lionheart_fr

Thank you! i16 is looking better all the time, as is the direction CoH/V is going overall.

When does it go live again?

I admit to being conflicted on i16: I want it NOW, but I also want it right. So take your time and test it thoroughly -- just do it quickly.

There are a variety of options. My main is Lionheart, a character I've had in various PnP and PC games (e.g., Freedom Force) for years. However, when I made the first iteration of Lionheart for the Freedom Reborn supergroup, the name was taken. So I appended FR to the name -- the acronym for our SG -- as an identifier.

I do not call my character Lionheart FR, I refer to him as Lionheart. The FR allows others to differentiate him from any other "Lionheart" variation on that server.

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Frankly, I still think it was a good idea. Maybe now other mmos will understand that their fanbase isnt one homogenous group of roleplayers or hardcore pvpers or raiders.

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Bingo, mostly. AE is perfect for roleplayers, although I realize it can be used by anybody for anything. It's been a boon to Supergroups for creating their own themed content.

To the OP: The AE was a stellar idea. It will take some time to work the kinks out, but all in all, it was a stroke of genius. Kudos to Paragon Studios for raising the bar another notch.

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Sigh. I can't find the post, which makes me doubt myself. I still maintain that one of the devs mentioned martial arts as an example of why long outfits wouldn't work, but that martial arts wasn't the sole issue. If i can dig anything up on it I will post it.

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I can't find the post either, but I remember this too.

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On a somewhat unrelated note, I just want to take a second to thank you guys for being so positive and excited about this feature that's consumed so much of my life for so long. It's been a very long haul and tremendous amount of work from many people on the team. Your excitement about this feature is making it so much easier for me to continue to be excited about it, and that's making it a lot nicer to get through the final stretches of finishing this issue up and into your hands. I can't speak for the other people who've done a tremendous amount of work on this feature as well, but for me personally...it's a huge deal.

The handful of non-glowing responses I've seen have been very reasonable and more in the realm of disappointed but still understanding. For that I'm exceedingly grateful.

So thanks for staying positive and constructive, it makes reading the forums so much easier and working on this game so much more rewarding.

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Thank you, BaB, and your team, for all your hard work and dedication to keep this game great. It's much appreciated.

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Oh. No Black. Hmm. I guess we all imagined that could be in the cards.

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See the other thread about color customization. Apparently there are "bright" options and "dark" options. Both the CC images pictured here are using the "bright" color options.

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On another note: every time a bunch of powersets get proliferated, it takes away from the complete, overall uniqueness of every AT (minus the epics). At this point, it's almost like the only thing separating most ATs is their inherents and epic/patron powers.

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Maybe, although I don't really buy this in my experience thus far.

However, it does add tremendously to the uniqueness of each *character*. That's even more important to some of us.

I never did the sewers before AE. I got tired of spammed invites claiming "great XP" and "fast leveling" every time I hit Atlas. Sounded too much like PLing and farming to me.

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But by then most of the players have said unkind things about the organizers mother, jello molds, and fruity bits, and have gone back to killing things that don't hit very hard in the MA building.

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Custom minions in the MA -- even set to Standard -- hit harder than most of the standard minions, because they use the player skills. Now, of course, you can populate MA arcs with soft-hitting standard minions, but that's another story (pardon the pun).

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Well they had the technology, so they had to rebuild him...

Would be a waste of tax payers money if they didn't...not to mention when is the chance your going to get to spend Six Million Dollars of taxpayers money on cybernetically enhancing someone...I mean...it only happens once every twenty or so years...

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...this is City of Heroes, you can pick up bionics at the electronics store down the street.

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Psst.........It was a reference to the Six Million Dollar Man TV show.

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...I just pointed that out several posts up.

Who knows, maybe inflation has gone crazy in Paragon City.

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Hah, I think you quoted to the wrong post in your response, though. Now I understand what your were getting at -- it just wasn't related to my post.

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The Iron Man similarity would be the damage to his heart being addressed with a new power source. Also, the fact that his heart was mortally damaged by being wounded/captured by terrorists. It's not exactly the same (since his heart was totally replaced), but the similarity does jump out, especially since the recent Iron Man movie.

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They pretty much have a word-for-word reference to the Six Million Dollar Man...

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No, the Six Million Dollar Man was injured from crashing an experimental spacecraft and had to have legs, an arm, and an eye replaced. No terrorists involved, no heart damage, no new energy source to run (or replace) his heart -- pretty much nothing like what I described.

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Figure out what your complaint is before mounting the soapbox with a bullhorn.

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I think you missed my point, which probably wasn't well presented anyway. No soapbox and bullhorn here -- I happen to agree with a good portion of your response.

I was simply trying to point out that the AE isn't the evil some try to portray it as and show how the "complaints" can be turned back on themselves by looking out different people focus on different things as "good" or "bad" additions to the game. I picked on economy because I've seen that in a number of AE-bashing posts.

I do craft IOs when I get them. I do post things on WW too. And I do know that farming/PLing has been a factor for years -- just like in every other MMO on the market. It is true, however, that "economy" has increased the incentive to farm for influence.

But in this case, we can see some folks (who may be delusional as you point out) griping that the AE (which I like) is somehow adversely affecting the market (which they like) and is therefore evil. I was simply (not very well) attempting to turn that argument around to make a point about differing perspectives.

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You misunderstand the point.

The amazing amounts of MONEY people are making playing power golf is driving up the cost of sporting goods across the board... apparently because a good Louisville Slugger makes a great 3-wood and people are using baseball hats as sunshades.

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So it's not the AE that's the issue, it's the market, right? If the devs had not introduced WW and player economy into the game, this discussion would probably not be happening.

Down with Wentworths!

Only half-kidding here. One of the things I liked about CoH when I first started was that "economy" was not a major factor. I could be a superhero without it becoming a second job.

Now, an awful lot of the angst I see with regard to AE revolves around how it is impacting the "economy". If CoH hadn't gone that route, there would be far less farming and far less grumbling about AE.

I don't care about economy. I don't care about "purpling out" my characters. I do care about being able to bring my own stories to life in the AE -- as well as doing dev content.

Exploits in AE need to be fixed, but please do not nerf the heck out of it for the rest of us, nor level-gate it so newer players have to wait forever to get there. That only hurts the casuals/non-hardcore players, not the farmers or PLers.

The Iron Man similarity would be the damage to his heart being addressed with a new power source. Also, the fact that his heart was mortally damaged by being wounded/captured by terrorists. It's not exactly the same (since his heart was totally replaced), but the similarity does jump out, especially since the recent Iron Man movie.

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I have a quick suggestion to solve the problem of brand new people getting characters to lvl 50 and not knowing how to play the game - make MA only available to people who already have a level 50 character (like the epic ATs). That way new people coming to the game have to play the game before farming their way to lvl 50.

What do you all think?

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No.

I've been here for 36 months and still do not have a level 50, partly because this game encourages making alts and partly because I have no wish to rush through the content. I like to enjoy the journey and take my time.

This is yet another extreme measure to address a "problem" that is not nearly as bad as some folks like to think it is.

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Making the low level missions less crappy would help, too.

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Personally I quite enjoy them.

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As do I.

Except on Villain side; I hate Kalinda's arcs. That's one bonus to the AE: I can make villain content that I like better and bypass Kalinda/Burke (although Burke mixes some good stuff in too).

I'm sorry, but I don't get people like that. Don't they read? Didn't they do the tutorial that explained how contacts work, how enhancements and combining enhancements work, and all that?

If they didn't, then it's on their own heads; the MA has nothing to do with that. The normal content is not hidden. If one does the tutorial, it's all pretty obvious.

There comes a point when personal responsibility and taking the time to actually see what the game does comes into play.

And do we really need yet another thread on this topic? What's wrong with the other "New player experience" thread that is already hashing over just this?

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I get how you enjoy the high reward, low effort of AE missions.


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Funny, most of the AE missions I play are tougher than standard content and yet don't give as much reward in general.

I've also seen junk missions that are just the opposite. It's what they players make of it. Please don't generalize for all of us.

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I know this. I'm one of them that have never gotten sucked into the system either.

There is a rampant influx of those that have. In the player question system there is a post by a 50 who didn't know that the slots they kept adding to their powers were meant to hold enhancements... thats just one of many examples.

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In other words, the new player skipped the tutorial, since that is one of the steps; not just adding an enhancement, but combining them.

Perhaps the tutorial should be required for a player's first character.

Hopefully, the devs can find a way to halt some of the abuse without hammering non-abusive AE players at the same time.

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6) Make the gameworld itself more immersive. Now that no one actually street sweeps anymore...you hardly see heroes/villains fighting outside of missions. If a hero chooses to fight crime on the streets...then I think that should generate opportunities for random missions given from people on the street. Encourage players to explore the world for more than just badges.
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This. That's one of the things I like in LOTRO; occasionally you'll come across a quest ring on the landscape in the middle of nowhere, or you'll fight a critter and it will drop an item that starts a new quest.

I'd love to run across a thug and "arrest" him and have him spill the beans about an upcoming heist or rumble or some such that leads us off on another case or caper.

The wrong AE team = farm. Of course, finding the right teams short of starting one yourself can be a bit dicey, I suppose. Anecdotal evidence seems to fall on both sides, depending on the bias of each forum poster.

Hopefully the devs read all of the forums, not just the general ones. With all the "AE is ruining the game threads" in the general area, we've got AE arc forums brimming with posts from people who are at least trying to use the AE to tell stories and have creative fun. There are hundreds, if not thousands of non-farm/PL arcs available.

From where I sit, the AE is a good thing and a success in CoH, in spite of those who abuse it and those who just don't want it for whatever reason.

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I won't lie, I'm not a fan of AE and I really don't like any mechanic that lets someone get a toon to level 50 in a matter of hours. I haven't liked it in any MMO I've played, yet it continues to be something that happens in every MMO that I've played.

People say let people do what they want, play how they want, let them be etc... that's fine. It doesn't mean I will agree if I feel it is something that is out of balance compared to regular gameplay.

As you said its the Devs decision where to call the shots, but as long as people perceive an unfair advantage they will continue being vocal. The same thing happened in WoW when they tried to fundamentally change the Warlock class and how they mitigated damage compared to their HP ratio. There were tons of people outraged on the forums over it.

Forums do tend to be dramatic, with lots of opinions and perceptions about how things are or should be. The example I posted above about how people react demonstrates that pretty well.

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This is where the difficulty lies and I really don't have an answer for it. Last night, my wife and I ran AE for a bit on one of our duos; we gained a little less than one level. Then we headed out into King's Row to run some standard contact missions; in almost the same amount of time, we gained close to two levels.

But we don't run farms; when we do "real" AE content (story-based, better mob selection), we do not level as fast as we do when running standard content. In other words, it works just like the devs wanted it to.

However, it is possible to make AE farms/PL arcs that outstrip the pace of the dev content.

Most of the solutions I've seen posted on the forums would impact players like my wife and I (who are using the AE as intended) far more than it would any farmers/PLers.

Removing the AE would be stupid. It is a great tool that a lot of players use they way it was intended; it's fantastic for SGs and for casual players alike. As to several of the suggestions I've seen (level-gating, zone-gating, etc.), it's not difficult to find ways around those (which I won't post here; don't want to give people ideas). The main impact will be on non-farmers/PLers.

Oh, well. The ball is in the devs' court. I'm sure they'll do whatever they think is best for the game overall. It's good for all of us to give our feedback, pro and con. Feedback with suggestions is even better -- as long as we don't go overboard.