Enhancement revamp

Same here. I advise heavily against trying to learn "the whole system" at once. Just take your drops and see what it is they do and what the market will give you. Once you get a feel for a few of those, the rest falls into place. You might not know "everything", but you'll certainly be in a better place to learn and figure out things.

LEGION OF VALOR - Be a part of the Legend!

What I want is for the new player to have less to learn that is obsolete already, and to have an easier time transitioning into an OLD player. We should make the things that mostly affect only new players as simple as possible, so that they stick around long enough to find out about and get interested in the parts of the game that all the experienced players use.

I'm not suggesting that we make IOs level-less, just the 'training-wheel' enhancements. Let's remove the decay, so that a new player never has to ask 'I went up a level, so why am I weaker now than I was before?' Yes, that only happens when your enhancements go red, but it's still something that should be avoided.

Perhaps a better way to think about this would be to turn it on its head: if level-less TO/DO/SO enhancements were the norm, what compelling reasons could you give for adding levels and decay to them? What makes that BETTER?

I would say:
1) another inf sink is gone, which we don't need in this game.
2) it would make generic IOs worthless since crafting cost for salvage and crafting itself would be greater than just buying a DO or SO. (another inf sink lost like on those 50 IOs even if lvl50 IOs are better than an SO...)
3) not everyone, new and old, use IOs
4) an incentive to switch to IOs since they don't decay and suddenly learn about this market-thingy and all the crazy sets
5) and this game is insanely easy already. You seem to be portraying new players as totally clueless about video games and incapable of learning things in a game.

Quick answer?
All I got is the "Inf-sink vs Inflation" argument. Personally, I find the level-decay annoying, which is why I switch to IOs ASAP.

1 - I will still maintain that that particular inf sink is taking inf from the wrong segment of the population. We need more sinks for rich, experienced players, not for people just starting out.
2 - Since the enhancements would be level-less, they would just follow the progression that a +0 enhancement has now, and at every level where generic IOs exist, they are better than the best available TO/DO/SO. The people that have the inf to replace IOs every few levels will be doing just that, exactly as they do now.
3 - Then a large segment of the population may find themselves elated at the simplification. More importantly, if anyone reading this does not use IOs, please chime in with your opinion!
4 - The incentive is a higher bonus, as well as lack of decay. The higher bonus won't change, and for an experienced player, that is a MUCH more powerful incentive.
5 - I've worked in technical support before, and assuming that people know what they are doing almost always comes back to bite you eventually. Make the non-important things simple!

Hence my suggestion of adjusting the sell-back prices for TOs and DOs. Much smaller adjustment to the game, would primarily benefit only low level characters played by new players. Low level characters played by older players don't need the help, since they can just mail $inf from other characters, and presumably have the experience to know how to earn $Inf.
In this game, particularly in the Market, wealth is tossed at you and you have to duck to miss it.

TO's, DO's, SO's, HO's etc are NOT obsolete. Just because you don't like them doesn't make them obsolete. I have plenty of characters the only use those enhancements and no one knows the difference. IO's are an optional feature players can choose to use if they want to go that route. The game is just as fun with regular enhancements as it is with IO's.

Here we go. The KittyCrusader argument.

Well if that is going to be used, I have no other comment except that TO/DO/SO are working as intended and fine as is. /unsigned

This is a game... none of it's important. Make it too simple... no incentive to play.

IO sets suffer from the same stupid name problem.

If they/you are grinding for inf since the introduction of inventions 3 years ago they/you are doing it wrong.

If someone is doing it wrong then telling them they are doing it wrong is the right answer.

If someone was dying all the time because they were playing stupid and complained the game was too hard what would you tell them?

I have found it relatively simple to get influence since the addition of the markets and the Mission Architect. If you are having problems in that department try the following steps:

1. Do AE missions to max out Architect ticket count...
2. Buy rare salvage or recipes from AE vendor...
3. Sell salvage or recipes at Wentworth's or the Black Market...
4. Profit!


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DOs and SOs are special in light of the fact that they provide a more affordable way to improve your performance as compared to the cost of an IO build.


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I think you're confusing "simple" with "easy".

For new players, especially players that are new to MMOs or worse computer games in general, some things we longer-term players take for granted.

CoH was my first MMO. The only other RP computer game I'd ever played was NeverWinter Nights. The learning curve of how to actually play the game was pretty simple, but the details of some things were rather daunting. I'm sure the same is very true of many people who come into this game with no experience at all.

I agree that simplication of the details, as opposed to making the game easier, is a very good idea. The market is one of those things people with no experience in MMOs, RPGs or computer games in general shouldn't be expected to explore until after they get more comfortable with the gestaldt.

That being said, I can't say removing levels from enhancements is the way to go. I don't think it would remotely affect the inf sink at the higher levels and would decrease it at the lower levels, therefore making a slight increase in inflation. Instead, I think we should consider how to make a significant impact on the higher level inf amounts and then look at simplification for newer players. Alternatively, and more likely, we should look at non-influence-affecting ways to simplify the transition between noob and vet.

I have no answers for how to do that.

Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha ...I have the patience of a coffee-fueled flea...

Actually I had no idea those even existed, and I've already pre-ordered GR so it would be pointless for me to care about them anyhow. Also, she.

The answer to that still seems to be to make very, very expensive vendors for things that people want anyhow. Make a salvage vendor that sells salvage for 1000x the normal cost: 250,000 for common, 1,000,000 for uncommon, 5,000,000 for rare. Make a recipe vendor that sells recipes for 10,000x the normal cost: 100,000,000 for a rare recipe at level 50, 50,000,000 for an uncommon one. Allow people to buy respecs in-game with enough inf. Make some powerful but temporary buffs that are expensive. Let people buy titles. Let people trigger special events by spending enough, perhaps on a timer.

The important thing about vendors is that the inf is removed from the game, unlike the market. Give players a compelling enough reason, and they'll spend inf that way.

and this will not work when anyone can go to the market and PLACE A BID and wait to get what they want for cheaper then a vendor. please do not suggest changes to things you do not understand.

If it isn't worth it, why did you do it?

The best that will happen from these ideas is that players will ignore those vendors and continue to use the market, AE tickets, and merits to get what they want and nothing will change.

At worst you will be encouraging players to use RMT sites to get the inf needed to buy stuff from those vendors.

I really don't see the devs shooting the game in the foot by implementing something that would give players a reason to do things that will get their accounts banned.

At worst, people will still use the markets. The best thing that could happen is depleting the RMT coffers, driving up their prices radically. But people will only use the markets if there's currently a supply, and people can be impatient. This is the 'buy it now' option, and it costs more for the convenience.