[ QUOTE ]
That's one of the things I really don't understand about this whole mess. They gave us the difficulty slider AND buffed the bosses. Huh? Oh no, don't tell me (like I'm gonna touch it...) the slider only increases the quantity and not the quality of the mobs???
[/ QUOTE ]
This only works for solo players. The mission difficulty slider does nothing to fix the problem of mobs being far too weak to challenge teams. (Short of cheats like massive use of status effects, end drains and un-resistible damage)
Currently when you take a team into a mission set at impossible you can get mobs that will be 5 or more levels above anyone who isnt at or above the level of the mission holder. Certainly this makes the mission harder but it effectively does so by reducing the size of the team since anyone who is below the level of the mission holder is pretty much just along for the ride and except for a few types of defenders cant contribute much.
The basic issue is this. 1-4 players can take on just about any group of mobs up to 4 levels above their own. These become absolutely trivial with more people then that if you have good players. Raise the level even one more and that group of mobs is now *easier* to solo then it is to attack as a team. In either the solo or team situation the rewards are not worth the time and effort involved.
This leaves anyone who wants to be part of a well played team of more then a few players completely out in the cold except for a small handful of missions where it actually takes a coordinated strategy and effort. But these types of missions and TFs are very few in number. There are probably fewer then 10 in the whole game.
Without more challenging mobs that fall below the +5 level limit there is almost zero real team content in this game. This has to be a major concern for the devs because what give an MMO longevity and long term profitability is that people keep playing it because of the friends they have made in team situations. The presence of these friends keeps them playing the game long after the game is outdated.
[ QUOTE ]
The basic issue is this. 1-4 players can take on just about any group of mobs up to 4 levels above their own. These become absolutely trivial with more people then that if you have good players. Raise the level even one more and that group of mobs is now *easier* to solo then it is to attack as a team. In either the solo or team situation the rewards are not worth the time and effort involved.
[/ QUOTE ]
That blanket statement is patently FALSE. It is true and ONLY true for a balanced team. Try-- show me-- four blasters going through a Crey mission.... I will show you death and mayhem and I don't mean to the enemies. You can't alpha strike a power tank or a crey protector-- or heaven forbid a paragon protector.
Devouring earth are worse. With more at least half the mobs with sleep and hold abilities.
Not every team has the luxury of perfect balance. The teams that have it good are BALANCED teams. Specifically at the mid levels and higher, a team without a competent controller is roughly (IMO) about half as effective. When a single enemy can dish out 500 points of damage in a single hit, and can do so say every 15 seconds (I'm thinking of Freak bosses and Devoured bosses) [which I think is sick by the way... because the best AT in the game can't even come close to that amount of DoT] if you don't have some way to lock those suckers down either with a controller or a tank... toons will die... regardless of the mad skills of said pilots.
It's NICE to have a balanced team, and yes, they kick [censored]-- BUT-- *** BUT *** its not always the option, and you can't balance the missions that way.
A) You must take into account sidekicks
B) Lopsided teams
C) Gimped builds
Its better to set the mission to easy and let people crank it up.
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It is true and ONLY true for a balanced team
[/ QUOTE ]
Are you suggesting that the problems can be solved simply by encouraging unbalanced teams? This changes nothing. What is the point is ever assembling a well played balanced team if there is nothing for you to fight?
[ QUOTE ]
Not every team has the luxury of perfect balance. The teams that have it good are BALANCED teams.
[/ QUOTE ]
Unbalanced teams have the luxury of going after weaker foes and turning their mission difficulty down. Weaker teams can easily find situations and activities suitable for the capabilities of the team. Strong teams have no such options. Deliberately creating weak teams is not an acceptable a solution for the lack of content suitable challenging for a team.
[ QUOTE ]
A) You must take into account sidekicks
B) Lopsided teams
C) Gimped builds
[/ QUOTE ]
These are already taken into account. There s plenty of room for them to fight lower level and weaker mobs. There is zero opportunity for a good team to go out and find more challenging mobs.
You cannot force strong and weak teams to fight the same stuff. It may have a feel good effect for those who prefer things easy but it simply isnt fun for experienced players on cohesive teams and these are the people that make or break an MMO in the long term. Sooner or later almost everyone becomes a strong experienced player of quits altogether.
I've scanned the entire post, and I didn't see the flashback feature explained anywhere. I realize that it doesn't exist yet, but I'd like to know if it will resolve all the issues I'm having. I don't solo, I almost exclusively group. Because of this, there are a lot of things that I have missed out on. Striga Isle is the biggest example. From what I hear, Striga is some of the best content in the game (I'm currently going through it with an alt, and so far, I like what I see), but when I take my main back here, none of the contacts will give him missions. I miss out on all the nifty temp powers and AV fights, and the badges that can be gotten from the TF(s). I imagine that a lot of heros have similar issues with the hollows. What about all of the contacts that I outlevelled and never talked to? Will they give me missions again? Will I be able to earn their trust? Buy their enhancements? How will XP/debt work? And the biggest problem that a lot of people are having, the task forces. Exemplar just doesn't cut it. I don't know what's worse. The frustration from flat out not being able to do the TF's, or the frustration of spending 5 hours on one, only to get booted from the team before finishing due to a disconnect. I've also noticed that this is listed under long-term fixes. Is this feature even on the drawing board yet? Any details that can be provided would be great.
Don't get me wrong, I love grouping, and I wouldn't play the game any other way (personal preference), but when grouped, you tend to end up doing all of the leader's missions, and groups tend to move so fast that you don't get a chance to sit back and read all the content to really get a feel for what's going on. Even if the leader is fair (one of my missions, one of yours), the XP tends to come so fast that there's really no way to avoid out-levelling your contacts.
After flashback, my next priority is housing. When will I be able to put together the ultimate hero pad?
[ QUOTE ]
Don't get me wrong, I love grouping, and I wouldn't play the game any other way (personal preference), but when grouped, you tend to end up doing all of the leader's missions, and groups tend to move so fast that you don't get a chance to sit back and read all the content to really get a feel for what's going on.
[/ QUOTE ]
I agree. It would be nice if the mission content was a little more in your face. Even as group leader its all too easy to completely miss out on what you are doing and why.
Aye. I just did Sister Psyche tf a couple days ago where I was leader, and had to give a kind of Cliff Notes version of what was going on because a member of the team was interested in the story that only I could see (and hadn't started reading till he asked. 
) Some sort of option for teammates to view that kind of stuff would be great. TY
good point hepcat, the same goes for clues given in missions: if you join a team on a storyarc you have no clue what is going on, or what it is those captives who say "i've gotta tell you something" want to say.
As an aside, I leveled my controller to the point where I can safely and timely solo missions and the result is that I have been playing more. Before I would log off, if my SG wasn't online to help me complete my missions. Now I do them regardless, and when one goes online I send an invite. What I mean is, soloing has it's place in the game,since teaming up isn't always doable.
[ QUOTE ]
The basic issue is this. 1-4 players can take on just about any group of mobs up to 4 levels above their own. These become absolutely trivial with more people then that if you have good players. Raise the level even one more and that group of mobs is now *easier* to solo then it is to attack as a team. In either the solo or team situation the rewards are not worth the time and effort involved.
This leaves anyone who wants to be part of a well played team of more then a few players completely out in the cold except for a small handful of missions where it actually takes a coordinated strategy and effort. But these types of missions and TFs are very few in number. There are probably fewer then 10 in the whole game.
Without more challenging mobs that fall below the +5 level limit there is almost zero real team content in this game. This has to be a major concern for the devs because what give an MMO longevity and long term profitability is that people keep playing it because of the friends they have made in team situations. The presence of these friends keeps them playing the game long after the game is outdated.
[/ QUOTE ]
Maybe I'm missing your point. How does making only the bosses insanely hard help rather than hurt this scenario?
It sounds like a flawed design/implementation to me. Perhaps allowing the mission holder to sidekick multiple heroes to level-1 regardless of the difference in their levels would be a better implementation.
Either way, punishing the solo'ers because the system is flawed for large teams is not the correct answer.
[ QUOTE ]
Aye. I just did Sister Psyche tf a couple days ago where I was leader, and had to give a kind of Cliff Notes version of what was going on because a member of the team was interested in the story that only I could see (and hadn't started reading till he asked. ) Some sort of option for teammates to view that kind of stuff would be great. TY
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Brilliant! Thumbs up.
[ QUOTE ]
Unbalanced teams have the luxury of going after weaker foes and turning their mission difficulty down. Weaker teams can easily find situations and activities suitable for the capabilities of the team. Strong teams have no such options. Deliberately creating weak teams is not an acceptable a solution for the lack of content suitable challenging for a team.
[/ QUOTE ]
Ummm, when was turning DOWN the difficulty an option? Have you noticed how some missions scale for 6 or more players? Depending on the mission even hard boiled can be insane. Sometimes the mission instances can generate some ridiculous foe sets-- I recall a Tsoo mission that had literally dozens of bosses and backed up by four - six yellow ink-men and two sorcerers in each group. No mez protection... forget it... slugging through that was insanity... As I recall we ended up throwing in the towel until we could get bubbler and an empathy defender...
Anyways, the mission scaling can be PLENTY hard. I have to wonder if maybe you're only thinking of worst/best case senarios.
My empathy defender tagged along in a group of six level 40+s doing a Carnival of Shadows mission. The lead was a level 42 Fire Tank.
He jumped into a group and instantly his health was at half. I threw a heal other and group heal and got him to 3/4 health. The next instant he was at 1/4. I threw another heal other. And the next instant he was dead. You can guess how long the non-tanks lasted after that.
So, what was so easy about that? Okay, maybe Carnies are the exception. Seems to me, there are a number of mob types that can humble you at a particular given time.
Ever recall your first solo encounter with Bone Daddy as newb? That's some quick humbling there. I've seen low level BALANCED teams get ripped to shreds (this is BEFORE the crank up of bosses) when one comes in on the sly and starts wailing on some hapless defender or controller and the fight degenerates from there...
There seems to be the concern about stuff being too-easy and that people will lose interest. Casual players don't want the normal difficulty of the game to be an in-your-face razor's-edge-of-death. We're supposed to be heroes and we're supposed to be able to kick-tail. I've had my characters slammed enough recently to say that the current default level of difficulty does NOT need to be raised. I --DO-- think the mission logic should factor in:
A) Total levels and the mix (True levels vs SKs)) -- I think the BEST way to do this is to count enhancement slots. A further step might be to measure the number of SOs, DOs, and Training enhancements (and whether they are green, white, yellow, or red) to gauge a character's actual power rating and translated power rating if they are sidekicked.
B) AT Mix (Automatically boost difficulty if you have a synergy of health mitigation, control, and damage. Decrease if you lack health mitigation or damage.)
C) Difficulty Setting -- an overall fudge factor that bumps up the mob count and levels.
One of the factors not taken into account here is variability. All enemies of a given type/level have the same health and defense. The way to TRULY give some flexibility to the mission model (and all COH content) is to make the enemies not so generic. Level Dictates how hard it is to damage or hit a creature, and level dictates health by some magic -multiplier- or scale. If there's a decoupling of level, defense, health, to-hits and damage... now enemies can be generated with some level of randomness to them that can be adjusted with finer granularity. If you have a strong team, instance enemies of equal level, but with bumped up to-hits, health, and damage-- perhaps increase the attack rate. Better yet, have the AI use different aggression algorithms.
In asheron's call which had levels 1 - 126, after level 50 you could fight something 20 levels higher than yourself and depending on what its strengths and weaknesses were (and your archetype) you could be effective against it. Every creature of a given type was not the same... That was the thing that was special about that game in that you could fight WAY out of your league and potentially live to talk about it. Of course, in AC every attack wasn't a guided missile that followed you around corners... you could use the terrain for actual tactics , and if you were smart you could keep the spells from wiping you out.
In COH level discrepency is a gigantic factor-- which for better or worse, really hurts the granularity of gauging mission difficulty especially given the generic way that enemies are instanced in the millieu.
[ QUOTE ]
Sometimes the mission instances can generate some ridiculous foe sets-- I recall a Tsoo mission that had literally dozens of bosses and backed up by four - six yellow ink-men and two sorcerers in each group. No mez protection... forget it... slugging through that was insanity...
[/ QUOTE ]
Tsoo missions come for the most part before SOs and well before the problems I am talking about set in.
[ QUOTE ]
My empathy defender tagged along in a group of six level 40+s doing a Carnival of Shadows mission. The lead was a level 42 Fire Tank.
He jumped into a group and instantly his health was at half. I threw a heal other and group heal and got him to 3/4 health. The next instant he was at 1/4. I threw another heal other. And the next instant he was dead. You can guess how long the non-tanks lasted after that.
[/ QUOTE ]
Fire tanks are weak defensively to begin with (they are a lot more like scrappers the tanks) and some carnies use attacks which bypass even these defenses. Making missions difficult simply by negating your powers on a massive scale isnt any more acceptable as a solution then forcing bad teams. The are not much more challenging for a good team but seriously penalize mediocre and more casual teams.
[ QUOTE ]
I've seen low level BALANCED teams get ripped to shreds (this is BEFORE the crank up of bosses) when one comes in on the sly and starts wailing on some hapless defender or controller and the fight degenerates from there...
[/ QUOTE ]
The bosses were never cranked up at low levels, and the problem I am referring to doesnt exist at these levels.
[ QUOTE ]
There seems to be the concern about stuff being too-easy and that people will lose interest. Casual players don't want the normal difficulty of the game to be an in-your-face razor's-edge-of-death.
[/ QUOTE ]
We are not talking about the razors edge of death here. Any team with a tank and a mix of a couple other ATs can handle pretty much any mission with ease past level 30, and in most cases the suspense has nothing to do with will we win but how fast can we wipe them out. The only caveat is that everyone has to be around the same level. Setting mission difficulty up or do a task force and this becomes everyone has to be exactly the same level.
Let me say it again for emphasis As long as you have a half way competent tank the only thing that matters is if everyone on the team is the same level. Doesnt that strike you as silly and something that is going to work strongly against the casual player?
Doesnt it make a lot more sense to raise the difficulty of mobs rather then further restricting team level differenced and inserting mobs that simply bypass your teams abilities altogether?
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
That's one of the things I really don't understand about this whole mess. They gave us the difficulty slider AND buffed the bosses. Huh? Oh no, don't tell me (like I'm gonna touch it...) the slider only increases the quantity and not the quality of the mobs???
[/ QUOTE ]
This only works for solo players. The mission difficulty slider does nothing to fix the problem of mobs being far too weak to challenge teams. (Short of cheats like massive use of status effects, end drains and un-resistible damage)
Currently when you take a team into a mission set at impossible you can get mobs that will be 5 or more levels above anyone who isn’t at or above the level of the mission holder. Certainly this makes the mission harder but it effectively does so by reducing the size of the team since anyone who is below the level of the mission holder is pretty much just along for the ride and except for a few types of defenders can’t contribute much.
[/ QUOTE ]
Set to invincible, the villains will be +2 and +3 to the mission leader. Someone -1 to the leader will see +3s and +4. Someone -2 to the leader will se +4s and +5s. Someone lower than that can be SKed.
[ QUOTE ]
The basic issue is this. 1-4 players can take on just about any group of mobs up to 4 levels above their own. These become absolutely trivial with more people then that if you have good players. Raise the level even one more and that group of mobs is now *easier* to solo then it is to attack as a team. In either the solo or team situation the rewards are not worth the time and effort involved.
[/ QUOTE ]
If I understand what you are saying, and I'm not 100% sure I do, I think you are oversimplifying things a lot. Personally, I've only seen the level spread be a real issue in respec, and at lower levels (a 4 level spread is not a big deal in a group of 30+s, but it can be in a group of teens). Separate from that, the "challenge factor" does seem dependent on the mix of ATs and the style of play - yes, in good teams successful completion of the mission is generally a foregone conclusion, but that doesn't make them fun or exciting - accidents, mistakes, surprises all happen (more so in random teams than in more familiar teams). Rollercoasters have a foregone conclusion also.
[ QUOTE ]
Without more challenging mobs that fall below the +5 level limit there is almost zero real team content in this game. This has to be a major concern for the devs because what give an MMO longevity and long term profitability is that people keep playing it because of the friends they have made in team situations. The presence of these friends keeps them playing the game long after the game is outdated.
[/ QUOTE ]
While I don't agree with the "zero team content" premise, I do agree that more complex villains, situations, team situations, etc can only be good for the game.
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Sounds sensible States.
I've got to admit I have had some issues at low level with my kheldian trying to solo mishs even on the lowest difficulty level. I actually like the tough new bosses, which are a challenge but not nigh-impossible like some avs, but mission titles which lead heroes to expect a boss (as are in place in some missions) would help.
You glossed over a "flashback" priniciple which would allow us to do previously unfinished mishs. Would this enable us to go back to contacts that are now "too low" for us and pick up their mishs? I have a lvl 50. I logged on the other day, and none of my contacts could give me any mishs. I really want to pick up some of my missing story arc badges, but the current system which requires finding an exemp who happens to have the mish and then praying he does not quit is a real pain.
Conclusion: slightly dissapointed that the bosses will be scaled down, but your post seems well-argued.
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Set to invincible, the villains will be +2 and +3 to the mission leader. Someone -1 to the leader will see +3s and +4. Someone -2 to the leader will se +4s and +5s
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If you have 6 or more people on the team it adds one level to the mobs. This means someone -1 to the mission holder will be looking at +4s and +5s.
[ QUOTE ]
Personally, I've only seen the level spread be a real issue in respec, and at lower levels (a 4 level spread is not a big deal in a group of 30+s, but it can be in a group of teens).
[/ QUOTE ]
It isnt an issue at higher levels because the 1-3 people who are not 5 levels down could do the mission by themselves. Often there are multiple people who could solo the mission.
What you really have is a mission with the difficulty set to 1-3 players and are simply preventing more people then that from contributing. Sure you can still do missions this way but it certainly isnt fun to have a couple people doing all the work while everyone else sits back and leaches.
Hello again all.
I am following up again to my complaint that missions have become impossible at level 23 given the fact that the groups of mobs are yellow and orange cons and too much for a group consisting of a blaster, a controller (with phantom army), and a defender.
I quote from the game manual, page 7:
"A Blaster can solo successfully, if he remains aware of his situation at all times,......."
Given this statement in writing in the game manual then our group which has a blaster should be able to do missions.
It has been my experience, however, that none of the classes can solo effectively even the blaster, which makes the statement in the book false advertising.
And to the person who wanted to know, yes the controller is an empathy secondary power controller and the defender can also heal.
Heidi Ho (level 26 thanks to the winterlords controller) and others
Infinity Server
[ QUOTE ]
Hello again all.
I am following up again to my complaint that missions have become impossible at level 23 given the fact that the groups of mobs are yellow and orange cons and too much for a group consisting of a blaster, a controller (with phantom army), and a defender.
[/ QUOTE ]
Do you maybe have your perception turned up? On Hero you should get white and yellow minions, though I guess there is the possibility of an orange Lt.
You should still be able to handle orange mobs. Have the controller use flash and they will pretty much just stand there waiting to be shot.
[ QUOTE ]
Hello again all.
I am following up again to my complaint that missions have become impossible at level 23 given the fact that the groups of mobs are yellow and orange cons and too much for a group consisting of a blaster, a controller (with phantom army), and a defender.
I quote from the game manual, page 7:
"A Blaster can solo successfully, if he remains aware of his situation at all times,......."
Given this statement in writing in the game manual then our group which has a blaster should be able to do missions.
It has been my experience, however, that none of the classes can solo effectively even the blaster, which makes the statement in the book false advertising.
And to the person who wanted to know, yes the controller is an empathy secondary power controller and the defender can also heal.
Heidi Ho (level 26 thanks to the winterlords controller) and others
Infinity Server
[/ QUOTE ]
I'm sorry, but did you say its been your experience that none of the classes can effectively solo?
Uhm, I haven't found a class yet that couldn't solo. Some fast, some slow, and its a debatable point whether the relative solo rates are appropriate, but you haven't found any class that can solo?
In point of fact I soloed an energy blaster - completely soloed - from 1-25, and the only thing I did not have to experience the first time around was the increased bosses - but neither have you yet at level 23. I've also soloed missions with a controller, a scrapper, a tank, a defender, and both kheldians. Oddly, or perhaps appropriately, its the kheldians that have the toughest time soloing on average.
And also, you are saying that because the book says a blaster can solo, any team with a blaster ought to be ok? I'm not sure I understand this conclusion either.
But I will tell you that in my experience, a team like what you are describing is not a trivial team to make work. First, everyone has to be a team player - that team does not have a lot of margin for error. The first time anyone cowboys anything or gets too close when AoE attacks are in play or too far away for AoE heals to help cover or if people miss the buff cycles - it might be lights out.
Second, the critical link is the controller. You are light on damage, and full of squishies, which means that team does not have quick-kill capability, but the villains do 
. And that means if the controller is not an experienced controller, if he or she can't lock a majority of the foes down, quickly, and keep them locked, you are going to get creamed. And I can tell you, that aint easy with an Ill/emp. My Ill/rad only has two lock downs - blind and flash, and the PA to draw aggro. You have to really use everything you have at your disposal to keep everyone alive. And you need patience. If you enter a room with two closely separated groups, you need to pull. If the PA is recharging, sit and wait.
BTW, another thing about Illusion. If at 23 you have the PA slotted for recharge, so you can have them out more often, you know they wont kill anything, right? You'll have them more often, but you'll have them for a minute, they'll aggro everything, the PA will dance around for a while, and then 60 seconds latter, the PA vanishes, the mobs go "oh look, a controller" and then every single one of them fires at the controller, who dies. I've seen this happen. I've tested the slotting myself and seen it happen to me, also. The low damage-fast recharge PA is only viable if you team with a lot of damage dealers that will do all the killing for you, and all the PA is used for is aggro control.
I guess I'm saying, it can work, but there are a lot of things that can go wrong. It isn't only tactics you have to learn, it is also - even if you ignore the forums and just use your own experience - how to best enhance your powers so they are most effective in the situations you find yourself in.
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This post has gotten to long for me to read it all but heres my 2 cents.
The change made was good for the majority and Yaaay! Okay that said, I'm currently playing a level 31 Kat/Reg scrapper and he's ALOT of fun. I have Quick recovery and Stamina both 6 slotted and run Integration and Instant healing together non stop. I was playing with my difficulty set at Unyeilding for awhile and it just wasnt enough, I group and solo about equaly. So now I'm at Invicable and its okay, soloing the boss is a challenge like it should be. If I'm not careful I can die (some of the Council bosses will hit me for half my life with a kick) but overall the mission isnt giveing me enough mobs, now I realise I'll be told to group to get larger groups of badies in my missions. Point is it would be nice if there was a harder difficulty setting that would also increase the number of mobs in a mission.
As it is now I'm getting orange and red minions and purple bosses, lots of fun but I'd just like to fight more than one or two minions at a time. of course I could do this in the streets but then I have to deal with someone running up (Fire tanks most often or blaster who want to leach off my efforts) and annihilateing what I've attacked and wasteing my efforts, so being able to get some large groups to solo in a mission would be nice.
Also I noticed before the boss change that my regular group of friends where often fighting multiple bosses in a mission (Rikti usually), since the boss change and starting my scrapper I have seen only 2 missions that had multiple bosses. One was the cape mission with a team of 5 players (that missions was so much fun) and the other was a Sky Raider mission I was solo on and I had to fight 5 or six Jump Bots in differant locations one was name H.A.V.O.C. (Also a very fun mission, sure am glad that none of them where with each other since all conned purple to me) so has something changed with the number of bosses that spawn in a mission or was it just dumb luck to find such great challenges. Perhaps certain criminal organisations just have more bosses and when my scrapper finally starts in on the Rikti I'll get big juicy suprises of multiple yummy XP filled bosses (though I cant immagine surviveing two Rikti bosses at once with those big heavy hiting swords ^^ but what fun it will be to try, thanksfully they dont train themselves for accuracy).
I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one experiencing a severe drop-off in the number of lieutenants and bosses in missions since the patch on Feb. 1.
Between Issue 3 and the patch, I ran the "Melvin and the Mysterious Malta Group" arc given by Indigo. Through most of it, I duo-ed with difficulty set to invincible. We regularly found groups of 2 lieutenants plus 4-8 minions, with a boss mixed in about every 5 groups; the mobs averaged +3 levels. The challenge was exactly what I wanted, demanding superb teamwork and solid tactics. Even a little bad luck (e.g., a hold missing) meant we'd be taking a dirt nap. It was the most fun I've had in half a year of playing.
Since the patch, we've started on the "Praetorian War" arc given by Tina Macintyre. Same duo, same invincible setting. The lieutenants and bosses are MIA. The typical group is now 4-8 minions. In the "Stop the battle" mission, a huge outdoor defeat all map, there were probably at least 50 groups of mobs. Out of that, only one--one!--group had 2 lieutenants, and there were only two minions in that group. The only boss to be seen was the named Atomic Warfare. He was "fighting" a lieutenant, The Brain Tease.
I've no problem with the bosses being rolled back in difficulty; the one shot was pretty annoying. But the spawns types appear to have been affected as well. I mostly duoed prior to Issue 3, and I certainly don't remember the near-complete lack of lieutenants and bosses that I'm now seeing.
Please look into this, States. Invincible is currently a cake walk, and I don't even want to look at the lower settings.
[ QUOTE ]
I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one experiencing a severe drop-off in the number of lieutenants and bosses in missions since the patch on Feb. 1.
I've no problem with the bosses being rolled back in difficulty; the one shot was pretty annoying. But the spawns types appear to have been affected as well. I mostly duoed prior to Issue 3, and I certainly don't remember the near-complete lack of lieutenants and bosses that I'm now seeing.
Please look into this, States. Invincible is currently a cake walk, and I don't even want to look at the lower settings.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yup absolutely, I'm not sure I even know what a Lieutenant is (sarcasm for those who wont get it) but honestly I havent seen an Lt. in any of my last 6 door missions and only twice have I seen them in the last 15 or so. Plus the one boss per mission, maybe the criminal element has stopped giveing unearned promotions. A boss can still take me down in 2 or 3 hits but I'm okay with that since they are +4 levels ^^
[ QUOTE ]
It has been my experience, however, that none of the classes can solo effectively even the blaster, which makes the statement in the book false advertising.
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I have not found this the case. In fact a decent scrapper build earns xp faster soloing that with a group. A decent blaster build (basically 1 that doens't pretend to be a scrapper-tanker) can solo extremely effectively. Heck unless there were 2 bosses in the same room, my Empathy defender could solo and did quite a bit. I have seen Tankers solo missions 5 levels higher then they are. The only AT that I feel has difficulty soloing is a controller until the mid 30s. In the old days my Ill-Rad soloed AVs not quickly but he could.
The author of this post is speaking in generalities from his personal experience.
Your experience may vary.
I am a level 38 blaster, playing on the Heroic level. I can finally solo again now that the roll back happened.. and I see LT's like mad in my missions. They are usually orange too.
I am very happy with the changes.
If I want it tougher, I'll team with a tank who's on invicible.
You don't hit smiling monsters - Sister Flame
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I am a level 38 blaster, playing on the Heroic level. I can finally solo again now that the roll back happened.. and I see LT's like mad in my missions. They are usually orange too.
I am very happy with the changes.
If I want it tougher, I'll team with a tank who's on invicible.
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LOL, thats right or you could grab a Scappy thats on invincable ;p
I'm finding that different criminal organisations will give me different mixes of Lts and bosses. Rikti for one are very nice.
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Solo and Team Play
The recent change to boss difficulty has brought out a long simmering question: what does a solo player do in City of Heroes. Currently, some missions are for the lone wolf hero, but many are not. With the now sturdy bosses, even the most skilled player has difficulty completing these tasks. Worst of all, some players are surprised by the presence of a boss and defeated almost immediately.
On the one hand, this is a MMP. I believe that some of the best features of the game shine when players join forces with other players. On the other hand, Ive always believed that part of our games strength is the ability for a player to log on for a half hour, have fun, then log off. If a mission requires a team up, players spend a lot of time simply organizing. The quick fun element dissipates.
In the short term:
We will roll back the Boss changes.
Team up XP bonuses will be increased.
Lets not start pointing fingers the whiners had their way or the games too easy, make it harder because I think the Boss changes violated a basic principle. Namely: never let a person make an uninformed decision. And right now, people arent clear when a mission requires a team up and when it doesnt. Plus, they have no ability to drop a mission if they dont feel like doing it. Besides, weve introduced our Mission Difficulty Slider to satisfy the demands of those who want something more challenging in the future.
In the mid-term:
There are two types of missions in City of Heroes. The bread and butter missions are drawn from a generic pool. The vast majority of a players experience are devoted to completing these tasks for his Contacts. We will be making it so that a Boss will NEVER show up on the mission for a solo player at the lowest Reputation level (Hard-Boiled, though were changing that to Hero). Instead, any named villain will be a Lieutenant. That Lieutenant will have the same name, powers and costume as the Boss; his villain rank will simply be lessened. In this way, solo players wont miss out on the flavor of the missions story. If a team or a player with a Reputation at Tenacious or higher enters that mission, the Lieutenant will become a Boss.
Contacts give out another series of missions story arcs. These are linked missions that form a much larger tale. Players normally receive story arcs only after theyve leveled their Contact up to the highest level. Whenever a named character occurs, hell be a Lt. for the solo player at the lowest Reputation level and a Boss for teams or solo players with higher Reputations. Arch Villains, Elite Bosses and Giant Monsters will remain as they are; but, for the early and mid-levels, players will not need to defeat these foes to complete the mission. In the high levels, this is not the case.
Task Forces and Trials will continue to contain Elite Bosses, ArchVillains and Giant Monsters. There will be no changes here.
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).
Only until players can drop missions will we look at the Boss difficulty again.
Whats our goal? Simply put: if a player wants to do something solo, it should be CHOICE. Teaming shouldnt be required, but rather encouraged. If a player gets a mission with an Arch Villain, hell be able to drop it and get another.
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Wow, that's awesome. Thanks!
I love to see some more variety of missions for non-damage dealer ATs like my current ice/storm controller (lvl29). Having to physically remove all of my opponents hit points (either everyone on map or just selected enemies/bosses) seems totally geared towards blaster and scrappers, and it would be nice to see some missions where the emphasis is on control, defense, or both(tanking). The game is already blaster/scrapper centric and giving them a few missions they can't do without teaming, or that a 'support' class can more easily solo, would be another great step towards a level playing field.
Thanks States!
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Greetings All.
I am following up on my previous post regarding the game being more difficult in grouped missions.
My husband and I and a good friend have playing City of Heroes since May 2004. We all started at the same time and have grouped the same 3 characters together: a blaster, a defender, and a controller.
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Well, that's your problem right there. You didn't post your defender primary/controller secondary but my guess is they don't mitigate it sufficiently, at least not anymore. I imagine at least one of them is Empathy.
You haven't got anybody who can stand up in melee, who has the capacity to either dodge or resist the attacks of, say, a Tank Swiper or an Underboss. If you've managed to get up to 23 as it is, you can probably grab and SK a tank from 15 or so on upward. Even a scrapper in your level range would probably be able to handle things.
If you don't know how to use seek team to pick out anybody in the game, some helpful soul has recently updated a guide in the player questions forum.
The fact of the matter is that, as nice as your group has worked so far, you're missing a crucial element, to the point that if any one of you was somehow able to insta-swap in a scrapper or tanker of the same level you'd find yourself not having this problem anymore.
Very few trios would have this problem - I think scrapper/tanker/blaster is the only other one, but that might show up a smidge earlier.
--GF
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