"Forced" Group Missions
By
Alistaire_Caine,
Posted on: 2004-09-10 09:13 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
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Well the Hollows mission givers are prepping you for the trial so the group missions make sense storywise.
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Oh ya I get that. It's a great way to set this up too. That's why I'd like to see more. It's not that I'm agains grouping or group specific content. The more the better. I've always supported that, it was the way it was initially implemented into exsisting content that it kind of messed things up.
But it's all good now.
These Developers are still the gods of MMO's and I should really get back to work. 
Hmmm, maybe you guys should also look at the Respec TF mission while your at it.
YOU changed my toon AFTER the fact.
Offering a respec in the IMPOSSIBLE way your doing so is for what reason?
Well i figured from the get go the grouping content was not supposed to be added to the existing content on live. Proves that strictly soloers are [censored] who don't want to help people or get help to do stuff.
Just a suggestion, but rather than ripping these kinda of missions out of story arcs altogether, why not simply let the contact offer it as an option?
I know I always feel very limited by my contacts mission offerings. 1 or 2 options is just not enough. It would be great if the contact give you 3 choices: a hunt, a solo mission, or a group mission. Or even more choices, if possible.
Thank you, Positron.
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Thank you, devs.
The coordinated missions are fine, as long as they remain optional from normal contacts. I don't care if they are added to Task Forces and Trials, since those are group oriented from start to end.
Maybe in the future you'll figure out a way for a mission to decide whether to add coordinated tasks or not depending on if a person is in a team or not.
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We have gone back and removed the multi-tasking missions from Story Arcs and multi-stage missions. They still remain as one-off missions with some of your Contacts however. If you encounter one of these and you do not wish to do it, simply take and complete the other mission choice your contact has. When you return, you will be presented with two more (random) missions to choose from. Our goal is not to prevent you from completing Story Arcs or Multi-stage missions you started as a solo character, and we feel that this best accomplishes that with the system we have in place right now.
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Good job. Well done.
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strictly soloers are ******* who don't want to help people or get help to do stuff.
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Nice.
Maybe that ****** soloer just likes the additional challenge and reward of completing a mission or story arc on their own.
Sometimes people climb the mountain because it's there, not because they're trying to hide from the guy next door. 
*Cheer*
Thanks Devs.
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If you encounter one of these and you do not wish to do it, simply take and complete the other mission choice your contact has. When you return, you will be presented with two more (random) missions to choose from.
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Not trying to be difficult, but... what if I have one of these forced group missions and a TV mission and I am only LVL 22? Since it is impossible to go to TV at 22, we are still forced to choose the forced group mission. TV missions really shouldn't be given out till 23.
Thank you for listening to us.
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Not trying to be difficult, but... what if I have one of these forced group missions and a TV mission and I am only LVL 22? Since it is impossible to go to TV at 22, we are still forced to choose the forced group mission. TV missions really shouldn't be given out till 23.
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I got cought with that the first time too. I think a /bug would be a good idea. I don't think the missions are supposed to be given to you before you can do them.
And....it's a single level, I eventually just sucked it up and did some street hunting. Then discovered how much of a hazard the zone was and avoided TV missions until a friend was on and or just leveled to where I could get it done.
Ah, yes. Crey Security Doors.
It's one of those "grey" areas, where you can solo it, but it's much easier to group past them.
From what I've heard, throughout the level there are doors - about equal in toughness to the prison doors on CoT and 5th missions. With a team, you can bypass security and open the door.
Solo, you have no option except to bust them down. It's equivalent to fighting a boss that doesn't fight back. That alone is no reason why they shouldn't stay in.
However - a number of missions they appear on are also timed - and the amount of doors are usually quite large. An AoE-centric blaster at lvl 32 didn't have time to bash down all the doors AND kill everything on the map.
Simply getting rid of the timed requirement on those missions would make them soloable - albiet quite slowly. I don't think it's nescessary to remove *all* group activated content from missions - as long as it doesn't make finishing it unlikely-impossible
And I was just about to post my concerns too. Like you said, my only problem with these mission types were they were cropping up in the middle of story arcs. I applaud the fact you guys are exploring different goals and such for missions. And I have no problem with this mission type if it were in the middle of a TF or some other, similar group environment.
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If you encounter one of these and you do not wish to do it, simply take and complete the other mission choice your contact has. When you return, you will be presented with two more (random) missions to choose from.
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First off, thank you. I virtually always group, but the ability to solo for a large part of the game is one of the great things about CoH.
The question I have is, have you ensured that no contact will give two "group required" missions at the same time? Since contacts do not change the missions they give once first offered, if you don't check for that then a soloer will still have a dead contact.
Bug that certain contacts have you come back at 23 to do terra volta.
A message saying come back at 23 if you want to do the other stuff would be fine above the group mission.
MMM no real issue if you can solo them. Timed is fine. If you fail a timed have the gms reset it. Don't go the contact. Just bring someone to help. At least you are under pressure to complete. Only timed I ever felt disperate on was the first Oranbega mission map.
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Are there plans to make story-arc missions with team requirements from the get-go? sort of like a 'mini task force' type of thing? Because I think that would be really neat, as suddenly having one mission in a story arc be team required could be annoying, having an entire story arc with your team could be a lot of fun 
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That is a lovely idea! I'd very much like to see this.
I really do love the idea of missions that require multiple heroes to complete, and appreciate the developers switching these from story arc missions to "optional" missions, giving both soloists and group types the best of both worlds.
Missions need gratuitous desserts, though - pie, muffins, tiramisu. I hope these can be ready for Issue Three.
We have gone back and removed the multi-tasking missions from Story Arcs and multi-stage missions.
Thank you.
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I accepted the "save the water supply" mission just last night.
I admit I did not see where it said I would need three people (until after I accepted it), but having done the mission before on live, it is probable that I did not read it closely enough.
My question is: will this change effect that mission making it soloable? Or will I still need three people to complete it, since I already accepted it?
Excellent news. Forced Grouping = Cancellation in my case, so any efforts the devs make to keep the game solo-friendly (as advertised) is, in my case, a positive customer friendly decision.
Would be interesting, if one contact was a supergroup contact where all missions and all story arcs were multi-tasking missions. I am in favor of something like this. Those that don't want to do this simply do not visit this contact. How about it?
Since I wanted to completely agree with Gothryd's post in the now closed "groups vs solo" thread I Will repost his words here. Again I could not agree more on his suggestions, they would push CoH to the next level IMO.
Posted by Gothryd:
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Having missions where the only way to solve it is to have 3 people (any 3, just have 3 bodies) on a team is 'forced'. This seems artificial and contrasts too sharply with the rest of the gameplay. Accomplish this mission using X, Y or Z tactics is better than accomplish this mission by having N number of characters.
Plese consider some of the following ideas to add a dynamic to group play:
Have a villain who must not be injured (meaning you need some sort of hold/disorient/sleep to incapacitate her without dealing damage). Innocents who are coerced into being bad guys is a staple of the genre. Stopping them without hurting them is more challenging than blasting them in most cases.
Have a villain in a room with a bomb that he will detonate if he sees any heroes (meaning you need someone with invisibility, some form of grant invisibility, stealth, etc to sneak past). Watch any number of movies and this situation arises. Their finger is on the button.
Have a room that has some bomb to deactivate or some important relic that will be destroyed if you don't retrieve it but that room is on fire, causing enormous amounts of damage to anyone who enters (meaning you need someone like a tank or someone with resist buffs, phase shift, etc)
Have a mission where healing skills (defenders, controllers, anyone with medicine) saves a victim with their healing powers.
Let's have some more missions where brute force is not the only answer. In the above examples, each problem can be overcome using more than one skill/power/tactic.
As the game stands on live, every mission is accomplished by dealing damage. That's it. Every mission today is right up a blaster's or scrapper's alley. What about a mission that is right up a defender's alley or a controller, or a tank?
CoH can be much more than just a 3rd person shooter.
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Glad to hear these gated forced group missions weren't intentional. Good call guys removing them and doing it the way you're doing it. It doesn't make sense to gate the solo player, but having it as an option is nice for those that choose to do them. Best of both worlds. Great job.
How about sprinkle in a few contacts that are "known" for giving out group missions. That way the people who don't want the group missions can just avoid the contact and others who like to group will know where to find these new type of missions.
A second thought that I had was keep the group missions where they are (within the story arcs) but give people the ability to choose an alternate mission in place of the group mission.
I mainly solo but really had no problem with occasional mission that require a group, even in a story arc. Why? Because everyone else who is soloing is going to hit the same wall and be looking for a group to get them past it. So you probably won't have nearly as much trouble getting a group to do your door mission, as opposed to now where many groups don't want to do missions unless they are a TF.
Sadly these multi-person mission probably won't get used much except for people with regular groups who like doing missions. Everyone else will avoid because they are afraid of filling a mission slot with a mission they won't be able to do, whether they are primarily soloers OR groupers.
I also just have to point out again reading this thread that it amazes me that the people who rant and call people idiots are all people who think they are better socially adjusted because they like to group. I have yet to see a single post by a soloer who says anyone who groups is an idiot. But then I suppose the hypocrisy is lost on them.
Just because you solo doesn't mean you are anti-social. I solo but if I see a request for help with a mission or someone having trouble learning the game I always offer. I solo because I don't like spending time LFG, I love the story lines and want to read not only the mission briefing but all the clues (and I don't want to hold everyone up or get left behind while doing so), I much prefer missions to street sweeping (personally my favorite is to street sweep everything in my path between mission areas) and my playing time is erratic. I hate joining a group and having to leave soon after, I feel like I am screwing people over. Hardly anti-social reasons.
And yes sometimes I avoid groups because I occasionally get teamed with jerks or "needy" people who add me to their friend list, then spam me every time they log on. I don't mind adding jerks to ignore list but I can't bring myself to do it to people for being too friendly. IMHO /ignore = /you are an a**hole. Please keep that in mind if I ignore you.
"Properly socially ajusted people" who feel the need to force their preferences on others should be very happy playing 5th column in CoV.
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You can't please everyone, so lets concentrate on me.
Thanks Pos!
As one of those who likes to log in every now and then and solo, but doesn't group all that often, I really appreciate this. One of the main reasons I play is for the fiction and the great story arcs - I'd be really dissapointed if I was forced to group when I'd just logged on to do a couple of missions.
Once again, Cryptic proves they listen to their customers better than any other MMORPG developer so far. Or at least, the two I've dealt with...
I do have to ask one question though, now that I (potentially) have your attention - I have one other concern about Issue 2, and since we're approaching its release, maybe you can help aleviate my fears - will you guys be Data Mining for completed missions? I know this is really important to myself and many other players, and was a rather hot topic last week but has since dropped off the radar. I'd been hoping for some word to pop up, but since it hasn't, I figured I'd ask again