The grass is always greener.

I sat here for a couple minutes trying to come up with a title and this one fits well I think. Bear with me as I go through some nostalgia...

I played CoH when it first came out and marvelled at flying above the city. I enjoyed defeating Hamidon pre-Issue 1, Issue 1, and then again post-Issue 2 (I think that's when they increased the Mito's range). The sewer trial was awesome because you had to navigate a maze of tunnels to find this lone entrance that led to ramps into what appeared to be an abyss. The Eden trial was cool due to the HUGE map and the different stages of the level plus the addition of multiple GMs. The respec trial when it first came out (when it was incredibly hard but VERY satisfying to beat) was great.

I did the Reichsman TF last night hero side and the end of cool but a little disappointing.

Taskforces are great when you want to casually play through some content that is harder than normal, but I, and others I'm sure) want a challenge. Look at the sewer trial (which I want to do again before my month expires): You fight through a very perilous downward spiral to the bottom where you face several Kraken and the Hydra which requires coordination and focus to bring the forcefields down and then blast the Hydra. Rikti spawn around you and then you must handle them as well. This encounter is fairly dynamic and fun. The timer really makes it more interesting and puts the pressure on as well. The Eden trial attempted to recreate this magic, but I feel it fell short. The end is just a tanker taunt, everyone attack event. The respec when it first came out was great. High level rikti (I think +2, the bosses were 1 shotting squishies) spawned fairly quickly, the timer, and the constant drain on your life made the trial intense and when we beat it... what a feeling of accomplishment! Then it got dumbed down because it was too hard and its boring.

I hated the pacing of WoW. It was slow and coming from CoH, it just wasn't as high octane. However, what they did/do really well are boss encounters. They are dynamic, require strategy and coordination, and when you've completed them are very satisfying. It's not as simple as Tanker taunts and the boss never attacks anyone else and it's not like the tanks don't need healing, heck sometimes you have 3-4 healers on the tank. I feel like there isn't much danger in CoH TFs or trials. During Reichsman, we had one tank taunting Reichsman and whatever other AV was up and we just never stopped attacking and I never moved my character once. It took a long time to kill him, but it wasn't satisfying.

What I want are more Trials with dynamic encounters that are not straight forward and I don't have to up the enemy levels to make it harder or challenging; it should already be challenging. Taskforces are great, but I really enjoy the straight to the point aspect of trials (you don't have to run around the whole game from mission to mission). I know that a lot of people hate on WoW (myself included) but I think there is a lot to learn from it as well.

Have you tried the Reichsman SF?

Yes, and I felt like it was easier. I was dual boxing a MM and stalker and we pulled him to a little hole/corner and all the mobs that spawn (if any) jump into all the AoE. I have hope for the CoP, but we need more and not just in the end game (def need some there though)

...and the glasses have a rosy tint to them.

I'm not particularly keen on comparing City of... to games like WoW. They're not the same game.

The game 'back then' if the pre Issue 4 content is anything to go by, contained a lot of filler. Lots of missions designed the same, that sort of thing.

I joined a week before Issue 5 hit.

Croatoa was challenging, and to this day I cringe every time I see the 'Defend the Portal from Fir Bolg' and any mission involving Red Caps!

New content is challenging too, but my theory is that I've been playing long enough now to know what the system can throw at me. I know that when there seems to be no enemies in sight but I'm getting hit anyway, there's a sniper somewhere. I know to not stand next to Warhulks and/or large groups of Jaegers when their health bars are low, and so on.

In short I'm a better player than I was back then.

So I'm immediately suspicious of requests from longstanding players who want more challenge. I know from past experience, that it's sometimes an indication of the need to take a (hopefully short) break from the game.


Oh, and the Reichsman TF is not the shining example of awesome that it could have been - the SF is slightly better.

Imperious, States, Recluse, Lady Grey - examples of good and challenging content.

I agree that the LRSF and the STF are somewhat challenging, but again it's the TF set-up (multiple somewhat monotonous missions to get to the end that is good). I'm saying this after coming back after a 3 year break (been back two weeks) and I have the same complaint I did then. /shrug

CoH != WoW and I'm not saying it should, but the potential for much better boss encounters is there. It's just not fully utilized imho.

I don't like scripted actions either. In some game (don't say name) there was mean evil boss and I was clearly winning him when he suddenly started to act weirdly. "you can't defeat me... muahahhha" (what I'm just winning?) Then he walked away and my poor character had to survive throught annoying maze... I cursed a loud... I was clearly winning.

It depends so much about your team. If you think about PI AV's. Sometimes they are like hardest thing you ever seen and sometimes so easy.

Perhaps some random tactics would make fightinig more challenging. Something evil big boss chooses a new tactics about once per minute or like that. Not too random but something that you can't continue whole fight at same way.

The PI AVs are an interesting set of examples: Depending on the map they are either very easy (Mother Mayhem, Malaise) or a pain in the posterior (Diabolique, Nightstar) due to their AI tactics.

Nightstar is a much easier AV to defeat when she's in a warehouse with a limited direction she can fly away in. When she's on top of a building in an outdoor instanced map, slightly different tactics are required (namely -Fly).

I can't remember when the changes were made to AVs, but there were a lot of complaints that fights against them (and Giant Monsters) were simply slugfests. Their regeneration rates were boosted so high that the presence of a Rad/ /Rad was required to make a dent in the health bar.

Then that was changed and Regen Debuffs were suitably reduced to make it less of an issue.

Romulus is an interesting Boss Fight, mainly due to the Nictus that surround him. On certain teams it's easy enough to gank him until he falls down, on others the tactic of separating him from his healing buddies is required (it depends on team make up and tactics).

Lady Grey is interesting in that you've come so far, even defeating a weakened Hamidon, and the final encounter with the Rikti Lord of War is interrupted by the presence of Honoree. The actual boss fights there are standard fare, but there is more of an epic feel to them (imho) that distracts from the final mission being 'just another AV fight.'

Going forward, I'd quite like to see the addition of Environmental Hazards in missions, including final ones with AVs. Hess has the lava, of course, which is where I got that from.

Multi-level final rooms also add a sense of tactics required as fighting space is often narrower, team split opportunities are greater etc.

And now I've had a thought about rewriting the Hess TF... Oh dear

And I agree with team splitting scenarios. It wouldn't be hard to make this kind of thing happen. Make it where the team *has* to split and that increases the challenge.

It may just be me but I'd like more epic scenery and music for my AV fights. Something like a AV who planted explosives in an elevator, when the elevator reaches the top of the building it will explode killing everyone inside, and the AV has the remote that can stop the elevator so you gotta knock him out to live. Or how about a short 1 mission trial during the rikti invasion event where you have until the end of the invasion to finish the mission.

There's always at least a *little* hokieness that goes into npc boss encounters...ie once you know what to expect it's not really that dynamic anymore is it?

I'd go PvP if I want the thrill of something dynamic...people are unpredictable and do either the damndest things...or the dumbest things. Not to say everythings hunky doree with PvP in this game, but it's a good side show for "dynamics".