Halloween Issues & Zombie Apocalypse Frequency
By
7thCynic,
Posted on: 2008-10-22 10:51 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
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So no buster badge this year? and it's ok that we wait another year to get it because an event was released that obviously isn't working as intended?
Well I want compensation! for the time I payed for and wasted trying to get something that was advertised as working, and is obviously broken.
This years event was all "hey, we love you so much where giving it to you early!!!! . . . . . Oh but half of it doesn't work, never mind, just finish it next year, have fun!!"
It's about the principle of it all, I've never been annoyed with the developers of this game, not in 4 years but this is just a total mess, so many problems have been ignored before releasing this event and that is a real shame.
This years halloween event = Fail
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ONE badge not being able to be collected properly is half? Let me check my math: 1/15 = .5 ...Nope, it seems fine.
(If you include Jack, then it would be TWO whole badges. 15 of course is the number of Halloween badges.)
If you are refering to the slightly botched Invasion schedule, then, well, you have a bit more of a point... but not much. The event, as far as I can tell, does work, it does appear. Maybe not as often as intended in certain areas, but it does work and you can indeed experience it.
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The Zombie invasion has 4. That's not working right.
Ghosts and Jack. That's 2 more not working right
That gives me a total of 6.
Add that up over multiple characters, and we are talking about a lot of badges.
"Sorry bucko, but CoH and CoV are the same game." -BackAlleyBrawler
"Silly villain, CoX is for Heroes!" -Saicho
I'm probably in the minority here, but I like the low spawn rate for spirits -- it means it takes some effort to get that badge.
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So no buster badge this year? and it's ok that we wait another year to get it because an event was released that obviously isn't working as intended?
Well I want compensation! for the time I payed for and wasted trying to get something that was advertised as working, and is obviously broken.
This years event was all "hey, we love you so much where giving it to you early!!!! . . . . . Oh but half of it doesn't work, never mind, just finish it next year, have fun!!"
It's about the principle of it all, I've never been annoyed with the developers of this game, not in 4 years but this is just a total mess, so many problems have been ignored before releasing this event and that is a real shame.
This years halloween event = Fail
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It is possible to get the Buster Badge, I got it last night. It takes far longer than it should, so you won't be able to get it on every character, but it can be done.
Yes, it should have been fixed before I13 was done. But given all the pressure on the devs from the players (and probably from above) to get I13 moving so we have two issue releases, I can see how things got missed. And with everything set up for I13 charging ahead, switching the test server back to I12 + Halloween event would back things up.
Extending the Halloween event another week might be possible (unless they have some hidden event waiting for the NCNC anniversary), but would that make that much of a difference? Do you really want to grind that long for the badge, and not do the normal stuff in the game?
As for changing the buster badge requirements...I don't think there's a way they can do it just for this year. So they change Buster badge to 5 spirits...every old character that had taken out 5 spirits from prior years gets the badge, and next year when it's fixed, it's a trivial badge to earn.
Clearly, this didn't go the way it should have. My guess is that the devs were so focused on the Zombie Apocalypse, and making the invasions work right (which it mostly is). They'll know to pay more attention to the impact of the trick or treating side. And for the invasions themselves, the scheduling will be fixed, and hopefully instead of "pick a zone at random", it becomes "pick a side to invade, then pick a zone at random for that side" to even things out.
I understand your frustration, but sometimes I'm sorry is the only thing possible, without screwing things up more.
My arcs are constantly shifting, just search for GadgetDon for the latest.
The world beware! I've started a blog
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Cheers Lighthouse, I was one who wondered about the tier 3 inspirations thing. As long as there is a reasonable rationale im cool with it.
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But what was the rational for keeping it secret? If it was WAI then they could have saved us all time by saying so up front. Did they think we wouldnt notice?
Lots of 50's yada yada. still finding fun things to do.
Cthulhu loves you, better start running
I�! I�! Gg�gorsch�a�bha egurtsa�ar�ug d� Dalhor! Cthluhu fthagn! Cthluhu fthagn!
You are in a maze of twisty little passages
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I'm probably in the minority here, but I like the low spawn rate for spirits -- it means it takes some effort to get that badge.
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Ohhh ya, its a real brain squeezer to click all those extra doors. I feel so much more Uber.
Lots of 50's yada yada. still finding fun things to do.
Cthulhu loves you, better start running
I�! I�! Gg�gorsch�a�bha egurtsa�ar�ug d� Dalhor! Cthluhu fthagn! Cthluhu fthagn!
You are in a maze of twisty little passages
What I truly can't stand is that when an "apocalypse" occur in a lesser popular/populated zone like say... Eden.
Let me just get straight to the point. When an apocalypse takes place and you're alone... you run! You get on your broadcast channel, SG, coalition, whatever and you scream at the top of your lungs for help. That is what is supposed to happen. This brings me to an event in Eden that included one other and myself... after about 15 minutes we managed to kill all of about 7 zombies. C'mon it's like there's a nanny government at work in CoX too! LET THEM SPAWN! LET THEM SPAWN!!!!!
I love the zombie invasions, but like other people, I too wish they had a reason to be happening. Saying they are just mad and it happens to be Halloween doesn't cut it for me.
As for the invasions times, they are really wierd. i was watching the zone events tab on villains, and GV got pegged 2 times in a row, before the first one ended. This was on Freedom.
So... A new idea since we don't get many tier 3 drops for treats now, how about a thanksgiving event that spawns a Giant turkey monster? When defeated, it grants 3 Teir 3 inspirations. Have characters be limited to receiving the reward 10 times though. It can be justified fairly simple too. NCNC resides in U.S.A. Thanksgiving is a U.S.A. holiday. Also, we all know BaBs has a seagull character with animations, he could modify that to look like a giant turkey.
@Van De Graff-X, Liberty
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Would lowering the badge requirements temporarily to say 3-4 still have the same impact on issue 13 date?
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I'd really support this if doable. If the spawn rate is not-as-intended, then lowering the requirements would be fine compensation.
Otherwise, I think this event has been a lot of fun.
Global name: @k26dp
Has anyone actually seen any zombies attacking citizens?
"Samual_Tow - Be disappointed all you want, people. You just don't appreciate the miracles that are taking place here."
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What I don't like is the Zombies are relatively difficult to defeat, yet give next-to-no XP. That really makes me not want to even bother with the Zombies. They need to have their XP increased.
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?!?
I find myself leveling very fast on a zombie team. Are you teaming?
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Last night during a Zombie Invasion red-side on Triumph me and my 4 other teammates noted only 3 and 4 XP per kill on even and plus one zombies. I did not get to look at XP for the LT's and bosses, though. So ... no, they aren't giving better XP for teams. Seems maybe that the more people there are in the area the less XP per kill? My XP gains took place during the ToT'ing we did after the invasion. Also, ToT door spawns were customized to the level of each of the door clickers on the team, and definitely not adjusted for team average, as the -1 (to me) team member's spawns were ALWAYS blues (minions), whites and yellows, while the +1 (to me) team member's spawns were yellows, oranges and reds. My own spawns were whites, yellows and oranges, as would be expected.
On other topics:
It's disappointing that the Spirits spawn issue cannot be fixed, however, for me, not a big deal, as badges are ... well, just a small part of the game. I'm betting that even if there was a temporary fix that could be put in place that seems as "easy" as some have suggested, that the entire QA process would take up the remainder of the event anyway - rendering the fix a true waste of development time given the current schedule. It's not like you can change code or even a database entry without testing it before putting it into the live game environment... trust me (I build and maintain data-driven content/pages for my employer's website), even changing a database entry can have unforseen consequences. I hope, however, that someone has this on their calendar so it doesn't get forgotten before the next Halloween event.
I agree a backstory would be very welcome - some way to fit this into the CoX universe instead of them just popping up out of the ground for ... well ... no reason?
And I definitely think the Tier 3's should drop more frequently. I get that we can click on doors more frequently, but I got zero Tier 3's in 2.5 hours of ToT last night, a couple of Tier 1's and a bunch of Tier 1's... I can get Tier 1's anytime - they are NOT a treat of any kind. I don't collect them to resell them later, and I daresay the vast majority of the playerbase does not ... so to use that as a reason not to support their dropping more frequently than normal is kinda lame - just sayin
Anyhow ... just some of my own thoughts ...
Storm
Serenity is not freedom from the storm, but peace amid the storm ...
I love the Zombie invasion and I have had no problems getting the badges on my primary toon for the ToTing. then again my primary toon is a tanker and is maximized with io's so can handle spawns for 8 solo..
Just as has been recommended find a team find a area with several doors in a small cyclable area (thers at least 3 in PI i can think of off hand) and have at it. The badges come quick, and i've found you do get credit for other teams kills towards your x of y badges you just can't be on the otherside of the zone.
To the Devs, I do like others want to see some background story, Maybe a failed BP ritual or a failed CoT summoning give us some small tidbit of reasoning why suddenly the dead are rising up to attack the city.
I have seen zombies attack mobs in zone and vice versa though which was kinda funny.. The new zomie models are great please keep em and put em to use as a new faction maybe at war with the BP... Either way just my 2 inflence.
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Sigh, I think I've seen several complaints repeating this from you lately. There is this cool new idea that may help: alts.
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Sigh, here's a cool new idea: mind your own business. I expressed my opinion. Don't like it? Who cares.
I don't collect badges on other characters, and the zombie apocalypse would be the same tedious lagfest regardless of which character I was playing.
Kid Lazarus, 50 empath Defender
Freek, 50 mind/psi Dominator
Black Khopesh, 43 db/wp Scrapper
Circuit-Boy, 40 elec Brute
Graf von Eisenfaust, 38 db/wp Brute
Blue Banshee, 35 sonic Blaster
Blood Countess, 33 mind/storm Controller
Dr. Radon, 32 rad Corruptor
Phantom Pirate, 32 db/wp Stalker
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As for the invasions times, they are really wierd. i was watching the zone events tab on villains, and GV got pegged 2 times in a row, before the first one ended. This was on Freedom.
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Were there 2 instances of Grandville when that happened (since it's Freedom, during a holiday event, it's probably safe to assume that this was the case)? If so, one of the invasions hit one of those instances and the other you saw hit the other instance. There was a post somewhere around here with someone commenting that they went to one instance of PI on a server when a zombie invasion was taking place "in PI." They were surprised to find that both instances of PI weren't being invaded, but they shouldn't have been. The game sees those instances as separate zones, so the invasions will treat them that way as well.
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So no buster badge this year?
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That's not what he said. You can still get the Buster badge. It's simply not as quick and easy to attain as you'd like.
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Well I want compensation!
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* Costume drops
* Inspie drops
* Costume slot salvage
* XP
* Inf
* Prestige
* Recipie drops
* Salvage drops
What? You want a pony too?
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for the time I payed for and wasted trying to get something that was advertised as working, and is obviously broken.
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It IS working. Simply not QUITE as intended, meaning you have to actually put effort into it.
As such, aren't you glad they started it a few days early?
Again, you CAN get the badges. They simply take LONGER.
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
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As for the invasions times, they are really wierd. i was watching the zone events tab on villains, and GV got pegged 2 times in a row, before the first one ended. This was on Freedom.
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Were there 2 instances of Grandville when that happened (since it's Freedom, during a holiday event, it's probably safe to assume that this was the case)? If so, one of the invasions hit one of those instances and the other you saw hit the other instance. There was a post somewhere around here with someone commenting that they went to one instance of PI on a server when a zombie invasion was taking place "in PI." They were surprised to find that both instances of PI weren't being invaded, but they shouldn't have been. The game sees those instances as separate zones, so the invasions will treat them that way as well.
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That could have been it, I wasn't really paying attention, mostly hanging in Cap so I didn't notice if GV had more than one instance.
@Van De Graff-X, Liberty
Lighthouse, in all honesty, a Tier 1 Inspiration is not really a worthwhile reward.
The Tier 3 thing might have been an issue if the Trick/Treat ratio wasn't seriously screwed. When one can go double digits on Tricks before receiving a Treat, and then being awarded a Tier 1 insp...well...it's not really a "prize".
Now, granted, one can get an insp drop on a Trick, which is...weird...as well as a Rock on a Treat...again weird...but one could leave the Trick Insps as Tier 1 with the Treat Insps being Tier 3.
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Lighthouse, in all honesty, a Tier 1 Inspiration is not really a worthwhile reward.
The Tier 3 thing might have been an issue if the Trick/Treat ratio wasn't seriously screwed. When one can go double digits on Tricks before receiving a Treat, and then being awarded a Tier 1 insp...well...it's not really a "prize".
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Stop being ungrateful. It could have been another trick or a rock.
I think the Devs should just turn off the event considering no one likes it. (excluding myself of course 
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Lighthouse, in all honesty, a Tier 1 Inspiration is not really a worthwhile reward.
The Tier 3 thing might have been an issue if the Trick/Treat ratio wasn't seriously screwed. When one can go double digits on Tricks before receiving a Treat, and then being awarded a Tier 1 insp...well...it's not really a "prize".
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Stop being ungrateful. It could have been another trick or a rock.
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Oh, you mean like the 20 prior Tricks for that one Treat.
It's amazing how many people trot out the "stop being ungrateful" line when someone voices a valid complaint. A Tier 1 inspiration that can be bought in any store for pennies is not a valid reward for ToT'ing.
Rocks I don't mind, other than them being called a Treat. They are good for throwing at Hami and for lolz factor in PvP.
Edit - Never said I didn't like the event. Really like the zombie apocs. It's just that the ToT'ing part is kinda broken.
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Sigh, I think I've seen several complaints repeating this from you lately. There is this cool new idea that may help: alts.
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Sigh, here's a cool new idea: mind your own business. I expressed my opinion. Don't like it? Who cares.
I don't collect badges on other characters, and the zombie apocalypse would be the same tedious lagfest regardless of which character I was playing.
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Then try this: combine them to get the ones you want. Since you get them more often, there isn't an issue.
My new Youtube Channel with CoH info
You might know me as FlintEastwood now on Freedom
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As for the invasions times, they are really wierd. i was watching the zone events tab on villains, and GV got pegged 2 times in a row, before the first one ended. This was on Freedom.
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Were there 2 instances of Grandville when that happened (since it's Freedom, during a holiday event, it's probably safe to assume that this was the case)? If so, one of the invasions hit one of those instances and the other you saw hit the other instance. There was a post somewhere around here with someone commenting that they went to one instance of PI on a server when a zombie invasion was taking place "in PI." They were surprised to find that both instances of PI weren't being invaded, but they shouldn't have been. The game sees those instances as separate zones, so the invasions will treat them that way as well.
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I wasnt really "surprised"..... but it really should be noted which PI or GV it is in.... cuz if ur coming from a different zone, thats 2 extra load screens you gotta go through to get to the right one if you guessed wrong as to which instance was the one u needed to be in
Different issue: Was running the Eden trial last night when during the kill 200 DE, a Zombie invasion occurred in Eden. BAM! NO other mobs were on the map. Nothing. No nemesis, no crey and most worriesome for us who had to kill 131 more of them... NO Devouring Earth. Is that a bug or WAI?
-Escher
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It's amazing how many people trot out the "stop being ungrateful" line when someone voices a valid complaint. A Tier 1 inspiration that can be bought in any store for pennies is not a valid reward for ToT'ing.
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In every game there are those people, who apparently have their self esteem so tied to this game as if they have no life beyond it that every criticism, even legitimate ones like these, are taken personally. I remember fanbois ranging from the Battlecruiser forum fanatically defended their overlord, to things like Master of Orion 3, or the total wreckage that is now called Age of Conan (sure hope you aren't a Funcom stock holders as they are down 90+%). Sadly, these people exist in every game.
The only thing worse than devs making bad decisions is the hoard of fanboys and bootlickers that keep cheering them on.
I'm really suprised and disappointed that priority wasn't given to the Buster badge bug.
Whenever there has been a bug with previous events they were given priority precisely because they only happen once a year and need to be right.
A year is way too long to have to wait for a badge bug fix.
well i understand the push to get issue 13 out at some internal
predeturmined release date, but the question is 6 months from now will the players rememeber the release date of I13
or the broken parts of the event?
Fluffy Bunny 1 Person SG
Rabid Bunny 1 Person VG
Both on Pinnacle
Hobbit's Hole 1 Person SG
Spider's Web 1 Person VG
Both on Freedom