Just find a Group...


1stLancer

 

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Put your group of eight together. It doesn't really matter what you put in the group with one exception. I'll get to the exception.
I will outrun them and not by a little. At level 38 we clocked it. I earned XP at a rate of 190,000 per hour solo. Go to whatever zone you like. Good luck. How about Crey's Follies? Is that hazard enough? Freaks. Carnival area by the Rikti crash site.
Then I will assemble a group of 4 and we will outrun them again.
Then I will assemble a group of 2 and we will outrun the four.


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You're absolutely correct. The problem is, once again, that the high level players (38) can battle against foes that are much, much higher level than they are. A small group of said heroes can find a spawn appropriate for them...whereas what's tough enough for a full group of 8 level 38's? It's much, much tougher for that large group to find something that's a challenge - and can give them great XP - than it is for the the small group.

That issue is next up - right after the Expansion goes live.

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I said Crey's Follies. I am level 39. The highest level MOB in the zone is also 39. I'm talking whites and blues. Whether or not I can kill lvl +3 is really only so much of an issue. We are talking group math only.

1 person taking on whites versus a team taking on whites. In a hazard zone as you are suggesting. And I'm telling you that even if you put my "too easy" lvl 39 BOTH in your group and let it solo. I will earn less in a group.

You are absolutely correct on one point though. It is impossible for a full group of lvl 8 characters to find a challenge tough enough to be worth putting eight together.

And why is that?

Because you artificially made it impossible to hit anything bigger than lvl +4. That is why we call it the Great Group Nerf. You could remove the purple patch, or you can nerf all of your players to level as slowly as everyone else. Your call. I bet you will find that leveling is so slow that folks will lose enjoyment of the game, but you have the data on that. Not me.

My point is that, as it stands, grouping is bad XP. The natural assumption is that 2 heroes can kill twice as fast as one. But this is a false assumption. They cannot. Four certainly cannot kill four times as fast as one. The groups of enemies, even in hazard zones, are not large enough. There is travel time, hunting time, time to get eight group members on the same page, recovery time, waiting for the dead guy to get back time, etc. Moreover, if you hit a big group, it only takes a tiny mistake to find yourself in endless debt, and then the XP gain rate is half of what was already low.

Your math is the same as every other mmorpg in existence. Split mob xp by group size and add a small percentage. The small percentage is never enough. In all systems a decent soloer will outlevel them unless they are using an exploit (like everquest wizard AOE parties or DaOC pbAOE mages, or one of a dozen others) or, and this is the part I really hate, players are nerfed so hard that soloing is not viable. I'm hoping you won't do that here.

Note, even at my outrageous rate of 190,000 xp per hour, it still takes 7 hours of gameplay to get a level ... That's enough. That's hard enough. That is tedious enough. Don't nerf your players, make group xp better. Give better rewards for taking on greater challenges. Offering the same XP for the same mob in Brickstown versus Crey's follies is not going to work. Crey's is too much risk and not enough reward. That's why those zones are empty. You think you are rewarding the players with the Cahones to take on the hazard zones, but you are not.

The thought process that I am seeing is that a solo character should be able to take on a small group of white enemies. It should require a large group to take on a wad of level +3. If you enforce this vision by wielding the nerf stick and buffing enemies, you are going to find it is a mistake. This road has been traveled before. What you are going to accomplish is pissing off the soloers and overcrowding the easy zones because you will not make it any more worthwhile to take on the challenges than it is now. People hate XP debt. If you enforce the vision with the nerf stick, you will take away any advantage that players have for skillful play. If you nerf every good tactic and build that works well until it doesn't work well anymore, it will all dull.

There is no magic to the color purple. It is just a color. It is not evil to kill something that is purple.


 

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I guess I just don't understand the -1 to +1 philosophy. Must be some kind of MMORPG thing. To me, it's extremely cool that an even level MOB isn't that challenging. That actually makes me feel superheroic. It demonstrates that I've clearly become more powerful.

The nice thing about this game is that the challenge DOESN'T quite increase with your power. So you actually DO feel more superheroic as you level. If all you an ever do--from level 1 to 50--is fight 3 even level cons you will not feel as if you are becoming truly powerful.

It makes much more sense to decrease the "purple patch" as characters level. Encourage us to fight more powerful MOBs. Give us a mission slider so we can increae the spawns and the difficulty (and ther rewards).

I'm a superhero. I should be fighting things much more powerful than me--and need excellent teamwork to succeed.


 

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If 1 hero takes out 12 minions, by your own math, that is 480 xp just for him. To get the same 480 xp each, your group of 8 has to kill 55 minions in the same time period. Your groups cannot kill 55 as fast as a decent soloer can kill 12.

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Actually, they can. IF the group goes to the zones with the spawns of the appropriate size...

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See. You are Supposed to be herding.


 

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Wow. 8 man groups in hazard and trial zones being the ideal way to experience COH?

Am I being driven into the arms of Blizzard or what?

I don't want to depend on these massive, unwieldy groups of strangers every time I want to play. In EQ, we were basically forced to create large groups and large guilds to accomplish anything. Sure, you could peck at the content solo or with a partner but if you wanted the "meat" of the game you *had* to be in a guild and it *had* to contain a solid core of very active players. Anything less and you simply couldn't get the coverage necessary to consistently create sold, effective groups.

I don't log on at the same time every day. I don't log on for 4 hours at a stretch. When I log on for a couple of hours, the prospect of finding a large group, which will inevitably lose a player every 15 minutes, is incredibly daunting....almost to the point where instead of eagerly waiting for Issue 2, I'm now dreading it.

I'm afraid that in an effort to give a small core of what they hope will be long term powergamers a sufficient challenge to keep them actively engaged in the game, the devs are driving a spike into the heart of COH.

The core demographic of COH is *NOT* the serious, committed EQ guild player. Those people are going to be playing *other* games. Without loot or high end rewards, there is simply not the type of content required to keep those players. The devs are chasing a playerbase that they are destined to lose to other games and in the interim are going to alienate the players who really saw the hope and promise of a *different* type of online game.

Kinda sad really.

I had basically told several of my friends that I would not be migrating to WoW. I didn't want the EQ-style grind and gameplay that the WoW beta showed me was in store for me. Now, if it's a choice between a grinding, forced grouping CoH and a grinding WoW, then give me the one where more people will be playing.

I didn't sign up for CoH to play 8 man groups. I also didn't sign up to play a solo/duo game that is basically pecking at the scraps left behind by a forced-grouping-grinding game design strategy.

It's too late to change horses midstream. You are what you are. Play to your strengths, because to do otherwise is a huge mistake.


 

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If 1 hero takes out 12 minions, by your own math, that is 480 xp just for him. To get the same 480 xp each, your group of 8 has to kill 55 minions in the same time period. Your groups cannot kill 55 as fast as a decent soloer can kill 12.

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Actually, they can. IF the group goes to the zones with the spawns of the appropriate size...

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See. You are Supposed to be herding.

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Is this what is called...how do you say....PWNED!!!! ?
WereVampire


That's not debt, those are my "fury bonus points"--Stahlkopf

MOST amazing Brute engineer goes to: Ultrawatt. His SS/Fire farm build is SMASH!
Congrats to Black Assassin! Won 100,000,000 INF for building most survivable NRG/NRG Blaster

 

Posted

;shrug

I may never understand why people obsess over experience in a game that has no definitive end.

So you want to optimize your rush to 50 ... so you can what? Reroll? Fight the same Big-Bad-Nasty a hundred times?

I could care less about my "exp/hour" ratio. I group, I have fun, I solo, I run missions, I sidekick friends to help them level, I wander around buffing random lowbies.

I *play* the game. You all seem to be *working* the game, and I find that kinda sad.

Not to crap on CoH, but the "End Game" is very very small, especially compaired to the epic games like Everquest. I know CoH is still learning to walk. EQ didn't start running, but it did start MASSIVE, and only got bigger from there. When I played EQ, I was never at a loss for new things to see or do for my level. In CoH, when I start over, I get to fight "Hellions, Hellions, or more Hellions with a sprinkle of Clockwork"

In EQ, while you did start as a worthless blob of flesh (Which I'm very glad CoH did away with), you could chose the atmosphere you wanted to hunt in, the foes you wanted to beat down, the dangers you wanted to face. I remember the grand adventure of cautiously picking my way from Ogguk to the Clan Crushbone zone and earning a high enough faction with the wood elves with my Troll that I could wander freely through Kelethin (Save the Banker - He always hated me) and scare the bejeebus out of newbies who had never seen a Troll...

All CoH has is combat. Lots and lots and lots of combat. It's a 3D Superhero version of Diablo without items. I enjoy the game for it's relative simplicity and casual air. Reading things like this thread make the casual air feel stifling.

Maybe CoH could use a crafting system to give it some depth. Let players craft their own armor and wear it. Let players design stronger and stronger inspirations that they can in turn sell to other players, or use for their own ends. Let players build temporary powers that they can use for very limited periods of time. Would I ever become a Legendary Grand Master Spandex Salesman? Probably not. But I'd love to buy something from one.

Maybe a darker style hero wants to befriend the Rikti, and is willing to work over their foes while turning a blind eye to them. Not every hero is a shining example of puritanical values. They all have something dark, something rough about them. Let me build Hellion faction early on and hunt excusively Skulls, while getting specific Hellion missions and rewards, and a decreased Hellion faction to the point where they might wave at me like pedestrians do, tell me how long I've played the game and congratulate me on my latest triumph...

There's a ton of little things that could be worked in too. Every time I pass a phone, it's ringing. Try as I might, I can't answer it. Is the person on the other end of the line willing to give me a mission to help them against X faction? Could I accept or decline? Maybe I could stop random civilians and actually interact with them a bit, maybe they can all carry one or two random (tier 1 through 3) inspirations and a handful of influence so they could buy Enhancements from me as keepsakes of our meeting, then another player could find that civilian and randomly get a nice find that he could acquire and resell for more - Cashing in on meeting a person who met so-and-so and gaining a little extra 'fame' for it.

CoH has so much potential beyond combat, and it all seems to be getting mired in the combat aspects and revolving around powergamers who will never ever ever be satisified with anything less than maximum level in 1 week. CoH already has the fastest level progression of ANY MMORPG I've played. It's fine the way it is. My higest level character is 31st. I could probably be 40+ by now, if I wasn't busy enjoying the game and trying new classes and abilities every week.

It makes me sad to see the game seemingly stall, but I do plan on sticking it out and seeing what we get when the game evolves beyond a 3D Superhero version of Diablo without items.


 

Posted

I'd like to take this moment to applaud PainGod's Sig.


That's not debt, those are my "fury bonus points"--Stahlkopf

MOST amazing Brute engineer goes to: Ultrawatt. His SS/Fire farm build is SMASH!
Congrats to Black Assassin! Won 100,000,000 INF for building most survivable NRG/NRG Blaster

 

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See. You are Supposed to be herding.


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Good example of how players are finding ways to increase the size of groups to a decent challenge. Plus the game lends itself to this strategy. Kudos to the players for listening to Statesman's vision and makeing it work in game!

See, Statesman is playing the game your playing!


 

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And this is a great goal, I want to see this happen. But right now the current trend is in introducing status effects. At level 10 there where very few mobs with status effects, the occasional Edilon or Lost Blaster. By 40 it seems the only challenge is chain stunning or holding mobs and well that is not what many people consider to be a fun challenge.



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No - the Status effects are not meant to be the way that things get "harder" in the overall sense. The current changes to Rikti and Nemesis bring them into line with the difficulty of other groups (Malta, Carnival). So now all groups are of equal difficulty (that's the goal!).

Now the Inspirations and powers that protect oneself from stunning, etc. are very, very needed. And that's a good thing. Tackle the high level groups without preparation and a hero is in deep trouble - quickly.

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What if the game were just fun, even if one is high level and a casual player?

-LM


For Great Justice!

 

Posted

I always liked the idea of making individual baddie groups have different rewards. For example. the easy 5th column in bricktown at lvl around 32 or CoT's in FF would give less xp per minion/lt/boss than lets say Rikti, Devoured Earth, Carnies or malta group. Where ever it may be, missions founders falls, pregrine, hazard zone. ...

Baucause it is true that at 36-40'ish the Freakshow in crey's folley around crash site entrance are very easy and can be taken down much faster and more efficient than other baddie groups at the same level. And anyone who is a little more XP hungry would then move to the docks in pregrine hunting Nemesis's for the next few lvl's and only do missions for some variety and not because of the actual purpose for missions.


 

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Your patience is HUGE States. You've posted some 12 times on this subject, and in the majority admited the "High level = too easy" point, and yet various people bring you yet another flawed example which includes high level heroes, and yet you answer again. I'd have been to the "See Previous statement" line 4 posts ago. I give you mad props Boss.

For the record, I look forward to whatever it is you decide to do to fix the mob difficulty. My only concern is that, as an Elec. Blaster, Zapp needs to one shot white minions (yellows with Build-up). Those times I've missed with that initial Zapp have often been desperate moments of trying to stay vertical (TB is even more so). Just keep us Blasters in view when you raise the difficulty of higher level mobs, most of us die often enough as it is, groups or solo.


Ashryn Kaine: 50 Elec/Elec/Elec Blaster (Shut down then put down.)
John Synistra: 50 Earth/Storm/Fire Controller (It feels like cheating.)

 

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Oh - and one other thing. The vast, vast majority of players at any given time are on missions. XP or not - it's the most popular part of the game.

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Which means the vast, vast majority of players at any given time are getting crappy XP which detracts from their enjoyment of the game. They would like it better if the part of the game they enjoyed also rewarded them well enough to make everyone happy.

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My friends and I do dozens of missions together, without even noticing the specific amounts of exp we are earning for the different mobs. Why? Because we are playing together as heros and having fun. Your rant was quite good until this last comment which shows your true colors as a powerleveling junky, who's lust for exp overshadows anything else. I truly pity you.

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By all means, pity away.

It's wonderful that you are making plenty of xp and are happy with it. So why do you resent those who want more? Would it hurt you to be rewarded more XP for taking on exceptionally tough challenges? Would you just hate the game if it patted you on the back for going for the gold? Is the fact that my fire tank is not in your groups ruining your gaming experience?

But, while you are running dozens of missions, stop off in Eden and tell me what you think of it. Oh, wait, that won't happen. You can tell because the zone is always empty ... Most of the time I hunt there alone.

Now, take your group that does dozens of missions together and go to Founder's falls. Split your group into separate parties of no more than two or three. Kill everything you can find and check your XP with a stopwatch. It will be tedious and boring, but look at the numbers. Wouldn't it be nice if missions rewarded you this well for playing into the environment in the fashion that makes all of you the most happy?

Would you and your mission happy friends like to see the scenery change once in a while? See new enemies? New stories? New content? New arch villains? New zones? New powers? New enhancements? Ah, but there's a problem. Unless you power game or play fifty hours a week, it's going to take a long long time. All those things require levels. But then again, I'm sure all of your friends are far more blessed in patience than I am.

I understand that you disagree, but can you see the point I am making? Can you see that benefit can be leveled to those who gain the most enjoyment from character progression without doing you any harm? Can you see that it is not necessary for the nerf stick to be swung continuously for you to enjoy the game? By your own words, you are having great fun as it is. What need is there for nerfs? Why not go the opposite direction and make the challenges more attractive by making them more rewarding?


 

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This just brings me back to my newest pet peive about this game:
If the statesman says every class should be able to solo... why is nerfing pets? he just killed the controlers soloability.
this is the first time I have ever disagreed with him. maybe the pet nerfing wasn't his idea eh?


 

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That issue is next up - right after the Expansion goes live.

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Do you mean city of villans or is this a case of using the word expansion instead of 'issue 2'?


 

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Statesman, I'm not sure if you're still reading this topic, but I'd like to chime in anyway as I was busy until now.

I *perfectly* understand how you want the size of the reward to equal the size of the risk. But where does convenience fit in? I can log on, solo in Crey's for an hour, and make far, FAR more progress than a controller who spent 30 minutes looking for and/or assembling a team.

This is why I believe that solo exp should be kept as it is, but group exp needs to be much higher. "Bigger spawns" and "increased difficulty" are all fantastic, but the exp we currently get for these activities are nothing because of the group penalty. I.e., A group of one gets 100% exp per kill, a group of two gets 50% per kill, etc. (Not exact numbers).

I believe these penalties need to be downgraded, or removed entirely. Yes, if a guy who isn't on my team kills a Carnie, then he gets half and I get half. But if we're on a team, there's no reason for our *team* effort's reward to be half as much. And if you plan on increasing mob difficulty, then the exp bonus needs to be adjusted accordingly. Unless, of course, slowing down progress is your intention...


 

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From Statesman:

Actually, they can. IF the group goes to the zones with the spawns of the appropriate size...

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I'm not sure that trial/hazard zones are the answer for better group XP, and definitely not for improving any kind of earnings per hour.

Last I heard Sidekicking will not be improved so that everyone can go in the same zones.
Why not?
How are we supposed to take teams of 8 into all the "best" zones when we know that our SK's can't go?
Getting together a team of 8 that is all +/-1 level of each other is impossible.

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I will outrun them and not by a little. At level 38 we clocked it. I earned XP at a rate of 190,000 per hour solo.


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A team will always earn XP more slowly because of friction:
1) Old people leaving
2) Looking for new people
3) People getting distracted by individual issues (Training, selling, contacts)
4) People with RL obligations (such as going to the bathroom)
5) Everyone wants a democracy -- that takes time
6) Debating everything and where to go
6a) If you're solo, you know what zones you can go to.
7) The "Hey, can you invite my friend?" syndrome. That always requires waiting for someone to catch up.
8) "We're almost ready...as soon as I find a healer."


 

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"as soon as I find a healer"

Bwahahahaha.

WereVampire


That's not debt, those are my "fury bonus points"--Stahlkopf

MOST amazing Brute engineer goes to: Ultrawatt. His SS/Fire farm build is SMASH!
Congrats to Black Assassin! Won 100,000,000 INF for building most survivable NRG/NRG Blaster

 

Posted

easy way to fix it states, the difficulty slider, LT's in every solo group, more bosses in solo-duo. Then when you get to an 8 man team, you get +2 or +3s in the mish, and there are no minions. Everything is an LT or boss.

That'll make it nice and challenging, and rewarding.


 

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Statesman, numerous people have pointed out in this thread that SKs don't work for Hazard Zones, thus making large player groups unable to get to the large groups of mobs you yourself have stated are necessary for those groups to function. Could we please have a response on this point, since it is kind of fundamental. Thank you.


 

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Statesmen, the problem with higher level heroes fighting at such incredible levels of power largely comes down to two factors: crazy AE damage and bubbles.

Whenever a TF forms, the groups assembles anyone they can. Only prime requisites for fighting +3 or +4 mobs is damage from blasters and a force field defender to block all incoming blows. Nothing works so effective as that combination. Without the AE blaster/scrapper type, the damage slows to a crawl, people give up. Without the bubbles, people die, people give up.

Please try to bring those two elements in line with the rest of the powers available to heroes. Currently, healing/single target attacks/debuffs not maxing damage aren't the problem.

However, if you do drop the over powered super powers to an acceptable level, please make sure not to slow down the exp to a crawl. Most people hate those 8 person groups without AE damage/bubbles because exp goes backwards if anything. Much risk, very very little reward.


 

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Put your group of eight together. It doesn't really matter what you put in the group with one exception. I'll get to the exception.
I will outrun them and not by a little. At level 38 we clocked it. I earned XP at a rate of 190,000 per hour solo. Go to whatever zone you like. Good luck. How about Crey's Follies? Is that hazard enough? Freaks. Carnival area by the Rikti crash site.
Then I will assemble a group of 4 and we will outrun them again.
Then I will assemble a group of 2 and we will outrun the four.


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You're absolutely correct. The problem is, once again, that the high level players (38) can battle against foes that are much, much higher level than they are. A small group of said heroes can find a spawn appropriate for them...whereas what's tough enough for a full group of 8 level 38's? It's much, much tougher for that large group to find something that's a challenge - and can give them great XP - than it is for the the small group.

That issue is next up - right after the Expansion goes live.

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I think what most people are trying to say is that the problem isn't just a high level one. For most AT's even at level 10 you can get better xp solo than grouped when there is more than 4 or 5 people.


"I think I'm cute. I've got gold medals.
I've got the moves that make them all tap out.
The Angle Slam, the Ankle Lock.
Marty Jannetty...still can't walk.
I'm just the sexy Kurt.
I'll make your ankle hurt.
I'm just the sexy Kurt.
I'll make your ankle hurt."
Kurt Angle

 

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I'd like to take this moment to applaud PainGod's Sig.

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I love teaming with kinetics, but I agree. Heh, I've actually seen, or rather not seen, what happens when 2 kinetics unleash fulcrum shift at the same time I'm setting off nova. CoH becomes Powerpoint, the dreaded 100fx dialog becomes your friend, and you start checking for immobile (d/c) teammates. Yet another facet of the game that requires you to go find a group to experience


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Now the Inspirations and powers that protect oneself from stunning, etc. are very, very needed.

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Assuming that everyone doesn't have an unlimited supply of Discipline Inspirations, will there be more powers, or more effective powers, to protect against or remove Status effects?

Even some Defender types (Dark particularly) have no ability to protect against Status effects, which makes them automatically undesirable in high-level grouping situation, since you seem to feel that these sorts of powers should be 'very, very needed' to take on higher-level villains (Carnival, Malta, Rikti, etc).

This sort of change just seems to marginalize the already marginalized characters, and render them even *less* attractive to groups, while making it impossible for them to solo.

A lose-lose proposition, IMO. Radiation and Force Field Defenders are going to similarly be impacted by an inability to cure status effects (although they do have the ability to impart some resistances to them), and Kinetics doesn't have any protection against Sleep.

There are a lot of holes, that only an Empath Defender is going to be able to fill, in an endgame exclusively dominated by Status-affecting villains.

Given the much-welcome Dark Defender love coming in issue 2, it seems to me that beefing them up only to render them completely moot at higher levels is working at cross-purposes.

Perhaps some Status protection could be added to Shadow Fall...


 

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...Heck, a single +4 should be a challenge to several heroes

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Well, the problem is, is there any feeling of being heroic at that point? Sure at level 5 as a fledgling hero a group of thugs should be a hard fought battle.

At level 40? So taking on 3 even level Crey scientists should be the extent of my heroes ability to solo, even after his powers have matured and he is supposedly seen as a protector of the innocents and guardian of justice? That seems more like a sidekick to me.

The current problems with grouping as has been pointed out, is risk -vs- reward. You seem to see it as a con issue. Fact is, people will always find the sweet spot in any system.

When people start farming Nemesis in PI because the Rikti Crash site is too hard should our first response be to make the Nemesis equally hard? Seems to be the direction we are headed, but I think it is a very bad move. Reason people don't go the crash zone is because Rikti can be very frustrating to fight with all the mezzing and the risk doesn't present any additional reward. I don't think making all the mobs frustrating is the way to go.

Now if those same Rikti were left alone, and just as hard, but the reward for getting a team together to fight them was sufficient, then you would see people forming teams and cleaning up the crash zone.

I think forcing everyone down to fighting whites is a bad direction to take. I can't imagine how long it is going to take to level at 30+ now. It took forever to level fighting groups of 10 reds! Now I will be forced to fight 3 Whites!! Holy treadmill Batman!

Much as you don't want to face it, the Purple Patch and PP lite are what killed grouping. It artificially restrained us from finding that sweet spot. People found that what we could fight solo wasn't much different than what we could fight in a group. I don't think the solution of retarding what we can fight solo is the answer. The "Purple Patch" broke grouping, becareful the upcoming "White Patch" doesn't break the game.


 

Posted

Anyone who played EQ since Velious or before should remember Brad McQuaid and "The Vision." They had these ideas of how the game should be played. Warriors were the true tanks and paladins and shadow knights were supposed to be inferior in every way to them. Then think back to when SOE took over Verant and following that Brad McQuaid and the original development team left Everquest. A lot of changes were made to the game that were not part of "The Vision" but they made many players happy. They were good changes that needed to be made because the reality is that the game was not being played as originally intended.

Statesman and crew are great, don't get me wrong. I love the fact that they actually listen to their player base. I'm just saying they need to listen now. The sooner they realize that thier original vision of this game is not going to be the reality the better off we all will be. Players are definitely not fitting into the 3 villians to 1 hero mold there. As an empathy defender I've taken on a couple of groups of 5 even con minions, sometimes with a lt in there. It takes me 10 minutes but I have done it. A play style has developed that is completely different from what was originally dreamed of by the developers. Adjustments to the challenge of the game need to be based on what actually is the playstyle, not what they want it to be.

Incidentally, I don't think making every single mob in the game stun, hold, mez, sleep and disorient is the solution. Neither is upping the Rikti's damage so much that they one shot all AT's classified as low hit points (come on guys, that one doesn't even fit your own backstory). Sticking to the story is great but trying to fit us into this mold of 3 villians to 1 hero at this point in the game is going to cost you as a company a lot of money.