Can MA be saved?

Another reason I'd hate to see the inability to publish missions without a full set of minion/Lt/boss etc is that, apart from size, it would break the Primary power pool synergies I made for my final mission of cows; when they are all set to Lieutenant 1 of each type is spawned per mob. I tried to reduce them to Minion to prevent them overwhelming people at lower levels, but then I just got random mobs, which ruined the synergy feature which I'd worked so hard to balance (the idea being knocking one out of the group took away much of the strength of the rest of the group, but there's a link in the group for each character type to be able to tackle first). The same occurs if there's a mix; it will only spawn the ones set as a minion most of the time solo... I'd LOVE for there to be a basic mob setting, where you could set the spawn, and would happily convert some of the cows to Minion to make the correct balance. But right now, as someone else mentioned, you are at the mercy of the random spawner unless you use the trick I mentioned...

It's a shame that the reporting system doesn't work. If it did, they'd not need to nerf the storytellers.

Eco.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow [The Incarnate System is] Jack Emmert all over again, only this time it's not "1 hero = 3 white minions" it's "1 hero = 3 white rocks."

Three things are needed IMO:
1. Give MA arcs the same completion bonus that normal missions have.
They've already nerfed missions that contain only bosses, a good move IMO - a mission bonus would equalize things and possibly increase AE usage.

2. Allow arc players to choose between normal rewards ( i.e. drops ) vs tickets.

3. Some focus by the Devs on the Dev's choice designation. Number of dev responses to ANY thread in the section - zero. Dev apathy is killing things from the arc designer side.

After some pondering on this subject, here's my thoughts:

I16 nerfs: were they needed?

Although most of us on this forum are more story-oriented, to the wider public, AE had become synonymous with powerleveling and farming.

This being the case, I believe a nerf to farming/PLing in AE was needed. I would hazard to say, most people probably even expected some sort of nerf. I think that most of us would agree that we would prefer AE to be more story-oriented, so really, we should view these nerfs as beneficial (at a macro level) to the environment. I don't think we'll ever get rid of all farming and PLing; there will ALWAYS be farming, it's human nature in these games. But I do think we need to curtail it enough that AE is not viewed exclusively as a farming tool.

I realize this won't be a popular viewpoint, but I think it's true.


I16 nerfs: did they go too far?

Now, assuming we needed a nerf, the question is raised: did the I16 nerfs go overboard? Personally, I think they did, but I can understand how this happened. Let me explain why I think this.

Lest we forget, there have been a series of smaller nerfs to AE exp, in an effort by the devs to reduce farming. Off the top of my head I can think of:

- Prisoners nerfed
- Rikti Comm Officers nerfed
- Mitos nerfed
- Freakshow nerfed
- Added a range power to every melee set
- Constant tweaking of the minimum powerset you can give a mob

But, none of these smaller tweaks were enough, as we saw.

As a result, I can totally understand why the I16 nerfs are trying to fix the problem with a hammer instead of with a precision instrument. They did try to fix it with smaller, more targeted measures first; but it was never enough.

So, painful as this nerf is, I can see why they did it. And it's certainly affected me, too -- I have an arc with a Zig breakout in which my Prisoners faction got nerfed and I had to write a custom faction to replace them; then in I16 I had to add lieutenants and bosses to my custom faction. That was pretty painful.

That said, I do hope the devs continue to monitor AE and eventually realize some of the I16 nerfs are excessive, and roll them back in future adjustments. I particularly dislike the "standard powersets = 75% exp" change, and agree with the general sentiment that a "standard powers" custom mob is usually harder than a generic PvE mob, especially at low levels. (It would actually be nice to have the "standard powers" set adjust based on mob level, but that may be too much to ask.)


Why aren't people playing AE now?

Well, a lot of reasons, really. Here are my speculations:

1. I16 powerset proliferation and color customization => altitis => less AE

A little counterintuitive, but think about it. I personally have started several alts since I16, some using new powersets, most using custom special effects for powers. I think most active players probably did the same.

If you don't join PLing teams (and I try not to), AE is pretty forbidding for a new alt; most new alts will be doing Azuria's or Kalinda's missions, or sewers, or something.

There are a few lowbie AE arcs (and I do like these) but they are not easy to find; most "1-54" arcs would be suicide for a real level 1. Usually a story arc has to be specially constructed (with easy mobs) to be survivable for a level 1 or 2 character. Maybe there should be a better search option for lowbie-oriented arcs? A new keyword or a way to find arcs that are no higher than 1-10 or something?


2. I16 supersidekicking => easier to get teams => less AE

It is really easy to get on a team now due to the SSKing feature; no more calculus to figure out if you have enough mentors to carry another level 22 or another level 14. And, unfortunately, teams rarely do AE any more. I was on a lot of teams that did AE early in I15 but lately, teams I'm on almost always do regular content (radio or door missions) or TFs.

Even when I'm the team leader, I'm reluctant to drag people into the AE building; usually a team is fast paced and you don't have time to read all the cool clues or catch all the dialog, because you have people on your team who want to fight something RIGHT NOW. As a result, AE has more and more become a "solo" activity for me.

I like soloing and I like AE, so I'm happy to solo my way through AE content. But let's face it, given the choice between soloing and joining a team -- usually being on a team is more fun. That's why most of us are playing a MMORPG and not a single-player computer game, after all.


3. AE is soooo I14 => I16 just came out => less AE

AE is several issues old now. People are drawn to shiny new things. Back in I14 and even in I15, AE was the shiny new thing. Now it's not. It's natural for people to be doing it a little less and looking at the new shiny new thing instead.


4. Less exp => less AE

I agree this is a factor too, and is extensively discussed above already. But I don't think it's the only factor, and I'd argue it may not even be the biggest one.



Personally, if I had to pick a "worst" problem AE has right now, it would be the fact that running through story arcs is becoming much more of a solo activity. I've noticed this trend in my own gameplay and it's rather worrisome; I don't know how to reverse it. But I'm not sure if everyone is observing the same thing in their gameplay, so your mileage may vary.

I hope it can. I just spent weeks work on Doctor Ichors Apple

What's the difference between that and every other clue or readable text? If the leader is running gonads to the wall, then that's an issue the rest of the team needs to take up with him or her. Optimally, it would all be saved in one big text display throughout the arc, like the regular game content does, but we wouldn't even have this thread if things were optimal, huh?