear that Manticore is behind Wyvern, it's pretty obvious he's got a lot to do with Longbow, too. (Speculation regarding his involvement with Ms. Liberty is left as an exercise for the reader....)

What would be helpful is if you could give MMs a level bump on test. Until we get the level 32 upgrades and slot the powers, we wont really be able to judge IMO.

I expect there will be plenty of 32+ Masterminds shortly.

I may be one of them. :-)