gec72

I must be missing these, because solo I've hardly run into any 5th at all, outside of jumping past them in Independence Port.

Outside of a couple of specific missions (boo chained objectives), I am really liking the tips system. They're deeper than the scanner/newspaper, and feel more "legitimate" than the MA. It's nice to see the characters from the bank/mayhems fleshed out a little too (always have been fond of Silent Blade, she's great to have tag along on mayhems).

Yeah, maybe so. At least on a melee toon. I didn't have much mission trouble in Praetoria (KM/EA brute), outside of maybe Clockwork (energy defenses not so good yet). I got to TI and tried a couple of tip missions. Sky Raiders, no problem. BP +1 Death Shamans (once got spotted by two at the same time) spawning +2 Husks? Not as good. Group of three +1 CoT Spectral Terrors? Even worse (my ACC wasn't great to begin with).

Yes, I understand this. The "Do this. Ok, now do THAT. Oh no wait, wait - you have to do this too. Aaaannnnnddd finally..." mechanism would be just as annoying at -1/x1, at least for this mission (Even if there aren't any more total tasks than say, "find these four glowies and beat the boss". It's not the work, it's not knowing what work is involved going in and feeling like you're being strung along.)

Uh, yeah. I have one that I seem to have been running forever right now on my brute (+0x5). Completing one objective spawns another, ad infinitum.

Defeat the Longbow commander! (check)
Defeat the bane spider! (check)
Activate the base video camera! (check)
Plant the explosives to blow up the base!
Go to the store to buy eggs and milk!
Bake cookies!
Go find the fortunata who has the munchies!

ENOUGH already.

He's not there. You have to find the disturbance (portal, whatever that thing is), which spawns an ambush. Defeating that should drop a clue (and you have to defeat Black Swan, of course).

Good point - I realized after I wrote that that if you've actually played up to that level you should have gotten yourself enough experience not to be truly "new".

No, not a bad thing. It's good to have to adjust play styles now and then (typically I don't need to even use Spectral Terror). It may not be as fun on characters that don't have the same benefits (invisibility, 120%+ recharge, pets that steal aggro, etc) though. Or for newer players.

The mission really stood out from the rest of the arc. My reaction was "wow, if this is going to be typical of the new arc, I'd better adjust my settings" (not that x2 is even exactly a world-beating setting). Completing the mission was a challenge, but wasn't fun enough to want to repeat for half-a-dozen more missions either. But I went from having to pull out every trick I have to having Statesman as an ally. After which I zombied through, not even bothering to use PA half of the time.

It was different, to be sure. Luckily I had PA (nearly perma) and Phantasm to both attack and distract, Oil Slick that I could light and even use as an anchor for Flash Arrow, and Disruption Arrow which is location-based. Popped out Spectral Terror for more chaos. Oh, and Deceive. Still managed to face-plant maybe four times (the first was attacking a patrol of Clockwork - I wasn't even aware the Resistance was there).

Yeah, I think once I get to that point (which means getting out of Praetoria of course) I'll be fine. It's funny, because usually I don't play my 50s much once they get to 50. In this case I did, waiting for GR to roll anyone new. Now, I find it easy to take the approach of "well, I have this new build that calls for four LoTG - I can EASILY get those by playing my 50!" Of course, I actually have to play the new toon to get high enough to actually slot the goodies...

Yeah, could be. My mentality on how to spend rewards has changed a bit, I know that much. If others follow...

For the soloist, this new setup seems much easier. 11 missions for 1 hero merit, which is equivalent to 100 "old" merits as far as purchasing power goes. Compare to 16 missions (nevermind the talks) for 43 merits doing Unai's arc. I'd have to run that five times in order to buy a level 25 LoTG +7.5 outright; now I only have to run two morality arcs (or one morality arc, an Unai and a handful of extra merits). Makes buying the big-ticket items - which I'd want at a certain level anyway - a lot more palatable.

That's not to say I don't mix in some random rolls too, I do. If I have 50 merits, there's little reason not to pay 20M to convert and double my rolls. I still like the random lottery dynamic there. It's just that I can generate stuff that more quickly.

If anything, it's slowing down the leveling on my new characters as I feel like I "need" to get my 5 tips per night in on a 50...

I have an old one on Virtue, about level 22 or so. Keeps getting pushed behind other alts though. It's too bad, as she actually has a fun description.

Yep, that's what I'm trying because they thematically match (and I've not played EA). I know it's not going to be the best number-wise, but I'll at least try to build some typed defense through bonuses.

And as a bone to those doing non-TF/solo content.

Well, in theory. Are folks going to really earn these that efficiently? And if they do, are they going to use them? I mean, we've heard the stories of folks sitting on thousands of merits because they either don't like them, don't need them, or are too lazy to cash them in and sell the recipes.

-----

I *think* I'm happy about this from the standpoint of playing a level 50. Normally I move on to a new alt when I reach 50, but I haven't been lately. My Ill/TA is fun, and for once I figured I'd go for some purple sets, so I've stuck with playing him. I can't always join a TF but I still want merits, so I have to get them through Oroboros. Ok fine, lots of content there. But, you know I'd really like to keep fighting 50s for a shot at purples. Well, this limits things some. So I do things like Unai, again. Which of course locks me in TF mode so I can't do anything else even if I want to.

This, hopefully, provides an alternative to that. I can do tip and morality missions at my leisure, w/o getting tied up with long arcs, while still working towards random rolls.

(now if they could give some sort of similar rewards with bank missions....)

I usually don't either. On the rare occasion I team I have enough of a time remembering names let along SGs.

Not sure about the Mississippi delta part, but the rest sounds like Al Pratt.