Winter Has Arrived!

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The main point was to provide some constructive criticism, and some suggestions to improve the event game(s) for next year.

Bullet points of the above quoted post:
* Understand not everyone has a top of the line computer.
* Provide a purchasable superjump temp power.
And/Or:
* Make alternate speed runs for different powers. This way no one would have to choose to respec their character to get the badges.

Finally, in setting challenges, learn from other games mistakes and make sure that debugging doesn't set the challenge level beyond what is intended.

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I think the "purchasable" travel powers is a great idea.

After all, you can rent skis at just about any ski resort.

For me I'd like to see both SS & SJ as a purchasable since (for me) I can get all the way to gold with my heroes that SS but not those that Fly.

I do like getting Speed Boosted when I team in normal missions but in this Winter Event, after doing a few runs without SB, I find it really disorienting to have SB applied. My times will actually get worse for a run or two and then, when they start getting better, then the SB'er moves on. Same for IR... my first few jumps with IR applied are "whoa, wtf?" then, as I get used to it and start getting better times, it wears off.

A purchasable power that lasted for 10 or 15 minutes - one that you could re-purchase and one that you could control when you use it and when you don't - would be hugely preferable in my opinion.

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I have to agree, not all Badges will be earnable by every character.

This last issue made many Badges easier to get via Flashback. The fact that they continually make event badges available again with each successive event leads me to say :

"Suck it up."

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Sign It : http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes

I'd just like to know what the naughty/nice ratio is, my lvl 10 brute was present hunting in PO, and 10 out of 10 presents were naughty, between fighting off those spawns and the mobs in the area ( which varied from blue to red ) it got old fast.

All I want is my hat for my rerolled character...

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@Oroborous and @Oroborous2
Avatar by HeroPortraitStudios
From the Groundhog Day Attempt at Citadel: GM, "There's no badge for breaking a TF."

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* Understand not everyone has a top of the line computer.
* Provide a purchasable superjump temp power.
And/Or:
* Make alternate speed runs for different powers. This way no one would have to choose to respec their character to get the badges.

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Actually I have one further suggestion.

* Next year make 3 more ski run badges for the Bunny Slope, with less stringent times.

Had these "beginner" slope badges been in place this year, I would think that there would be far less frustration, as people would have at least something for their efforts.

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It may well be something that not everyone is going to get by relying on their own powers. Gold is designed to be flustrating. If you aren't willing to respec and/or stand around and beg for buffs, then you won't get it. Not all badges are fun, sorry.

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There. Much more accurate.

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I'd just like to know what the naughty/nice ratio is, my lvl 10 brute was present hunting in PO, and 10 out of 10 presents were naughty, between fighting off those spawns and the mobs in the area ( which varied from blue to red ) it got old fast.

All I want is my hat for my rerolled character...

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It is a flat random chance determined each and every time you open a present.

Think of it as rolling a dice every time you open a present.

Example (made up numbers):
10 sided dice
On a 1-5 you get a naughty present.
On a 6 you get an inspiration drop
On a 7-8 you get an temp power drop *1*
On a 9-10 you get an mystery gift drop *2*

*1* When the temp power drops another dice (random calculation) is rolled to see if you got a snow beast or snowball.
*2* When the mystery gift is opened another dice (random calculation) is rolled to see what you got from it.

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* Understand not everyone has a top of the line computer.
* Provide a purchasable superjump temp power.
And/Or:
* Make alternate speed runs for different powers. This way no one would have to choose to respec their character to get the badges.

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Actually I have one further suggestion.

* Next year make 3 more ski run badges for the Bunny Slope, with less stringent times.

Had these "beginner" slope badges been in place this year, I would think that there would be far less frustration, as people would have at least something for their efforts.

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I could get behind that idea. Also, thanks for a constructive idea Snow!

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Second, the event is [u]supposed[u] to be [u]fun[u]. Well, from reading these forums, it seems like the developers have missed the mark when it comes to the ski badges.

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Agreed on this. The ski run misses the mark of fun so much its not even funny.

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Also, thanks for a constructive idea Snow!

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I do have them from time to time I didn't want to come to this thread just to complain.

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A purchasable power that lasted for 10 or 15 minutes - one that you could re-purchase and one that you could control when you use it and when you don't - would be hugely preferable in my opinion.

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This already exists in-game. Walk into Siren's Call and buy it from the merchant standing near the entrance. Granted, it is only available if your side is winning in SC at the time, so this isn't a perfect solution. But it does work, if you don't have access to Super Jump, a Zero-G Pack, or Inertial Reduction at all.

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Second, the event is [u]supposed[u] to be [u]fun[u]. Well, from reading these forums, it seems like the developers have missed the mark when it comes to the ski badges.

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Agreed on this. The ski run misses the mark of fun so much its not even funny.

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And yet the players who do find it fun and are happy with the way it is now...?

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Can someone confirm that we are able to purchase the fur lined hat from the candy keeper?

It shows on the wiki that it is available for 10 candy canes... but the option wastn't there for me last night.

thanks

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It may well be something that not everyone is going to get by just going there and doing it. Gold is designed to be a challenge. If you aren't interested in working at it, then you won't get it. Not all badges are for everyone, sorry.

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This is utter and complete nonsense!

On my level 39 main with Fly, IOs out the wazoo, I've been trying for 2 days to get the gold badge! No matter what I do, I can't break 30 seconds. People buffing me is too inconsistent for me to practise at that speed, and I've hit some sort of speed cap where I can't go any faster. This is my main character and my badge hunter, I've done all I can to get this badge and there is no way I'll break 30 seconds! I've practised on the run for HOURS! "If you aren't interested in working at it, then you won't get it." does NOT apply! I've done everything I can to get this stupid badge on this character and I can't get it!

Guess what? On my level 14 villain who got a Zero-G Pack on a Mayhem mission I got the Speed Demon badge within 10 minutes! There is NO way that a level 14 character using any powers should get a badge in 10 minutes that a level 39 character can't get in any way!

I'm obviously not inept or stupid, I was able to easily get the badge with my villain, but I can't get this stupid badge with my main badge hunter! I'm so frustrated right now, I'm seriously getting to the point where I'll cancel my account. I HATE games that frustrate me and present an impossible goal! I usually end up putting those games down and never playing them again.

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I'm so frustrated right now, I'm seriously getting to the point where I'll cancel my account. I HATE games that frustrate me and present an impossible goal! I usually end up putting those games down and never playing them again.

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It sounds like it's making you very unhappy. So why are you still trying to do it? This is a game; it's supposed to be fun. Go do the fun parts.

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Guess what? On my level 14 villain who got a Zero-G Pack on a Mayhem mission I got the Speed Demon badge within 10 minutes! There is NO way that a level 14 character using any powers should get a badge in 10 minutes that a level 39 character can't get in any way!


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Exemp or blitz a KR safeguard with your 39 and get the zero-G pack on them maybe ?

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@Catwhoorg "Rule of Three - Finale" Arc# 1984
@Mr Falkland Islands"A Nation Goes Rogue" Arc# 2369 "Toasters and Pop Tarts" Arc#116617

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Can someone confirm that we are able to purchase the fur lined hat from the candy keeper?

It shows on the wiki that it is available for 10 candy canes... but the option wastn't there for me last night.

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If the option is not there, you already have it. Should be under the "Hats" option at the tailors as "Stocking Cap."

The option in the Candy Keeper's menu is "Fur Lined Hat" while the Tailor menu is "Stocking Cap". It has also been refered to as the "Santa Cap".

This is very much a poor choice of wording on the Developers part.

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I'm so frustrated right now, I'm seriously getting to the point where I'll cancel my account. I HATE games that frustrate me and present an impossible goal! I usually end up putting those games down and never playing them again.

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It sounds like it's making you very unhappy. So why are you still trying to do it? This is a game; it's supposed to be fun. Go do the fun parts.

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It is making me incredibly unhappy, but I've set a goal for myself to get as many badges as possible in this game. Earning new badges does make me happy, and I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment.

I know there are some badges I'll never get, but that was just because I wasn't playing during those CoH anniversaries, I can't go back in time to get those badges. I also can't get the V.I.P. badge because I never bought the DVD edition.

But, this badge is here and it should be feasible for me to get! This is just ruining a part of the game that has, in the past, been great fun for me.

Lighthouse saying I don't deserve the badge because I'm "interested in working at it" is what REALLY makes me unhappy! I have been working to get this badge and I can't. I've spent a lot of my time and effort trying to get this badge and it's just not happening, and the official attitude is that I shouldn't get it? That's unacceptable.

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I'm so frustrated right now, I'm seriously getting to the point where I'll cancel my account. I HATE games that frustrate me and present an impossible goal! I usually end up putting those games down and never playing them again.

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It sounds like it's making you very unhappy. So why are you still trying to do it? This is a game; it's supposed to be fun. Go do the fun parts.

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Maybe the poster wanted to express their dissatisfaction about the event?

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Maybe the poster wanted to express their dissatisfaction about the event?

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And maybe I wanted to read that expression, evaluate it, make informed guesses as to the mental state of the poster, and offer constructive life tips that I felt might improve the poster's mental well-being?

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Second, the event is [u]supposed[u] to be [u]fun[u]. Well, from reading these forums, it seems like the developers have missed the mark when it comes to the ski badges.

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Agreed on this. The ski run misses the mark of fun so much its not even funny.

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And yet the players who do find it fun and are happy with the way it is now...?

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I don't find it fun. And since I've seen so many others who are able to get the badges, it IS frustrating to me that I can't seem to do it. Most badges in the game aren't so adversely affected by lag and general computer processing speed. The ski badges are affected by such. Last night for me the ski slopes cause such lag and jumpiness that it was impossible for me to hit all the gates.

If there is a significant part of the player base that finds something supremely unpleasant, I don't think it's necessarily a problem for the devs to consider something a little bit different in the future. Personally, I think the competition should be initiated by clicking on the trainer or something and the timer started by going through the gates immediately afterward. I enjoyed skiing last year because I got to just do it, but this year, it is immediately apparent that I am really awful at it. Considering that part of the reason I love this game is because it doesn't depend so much on physical coordination, this particular event kinda bats me in the head with it again, and makes it very frustrating. Give me a choice whether to participate in the generation of stats or not - without limiting me to the "bunny slope"... I get enough of that in real life.

Storm

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Serenity is not freedom from the storm, but peace amid the storm ...

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I'm so frustrated right now, I'm seriously getting to the point where I'll cancel my account. I HATE games that frustrate me and present an impossible goal! I usually end up putting those games down and never playing them again.

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It sounds like it's making you very unhappy. So why are you still trying to do it? This is a game; it's supposed to be fun. Go do the fun parts.

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It is making me incredibly unhappy, but I've set a goal for myself to get as many badges as possible in this game. Earning new badges does make me happy, and I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment.

I know there are some badges I'll never get, but that was just because I wasn't playing during those CoH anniversaries, I can't go back in time to get those badges. I also can't get the V.I.P. badge because I never bought the DVD edition.

But, this badge is here and it should be feasible for me to get! This is just ruining a part of the game that has, in the past, been great fun for me.

Lighthouse saying I don't deserve the badge because I'm "interested in working at it" is what REALLY makes me unhappy! I have been working to get this badge and I can't. I've spent a lot of my time and effort trying to get this badge and it's just not happening, and the official attitude is that I shouldn't get it? That's unacceptable.

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people have been able to get this badge with spring, swift, and the zero g pack. it took some practice but people can do it. Getting so mad about it you may cancel your account solves nothing. Badges are supposed to be a challenge and from what people have said no one travel power is that neccesary.

if you need a boost just ask a kin. there are usually a couple hanging out in pocket d. If you are on justice server at all send me a tell at @bureaucrat and I can log my kin on to give you a hand as long as you need it and if I'm not stuck running some horrible timed mission.

Ive gotten silver and bronze on my main with fly on the first couple of attempts with no problems. my kin however sucks at the skiing, so he doesn't even try, just sits at the top giving SB and IR.

keep trying and if it stops being fun then don't do it.

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people have been able to get this badge with spring, swift, and the zero g pack. it took some practice but people can do it. Getting so mad about it you may cancel your account solves nothing. Badges are supposed to be a challenge and from what people have said no one travel power is that neccesary.

if you need a boost just ask a kin. there are usually a couple hanging out in pocket d. If you are on justice server at all send me a tell at @bureaucrat and I can log my kin on to give you a hand as long as you need it and if I'm not stuck running some horrible timed mission.

Ive gotten silver and bronze on my main with fly on the first couple of attempts with no problems. my kin however sucks at the skiing, so he doesn't even try, just sits at the top giving SB and IR.

keep trying and if it stops being fun then don't do it.

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I rarely see anyone that can buff people by the ski slopes on my server. If I do see them I can only rely on one buff before they leave. It's very hard to get the hang of the speed and the buff when it's so inconsistent.

But why do I have to rely on the grace of other people to achieve this badge? Why can't I get it using the powers I chose? I was also able to get the bronze and silver badges, it's the gold that I can't get no matter what I try.

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Lighthouse, please pass this along to all the Developers and QA staff:

If the mini game's time requires a special power to achieve success, then that power should have been introduced as a power you can purchase. They introduced the Candy Keeper, and a temp jump power could have been made available. Unfortunately thanks to lag, the amount of people in the zone, and people's computer limitations, at this point the ski run seems to need some sort of jump ability to get the gold. Thanks to the speed cap Flight, even with level 50 IOs and the empowerment buffs, the fastest time down the slopes is 32-33 seconds.

If the goal of the developers was something everyone could do, then I would humbly suggest that the developers simulate their test bed at around 10 FPS, using only unslotted sprint and change the times accordingly. As it is lag and a few other issues are causing far more frustration than is needed.

As it is, the people with Jump powers have a distinct advantage, followed by the Super Speedsters, while those with Flight are limited to silver, and the people with Teleport or no travel powers need not apply.

Perhaps in the future, there would be alternate speed "runs" like a Floating obstacle course that needed flight, a different course for Teleporters, and a ground course for people with super speed. Have the same medals for all "events" and that way people would have a choice as to what course they would like without stress. Isn't it the point of playing the game to relieve stress? Especially at this time of year?

While the staff probably has spent weeks "practicing" going down the slopes, most people will probably get under 24 hours of playtime throughout the event.

Overall the ski run mini game still needs work. Please fix for next year.

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It may well be something that not everyone is going to get by just going there and doing it. Gold is designed to be a challenge. If you aren't interested in working at it, then you won't get it. Not all badges are for everyone, sorry.

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Normally, I don't argue with rednames, but this response seems quite flippant and completely ignores the point made by the post it responds to. This has nothing to do with challenge - or even how hard someone is trying, this has to do with a goal that simply cannot be met under certain circumstances, and suggestions about how, perhaps, it could be made more "fair" across the board.

I made a bunch of runs with a character with fly, and with the lag I was getting on the slopes, the best time I could make was 50 seconds... the poster to whom you replied made some suggestions, and you completely ignored them.

I'm very disappointed in this response.

Storm

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Serenity is not freedom from the storm, but peace amid the storm ...

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I'm so frustrated right now, I'm seriously getting to the point where I'll cancel my account. I HATE games that frustrate me and present an impossible goal! I usually end up putting those games down and never playing them again.

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It sounds like it's making you very unhappy. So why are you still trying to do it? This is a game; it's supposed to be fun. Go do the fun parts.

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It is making me incredibly unhappy, but I've set a goal for myself to get as many badges as possible in this game. Earning new badges does make me happy, and I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment.

I know there are some badges I'll never get, but that was just because I wasn't playing during those CoH anniversaries, I can't go back in time to get those badges. I also can't get the V.I.P. badge because I never bought the DVD edition.

But, this badge is here and it should be feasible for me to get! This is just ruining a part of the game that has, in the past, been great fun for me.

Lighthouse saying I don't deserve the badge because I'm "interested in working at it" is what REALLY makes me unhappy! I have been working to get this badge and I can't. I've spent a lot of my time and effort trying to get this badge and it's just not happening, and the official attitude is that I shouldn't get it? That's unacceptable.

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Hi Evilanna,

My apologies that you took my communication to mean "you don't deserve it" Please take it as "not every badge is going to be available or obtainable by everyone." There are some good suggestions by other players in this thread. Hopefully those will be helpful for you.

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Lighthouse
Community Relations Manager

If you have a specific in game, account, tech or billing problem please contact our Customer Support team via The Knowledge Base "Ask A Question" page.

If you haven't seen it already, some videos have been posted in the General Discussion forum showing how to complete the run in under 25 seconds:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat....;gonew=1#UNREAD

Hopefully that will help.

As a note, it is virtually impossible to do the run with Fly. You will literally do better by turning it off and using only Sprint, because you need the velocity that you pick up from your feet being on the ice.

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