Thanks for the changes Devs. I have enjoyed the boss changes and I can get the better bosses by upping the difficulty slider, which I have already done. Scaling back the bosses allows those support squishies to do something when they can't find or stay on a team.
Thank you Statesman for having the patience to read the long threads and be that critical link between the rest of the developers and the players. I really think this is a win for both sides, everyone can choose what they want to face.
Ultra-Marine 43 AR/Dev blaster
Don't know if this was asked before, but regarding the Flashback system: Will this apply to TFs as well? Or will you still need an exemplar to to do the lower TFs?
Thank you for being flexible.
I still just wanna know when we can see it live 
I like this Flashback thing as I missed most of the story arcs with my main (emp/rad) by outlevelling them on TF's (Positron 3 times, Synapse 5, Sister 3, Bastion 3 or 4).
I may be a WoW player, but Paragon City is my home
Go Dev's!
@bpphantom
The Defenders of Paragon
KGB Special Section 8
I'm going to miss the new bosses, but I'm also going to look forward to upping the mission slider
Fanfrikingtastic States.
First of all, I like the decision to roll back and try a different solution to the easy-boss issue.
I do have a couple of questions, though. (sorry if I am repeating someone. I tried to read the whole thread. Really, I did! 
)
[ QUOTE ]
Task Forces and Trials will continue to contain Elite Bosses, ArchVillains and Giant Monsters. There will be no changes here.
[/ QUOTE ]
Does that mean there will be no changes once the boss changes are rolled back? Will TFs and trials be as they were before, with the addition of Elite bosses?
[ QUOTE ]
Only until players can drop missions will we look at the Boss difficulty again.
[/ QUOTE ]
TFs and respecs (btw, are respecs considered TFs or trials or what?) don't have any missions that are optional, for obvious reasons. I know that the option to drop missions is for solo players, but bumping up the boss stats again will make these missions nigh impossible (other than the occasional anecdotal evidence "proving" otherwise) for all but a narrow selection of team make-ups, player abilities, and level ranges. Take the Sky Raider respec for example. It used to lean to the easy side for a good group, but was still doable by other interesting mixes of ATs, player experience and ability (particularily important for the first respec), and level ranges, many of which were a result of the difficulty in finding teammates.
I know I'm getting way ahead of the wagon here, but please keep that in mind if/when you look at Boss difficulty again.
Also, will badge and story-arc missions, or any missions for that matter, that are dropped (for whatever reason) become available to the character again, or will they be gone for good?
Thanks in advance for any reply. And keep up the good work!
[ QUOTE ]
TFs and respecs (btw, are respecs considered TFs or trials or what?) don't have any missions that are optional, for obvious reasons.
[/ QUOTE ]
Since you can get a trial badge for doing them, I think its safe to assume the Respecification Trial is considered a trial.
(Trials are interesting in that they don't have a standardized way of working- some work like missions, other like Task Forces.)
Tygara - 50 Claws/Regen/Power Scrapper, Virtue- Member of Kitties on the Prowl.
Shadeburn - Dark/Rad Defender, Virtue- Member of Catch 'Em Crew
Nature Boy' - Elec/Ice Blaster, Virtue - Member of Young Phalanx
Thanks, STates. This sounds perfecto.
In case people missed it, these changes have just been put onto Test so expect them on Live soon.
[ QUOTE ]
We will roll back the Boss changes.
[/ QUOTE ]
Any update on a timeline for this?
I often solo, and the combination of new bosses and vague/misleading mission descriptions are making the game really less enjoyable.
Case in point: Had some time to play this morning. My D3 picked up a timed mission from a contact. I read it very carefully before choosing the mission, and it didn't say anything about about a boss, nothing about bringing along teammates, nothing about "defeating all" in the mission. If anything, the description makes it sound like a "find the glowies" kind of task.
Only after chosing it does it mention that you can win by a) defeating all the mobs, or b) finding the glowies and beating "those in charge of the operation". Uh oh. Possible boss? Which means I'd have to defeat that boss for first victory option too.
So I do almost all the mission and indead no matter how I want to end this thing, it turns out that I must defeat a Freak Tank Smasher boss (+1, no less). I've done it solo exactly once since the new bosses were unleashed, but only after three deaths.
Since the mission was timed (and the servers were going down shortly afterwards anyway), there was not time to scrounge for teammates. So I gave it my best shot, but after two deaths & a fresh new bar of debt I gave up and will simply fail the mission.
Frustrating, and unheroic. And it's no better in teams when the squishier types get obliterated in 1-2 shots; even great players will eventually make mistakes, and the way bosses are set up now there is little way to recover in time.
Sorry for the venting, but I can't stand the new bosses and want them to go away sooner rather than later, so my heroes (other than my scrapper) don't have to dread selecting missions.
THANK YOU Statesman, for understanding that some of us like to solo and or just don't have the time to build a good team!
Just FYI, the rollback of boss difficulty just hit the test server, so should be soon.
My arcs are constantly shifting, just search for GadgetDon for the latest.
The world beware! I've started a blog
GadgetMania Under Attack: The Digg Lockout
Thank you for the change. My main char is an energy/dev blaster and could not defeat the bosses solo. I died many a time trying to figure out how to take them down. The bottom line was with 3.5 X hit points, 2 X damage and, accelerated healing it wasn't going to happen. I am one of those players that log on for 30 or 45 minutes for some quick, fun gaming and the boss change had made that disappear
Personally, I liked the boss changes, but I just wanted to say (as an infrequent poster) that I continue to be impressed with statesman's (and the devs in general) continued responsiveness to the game's fans. I have a laundry list of things I may eventually take the time to post about (none of them critical, half of them just ideas and musings on comic books).... but until then -- I think States and the whole team deserves some big fat kudos.
I'm hoping to convince my editor (I'm a game reviewer) to let me do a "City of Heroes: Year 1" review. I reviewed CoH when it first came out... and it's the only MMORPG I've ever stuck with. (I really liked WoW -- but just don't have the time for 2 MMORPGs... and why I chose CoH over Wow is a longer tale than I'm willing to yak about here).
Anyway, I digress.... kudos to states and everyone. Go get a Cuppajoe. I'd buy, if I could.
DaGorilla
600LB Gorilla (lv 36 SS/INV Tanker, Triumph, from Day 1)
[ QUOTE ]
Just FYI, the rollback of boss difficulty just hit the test server, so should be soon.
[/ QUOTE ]
Thanks, that's great news.
And while I'm thinking of it, thanks to the Devs for fixing the silent glowies issue. I like the new noise they make, and especially that they now go quiet once you've interacted with them. Great job!
Folks, is this the best damn online game in the universe, or what?
And THIS is what makes it so. Sweating the details and listening to your customers.
Thanks Jack.
Just like to add my thanks to the millions here - even though I'm a scrapper, I think it's fantastic that I get to *choose* how hard things are :-)
Moth Twiceborn, Slan, Mr. Long
Jane Droid, 43 Earth/Emp, Alix Frost, 43 Ice/Eng
Warlock Krelleth, Level 50 Zombie Mastermind
Virtue Server
"Some people find fault as if it were buried treasure"
I just wanna say thanks for the rollback. Bosses were too tough for the casual gamer. I have 2 friends that play and have less than optimal builds on all their characters. Even while teamed, +! lvl bosses were difficult for them to defeat.
and impossible for a blaster without tasting concrete at least once. Even on a team because some Red-con bosses can 1 shot a blaster. So thank you for the rollback. (and btw, is there any way you can add a low intrest loan available in game so i can pay off some of my current debt so i can hit lvl 30? please?)
Also, I get the feeling that a lot of the changes that are going on seem to be geared towards hardcore min/maxing powergamers with perfect builds. What percentage of the player base has a character with a perfect build? And what percentage of players would be considered experts? I recently teamed with lvl 24 emp defender that didnt have RA, and had to be told, more times than I would like, to cast fortitude.
Just a thought. But keep it in mind when you make changes to difficulty that would affect every day gameplay. Not story arcs or TF's or the occasional special mission like the frostfire or Atta mish in the hollows, but just regular ol' mishes and street hunts.
(Shadow Lizard here) Now the question is, what can I do now if I actually liked the challenge of the harder bosses? I mean, before, Bosses to me were just Lieutenants with a little more HP. I fondly recall the challenging low-level game, the missions where I had to be careful and use Teleport Foe because holy crap, there's a Bone Daddy up there. I thought the new boss code was nice because I actually have to be awake to fight them once more. I mean...a Crusher Elite just killed me. I died. That hasn't happened in at least six levels. Add to it the fact that there's obviously more XP earned for the significantly harder fight, and it really makes me feel like I'm earning something by beating them.
I will concede that bosses right now are doing too much damage, but I love their newfound resilience. If they kept the increased HP as is but made it so they're only doing, say, 1.25x the amout of damage they did before (instead of 1.5x as it is now) things would be about perfect. But to go back to the old system? I don't know...
Even if I can increase the difficulty enough so that Bosses are in my missions again, what's the point if the Bosses are weak again?
I'm sure I'm not the first person to have liked the new Bosses and be disappointed that they're going (though with their 1.5x damage and ability to surprise people, I can at least concede I understand why.) So I won't just leave this as a non-constructive whine. I will ask, though...can anyone tell me what the future holds now? Does "we will revisit the Boss difficulty after mission abandoning is in" mean that this is something I can look forward to getting back? Or should I just get used to deriving all the challenge from ramping up the general difficulty to about orange Minion level?
Im new, not very good, and prefer soloing mostly.I found the game too hard anyway once in the teens and the mission boss difficulty was frustrating.Anything to make it a little easier is appreciated>hard-core gamers have difficulty sliders to move upward if they want it harder.Other than difficulty, my only other complaint is ENDurance.I think it should increase a little every 5 levels or so from 100 to...but that is off-topic.
I always seem to run against the trend.
I loved the boss changes coupled with a maxxed mission slider. At least my controller likes it, My blaster had a difficult time. With that in mind, If the boss changes stay in the old"softer" version, can we have one or 2 more lvls of difficulty on the slider?
I like the game on the highest difficulty setting!
Is there any chance that a future Epic AT can be more solo friendly? For reasons I've stated elsewhere, I solo more than I group, which makes playing a Kheldian a serious problem. When I tried running one solo on the test server, I had to go up two levels to deal with the 3rd level mort and zombie that were the first group in the first mission. That's OK, Kheldians are clearly designed as characters for use in groups, but it would be nice to have some epics that fit your players who solo.
My arcs are constantly shifting, just search for GadgetDon for the latest.
The world beware! I've started a blog
GadgetMania Under Attack: The Digg Lockout
the ability to drop a mission I wish I hadn't taken would be absolutely amazing. I'd want it even if it costs some influence.
I also like the sound of the rest of the changes. With the slider, this should make soloing much more fun :-)
BTW, Statesman, keep an eye on the data of the deaths facing the new buffed AVs (which I understand aren't being rolled back) and monsters (which are getting a double-buff...they scale up to you and they get the buff) when faced by teams. I was on a team taking on infernal last night...50th level BS/Invulnerable scrapper (me, albeit a bit rusty since Sword is my original character I rarely play), 46th level Tanker, 46th level Controller, and two 17th level Kheldians sidekicked to 49 and 45. Not a perfect team, but hardly underpowered. Not sure about the tanker's power set but it's not fire based so we weren't encountering his fire damage resistance.
Many defeats, lots of debt. Finally, one of the Kheldians gave up and switched to his 50th level blaster, and we took him down after a long fight.
Don't just look at "was the AV defeated", look at what teams were needed, and how many defeats during the fight.
There were AVs who were wimps, Nemesis needed a serious bump. Others were plenty strong to start with (like Infernal, and all the Carnie AVs).
Look at the data. Not just the number of missions where the AV was defeated, but what sort of teams and how many defeats (particularly multiple defeats) was needed along the way. An occassional defeat can be the sign of a fun challenge. Team wipes and players having three or four defeats is not fun. Again, please check the data, see if the results I've seen are common or rare.
My arcs are constantly shifting, just search for GadgetDon for the latest.
The world beware! I've started a blog
GadgetMania Under Attack: The Digg Lockout