Solo and Team Play
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A system will allow players to drop unwanted missions or do old missions that have been passed over (the infamous flashback).
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Thank you oh thank you as a healer my main was pretty much forced to go with whatever the group I was with wanted to do so this means I missed out on a lot of missions. This wil not only allow me to go back and do some missions I missed but will also keep me from having to beg and bribe low lvls into missions. Thx states now..... *sniff* your my hero. *sniff* *sniff*
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Again, I'm not Joe Solo, and quite honestly I have no personal beefs about the greater group xp (other than being able to outlevel arcs easier. it's already easy enough to outlevel them with the new mission difficulty settings) since I'm by and large a grouper. It's not gonna affect me much. It won't take any enjoyment from the game or slow down my leveling. I'm just saying that if a player doesn't want to team, let them be. Don't beat them down because they have a different playstyle than what the devs envision the game should be like.
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Well, I AM Joe Solo (as you describe him), and it's not going to take any enjoyment from the game or slow down my leveling, either. They're not reducing solo XP, they're increasing group XP. Not the same thing.
The group bonus to XP already exists; why do you think the proposed increase of it would make any difference?
"More content for level 50s" is a perennial cry and, IMO, a separate issue.
EDIT: On my last post, I should have noted that "could" was the operative word, and perhaps put in a "possibly" after it.
My characters at Virtueverse
Faces of the City
Thank you Statesman. Its good you are willing to listen and reconsider.
Now us heroes should spread the word around in-game for the benefit of those who don't read the boards. Tell them to not lose heart as Statesman is coming to the rescue
Awesome ,simply awesome. now my kheldian might stand a chance soloing missions.
Awesome! Thank you greatly. As a person who enjoys team play and soloing equally as much, this is a great relief. I also feel that my blaster will now find some value in adjusting the difficulty slider.
I think the main problem may be in what a boss may have to be in order to be a going concern for a tank or scrapper vs. what that same boss would do to other archtypes given their weaker defences and hit points. It will be interesting to see how this resolves with the PvP arena in the future.
Thank you.
I am much more comfortable with the direction of the changes in City of Heroes that will be happening in the short, middle, and long term.
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You miss the point here Statesman, most don't complain the game is to easy, they complain because they are level 50 with nothing to do
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I sympathize with your frustration with either the lack of activities at 50 or the lack of closure at 50. However, you are the one swinging and missing in this thread. One, the Boss changes have little to do with the end game or the progress to the endgame. Two, level 50's are still a statistical minority in-game and in the forum, therefore your valid concerns about the endgame do not represent the current and pressing concerns of the "most". Don't let your passion push you to write things that undermine your point.
It'd be like me writing that Statesman is missing the point because I feel the real problem is handing out Respec's like candy which only fosters an unfounded sense of player entitlement, or that a way to deal with content problems is not just add more zones but also to make something of the several hazard zones that have become ghost towns since mission xp bonuses have (quite rightly) killed street sweeping. See? Valid points, but awkward placement in a thread about the recent Boss difficulty changes.
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The group bonus to XP already exists; why do you think the proposed increase of it would make any difference?
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Alright. I stand corrected. I didn't know there was already a group bonus to mission xp. I haven't noticed it. I get the same xp for clearing a mission solo as I do grouped. Always have. Save for the few times mission xp has gone completely weird on me - posted in the tech/bug forum about that one. The issue as I described it seems to have ironed itself out, but still, same xp solo as grouped.
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Alright. I stand corrected. I didn't know there was already a group bonus to mission xp. I haven't noticed it. I get the same xp for clearing a mission solo as I do grouped. Always have. Save for the few times mission xp has gone completely weird on me - posted in the tech/bug forum about that one. The issue as I described it seems to have ironed itself out, but still, same xp solo as grouped.
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I don't know about any team bonus to mission XP, but I don't believe that's what Statesman was referring to.
Currently, there is a group bonus to XP in that the total XP given by a mob increases with the number of group members. Just to make up some example numbers, a mob might give 100xp to a solo player, 60xp each to a team of two (120 total XP), 50 each to three (150 total xp), etc.... It is this bonus that I believe Statesman is referring to when he says "Team up XP bonuses will be increased."
Anyway .... This is just fantastic. Improvements all around, and this is just becoming a PERFECT game.
And, Statesman, Thanks for the extra effort you're putting in keeping us up to date!!
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It'd be like me writing that Statesman is missing the point because I feel the real problem is handing out Respec's like candy which only fosters an unfounded sense of player entitlement, or that a way to deal with content problems is not just add more zones but also to make something of the several hazard zones that have become ghost towns since mission xp bonuses have (quite rightly) killed street sweeping. See? Valid points, but awkward placement in a thread about the recent Boss difficulty changes.
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The above post doesn't deal with any of the issues Statesman posted on boss changes.
Back to the boss changes. The changes really didn't seem to make bosses more challenging, just more tedious because I had to sit and mash my buttons a little longer to defeat them. In the end, the bosses would still be defeated but really weren't worth the trouble and time of dealing with when you could skip them and arrest 20 minions instead.
I do love the mission difficulty slider. Nice addition to the game and makes the missions more challenging. I believe this should be more than enough for those asking for more difficulty and challenge IMHO.
A heartfelt Thank You. I love this game, but Issue #3 forced me to stop playing because I am a casual gamer who played 30 minutes before work, 30 minutes at lunch and 30 minutes after work until my family got home and 2 nights a week with friends. Enforced teaming simply does not work when you only have 30 minutes to play, but you can do a mission in that time. Thank you for restoring my faith. I will be reactivating my other account and extending the subscription on this one as soon as these changes are live.
Thanks Again!
I'm glad my punchline didn't go over your head.
Sounds like a really good idea and the game is evolving.
Overall, States, I really like that plan. I do have a question pertaining Bosses and the Difficulty Slider:
1) Will Bosses scale with the Difficulty Slider, making Tenacious Bosses I2 Bosses and Invincible Bosses I3 Bosses?
2) Would it be possible to increase ALL mobs with the slider and not just the Boss? Also, is it possible to increase the number of mob spawns per mission via the slider?
Examples and Reasoning:
1) I ask this because I just did a few 8-player Malta missions on Invincible. The BEST time I have had in this game ever. Every thing was spawning at 53 and 54, there were mobs everywhere and nearly every mob had a Boss. Battles took 5-7 minutes, and perhaps one or two deaths (in general...there *was* this one room though...*shudder*). The only real pain was the 53 Gunslinger Boss ambush the killed everybody one by one as they entered the mission as he teleported at the door, and your character runs 5 feet into the hallway by default. No one knew what hit them.
2) So at Invincible, Minions, Lts and Bosses get everything upped by 50%? Mission A normally spawns 7 groups, on Invincible it has 14 groups. Thus, on Invincible, all mobs are upped by 50%, there are twice as many of them, and nearly every group has a Boss.
This setting would not be for everybody, but for those teams that are truly having a blast and need an extra challenge at the end game. Perhaps add a 6th setting: Nightmare.
Cyclone Jack
-= idspispopd =-
[size=1]Arc ID: 3155 - Project Prometheus (Seeking Feedback, now with less invalidation)[/size]
WAIT, WAIT, WAIT... No more bosses for my blaster unless I want to get hammered?
I liked wailing on that named Council Boss, leading him through my Trip Mines, and coming out victorious with only a sliver of health at the end! It was quite the rush.
Well... my controller will like this... *glares at the nearest Bone Daddy*
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I want to make this very, very clear...these changes are due to not only the "data", but the well reasoned posts on these boards.
I really do read & really do listen! The "devs" aren't cooped up in an ivory tower; we love this game just like you do! In the end, we're all players. I have the privilege of being the lead designer. I want to do what's BEST for the game.
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Statesman I really appreciate you and your team you all do a wonderful job managing this game and the player base who do not always understand what you are trying to accomplish. With the attitude and style you and your team bring to this game and the MMO genre overall I will be a COH fan for a long time even through the tough times of updates and changes, after all if we remain the same we become stagnent and will never grow.
Of course I always reserve the right to complain when I am not satasified
Thank you.
Outstanding. It sounds as though, if well-implemented, everybody will be happy: players will have control of their gaming experience and team-play will still be rewarded.
One request, Statesman: make it very clear to us what the impact of each position of the Difficulty Slider is. It sounds very clear in your post when discussing the difference between Hero and anything higher, but as this develops and eventually hits live, I think it's pretty important that the players really understand what the spawning differences are at all levels of Difficulty. Otherewise, you're giving us the right tools to control our gaming experience, but not providing us with the instruction manuals....
Keep up the excellent work!
Dear Mr. Emmert -
Many, many thanks. This kind of flexible approach seems to capture the best potential in any game system. Looking forward to playing CoH for many years to come.
Paul
My scrapper doesn't need an AoE. She IS an AoE.
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In the long term:
The Mission UI will be improved to designate various elements of mission: timed missions, team up required, etc.
A system will allow players to drop unwanted missions or do old missions that have been passed over (the infamous flashback).
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Can you please make it clear which Origin each contact supports in the Contacts tab?
I mean, without having to run, fly, jump, and teleport to all of them.
For the record, I rarely solo anymore. My wife and I duo most of our missions and on weekends play with a friend as a trio.
That said, I think you need to watch the relationship of influence and experience if you raise the xp for team missions. As it stands with the increase in mission bonus xp from issue 2, I find I have less influence at level 12 than I used to. Most influence comes from selling enhancements, and as more xp is gained for missions, a player has less influence when he/she reaches the critical levels, 12 and 22. This doesn't matter after level 30, but I do find it an issue in the teens.
My solution is to pass influence down from my main character, but new players don't have that option.
Also as a team we run the risk of leveling past some of the badge missions. It would be nice if they could be offered a little earlier or available after you level past a contact.
Other than that the changes sound good!
Solar Eagle
lvl 34 Fire Blaster on Champion
Alts: Lots!
I am extremely pleased there will be a simple no-nonsense method of ensuring the solo player CAN get bosses in their missions if they want them.
Thank you.
I am also glad to see the hp change on bosses rolled back. They made fights longer but not necessarily any more challenging.
This is a song about a super hero named Tony. Its called Tony's theme.
Jagged Reged: 23/01/04
Spot on Kali - I agree totally