Does anyone use AE anymore?


Another_Fan

 

Posted

I was away for a long time, and now im back and it seems that MA has fallen flat on its face. I understand the need for farming nerfs, but now we are in a position where its hardly ever used.

Custom mobs give heavily reduced experiance at a significant difficulty increase. More powers, player levels, and 75% experiance for standard. Hard and Exrtreme are not even remotly worthwhile.

Mobs have their experiance modifier cut to 1.0 even if its over it.

This is back to news/radio being the prefered leveling method. The only people that ever use it anymore are hardcore Rp's telling a story and those people farming tickets.

But even with that most RPers tend to avoid it since it results in slower gain.

So Im wondering whats the point of it being here at all if its so rarely used, and if its so rarely used doesnt it need to be looked at, or is all the devs care about right now Going Rogue?


Boycott Ncsoft if they close down Coh.

 

Posted

well, there is the fact that it's a boxed edition, so if people bought it, but it was removed, people would be pretty pi**ed.

The xp is still ok, there's a new samurai farm in it that's pretty popular...my latest lowbie gained about 10 levels in it. Can still see it being a pretty long grind for a lvl 34+ tho.


 

Posted

If you don't use custom mobs, your XP gain will be identical to a normal mission if you have a minion, lieutenant, and boss in your group.

I agree that custom enemies does need to be looked at again.


 

Posted

I dont want it removed, just fixed so its not garbage.
There is no good reason why custom mobs should be harder and worth less.

Its not bad if you use existing mobs, but that kinda ruins alot of arcs.

I know I wont do custom mobs till they give something decent, either in mine or ones im doing. And if I do one, I start by knocking 2 stars off for poor rewards. And yes I put that in the feedback, poor rewards.


Boycott Ncsoft if they close down Coh.

 

Posted

I agree. There's no reason why customs cannot be treated just like the givens, is there?


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Shubbie View Post
I was away for a long time, and now im back and it seems that MA has fallen flat on its face. I understand the need for farming nerfs, but now we are in a position where its hardly ever used.

Custom mobs give heavily reduced experiance at a significant difficulty increase. More powers, player levels, and 75% experiance for standard. Hard and Exrtreme are not even remotly worthwhile.

Mobs have their experiance modifier cut to 1.0 even if its over it.

This is back to news/radio being the prefered leveling method. The only people that ever use it anymore are hardcore Rp's telling a story and those people farming tickets.

But even with that most RPers tend to avoid it since it results in slower gain.

So Im wondering whats the point of it being here at all if its so rarely used, and if its so rarely used doesnt it need to be looked at, or is all the devs care about right now Going Rogue?

Where's the problem? You didn't state a problem, you stated a preferred leveling method. This is the ever failed argument of "if it ain't the best, it must be broken".

You did not state a mechanistic problem, you stated a people problem. When you find a solution to humans being lazy, please share it so we can implement it.


 

Posted

Yes I did, probably the biggest and most in need of fixing is Custom mobs being worth 75% experiance.

Its not if it aint best its broken, if its not acceptable to the majority of the games population its broken.

If all MA missions gave no experaince, no inf, no tickets you would agree its broken?

If you agree with that on principle, we are just discussing whether 75% or 100% is more palatable.


Boycott Ncsoft if they close down Coh.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by brophog02 View Post
Where's the problem? You didn't state a problem, you stated a preferred leveling method. This is the ever failed argument of "if it ain't the best, it must be broken".

You did not state a mechanistic problem, you stated a people problem. When you find a solution to humans being lazy, please share it so we can implement it.
^^this

***

On my own note. Yes. Players still use AE. Only they use it for what it was intended. Creating story content without the expectation of quick levels or quick rewards. Only players who never bothered to read the updater or visit the homepage could have possibly missed the developers saying that AE was not for rewards...EVEN BEFORE I13 WAS IN BETA.

Fussing about an anvil everybody and their *insert relative or pet here* KNEW WAS COMING over almost a calendar year beforehand really isn't carrying any weight with veteran players. If you don't like that AE now matches what it was designed to be, tough. Get. Over. It.


 

Posted

No Im not saying it didnt need reduction.
And yes, I still see people doing council ticket farms.

And no I rarely see anyone do stories because of the poor rewards if they put custom mobs in, and who wants to tell a story with standard mobs, some do, but most dont.

I said this very clearly, FIX custom mobs experiance.

Honestly dont you get tired of doing the same damn news/radio missions over and over and over and over and over and over and over. But its all teams will do because its the best reward for leveling in the game at the moment.


Boycott Ncsoft if they close down Coh.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by je_saist View Post
Fussing about an anvil everybody and their *insert relative or pet here* KNEW WAS COMING over almost a calendar year beforehand really isn't carrying any weight with veteran players. If you don't like that AE now matches what it was designed to be, tough. Get. Over. It.
Sorry, you aren't the final authority of what people should get over, and frankly, neither are the devs. I consider spending the better part of two issues building something a tiny segment of artistically-minded players will use is a colossal pissing away of time that could have (and should have) been spent on something else. If they couldn't come up with ways to handle the issues that player-generated content opened in a manner that made it such that everyday players were willing to use it, then the time should have been spent on something else.

But they did spend the time on it, and therefore it's worth ******** about the fact that a lot of people clearly don't think it's worthwhile. I want to see a better return on their investment. I don't really give a damn what a little segment of "real" artists want; I want a tool the general CoH gamer wants.


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Red
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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by UberGuy View Post
I don't really give a damn what a little segment of "real" artists want; I want a tool the general CoH gamer wants.
Which is what the rest of the artists wanted as well, and damn well told the Devs that this would happen if they had pushed through the issue 16 nerfs in their proposed state. The nerf to all-boss missions was more than enough to kill the majority of the farms, the custom critters nerf was just rubbing salt into the wounds and screwed over the non-farmers much worse.


 

Posted

Yes, lots of people still use AE. I've actually noticed an increase in activity in the past week. The problem isn't that nobody is playing AE, it's the fact the since there's an AE building in every friggin' zone that all the players are spread out. This gives the illusion that all the AE buildings are empty.

Plus, what do you mainly do in the AE buildings? Play missions. People are still using AE, but you just can't see them.

I really don't like how spread out the buildings are, though. I would say have only a few for both sides. For heroes, have one in Atlas Park, Steel Canyon, and Peregrine Island. For villains, Have one in Mercy Island, Port Oakes, and Grandville. It would make the AE building a more universal place to gather, and would make it easier to get a team for AE missions.


Arc ID: 348998 - Becoming a villain
Arc ID: 373341 - To Save a Hero

Got Inf?

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Shubbie View Post
I know I wont do custom mobs till they give something decent, either in mine or ones im doing. And if I do one, I start by knocking 2 stars off for poor rewards. And yes I put that in the feedback, poor rewards.
Do us all a favor and stick to Council farms then.

Architects aren't idiots, we know customs give less of a reward. If you don't like arcs with reduced rewards, DON'T PLAY THEM.


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Arc ID#161629 Freaks, Geeks, and Men in Black
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Posted

Yes but you choose to put them in there knowing they are bad rewards.

We can judge by whatever criteria we see fit.

And poor rewards is a valid reason for a low score, and no you cant differentiate custome enemies from custom packing of standard mobs.

Also if designers get pissed they are getting bad scores for poor rewards it only adds to the people yelling at the devs to fix it.


Boycott Ncsoft if they close down Coh.

 

Posted

I'm just going to repeat what je_saist said, seeing as you won't listen to reason.

Get over it.


Arc ID: 348998 - Becoming a villain
Arc ID: 373341 - To Save a Hero

Got Inf?

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Shubbie View Post
Yes but you choose to put them in there knowing they are bad rewards.
You're warned before you even begin the arc if there are customs in it. If you don't like it then don't play the damn arc.

This is as retarded as the guy who claimed he will 1-star any arc if he runs into a defeat all, ignoring the fact that he is warned ahead of time if he bothers to even read the arc info before hitting Play.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Shubbie View Post
So Im wondering whats the point of it being here at all if its so rarely used, and if its so rarely used doesnt it need to be looked at, or is all the devs care about right now Going Rogue?
I still play MA arcs. It no longer occupies quite as much of my time online as it used to, but there are many advantages that it still has.

MA tickets are handy. They are especially handy for characters that don't play MA content most of the time. I like to see that every levelling character keeps a stock of around a thousand tickets. That way, if they get a useful recipe outside of MA, they'll likely be able to just make it without resorting to the auction house for any missing salvage.

MA can be run at the spur of the moment, and left just as easily. Get on too late for the TF? Go run MA until another one starts. If something does get started, it's easy to quit. I do wish you could bookmark your place in multi mission stories while being free to go do something else.

MA gets you past content humps. This is especially important red side: too many characters there find 20-25 a pain. Also, while my redside levellers make sure they do not skip a mayhem mission, they like to get a level or two above them before actually running them: helps with the stacking ambushes. MA helps them rise past that.

I still think that standard custom mobs are at least as difficult as most supplied mobs, and as such the XP nerf for customs remains unjustifiable. It's also put a damper on my willingness to write new material, that much is sure. Ask in your global channels if people want to meet in the RWZ to run some MA arcs. You might be surprised.



<《 New Colchis / Guides / Mission Architect 》>
"At what point do we say, 'You're mucking with our myths'?" - Harlan Ellison

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lazarus View Post
You're warned before you even begin the arc if there are customs in it. If you don't like it then don't play the damn arc.
Unfortunately, the intros really don't distinguish between custom factions of standard critters and factions of custom critters. Since there are hardly any standard factions I use complete and unmodified, they all show up as custom groups.



<《 New Colchis / Guides / Mission Architect 》>
"At what point do we say, 'You're mucking with our myths'?" - Harlan Ellison

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Heraclea View Post
Unfortunately, the intros really don't distinguish between custom factions of standard critters and factions of custom critters. Since there are hardly any standard factions I use complete and unmodified, they all show up as custom groups.
That seems like something the devs could be persuaded to improve. The question is when they'd prioritize it to.


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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by UberGuy View Post
That seems like something the devs could be persuaded to improve. The question is when they'd prioritize it to.

Certainly the kind of mechanical tweaking that could improve the system for those that choose to utilize it.


 

Posted

The truely sad part is, the die-hard farm population still use AE as the prefered farming location. For a variety of reasons, some of these reasons so obscure and forgotten, the devs would have a hard time noticing them, if it even occured to them to fix them.

Personally, I'ld use AE to PL and farm for the simple reason that I can farm in cappie and Atlas rather then G-vill and PI. If the decline in play has been from farmers or average players in a larger majority, is hard to tell, but AE simply isn't as used as it should be. Considering how wonderful it has the potential to be.

They need to buff MA and simply resign to the fact that people are going to farm it regardless of whether the xp is equal to or more then average content simply becuase of location and the elimination of the repitition of dev created "farm maps"

A ceaseless war against farmers is the same thing as waging a war to rid the world of ants; if you succeed, it isn't going to be in your life time, it won't be worth it, and you will regret it soon.

IMO of course, rage at me if you wish, I got my popcorn ready.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Not_Epsilon View Post
The truely sad part is, the die-hard farm population still use AE as the prefered farming location. For a variety of reasons, some of these reasons so obscure and forgotten, the devs would have a hard time noticing them, if it even occured to them to fix them.

Personally, I'ld use AE to PL and farm for the simple reason that I can farm in cappie and Atlas rather then G-vill and PI. If the decline in play has been from farmers or average players in a larger majority, is hard to tell, but AE simply isn't as used as it should be. Considering how wonderful it has the potential to be.

They need to buff MA and simply resign to the fact that people are going to farm it regardless of whether the xp is equal to or more then average content simply becuase of location and the elimination of the repitition of dev created "farm maps"

A ceaseless war against farmers is the same thing as waging a war to rid the world of ants; if you succeed, it isn't going to be in your life time, it won't be worth it, and you will regret it soon.

IMO of course, rage at me if you wish, I got my popcorn ready.
I will agree they nerfed Mission Architect way too hard for a futile mission against farmers. Farming can be lessened, sure, but it can never be truly stopped.

I think the biggest problem was simply the amount of nerfs piled onto the Mission Architect.
Right now I think they can take some of them back. There are only two "nerfs" that I would agree with.

- The custom group rank issue (Prevents boss farming)
- The ally XP elimination (Prevents having statesman as an ally to help beat up hellions as a lowbie)

The rest were kind of over-doing it. Custom critters should award full XP regardless of difficulty (even standard minions are tougher than normal). Now, if your critter has no powers, then sure, take away XP, but since they are inherently tougher than normal mobs, they should award full XP. The badge nerf was just ridiculous. You got one inspiration! Here's your badge! Please... next thing you know there will be a badge for logging into the game for the first time, they can call it the n00b badge.


Arc ID: 348998 - Becoming a villain
Arc ID: 373341 - To Save a Hero

Got Inf?

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Smash_Zone View Post
I will agree they nerfed Mission Architect way too hard for a futile mission against farmers. Farming can be lessened, sure, but it can never be truly stopped.

I think the biggest problem was simply the amount of nerfs piled onto the Mission Architect.
Right now I think they can take some of them back. There are only two "nerfs" that I would agree with.

- The custom group rank issue (Prevents boss farming)
- The ally XP elimination (Prevents having statesman as an ally to help beat up hellions as a lowbie)

The rest were kind of over-doing it. Custom critters should award full XP regardless of difficulty (even standard minions are tougher than normal). Now, if your critter has no powers, then sure, take away XP, but since they are inherently tougher than normal mobs, they should award full XP. The badge nerf was just ridiculous. You got one inspiration! Here's your badge! Please... next thing you know there will be a badge for logging into the game for the first time, they can call it the n00b badge.

Its true. Personally, I have an issue with the custom group nerf, it completely invalidated my "War of the Ranks" Arc, and it maed me sad, so very sad.

If they made it so all boss groups were punishable, thats livable, but having boss's in my LT only group spoils pretty much everything and muddles the plot


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Smash_Zone View Post
Yes, lots of people still use AE. I've actually noticed an increase in activity in the past week. The problem isn't that nobody is playing AE, it's the fact the since there's an AE building in every friggin' zone that all the players are spread out. This gives the illusion that all the AE buildings are empty.

Plus, what do you mainly do in the AE buildings? Play missions. People are still using AE, but you just can't see them.

I really don't like how spread out the buildings are, though. I would say have only a few for both sides. For heroes, have one in Atlas Park, Steel Canyon, and Peregrine Island. For villains, Have one in Mercy Island, Port Oakes, and Grandville. It would make the AE building a more universal place to gather, and would make it easier to get a team for AE missions.
I'll agree that there was no need to have an AE building in nearly every damn zone, even more so on the heroside with all the extra zones that they have which are often empty (who hangs out in IP instead of Talos anyway?)

It was quickly demonstrated in beta that most people gravitated to one or two AE buildings. They should have gone with that and had just an AE in a few "hub" zones but far enough away from the high-traffic areas like trains/ferrys and Wentworths/Black Market to cut down on the lag that they induced. One or two buildings in the out of the way zones would have sufficed for those who wanted to avoid the crowds, and an AE added on to Pocket D would have made much more sense than on in the RWZ anyway.



Super-sidekicking would have been a great boon to AE for the non-farmers. Not every arc had every mission compressed into a single-level range and the hardest part of getting teams going was making the level spread even by playing the mentor game. Plus people would complain if they'd get no XP, but at the same time not everyone wants to play just level 50 arcs with level 50 enemy groups all the time either.


Reversing or at least softening some of the nerfs will be critical to luring people back to AE. It would also help a lot if they'd go into the database and somehow clear out most of these old broken, duplicate arcs and abandoned nerfed farms. The search list is cluttered with so much garbage and noise, a recent attempt at using the random button turned up dozens of arcs that had never gotten a single rating since i14 launched, duplicate arcs that apparently resulted from someone hitting publish over and over and never unpublishing the extra copies, and lots of blatant copyright infringing arcs that have no ratings anyway.