Sad State of the Game


Acyl

 

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I shake my head every time I enter Atlas and Cap zones, so many "players" but so few Heroes and Villians. The content of the game now is just so much window dressing and wallpaper, nice to see it hangs around, but in function having no pressing effect.

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I feel ya.
I myself refuse to do AE Boss Farms, they just aren't my cup of tea.
However, those ''players'' have chosen to do boss farms like doing that kinda thing, more power to them.
When I-15 goes live, and the new Architect channel is operating, maybe broadcast won't be flooded with spams for an AE boss farms.
Just this past weekend I did Justin Augustine, the 1st respec TF, and sister psyche. Now my main has completed every TF in the entire game heroside.


 

Posted

Those who care for content will play through the content. Those who don't, will not. I for one "hated" regular missions not because I don't care for the content; (I've played through the content, don't care for it.) but because it took me forever to slot my Character up with SOs.

AE fixed this for me with AE tickets. Now I do a few missions and I am able to slot 1 or 2 powers with SOs a mission, AWESOME!

Like-wise, the merit reward system for mission arcs needs to give more merits or give merits for every mission (merit points go up for teams) and give extra merits for completing a mission arch. People team, what the Devs fail to understand is that people don't always team through an entire Mission arch, some might team midway through someone elses arch.

If the Devs are so bent on getting people to play content, allow players to grab the same contacts as the team leader and everyone else on their team. Allow players to redue missions of a mission arch if someone on the team hasn't completed that mission.

Right now the merit reward system, rewards farming TFs and SFs. In fact everything the Devs have done so far seems to somehow "encourage" farming, ironicly enough.

I like the idea of merits however. It's a fantastic idea to reward players for playing content with "stuff" and it pulls us away from a monies system which is a broken system to begin with; because people like me will always manipulate a money system.

As a software programmer you learn never to blame the consumer for misusing a product. It is always the fault of the developer for not properly instructing, rewarding and enforcing the appropriate use for said product.


 

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Like the debauchery that brought Rome to it's knees, it appears that CoX has run the same course. Whoever the current Ceaser and Senators of the game are, they have lost the path and created a Colliseum to entertain the masses while the rest of the Empire collapses in disuse. Sit and watch the games, watch the slaughter of the Christians, the sea battles, etc. Don't worry about the rest of the Empire.

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As Legend puts it

As long as the Colosseum stands, Rome will stand.
When the Colosseum collapses, Rome will collapse.
When Rome collapses, the world will collapse


 

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more AE hate eh?

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All I can tell you at this point is my personal experience with AE.

Last week, I raised two of my toons to lvl 50. Neither of them left Atlas Park or the AE area.

They both have full sets of pretty good IO's. As of now, I've figured out how to play the market. I rake in about 4-8 million an hour now.

It's very simple. I came back to CoX two and a half weeks ago. I'm doing nothing illegal. I make my own missions and tailor them for the fastest kill-to-exp ratio. I found a special way to tailor a mission for each unique power set that helps me.

Now I PvP with my lvl 50's. RV seems really well populated with all the 50s.

A couple times I have travelled to the tailor. Once again, the Steel Canyon zone is figuatively empty; I never even hear calls for groups anymore. That is, until I get back to Atlas Park.

It appears to me that the goal is no longer PvE; I've heard people say the devs are focusing more on PvP. Well, at this rate, you can max level a hero in a day if you really focus on it. SO long live PvP...

I wonder if they knew this is what AE would do to the game...


 

Posted

LOL Epic_.....AMEN!!!!


 

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As I approach my 60 month vetran reward I have begun to review my opinion of the game today compared to the previous 5 years.

My overall opinion is that the game has lost alot of the lustre and promise of the early days.

In the early days CoH was a game about creating a unique Hero and going out and thrashing the bad guys. And CoV when it was released was similar on the villian side of the equation.

The Nerf bat was weilded in more sense or perhaps with more explanation.

New issues introduced new content, new adversaries, new abilities.

All these things somehow managed to come together and create a more interesting, challenging, and improved gaming experience.

Yet now I am left cold with the release of AE and the preceeding issue, and the resulting effect on gameplay as a whole. Instead of promoting and expanding the existing gameplay issues have destroyed the continuity that once existed.

As an old Vetran I have run alot of the content out there, have learned through that content how to play the different ATs, and in general enjoyed exploring over and over the many different nuances of the zones, TFs, and challenges that different builds face in CoX.

Now, with AE in place, I find that much of the preceeding content is being skipped by "new" players and they are more and more ignoring the aspects of the game which made it unique and interesting. Instead of AE bringing a whole new level of interesting content to the playerbase, it's implementation has brought "instant leveling gratification". A new player can in very short order skip all the content of the last 6 years to achieve what goal? To become a level 50 and not know how to play it? To constantly have to ask basic questions that the typical 12mos vet knows because they actually ran content?

I shake my head every time I enter Atlas and Cap zones, so many "players" but so few Heroes and Villians. The content of the game now is just so much window dressing and wallpaper, nice to see it hangs around, but in function having no pressing effect.

What is the sense of having so many zones if there is no pressing reason to go into them?

I can recall the first time I got into Founders Falls, having SK'd my 12 Controller to a 38 Tank and joining them on one of their missions. The new zone, the different mission content, it was all exciting and had purpose and meaning.

But now AE has made such things meaningless. You simply enter the building, click, and viola you're teleported inside one of thousands of missions which weren't created as real arcs, but as power leveling methods.

Just like PvP, AE implementation was thoughtless in it's outcome. Instead of becoming shining stars of achievement in a great game, they are flawed models whose implementation does not build on the rest of the content. PvP isn't universal in access to success and AE is universal in it's access to excess.

Like the debauchery that brought Rome to it's knees, it appears that CoX has run the same course. Whoever the current Ceaser and Senators of the game are, they have lost the path and created a Colliseum to entertain the masses while the rest of the Empire collapses in disuse. Sit and watch the games, watch the slaughter of the Christians, the sea battles, etc. Don't worry about the rest of the Empire.

[/ QUOTE ]

The sad thing is my man. As a 60 monther myself I find myself agreeing with almost everything you said. Don't let the smart mouth people who reply 'DOOOOOOM' or mock you detract from your message. You pretty much have nailed a majour flaw in the current game that I've been saying ever since the inception of MA. If it runs it's course as it is now in a very short while we will be deluged with the clueless 50. Someone who is level 50 and can't wrap their head around something as simple as how a tram works or are a Bubble/Energy defender that doesn't use their buffs in teaming and can't figure out why their damage isn't the same as the energy blaster (and these are all examples drawn from actual occurrences in game).


[IMG]http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/2886/coxboardsig.jpg[/IMG][B][SIZE="3"]
The shining world of the seven systems. On the continent of Wild Endeavour. In the mountains of Solace and Solitude there stood the Citadel of the Time Lords. The oldest and most mightiest race in the Universe. Sworn never to interfere. Only watch...[/SIZE][/B]

 

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I've heard people say the devs are focusing more on PvP. ..

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Really?


 

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Question 2: How do you get to Kings Row from Atlas Park?
- The Yellow Line
- The Green Line
- Ouroboros Portal
- Recall Friend


[/ QUOTE ]

I got recall friend-ed into Grandville from Atlas once. True story.


 

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Now, with AE in place, I find that much of the preceeding content is being skipped by "new" players and they are more and more ignoring the aspects of the game which made it unique and interesting. Instead of AE bringing a whole new level of interesting content to the playerbase, it's implementation has brought "instant leveling gratification". A new player can in very short order skip all the content of the last 6 years to achieve what goal? To become a level 50 and not know how to play it? To constantly have to ask basic questions that the typical 12mos vet knows because they actually ran content?

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I take this as great news.

I had no idea we had that many new players. Sweet. A 5 year old game with a mass influx of new players? Awesome. We rule.

And if that isn't the case then the problem you talk about isn't that bad. It would mean that most of the players have been around a while and know what they are doing.


 

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As I approach my 60 month vetran reward I have begun to review my opinion of the game today compared to the previous 5 years.

My overall opinion is that the game has lost alot of the lustre and promise of the early days.

In the early days CoH was a game about creating a unique Hero and going out and thrashing the bad guys. And CoV when it was released was similar on the villian side of the equation.

The Nerf bat was weilded in more sense or perhaps with more explanation.

New issues introduced new content, new adversaries, new abilities.

All these things somehow managed to come together and create a more interesting, challenging, and improved gaming experience.

Yet now I am left cold with the release of AE and the preceeding issue, and the resulting effect on gameplay as a whole. Instead of promoting and expanding the existing gameplay issues have destroyed the continuity that once existed.

As an old Vetran I have run alot of the content out there, have learned through that content how to play the different ATs, and in general enjoyed exploring over and over the many different nuances of the zones, TFs, and challenges that different builds face in CoX.

Now, with AE in place, I find that much of the preceeding content is being skipped by "new" players and they are more and more ignoring the aspects of the game which made it unique and interesting. Instead of AE bringing a whole new level of interesting content to the playerbase, it's implementation has brought "instant leveling gratification". A new player can in very short order skip all the content of the last 6 years to achieve what goal? To become a level 50 and not know how to play it? To constantly have to ask basic questions that the typical 12mos vet knows because they actually ran content?

I shake my head every time I enter Atlas and Cap zones, so many "players" but so few Heroes and Villians. The content of the game now is just so much window dressing and wallpaper, nice to see it hangs around, but in function having no pressing effect.

What is the sense of having so many zones if there is no pressing reason to go into them?

I can recall the first time I got into Founders Falls, having SK'd my 12 Controller to a 38 Tank and joining them on one of their missions. The new zone, the different mission content, it was all exciting and had purpose and meaning.

But now AE has made such things meaningless. You simply enter the building, click, and viola you're teleported inside one of thousands of missions which weren't created as real arcs, but as power leveling methods.

Just like PvP, AE implementation was thoughtless in it's outcome. Instead of becoming shining stars of achievement in a great game, they are flawed models whose implementation does not build on the rest of the content. PvP isn't universal in access to success and AE is universal in it's access to excess.

Like the debauchery that brought Rome to it's knees, it appears that CoX has run the same course. Whoever the current Ceaser and Senators of the game are, they have lost the path and created a Colliseum to entertain the masses while the rest of the Empire collapses in disuse. Sit and watch the games, watch the slaughter of the Christians, the sea battles, etc. Don't worry about the rest of the Empire.

[/ QUOTE ]

The sad thing is my man. As a 60 monther myself I find myself agreeing with almost everything you said. Don't let the smart mouth people who reply 'DOOOOOOM' or mock you detract from your message. You pretty much have nailed a majour flaw in the current game that I've been saying ever since the inception of MA. If it runs it's course as it is now in a very short while we will be deluged with the clueless 50. Someone who is level 50 and can't wrap their head around something as simple as how a tram works or are a Bubble/Energy defender that doesn't use their buffs in teaming and can't figure out why their damage isn't the same as the energy blaster (and these are all examples drawn from actual occurrences in game).

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Your comment reminds me of some funny experiences I've had with MA players.

Had a fire/kinetic with speed boost and fulcrum shift on our team, but he never used them. I even asked him "please"...but not once did he use them.

I had another guy simply fly around and do nothing while the rest of us fought. He wasn't anyones second account, either. I mentioned it, and most of the people in the party didn't care because they said the experience they were getting was too good.

Had a tank in one of our parties that didn't taunt. She left it all up to her AOE powers. Now I know that smart tanks know how to manage mobs, but this tank basically told us "If you fire at it, then it becomes your mob". You can't imagine how many times the party died before they gave up. But no one really cared because the exp overwhelmed any setbacks.

It's just sorta funny, because people are getting so particular about what they'll do, the refuse most groups for specific, fast-leveling ones.

Before MA, people were happy just to get into a full group. LOL


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Question 2: How do you get to Kings Row from Atlas Park?
- The Yellow Line
- The Green Line
- Ouroboros Portal
- Recall Friend


[/ QUOTE ]

I got recall friend-ed into Grandville from Atlas once. True story.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sweet! I'm glad I wasn't the only one. Did you /bug it for the Hall Of Bug Choice Badge?


Comic and Hero/Villain Culture
Saturday January 29th, 2005 (12:37 PM) ~ Monday August 9th, 2010
Those Who Lived It Will Remember Long after your Ban Hammer Crumbles and the servers flicker dead.
We Will Remember This One Moment In Time! ~ Shadow Ravenwolf

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
I had no idea we had that many new players. Sweet. A 5 year old game with a mass influx of new players? Awesome. We rule.

And if that isn't the case then the problem you talk about isn't that bad. It would mean that most of the players have been around a while and know what they are doing.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm sure any new player that can reach lvl 50 in less than a week is certain to stick around with all the challenges available.


 

Posted

54 month vet. here. I agree it is odd that the AE system makes it easy and rewarding to avoid the majority of the game. I have to wonder if the Dev's are data mining the actual numbers of players that use the game content verses stay in the Atlas AE always; or only venture out to RV once they have their instant 50.

If there is a large percentage of players doing AE only, or even a majority, is there a payback in developing new game content?

The one huge improvement with how AE is used is the ending of the filling, PLing tells; and thank you thank you no more bombarding of a level 46 toon to be a bridge for a PL team.

The game doesn't seem all that different to me honestly. I still use the game how it is fun for me, thousands of other subscribers are doing the same. I see new content like Issue 15/16, and the Rogue expansion pack on the horizon. As odd as I find the AE rewards system to be, I see a game that is healthy and improving.


 

Posted

If the Devs want to get rid of a large majority of the farming in the game as well as PvP issues this can be done with one very effective pebble of an idea.

Create a PvP tailor. Allow players to use their 2nd build to tailor a PvP char with enhancements however they like. Here's the kicker... let the players do this for "FREE." That build will be labeled "pvp" so those enhancements will only work in Arena and PvP Zones.

With that said, the Devs really have absolutely no idea how to fix or improve PvP so i'm not sure where exactly you are coming from. I personally feel they should outsource the PvP problem to the GuildWars team.


 

Posted

To the OP: If they'd never created the MA/AE system, and instead added a couple of new contacts and missions to both sides, there would be people complaining that it's all just "more of the same." While some of the regular mission info is really well written, particularly high-level red side missions, when it comes right down to it, it's all still run-run-run, punch-blast-mez. In other words, after several dozen missions inside a warehouse office or cave, lots of folks were looking for something different to do in this game, and the MA/AE system provided that for them.

To the folks in this thread and others advocating the removal of rewards from the MA/AE system: I still can't believe this is a serious suggestion that people keep making. This is not a game about reading and writing comics stories, it's a game about creating heroes and villains and making them more and more powerful.

If MA/AE had been released without rewards, or rewards were to be stripped out of MA/AE, the thud it would make hitting the ground would set off seismometers throughout the world. Sure a handful of people would still use it to write stories for their S/VGs or friends to RP, but those people would only run through those stories once, and many of them probably reluctantly at that. Everyone else would ignore MA/AE completely and it would've been the biggest financial and PR failure this game has seen. I certainly know I would not risk wasting half an hour or more of my game time playing through an arc that may be really great, but that could also suck rocks, but which won't advance my character either way.

If the Devs were to announce that in I16 CoV is getting two new contacts in every zone with a total 70-100 new missions between them. None of the missions are going to award exp, inf, prestige, or drops of any kind, but they'll be REALLY well-written and fun to play. How do you think that would go over? The words "lead balloon" come to mind.

So can we please stop with the (IMO ridiculous) suggestions of stripping rewards out of the MA system?


(Sometimes, I wish there could be a Dev thumbs up button for quality posts, because you pretty much nailed it.) -- Ghost Falcon

 

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QR

OP ignore AE. Seriously, I go in there once in awhile for missions and love it as a place to get inspirations, but otherwise, AE just isn't worth getting steamed about. It's not ruining the game. It's ruining the game for some players.

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This.

By the way, how is this a Player Question?


 

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If the Devs want to get rid of a large majority of the farming in the game as well as PvP issues this can be done with one very effective pebble of an idea.

Create a PvP tailor. Allow players to use their 2nd build to tailor a PvP char with enhancements however they like. Here's the kicker... let the players do this for "FREE." That build will be labeled "pvp" so those enhancements will only work in Arena and PvP Zones.

With that said, the Devs really have absolutely no idea how to fix or improve PvP so i'm not sure where exactly you are coming from. I personally feel they should outsource the PvP problem to the GuildWars team.

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Hell No!!

I have my Solo Build, my Team Build, and that mythical 3rd build is my lolPvP build because I give about as much of a crap about PvP as I care about whether an MA Baby can find their way out of Atlas Park to find the Tailor.


Comic and Hero/Villain Culture
Saturday January 29th, 2005 (12:37 PM) ~ Monday August 9th, 2010
Those Who Lived It Will Remember Long after your Ban Hammer Crumbles and the servers flicker dead.
We Will Remember This One Moment In Time! ~ Shadow Ravenwolf

 

Posted

There's really no need to trash AE completely to eliminate the PLing problem. The devs just need to create some mechanism to throttle down the rewards to some reasonable amount per minute. In reality, there's not a whole lot of difference between AE now and PI on Freedom server before AE.

It's silly for people to make 20 levels in an hour, and it's silly however they do it: AE, the Winterlord, the Family or Demon farm in Portal Corp, SKing to perma-46s, doorsitting, etc.

The real problem is the mechanism that allows so much XP to be obtained so quickly with little risk.

First and foremost, if you're doorsitting you should get no XP. If the mobs never check to aggro on you, you should never get any XP.

There should be some threshold amount of XP per minute (based on a rolling average over the last N minutes). Once you hit that threshold, diminishing returns kick in and you get, say, half the amount of XP above the normal amount. At another threshold there's another halving of XP. At some point you'll reach an effective maximum level increase per hour. That should probably in the range five levels per hour at low levels, less at higher levels.

If you're doing regular missions, where you spend a lot of time running between missions, waiting for other players to come back from smoke breaks, upgrading enhancements, etc., you would never run into this threshold because you're just not getting enough XP/minute. It's important that this rolling average be over a fairly long time (like 20 or 30 or 60 minutes, the length of a mission and its typical travel time to the next mission).

The attractiveness of AE is that there is very little overhead in doing missions. You don't have to waste 5 or 10 or 20 minutes running from one zone to the next. This is where the diminishing returns on XP/minute would kick in. And also in the farming missions at Portal Corp in PI, where they used to do their PLing.

One thing I've always disliked about the conceit of AE is that it's "not real," that these missions are phony and they keep shoving it in your face constantly. But by preventing story arc writers from having "real" missions in real locations, they have created the optimal PLing tool.

If AE missions were constructed like real TFs, where you had to run out to some location in the real world to actually do the mission, it would alleviate many of the problems that people are complaining about: less crowding in the AE building, the incentive to PL with AE would be decreased, players would see more of the city, etc. You could also add Defeat N Enemy in Open Zone missions to AE arcs as well. And they would be included in your defeat counts.

Furthermore, if AE randomly assigned zones based on the level of the missions, it would further inhibit AE's ability to PL. That is, all those level 54 boss farms would be some random place in Grandville or PI (and not inside safe and comfy Portal Corp), and it would be a hassle to get PLed lowbies to those locations.

And you could "explain" this in game terms by just saying that AE's simulation technology has been improved drastically by providing a complete world simulation, not for just each mission.


 

Posted

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[ QUOTE ]
As I approach my 60 month vetran reward I have begun to review my opinion of the game today compared to the previous 5 years.

My overall opinion is that the game has lost alot of the lustre and promise of the early days.

In the early days CoH was a game about creating a unique Hero and going out and thrashing the bad guys. And CoV when it was released was similar on the villian side of the equation.

The Nerf bat was weilded in more sense or perhaps with more explanation.

New issues introduced new content, new adversaries, new abilities.

All these things somehow managed to come together and create a more interesting, challenging, and improved gaming experience.

Yet now I am left cold with the release of AE and the preceeding issue, and the resulting effect on gameplay as a whole. Instead of promoting and expanding the existing gameplay issues have destroyed the continuity that once existed.

As an old Vetran I have run alot of the content out there, have learned through that content how to play the different ATs, and in general enjoyed exploring over and over the many different nuances of the zones, TFs, and challenges that different builds face in CoX.

Now, with AE in place, I find that much of the preceeding content is being skipped by "new" players and they are more and more ignoring the aspects of the game which made it unique and interesting. Instead of AE bringing a whole new level of interesting content to the playerbase, it's implementation has brought "instant leveling gratification". A new player can in very short order skip all the content of the last 6 years to achieve what goal? To become a level 50 and not know how to play it? To constantly have to ask basic questions that the typical 12mos vet knows because they actually ran content?

I shake my head every time I enter Atlas and Cap zones, so many "players" but so few Heroes and Villians. The content of the game now is just so much window dressing and wallpaper, nice to see it hangs around, but in function having no pressing effect.

What is the sense of having so many zones if there is no pressing reason to go into them?

I can recall the first time I got into Founders Falls, having SK'd my 12 Controller to a 38 Tank and joining them on one of their missions. The new zone, the different mission content, it was all exciting and had purpose and meaning.

But now AE has made such things meaningless. You simply enter the building, click, and viola you're teleported inside one of thousands of missions which weren't created as real arcs, but as power leveling methods.

Just like PvP, AE implementation was thoughtless in it's outcome. Instead of becoming shining stars of achievement in a great game, they are flawed models whose implementation does not build on the rest of the content. PvP isn't universal in access to success and AE is universal in it's access to excess.

Like the debauchery that brought Rome to it's knees, it appears that CoX has run the same course. Whoever the current Ceaser and Senators of the game are, they have lost the path and created a Colliseum to entertain the masses while the rest of the Empire collapses in disuse. Sit and watch the games, watch the slaughter of the Christians, the sea battles, etc. Don't worry about the rest of the Empire.

[/ QUOTE ]

The sad thing is my man. As a 60 monther myself I find myself agreeing with almost everything you said. Don't let the smart mouth people who reply 'DOOOOOOM' or mock you detract from your message. You pretty much have nailed a majour flaw in the current game that I've been saying ever since the inception of MA. If it runs it's course as it is now in a very short while we will be deluged with the clueless 50. Someone who is level 50 and can't wrap their head around something as simple as how a tram works or are a Bubble/Energy defender that doesn't use their buffs in teaming and can't figure out why their damage isn't the same as the energy blaster (and these are all examples drawn from actual occurrences in game).

[/ QUOTE ]

lol we have this same problem BEFORE issue 14.

long live the AE.


Blazara Aura LVL 50 Fire/Psi Dom (with 125% recharge)
Flameboxer Aura LVL 50 SS/Fire Brute
Ice 'Em Aura LVL 50 Ice Tank
Darq Widow Fortune LVL 50 Fortunata (200% rech/Night Widow 192.5% rech)--thanks issue 19!

 

Posted

To the OP: Originally I would have agreed with you as my attitude towards the AE was very similar, however that has changed gradually since it was released. Overall there are three things caused my change in attitude:

1) Making my own arc, which although it's not published yet, has been quite a fun challenge. Due to illness I haven't been able to be creative in the ways that I used to be for quite time time (and that's not been easy to handle), but the AE system has allowed me to enjoy and capture that feeling again to a certain extent. Actually that's also why I like the costume system. I spend a lot of time designing costumes and characters. So there is fun to be had in being creative rather than just beating/blowing/zapping/ripping things up.

2) Running arcs with my own small group of friends, both arcs they have written (they are a talented bunch), as well as trying out arcs written by others, has been some of the most fun any of us have had in the game -- if you play the right arcs with the right group of people, it's a heck of a lot of fun.

3) The realisation and acceptance of the fact that farmers and power levelers exist, but you don't have to mix with them if you don't want to (and vice versa of course). People have their own reasons as to why they play, and why they enjoy a game. Unfortunately that doesn't always match up with (and can sometimes be totally in opposition to) our own reasons. For me this just means I avoid Atlas Park just a little more than I used to.

I still run the original content and enjoy it, although I think a lot of it CoH-side could do with a revamp to bring it up to the same standard as some of the content in CoV. However that's because I'm a story/theme orientated player. For me the joy is mostly in the journey. Lately on the two MMO's I play (currently that is CoH/LOTRO) I've noticed that a common thread between a lot of the newcomers I've encountered is that they tend to be more goal orientated ie. it's about getting to the destination more than the journey. Mind you in the case of LOTRO it's often due to them being into PvP, which you can't really do all that effectively (outside of playing a 'creep') without getting to the end-game. Basically it's different strokes for different folks, and that was harder for me to learn with regards to LOTRO since I'm a bit of a Tolkien nut.

I hope that makes sense. My brain isn't exactly firing on all cylinders at the moment.

Edit: In a blinding flash of the obvious it just occurred to me that really the AE and any possible negative aspects impacts those who PuG much more than those who just team with people they know. When I first got into MMO's (and even back in my MUD days) I spent a lot of time in PuG's. These days for my own sanity and enjoyment I only team with people I know. SG's/VG's/Kins/Clans are the only way to go now. If you find a group of people you get on with, stick to them like glue. Do this, and some of the issues you have with the AE will become moot. Unless you are just objecting on principal (I have a bad habit of doing that sometimes), in which case there is no simple solution.


Matthew 5:14-16

Earl: Running ain't a plan; running's what you do when the plan fails.

 

Posted

Well the thing that I have noticed about AE is.....ever since AE came out, the salvage at wentworth's went skyrocketing. The reason for this is that AE missions (non-dev choice ones) do not give you any drops. That means that everything in Wentworths or the black market went up. Not enough salvage being produced.

I sold 4 fortunes lastnight for $200,000 each. I was shocked. Fortunes going for almost as much as pangeon soils. Then I got to thinking......all this because of AE.

I really think that they need to make it that AE should not give any XP at all. If it gives you XP, it should be a dev choice or should be put under a different category.

After this being said, I am going to keep running regular missions and make millions and millions off regular cheap drops.

One more thing, if you see Super Deej in AE, don't bother asking for PL. I only run with my SG in this. I also look for people that have more than 9 months vet badges.

I hate going into AE and seeing a PB or WS that is in their upper 40's, or 50 and do not have a vet badge. It kinda disgusts me.

That's all I have to say about this.


 

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lol we have this same problem BEFORE issue 14.

long live the AE.

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Well, PL'ing and farming isn't new...but AE's has shifted it from Peregrine Isle and Grandville to Atlas Park and Cap Au Diable. PLing/farming in AE is also much easier and more profitable.

And the fact the PLing/farming now takes place in lowbie zones means that there's a lower barrier to entry. Previously you had to already know where the farming was to get in on it. Now, any new player starting the game can get sucked in.

I'm not sure we should be having this discussion outside the official farm thread, however. I kinda fear this thread will be locked.

But for the time being, well...I think we shouldn't deny that there have been negative consequences of AE - the farming explosion can't be all good. Yet it ain't all bad.

There's been some awesome player-created arcs, and for every farmer there's a writer who's really embraced it as a storytelling tool. I mean, you only need to look at the AE section of these official forums to see that there really is a huge amount of interest in writing stories.


@Acyl

VIRTUE
Blue: Realpolitik, Leading Lady, Glass Lass, Superball, Alec Kazam
Red: Battery Acid, Obsolete, Bugfix

 

Posted

I have to agree that I see new stuff that isn't AE coming soon - at pretty much the same rate it was coming *before* AE.

And the funny thing is that recently I have had a hankering to do a little MA as a change of pace and checked back into the AE buildings in AP & Cap. They weren't busy at all. I do play on the lesser populated servers, but this was so even on Infinity recently. That tells me that AE might be becoming just another place to go find stuff to do instead of the *only* thing to do.

And I like that idea.

And to 60-month vet OP - if something isn't fun, don't do it. Don't let other players affect you so much.

We can all trade funny stories about Mewbs all day, but if you find one on your team so annoying that it makes the team more of a chore than a game, the answer is "quit team". Clueless players have always been with us and will always be with us. MA didn't bring them and we will still have them long after MA becomes just as "tired" as the old Hollows, or the 1-5 arcs.


Altoholic - but a Blaster at Heart!

Originally Posted by SpyralPegacyon

"You gave us a world where we could fly. I can't thank you enough for that."

 

Posted

I think when I-15 comes out (Which may be today since I just downloaded a 2.8 meg file), the TF's in there will pull a lot of us away from AE I feel and have us focusing on what I-15 has to offer for maybe a short time....maybe a long time...who knows. But I'm with Dark Jeremy, if you see Leejun, LVL 50 Stone tank in AE, I too only will run mainly with my SG or people I know or people who are over the 9 month vet badge because the newbs out there need to learn the game and like I said earlier, EARN their lvl 50's and gain the respect and friendship with me rather than just join my team, sit at the door and do nothing to earn XP to just get their first lvl 50 in a day or 2 and not know a damn thing about the game itself. But there are the times you really don't know a newb account from a persons 2nd or 3rd account who are vets, that's why I only do friends. If I see someone that's on my team, whether it be AE missions/Arcs or regular game missions, not doing a damn thing to help the team out and just sit there, THEY ARE BOOTED AUTOMATICALLY!!!! If you are going to team with me, you WILL play and fight....PERIOD!


 

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If AE missions were constructed like real TFs, where you had to run out to some location in the real world to actually do the mission, it would alleviate many of the problems that people are complaining about: less crowding in the AE building, the incentive to PL with AE would be decreased, players would see more of the city, etc. You could also add Defeat N Enemy in Open Zone missions to AE arcs as well. And they would be included in your defeat counts.

Furthermore, if AE randomly assigned zones based on the level of the missions, it would further inhibit AE's ability to PL. That is, all those level 54 boss farms would be some random place in Grandville or PI (and not inside safe and comfy Portal Corp), and it would be a hassle to get PLed lowbies to those locations.



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I like this idea. But blah on the reset.

If me a 54 month vet wants to pl a toon. i shouldn't have to worry about getting my account banned. I have ran it all and more then once. Even when I PL a toon I stop and do Faultline and Croatoa my favorite part of the game there. But at lvl 6 having to run to KR only to have to run back to the hollows with sprint gets old. there has been no real lvl 50 content added to the game. Cimerora is lvl 35 and up co-op zone. My opinion, for what its worth, take boomtown and redo it, take DA and redo it, take crey's redo it. Look the old faultline sucked but look what they did to it. Its a full blown zone with content and contacts.

The new people pling well its their choice they will miss some good times but its their 15 bucks.

Oh well its Monday and I'm bored at work