Lock the War Zone Back Down

Rikti mothership raids are my favorite thing to do in the game. Ask anyone that knows me. For the past four months now, I've lead at least one Rikti mothership raid every Thursday night on the Champion server. Most times, the War Zone is full before I start the raid. Before Issue 16, every mothership raid went very well, with an average net of 500 Vanguard merits per.

Since Issue 16... well, not so much. I've routinely seen characters as low as level 4 in the Rikti mothership's bowl, locking out a level 35+ character from the War Zone raid. Quite a few times, I've seen low level characters arrive in the bowl, be quickly dispatched by the Rikti, and spend the remainder of the raid licking mothership dirt while soaking in that sweet, sweet level 54 Rikti experience, no matter how many times I tell them to go to the hospital. "Oh, I'm just waiting for a small red to drop." "Dude, you've been dead for the past 20 minutes."

After Issue 16, the average Vanguard merit net is 300 per. Last week, I saw 230. :\

Seriously, the Rikti War Zone should be locked back down to level 35+ characters. I have no idea what the developers were thinking. The only argument I've seen for it to be open to level 1 characters is for co-op Mission Architect missions, and that's a weak one, imo. For one... exactly how many co-op Mission Architect mission teams are running? Secondly, just put an AE building in Pocket D then.

I can sign on to that. Throw an AE terminal into Pocket D, maybe a tailor in the public (not VIP) portion if the devs want one easily available from lvl 1 and there ya go. I don't think many lvl 5s will suffer for not being able to join in on Borea missions.

Also, get that AE building out of there and into Pocket D where it belongs

Yeah, the dead leechers piss me off. The no rewards after dying timer should be tighten up.

I agree with this. I'd actually like to see the AE building there vanish anyway, who builds a recreation center in the middle of a war zone? Pocket D makes a lot more sense as the location for a co-op AE building anyway.

EDIT: Wow, triple simultaneous posting.

/signed.

In agreement about those people just leeching while taking a dirt (saucer?) nap.

/signed, for both locking down RWZ to 35+ again AND moving the co-op AE station to Pocket D. (There needs to be an arcade there, anyway!)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nethergoat it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!

Have to agree. Although I haven't been on a MS raid lately, I don't see what a low level character can offer raids, given the difficulty of the mobs therein. Even with SSK, a low level character won't have the powers necessary to do much useful. Melee characters will have only a couple of attacks; support characters will have only a couple of buffs or debuffs. Really they're more of an anchor and liability on a raid team.

Given that the main reason the RWZ was opened up to low level characters was because of the AE system, I agree that the AE should be moved to Pocket D, perhaps as a new wing or in a smaller scale. Once that's done, the RWZ can be returned to a level 35 zone, meaning that MS raids will again be more appropriately manned by characters with small things like attack chains and support powers.

So yeah, color me /signed.

Question for the people who do a LOT of mothership raids:

Why do you need the merits? Dont you have all the cossie pieces already!?

Not that I care one way or the other regarding this suggestion - but to play devil's advocate on the OP's main contention - having lowbies in zone detracts from the avergae merit gain per ship raid.

How does that level 4 get on a raid team in the first place? Someone invites them to join the raid.

How does that level 4 get onto the Mothership? Actually, I'm unsure whether it is possible for a lowbie to get up there without being teleported, but I could be wrong.

If there really is a problem with the lowbies lowering the merit gain for others, isn't in everyone's best interests (other than a leeching lowbie) to *not* invite them to join the raid or to kick them if they happen to get on a raid team by accident?

It seems to me that I had heard that level 35-40ish was not welcome on a mothership raid prior to the RWZ being unlocked and that they were routinely excluded or kicked. Why isn't that being done still? Aren't the reasons for excluding them still applicable to some extent? I know a level 35 SSK'd up probably is contributing, but not much any character lower than that.

So part of the answer to OP's concern is in player behavior, at least as far as preventing leeching by lowbies.

That being said, yeah, it seems kinda silly to have a recreation building over in the middle of a war zone - it isn't even in the protected depot, so heroes/villains have to travel across conflict happening below them or around them to get there. In the context of them cooperating to accomplish a world-saving goal, that behavior makes no sense. So moving lowbie coop opportunities to Pocket D makes sense.

The AE building could be put on a floating rock island on the opposite side of the club to the ski slopes - you could get there either by a bridge, or a clickable portal.

EDIT. Also, there needs to be a store contact in Pocket D, and a WW and BM contact too, and Hero Corps Analyst and Fateweaver.

Plus, the entry room shouldn't be a warehouse map - it should be a specially designed room, with short corridors leading off to the exits, similar to the Midnigher Club and the doors to the universities.

And the Hero and Villain elevator guards should also be replaced with DJ Zero's own staff, and DJ Zero himself should be fleshed out a bit more, possibly making him somewhat mysterious, but still hinting at why and how he has the club as it is, and how he keeps it peaceful when it's visited by so many superpowered people.

And add more tracks to the dance music loop

/signed.
Why that Entertainment building, is in a ..... warzone and not destroyed yet is beyond me.
I know I will probably curse myself for saying it, but place it in Pocket D.
Not been on a Rikti raid for a long time, so would not know if there was a lot of low lvl 5 etc getting xp, but...
The Rikti mothership..... is one of the most fun Raids we got in the game, I would not mind a minimum lvl to get in there...

Can a level 4 even GET Vanguard merits? Don't you have to be a member of Vanguard at level 35+ to do that?

--NT

I would like to know who is inviting low levels to Mothership raid. I was told that my lvl 41 was too low to go one not that long ago. Recently I have seen a lvl 2 in the RWZ looking for a team.