Zamuel
-
Posts
2194 -
Joined
-
Quote:Moving the unlock level is a combination of "need" due to removing AE from the low level zones and "protecting the new player" by not directing them to AE until they are further along in the game. Removing AE from Mercy would be an issue of "parity" with Atlas even though I know that's not the main AE spot redside.Originally Posted by joebartender
I do want to point out that redside they don't farm in Mercy, or PO the farms are most heavy in Cap.
Also as someone that has self pl'ed several times I wonder what the purpose of having the Studio Manager as a locked contact til level 10 is? I have never once had to talk to him to be able to use anything in AE. -
Quote:Well, the suggestion to change the actual search frontend is where this thought process comes into play. I mean, it doesn't even default to showing the search bar. Wha..? That doesn't make a lick of sense. I think that one change will have a massive effect on things. If you do a search and see a 4 star arc then it doesn't seem that bad and you might play it. As is, the system opts to not even make it obvious that you can search. 4 stars should not be considered a bad thing.Originally Posted by Giant2005
The problem you have with the farms isn't the existence of the farms, it is the abundance of the farms and to be honest as a farmer, that is a problem for us too.
Would you really care if 4 or 5 farms took your front page slots and the rest was sent to obscurity? That would leave plenty of room for your mission Arcs.
My assumption is that the average player, farmer or not, checks the first few pages and plays what's there. DCs seem pretty static. They see farms and get used to them being there. After looking for a farm they see a new arc on page 4 that gives poor rewards and rate according to that even though it's not supposed to be a farm at all. The non farmer who constantly sees farms simply doesn't know there's more options to search for other arcs. The frontend is simply poorly designed in it's current form. -
Quote:Well, there's a number of factors at work here. Dev silence isn't helping the situation at all. There's a bit of culture clash too. I'd best compare it to badgers who want all badges simply because they exist versus PvPers who'll attack anything that moves in zone. Their concepts clash when forced to interact though some could argue neither is "wrong". With farming in the AE, it very much feels like something is being taken away. There's numerous places (PI, Television arcs, iTrials) where people can farm. There's only one place in the game for story writing and it feels like it's being taken over. Essentially, it's the feeling that someone can pancake on our front porch and we're supposed to to just smile and be happy about it.Originally Posted by Demonic_Gerbil
Maybe one got tired tired of being constantly insulted and told that they're going to get bored and leave in a week (constantly, since the AE system came out, even) and their dollars aren't worth as much as TonyV's, for example. When someone keeps trying to pick a fight, eventually they'll get punched by someone. Isn't there enough room for everyone to live happily side by side and get together around the AE campfire (or mission entrance) and sing kumbaya while the asian farmers go in and out of missions, dragging their 7 /Sonic Resonance corruptors everywhere they go?
There's also the perception of farming and farmers. A lot of it comes off as slash and burn farming that leaves the land barren as opposed to crop rotation that tries to keep in mind that the land needs to remain useful for the future. When exploits got plugged, a lot of farmers simply left their farms sitting there as opposed to deleting them to clear the system. The mindset that farmers using the slash and burn technique is where the thought of farmers burning out and simply leaving comes from. It's happened before. The argument is whether it's truly the majority or if it's just the rather visible ones.
It's not a dumb question at all. There's a LOT of things in AE that simply aren't as obvious as they should be. See the screen I posted? Just click the match keywords button. It has the weakness of lacking a "not" option for filtering out things you absolutely don't want but it will restrict a search to arcs with the matching keyword.Quote:I like that change, it's a nice little conceptual shift. ...here's a dumb question, those tags you can set when you rate a mission... Can we actually search based on those little buttons, because I can't log in to check the interface right now because of maintenance. I'd love a big, heavy-handed "X kind of mission goes in this tab" and "Y kind of mission goes in this tab" element to the search interface, so people would never ever have to see the kind of missions they didn't want to see, even by accident during a search. I don't want to see your challenge arc full of the nastiest enemy from every villain group, really, I don't, stop showing up on my search results, please.
Many of us are simply frustrated by the state of things. The example I always bring up is that I can get people to run the Abandoned Sewer Trial yet I can't even pay people to run one of my AE arcs. We feel pushed to the edge with no way to do anything about it. No dev support, ridicule from other players, no media support. The latter interests me the most since I feel the only way we'll get changes is if either COH's competition outdoes them in player generated content or if a news article mentions the neglect and the devs scramble to look like they want to look involved. I know Massively won't do anything. I don't think Elliot is a bad guy at all but he's already backed off from doing anything with AE. And it would need to be someone large like Massively since while there was some lip service given to the PvP community after a news article mentioned their neglect, nothing has actually been done by the devs (though I will give the community team props for attempting to become involved in events and such).Quote:I dunno, maybe I'm weird. I like mowing down gobs of dudes (dat ebil farming) *and* I like great/fun stories (Two Tickets to Westerly is probably my favorite arc in the AE system). When you guys all get going with the bashing at one another, it's like watching my parents fight and then I go into 'Nam flashbacks (this is hyperbole, but really, I came 'round looking for cool arcs in the story contact tree sticky and then found the same old RAGE that made me quit making AE missions is still going on *sigh*) -
While it's likely that some farmers are griefing, I hav a feeling a number of these 1-stars are more due to people being dense (the Didn't Read portion of tl;dr) as opposed to pure malevolence. I'm also predicting a hint of laziness. While I don't expect it to go through since everything else is of greater priority in I21, I did present a proposal for things. The second half is the one I'm truly interested in.
-----
Issue 21: Convergence presents the devs with the proverbial second chance to make a second impression since many new players will be encountering Mission Architect for the first time without the preconceived notions of the current playerbase. For this to work, they need to be given a chance to experience it in a positive environment. As a bit of a disclaimer, I'm heavily on the story side of the "farms vs stories" argument. I feel the key is not to remove the farms specifically but rather to make them less upfront. If a player wants to be powerleveled then that's their decision. However, they need to actually make that on their own rather than accepting a team invite, hitting level 50, and wondering if that's all there is to the game. This breaks down into a two part suggestion.
The first is to remove the AE building from Atlas and Mercy while either removing the Architect Studio Manager, moving his unlock to level 10, or making him an unlockable contact. The reasoning for this is to mitigate farm centric broadcast spam from the starting zones of the game. Those who want to farm AE can still easily manage to travel to adjacent zones while new players get a smoother New Player Experience. Architect Studio Manager could be unlocked through obtaining the Thrill Seeker badge which in turn could be placed right in front of the downstairs elevator. Thus, those who want to learn about AE get the option naturally as they enter the AE building while those who don't will never have an extra contact clogging up the menu.
The second is both to start the search interface with the Search Options and More expanded/opened up while also making the front page blank rather than presenting specific options already. I'm not a artist but I present this mockup as an example:
The goal is to treat the AE search interface more like an actual search engine. By requiring a search, it causes an "out of sight, out of mind" scenario. Now...all the farms will still be in the system but you have to actually be looking for them. In a similar vein, this change should hopefully be something of a morale boost for story writers in its own way. No need to worry about being pushed off page 4 because there is no page 4 until a search is made. Thus, more emphasis can be made on keywords and descriptions as opposed to the admittedly arbitrary star system.
This will not solve all problems with the Mission Architect system but it should help put the system on better footing so that other changes, features, and improvements can be made. -
Since I18 was released, I believe they darkened the lighting. I remember it being pretty draining to be in one so that issue was addressed. I think but I'm not sure if different individual maps have different brightness levels.
As of I20 there are no unique Praetorian maps in AE. I21 will bring us unique maps but they will only be outdoor maps. -
I know they're available since I have them. They might need to be purchased with tickets. I do that sort of by reflex when new AE content comes out so I don't have a record of what is and isn't available right off the bat.
-
Quote:I agree wholeheartedly. Plus, you have a chance of encountering different enemy compositions pening on how the arc is designed.Originally Posted by Eva Destruction
If multiple devs/community reps are going to be participating, would you consider running multiple teams if enough players show up? Just in the interest of exposing as many players to AE as possible.
-
Did you reply to him/her and let them know it wasn't a farm? Also, instead of sadness you should try anger and rage.
-
"But don't you randomly do these anyway?"
Sure. However, I'm a bit more overtly wanting people to take screenshots. I keep putting off working on a guide for running the AST so I figure this may be a push towards working on one. Plus, people who been wanting to run it will have an easier time than me just popping out of nowhere for adventures with sushi. -
Will procs actually tic in Snow Storm or is there some sort of restriction since it's an enemy affecting toggle?
-
This week the AE Storyteam hit Victory. I missed last week so I figured I wouldn't be best for trying to keep up with the whole ticket thing. With the low level game getting a revamp, I felt it would be nice to run some low level arcs.
First up was Mercytown #6017 by @Frija. Teaming up with comrade Dmitri Krylov we research Coralax in name of science! While we encounter some sort of mystic tome, an even greater force known as copyright filter cause mayhem in plans. However, it is no match for great strength of team.
The second arc was Outbroken #379017 by @Aehead. With our old friend Coyote getting infected with the Outbreak virus and suffering occassional OUTBURTS OF RAGE, we're tasked with helping setup training new heroes. With some of locations being mildly EXTREMELY DANGEROUS...WHO WOULD SET THIS UP FOR NEWBS?!?, we try to find out just what's going on. Manages to have some fun mechanics considering SOMEONE JUST HAD TO PRESS THE BUTTON.
I may need some rest... -
Quote:Well, he noted that in his opinion most of the problems were overall concerns with the engine as a whole as opposed to the class directly. While I feel more could be done with the class, it can be pointed out that there's a number of things the make a Stalker's job either more difficult or somewhat obsolete. At the same time, it seems like buffing Stalkers would be easier because it's near impossible to get to get engine changes done unless they affect very specific things. Which is frustrating since a number of things seem like simple changes such as making the epics crit or increasing the radius for the team crit bonus.Originally Posted by Jibikao
I have a feeling the new power team may take another direction for Stalker if we bring up the issues enough. Castle thought Stalker is as good as it gets but I sense that other dev feel a bit differently.
-
Quote:Whaaaa...Badgers are one of the very groups the devs DO cater to. How in the world did they get included in that list?Originally Posted by GavinRuneblade
I also feel that while the devs understand the players as a whole, and are generally very successful at helping the player base as a whole, there are a few sub-groups they either ignore, or marginalize, or don't understand. These include Base builders, Badgers, PvPrs, Kheldians and Stalkers.
-
Quote:Rather intriguingly, I tend to assume by default that most of the current CoH playerbase is older than I am. (29 for the curious) And with that said, I'd argue that intelligence and incompetence aren't bound by age you'll find both awesome and horrible players regardless.Originally Posted by GuyPerfect
We're about to get an influx of A) people who aren't old enough to afford $15/mo to play the game...
-
Quote:BLASPHEMY!!!Originally Posted by TehHippeh
I will even read the manual if there is one.
*casts fire* -
Curious, what do you dislike about the Praetorian tutorial? I feel it had the best presentation of info though I agree that Breakout had the best "feel". For all of the supposed "ACTION!!!" of the new tutorial, I actually feel that the best part is Coyote's role.
-
Quote:Um, that's what I meant. I was comparing Precinct 5 (tutorial before Nova Praetoria) to the flashy but shallow Galaxy's Last Stand (tutorial before newAtlas and newMercy).Originally Posted by Grey Pilgrim
Might be you are confusing terms. I think of the tutorial as what you run before you jump in to Atlas, Mercy, or Nova Praetoria.
-
Quote:Fixed.Originally Posted by sykoholic001
One thing to remember is that AE arcs are limited to 200KB sized files.
VIPs will retain access so the farmers aren't going anywhere. Well...there is a bug in AE on Beta that's likely to be far worse than the profanity/copyright filter but I have a feeling that once again the farmers will get off clean while potentially every story arc in the system will be rendered invalid AND unfixable.Quote:Hopefully, once Freedom is implimented and people have to "pay" to have access to AE, the farmers will go elsewhere... -
Quote:I was under the impression that the people who liked or disliked it was roughly 50/50 in percentage but I could easily be wrong. I feel that Precinct 5 is a vastly superior tutorial as far as actually being a tutorial is concerned. I feel that taking a full 20 levels to learn basics is poor design. Then again, I also have a different thought process than most so I guess a bunch of flashiness is better.Originally Posted by Chad Gulzow-Man
Eh? What's wrong with the new tutorial? I think it's pretty great.
A bunch of flashiness right at the start with just enough information to get you going, and all of that information bloat pulled out and spread over the first 20 levels worth of content instead of crammed down your throat in the first 10 minutes? That's a win in my book. -
(Even more...) System wide bugs have been added to AE, issues with parts in the new costume creator, dissatisfaction with the new tutorial, discussions over the stealth in Brute Energy Aura, and no update pricing in the Paragon Market make it seem like incredible folly to push I21 live at this point.
-
Yes to both.
-
Quote:I gotta disagree on this. I know it was overtly stated that Johnny's Hell had the spawn points changed and there are others that are different as well. This affects "the developers didn't even have this tool" because the spawn points are better and/or more thematically placed for the devs. Plus, there's situations where I'd argue that they do have more control since there are outdoor boss spawns that seem incredibly static such as that one narrow city map that always has the boss at the end (it's used in the Sister Psyche TF).Originally Posted by BackFire
Did you notice how the spawn points in AE are the same as the ones in the regular game? Again, the developers didn't even have this tool, it's just how maps in this game work and it prevents abuse.
-
Quote:Technically the game listed 'she' as 'he' (faulty $heshe code?) and a civilian will have to die but still awesome.
Oh, man, it's Bea Dreamfist. I heard she beat up Positron in his own house! -
Quote:Many of us use the MA Arc Finder channel. It has it's peaks and valleys for active discussion but it's cross server so anyone can use it.Originally Posted by Raeda
use to discuss story arcs where i'd also be able to post my arc I.D. for feedback? I did see a few people on Virtue putting their arc number in broadcast but if there is a proper place for it then i'd much rather do it that way.
-
Are ancillary pools still not critting from Hide? I know some here reported that a while back and if they aren't then this seems like the time to report it (again).