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I don't quite get where this notion of the difficulty slider not applying to the AE is coming from. The current difficulty slider applies to the AE, why wouldn't the new one?
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Because a) they can prevent it
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Just because they can do something doesn't mean it's a good idea.
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b) it would actually nudge people back into farming normal game content and decrease AE farming;
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I believe it would also dramatically decrease AE participation overall. Providing such a huge feature to the PvE game but not to AE would kill it for me, and I believe for many others as well.
EDIT: Let me elaborate a little. Right now, it's very difficult to create an AE mission that expresses the full range of difficulties players might want to experience. The tricks you use to make AE missions more difficult - all-lieutenant or all-boss factions, extreme critters, etc - make them more difficult for everyone.
With the improved difficulty settings this problem goes away. You basically only have to balance the difficulty around what you think the minimum should be for the level ranges you're targeting; if players want more challenging - and more rewarding - content, they just bump up the sliders. Viola, problem solved!
To me, giving the new difficulty slider to the AE would be the best way of ensuring that the SFMAs get the attention they deserve, because people wouldn't have to choose between farm-oriented high-challenge/high-reward missions and story content - they can get both.
No, I think giving the new difficulty settings to the AE is far and away the better option. It's also much simpler conceptually (and presumably therefore easier to implement) because it only requires one difficulty setting system and not two.
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I read your first paragraph where you say if the new difficulty slider doesn't apply to AE, it will kill AE... and I just hope you are right and hope that it doesn't apply. It's not like AE needs anything to improve it right now. It's got the focus of a significant portion of the population right now. Where you say the slider will make it so people won't have to choose between high-reward missions and story arcs, I believe it will just make more people focus on high-reward missions. If people can generate 8-man all-boss spawns with only three people on a team, they'll do it.
AE already gives high rewards, it doesn't need a mechanism to increase those rewards even more. The virtual-team slider will just allow the regular content to catch up to the AE content, and give players an incentive to play regular content again.
Arc ID#30821, A Clean Break
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AE already gives high rewards, it doesn't need a mechanism to increase those rewards even more. The virtual-team slider will just allow the regular content to catch up to the AE content, and give players an incentive to play regular content again.
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That's what I believe as well; not to mention that once reward-oriented players focus their attention once again on the normal and well-known farms, the Devs can hopefully invest their time into fixing AE issues such as exploits and bugs, but also start bringing us new features and additions into AE that will enable and encourage AE authors to be even more creative with their plots and gameplay designs.
I believe that a Kheldian Gold Standard should be based on SO's, and for anything above that... there's Platinum!
Save Ms. Liberty (#5349) � Augmenting Peacebringers � The Umbra Illuminati
Save Ms. Liberty (#5349) � Augmenting Peacebringers � The Umbra Illuminati
Been suggested (several bajillion times) already. Not going to happen.
Destroying the ability to define custom groups will leave the content creators kicking and screaming whilst the farmers just farm on to something else.
No auto-SK simply makes teaming more difficult. Doubt this will be removed.
Remove AE? Sorry, not going to happen. The devs expended too much effort putting it into the game. And even those that hate the farming don't necessarily want it removed from the game.
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AE is ruining this game
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I disagree with your opinion.
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i've been playing nearly 4 years and i want to be able to do Task Forces and Raids.
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Then DO taskforces and raids! Nobody's FORCING you to use the MA! Spend a little time and effort putting YOUR OWN team together and stop EXPECTING one to just automagically fall into your lap the very instant you log on.
Honestly, your attitude is just as lazy as that of the exploit abusers and power levelers.
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but not as many and the people who are level 50 and in the Task Force that have used AE to get to 50 have no idea what they are doing, please sort it out Dev's.
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This is a people problem. Not a software malfunction. The devs can't "sort it out". If you want it sorted DIY.
Seriously, there are still people with a clue out there. FIND THEM. And if the quick-50's are clueless, expend a little effort and GIVE THEM A CLUE. You were new once too. They're just a bit more powerful than you were while you were still clueless. Pull one or two of them onto a team and give them a bit of supervision.
Simply complaining about these people achieves nothing.
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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AE already gives high rewards
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Only on farms. Story-focused MA content lags regular PvE on the reward rate scale because there's no patrol XP.
And for a while things were cold,
They were scared down in their holes
The forest that once was green
Was colored black by those killing machines
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AE already gives high rewards
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Only on farms. Story-focused MA content lags regular PvE on the reward rate scale because there's no patrol XP.
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...and once farms are again more populated outside of AE, the Devs can start contemplating tweaking things in favor of story-focused AE content and increase the rewards there... it CAN all come together nicely. 
I believe that a Kheldian Gold Standard should be based on SO's, and for anything above that... there's Platinum!
Save Ms. Liberty (#5349) � Augmenting Peacebringers � The Umbra Illuminati
Save Ms. Liberty (#5349) � Augmenting Peacebringers � The Umbra Illuminati
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If AE is causing people to leave the game
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People leave the game all the time, for myriad reasons.
More people come in to take their place.
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won't they remove it seeming that they want people to stay?
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No. What's happening right now is a small, but extremely vocal, group right now is in the throes of "Do it or you'll be sorry". Completely overestimating their individual importance to the game.
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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AE already gives high rewards
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Only on farms. Story-focused MA content lags regular PvE on the reward rate scale because there's no patrol XP.
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...and once farms are again more populated outside of AE, the Devs can start contemplating tweaking things in favor of story-focused AE content and increase the rewards there... it CAN all come together nicely.
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We're going to have to agree to disagree I guess. Once I can run all missions on high difficulty, there's little incentive for me personally to farm at all anymore, in or out of the AE. But if I can't do that in the AE I just won't use it, I'll run canon arcs instead.
And for a while things were cold,
They were scared down in their holes
The forest that once was green
Was colored black by those killing machines
notes the heavy footfalls of the forum police coming in to make sure another new poster gets put in their place fast
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they already have something like that in place. it's called check their info. if all you see is AE badges and no vet badges or only up to the 3 month vet badge then that should be your first clue.
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I've teamed with many new players over the years who had no vet badges who were just as good, if not better, than some veterans I know.
Looking at badges is not a good measure of player ability. How do you know it isn't a second or third account a veteran player just bought?
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how about reading the next post i made after that. then you wouldn't of made this reply.
I personally can't wait for the spawn slider. I can then split my time farming between AE (for tickets/recipe rolls) AND regular content (for purples recipes). Blowing through large +2 spawns of regular content will be such a breeze for my brute kin duo after running 54 bosses.
IMO: I think Posi and rest of his team, should take all rewards OUT of AE, unless proven by a dev or gm. That will kill farming in AE. Kthx. Earn your stripes, not your AE reputations.
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And effectively make AE irrelevent, unused and essentially a pointless issue. So why did the devs spend all those wasted months developing the AE for in the first place? Why not just ask Apple to kill iPod or Microsoft to kill Windows OS because of some glitches in design. I'm sure companies are more than willing to take on a crippling publicity failure of that magnitude. CoX, no longer considered to be a main stream MMO, will not survive such a catastrophe.
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IMO: I think Posi and rest of his team, should take all rewards OUT of AE, unless proven by a dev or gm. That will kill farming in AE. Kthx. Earn your stripes, not your AE reputations.
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I believe this is the best way to make AE not so popular. Getting rid of it as a whole is a disastrous idea, but if you get rid of important things like recipes or salvage, more teams will start forming normal missions to make money off of it. AE is a massive step in this game, and i find it very very impressive that it was possible, but it's just out of control right now. A lot of people respond and say "Teams are still out there", yes they are, but in a much much shorter amount. A lot of the vets are leaving this game because they just cant find teams or TFs easily; i was just searching on Freedom today and found 6 people total in Peregrine Island.
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A lot of the vets are leaving this game because they just cant find teams or TFs easily;
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can you give us some proof of this instead of just speculation.
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A lot of the vets are leaving this game because they just cant find teams or TFs easily;
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can you give us some proof of this instead of just speculation.
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...What proof could you possible want? The proof that now PLing is possible from 1-50, the proof that i just found 6 people in PI, the proof that i try to find a team for the new TF of the 5th column, and find about 7-8 people total in FF? Yes, if i really tried hard, i could probably find a team like you say i can. But why would i want to do it if it's so hard, if so many people now go from 1-50 in the same 100 ft radius?
If i really get down to it, I guess i can find a way to live with this new AE system; i can start getting used to solo work or doing AE missions that actually have stories. I just find it a shame that the easiest way to find a team is to join a PLing team and take on easy bosses for the rest of this game. I enjoy being on a team and getting to know the people i'm with, and i14 severely lowered the number of those people now.
i have no problem finding teams for tf/sf's or regular missions. so againi will ask for proof that the AE is why vet's are leaving. have you tried usong globaql chat channels or coalition chat or sg chat? tried in broadcast in AP? sometimes you actually have to do the work to get a team together and not just wait for a blind invite or someone else to start it.
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A lot of the vets are leaving this game because they just cant find teams or TFs easily;
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can you give us some proof of this instead of just speculation.
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...What proof could you possible want? The proof that now PLing is possible from 1-50, the proof that i just found 6 people in PI, the proof that i try to find a team for the new TF of the 5th column, and find about 7-8 people total in FF? Yes, if i really tried hard, i could probably find a team like you say i can. But why would i want to do it if it's so hard, if so many people now go from 1-50 in the same 100 ft radius?
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...which is all anecdotal evidence. The fact of the matter is no one is keeping a statistical log on the current total number of active vets versus those who have recently gone inactive, so no one can really know for sure. Also, vets should already know that there are global channels for the servers they're in for people who want to form a group for something if they're finding it so hard to do so in zone broadcasts.
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i have no problem finding teams for tf/sf's or regular missions. so againi will ask for proof that the AE is why vet's are leaving. have you tried usong globaql chat channels or coalition chat or sg chat? tried in broadcast in AP? sometimes you actually have to do the work to get a team together and not just wait for a blind invite or someone else to start it.
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I'll be honest, i dont know how you have "no problem" finding teams. When there's a handful of people in PI now or a few so many in Talos or FF as compared to the decent amount pre-AE. I'm not asking to destroy AE, i said that would be disastrous. I'm trying to find ways to stop so many people exploiting the AE system and making easy to kill 52 bosses. It takes out the roleplaying feel to this game when i spend time soloing arcs while a bunch of others just PL their way to lvl 50 which now just means nothing. If you are that obsessed with wanting to farm your entire time, then i don't see the point of me playing this game anymore. The old vets like i played this game to have fun on teams, fighting challenging AVs, doing the good old hami raid. It's all changed to this PLing idea, and what makes me mad is that it's easy to fix it, and nothing is getting done. The reason i'm saying our vets are leaving is because i just couldnt have imagined them enjoying this PLing forever idea; i guess i'm wrong though.
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They keep forgetting about the spawn slider coming. >
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You do realize that the spawn slider, unless enabled for AE missions, is meant as a tool to attract people to farm the normal game content, where the Devs actually have much better control over exploits and Risk vs Reward concepts, right? 
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Who cares? Like i said.....nerfs, exploits, fixes, they don't bother me. I will still find an efficient way to gain my rewards faster than the normal player. I'm a powergamer, that's what I do. I enjoy it.
Let them keep fixing stuff, it won't bother me. I'm still going to look for the most efficient manner I can attain my rewards, and if they nerf that method, I'll find another. It's not AFFECTING ME. It's affecting the "regular" players. And frankly, I don't really care. lol
I pay for my sub. No one does. So I'm going to play how i want to play, and if affects the rest in a manner they don't like, I don't care, because this is ONLY a game. It's not the end of the world.
you are wrong. and also don't know what an exploit is. vet's know how to get around the problem of finding teams. they use the global chat channels on the server or use coalition and sg chat. the only issue with the AE is that you and people like you are pulling these crazy ideas out of your [censored] and believe them to be true. hate to tell you but no matter how much you think assumptions and speculation are true, they are not.
wait until i16 comes out. gaurantee people will be [censored] the same things. only the new fotm will be no one is teaming because they are to busy customizing their powers.
oh, and to touch upon exploits so you know what they are, an exploit is when the risk involved(comm officers, green mito's)is far less then the reward given. all of these were dealt with already.
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I'll be honest, i dont know how you have "no problem" finding teams. When there's a handful of people in PI now or a few so many in Talos or FF as compared to the decent amount pre-AE.
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Since you seemed to have ignored my previous reply I'll ask this:
Have you tried your server's global channels?
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I'll be honest, i dont know how you have "no problem" finding teams. When there's a handful of people in PI now or a few so many in Talos or FF as compared to the decent amount pre-AE.
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Get in global channels. As far as I know, ever server has some dedicated to people who play on their server, managed either by large SG networks or by general concept, like raiding. Even better, through teaming with folks in the larger channels, try to find smaller, more private or focused channels with people who share your interests in playstyle.
I don't know how anyone who's an old vet gets by looking for teams in broadcast or /search.
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The reason i'm saying our vets are leaving is because i just couldnt have imagined them enjoying this PLing forever idea; i guess i'm wrong though.
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The old vets aren't all PLing. They just aren't all experiencing the problem you are, because I'd venture that most of them have networks that nicely sidestep shifts in how people play. I'm an old vet, and I'm not farming the AE - I hardly touch the thing nowadays. I hang out in channels where I get multiple Task Forces in a night, and could team more casually if I wanted. When I'm not on TFs, I tend to prefer to solo though.
Blue
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Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
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oh, and to touch upon exploits so you know what they are, an exploit is when the risk involved(comm officers, green mito's)is far less then the reward given. all of these were dealt with already.
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QFT. People need to stop claiming that farming in general is exploitive.
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oh, and to touch upon exploits so you know what they are, an exploit is when the risk involved(comm officers, green mito's)is far less then the reward given. all of these were dealt with already.
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QFT. People need to stop claiming that farming in general is exploitive.
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Yarly.
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they already have something like that in place. it's called check their info. if all you see is AE badges and no vet badges or only up to the 3 month vet badge then that should be your first clue.
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I've teamed with many new players over the years who had no vet badges who were just as good, if not better, than some veterans I know.
Looking at badges is not a good measure of player ability. How do you know it isn't a second or third account a veteran player just bought?
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