the "where has Statesman been" explanation
By
5th_Player,
Posted on: 2005-08-03 17:45 in Developers' Corner
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I think the problem here, SirMixaLot, is that you don't account for different types of enemies. You just call them all mobs, total them up, and act as though there's no significant difference between bosses and minions. Surely you admit that there is a large difference between the two? The group you keep referring to, the one in the Rikti Crash Site that inspired the response from States, included something like 3 bosses, 2 lts., and 2 minions. I would say 3 bosses are rather tough, not to mention they had friends.
So if you account for added difficulty found within the enemy group, do you think maybe States' idea of needing a team isn't so far off?
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It was only 2 bosses. And no, even 3 bosses aren't and never have been tough for a level 50 TANKER. Remember, we're talking about a tanker here, not a squishy.
I understand what they're trying to do. Make the game 100 times harder. But that's not realistic at this stage in the game. It's been out way too long to be completely redesigned. People have had too many experiences. There are people out there with whole storylines thought out for their characters. And they revolve around being able to fight more than 3 minions at a time. Are these people supposed to just pretend the last year and a half didn't happen? They're supposed to act like their character ALWAYS sucked? Well guess what....a lot of people won't be willing to do that.
What are the devs telling us with these changes anyway? That they only now realized that heroes were too powerful? That for a year and a half they didn't know that a tanker could fight more than 2 bosses with zero problems? That just proves my original point....that they are completely out of touch with the reality of what it's like to play their game.
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I have to say I prefer your undeited comments over any edited ones. Of course, when I see something that's seems sarcastic from you, I usually agree- and am amazed at your restraint.
As for your brother going to Iraq... I recall he was recently in Korea before. Seems he's chewing the same dirt as this former combat engineer (korea 93-94, Iraq 90-91).
Some words of advice:
Aviod at all costs:
Saudi Scorpions
Kuwaiti Fleas
Iraqi Spiders
and MRE's.
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another 12 bravo eh? 
"bailey bridges are teh suk" as they say in leetspeek
Best wishes to your brother as well as to the many men and women who served our counrty. I thank you.
Please wish your brother luck from me.
My little bro is over in Iraq right now as well. He's a marine.
Luckily for him and my family, he has had a boring and uneventful year stationed at an air base.
I empathize greatly for families with a loved one over there. I understand the stress you feel and how scary it can be.
Hopefully this conflict will be over soon so our family members can come home.
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I understand what they're trying to do. Make the game 100 times harder. But that's not realistic at this stage in the game.
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I don't know, it sounds like, if hte defination of harder is making it more difficult to kill a group of mobs, they might be succeding at it.
Then again, I'm just a defender, so what do I know? </tongue in cheek>
Arc #345863 - When The Bough Breaks
"Curse you Perry the Plata...wait, is that Love Handel?" - Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz, Phineas and Ferb
Family comes first. Its important to keep your priorities straight, and I think everyone in the community can agree that your time was properly spent in this case. Here's to a very boring and uneventful deployment, and I hope he returns home safely and soon.
Fixing defense is second, though, right? 
[Guide to Defense] [Scrapper Secondaries Comparison] [Archetype Popularity Analysis]
In one little corner of the universe, there's nothing more irritating than a misfile...
(Please support the best webcomic about a cosmic universal realignment by impaired angelic interference resulting in identity crisis angst. Or I release the pigmy water thieves.)
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Gang,
Sorry that I've been out of touch for the past week. I spent most of the time with my family back East. My brother is set to deploy in Iraq in just a few days so I wanted to make sure that I saw him off right! He's a hero of mine, and one of the game's most committed players. I can't speak highly enough of my brother and all that he's done for this country.
OK - now back to work stuff. I'm going through my PM's (287 of them at last count) slowly but surely. I at least read, if not respond, to every one of them. Positron and I will also be reading all of the threads over this week and we HOPE to post updates or responses on every single one.
Now, I'll wax philosophic for a moment. Before I left, I posted a couple of things that a few posters thought were "flippant" or "snarky." I certainly didn't intend either...but here's the reality. I do NOT pass my posts through PR, community relations or anyone. I post, well, exactly as I think. So sometimes I won't sound polished like a snake oil salesman. Sometimes, I'll sound just like any other gamer out there. I could have someone edit everything I post - but that would inevitably delay responses and cut back on communication. I think, though I could be wrong, that the majority of you would prefer my honest thoughts, rather than sales talk. It's probably pretty different than the game developer norm, but it's what feels right for me to say. I'm not going to always write the best responses, but you'll at least have truthful ones.
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good luck to your brother...i played an AR/Dev blaster in RL over there for over a year...
my advice:
shoot first ask questions laster....the same sheik that invites you in for supper is the same guy arranging rocket attacks on your base.....i wouldnt say "trust no one"....but be very very discerning.......come back home safe.
Hope your bro a safe and speedy return Jack,and welcome back btw.
And sirmaxalot
50 Fire/Energy Blaster
50 Fire/Rad Controller
50 BS/Regen Scrapper
50 Fire/SS Tanker
49 Ill/FF Controller
48 Kin/Rad Defender
35 DM/SR Scrapper
29 Ice/Energy Blaster
25 Inv/EM Tanker
^^^^^^^^^^^^^ is the reason there are so many nerfs.Case closed..................
Your time away is understandable and was frankly, the right thing to do.
For your brother: Lets all wish him a safe passage through harms way until he returns home safe and sound.
As for the game.. well.. I5.. like some of it.. hate some of it.. hoping it swings the right way.
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It was only 2 bosses. And no, even 3 bosses aren't and never have been tough for a level 50 TANKER. Remember, we're talking about a tanker here, not a squishy.
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You know ... if I could clip off that part of the posting and keep the rest of it - I'd agree with you 100%. But something about that just... Blew off any chances of supporting your view.
That paragraph - right there - is EXACTLY why this nerf is hitting ALL of us.
It's the fact that you assume that the rest of us - should have to scale to YOUR standards. We can't adjust the Tanks - after all, they are the center of the CoH universe?
What - there's other AT's out there? Pffttt... who cares? We're tanks - do you have any idea how many times I've heard from tanks when we were trying to put together a team ... "I can SOLO this mission, we don't need a healer for it - I can take the damage. ", "We don't need a controller - heheheh - I can keep'em aggro'd and locked on me ... ", "Oh, we might want a blaster or a scrapper for damage, It's not really necessary, but it'll go faster."
And anyone who says they haven't heard that or soemthing akin to it while putting together teams, is a liar.
Now, I can understand the desire to keep ones superiority - and skills and abilities. I feel for you - I do. But you were NOT the only AT affected by these changes. You are however acting like you are. It's your arrogance - that just shines a light on the whole "Tanks are not over balanced when you consider what we do..." argument.
It's not about what YOU do - it's about what we ALL of us do. We've spent a year learning to base everything on the super build - or the tank - to such an extent that it's the one AT that people think they can't do without.
This game was never meant to have one build that was not replaceable in a team. It was never meant to have one build that could out-solo, out-team, out whatever - everyone. If you thought it was - then you never read the manual and I'm sorry.
The purpose of an MMO - is that we ALL have a stake in the game and we ALL have a reason to be here.
Like I said, I feel for you - and the fact it's taken them this bloody long to do something about this, allowed us to get attached to a way of play and toons we've created - and then drop this bomb is cruel.
But was it necessary? I guess it was.
>> And my most sincere apologies for going off topic like this -
Wish States' Bro well - and a speedy and safe return. You should never apologise for putting family above a game or a job.
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Hope your bro a safe and speedy return Jack,and welcome back btw.
And sirmaxalot
50 Fire/Energy Blaster
50 Fire/Rad Controller
50 BS/Regen Scrapper
50 Fire/SS Tanker
49 Ill/FF Controller
48 Kin/Rad Defender
35 DM/SR Scrapper
29 Ice/Energy Blaster
25 Inv/EM Tanker
^^^^^^^^^^^^^ is the reason there are so many nerfs.Case closed..................
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That makes perfect sense. Let's penalize everyone else for the success of power gamers. 
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Umm.....what?
Fighting 7 mobs at a time is "herding"? You sound confused.
A couple posts up you basically said that a level 50 tanker shouldn't be able to fight 2 even level bosses at a time....that it should take 3 heroes for that. Now you act like we're talking about herding a whole map and fighting 100 bosses at a time.
We're not. The discussion is about what statesman said....that a group of 7 even level mobs is designed for 5-6 players. If you consider that herding....well I don't even know what to say. But the FACT is....since day 1 of this game, a level 50 tanker had no problem fighting 7 even level mobs. Ever. For a developer to act like the game was designed for that to be impossible shows that he simply has no idea what he's talking about.
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No ... I think you're the one confused.
There is a differance between planning the game around 1 Hero = 3 minions, and how it ended up. Things change. That's the whole point of my post. That level 50 Tank and the fight in RCS was impossable before Issue 1 because neither exsisted prior to it. So it wasn't possable "on day one." Alaso, back then, the Devs wern't looking at Tanks that may or may not have been overpowered, they were looking at Fire/Dev Blasters, because they were what was "overpowered." The forum was full of "City of Blasters" posts and optimized build guides.
Things change. /Respec and fully optimized level 50 builds, Perma-Unstopable Tanks and other such builds, didn't exist before Issue 2. No /respec, no full optimization, no "new" overpowered builds.
Things changed again after Issue 3, into fully optimized Non-Perma-Unstoppable Inv/* Tanks. They didn't exsisted before. How do you fix a nonexsistant overpowered build?
Things change. People learn about the caps and min/max thier character around it. And optimize with /respecs.
Hell, there were posts complaining about the Devs waiting too long to nerf Hasten ... a month and 1/2 into the game. Those were some of the first "The game is doomed" threads too. I could even link to two current threads sugjesting Hasten be nerfed, despite Hasten being nerfed into uslessness 14 months ago. Atleast according to a part of the player base it was "useless." Things change.
The "problem" characters/builds/powers now were either impossable, nonexsistant, or undiscovered 16 months ago. Things change.
NCIS: Best gorram show in the 'verse.
-------------------------
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I could reiterate what I have already, but it'd be redundant and you already got ALOT of reading to do. I.E. a good 99% of us all are PISSED.
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99%? I call shenanigans on you, sir. 
Make your point - don't make up fairy tale statistics.
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Being honest and sounding like [censored] are two different things. One can be done without the other.
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Citations of [censored], please. They must've slipped through the Dev Digest cuz I missed them.
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I could reiterate what I have already, but it'd be redundant and you already got ALOT of reading to do. I.E. a good 99% of us all are PISSED.
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99%? I call shenanigans on you, sir.
Make your point - don't make up fairy tale statistics.
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Clintonian is right. It is really only 98.763% that are pissed off.
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It's the fact that you assume that the rest of us - should have to scale to YOUR standards. We can't adjust the Tanks - after all, they are the center of the CoH universe?
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Guess you didn't realize...but I have at least 1 of each type of AT in the upper levels. My view doesn't come from "a tanker". It comes from somebody who knows how the game is for every AT. And 2 bosses is not some crazy thing nobody but tankers can handle. Not even remotely close. My blaster can easily kill 2 bosses. So can both my controllers. So can both my scrappers. So can most characters in the game....as long as they have a good build and know how to play the game.
Whether that's how the game should be or not can be debated. But it should have been debated BEFORE THE GAME WAS RELEASED. Not 2 years after. Did the devs really not play a SINGLE time before releasing the game? Or at any point in the last 2 years? Did they not spend even FIVE MINUTES jumping into a group of mobs with a tanker and saying "wow.....these 50 mobs cant hurt me at all...maybe heroes are too strong".
NO! They obviously didn't! Because only now, almost 2 years later, is it suddenly a "problem".
Anyway, call me crazy, but I'm annoyed by the fact that I (and most knowledgeable posters on these forums) know more about the game then the people who make it.
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I could reiterate what I have already, but it'd be redundant and you already got ALOT of reading to do. I.E. a good 99% of us all are PISSED.
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99%? I call shenanigans on you, sir.
Make your point - don't make up fairy tale statistics.
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Clintonian is right. It is really only 98.763% that are pissed off.
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I knew I was right! Wait... 
Too much shananigans.
Good luck and safe return to your brother. I hope he has as uneventful a tour in Iraq as my recently returned cousin did in Afganistan.
And now, back to the game.
Godspeed and safe return to your brother States
@Deadboy
Kudos to you guys for doing a good job at keeping things interesting and for keeping me on my toes. I'm liking most of the changes that you've come up for I5. AoE, burn, and controller double nerf are the only ones that seem a little too far still. However, I've known that these changes are what you have intended all this time.
Let your brother know that we are proud of him and his fellow soldiers. To him, "Godspeed.", and a safe return.
/em salute
I want to say that if I ever sound hateful by any of my frustration I don't mean it. Change is always difficult and in the end, it's just a game. Good luck with CoV.
And of course I understand your other responsibilities. As a matter of fact, I am completely surprised at how available you are, and at how much you get involved. I've never had this kind of support and customer care in any online game ever, much less any game.
Taking As much an unbiased view as I can take, you really have done a good job making comprises between your vision and the customer's vision, and at the same time keeping the best balance you can between all the ATs.
Again, kudos to the staff of CoH.
Thank you all for the kind things that you are saying about me. I have been in the Army for 18 years and I don't think I have ever gotten so much attention before going someplace, and I have been a lot of places. Again thank you. I appreciate it very much. Good luck to all of you who have family deployed, may they have a speedy and healthful return.
And maybe when I come back I can test fire some of Deadboy's fried rice with spam and french fries.
To the Top!
Issue 5 changes aside for a moment, be safe over there States' bro.
Champion-
Flaming Intern/Tanker(main)
The Ice Albatross/Blaster
Apollonius/Controller
Valtrix/Defender
All the tank sets in the Intern variety
Burning Intern/Brute(CoV Main)
And the list goes on...
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Now, I'll wax philosophic for a moment. Before I left, I posted a couple of things that a few posters thought were "flippant" or "snarky."
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A FEW??
Is that a snarky response itself? Or did you only read a few of our complaints that addressed your commentary as flippant, snide, or downright rude?
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I certainly didn't intend either...but here's the reality. I do NOT pass my posts through PR, community relations or anyone. I post, well, exactly as I think. So sometimes I won't sound polished like a snake oil salesman. Sometimes, I'll sound just like any other gamer out there. I could have someone edit everything I post - but that would inevitably delay responses and cut back on communication. I think, though I could be wrong, that the majority of you would prefer my honest thoughts, rather than sales talk. It's probably pretty different than the game developer norm, but it's what feels right for me to say. I'm not going to always write the best responses, but you'll at least have truthful ones.
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Ya know what, Jack? We do want honesty... but we also want respect. Not phoney, disingenuous answers from a PR person... we want to be addressed honestly, but we don't want to be talked down to from the high and mighty Statesman. THAT is what people were complaining about, not your honesty.
Of course, when you have dozens of posters who overread into anything Statesman posts and takes it as an insult, it gets kind of hard to respect those posters, too.
Current Badge Hunter: Plot Device (Rad/Thermal/Dark) - 1,268 Xbox Live: Friggin Taser
King of Electricity, Lead Inmate running the Carl and Sons asylum, the "Man" behind the Establishment, Given Honor in Hat Form By Paragon City (Favorite Forum Poster 2006!), Master of Ceremonies of the Fair Use Law podcast
These are valid reasons for being absent. I don't see any reason for you having to explain your absence to us, the board members though. Especially seeing as how it's none of my business. Even so, it's good to see you do so.
While I do not condone the acts being perpetrated in Iraq, I do wish for both your brother, and everyone else down there, to make it home safe and sound.