thatsmystapler

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Ok this isnt a complaint at anyone or any group of players or anything like that, so dont take it anyway personally but...

I have been playing CoX in the EU for many a year now, moved over to the USA servers due to low populations in the EU and was really getting into the game again - a lot of fun to be had..

Then MA comes along and the farming that many knew would happen. Now, I dont care if people farm or pl or both, its up to them, but what I do care about is when its so damn hard now to get a team that firstly isnt doing AE missions, or if they are arent doing lvl 54 boss farms. Its madness. So many in Atlas just looking for great xp.

So we have heard about nerfs of certain critter types, and now... badges.. For heavens sake, no one really cares that much about loosing some badges - if no one has them you cant show off for having them so doesnt really matter, and the majority of people seem to do AE farms/missions for xp or inf/prestige.

So whats an easier way to deal with it... Come on devs... CoX was built with mobs already, they consisted of a boss or two, lts and then minions - why are the devs allowing people to create missions with mobs built solely of bosses.... Change that surely.... Yes people will pl and farm, nothing much is being done about it, and I dont care if they do, what I would love to see is people playing the game through the zones, teams that dont complain when they dont get 6-10k xp per kill and level twice or more in a mission....

and do we really need an auto sk system on created missions, low levels are playing lvl 40 missions and lvl 50 missions, on the back of a team that can actually hit. Turn it back to having to sk

Bring COX back please

Now I know someone will disagree. Cool, its all about peoples opinions, express them, maturely and for once lets not let this go into the gutter.. Thanks

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Waaa Waaaa. People aren't teaming with me because they want to farm instead. Cry me a freakin river.

You DO care that people are farming because they aren't around to serve YOUR needs. This argument is one of the most selfish ones against farming. Farmers are doing their thing and not expecting anything from anyone. But anti-farmers are expecting the farmers to stop what they are doing and serve their wants instead. It's total crap.

And the devs are handling this stupidly. How many people were really going to leave the game over farming? Now compare that to the number that are leaving due to the nerfs and threats of punitive actions. Smart move devs!

I'll miss Life. That was a great show.

I've heard Terminator may return based on how well the movie does.

I want super strength for scrappers.

So when is the next CC?

JUST KIDDING.

I meant to show for this one, but I fell asleep. Here is hoping I make this next one.

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RPers are some of the loudest opponents to farming.

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throw hyperbole out the window already, I think the loudest opponents to farming are the ones who can't stand RMT emails

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What part of that is hyperbole?

Now if I had said "All the loudest opponents of farming are RPers" then you would have an argument for hyperbole.

The statement I said is 100% factual. SOME of the loudest opponents ARE RPers.

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I'm curious to what would make one think that removing badges = catering to RPers...some of those badges have [censored] awesome titles.

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The badges are being removed due to complaints of farming. RPers are some of the loudest opponents to farming. Apparently the fear that someone might be having fun outside of the expected manner supercedes the desire for catchy titles.

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Well, speaking as an RPer, farmers are not the only ones with multiple accounts. I have three. Also, I am an MMO veteran, not just a CoH veteran. Why is all this important, I'll get to that.

Every MMO I have ever played has a Eula and within that is always a clause dedicated to what should happen to a player if they use an exploit repeatedly instead of reporting it and letting it be. When developers get wind of these exploits they use data mining to look at the experience/monetary curve compared to what it looks like through the players that abuse the exploit. They then caution the player base that they will implement a "fix" or, as most players call it, a "nerf."

Also stated, or restated in most cases, is the policy to make adjustments to characters/accounts that continue to utilize said exploit since it is now found to be an exploit. The most recent example is not in CoH but WoW where people were abusing an error in programming where they could use two builds at the same time. Players went up in arms stating the "developers put it in the game therefore...yada yada yada." But that team did explain it was an exploit and acted quickly to remedy the situation.

My point is, exploits "are" exploits and "every" MMO development team act upon issues that allow players to gain experience and monetary compensation beyond the normal rate.

Do I think the badges should be removed? No. I agree they should be made easier to obtain. Will I give up my three accounts? No. I enjoy this game and the future that has been presented to me.

The solution to MA not being used as a farming tool is to simply go back to how you were doing it before, but do not be surprised if the developers change certain missions to include a timer once they discover that is the one being used. And if you think, for one minute, certain "up coming" hero MMO's won't do the same you are mistaken.

As my final point, I am an RPer. I play to progress my characters and their stories. I do not post on the forums often because I see a lot of hate whenever changes are made. Sometimes these posts are by RMTers, Trollers, even members of another development team trying to fan the flames. It happens and I'd rather not take part in the silly flame wars because I know half of the posts are not genuinely thought out, but merely put in place by people desperately wanting attention by crying "doom."

However, when I saw this post that slams RPers, the player base that is the least vocal on these forums (aside from the RP section and possibly Virtue) I finally decided to use my voice. I am a roleplayer (and a writer) and (like the books I write) enjoy watching my characters grow. Exploits are like turning to the last page of my books to see the ending. Yes, you know where everything is going, but what about the journey that you missed?

I have less than a dozen 50s (both red and blue) and I moved them there through normal casual gameplay over the last five years. When things get boring, same mission over and over climbing to 50, I use the character's story to liven things up. Whether its in my head or being the only one in the group RPing, I still manage to find a way to make the game interesting. After all, creating new characters, and new stories to go with them, is one of the main draws of this game.

-Gets off her soapbox-

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"Slams RPers"? What part exactly slammed RPers? Well whatever you imagined was slamming, why don't you pretend it didn't happen? RPers are good at pretend right?

I didn't say RP should be gone and I didn't degrade RPers. I pointed out that there are basically two minds in this game, the players and the RPers. And the devs seem to be catering their decisions and releases more to RPers than players over the past year or so. I was calling for more of a balance. While RPers are an important aspect of this game, they are the MINORITY. While many RPers may not post in the forums, the number of regular players that don't post is even larger.

I don't see the problem with things that allow others to get more enjoyment out of the game if it is not a genuine detriment to others. And I don't consider market prices to be so. I'm sorry if rising costs mean you have to leave Pocket D a little more often, but you can't expect the same reward for less work.

This game is grindy. And people say WoW is moreso. But the thing with WoW is you got new spells EVERY level, not to mention new weapons and armor. I had something to look forward to every time I dinged. New stuff to play around with. In CoX, you get one new power ever 2-3 levels. At the upper levels this is SUCH a grind. This totally effects the mentality of leveling. Getting enhancement slots doesn't excite me. Playing away for 3 levels with my only reward at the end of each being 3 circles bores me more than not. So I can't blame people for wanting to get past that as quickly as possible. And the end-game grind in WoW is much more enjoyable when you have an arsenal of abilities at your command compared to the mid-game grind of CoX and 3-4 active attack powers.

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I am still seeing arcs that are obvious farms... with over 500 plays. The number of plays means nothing. A real gem of an arc could be sitting at 10 plays, the reason for that is the sorting order.

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And I'm reporting obvious farms on a daily basis and still seeing them many days later.

This annoys me to no end. These arcs are exactly what Positron himself said MA wasn't for, what he said would be removed, and yet there they remain... the arterial plaque of the entire architect system.

I'm fed up. I had high hopes for MA breathing new life into the game for me. But between the obvious farms that go unremoved and the exploits and the lack of any more Dev's Choices even though I've personally played 2 dozen arcs FAR better than several Dev's Choices already out there... I'm just tired of it.

I barely play anymore. The situation has sapped my enjoyment of the game away.

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And how exactly are the farms impeding you getting enjoyment out of MA? You might find more enjoyment if you ignored them and quit reporting them. Sounds like it is stressing you out too much.

That was the problem. I deleted a boss and lowered my usage and it published.

I'm having the same problem. It will let me test it if I click the Save and Test button within the editor. I even ran a successful test run. But on the main screen the Publish and Test buttons are grayed out.

One person said it can happen if any of you text is exactly at the limit. So I made sure none of it is. Some is within one character. I'm at 99% and some change for file usage. I only have this one mission. There are no errors. So I have no idea what the problem could be.

Logging out and back in didn't work for me either.

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This game is marketed and advertised as a Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game.

That, in itself, should be 'nuff said, but allow me to expand on the thought. Do people in Call of Duty complain about how the devs are too shooter-friendly? Does anyone call up Bud Selig and complain that baseball is too sports-friendly? Have you ever heard of someone complaining at a Texas Hold'em tournament that the game is way too card-friendly?

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Your example would be more accurate by asking what if a baseball team manager focused all on pitching rather than hitting? Or a card player focused solely on bluffing rather than reading the cards. Both things are parts of the game. But if you give all the attention to one, the game stops being fun.

You aren't the first to herald the RP in MMORPG. Yet you as well are ignoring the G part of it. Maybe with a little more G we would get some more M, as in Massive.

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I also recommend you all try playing a couple of characters from 1-50 without any dev tricks, just as a normal player, to see how grindy things are. Then go on a couple of farm missions with some friends and see how fun the leveling can be in comparison.

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I level all my characters 'without any dev tricks'. I have only four 50's to show for it, but those 50s mean far more to me than any 50 I could have gotten sitting in a farm with my thumb up my [censored]. If you honestly think the game is grindy, by all means give Lineage II a try. CoH's XP curve makes Lineage II's look like a sheer cliff.

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One last time...the whole OP was directed AT THE DEVS. That includes the PS. Since when can players invoke dev tricks? And by dev tricks I was referring to auto-leveling, extra powers, free influence, etc. All the stuff they do to test random things but fails to give an accurate portrayal of the actual gameplay.

I want the devs now to buff up reading comprehension in the next patch.

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You're assuming that none of the developers also play the game to have fun, or that they almost exclusively rely on 'dev tricks' to break their own game.

Are you aware of what assumption makes you...?

Merely curious.

EDIT: And if one flat-out told you he did play the game 'honest', would you even believe them?

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Do I believe any of them have played the game from 1-50 as a normal player without giving in to the urge to use the power at their disposal? Nope. It gets too tedious once you get into the 30s.

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I also recommend you all try playing a couple of characters from 1-50 without any dev tricks, just as a normal player, to see how grindy things are. Then go on a couple of farm missions with some friends and see how fun the leveling can be in comparison.

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I level all my characters 'without any dev tricks'. I have only four 50's to show for it, but those 50s mean far more to me than any 50 I could have gotten sitting in a farm with my thumb up my [censored]. If you honestly think the game is grindy, by all means give Lineage II a try. CoH's XP curve makes Lineage II's look like a sheer cliff.

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One last time...the whole OP was directed AT THE DEVS. That includes the PS. Since when can players invoke dev tricks? And by dev tricks I was referring to auto-leveling, extra powers, free influence, etc. All the stuff they do to test random things but fails to give an accurate portrayal of the actual gameplay.

I want the devs now to buff up reading comprehension in the next patch.

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I just see players having found something that made the game fun for them again, and it really isn't affecting anyone else, and the devs wanna end it.

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Actually, there you are wrong. Farming causes imbalance in the Markets for the general player. Farming Allows the RMT to get characters up to the level they can send the annoying SPAM e-mail out, and gets them more inf/goodies quicker thereby upsetting the balance of things such as the markets.

There will always be farming, but the point is that it is not what the game was made for. It is a game and the we are allowed into the world provided we abide by the rules imposed by the Devs. The end result is it is their sandbox and they can do what they want, regardless of what an RPer, PVPer or Farmer wants.

And yes, I have noticed an increase in the ammount of RMT Spam I get since the MA went live.

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The imbalance is off-set by the common salvage going for much more now because it cannot be purchased via tickets.

And the spammers should not be a reason to nerf ANYTHING in the game for players. Set up better filters, block IPs, etc.

And how many people are playing the game the way it was envisioned? To bring up a point I made earlier, did the devs really plan on players spending all their time in Pocket D cybering with one another? Yet there are players that do that. Did devs envision costume contests? Or beach parties? The game will always grow outside of what the devs envision, for good or bad.

I'm of the solo category.

I'd also add another that I am part of...the Creator. I spend a lot of time just creating costumes and concepts. I would say base builders and architects could be a part of this too.

*sigh*

1. I'm not a farmer. I just don't think there is anything wrong with it. As for the complaints about clogging broadcast, make a farming channel. And as for it takes players from other missions? So what? It's the player's choice to decide to run a farm mission or a story mission.

2. Farming creates bad players? Well they farm until 50 and start over with a new toon. Or they go PvP. The chances of you teaming on a regular mission at lvl 50 with a totally PL-ed character is slim as they aren't generally running regular missions.

3. Yes there is an RP in MMORPG. I said don't forget the game. That is what the G stands for champ. This is a game, not a theater troupe. It should have a balance of both the RP and the G.

4. Many of the readers seem to take the comments as directed at them. It was directed at the devs. Unless you have dev tricks like them, you should have figured that much out for yourself.

5. I mention grindy and EQ gets brought up. Why not compare this to the Atari E.T. game while you are at it? This game IS grindy. And while maybe not the grindiest of all time, it is worse than say WoW. (oh noes I said the "W" word)

I just see players having found something that made the game fun for them again, and it really isn't affecting anyone else, and the devs wanna end it. The devs can say that it wasn't their vision all they want, but I think it is a cop out. I'm sure lesbian cat girls and Mature RP wasn't part of their vision either and they don't care about that. Listening to farm requests in broadcast(which you can turn off) is no more annoying than some of the stuff non-RPers are subjected to in Pocket D. I think game decisions and content of the past couple of years has been skewed more towards RP than gameplay.

I just renewed a few days ago after not playing for several months, and then the you(the devs) start releasing all these notes about nerfing AE missions and getting rid of badges, etc. I just ran my first AE mission ever tonight to try it out since getting back. I got a couple of badges for it. The server goes down and I read the forums in the meantime and discover some of the neat new badges I just got are getting removed. This annoyed me and got me thinking about some stuff.

You seem to be catering this game more towards RPers than anyone else. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with RPers, but they seem to be the vocal ones complaining about farming and whatnot. So you are cracking down on farming now. Five years into the game and we still don't have end day content. All the expansion packs are really more geared towards RPers as they are costumes and emotes. They don't add any new playing content. Even your stated goal for MA seems to be more about getting players to write stories. Another aspect of RP.

Let's focus on the players a bit now. Really who cares about farms? It literally does not impact ANYONE. Yet you state you got numerous complaints over the farm AE missions. So what? The game is not more fun the slower it is to level. I'm not sure if this is a concept grasped by everyone on your team yet.

Many of the playerbase just want a game they can pick up and play and move up quickly to try out their nifty new powers. They want new content and not the same repetitious floorplans over and over. None of these requests are new. MA offered this and now you want to nerf it.

Maybe you focus most of your attention to the RP fanbase because their desires are cheaper and easier to implement. But they are also the smaller part of the playerbase. They may very well be sticking this game out until it dies, but is that all you are gunning for?

This isn't a request to keep farming in the game or to nerf RP. I just think you need to focus more on a balance of content for players and RPers. Please stop focusing all your decisions and releases around the RPers of the game. Look at things a bit more from the side of the player. Let's not forget the game in RPG.

PS- I also recommend you all try playing a couple of characters from 1-50 without any dev tricks, just as a normal player, to see how grindy things are. Then go on a couple of farm missions with some friends and see how fun the leveling can be in comparison.

I shan't ever skim posts again.

Well previous posts seemed to indicate that she/you wouldn't be able to re-up your sub. Glad to see you are still here. When shall the next contest be held?

Anyone else running a CC this week since Dispari is likely gone?

I think the amount of time it took to fix bugs is ridiculous since that was supposedly the reason I-7 took so long to be released. How anyone can be clapping people on the back and saying CoX is doing great is beyond me.

lol I find it amusing that when myself and others brought these issues up months ago, we were decried as heretics and being negative and here we are now.

Everyone is dead on about bases not being anything special for most players. I knew I wanted to help design the base, and new SG leaders were gonna be stingy about it, so I started by own SG before bases were launched. This in turn lead me to treat the SG like a business like everyone says. And now I've got a mostly inactive SG, though a fully functional base that serves little purpose. I use the TPers and it's convenient to meet with other SG members really quick. The bases are useless and their main purpose was base raiding. Most SGs aen't big enough for that, and here it is nearly a year later and the CoP trial STILL isn't up.

And personal bases were deemed unimportant because of lack of game functionality? Pocket D anyone? What a waste there. Annoyed me that Devs spent their time on that rather than working on real game issues and yet they did. But how does Pocket D contribute any more to gameplay than personal bases?

And I for one welcome loot, crafting, anything that takes away from the repetition now. And loot isn't always about being uber. Sometimes it's just cool. I played EQOA and there was the Mistmoore robe that gave crap stats but everyone wanted because it was purple. There was also a caster sword that was weak, but was one of a kind. Sometimes it's cool to get that kill and experience the joy of finding something rare. CoX lacks that. I totally zone out now when I'm burning through a mission. The game really isn't that fun anymore. Give us something to look forward to on occasion with kills. Even if it's just costume parts like canes, or jetpacks(purely for looks) or something. You don't even need stats, just something that we find. We can then trade them or keep them for our costumes. Something like that wouldn't upset game balance, but would add a new dimension and be fun.

Also to add more to the game and make use of bases, how about adding in game tables where you can play cards. Or how about arcade-looking video games for decoration that when clicked on let you play a mini-game? Give us a reason to stay in our bases and something that breaks the repetition of the game as it is now.

And who cares if we bypass content? Happens all the time when you team. It's our choice. I barely skim the missions I'm given anyway. I think this decision is based off ego more than anything. Statesman helped design this massive world and wants to make us go through everything in his order and how he has set.

I think CoX is lacking alot when it comes to the other mmorpgs out there. It isn't about being WoW with spandex, but having something for everybody. The game can get really boring. I can barely get myself to log on once week these days. I just don't care. Being the only game of it's genre and the costume creator will keep alot of players around for now. But once another half-way decent superhero game with it's own cool costume creator comes along, CoX will suffer a big hit.

And I hope this is coherent since I am writing it off about 2 hours sleep in the past 26 hours.

I'll disagree about running GA all the time on a team. I do it AND without TP and my team loves me. When you are on a team of 8 and tanking +2 and +3s, you aren't gonna survive without it. I know when I accidentally clicked it off. At one point I was tanking Nemesis, 3 bosses, and a handful of LTs and minions and they weren't even scratching me. A Warshade on my team sent me a tell saying that I was one of the best tanks he has ever been with and feels he can unload his nukes without fear. All this with GA running. I'm fearless with it on and will take all the damage gleefully as a result. Between my PBAoE attacks, mudpots, taunt and hurl boulder(stone melee obviously) I can hold aggro even with the -spd component of GA.

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Ok first of all I have CoV. But not everyone that has CoH has CoV nor do they all want to get it. We are past the point of where people are going to buy CoV to get the additional content. A SG should have access to SG options including bases without needing both games. Will it bankrupt players to get it? No. Do all wanna get it? No.

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Why though? You get a free months sub, the price is almost negative if you find it cheap enough, you don't have to make a villain... what is so horrible about four extra character slots, extra costume pieces and base access for a total cost of nothing?

I seriously don't get it.

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Guess you would have to ask the people who don't wanna buy it. We already saw CoV chase some players off. I can't imagine making a few things available to those without it making things any worse.

Ok first of all I have CoV. But not everyone that has CoH has CoV nor do they all want to get it. We are past the point of where people are going to buy CoV to get the additional content. A SG should have access to SG options including bases without needing both games. Will it bankrupt players to get it? No. Do all wanna get it? No.