Solo and Team Play
Well, I liked the harder bosses but I can't really fault the reasoning for switching them back.
Is it possible that people who have their missions set to Unyielding or Invincible can still fight the tougher bosses? Or not, whichever. I'm so happy with everything else right now that I can't really complain.
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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.
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I'm not sure if you are stating that this is a goal for the Mid-Term, or how it should work already. Because, normally, I can get a story arc started with only a few pixels filled in my contact's reputation bar.
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@Razoras
(I have not read all the posts - someone might have ask the exact same question. Here it is again then.)
I really enjoyed the danger element that the hard Bosses introduced. Whenever I do a mission (solo or team), I have to look carefully before jumping into the room, to locate any bosses.
The bosses borderline too hard, but it feels like a real accomplishment when you actually arrest the boss in the end. Even more so than the Archvillians (which requires a team and 5-10 mins of repeated attacks), because a boss can anywhere at a time and place where you were not expecting it.
Sometimes the boss is just too hard, either for just yourself or for your team, especially in the lower leves (<25). As mentioned, the choice of dropping the mission or doing it at a "lower" difficulty must be present.
Now here is the thing:
If you give us the active in-game choice of "no bosses at default reputation" and "bosses at higher reputation", then why cannot the harder boss changes stay?
Why remove both the boss difficulty AND the boss presence?
Also, I think the biggest grief players have with the hard bosses is the number of generic bosses you can encounter at once inside a mission. It is probably triggered by the number of heroes in the team. At a certain breakpoint, you start getting not just a generic boss in every group, but even two and three! In a larger room, you could be facing something like SIX bosses at once. That is just way too much. A single boss, or maybe two, is enough to make things interesing. As is it, trials like the Respec is very hard if not near impossible unless you got the "perfect" team.
So that is three things I want:
1. Keep the hard bosses.
2. Give players the choice of either dropping boss missions or doing them at a no-boss reputation.
3. Prevent multiple genric boss spawns within a certain area.
YEEEEHAAAA. My respect to you guys for making this game feel like a community where we all have a voice and worth.
Now that things are getting done, just thought I'd make some suggestions to maybe spice up the "squishy" players...
Okay, this is my first time responding here so forgive me for being naive in any way. I thought of some new twists to make us blasters/controllers/defenders feel like we can work towards improving different aspects of our characters.
Examples of new twists...
Flame Thrower has a fear component(if blasters are so powerful, make others scared of certain powers)
Create Accolades just for squishies that increase defense/resistance.
Ice Blasters actually get Ice Armor!! That should have been a given from the start.
While a villain is suffering the effects of a DOT power, he can't attack(its hard to fight when you're on fire).
A reverse of the taunt power that makes them avoid attacking if there are other heros in the room.
A spin off of the old "Mirror Image" power from D&D. You can call it Hologram if it were a tech power.
~~~~Side point... would love to see type specific costume choices and maybe even powers that permanently alter the appearance of a character if they so choose. Maybe even enhancements that alter your appearance.
Said some of this in an earlier post, but that thread is dead. thought i'd shout it out anyways for everyone to cut me down.
'nuff said.
Nice to hear, the decision to roll back the Boss change just might net my SG a player back.
Might I suggest that instead of a Lutenant (I can't speeal), you consider making Elite Lts. That should make the named villians more memerable, yet keep them in a solo friendly catagory.
Thanks for the update and the change. I think this will be a great change for the mission slider.
There does seem something fishy about the mission difficulty slider thought. I was working on my level 15 Inv tanker. I had the mission difficulty set to the middle one and was having a great time. I get a mission for kings row to recover the secret power supply thingy from the clockwork. I go in and right away I run into Bababoom. The clockwork boss. He is Level 17 boss. I was not in a team, and like i said i had the diff slider in the middle. I didn't expect to see a lvl 17 boss. The bosses I had run into on the previous missions were always lvl 15 i believe. 16 tops. needless to say I couldnt kill him solo, so i had to go out, drop the slider down to the bottom and then re-start the mission and he was a lvl 15 boss. Just thought I would share that.
thanks.
keep it up.
The problem with keeping the harder bosses is that TF's and team missions became too hard for all but 'cookie cutter' teams.
I did a team mission against the DE. After our third wipe, a checked my difficulty: Hard boiled. Then I wondered why it felt like 'Insta-annihilate' or 'suicide'.....
I like that the devs actually listen to their players.
Kudos.
Torden - Lvl 50 Electric blast / Electric manipulation / Electric mastery Blaster - Triumph
General Thrax - Lvl 50 Mercenaries / Poison / Mace mastery Mastermind - Freedom
You should at least fix it so that individual players difficulty levels don't influence TF difficulty. That lead to a team slaughter that I was on tonight because the leader of the TF had their difficulty jacked and it set the mission based on that difficulty level. Or at least that is what the 2 TF leaders were blaming it on. It sound plausible but???
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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.
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Way to roleplay your character there, o Prince of All (jerks)Saiyans.
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I feel like I just found a glowing green crystal in the debris.
Thank you Statesman. This is a well-reasoned solution and it sounds like a good one. Thank you for listening, and more importantly, for continuing to improve the game.
Well, while I wouldn't have minded the boss changes staying as they were, I understand that this had to be done.. And like all the rest here, I salute your decision and involvement! ^^
It doesn't really matter though, since you've already given me the difficulty slider.. I'll just crank up the difficulty some more now and work that way instead..
You are by and far the greatest development team I've ever had the pleasure of swooning over. ^^
Yahtzee!
What can I say? Fantastic work Stateso. I fail to see how anyone could be dissapointed by this result.
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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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First let me say, I love you. Secondly, I wish Blizzard's devs could be half of what you guys are. You're unbelievable.
Statesman, while it worries me that grouping will become near extinct, I appreciate the changes for the sake of everyone else.
I just hope that group exp bonus is increased significantly.
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Course, now that that's hammered out... *nudges him towards Kheldians*
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Done! Just playtested today!
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Sweet! Very glad that you are playing them. I think they are an AT that looks great on paper, but is not fun to play (in their current build).
That's the best thing i've read for a long time. Now both side of the coin can be equally happy.
And huzzah for the flashback !! That's extending the life span of the game !!!!!!!!
Thank you! My group's subscriptions don't expire until June 1, but it's nice to know we'll still be playing. My soloist will be increasing her difficulty level; my "teamist" & her fellow squishies will probably leave the difficulty low.
Apologies in advance if I'm restating something mentioned earlier in the thread (no coffee yet, barely functioning):
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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.
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Excellent idea for the "squishies," although may I suggest that you let players know this via an email when it's implemented? The forum-goers are a very small population, & I'd hate to see the builds who can handle bosses when solo be suddenly surprised by their absence.
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Players normally receive story arcs only after theyve leveled their Contact up to the highest level.
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If I'm reading this correctly, this is a "long-term" goal. If so, please reconsider. Even with my team (three or four people), we outlevel contacts well before their confidence bars are filled - I'd hate to lose out on story arcs because of that. Currently, we seem to get story arcs within the first few missions done for a contact, although even so we're completing, on average, only two arcs per person per contact level range.
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The Mission UI will be improved to designate various elements of mission: timed missions, team up required, etc.
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Very nice! Might I suggest an "on/off" option so those who want the RP surprise can still have it?
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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!!!
Thank you for listening, and for coming up with an excellent solution that allows for player choice.
Kudos to the dev team!
Invictus Est Level 50 Invul/Fire Tank
Malentis Level 50 Ice/Energy/Leviathan Dom (Freedom)
Black Jeremiah Level 50 Fire/Fire/Mu Dom
Sejanna Level 50 Dark/Dark/Elec Def (Virtue)
Arc #119664 - The MiniMech Cometh - Hess TF Mini-Sequel
Nice change.
Personally I'd like the AV's at high level missions changed to bosses. I'm now stuck with 3 AV missions that I can't complete, even with my SG mates because we are too few active. We almost never streetsweep because we find missions fun to do. I guess I'll have to wait one or two levels more until I can clear those missions, but damn it will take time.
AV's should in my opinions instead be limited to TFs.
Of course I realize that many will disagree with me.
I liked the change allot. It finally required putting together a well balanced team that also had the necessary skill.
It actually required some strategy and felt more like a MMORPG game that I enjoy.
I do realize that some people like to solo and hopefully the slider will make it so those folks can play with themselves again.
What I want to know is what time frame does "Short, Mid, and Long" term mean??
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Nice change.
Personally I'd like the AV's at high level missions changed to bosses. I'm now stuck with 3 AV missions that I can't complete, even with my SG mates because we are too few active. We almost never streetsweep because we find missions fun to do. I guess I'll have to wait one or two levels more until I can clear those missions, but damn it will take time.
AV's should in my opinions instead be limited to TFs.
Of course I realize that many will disagree with me.
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I have a similar issue, but...
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A system will allow players to drop unwanted missions or do old missions that have been passed over.
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So that helps.
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if a player wants to do something solo, it should be CHOICE.
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AMEN!
Awesome Statesman, Awesome! Thank you for listening.
Happiness is Statesman! KUDOS!
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What I would like to see, for groups, is the ability to complete the same mission from multiple team members at the same time.
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Yes *please*. My main alt's in a fairly pro-RP SG, and a core of us runs a lot of our missions together. Sometimes it gets irritating to find RP explanations for having to do the same mission more than once in quick succession.
(e.g., three of us got past 40 recently. All of us have to do the Psychic Clockwork King dimension mission before we can proceed with Tina McIntyre. It's a lovely mission, but it can get tiresome...)
On the other hand, if done wrong this would severely limit the number of missions a char can go on, and might cause gaps like the current hole at 39 to get much, much worse...
Still, something to think about.
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