How to Fix AE

I am a fan of the concept of the AE system. Yes, I know people hate it because of the boss farming, powerlevelling, and the endless spam for teams for the purposes of both, but the system itself is a good one.

In my humble opinion, the developers did not ruin the game by adding the AE system to the game. The players who create and run farms are doing that. There are actually some really good story arcs in the AE system. True, they are hard to come by and you need to do a little searching, but they are there.

I originally had two ideas on how to fix the AE system. The first is now somewhat obsolete with the introduction of the new super-sidekicking system, but some variation of it may still be viable.

Make the level range of AE arcs a required security level/threat level as with taskforces/strikeforces. In TEST MODE, the mission would treat it as it currently does so that if you wanted to test an arc with a toon that was outside the range, you could, but once published, you couldn't. This may still work to some extent because the team would still need someone who was validly within the proper level range. No more teams of level 30 to 40 players playing in a mission with a level range of 50-54, being auto-SKed to 50 and having at it. Still, I don't know that this would be very effective with the new system.

The second option is more viable and, if implemented, would also have the effect of making the existing boss farms invalid arcs, and therefore inaccessible. On the selected primary group, require that group to contain at least one minion if it includes a lieutenant, at least one lieutenant if it includes a boss, at least one boss if it includes an EB, and at least one EB if it includes an AV. ONLY do this with the primary group of the mission and the various "Surrounding Group" fields. So you could still create a group with nothing but a single primary EB, but the mission would have to include some valid group as the primary foe, and the group surrounding your EB would also need to be valid.

As an arc author myself, I understand that this would place some restrictions on what could be created, but it would not be all that restrictive, and it would produce content which is more in-line with existing game content.

The downside of this is that there would be a massive number of arcs in the list with the "Invalid Arc" indicator. This could be tamed down a bit if these arcs were filtered so that only their authors could see them. There is really no need for anyone else to be able to see the arc anyway since they can't play it. And in one stroke, all of the boss farms suddenly disappear from sight....forever.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frosty_Femme I said "ur" which is not a word. It's a sound dumb people make when you ask them to spell out "you are".

Why did this need yet *ANOTHER* thread?

There are at least another dozen on this very topic ("fixing AE" or "AE is horribly broken") in this forum, Issue 15 (still can't figure out why they are there since AE was new in Issue 14 and therefore it's not an Issue 15 issue), City Life and probably everywhere else.

Please add to an existing thread next time, m'kay?

Quick check for the OP - are you familiar with the super-sidekicking system currently implemented on Test and did you factor it into your theory?

An open letter to NCsoft

I meant the effect of the SSK system on the actual problem, rather than the proposed solutions. With the ability to fine-tune your difficulty, there's no more need for padding, and if you actually can solo eight-man spawns of bosses, well, props to you. Farmers aren't interested in lowbies, helping them is just a side-product of spawn size control and with that removed, their need for broadcast spam is greatly reduced.

An open letter to NCsoft

Actually, what I predict the whole "pick your team size" feature is going to do is increase the "Pay to farm" incidents.

"[Broadcast] Alt with Infamy Transferred From Main: Lowbie LFF Willing to pay 2.5 mil per run"

Your level 50 with a farming build that can wipe through a 6-man spawn in just a few minutes is then getting MORE of what they are there for in the first place (INF). Your level 50 also doesn't need fillers or door-sitting mentors (no one to split the money with). Yes, the lowbie is only getting the experience as a level 49, instead of a 45 (as with the old bridging method), but considering that the experience is being given out between two people instead of 6, the yield will still be worth the effort of spamming for a bit and then sitting by the door.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frosty_Femme I said "ur" which is not a word. It's a sound dumb people make when you ask them to spell out "you are".

I'll be honest. I did not fully read the original post, or the posts that followed. I just wanted to add a personal observation. From what I read, your suggestions are already suggested countless times.

From what I've seen with the progression of City of Heroes in the past several updates and the news about the stuff in Issue 16, I have come to the conclusion that City of Heroes is taking a new path, with a new future, and a separate road from your average MMORPG.

Since NCSoft took over City of Heroes, the game has gone under drastic changes, starting with the PvP system.

Personally, I do not believe the developers are sitting around, utterly clueless on what the concerns of the subscribers are, and no ideas on how to address them. I think the developers are not only aware of our concerns, but they probably know more about addressing them than we do. So I doubt these redundant threads that are oh-so-full of "ideas" and "suggestions" to "fix" AE are needed.

From what I see, and from the direction I see CoH is taking, AE does not need fixing.

City of Heroes is changing. Leveling is becoming more of an obsolete concept as we advance. Level difference is becoming a trivial concept. From what I see, they are letting everyone play the game in the way they want to.

They are letting farmers farm. They are letting power levelers power level. They are letting content-seekers seek content. They're letting market manipulators manipulate the market. They're opening the doors of PvP to anyone and everyone, including that casual player with a clumsy build.

Let it rest. City of Heroes is changing. Nothing needs "fixing". The only thing that needs to be fixed is the "veteran community". The only thing that is needed is for us, the old-time players to adapt.

City of Heroes is becoming different from your usual MMORPG. And I think this is what sets this magnificent game apart from its future competitors.

And personally, I think City of Heroes has never been better. The game is on an excelling road, and it will continue to grow as long as we support it. If you think the game you loved and cherished so much is "broken", then leave. If not, adapt and enjoy your time with the new direction of CoH and stop thinking the developers of the game are a clueless bunch of monkeys stuck in a room.

These are merely my own observations. And as a CoH subscriber, I've never been happier. Feel free to disagree.