[ QUOTE ]
Better yet, why don't you create an anti-archvillain Task Force for us the way you made an anti-hero Strike Force for the villains, so we can give up this whole silly Hamidon Raiding thing.
[/ QUOTE ]
That would rule.
I'm hoping, one day, for a Zig breakout of multiple archvillains orchestrated by Nemesis to distract the heroes from his real scheme, something multi-dimensional or galactic in scale.
Please try my custom mission arcs!
Legacy of a Rogue (ID 459586, Entry for Dr. Aeon's Third Challenge)
Death for Dollars! (ID 1050)
Dr. Duplicate's Dastardly Dare (ID 1218)
Win the Past, Own the Future (ID 1429)
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
So - here it is.
Added to the patch notes:
The Hamidon has been increased in difficulty. It is now capable of using one of its attack powers even when Held, Slept, or Stunned.
[/ QUOTE ]
Can this please be reconsidered? The potential for griefing a Hami raid has just dramatically increased with this change. Before, if hami was held, the hold team knew that they were relatively safe, even if the hold was dropped for a second. Now that is no longer the case. Any character with a taunt power can now grief the raid at any point. Even after Hami is held and being killed. And if a griefer does this when Hami is below half health it will cause a mito spawn and therefore a failed raid. I have personally witnessed griefers attempt to draw Hamidon aggro onto the hold team many times in the past. The attempt would fail because Hami did not attack while held.
In fact, now that I think of it, even a well-meaning tank who is just trying to get their hit in so they get a Hami-O could fail the raid if they attack during the hold phase. Again, please reconsider this change.
[/ QUOTE ]
The Cryptic KR3W need to consider a couple other factors for PuG (server-wide) raids. Large scale raids (100-150 people) tend to turn off powers that can cause lag (auras, heal spam, dispersion bubble, also capes) when you reach a hold phase. Typically you have lots of people tightly packed, firing powers. This is all done to reduce server/client lag to prevent Hamidon from escaping the hold.
If you brainiacs want to hold a free-for-all Hamidon raid, I'd be glad to show up & spam my powers & show you the meaning of lag. In fact, I could bring my tank & simulate some good griefing action.
[ QUOTE ]
Is this separate from Gauntlet/punchvoke, or just the implementation of that inherent power?
[/ QUOTE ]
Yes, this has nothing to do with taunt or Tankers in general.
Blue
American Steele: 50 BS/Inv
Nightfall: 50 DDD
Sable Slayer: 50 DM/Rgn
Fortune's Shadow: 50 Dark/Psi
WinterStrike: 47 Ice/Dev
Quantum Well: 43 Inv/EM
Twilit Destiny: 43 MA/DA
Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
Final Rest: 50 MA/Rgn
Abyssal Frost: 50 Ice/Dark
Golden Ember: 50 SM/FA
[ QUOTE ]
The Hamidon has been increased in difficulty. It is now capable of using one of its attack powers even when Held, Slept, or Stunned.
[/ QUOTE ]
I wonder how long it will be before this kind of "balance" is filtered down to the rest of the game. Hold, Disorient, and Sleep, the new Immobilization!
Feh. Sometimes, I honestly wonder if Cryptic is using crack as its primary means of "creativity stimulation".
[ QUOTE ]
Evidently Hammy got a laser beam on it's head a long time ago but just now figured out how to use it.
[/ QUOTE ]
Weeee...ooooo
Weeee...ooooo
Ok, pull it over.
Consistency Police. I'm sorry miss, I am going to have to give you a ticket for incorrectly referencing Hamidon as an it instead of a he.
Carry on.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
...The Hamidon and the Mitochandria were specifically exempted from the original AV/GM changes. As such, there is nothing to roll back for them, in this regard.
[/ QUOTE ]
Oh, so it's not like you guys forgot to mention in your patch notes the OTHER things you specifically decided to do to him and the Mitos, right? You kept mum on purpose? Brilliant.
[/ QUOTE ]
They have always stated that Hamidon will continue to change to be a challenge.
Still here, even after all this time!
I bet they wouldn't mind giving villains a chance to catch up either. *shrug*
[ QUOTE ]
Added to the patch notes:
The Hamidon has been increased in difficulty. It is now capable of using one of its attack powers even when Held, Slept, or Stunned.
[/ QUOTE ]
I guarantee you that some of the idiots on Victory are going to grief raids. The Giant Monster changes were eventually going to cause some problem (not too difficult to contain). But the firing while held change will guarantee that raids will fail. Not because the change made the encounter dynamic, but because some low-life gets a thrill out of ruining the gameplay experience of dozens of others.
Just to give you an example: A couple months ago, one of our vociferous "griefers" went out of his way to wait for a scheduled raid to form just so he could (1) verbally berrate the organizers & (2) get a HO too boot. Now, this guy waited in the Hive for three hours after the scheduled time (partial miscommunication & people forgetting the time while trying out I7 on Test) just to do this (and the raid took 1.5 hours, so 4.5 hours total).
We have also had griefers of the traditional sort (pulling monsters) and those that pull Hamidon fire into the Bubble.
This change make raiding a bit more complicated (not really all that much more difficult though), but makes the possibility of griefing much more likely. Thanks. 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
...The Hamidon and the Mitochandria were specifically exempted from the original AV/GM changes. As such, there is nothing to roll back for them, in this regard.
[/ QUOTE ]
Oh, so it's not like you guys forgot to mention in your patch notes the OTHER things you specifically decided to do to him and the Mitos, right? You kept mum on purpose? Brilliant.
[/ QUOTE ]
They have always stated that Hamidon will continue to change to be a challenge.
[/ QUOTE ]
Not lately ... not for a very long while ... and more importantly - not when I7 went to test and live. Brilliant.
[ QUOTE ]
The Hamidon has been increased in difficulty. It is now capable of using one of its attack powers even when Held, Slept, or Stunned.
[/ QUOTE ]
k, the part in bold is gonna need some clarification. If "one of its attack powers" doesn't mean "only his blast power", then I fear you might be saying Hamidon may be able to "pop" even when Held. Need more info. ASAP.
But thanks, Cuppa! This change has been driving us batty, but knowing it's intended (no matter how stupid and pointless a change it may be) will be a big help in working around it. 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
...The Hamidon and the Mitochandria were specifically exempted from the original AV/GM changes. As such, there is nothing to roll back for them, in this regard.
[/ QUOTE ]
Oh, so it's not like you guys forgot to mention in your patch notes the OTHER things you specifically decided to do to him and the Mitos, right? You kept mum on purpose? Brilliant.
[/ QUOTE ]
They have always stated that Hamidon will continue to change to be a challenge.
[/ QUOTE ]
Which is prolly why I find it interesting that despite this change, he was still beat.
Let's Dance!
[ QUOTE ]
... Which is prolly why I find it interesting that despite this change, he was still beat.
[/ QUOTE ]
Small consolation, considering the reward was not changed to match the risk. In fact, for some, the reward was simply removed. Now that's challenge. Brilliant.
This change concerns me. It feels like they're rebalancing Hamidon to match the difficulty of the Villain Recluse SF, but Hamidon raids have inherent drawbacks that the Recluse SF does not. To quote a post (one of mine) from the Recluse SF thread:
[ QUOTE ]
Hamidon Raids have the following problems:
<ul type="square"> [*]Requires the gathering of 70+ Heroes (including several Illusion Controllers, many healers, and a dozen or so Radiation Defenders) to have a chance at taking Hamidon.
[*]So many players in one zone causes crippling lag which makes managing and conducting a raid difficult, particularly if many players are disconnected.
[*]Due to the lag and monotonous activity, raids are often boring, unchallenging, and frustrating. Many players opt to log in only near the end of the raid, attack Hamidon once, and gain the HO without contributing. This makes raids even more difficult to start, as many players won't gather to clear mitos or GMs, only attack Hamidon.
[*]Hamidon Raids are extremely susceptible to griefing, due to the Hive's open nature and the abundance of GMs easily pulled to Hamidon's valley. Recently, on Victory, griefers spawned a Kronos Titan which decimated the raiders during the Hold phase and caused the Raid to fail. Any GM would have done as well.
[*]Additionally, Hamidon is impossible to farm. After he is defeated, he doesn't reappear for a number of hours, and I doubt if you could find a group of 70+ players to do Hamidon twice in a day (if he resets in time).[/list]
The Recluse SF may indeed be difficult and require a greater time investment than a Hamidon raid, but it doesn't suffer from any of the problems of a Hamidon raid.
<ul type="square">[*]It requires only 8 Villains, not 70, making organization a non-issue.
[*]8 players will not cause extreme lag.
[*]8 +4 AVs is not boring or unchallenging. Frustrating? Probably. 
[*]Griefing just doesn't really happen in such small settings. Most attention- need audiences larger than 8 people to really get off. Also, any griefer can simply be kicked by the team leader.
[*]Even though the Recluse SG (currently) takes a while to complete, it can still be farmed.[/list]
I also agree with many previous posters who suggest that the Recluse SF will gradually require a smaller and smaller time investment. As strategies are developed and more players attempt it, it will be turned into a science, just as Hami raids have been.
In the end, I think the Recluse SF and Hamidon Raids will be balanced, and I personally wish a Hero version of the SF would be created. Hamidon Raids are agony to me, and I don't do them anymore because they're so difficult to make successful, not to mention being 2-3 hours of lagged boredom.
[/ QUOTE ]
In summary, I just don't believe Hamidon needs buffing, because it already presents unique challenges of its own. Its true that many servers do them often (and successfully) nonetheless, but changes like these could completely stop Hamidon raids, not just slow them down.
[ QUOTE ]
So - here it is.
Added to the patch notes:
The Hamidon has been increased in difficulty. It is now capable of using one of its attack powers even when Held, Slept, or Stunned.
Evidently Hammy got a laser beam on it's head a long time ago but just now figured out how to use it.
The Mitos are AVs and are acting according to this patch note:
AVs/Heroes and Giant Monsters now ignore threat level damage multipliers for different Archetypes. They are still affected by Taunt as before.
As for the drops? Bug.
[/ QUOTE ]
So you went and took the one bit of end game PVE content in the game...and made it virtually unplayable and trivial to grief...undetectably.
this sucks. Do you people realize we are here instead of playing a game because we want to have FUN?
My arcs are constantly shifting, just search for GadgetDon for the latest.
The world beware! I've started a blog
GadgetMania Under Attack: The Digg Lockout
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
So - here it is.
Added to the patch notes:
The Hamidon has been increased in difficulty. It is now capable of using one of its attack powers even when Held, Slept, or Stunned.
Evidently Hammy got a laser beam on it's head a long time ago but just now figured out how to use it.
The Mitos are AVs and are acting according to this patch note:
AVs/Heroes and Giant Monsters now ignore threat level damage multipliers for different Archetypes. They are still affected by Taunt as before.
As for the drops? Bug.
[/ QUOTE ]
So you went and took the one bit of end game PVE content in the game...and made it virtually unplayable and trivial to grief...undetectably.
this sucks. Do you people realize we are here instead of playing a game because we want to have FUN?
[/ QUOTE ]
Sorry are you asking for some thinking before changes?
Cuppa
[ QUOTE ]
So - here it is.
Added to the patch notes:
The Hamidon has been increased in difficulty. It is now capable of using one of its attack powers even when Held, Slept, or Stunned.
Evidently Hammy got a laser beam on it's head a long time ago but just now figured out how to use it.
The Mitos are AVs and are acting according to this patch note:
AVs/Heroes and Giant Monsters now ignore threat level damage multipliers for different Archetypes. They are still affected by Taunt as before.
As for the drops? Bug.
[/ QUOTE ]
Castle
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Will the proposed AV Regen rollback effect Mitos and Hami?
[/ QUOTE ]
The Hamidon and the Mitochandria were specifically exempted from the original AV/GM changes. As such, there is nothing to roll back for them, in this regard.
[/ QUOTE ]
Castle all you are doing is allowing griefers a better chance to cause deaths. before if hami was held. someone with taunt could not cause the holding team to die. now he/she can.
This is not good. I am getting more and more upset with this game. The only thing I seem to get is nerfs. GDN / ED / Aggro cap / cap on numbers that can be hit. And now your going to buff GM's AV's and the friggen hami??? WAKE UP! This game is starting to become less less fun.
[color=gold][b][size=5]♪ Sometimes you feel like a Tank, Sometimes you don't! ♪[/size][/color][/b]
[url=http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=114726][color=black][b][size=5]Moon [color=red]Hazard [color=black]Zone![/size][/color][/color][/color][/b][/url]
Honestly, where is the fun in this change? The idea of every change in the game should first and formost be for fun. You have a held monster that can still attack regardless? Who thought up that wonderful idea?
I'm starting to think that we need to seriously go back on some issues that are present in the game. The devs are just making it too hard. I dont know if this is Matt's idea of the game now that he's lead designer and Jack's over and in charge of the whole thing or what? But I liked it much better before.
Honestly, you have a mob in game that can be held, but can attack when held? Where did you come up with this wonderful idea?
<censored!!!>
'If Champions Online is what "CoH was supposed to be", I'm glad that I have what I have rather than "what it was supposed to be".' - The Alt oholic
"I solo'd Hamidon...but I also totally cheated." - Back Alley Brawler
"It is still early. Someone is going to get stabbed tonight I can feel it." - Ishmael (said in Jello Shooters chat)
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Will the proposed AV Regen rollback effect Mitos and Hami?
[/ QUOTE ]
The Hamidon and the Mitochandria were specifically exempted from the original AV/GM changes. As such, there is nothing to roll back for them, in this regard.
[/ QUOTE ]
THat seems to be contrary to what Cuppa said in
http://tinyurl.com/qgxad
.... so ... what's the deal? I must just not understand it?
-RC
These hami changes is probably one of the stupidest changes I've ever seen happen to this game. I'm not looking forward to our next Victory raid on Saturday.
What I'm going to do, however, is ask someone to try and record the raid since I know lots of people are going to show up to grief. These changes are begging for it to happen.
[ QUOTE ]
They have always stated that Hamidon will continue to change to be a challenge.
[/ QUOTE ]
Thats fine. Problem is:
*) This did absolutely zero to make Hamidon more challenging or threatening. He fires at the Tanekr brigade for a full hour. Making him fire at them for another 20 minutes is utterly and completely meaningless.
*) This is a raid that, unique in all of the "City" gamedom, requires several dozen people and specific, organized tactics. If they want to change the formula for victory, that's cool. Not at least telling us it changed is not cool. If they don't tell us we don't know if it's just (another) bug or what. And that is a huge, huge potential waste of time.
You really need to lay off the dev apologist track and think about whether how they're doing things (if not what) are really better. Because I really do not see this as better in any way.
Blue
American Steele: 50 BS/Inv
Nightfall: 50 DDD
Sable Slayer: 50 DM/Rgn
Fortune's Shadow: 50 Dark/Psi
WinterStrike: 47 Ice/Dev
Quantum Well: 43 Inv/EM
Twilit Destiny: 43 MA/DA
Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
Final Rest: 50 MA/Rgn
Abyssal Frost: 50 Ice/Dark
Golden Ember: 50 SM/FA
[ QUOTE ]
THat seems to be contrary to what Cuppa said in
http://tinyurl.com/qgxad
.... so ... what's the deal? I must just not understand it?
[/ QUOTE ]
Not really. Castle said that the global AV/GM boost (mostly regen) never applied to Hami or the mitos. Cuppa said that Hami had been changed in a way that was not related to the global AV/GM changes.
It's still very disappointing that this went out without a patch note. I don't even think it's important for them to give details, just a note saying, "Hami has mutated and his powers/defenses work differently now" would be enough to make it interesting for a lot of folks again.
From Cuppa:
[ QUOTE ]
The Mitos are AVs and are acting according to this patch note:
AVs/Heroes and Giant Monsters now ignore threat level damage multipliers for different Archetypes. They are still affected by Taunt as before.
[/ QUOTE ]
From _Castle_
[ QUOTE ]
The Hamidon and the Mitochandria were specifically exempted from the original AV/GM changes. As such, there is nothing to roll back for them, in this regard.
[/ QUOTE ]
Which is it?
Anyone want to bet on Hami's shooting while held being a bug that they just don't feel like hunting down and fixing?
Other than telling when Hami's held this is a fairly minor issue; if the taunt tank has a decently slotted taunt then it should be really hard for griefers to steal aggro. We had a SG try to grief our raid on Guardian a while back by starting taunt first, then dragging the aggro into the hold group, and while the griefing tank had Hami aggro we were unable to get it away from him.
COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
[ QUOTE ]
From Cuppa:
[ QUOTE ]
The Mitos are AVs and are acting according to this patch note:
AVs/Heroes and Giant Monsters now ignore threat level damage multipliers for different Archetypes. They are still affected by Taunt as before.
[/ QUOTE ]
From _Castle_
[ QUOTE ]
The Hamidon and the Mitochandria were specifically exempted from the original AV/GM changes. As such, there is nothing to roll back for them, in this regard.
[/ QUOTE ]
Which is it?
[/ QUOTE ]
He was obviously referring to the Regen increase, not the AI change. Probably had a pretty long day of fixing bugs and getting them to QA.
Still here, even after all this time!
[ QUOTE ]
What other attacks?
Hamidon has one attack.
[/ QUOTE ]
They're probably counting the 2 mito spawn powers and the cytoplasm slow effect as attacks.