joshdex

I've always preferred his line, "It's better to be thought a fool of than to speak and remove all doubt."

I do appreciate that someone online actually being willing to man up when they're wrong, though. Given the attitude in other places (and sometimes even here on these boards), most people seem to want to turn having a disagreement into a personal holy crusade against the world; I'm glad you're not doing that.

J

For the record, I agree: I'd rather hear the plans, even if they are subject to change.

I don't recall "You get all your points when you subscribe!" being mentioned outside of the forums, so I don't see how it was a sales point. It's also a fairly minor thing- far from being a 'major feature.'

I'm not terribly fond of the way it's set up, either, and I hope it changes. But to freak out and demand they not announce anything that has even the slightest chance to change is seriously an overreaction.

I'd assume it's to raise hype and awareness for the set.

An extra couple hundred on top of a thousand doesn't seem like a big difference.

Though it would be funny to see it sold in stores.

Actually, no it wouldn't.

A thousand doesn't seem so low to me since I'm rarely dealing with spammers these days, but maybe free players will end up making me change my mind.

J

I know when in the days of trial accounts, they'd set it up so you'd be notified if you sent a tell to someone on a trial.

If you send a tell to someone who can't send tells- you should be noticed. If not, that's the issue to address, rather than the free players lacking the ability to send tells.

Even then, don't you have to talk to a trainer to get through the tutorial, anyway?

I'm not sure how people could miss this- unless they incorrectly assume that it's a once-only part of the tutorial or something they won't have to worry about in the rest of the game for some time. (Since you need to defeat enemies, in theory they should also have a pretty good understanding how targeting enemies and using powers work before they can escape the tutorial.)

(Like on-the-spot morality choices, are fighting gigantic monsters.)

That said, I hope they seriously consider this idea. Having the One true option for starting contacts didn't even go well in City of Villains, which was designed for it.

I'm starting to wish they'd make the old contacts a VIP-only option for veterans..

I think I'd have originally put that as a 4, even 3 arc, because I was hoping to think we could beat cannon quality on a regular basis.

I think I overestimated people's abilities to consider lower ranked material.

I really think I am going to start using this as a new baseline standard. I like the way you phased it; thank you.

You really think the higher level stuff is worse than the generic first 5 or 10 levels or so, though? Of course, that might be a case of "simpler can be better."

J

Those would make for half of an awesome power pool, though.

I think it bears repeating that the level 50 game itself is still balanced around SO's. Along with inherit fitness, the challenges in the game should be even more accessible (as in do-able) than it was in pre IO days, right?

Who's this "we?" You make it sound as if you're speaking for the entire player base, which isn't something any single person can do, even Golden Girl.

And bear in mind the idea behind MARTy still lets you play however you see fit; you just won't get as many rewards as you would otherwise. This isn't like changes that have already been made in the past; adjustments to how purples work and massive cuts to entire AT's, across the board cuts to every AT, and enhancements themselves, which actually made fighting higher level enemies tougher.

This? This's just a slight reduction in rewards. Which I'll admit can potentially be a valid argument against it. But it's a different argument than saying "We can't play like we want!"

That said, if MARTy proves to cause more issues, I do hope they'll remove it until they can get it working like it's supposed to.

I agree that the announcement on the specific day the packs were dissolved should have been announced sooner, I think it was also a reasonable assumption they were going to 'go away' either before or when the head start ended, not after. Since the point of removing them was they didn't want free players to get in them. (Right? Or was it something else?)

Confusing metaphor, but I get what you're saying now.

Really? I'm not seeing anything resembling a positive spin on this. What're you referring to, out of curiosity?

And you'll still complain and break out the tired and constantly disproven argument that "You're gonna lose a bunch of people over this."

Same old tired argument; "Stop trying to balance the game! It's impossible to have a perfectly balance game so no attempt should be made. Ever."

That post basically boils down to "Wah! +1"

And yet you also state...

If people are simply going to "farm other mobs," how does that translate into "more instances per hour?"

Exactly how many players are farming the same mobs over and over, hours on end, at any given time?

If this "has no impact" on it, how is it magically going to "double the instances per hour?"

You're trying to make two contradictory arguments for the sake of deriding this change and hoping no one will notice.

Golden Girl as the voice of reason. I honestly didn't see that one coming.

Most of the posters on this thread?

That's silly. It'd ruin any plans for the home game, "Champions vrs. City at the 2016 Paragon City Olympics."

Unless I'm the only one hoping for that.

J

Wait, you're saying that War Witch and Melissa.. might have gotten a divorce?!

I always thought they got along so well, too.

On the upside, it sounds like something they'd take as a serious future wish list for development of the store. You know how our developers love to, er, develop things.

Store's got a lot of room for it, too.

I bet if it is a wish list item, they let it out of the bag as soon as they can. On the other hand, they might just like the financial stability of getting people to buy in five dollar or greater chunks. (Or is that as silly as it sounds in my head?)

J/ Wilde

In all fairness, they might have gotten the hint and discarded it.. or decided to hold price reductions until later on. Sell what they can now to those who of us who will pay, or use their built-up free points.

There's also the sales aspect. Put the power set on sale every so often and see who buys it at eight dollars instead of ten.

I'd seriously consider dropping the points for a power set if I *really* want it, and if enough people are willing to pay more, it'll make up for the lost sale of those like you who won't pay because it's too high.

Plus, of course, not buying it's a valid option. I'm guessing that if a small percent of would be buyers are lost due to the price, that isn't a lost sale but rather a fact of life.

If that makes sense.

- J

PS: I like how our VIP names are now gold.

My best guess is once it leaves the rewards table, it'll take a Disney classics inspired route.

Meaning it'll be 'gone' for a week, maybe a month tops, then appear back in the store as something you can buy.

So you can get it earlier for a few rewards token earlier than the people who buy it flat out. Then once it's up for sale, later on, it'll stay on sale permanently, barring unexpected circumstances.

I'm not sure how well that'd satisfy you if they implement, obviously.

Another upside: The next reward that replaces it might be ten times cooler.

I'm a bit late to the party, aren't I?

The counter argument would be, "If you don't want feedback, why not simply PM the idea to the relevant developer or community demigod?"

Posting to disagree with an idea- if you provide a clear reasoning and the logic behind it- isn't just a valid response, it's the kind of thing you want so you can weigh in with your own counterpoints.


That said, I love your idea, and have wanted to see something similar to it for ages now.

Samuel suggested we don't 'need' elaboration beyond a system that lets you reroll and keep - whatever you end up keeping. We don't 'need' anything in this game beyond having it function, which it was at launch. But a story and a theme to this would add a lot, and make it all that much more fun and exciting.

I rather like the idea of 'patching' it into the existing game lore if possible.

I'm on the fence for the accolade issue, though. If you can earn them at level 1, why not be able to be reborn with them? If they're level locked, then let them automatically unlock at the appropriate level.

I'd like to see us take a cue from Kingdom of Loathing. (No, not the curse ridden rants from the co creator aimed at exploiters and people who complain too much, though that would be awesome. Being a totally small, indie company has its perks, I guess.)

If you 'ascend' in the game, you restart unable to be buffed by other players, no access to your old inventory, and no ability to trade or get items from outside of the game itself. But you can eventually earn as many cross class skills as you want.

That'd be a game killer here, obviously. I had a thought it might be cool to have access to a 'pack' of four abilities (Or less) from a previous life, possibly with the limitation of only being able to keep a single power from each 'ascension,' in keeping with the KOL way of doing things.

Or if that's absurdly overpowered, access to the same epic power pools as your last archetype run. (Of course, that gives the risk of duplicate powers, doesn't it?)

Then again, I'm guessing that wouldn't go over very well in this game - people become convinced they're 'forced' to run in because they feel obligated to be 'optimally powerful.'

The more I think about it, the more I prefer the "no special rewards beyond partial credit for accolade badges" option. "Bluemark" the accolade badges so you can select them as a title, and they'll show up on your list of badges (with an asterisk)- but you have to re-earn it in your 'new' life.

Or just let them keep the darned things.

J/ Wilde

Heh, not for the 1% that get it, it isn't.

Wait, what in the game do 99% of the people have NO chance of even SEEING? It must be something I've.. er.. never seen before. Which would make sense given the argument but I still wanna know what it is.

It seems pretty up front about telling them "No Incarnate enhancements, and you're limited in how many characters you can unlock up front."

"Much weaker?" How many former players are that hopped up on Incarnate content so far? Have they really been around long enough to treat them as being as critical as you imply?

It seems pretty universally agreed most of the game is based around fully slotted SO's.

The checklist is on the issue overview. It's pretty easy to find and they seem pretty forthcoming with the limitations.

J/ Wilde

Let's start here.

For people like you who probably team, team, and team, and use the AE building to team even faster Double XP is no big deal.

Seriously?

Lisa, you're acting like you know exactly how I play the game because I made one innocent comment. There's a term for that - flamebait, and I'm extremely disappointed that someone who goes on to patronizingly ask if that's the 'sort of person I would be' makes such a condescending statement.

Do you have any idea how infuriating that is? Just the use of people like you. How's it even applicable like me? What's the statement? Anyone who doesn't agree with you must be some horrible exploiter?

Here's the very simple, very barebone facts. Yes, I do team ... when I have a friend I want to team with. Not to "exploit" and "maximize my exp per hour." I'm the polar opposite of that. Normally, I'm out solo'ing when I'm on the game.

Do I use the Architect Entertainment system? Yeah, happily - I go there for the stories, that's about it. I'm far more likely to report a no-story farm than I am to play it.

The whole MA = farm attitude disgusts me flat-out, but that's a debate for another time.

So I find that comment rather rude- and totally off base.

Where was the jeers? Did I say "OMG You're so lazy? Of course not. It'd be ridiculous statement. If I sounded like I said I was, I do apologize.

My comments actually weren't aimed at you. Some of the statements are borderline whining; I don't think that could be applied to your initial comment. (Although your replies to my comments were less than polite.)

And let's not forget, when you're not on the game constantly, you're building up rested experience. 1.5 times normal experience. Exactly how much anger is them being forced to move an event back worth?

Because if people's reaction to this is to threaten to quit, then they're better off cancelling future double exp points - if the potential negative response might outweigh the positive aspects of it.

Would that really be what you want to happen?

I remember that being cited as a potential problem in the past though; it'd be seen as more than "useful" to any archetype without status protection; it'd be seen as downright necessary. Probably something they'd want to avoid for a power pool. Then there's the whole question of should you give a status protection power to an archetype which was balanced around not having one..

Or the question of do you give a fifth power to just fighting and nothing else? If so, why? If not, how many other power pools do you add a fifth power to? I would see it more likely being a 'free' health pool power than going under fighting, considering how potentially game altering it could be.. even if you can't perm it for whatever reason.

Not that I'd personally mind seeing it. I just consider it.. unlikely.

J

Unless you've got statistics to back it up, you'd just be guessing if you stated there's a significant chance that when a player lets a subscription lapse, it's a permanent, lifelong decision. I think the counterpoint would be rushing issues just to have them out more would result in a more lackluster issue, which would have the same problem; players not being excited enough by new issues, quitting, and never returning.

Honestly, I always got the impression players letting their subscription lapse for a while was a common, expected thing.

Which "couple of" powersets? Three of the four are intended to be purchasable. How do you release one of those before the ability to buy them, which is tied to issue 21, exists?

They've also mentioned before that releasing things in a chunk IE issue is more effective than doing it in smaller bits and pieces.. If that's still valid, that might be a reason against doing this.