Discussion: The Rikti Return!
By
Absinth_Incubus,
Posted on: 2008-06-12 16:46 in News, Events and Announcement Discussion
Agreed Brad.
I like being able to get badges and temp powers just as much as anyone else - but by the same token - maybe it should be restricted to an Ouroboros thing at this point. I was there for the Rikti War, and maybe it would be best if we left events like this to the City of Heroes past. It would certainly help RP quite a bit.
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You know what Brad, when you originally posted I was like "eff that, who cares" But your second post contrasting the Shard event made me say, you know what, I remember that and Brad is right. Thanks Brad for your intelligent post and for the clarification second post.
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Yeah, I have to agree with him on this.
I think (using my obvious psychic powers) that the devs don't want to hear the endless whining about how tough it is to get the badges that can only be earned through invasion events. Remember that there were no badges in game at the time of the Rularuu breaking into our dimension. So those that missed it only missed the event itself, and not any associated badges for defeating their portals or whatever. Which I think is too bad.
And as for the second Rikti invasion badges, I think that it's perfectly OK to expect new toons that were not around for i10 to have a more difficult time getting them. Even a much, much more difficult time. They will still be accessible, but a new toon shouldn't have as easy a time obtaining them. For the reasons that Brad mentioned.
Hopefully after 2008 is over, so will be the regularly scheduled invasions. Because, you know, in 2009 we'll all be so busy FIGHTING ON THE MOON!!!
<.<.
.>.>
...
I'm just sayin'...
My $0.02. IMHO. YMMV. yadda yadda yadda yadda.
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I just can't get excited about this.
I feel like these invasions happen too often. I feel like they go on way, way too long. But more importantly, this long after issue 10, I feel like they happen way, way too pointlessly. Part of me really just can't believe that week-long invasions are happening eleven months after tens of thousands of us have earned the "Save the World" badge for ending the Second Rikti War.
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We didn't end the war. We kept it from escalating back to the level it was on when they first invaded. We also kept Nemesis from uploading his consciousness into every single Rikti, which would have been a very bad thing. Also, diplomacy has begun with one branch of the Rikti in hopes that one day, the war truly will be over.
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When the Second Rikti War began, I was sure, from the clues you'd left in the text, that this was going to be a one-time event. A big-news thing that we who were around at the time could brag about to the new people. I was completely convinced that issue 11, or at the very latest issue 12, would include some minor revisions to the Rikti War Zone, to reflect the fact that Hro'dotz and his Legacy of War no longer had the full support of the Rikti people, that they were fighting on in our dimension as criminals, not invaders, and that outside of that one neighborhood, the rest of the world had seen the last of the homeworld-native Rikti, or at least of their heavy weapons and warships, for years to come. I thought, and wrote at the time in a roleplaying piece at the time, that the Second Rikti War was going to have an end. Not that it was going to be a permanent feature of the game.
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Unfortunately, you thought wrong. Positron himself said that the RWZ revamp would be the start of a multi-issue storyline. And as you've seen in Issue 12, the hostile Rikti have changed their plans and are working on a way to eliminate their one big weakness: magic. Since they still have the capability to open small portals and the tech to launch small bombing runs, however, they're going to utilize both whenever possible. On the plus side, the Lost Cure just might signal that hostile Rikti numbers are now finite. So the war very well could be closer to ending.
Also, the devs of this game have decided that one-off events aren't the way to go. They'd rather create events that come around occasionally so that most of the playerbase has a chance to experience them at some point.
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This is especially annoying to me because the art department has still not, eleven months later, made the changes necessary to make Paragon City look like America at war. There are no war headlines on the newspapers people read everywhere, and the newspapers that come out of the newspaper boxes still show a folk singer with a guitar at a peaceful concert. Paragon City has exactly one American flag. People on the street still talk about superheroes as if they were celebrities and sports stars whose stats they follow, not as if they were war heroes. In Paragon City in June of 2008, Earth has been at war with aliens from another world bent on our conquest and assimilation for eleven long months and it's had no perceptible effect on anything but one neighborhood in Rhode Island, no affect on the rest of Paragon City, on America, on the world. That it's eleven months later and still, every 8 weeks or so, the aliens can hit us just as hard as they did in the weeks after July 24th and not only is no end in sight, but you're making it look like the war is now the permanent status quo, it will go on forever?
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First of all, it's NOT a full-scale war. Thanks largely to the fact that Hro'Dotz's plans HAVE been squashed by your character (and by every other character who has or who will run the content). And the place doesn't look like a warzone (outside of the RWZ) not only because the Rikti are only capable of making periodic raids, but also because the Supers keep it from looking like a warzone by further squashing them whenever they try their bombing runs.
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Suddenly I feel like an idiot for grinning like a fool and quoting the St. Crispin's Day speech back on July 24th of last year, for being excited about the chance for my main character to become a war hero. For feeling like something actually special was going on, not just a zone event, not merely a software upgrade, but an actual EVENT.
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You ARE a war hero, but so is every other character that runs the TF and/or does all the RWZ arcs. One of the realities of MMOs is that your experience by and large will not differ greatly from another persons experience. The content is written as if yours was the only story being told, and some semblance of time exists (Faultline and Fusionette going from rookie heroes to slightly less rookie Vanguard members when your character encounters them again later on in his/her/its career), but in the end, you need to remember that every character goes through this game as if theirs is the only story being told. It's somewhat of a necessity in MMOs.
Wanna be the greatest single hero in a world? Go play a single-player game. Or go find an MMO that does have one-off events so you can either participate and then smugly hold it over the heads of those players who missed it, or likewise complain when you miss an event and have it held over your head by the players who were there for it.
Again, the devs of this game have pretty much decided that they're not gonna go that route. They might in the future now that the meta-story is being progressed a bit, but right now, they're not. Sorry if it ruins your gameplay experience.
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Rikti taste like chicken. How would you like your chicken dinner cooked?
As far as 1 off events, as long as they tie an accolade into it, they have to make it available.
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It's all about the badges. If accolades were shared across alts or something, they wouldn't repeat this event. But they just made new powersets for every AT and the VEATs. Now everyone with one of those new characters wants a crack at the invasion badges. It's really a matter of fairness to veteran players. I was around for the first Halloween in 2004 and for the invasion last year. But some of my alts weren't in existence then. But they want the badges too. And new players get lucky they get to experience the content as well.
It might cheapen the event a little bit to repeat it. But then again, we repeat task/strike forces all the time. How many times can you stop Statesman or Lord Recluse? Sometimes there's a little suspension of belief because this really is just a game. A very fun game. 
Happily, I still enjoy the invasions Insta-teaming without worry about having the 'perfect' team setup, sounds wonderful to me. Now to see if I can get the accolade on at least one of my newer characters...
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Time to get the invasion badges on my new fire scrapper.
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What time is this due to start? I've been online for about an hour now and so far not seen any raid notices...
Brad, as much as I enjoy the chaos of invaded zones, I have to agree that function (invasions) is washing out form (story or epic feel). Personally, I wish these events could be tied to a mechanic similar to what we see in Recluse's Victory. Each invasion that is "successfully" (however that success is determined) fought off adds to a counter. Failed invasions subtract from the counter, but at a lower rate. Events are triggered at certain thresholds and ultimately the invasions end altogether (with a suitable server-wide event) and invasions go away altogether.
A system like that would give an epic scope to the event, something these invasions have lost.
I wanted to chime in here...
I love these events, but it would be SOOOO much better if it was an actual ... surprise!! no announcement on the boards posting future dates, or a reminder it's this weekend. I mean really, even if we had rikti spies get us the info, you'd think they'd be smart enough to change their plans... 
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I wanted to chime in here...
I love these events, but it would be SOOOO much better if it was an actual ... surprise!! no announcement on the boards posting future dates, or a reminder it's this weekend. I mean really, even if we had rikti spies get us the info, you'd think they'd be smart enough to change their plans...
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Hi Backhand,
Well, as for the Rikti invasions, we kinda spoiled that when we put out the 4 Year Anniversary Calendar. We know that some like to be surprised by fun stuff, but others also like to be able to plan for certain events. Hopefully we can work in some surprises for you over the coming year as well
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.
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I wanted to chime in here...
I love these events, but it would be SOOOO much better if it was an actual ... surprise!! no announcement on the boards posting future dates, or a reminder it's this weekend. I mean really, even if we had rikti spies get us the info, you'd think they'd be smart enough to change their plans...
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Hi Backhand,
Well, as for the Rikti invasions, we kinda spoiled that when we put out the 4 Year Anniversary Calendar. We know that some like to be surprised by fun stuff, but others also like to be able to plan for certain events. Hopefully we can work in some surprises for you over the coming year as well
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Like a giant Jack-in-the-Box popping up, thanks to our friend the Trickster?
Earth is Full Go Home!!!!!! *red liquid around the Character whosaid that to the ritiki*
I like the every-so-often Rikti incursions. There's a regular cadre of raid-chasers on my home server, and it's fun to see them turn up to shut down each incursion. Many, many heroes (or villains) can participate at once, without the agonizing organizational overhead of a Hamidon or a Mothership raid.
I like the spontaneous big fight aspect of the incursions, the chaos they create in a zone, and the sheer intensity and numbers. The opportunity to get the badges for all my new alts created for I12 is also very welcome.
I'd be more than happy if another event was created using the Rularuu as enemies offering similar badge setups, or one in which the Circle of Thorns constant thinning of the dimensional walls caused an eruption of behemoths throughout the city.
And thank you to the power-that-be that got the announcements moved to the Events channel, where the wording appears in purple--it's very much easier to pick out the signal than it was from the green noise constantly scrolling by!
Some days I just wake up cranky. Today might be one of those days...
Too bad the sych thing couldn't have been fixed before this. Looks like I'll be missing yet another event.
my patience is wearing thin.
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I love these events, but it would be SOOOO much better if it was an actual ... surprise!! no announcement on the boards posting future dates, or a reminder it's this weekend. I mean really, even if we had rikti spies get us the info, you'd think they'd be smart enough to change their plans...
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When they make these events a surprise, people complain that they missed an opportunity because they had other plans. With advance notice they can arrange their schedule to not miss the event.
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I think, if for nothing other than "flavor", they should show dropships launching form the mothership in the RWZ when the raids are in progress. They don't have to be targetable, but it would at least give an indication that they're launching.
I also think it'd be cool if the rikti activity, in zones where they normally appear, would increase during the times raids are happening, (other than the zones that are actually being invaded).
Reality check: Incoming. Creating content: Expensive. Reusing events: Economical. Subscription fees: Not raised. Developers: Caffeinated. Badgers: Appeased. Downside: Minimal.
Can Rikti attack in the past too? It would be kind of funny to see them attacking the cinnamon zone! 
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Reality check: Incoming. Creating content: Expensive. Reusing events: Economical. Subscription fees: Not raised. Developers: Caffeinated. Badgers: Appeased. Downside: Minimal.
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::clocks the obvious Rikti spy upside the head with a mace::
Still, the Rikti spy spoke truth.
Global name: @k26dp
Infamous Brad:
A big part of why there weren't more Rularuu attacks, IMO, is that they were $)&*-ing BRUTAL, especially to lowbies. The Devs hadn't figured out the whole auto-scaling thing we have with the Rikti now, and so the eyeballs that spawned were "approximately" within the level range of each zone. (In practice, they were often closer to the top.) They also appeared in hazard-zone-sized packs and, with their combination of Psi (including hold), Rad, and 100% accuracy, they wiped the floor with even-con groups of heroes (and this was before ED). Most people I knew took to simply avoiding the portals and their associated spawns for the duration.
It was only a one-time event because it wasn't fun for a lot of players. The Devs went back to their drawing boards and came up with others.
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INVAAAAAAASION!!!!!
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I just can't get excited about this.
I feel like these invasions happen too often. I feel like they go on way, way too long. But more importantly, this long after issue 10, I feel like they happen way, way too pointlessly.
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Seconded. Getting tired of the whole Rikti thang. :yawn:
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Well looks like i'm gonna have to dig out my level 50, **sigh** (***Gives speech to villains***) " We have located a bit of Rikti aliens that wanna take control of Earth......"
You know what Brad, when you originally posted I was like "eff that, who cares" But your second post contrasting the Shard event made me say, you know what, I remember that and Brad is right. Thanks Brad for your intelligent post and for the clarification second post.
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