Discussion: Positron Q&A on the XP Smoothing

Ex_Libris · 02-08-2008 12:40 PM

Before we go TOO nuts with adding new missions to Ouroborous (though I agree there are a lot of one-off missions I'd like to see there), I'd just like to pipe up and say there are still one or two badge missions that can't be done through flashback missions yet Portal Hopper from Technician Naylor is the main one that springs to mind. No, it isn't used for any accolades... but its still a badge mission.

Celestial_Fury · 02-08-2008 01:31 PM

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That said, I have no problem doing this if you guys don't. Just let me know what missions you want on Ouroboros and I will do my best to get them there.

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Safeguards and Mayhem missions please kind sir.

And while I'm here I want to say; "Thanks for the XP smoothing out easier leveling thingy. Ok, I'm not sure what to call it but thanks."

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Yes. Please add the Safeguards. Also please add the Baphomet mission given by Angus McQueen.

Thanks

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Veneficus · 02-08-2008 02:00 PM

It's already a bit confusing in regards to the badge missions. People are constantly asking why they didn't get oro badge credit for running their arc - and it always turns out to be that they ran a badge mission.

As far as completion stars go - for mayhem/safeguards you could attach to the exploration badge perhaps?

Stele · 02-08-2008 02:30 PM

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That said, I have no problem doing this if you guys don't. Just let me know what missions you want on Ouroboros and I will do my best to get them there.

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Safeguards and Mayhem missions please kind sir.
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Yeah I think this has to be priority one to get in there. Hope it's slated for i12.

Hero_of_Steel · 02-08-2008 03:14 PM

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That said, I have no problem doing this if you guys don't. Just let me know what missions you want on Ouroboros and I will do my best to get them there.

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I would like to see the Contact stores missions:

Serafina

Agent Six

Holsten Armitage

Mark IV

Penny Preston

Ghost Falcon

The starting origin contact missions:

Azuria

Rick Davies

Antonio Nash

Susan Davies

Jonathan Smythe

Also Safeguards & Mayhem missions & Patron Arcs.

I might be asking for the moon, but I would even love redoing the missions for Bloody Bay & Sirens Call (exempted to a lower level, of course) instead of the Warburg missions.

Ultimus · 02-08-2008 03:14 PM

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I am one of those people that don't care about xp but do care about content.

Do we have any idea when/if missions that aren't story arcs will make it to flashback? A lots of the cool and unusual missions are offered to you after you complete a story arc.

I am glad about the xp smoothing, not glad about the xp boost.

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Anything can be made Flashback, but the "completed" star checks for A) Souvenir clue or B) the Badge. If we did missions that were not Story Arcs and not Badged, then they would never show complete.

That said, I have no problem doing this if you guys don't. Just let me know what missions you want on Ouroboros and I will do my best to get them there.

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Can't you just make it award a hidden badge like in the Katie TF 10 times the victor?

ICF_Zombra · 02-08-2008 03:21 PM

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Anything can be made Flashback, but the "completed" star checks for A) Souvenir clue or B) the Badge. If we did missions that were not Story Arcs and not Badged, then they would never show complete.

That said, I have no problem doing this if you guys don't. Just let me know what missions you want on Ouroboros and I will do my best to get them there.

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I'm sure this has been said already, but missions that can't be "filled in" need to be visually distinct from those that can.

I pick Ouroboros missions first and foremost based on which ones aren't checked off as "done". It would be maddening to be unable to fill everything in, and lead to a lot of wasted effort.

Edit. Looked back over the thread. I love Leech's idea. Post #10177013.

StratoNexus · 02-08-2008 05:51 PM

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That said, I have no problem doing this if you guys don't. Just let me know what missions you want on Ouroboros and I will do my best to get them there.

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I really like that Crey soda plot one you get from 40-45. I think its 2 or 3 missions long, kind of a mini-story. A lot of Janet Kellum's stories were very well done, IMO.

Defeat Infernal! The one with the summoning Altar. Is that thing fixed yet, because it is much less fun without it spawning hordes of demons.

Destroy the Drug Lab. The mission is pretty small though, but I really like the art inside, and I thought it was a nicely done piece to make you feel like you were making a difference.

Unlucky Pete, although with Faultline, we can get a good fix of fighting the Lost there instead.

Tsoo Tattoo Parlor - easily one of my favorite missions in the whole game.

The Chameleon suit one. Although that temp power could be problematic.

The one where the Rikti get the Chicken Pox is pretty neat.

Indigo gives one where you stop the brainwashing of somebody, I think. That one may be 2 or 3 missions long as well.

Indigo also gives a Knives misisons inside a cave, I think it was a rescue. Really any non-hunt Knives mission should just be available.

Rescue the Praetorian Carnies. I think Neuron is involved, but my memory is hazy.

That stop Malta incursion series, the one where you get to fight Malta and DE in the same mission.

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Cantatus · 02-08-2008 07:37 PM

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That said, I have no problem doing this if you guys don't. Just let me know what missions you want on Ouroboros and I will do my best to get them there.

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Safeguards and Mayhem missions please kind sir.

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That gets my vote as well.

Poison_Pill · 02-08-2008 07:58 PM

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We have a "life at level" stat in seconds. This is how long a character spent at a particular level, logged in. While not a perfect indicator of levelling speed, it's an excellent starting point.

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Are you excluding the time heroes spend loitering in Atlas?

EvilRyu · 02-08-2008 11:38 PM

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I am one of those people that don't care about xp but do care about content.

Do we have any idea when/if missions that aren't story arcs will make it to flashback? A lots of the cool and unusual missions are offered to you after you complete a story arc.

I am glad about the xp smoothing, not glad about the xp boost.

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Anything can be made Flashback, but the "completed" star checks for A) Souvenir clue or B) the Badge. If we did missions that were not Story Arcs and not Badged, then they would never show complete.

That said, I have no problem doing this if you guys don't. Just let me know what missions you want on Ouroboros and I will do my best to get them there.

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I got one, there is a mission that Unai Kamen gives where you have to fight banished patheons. I would like this to be flashbackable because it provides a good source to get the badge for the banished patheon mask. Normally I would just exemplar down to the level to kill the stuff but as you know if you go below lvl 32 when you exemplar it just utterly butcheres your enhancements. I hardly feel super as it is and would hate to have to do this hunt these at a lower level and be weaker than that had I done it when I was really at that level. Some of you might say why dont you just kill the grey mask, well there is no challenge in that.

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Thank You Devs for Merits!!!!

Cende · 02-09-2008 03:50 AM

While I'm perfectly happy voting Yes for Safeguards in Ouroboros (and mayhems, too), I'm actually saying *no* to having most missions available through O, and that's despite being a completeist.

I don't precisely mind the XP smoothing - it'll certainly make some of the "oh, god, HOW long have we been this level?!" levels a lot kinder. The XP increase, however, is a mixed bag. I have this thing about contacts and unfinished bars, though, and this is only going to make it worse. I've nearly stopped using contacts with a couple of characters, only go through one at a time with others, and mostly don't team with the rest. Well, the teaming thing probably wouldn't change too often, but I'd like to play out the characters a little more without worrying about over leveling.

I'd rather have a few less contacts and be able to finish out their bars; it wouldn't bother me if I didn't get some of the contacts for my level introduced to me after I ran out of missions for the contacts I already had. Since the XP smoothing is going into place, I suspect that's going to happen less. With teaming and TFs available, plus the zone missions and paper missions, we can use less contacts for the heroes, and they can be tied a little more to either origins or archtype (or both) -- make our background choices work for us, and make alts interesting with the content showing up differently.

Side thought - don't have the stupid Detectives in each zone be an actual contact - you don't *get* anything from them! Have their bar only show up when you're running radios in that area; it keeps the contact list much less cluttered, and they go away after you've either accepted or refused the safeguard (I believe it works a little differently in CoV).

We can still get all the badge missions through Ouro, so it's not like any badger is displaced - but content hounds and bar completeists won't be going so crazy, either. Toss in a slightly earlier cell phone and store unlocking, and there's less complaints about the contacts in CoH being stingy. Still complaints about lack of missions, starting contacts and general content in CoV, but I can't help with that.

beowulfe · 02-09-2008 07:05 AM

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Anything can be made Flashback, but the "completed" star checks for A) Souvenir clue or B) the Badge. If we did missions that were not Story Arcs and not Badged, then they would never show complete.

That said, I have no problem doing this if you guys don't. Just let me know what missions you want on Ouroboros and I will do my best to get them there.

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Could you have the contact bar move forward ... ? For the OCD completionists out there

Soul Train · 02-09-2008 07:22 AM

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That said, I have no problem doing this if you guys don't. Just let me know what missions you want on Ouroboros and I will do my best to get them there.

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Rescue the Praetorian Carnies. I think Neuron is involved, but my memory is hazy.

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Actually... I'd LOVE an entire arc based on this. We can has Carnie allies, not just NPC 'victims'?

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imported_Heroic · 02-09-2008 08:42 AM

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Anything can be made Flashback, but the "completed" star checks for A) Souvenir clue or B) the Badge. If we did missions that were not Story Arcs and not Badged, then they would never show complete.

That said, I have no problem doing this if you guys don't. Just let me know what missions you want on Ouroboros and I will do my best to get them there.

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Is there a way to award an "invisible" badge on other missions? Something that wouldn't add to the badge counter, but could be used to mark the completion of a story arc by the game.

Darkhole · 02-09-2008 11:04 AM

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The one thing I question tho, he said they datamined how long characters were at certain levels. Could this info have been skewed by alt-itis? I know when I hit 22-27 range, I usually start another alt and run them for a while. Or even partake in a FOTM build.

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We have a "life at level" stat in seconds. This is how long a character spent at a particular level, logged in. While not a perfect indicator of levelling speed, it's an excellent starting point.

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Heh thats funny. I guess level 41 is going to be super fast xp then.

BurninUp · 02-11-2008 05:52 AM

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I am one of those people that don't care about xp but do care about content.

Do we have any idea when/if missions that aren't story arcs will make it to flashback? A lots of the cool and unusual missions are offered to you after you complete a story arc.

I am glad about the xp smoothing, not glad about the xp boost.

[/ QUOTE ]

Anything can be made Flashback, but the "completed" star checks for A) Souvenir clue or B) the Badge. If we did missions that were not Story Arcs and not Badged, then they would never show complete.

That said, I have no problem doing this if you guys don't. Just let me know what missions you want on Ouroboros and I will do my best to get them there.

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How about the one from Angus McQueen that has Baphomet in it, I'd like to see that one added.

Cambios · 02-11-2008 03:55 PM

Mayhems and Safeguards please!

And how about a TF reward choice of: "Reset Mayhem rewards."

That would be so awesome.

Daemodand · 02-11-2008 08:36 PM

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Very regrettably Barry White died on July 4, 2003, before CoH went into closed beta.

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No way, man. You see, every time a hot couple makes out? Barry's alive. Every time someone puts on some hot makeout music? Barry's alive. Every time there's romance in the air? Barry's alive.

So you'll forgive me for doubting your word, because I know the truth. Where there's sex, love and great music...that's where Barry lives. And will always live.

Barry's alive.

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MasterGabriel · 02-11-2008 09:52 PM

I agree totally. Al ot of my toons are pre-safeguard missions and so missed out on the badges and missions. I would really like to complete some of those missions with my older toons without hawking in Atlas Park.

Master Gabriel

Amarsir · 02-12-2008 07:06 AM

It's not 100% on topic, and my apologies for that, but it's related. Have you considered re-evaluating enemy difficulty multipliers? I think those might benefit from another view.

For example, Hydra men. I understand that at one time they were exceptionally good XP and got farmed. Accordingly that was reduced, and from then until now they give below average reward. That seems like an overreaction, as I can't see how they went from above average difficulty to below average without changing their powers. They are toxic and highly smashing resistant after all.

I suspect a check might reveal a number of cases where the multiplier doesn't quite line up with the difficulty.

Myddie · 02-12-2008 07:52 AM

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How about the one from Angus McQueen that has Baphomet in it, I'd like to see that one added.

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This would be awesome. I didn't even know there was a badge attached to his defeat until I did that mish and was pleasantly surprised to see it awarded.

I'm totally in agreement with adding safeguards and mayhems. I rarely do these in my leveling simply because I want to see the story arcs as I level instead of the single instance mishes. I do like the radios for random teaming, but the stories are so much more desireable to me when I solo and they never get old no matter how often I've done them with alts.

I'd like to see other mishes added because some of them are just fun to do. I wish I could remember the name, but there was a good one involving the Rikti, fertility drugs, and the Carnies. I don't think that was a gold book story arc, but I liked it. Angus McQueen was, I believe, the contact on that. There's so many others to be honest, but I don't remember the actual names at the moment. (Actually, anything Rikti related would be awesome to me. That overally storyline is probably my most fav of all enemy groups. I love the "Rescue the Rikti/Lost" mishes particularly.) Any of the Nemesis related mini-arcs would be good. Also favs of mine.

llamaman · 02-12-2008 08:03 AM

I am overjoyed that soon i will not have to fight mobs for months on end to lvl up becuse i have already played threw all the missions at my lvl.

Patchwork_Knight · 02-12-2008 11:04 AM

I would enjoy playing thru some early missions with my lvl 50 and not get auto exempted into goo everytime. Had to work hard to get all those powers and lvls. Like to do a little more with them. On the reverse side of that, however it is nice that you can be exemplared do so you can get some of the lower lvld salvage and recipes that go for quite a bit or that you may need yourself. Damn want my cake and I want to eat it right now. heh.

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Wire_Geek · 02-12-2008 11:44 AM

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In Issue 12 (no release date yet, sorry), we are going to have you never dropping below 50% Inf. earn rate when in Supergroup mode. We will look at the impact of that change and base future alterations on that.

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Hallelujah! All Glory Unto The Tallest! Yay!

Seriously, though, the solution is easy - make it a slider. If I want to dedicate 100% of my 'earnings' to Prestige, or 60%, or 50%, or 0%.. let me! for that matter, you could just make it a three-position 'slider toggle' and give us the current on/off, and a 50/50 'mix' position, and I'd be happy..