[ QUOTE ]
Theres another form of non-repeatable content in Co*, Badges. Plenty of these are story related, and are not allready used in Accolades. A reasonable additional vector for providing Type B drops.
Other potental ways Type B drops could be provided:
Mayhem/Safeguard Missions
Mayhem/Safeguard side mission.
Specialized contacts
Seasonal Events
Task Forces/Trials (Put in a hard to get accolade that opens up this option)
A new antagonist group (Whatever happened to that Batallion...)
"Glowies"
[/ QUOTE ]
Cool so far.
[ QUOTE ]
PvP rewards
[/ QUOTE ]
Only if I get to deck you with a brick every five seconds for the rest of your life.
[ QUOTE ]
Information Kiosks (Lead that totals board, and get a prize; that was the old plan, no?)
None of these need to be in place of Story Arcs, any (or all with low enough frequency) could be in addition to Arcs.
[/ QUOTE ]
Could work well, true. So long as *vomits* PvP is not the ONLY non-Arc method of acquisition.
Really, so long as there is a way for characters who've already passed stuff to either be given the drops they "should" have earned(granting via Souvenirs), or to "re-earn" them via some other method(the above list, and a plethora of other ideas), AND the Pool B rewards are NOT "OMGWTHBBQuhbahraerlewtz" that ALSO happen to be the most powerful of tools, then it should be OK. If Pool B stuff IS the "UBERLEWT" that such a massively limited system seems to imply...then it needs to be DRAMATICALLY changed. Diablo 2 had Pindleskinning for Stormspire. CoH doesn't need the equivalent.
[ QUOTE ]
I would be extremely surprised if the non-repeatable nature of story arcs was not the foundation for the idea of Pool B in the first place.
[/ QUOTE ]
I'm not disagreeing with you, because I think although few people have said it, this is indeed the case. Look at the retarded spawn rate of Jack during Halloween, or how stupidly difficult it is to get a Snowball or even a Rock. There is apparently a camp of devs which seems to harbor the belief that harder/more frustrating/LONGER = better or more fun. Its the same misguided design philosophy that led to the cost of the base plot, or the cost of some empowerment recipes, or the ridiculous difficulty in finding something as straight forward as a Level 53 End Mod SO.
The only thing worse than devs making bad decisions is the hoard of fanboys and bootlickers that keep cheering them on.
[ QUOTE ]
I do not ask them to run my story arc. I just find it sad that fewer and fewer people are running any story arcs.
Also, if I team with people in the same level range as me, it is fairly easy to run missions shared by multiple members of team. Each teammate has the option of choosing to accept completion of their shared missions upon completion of 1 single version of it. This is the manner in which many people have played CoV since launch. This option has been available to CoH since i8 released. Some people take advantage of the option. Some people don't.
Quite simply, if I dislike what my PuG is doing, I can always leave. I do this when it becomes perceived by me that my goals differ from the group's (IE, only running the highest level teammate's missions,only running paper/radio missions in an attempt to capitalize on easily obtained mission bonuses, etc) These are things I don't enjoy, so I don't participate.
Cooperative story arch completion is similar to running a tf/sf/trial. Form a team looking to run the Frost Fire Arc > Align the team's missions > Get a reward for everyone. It is even simpler than the standard tf/sf/trial in the fact that members may leave/join at any point without disrupting the process. Group breaks up > replace lost members with interested parties. New person wants to join > invite freely if space is available. In this way, even the unsoloable build can complete arcs.
We, the players already have the tools in place to cooperatively complete story arcs. Placing Pool B recipes as the rewards for doing so provides us with incentive.
[/ QUOTE ]
It's easier to get the same missions in CoV then it is in CoH for sharing completion. If you're not all getting the same stuff from a contact, until you start a story arc then you're not going to be able to do things that everyone can use the completion feature on. Also some story arcs (i've only run into this issue 2x myself) seem to give some of the missions in different order to some people, you can't use completion there either.
Djeannie's Costume Creator Overhaul Wishlist
Carnie Base
"Once the avalanche has started, it is too late for the pebbles to vote" -Kosh
I had a great idea (forgive me if this was already suggested or solved in the thread already, but i don't have time to read all 46 pages atm).
What if there was a 50+ contact in Portal Corp that would allow you to do previous story arc in the game, but without the souveneir reward, just the loot.
here's an example "Yuuden, great to see you, Savage Earth is in need of your services again"...
"Remember the Terra conspiracy? Well on savage earth, Their Hamidon has just set these plans into motion, unfortunately, The residents of that world have had great difficulty in stopping this plan of the DE, and have once again requested your service"
So, you get your buddies together, and do the missions, but as if they are 50+ much more difficult, all missions originating from portal corps portals. Once you complete th"Story Arc" you get the "choose a reward" screen, but and the loot from the story arc pool. but you don't get the Hamidon's Love Letter souveneir.
of course, the story arcs would obviously need to be adjusted, some missions replaced with others, some dropped, some added to make the story fit together (you aren't going to get fooled by some diversion nemesis sets up if you've already done it before on Earth, and now know it's a trap).
----
@Yuuden on Victory Server.
Badge count as of 02/01/11: 1165
[ QUOTE ]
It's easier to get the same missions in CoV then it is in CoH for sharing completion. If you're not all getting the same stuff from a contact, until you start a story arc then you're not going to be able to do things that everyone can use the completion feature on. Also some story arcs (i've only run into this issue 2x myself) seem to give some of the missions in different order to some people, you can't use completion there either.
[/ QUOTE ]
Even in CoV, the contacts don't give all the arcs they offer in the same order. So above the levels where they offer more than a couple of arcs, you quickly get out of synch with others. If they offer any "one-off" missions, it's even worse, as sometimes they offer these before, between or after their SA offerings.
In short, I find cooperative missions pretty uncommon outside of holiday event missions and very low level characters who started together.
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 ]
[ QUOTE ]
It's easier to get the same missions in CoV then it is in CoH for sharing completion. If you're not all getting the same stuff from a contact, until you start a story arc then you're not going to be able to do things that everyone can use the completion feature on. Also some story arcs (i've only run into this issue 2x myself) seem to give some of the missions in different order to some people, you can't use completion there either.
[/ QUOTE ]
Even in CoV, the contacts don't give all the arcs they offer in the same order. So above the levels where they offer more than a couple of arcs, you quickly get out of synch with others. If they offer any "one-off" missions, it's even worse, as sometimes they offer these before, between or after their SA offerings.
In short, I find cooperative missions pretty uncommon outside of holiday event missions and very low level characters who started together.
[/ QUOTE ]
My experience too.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
PvP rewards
[/ QUOTE ]
Only if I get to deck you with a brick every five seconds for the rest of your life.
[/ QUOTE ]
PvP rewards are very easy to farm. One recipe chance per PvP point? "You stab my back and I'll stab yours." 100 point rep badge? Meh. Takes an hour or so. Much shorter than a CoH story arc. ANY sort of PvP reward that I can think of would either be very easy to farm or else it would be so difficult to farm (1000 point rep anyone?) that it would become nigh impossible to obtain without farming it.
On the plus side... it would virtually eliminate PvP zone whining...
"HEY!! You ganked me!! WOOOOOT!!" 
"OK, first of all... Shut Up." - My 13-Year-Old Daughter
29973 "The Running of the Bulls" [SFMA] - WINNER of the Mighty Big Story Arc Contest !
- The Stellar Wind Orbital Space Platform
Ehh, I only listed PvP just for the sake of completeness. I don't like PvP in MMOGs, its never been done right, and probably never will be.
The point is, there are a ton of things that could grant Type B drops, in addition to Story Arcs. Many of them are allready designed to provide rewards, and several can be as highly limited as Story Arcs are.
---------------------------------------------------
As for retroactive Story Arc salvage/recipie drops, datamining isn't nessicary if your willing to fudge things a little bit.
In CoH there are aproximately 5 arcs per level, characters could be awarded a one time bonus of one or two Type B drops for each of the level badges, with possible bonuses based on account time or if the character is a Kheld (who have more arcs).
It does reward everyone of the same level equally, regardless of what Arcs they've done, but it has to be a heck of alot easier than datamining for the actual arcs for each character.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I do not ask them to run my story arc. I just find it sad that fewer and fewer people are running any story arcs.
Also, if I team with people in the same level range as me, it is fairly easy to run missions shared by multiple members of team. Each teammate has the option of choosing to accept completion of their shared missions upon completion of 1 single version of it. This is the manner in which many people have played CoV since launch. This option has been available to CoH since i8 released. Some people take advantage of the option. Some people don't.
[/ QUOTE ]
Nope. My SG have actively been trying to do mission sharing in CoH, and its virtually impossible to do, due to:
<ul type="square">[*]Contacts giving out missions in random order. Makes synchronizing for those contacts in a team larger than three pure <hot-place-below>.[*]The order the contacts are given to you depends on your origin. E.g. after completing a SafeGuard you are given different contact options, so not all members of the team can even get the same contacts to continue with.[*]You dont stay synchronized by level. Post 30, you SK a lot if you play within a smallish SG. Which means the side-kicked character is out of luck as far as sharing and arc competions go.[*]Same with PuGs: They also SK a lot, with the same problem for the SK:ed character.[/list]
It is easier to share CoV arcs. There random order missions are simply frustrating enough to make people antsy and irritatated, and you dont have the problem recieving the same contacts. You still have to make dedicated groups that don't stray in level to play with your friends though, as sidekicking is still troublesome.
[/ QUOTE ]
Just want to echo these sentiments. I run a small SG of RL friends and we make a very concerted effort to run all the story arcs with out team characters* but had to give up due to the impracticalities.
* We have characters we only use on Team-Night
This is a song about a super hero named Tony. Its called Tony's theme.
Jagged Reged: 23/01/04
There would be no datamining needed. All that would be needed would be the game checking a character on log in for the presence of a souviner. If a character has it, the character gets a drop from Pool B. At which point the souviner gets a flag saying that the souviner has been awarded. All done.
Or they could add a click to the souviners to "award" a drop from Pool B.
Personally, I would rather have something repeatable so there isn't a finite supply of Pool B drops. Trying the Pool B to story arcs does just that. Let me stress this: There could be a point when outside of deleting a character that you cannot get Pool B drops from your own characters at all.
So, say you hated kheldains, and had CoH and CoV. Average say 30 arcs per character and you'll max out at 360 drops from Pool B (if you started playing the day Issue 9 goes live). Now given that many players that are posting have been around a bit, have multiple characters, with those characters being 15-50 who are now locked out of various arcs.
In my case 11 character slots on Triumph have characters over 13. (1 in the 10-20 range, 4 in the 20-30 range, 3 in the 30-40 range, 1 in the 40-45 range, and 2 level 50s).
Under the proposed system, I would be getting significantly less than 360 drops. Some would have been lost thanks to the double xp weekends, a lot from just teaming with friends, and a few because I just couldn't get to them before I outlevelled them.
Now, I don't know what Cryptic has planned, but say the average user can only get 250 of those Pool B drops, thanks to teaming, events, other problems (including being blocked from a new arc by an old one). At this point there isn't a lot of influx of new Pool B drops into the game, and the prices skyrocket.
I played Diablo 2 for 4 years, I never saw many ultra rare drops, and after the introduction of runes, I never even heard (outside of bot farmers) anyone having a Zod rune. I disliked ultra-rares in Diablo 2, and I don't want to see it here.
Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters
Snow_Globe's post has reminded me of something I've wanted since it occured to me. The ability to go back with any character and complete story arcs that you have outlevelled.
I think the best way to accomplish this would be to have the character auto-exemplar'ed to the maximum level for the arc. A warning would be displayed to alert you to the exemplar status in the NPC dialogue window before you pick up the mission.
Something like: "You have exceeded the maximum security level for this mission. If you choose to accept this mission, you will be set to the maximum security level until the mission is cleared."
It'd be a great way for people to clear debt or earn influence while getting to enjoy the game's stoylines without worrying about outlevelling their contacts.
I love running in full teams, but you can't experience everything the game has to offer like that. Unless, of course, you lead the team and refuse to do anyone else's missions. Solo'ing works, too, but it's not terribly exciting.
[ QUOTE ]
I had a great idea (forgive me if this was already suggested or solved in the thread already, but i don't have time to read all 46 pages atm).
What if there was a 50+ contact in Portal Corp that would allow you to do previous story arc in the game, but without the souveneir reward, just the loot.
here's an example "Yuuden, great to see you, Savage Earth is in need of your services again"...
"Remember the Terra conspiracy? Well on savage earth, Their Hamidon has just set these plans into motion, unfortunately, The residents of that world have had great difficulty in stopping this plan of the DE, and have once again requested your service"
So, you get your buddies together, and do the missions, but as if they are 50+ much more difficult, all missions originating from portal corps portals. Once you complete th"Story Arc" you get the "choose a reward" screen, but and the loot from the story arc pool. but you don't get the Hamidon's Love Letter souveneir.
of course, the story arcs would obviously need to be adjusted, some missions replaced with others, some dropped, some added to make the story fit together (you aren't going to get fooled by some diversion nemesis sets up if you've already done it before on Earth, and now know it's a trap).
[/ QUOTE ]
how about that?
----
@Yuuden on Victory Server.
Badge count as of 02/01/11: 1165
My opinion.
I support the idea that previously gain souvenirs should be used to ensure higher level characters will gain the rare invention drops they have earned by finishing arcs.
This may torque off power-leveled characters but I do think the devs made it apparent that there were costs to power-leveling.
[ QUOTE ]
My opinion.
I support the idea that previously gain souvenirs should be used to ensure higher level characters will gain the rare invention drops they have earned by finishing arcs.
This may torque off power-leveled characters but I do think the devs made it apparent that there were costs to power-leveling.
[/ QUOTE ]
What about my Controller who didnt get Power Leveled but couldnt solo or complete his own Missions, so he has hardly any contacts, no souveniers and is just SoL on his completed Story Arcs?
No, I have not read this entire thread, so forgive me if someone has already posted this.
The good doctor says this :[ QUOTE ]
* Some of the sets (the rarer ones), have parts of them that are only attainable by completing a Story Arc.
[/ QUOTE ] (emphasis mine)
Then, he says this:[ QUOTE ]
Now again, I must stress, the majority of sets, including entire complete sets come from simply defeating enemies. All the costume piece and temp power recipes come from defeating enemies. There are Rare recipes (ones that have a worse chance to drop than others) in Pool A (the defeating enemies pool) as well.
[/ QUOTE ](again, emphasis mine)
OK, look at the two bold parts, and tell me, don't they contradict one another? Either you can get anything from defeating any enemies, or not. Am I reading this wrong? Can anyone point me in the direction of clarity? Can anyone convince me to start playing again and finish my arc's now? (both boudicia AND skroo bahl are on the cusp of finishing arcs)
"The cure for cowardice is not more whimpering and cringing, but to bare your teeth." Fr. Pontefescue
"The earth is not dying, it is being killed, and those who are killing it have names and addresses." ~ Utah Phillips
Remember Greg McKendry
[ QUOTE ]
No, I have not read this entire thread, so forgive me if someone has already posted this.
The good doctor says this :[ QUOTE ]
* Some of the sets (the rarer ones), have parts of them that are only attainable by completing a Story Arc.
[/ QUOTE ] (emphasis mine)
Then, he says this:[ QUOTE ]
Now again, I must stress, the majority of sets, including entire complete sets come from simply defeating enemies. All the costume piece and temp power recipes come from defeating enemies. There are Rare recipes (ones that have a worse chance to drop than others) in Pool A (the defeating enemies pool) as well.
[/ QUOTE ](again, emphasis mine)
OK, look at the two bold parts, and tell me, don't they contradict one another? Either you can get anything from defeating any enemies, or not. Am I reading this wrong? Can anyone point me in the direction of clarity? Can anyone convince me to start playing again and finish my arc's now? (both boudicia AND skroo bahl are on the cusp of finishing arcs)
[/ QUOTE ]
Different pools are from different sources. The big complaint is pool B is only from story arcs.
[ QUOTE ]
My opinion.
I support the idea that previously gain souvenirs should be used to ensure higher level characters will gain the rare invention drops they have earned by finishing arcs.
This may torque off power-leveled characters but I do think the devs made it apparent that there were costs to power-leveling.
[/ QUOTE ]
I'm not sure about souvenirs... Will they all drop at once? Can you choose to only get some at a time? How many recipes can we hold at one time? I don't want to miss stuff because there's a massive drop at one time and my pockets are full before the drops are finished.
Not unclear at all. The majority of sets are completable simply by killing. There are a few in the top tiers that require finishing story arcs, TFs, etc.
Note these are the rarest of sets, probably about 1-5% of the total. Also note that the drops under disussion are single pieces of those specific sets.
Chances are you can complete your arcs now with a clear conscience, and then if it turns out to be a set that you want and need, simply trade or buy the part if it comes up for sale.
But again, it's entirely up to you. How important will these sets be? How applicable to your characters? No one knows yet.
"Null is as much an argument "for removing the cottage rule" as the moon being round is for buying tennis shoes." -Memphis Bill
Right L_L, I hear you.......but both Boudicia and Skroo Bahl are really important to me, I want them both to have the very best of everything. Maybe that makes me a pig, but dang it, they rock and they are the reason I play this game (I have no idea what I'm going to do when they reach 50.....be sad probably). I don't know what to do. If I play them, I finish the arcs and perhaps lose out on something awesome. If I play them but ignore the nearly finished arcs, I out level the arcs and miss out on real good stuff already in game PLUS potential awesomeness. Both sad thoughts.
***sigh*** I guess I can play my lower level characters. There is a reason they are lower level though, and its not just because they got created later. Damn this wacky invention system and its ambiguity!
"The cure for cowardice is not more whimpering and cringing, but to bare your teeth." Fr. Pontefescue
"The earth is not dying, it is being killed, and those who are killing it have names and addresses." ~ Utah Phillips
Remember Greg McKendry
There are no guarantees that the things tied to story arcs will be something you need.
There is no set in stone rule that you must get everything yourself.
My outlook is this is what the Consignment system is for. I'm sure there will be things you do that will get you very rare things that you have ZERO use for, and would have no problems selling or trading for those things you missed out on.
That's just my take on the matter, I'm not sweating the story arc thing in the slightest. I'll play who I want to play how I want to play them, and let my desire for Inventions sort itself out once I have an actual system in front of me to use.
"Null is as much an argument "for removing the cottage rule" as the moon being round is for buying tennis shoes." -Memphis Bill
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
My opinion.
I support the idea that previously gain souvenirs should be used to ensure higher level characters will gain the rare invention drops they have earned by finishing arcs.
This may torque off power-leveled characters but I do think the devs made it apparent that there were costs to power-leveling.
[/ QUOTE ]
What about my Controller who didnt get Power Leveled but couldnt solo or complete his own Missions, so he has hardly any contacts, no souveniers and is just SoL on his completed Story Arcs?
[/ QUOTE ]
My empath/rad defender cannot solo mishes either but he has help many complete their arcs. I would like to see him get a special drop for each healing badge he earned.
Let me ask the question, if we have previously won badges for defeating foes and have souvenirs for completing arcs, will we be given the drops when I9 goes live?
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Now I hear you guys... you all seem to dislike the Story Arc aspect of this system. I've had some discussions with the team yesterday about what we could do instead, and still keep the flavor of the four pool system, because having the extra three pools allows us to not only reward risk/reward, but time/reward as well. Takes longer to do a Task Force? Here's a nice bonus you can't get anywhere else. Finish the Respec trial, but already have all your Respecs? Here's a nice reward that carries with it some good inherent value.
[/ QUOTE ]
WHY STORY ARC EXCLUSIVES ARE BROKEN:
Because they are the ONLY thing you can't repeat. The only. Think about everything else on the list posted by Dr. Brainstorm:
TF - Any character 12+ can do Positron's TF (if a hero, obviously) ANY TIME THEY WANT.
Trials - Any one 24+ can do a respec trial ANY TIME THEY WANT.
Killing mobs of all levels - With exemplar you can do this ANY TIME YOU WANT.
You might need a team, that's OK. But story arcs can only be done once. Fix that or no recipes be available only from story arcs. All you're going to accomplish is creating:
ULTRA RARE LOOT
Which goes against everything you said you wanted to accomplish. It will make the game more hardcore than WoW or Everquest II.
[/ QUOTE ]
YES highly agreed... there IS a solution though... it was shelved way back oh i4 i think...
FLASHBACKING!!! when you cna repeat a favorite contact or storyarc...
include THAT into the invention system... and i THINK you might have a winna!!!!
"Lokk, you have a powersuit that is self-contained, can withstand any atmosphere, it can fly and shoot out energy beams. BUT you cant open the helmet to have coffee and doughnts??? Sad man.... just... sad" PatriotPrime asking me why I am angry all the time.
[ QUOTE ]
Chances are you can complete your arcs now with a clear conscience, and then if it turns out to be a set that you want and need, simply trade or buy the part if it comes up for sale.
[/ QUOTE ]
But this is exactly the problem we're currently so worried about, and it's not that easily dismissed.
If there are very rare rewards that people *want* that are only obtainable through story arc rewards, then you probably won't be able to trade or buy those rewards.
Lets say that the "Aura 10% Defence Buff for Pets" enhancement from the Pet set "Edict of the Master" is one of the enhacements on the B (Story Arc) list. You have a MM in his 30s who would really like to slot that into three of his powers; add one more if he's either a Necromancer or /Dark. Because this enhancement caps out at level 40 he's already got a timer on when he can get this enhacement -- after he hits 41, he can't possibly get it on his own anymore. If he's in his high 30s, that leaves about 10 story arcs that he can even possibly try to earn this enhacement. If there are only 30 items on the 35-40 SA list, that's a one in three chance you'll pull even *one* of these, and that's if you haven't already run an arc, mostly solo (so you won't easily outlevel any other arc), and devote the rest of your time to just running SAs.
Most people who play MMs are going to want that enhancement, and they'll want it multiple times (possibly as many as 5 copies of it), so the available trades will come exclusively from other villains who are running SAs that don't have and never intend to have a MM alt (otherwise they'll definitely hang on to that one). Of those, fully 1/2 of them (generously, the actually number is probably much less) probably won't ever pull a single one of those enhancements due to the # of possible pulls from a SA reward and difficulties in teaming through SAs/outleveling content.
Now the pool of possible traded enhancements is down to less than half of all players who run all the SAs and don't have or ever intend to have a MM alt (or Doms who want to collect Edict of the Master for the complete set bonus for themselves and the 10% defense to their fire imps, say) . The pool of people who want that enhancement is...everybody, because it would be foolish not to buy such a thing, even if you can't use it. So many people want it that whoever lucks out and pulls it can demand..anything they want. People will bid tens of millions of infamy for it. Some will be willing to trade multiple sets of SHOEs and other rare IOs for it. If this enhancement is one of the super-rare SA prizes, it's likely to be one of the top four single most valuable awards in the game. Only the super wealthy farmers will be able to buy it or trade for it from anyone but the lucky clueless.
The only people who will likely have it are people who roll multiple alts specifically to solo through all the available story arcs in order to get prizes like this. And even *they* won't have them in quantity.
So knowing this might be the case, can you really advocate that any MM, or heck, anyone that might want to even trade one to a MM one day, should complete a story arc in game right now? Or even get a single point of experience?
I can't.
[ QUOTE ]
That's just my take on the matter, I'm not sweating the story arc thing in the slightest.
[/ QUOTE ]I don't think it will be a problem for me personally, I've always been on top of my story arcs and I play a lot of alts.
That doesn't change the fact that this is somewhere between a small mistake and a huge one. If it was intentional that one pool is finite when the other 3 are not, then it's still a mistake to pick one where so many of those finite chances have already been used. And that's granting some huge benefit of the doubt. If it wasn't intentional to pick story arcs because they're limited, then this really does smell like design-by-dartboard.
Now the best solution is a brand new experience specifically for the Pool B salvage. It doesn't have to be much because resources are limited, but that not only solves the sourcing problem but it provides a new experience many people want.
And being completely unnecessary, it could even be a little harder than the existing difficultly level. Ideally I'd like to see not just difficult by level and AV rank, but strategically difficult - you know, the kind you'd get with a Malta Sapper, a Rikti Guardian, a Nemesis Sniper, a Carnie Illusionist, a Sky Raider Engineer, and a BP Death Shaman in the same group. But that's just a wishlist thing.
Seriously consider making a new Trial/TF/whatchamacallit for these Pool B drops. You can even limit it if in fact that aspect of the design was intentional.
Theres another form of non-repeatable content in Co*, Badges. Plenty of these are story related, and are not allready used in Accolades. A reasonable additional vector for providing Type B drops.
Other potental ways Type B drops could be provided:
Mayhem/Safeguard Missions
Mayhem/Safeguard side mission.
Specialized contacts
Seasonal Events
Task Forces/Trials (Put in a hard to get accolade that opens up this option)
A new antagonist group (Whatever happened to that Batallion...)
"Glowies"
PvP rewards
Information Kiosks (Lead that totals board, and get a prize; that was the old plan, no?)
None of these need to be in place of Story Arcs, any (or all with low enough frequency) could be in addition to Arcs.