For the very first time since I've played this game, you've made me a believer. Thank you.
50 Fire/Dev | 50 AR/Dev | 50 Ninjas/FF MM | 50 Bots/Dark | 50 Kin/Rad |
44 EM/Regen | 39 BS/Regen | 38 Kin/Elec | 27 Thugs/Pain
"Rare is the man so noble that he will always give thanks for that which is freely given." -Jock_Tamson
i have never had a problem with bosses grouped or solo , until i try do the respect task force yesterday ( with the new bosses patch working ) .
it was impossible...
Probably, but I just thought I would ask to make sure. 
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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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Best ding-dang Dev team, ever, by crackey!
Edit: Okay, that's faint praise considering the competition, but at least they do listen, eventually.
The Alt Alphabet ~ OPC: Other People's Characters ~ Terrific Screenshots of Cool ~ Superhero Fiction
Back to normal boss difficulty..... OK, if you want. I'll just ratchet up the difficulty a little more.
Up teaming bonus.... errrr? Why? To encourage us to team up? <shrug> Well, if ya want.
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Players normally receive story arcs only after theyve leveled their Contact up to the highest level.
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Where did THAT come from!? Right now we can get an arc any time. Having to max out a contact to get an arc means a lot of missions. With high difficulty and the bigger team bonus, it's going to be very difficult to max out contacts and get an arc before we out-level it.
Please tell me this is just a mistake. I know we aren't meant to see every arc with our first character but I think two characters should be able to cover it. I'm afraid that, with this requirement plus all the xp rolling in, I'll have to keep my characters in constant debt or running solo a ton to get the needed missions for the stories.
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Well. Since I've already cancelled my subscription over the boss changes, let me be the negative voice here and explain why this isn't going to get me to re-up.
.
Statesman, a number of us told you repeatedly, the entire time the boss change was testing, that "part of our games strength is the ability for a player to log on for a half hour, have fun, then log off" and "people arent clear when a mission requires a team up and when it doesnt" and even "Mission Difficulty Slider to satisfy the demands of those who want something more challenging in the future"
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We said all those things, and you ignored us, and the change went live. And now suddenly (because you are losing subscriptions, I imagine) you come and parrot these things back as if they were your idea all along.
.
Also, in this post, you say that story arcs are not normally given until a contact has been fully raised. This is not correct. In fact, I have almost never received a new story arc from a contact after their bar is 75% full; most often I receive the first mission of an arc as my third or fourth mission with that contact, so.. roughly 25% full.
.
This troubles me, because when we originally complained to you that raising boss difficulty would be problematic for soloers doing missions, you said that mission text always warns when a boss will be present. That also was not correct, and we said this to you, and I don't believe you ever retracted that statement or said that mission text would be looked at and corrected.
.
In short, I think it's offensive that you ignore the players and then try to pass of our warnings to you as things you yourself thought of, because clearly you DIDN'T think of them, or the change wouldn't have gone live. I also think it's very disturbing that you have repeatedly made statements about the state of live gameplay which are not accurate, implying that you are actually not familiar with your own game.
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My confidence in you, the devs, is non-existant at this point. I always appreciated the fact that you would come this board and respond to what we have to say. But now I realize that the only thing worse than devs who don't listen is devs who just pretend to listen.
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Well, I've got nothing more to say to people who aren't really listening. So I'm out of here.
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Despite the fact this will likely get me flamed, I actually rather agree with this post and posted similar thoughts a few months back. I've long since given up on playing on Test for any purpose other than to look at the new stuff and try different builds for my characters for the very reason geekchick states: the experiences of the testers doesn't seem to be listened to very much.
It was better for Issue 3 than Issue 2 -- okay, anything would've been better than the release around Issue 2 -- but it does seem as if valid posts on the Training Room forum are not regarded as highly as they should be. There are some really excellent game testers playing CoH, and to seemingly ignore their findings is not a good policy. I use the word "seemingly" specifically because it's a perception from this side of the screen, not because it necessarily reflects the actual state of affairs. I am more than willing to be proven wrong.
From my vantage point, it really does look like the overall player experience on the Test server is valid when compared to the playerbase as a whole, despite the fact that only a tiny fraction of CoH's players actively use the Training Room. The response from player-testers there seems to accurately reflect the eventual response of the wider CoH community. Again, that's just an impression I've gotten, but there you have it. I would hope that the Devs follow some of those player posts pretty closely, because a lot of them are solid number-crunchers who are thorough and even-tempered. (Which leaves me out, clearly. 
As Clint once said, "Man's got to know his limitations.")
I don't agree with geekchick's characterization of Statesman, though. I think some of the "no comments" happened because it's mostly impossible to follow every thread, and with the holidays mixed in there, stuff was going to be missed.
I really hope the Devs treat this as yet another learning experience. It's pretty obvious lessons were learned from the Issue 2 boondoggle, and the process has improved. Here's hoping Issue 4's release will be even better.
The Alt Alphabet ~ OPC: Other People's Characters ~ Terrific Screenshots of Cool ~ Superhero Fiction
I am very happy with these changes. They reflect excellent thought and consideration of the player base. I must say though that this type of tuning should have been done on test. That is what it is there for. Although I personally did not see the boss changes as a deal breaker, I hope that such game altering changes will be more thoroughly tested prior to release to live from now on.
Other than that - Great changes, States Even if they are a touch late IMHO
Hey - it wouldn't be me if I didnt give ya a touch of a hard time, hm?
/em cheers for the developer team!
As a blaster I have a few things to add, I am loving almost all of the new tweaks. It's good to make things different and sometimes different is better. My only single problem, is that nowadays the only missions I can solo are the carnie and malta missions. If a malta has knives in it, forget it, I HAVE to call for help. sometimes it can be incredibly frustrating. See I play mostly during the day, and few people my lvl are on during the day, and when I ask for help, even offering to side kick someone, I am invariably turned down. Now, normally I have no problems asking for help on missions, but when I ask for help and am repeatedly ignored, or turned down, it's get very discouraging. I have even left my missions at the beginning rank because I know I will be able to handle anything else alone, and that's how I end up having to do my missions. And yes, I would ask SG members, except we all play at different times. What's a blaster to do?
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A suggestion if I may.
Right now setting difficulty higher gets bigger spawns. I've heard your not supposed to but this occurs, I have seen it. This better be changed because I am gonna hate fighting named Lt's as I will for any future characters be bumping up the difficulty since this game shouldn't be so easy on me. Also, if I set myself to Invincible, can all Named Bosses because Elite Bosses? This feels appropriate if you guys fix the "bug" with setting reputation higher and getting more spawns when soloing when sometimes all people want is higher level enemies.
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THis isn't correct. Default is normal spawns. +1 up the difficulty is bigger spawns. +2 up the rep is +1 level difficulty. +3 is bigger spawns at +1 difficulty. +4 (or top difficulty) is +2.
Still here, even after all this time!
At last. A voice of sanity. those who want the boosted difficulty can go invincible on missions or go after higher level bosses in hazard zones and what not. And teaming is rewarded.
And Pre pet controllers can still solo a bit and non resistant guys won't get squashed because a boss noticed them.
I love the changes, but I still have one question. I've noticed an increase in some of the missions that require teaming. Not necessarily because of difficulty, but because they are missions where you have to disarm X number of bombs or somesuch at one time. As a matter of fact one of the missions in the Hollows story Arc was modified so that it requires at least 2 people to do it (One of Flux's missions I believe). Now I'm all for teaming, and I do team now and then. But entering a mission and finding you need someone just to help you disarm a bomb is a bit disheartening. Possibly any feedback on these types of missions?
Thanks!
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Very nice. You took several of the ideas for getting what you want done in a better way and improved them. I think you could have kept the boss hit point increase in, that increased the strategy. It was the boss damage increase that killed the strategy. But it will be nice to feel like a superhero again.
Scorus
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Even just the increase to Boss HP was more tedius than challenging. You either just pound on it safely for a *much* longer time or you just perma-held it for longer (my option as a Dark Defender.)
Bosses just took too long and were more avoided because of that.
Still here, even after all this time!
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geekchick wrote:
This troubles me, because when we originally complained to you that raising boss difficulty would be problematic for soloers doing missions, you said that mission text always warns when a boss will be present. That also was not correct, and we said this to you, and I don't believe you ever retracted that statement or said that mission text would be looked at and corrected.
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I knew I read it somewhere, it was a pain to find but I know I'm not losing my mind...
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Statesman wrote:
Anytime a Mission has a boss, the mission text SHOULD clearly identify that a boss will appear regardless of the team size entering it (bosses appear in spawns usually if there's 2 or more heroes on a mission map). /Bug it if the text isn't clear. We'll be improving this UI shortly so that there are icons that point out when a mission requires help and when it's solo-able.
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That was here: Re: List of borked things in Issue 3
He posted that on 1/5/05
Thank you Statesman, this is a really great change, and I look forward to it.
Part of the problem with many members of the testing community is that they believe what they say is golden and that the game is completely broken until everything that they comment on is changed to their specifications. Often times, this is done rather rudely (Read anything ever posted by Balron).
Just because you disagree with a change that's been implemented and they aren't changing it right away doesn't mean that it's entirely bad for the game... or that fixes for it aren't being considered. Invul changes for example. Despite the HUGE outcry from (it seems) every Invul tanker here, the changes have made most Invul tanks I've talked to on live BETTER overall, myself included. However, after listening to player feedback, some changes are already on the test server.
Additionally, yes... I3 was released with bugs. The fact you seem to ignore is IF Update 3 were postponed to fix every issue you deem problematic (Nevermind what the people that actually work on the game think) we would probably never see an update. Seriously. There will always be problems, there will always be bugs, there will always be bad decisions... but waiting until everything is completely flawless is unfeasible, unrealistic, and problematic in it's own right.
Get off of your high horse. The bottom line is that we ARE being listened to. We ARE being taken seriously. And "our" ideas and suggestions ARE being considered.
P.S. I do believe Statesman stated that these changes came about BECAUSE of data collection (what you folks on the test server have done) and competent player feedback on the forums. Not once did he suggest that these changes were all his idea.
I, for one, welcome our Developer Overlords.
God I love this game and this Dev group.
Global Chat Handle: @Greenstar
Active on Justice & Triumph
Your proposal sounds like an excellant one. I hope it works as you wish and has the effect you hope.
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Part of the problem with many members of the testing community is that they believe what they say is golden and that the game is completely broken until everything that they comment on is changed to their specifications. Often times, this is done rather rudely (Read anything ever posted by Balron).
Just because you disagree with a change that's been implemented and they aren't changing it right away doesn't mean that it's entirely bad for the game. Invul changes for example. Despite the HUGE outcry from (it seems) every Invul tanker here, the changes have made most Invul tanks I've talked to on live BETTER overall, myself included.
Additionally, yes... I3 was released with bugs. The fact you seem to ignore is IF Update 3 were postponed to fix every issue you deem problematic (Nevermind what the people that actually work on the game think) we would probably never see an update. Seriously. There will always be problems, there will always be bugs, there will always be bad decisions... but waiting until everything is completely flawless is unfeasible, unrealistic, and problematic in it's own right.
Get off of your high horse. The bottom line is that we ARE being listened to. We ARE being taken seriously. And "our" ideas and suggestions ARE being considered.
P.S. I do believe Statesman stated that these changes came about BECAUSE of data collection (what you folks on the test server have done) and competent player feedback on the forums. Not once did he suggest that these changes were all his idea.
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Well, I'm certainly not on any high horse; far from it, in fact. I merely posted my perception of the situation. (And I knew I'd get flamed for it.)
I have posted praise for the Devs for the smooth release of Issue 3, because they very obviously did learn from the mistakes made during Issue 2's release. I have likewise posted that demanding immediate response from the Devs is childish behavior that should be ignored. You can see this for yourself by checking my posting history.
That said, I stand by my opinion that the Training Room forum is filled with valid posts by reasonable, well-intentioned and polite players who bring up well-grounded concerns... concerns which are eventually proved to be accurate. I'm extremely impressed by those people, and even a cursory read-through of a smattering of threads will cause those even-tempered posts to stand out from the pack. It's my hope that the Devs are following those posters, because they provide valuable information. As I say, I don't know if they are regarded as valuable or not, but it often seems like they aren't.
Just to reiterate, I don't include myself in that list. I don't crunch the numbers, I just go by intuition. That works for me, but probably not a reliable method for tweaking game mechanics.
I also said that disagree with geekchick's characterization of Statesman -- I don't think she's right about his attitude, but I can see how it might seem that way. You'll do well to not conflate our two posts, because we part ways on that point.
The Alt Alphabet ~ OPC: Other People's Characters ~ Terrific Screenshots of Cool ~ Superhero Fiction
I disagree with the boss changes since they were pathetically easy before. It was nice actually having a challenge sometimes. Granted, I am a scrapper so I am sure this is better for all the weaker classes.
I must say I never do this type of post, but you've earned it.
Well done Statesman. This seems like a well thought out and rational comprimise. Simply excellent.
Statesman, you made me eat my words. I salute you.
If the boss is too easy, adjust the slider. Not everyone is you.
If anyone has ever played Star Wars Galaxies, they know how really great this game is. The devs here are amazing.
Jala
Willing Slave
Cry for me... a river of blood.
Well, let me first say that a difference in opinion is not a flame. Take that as you will.
Anyway, I was responding more to geekchick than I was to you. Her beef seems to be in the timeliness of the fixes that the competent and polite members (and I'm sure, to an extent, even the A-Holes) have brought to the Devs attention. I'm simply trying to point out that there are other factors that go into making these changes and that doing so "right away" may not always be possible.
Hell, the simple fact that chages ARE coming is proof enough that they've taken those repsonses seriously. Just because they aren't happening as fast as you would like (I use the word "you" generally) doesn't mean that you're being ignored.
Bravo to Statesman. Occasionally you give me things that go [censored]? But today you hit a home run.
I love you man!
-Jaggie
Balance is not about making everybody the same. Balance is about making your strengths worth all of your weaknesses.
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If anyone has ever played Star Wars Galaxies, they know how really great this game is. The devs here are amazing.
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That is so true it hurts...
Hi My name is Mike and I am a Star Wars Galaxies Survivor.
Thank you, Statesman. This decision has reaffirmed my confidence in you and your development team. From the moment I joined the game a few months back, I got the impression that the developers really had a sense of what makes their game interesting, and I've seen where my monthly fees are going.
I look forward to seeing the boss difficulty raised again following implimentation of the other changes you mentioned. (While the new bosses were an almost insurmountable obstacle for my controller, they've been a great challenge for my solo scrapper.)
Keep up the good work.