There's a "Merit timer"??? Thanks for explaing why that is, by the way. Last I heard was "if you want to run 12 KHTFs in a row, that's your choice."
At first I thought this was a good idea but the more I hear about it the more annoying it sounds. Way to replace one faulty system with another, and it's a shame that Synapse had to make his first appearance over this mess.
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Katie Hannon isn't going to disappear. You can do Katie in half an hour; it's a nice snack. If you happen to be under level 34 you get a nice round of "Grats" out of it. It's quick, it's handy, it's fun, it gets you a hat and an Amy and it is, in general, a Good Task Force. It's just going from being "just as good as Manticore and SIX TIMES FASTER" to "one sixth as good as Manticore and SIX TIMES FASTER." Maybe 1/8 as good, I don't know the exact numbers.
[/ QUOTE ]That's a good explanation Fulmens.
The problem though isn't the balacing. The problem is the huge frikken nerf they tossed in as a "by the way." They could balance up as well as down. They could leave Katie giving 1 recipe's worth, and Eden giving 1 recipe's worth, and give Manticore 4 recipe's worth. And it wouldn't really change the way things are because the people (Squez in your example) who run it a lot are getting the same rate and have no reason to change their behavior.
Balanced, with merits, in a way that doesn't punish the longer TFs. But that's not what they're doing. They chose to nerf it. Hard.
Before if I took 2 hours to run Katie, I got a recipe. Now if I take 2 hours to run Katie, I get 1/6 of a recipe. The problem has nothing to do with my speed, it has nothing to do with balance. It has everything to do with nerfs.
And the annoying part is that instead of the headline being "there are too many pool C recipes in the world!" I have to see this strawman argument that people are opposed to balance. Had they balanced up instead of down, this would be one of the most popular changes ever.
Would it be better if the reward of merits we're timeX spent on said TF, instead of the current: This tf is long, this tf is medium-long, this tf is short, categorizing? For example, you finish a 20 min katie or w/e and get 5 merits or something, whereas you finish that same katie but take an hour you'd get 15 merits, essentially the longer a tf takes, the more merits you get?
And of course, TFs could have their maximum merit rewardation as to prevent exploitation, so a katie over an hour and 20 or something will only reward 20 merits, and anything longer than that will still reward 20 merits because that is the max for that tf, you could set different limits for different TFs but still reward based on how much time was put into it (to an extent).
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2. A lot of people are concerned that "normal play " gets ripped off because, for instance, doing Eden "normally" takes an hour and a half instead of 10 minutes. But the Devs have to look at the total picture. There are two relevant things that any solution has to handle:
1. Everything ends up on Wentworths.
2. One goal is for a normal-size TF to be a reasonable choice for ALL the people who would do a TF.
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1 is not necessarily true. Sometimes you get a drop... and just keep it because it's something you want.
1 will become much less true under merits as heavy TF players will, rather than producing surplus random recipes that they convert to influence via WWs to get what they want, will simply hoard merits until they can buy what they want directly.
And once they've got what they want, they'll hoard merits instead of turning to wentworths to convert merits into influence by buying recipes and selling them.
The key thing to remember is that the market and influence are a means to an end (desired recieps), not an end themselves.
I have no motivation to supply the market with recipes if every recipe I get is one I want, and as a rational actor who knows the low chance of getting a desirable Pool C drop, I have no motivation to convert merits into recipes I don't want via the random choice.
Further, once a given character's build is completed, instead of producing recipes I have no need for at all on that character I can store "recipe value" indefinitely in the form of merits (which are "infinitely compact" and don't take auction slots, salvage banking slots, or enhancement inventory slots to keep) and exchange them for recipes whenever I so choose, like if a later need arises (say if I want to respec) or to help a different character with a specific, needed recipe.
This is an important note because the developers have "telegraphed" a merits nerf - merits will almost certainly only become harder to get in the future, so converting them needlessly today can hurt me some months down the line. Further, for most characters influence is more easily generated in equal or greater quantities per unit time through other means (ie, demon, tv, roman farming... or just soloing, unless you're on an "all team" build), as opposed to doing taskforces and selling the random drop recipe at the end on WW's. I don't TF as my first choice for gaining influence today, merits wont' change that at all.
In short, I'll be able to use merits to get exactly what I want, and if I don't want anything I'd usually be foolish to exchange merits to sell for influence instead of just keeping them and doing non-TF activities for influence instead.
"Experience is the mother of good judgement. Bad judgement is the father of experience."
This thread has actually...Well, not quite reassured me, but taken some of the anxiety out of this new system for me. At the very least, the information is all in the same place and easy to access now.
Thanks, new guy.
First of all, welcome to the loony-bin that are our (beloved?) boards!
If this initial post is indicative of the amount of information you intend to share in the future, this is a very good sign.
Now on to a question/suggestion:
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Poster: KeepDistance
Q: Would you consider removing items from the merit purchase system that already have direct-inf purchase availability through vendors? (Specifically, I mean SOs and common IO recipes.) If not, what do you see as the benefit to offering them through merits?
A: We understand that there are some players who prefer to not use the invention system at all, so wed like the Merit Reward system to mean something for these players too. Common IO recipes are there for players who dont like to worry about IO sets.
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How about offering constructed basic IOs instead of SOs? This gives the option of getting something with merits that you currently can't get from a vendor, while allowing those who don't want to deal with recipes and the market to get a taste of the benefits of IOs.
At a bare minimum, constructed basic IOs should replace SOs at lvl 35 and thereafter, since they are simply better in every way at that point.
Oddly enough, I've screwed up and run Katie on Invincible, resulting in a 2+ hour time with multiple team wipes. I have no idea why so may people chose to stick it out, least of all one of the more experienced and skillful players I've had a chance to team with.
I'm referring here to Squez.
Also, why don't more people listen to you? This is the best response to the "OMG TASK FORCE (by which I mean Katie and Eden) REWARDS ARE NERFED" flavor of doom that's been seasoning this issue.
Welcome to the game, Synapse. 
I have nothing against the Merit system, but theres one thing that stuck out for me, personally.
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Poster: Healing_Phoenix
Q: Why is it that the Villain side SF payout is way less than Hero side TF payout? I feel that as a villain I'm being punished.
A: On average Villain Strike Forces take significantly less time to complete when compared to Hero Task Forces. Since time is the major factor when determining the number of Merits a task gives upon completion Villains on average receive less Merits per task, but roughly the same Merits per hour.
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My understanding was that CoV was designed to be a leaner, more efficient game for players, fixing a lot of what people found laborious about CoH, like low-level, pre-travel power story arcs taking place in multiple zones - and - incredibly long Task Forces that people couldnt always commit to undertaking or finishing. I assumed that all the changes made to CoV were from a lessons learned exercise. Therefore things like task forces were ironed out a lot better in CoV, precisely so they wouldnt take many hours to do. I thought that was the intent of the design.
But now were at a stage where all these new extensions are being added to game, which are effecitvely superseding previous systems. It seems to me that CoV has drawn the short straw as a result of its own efficiencies and I guess it's too late in the process to suggest a revamp or creating a system gesture that balances the reward with blueside. I'd suggest adding an extra mission or two to existing SF's, but that is unlikely to float well. Re-designing blueside TFs seems the best option, but again, would players welcome that? Do the Devs want to do that? I suppose the Merit system is more of a 'what's down the line' for the game. I see it as a system that works well for Co-op TFs, over TFs specific to blue or redside. Everything about i13 so far reads the same as issue 6 and ED, with the long-term vision for the game being mapped out. I don't mean that negatively, just a personal observation.
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Poster: Paradox1
Q: The Story Arc merit system seems to encourage us to solo non-TF missions, as running other people's story arcs earns 0 merits (unless we happen to have the same arc open). Is this really the way you want to encourage us to play the game?
A: While only offering Merits upon story arc completion to the owner of the story arc is consistent with our original reward system (only the mission owner earns the bonus story arc XP and gets to choose the SO enhancement) we understand that there is certainly room for improvement upon this. We will evaluate our options on how we can improve the rewards for party members along for the ride on a story arc.
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These days, I'm a casual gamer, tough I used to be more involved both in the game and the forum. Not having followed the discussion closely so far, I find this is the point I object most strongly on. You tried this (rewarding only the mission holder) before on IO rewards, and the player base said no. What makes you think we'll like it now? You changed your opinion then, please do so now too.
This is a showstopper. It has to be changed before merits go live, or this will be even more a city of soloers. It basically cuts of casual gamers (who already have a hard time getting the time to do TFs) from the merits system too.
On a related topic, I must say I am appalled that you still have not created a teaming incentive in the IO/salvage drops. This has been discussed since the testing of the IO system; the best way to get IO/Salvage drops is to farm a lot of easy opponents solo, which is far from fun. There is a teaming incentive on regular enhancement drops, on xp, and on influence/prestige. Wont you see the light and introduce it on IO/salvage too?
Welcome to the forum, Synapse. Glad to have you on board.
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Poster: MadScientist
Q: Pool C and D are no longer dropped anywhere in-game. To my knowledge, those will be the only items purchased from stores that never drop in the wild. My question is: What are your goals in making that design move? What do you expect that unique situation to achieve?
A: In the past, completing a Task Force gave you the option to choose a random IO recipe. This rolled on a reward table. All weve done is remove where you roll on the reward table. Instead of it being upon completion of a Task Force, now its purchased from a vendor.
One of the benefits of doing it this way actually gives the players the option to choose rewards from a large amount of task force level ranges instead of whatever one the Task Force would normally use. So, you can spend your 20 merits to roll on random roll from a variety of level ranges (10-14, 15-19, 20-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 40-45 or 46-50.)
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Like Mad, I am concerned that now the Pool C and D recipes are essentially store-bought commodities rather than normal rewards. While yes, the level range choice is very nice, the day I will use my merits on a random Pool C roll will be the day I have completely kitted out all my alts with every bought one.
I understand your reasoning behind the idea that you've just moved the point where the random roll takes place. But from my point of view, by taking away the random drop and making merits my only reward and my only way of obtaining the recipes I want on that alt, you've made them far too valuable to me to blow on a potential Call of the Sandman.
Which brings up another point, which may be outside of your range of duties, but perhaps you could pass it along to whoever's job it is. The Pool C itself.
The speed katie has been popular with a lot of players like me who are casual players who want to make their limited time count as best as it can. Katie is fast, and most importantly fun. I've run a speeden once. Once. I didn't enjoy it, so I considered it on my 'once for the badge' list. But I've run a lot of katies because the Mary fight is one of my favorites in the game.
But the biggest advantage to the speed katie is that if the RNG made a frownie face that day and dumped yet another Trap of the Hunter or Malaise into my lap, it was no big deal. But if I'm spending a chunk of a Dr. Q on it? It will be a very big deal.
So I have to ask - is there any possibility of revisiting the recipes that are included in Pool C? It really makes no sense whatsoever for there to be as many confuse recipes in the pool as healing ones. There are simply far too many of very limited value. I don't mind using random rolls for Pool D, because there is only one vendor trash recipe, but Pool C is chock full of them.
"Home is where, when you have to go there, they have to let you in."
I know there's an ulterior motive for Merits beyond the hooie we're being sold about it making the game more balanced for players.
I see Merits as a punative measure, penalizing those who just play the game casually. Why punish the majority of players for not being as good as the few power players? ..this is just plain stupid.
Merits will seriously impact teaming in a negative way, especially for those ATs that are not offensive in nature. I found Synapses comment about teammates in groups "along for the ride" and therefore essentially unworthy of earning Merits, to be objectionable.
So, I need to spend 7+hrs running TFs to earn myself 1 Knockback Recipe?, when before I may just have been lucky enough to get it as a drop after a single TF OR recieved a Recipe I could sell to buy the one I wanted??, how is THAT a better system?
We never fully recovered from ED and the loss of power/fun/"wow" that came with it, even though we were promised a "just you wait and see, it will all be worth it", I'm still waiting. The "Heroes" in this game are still shadows of thier former selves, and that will never change.
Merits are just another form of punative control over the way we play the game and will be bad for this game in ways the Devs haven't even thought of, watch the numbers drop "just you wait and see".
Travel Suppression is this game's worst feature, well that and MetaHumans riding mass transit like tourists at DisneyLand.
Thanks for the time and answers.
@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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A: Merits were designed to represent an individual characters accomplishments and time invested doing missions. Thus, untradeable and unsellable.
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This part right here, more then anything, is a REALLY bad idea.
Look, this game is all about alting. Want to know what my typical game play sessions look like?
I log on, check the TF channels on my server, if one is running im intrested in, i ask what is needed, pick one of my MANY MANY alts, and run the tf. Whatever reward i get can be shared between ALL my alts. This keeps the game FRESH for me. If i'm not in the MOOD to run hero "X", i'll run hero "y"... If the team needs a tank, I can fill that... a defender, ok, i can switch...
If merits go live like above, i'll have... basically ONE TFing hero. Out of 17 active alts. My old play style, the one i enjoy, will be shot to hell by the fact it'd spread my merits out accross 17 heros and would take... MUCH longer to build up enough merits on any ONE hero to afford to buy anything.
THIS IS A BAD IDEA. IMO, the whole merit system as a replacement to our old reward system isn't the BEST idea you guys have had, but this part of it is just down right BAD. They HAVE to be tradable. Or at the very LEAST shareable between heros on the same account. I'd still be unhappy with THAT because i have two accounts... but it'd be better then this...
Come on guys, listen to reason. Alting is the live blood of your games replayability. Pigen holing me into one primary TF running hero and villian out of my 17 active charters is a BAD idea. It will seriously hurt MY enjoyment of the game, and many others i would think, cause i'm not the only one i see on the channel asking people what they need for tf running. Most everyone does. This part at the very least needs reconsidered.
@KingSnake - Triumph Server
@PrinceSnake
My common sense is tingling... ~ Deadpool
If you can't learn to do something well... learn to enjoy doing it poorly...
[ QUOTE ]
So, I need to spend 7+hrs running TFs to earn myself 1 Knockback Recipe?, when before I may just have been lucky enough to get it as a drop after a single TF OR recieved a Recipe I could sell to buy the one I wanted??, how is THAT a better system?
[/ QUOTE ]Because you only may have gotten that recipe you wanted. Or, you could have gotten nothing but worthless things that you don't want, and sell for little at the market in those 7 hours.
With this system, you're guaranteed to get what you want at the end of those 7 hours.
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For all the people who say "But what if you screw up and the Katie takes two hours?" I'm just gonna say that, back in issue 3, I did Manticore in SEVEN AND A HALF HOURS. Bad things happen all over.
[/ QUOTE ]
I look at the changes in I13 and then think my golf game needs more improvement if I am ever going to break par. I like golf the rules never seem to change. I sure as heck have never seen the clubs changed because Arnold Palmer or Jack Nicklaus did too well
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With this system, you're guaranteed to get what you want at the end of those 7 hours.
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No. That is 7 theoretical hours Your merits per hour will vary
Welcome to the boards. I was happy with those answers and just think its a shame that all future changes can't happen quick enough. For me its something of an important priority.
A lot of people have in the past stayed true to the content, putting roleplay and story content before leveling speed. Some people to the point of having barely any contacts who aren't a confidant. On villains something in the region of 70 contacts. That's a lot of arcs done and time spent to of said "right I have done the game as this character" before moving on to the next. Then Ouroboros came to say do it again for badges, now this comes to say do it again for merits. For those playing at off-peak times on servers where bumping into other life is infrequent. It's kind of like asking someone to sit through many documentaries on farming more than once.
Is there any chance for the Merit system to do a contact check and award for confidence level contacts?
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With this system, you're guaranteed to get what you want at the end of those 7 hours.
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No. That is 7 theoretical hours Your merits per hour will vary
[/ QUOTE ]I realize this. I was using his theoretical '7 hours' that he stated in his post.
Merits thread: Hey, this discourages alting which is what this game is all about!
Day jobs thread: Hey, this encourages alting which is totally not what this game is all about!
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A good example of this is the Lord Recluse Strike Force. It normally would grant 18 merits due to its relatively short average completion time, however because of its difficulty it gets a +7 bonus granting a total of 25 merits!
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Have you considered simply adding 1 Merit per AV?
This fits Risk-v-Reward, and makes that LRSF "buff" more obvious. (Not to mention a partial profit if you beat 3 or 4 missions and fail the huge challenge at the end.) Merits for AVs may also help balance KHTF, and maybe even bringing Eden up to something not laughable.
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Since you defeat the same AV 10 times, diminishing returns will reduce the value of those merits.
My arcs are constantly shifting, just search for GadgetDon for the latest.
The world beware! I've started a blog
GadgetMania Under Attack: The Digg Lockout
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A good example of this is the Lord Recluse Strike Force. It normally would grant 18 merits due to its relatively short average completion time, however because of its difficulty it gets a +7 bonus granting a total of 25 merits!
[/ QUOTE ]
Have you considered simply adding 1 Merit per AV?
This fits Risk-v-Reward, and makes that LRSF "buff" more obvious. (Not to mention a partial profit if you beat 3 or 4 missions and fail the huge challenge at the end.) Merits for AVs may also help balance KHTF, and maybe even bringing Eden up to something not laughable.
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Since you defeat the same AV 10 times, diminishing returns will reduce the value of those merits.
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Not if you wait a day and a bit between each AV 
Sorry, but I must ask you to clarify a little here.
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Poster: Lemur_Lad
Q: Will villains get more villain only options for earning chunks of merits to balance out the larger number of hero trials and TFs?
A: We will be monitoring this. We want to make sure that a villain doing missions from 1 to 50 will be earning roughly the same amount of merits a hero can earn. If we find a serious imbalance between heroes and villains in the number of earnable merits, well look at ways of improving this.
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For what length of time will you be "monitoring" it? Will it be the same amout of time that PPP's were "monitored" and "evaluated", or as long as the markets are being "evaluated"? In both cases, that "evaluation" has gone on entirely too long.
Come on 650 - 160 is a huge gap. Story arcs will not make up for that.
"Sorry bucko, but CoH and CoV are the same game." -BackAlleyBrawler
"Silly villain, CoX is for Heroes!" -Saicho
Using the 5 minute/merit normalization, there is almost exactly 24 hours of TF content for heroes under lvl 35, meaning they can earn merits at the maximum rate every moment they play, no matter how much they play. For villains lvl 34 or less, there are only 7 hours of SF available before they start to suffer from diminishing returns. Low and mid-level heroes can potentially out-earn villains in merits 3:1.
"Trust me, it worked in the Simpsons." - Calash
I just read your entire post on the Merit System, but didn't see the one glaring fact that you DEVs are missing...With the absence of C and D drops, the already overinflated market will be out of site for these items.
The amount of invested time in doing TFs to earn Merits will be a huge time sump taking away from level new characters etc. In addition this will have to be done on ONE CHARACTER ONLY as Merits are non-transferable. Also with a 3 hour time factor, you are looking at MONTHS, not days to get enough Merits to finish a build.
Here is an example build for discussion purposes:
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.4006
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Dark-SS: Level 50 Natural Tanker
Primary Power Set: Dark Armor
Secondary Power Set: Super Strength
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Dark Embrace -- ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(A), ImpArm-ResDam/Rchg:40(3), ImpArm-EndRdx/Rchg:40(5), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:40(7), ImpArm-ResDam:40(9)
Level 1: Jab -- Acc-I:50(A)
Level 2: Murky Cloud -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx:40(A), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg:40(3), Aegis-EndRdx/Rchg:40(5), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:40(7), Aegis-ResDam:40(9)
Level 4: Death Shroud -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg:40(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx:40(19), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg:40(19), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg:40(37), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:40(37), EndRdx-I:50(40)
Level 6: Obsidian Shield -- S'fstPrt-ResKB:30(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx:40(11), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg:40(37), Aegis-EndRdx/Rchg:40(43), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:40(46), Aegis-ResDam:40(46)
Level 8: Dark Regeneration -- Acc-I:50(A), Acc-I:50(11), EndRdx-I:50(13), EndRdx-I:50(13), EndRdx-I:50(15), RechRdx-I:50(15)
Level 10: Air Superiority -- Mako-Acc/Dmg:40(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx:40(25), Mako-Dmg/Rchg:40(29), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:40(33), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:40(33)
Level 12: Swift -- Flight-I:50(A)
Level 14: Fly -- Flight-I:50(A)
Level 16: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+:40(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+:40(17), Mrcl-Heal:40(17)
Level 18: Haymaker -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:40(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:40(27), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg:40(27), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:40(34), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:40(34), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:40(34)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I:50(A), EndMod-I:50(21), EndMod-I:50(21)
Level 22: Knockout Blow -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:40(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:40(23), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg:40(23), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:40(31), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:40(31), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:40(31)
Level 24: Cloak of Darkness -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:40(A), LkGmblr-Rchg+:40(25)
Level 26: Oppressive Gloom -- Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg:40(A)
Level 28: Rage -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(29), RechRdx-I:50(33)
Level 30: Taunt -- Acc-I:50(A)
Level 32: Boxing -- Acc-I:50(A)
Level 35: Tough -- TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx:40(A), TtmC'tng-ResDam/Rchg:40(36), TtmC'tng-EndRdx/Rchg:40(36), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:40(36), TtmC'tng-ResDam:40(50), TtmC'tng-EndRdx:40(50)
Level 38: Foot Stomp -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg:40(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx:40(39), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg:40(39), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg:40(39), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:40(40), RechRdx-I:40(40)
Level 41: Weave -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx:40(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg:40(42), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:40(42), RedFtn-Def:40(42), RedFtn-EndRdx:40(43), LkGmblr-Rchg+:40(43)
Level 44: Punch -- Mako-Acc/Dmg:40(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx:40(45), Mako-Dmg/Rchg:40(45), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:40(45), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:40(46)
Level 47: Hurl -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg:40(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx:40(48), Dev'n-Dmg/Rchg:40(48), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:40(48), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:40(50)
Level 49: Soul Transfer -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I:50(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- ULeap-Stlth:40(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
So here is the breakout:
Impervium Armor: Resistance - 220
Aegis: End/Rech - 200 (x2) = 400
Scirroco's Dervish: Acc/Dam/End - 200 (x2) = 400
Mako's Bite: Dam/Rech - 200 (x2) = 400
Luck of the Gambler: Def/+Rech 7.5% - 200 (x2) = 400
Numina's Convalescence: +Regen/+Recov - 250
Miracle: +Recovery - 240
Devastation: Dam/Rech - 220
Unbounded Leap: +Stealth - 240
For a grand total of 2770 Merits 2770/55 (Posi Run Hero Side) = 51 times WITH THE SAME GUY. Times 200 minutes (less than your data mine at current) = 10200 mins (170 hours or 7.1 days). The 3 hour break for claiming Merits would be absorbed into the next running of Posi, so 7.1 days of back to back Posi would get 1 character their Merits.
And this isn't even a high end build in my book. My Ill/Rad or Stone Tanker would cost 2-3 times more in Merits.
And with the fact that these will be COMPLETELY unavailable on Wentworth's (or for 100s of millions) even casual players will have to invest time into TFs that they may not have. If a casual player can't go into WW and buy these items to make their build EQUAL to the power players, why bother?
Have you ever been on a team and someone has a higher survival, better damage etc and asked their build to mirror it? That will be a laughable post I13.
This means that ME as a "power gamer" wanting the best build and best sets for that build will be "farming" TFs to get what I need. Not rolling new guys, but using a "farming build" guy to run the best TF as fast as I can in order to get stuff for new characters, that I don't have time to play because I'm "TF farming".
Bottom line, the Merit system as it is discourages both casual and power players to PLAY AT ALL. Why would I go back to SO builds? Why not be able to get the best guy I can.
This current Merit system falls into line with WoW raising the level cap and making raiding armor on people that spent hours raiding virtually useless. I quit WoW and CAME BACK to CoH due to that, I would hate to see my first and favorite MMO force me away due to something like this.
55 Posi's on one guy (as Merits don't transfer)? THAT'S INSANE
BALANCE IS A NERF
Liberty Server
@Energy Aura and @Ill Conceived on Global
Han Solo: [laughs] Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good BLASTER at your side, kid.
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Squez is normal.
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Only in such a hypothetical scenario can that sentence be true.
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