City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

AE XP Suggestion

Aett_Thorn

By Aett_Thorn,
Posted on: 2010-11-22 13:30 in Suggestions and Ideas

 

Posted

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Originally Posted by FredrikSvanberg View Post
I don't think they are trying to stop farming. Just cheating.
Farming/powerleveling/exploits, call it what you want, but regardless, it's never going to end.

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Originally Posted by FredrikSvanberg View Post
That damage has already been done. Can only improve from now on.
That's a very optimistic view. I think things could get significantly worse.

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Originally Posted by FredrikSvanberg View Post
No, cheaters and exploits must be quashed.
I'm not trying to argue whether or not it's a good idea to stop these sorts of things or not. I'm saying that I don't think it's possible to do so, and that trying to is just a waste of time. Just leave them there, and people will eventually get bored with them. I honestly think that by trying so hard to root them out, and forcing people to come up with new ones all the time, the devs are keeping the interest in them high.

 

Posted

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Originally Posted by firespray View Post
Farming/powerleveling/exploits, call it what you want, but regardless, it's never going to end.
The three are not the same. Which is an eternal argument, it seems.
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I'm not trying to argue whether or not it's a good idea to stop these sorts of things or not. I'm saying that I don't think it's possible to do so, and that trying to is just a waste of time. Just leave them there, and people will eventually get bored with them. I honestly think that by trying so hard to root them out, and forcing people to come up with new ones all the time, the devs are keeping the interest in them high.
I'd strongly disagree. Stopping the exploits is certainly not a waste of time - and should be done more rapidly. People have pointed out the effect on the market (and I've benefited from that - the *common* salvage I list at 50, that usually goes for, oh, 100-1000 inf selling for 50,000-250,000?) The effect on some of the playerbase - "AE baby" is not a term of praise, after all. And getting bored with it? The last one's been around for probably a month, going from word of mouth. If the big rush was "to get a 50," well, everyone who wanted one or more probably has them.

Honestly, I think the only reason this is getting more of a spotlight *now* is that the Praetorian zones have lost some of the "new shiny" they had, so people are looking back at hero/villain zones and the "AE Farm LFM" broadcasts that announce a new exploit are being noticed again.

 

Posted

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Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill View Post
The three are not the same. Which is an eternal argument, it seems.
Yeah, I know. I tend to use the terms interchangeably, even though I probably shouldn't.

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Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill View Post
I'd strongly disagree. Stopping the exploits is certainly not a waste of time - and should be done more rapidly.
We'll simply have to agree to disagree then. I'm of the opinion that it is not possible to completely remove all of the exploits from the Mission Architect. At least not without resorting to drastic measures. I think trying to get rid of them all is a waste of time because it's futile. Not necessarily because I think the idea of removing exploits is wrong.

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Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill View Post
People have pointed out the effect on the market (and I've benefited from that - the *common* salvage I list at 50, that usually goes for, oh, 100-1000 inf selling for 50,000-250,000?) The effect on some of the playerbase - "AE baby" is not a term of praise, after all.
Both true, but I don't consider either of those things a serious issue.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill View Post
And getting bored with it? The last one's been around for probably a month, going from word of mouth. If the big rush was "to get a 50," well, everyone who wanted one or more probably has them.
I doubt a month is long enough for people to get bored with it, but I suspect it would happen eventually. It's hard to tell though, since they are usually dealt with before enough time passes that we could say for sure.

 

Posted

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Originally Posted by firespray View Post
We'll simply have to agree to disagree then. I'm of the opinion that it is not possible to completely remove all of the exploits from the Mission Architect. At least not without resorting to drastic measures. I think trying to get rid of them all is a waste of time because it's futile. Not necessarily because I think the idea of removing exploits is wrong.
Not possible? Possibly true. But it doesn't have to be not possible. It's enough that it's not feasible.

The worst problem about the blatant farming is how easy it is to get into. If we can remove the followers, the hangers-ons, that's a severe reduction to the problem. One person finding a way to get higher rewards isn't nearly as much a problem as the whole playerbase doing so. Especially since, if they abuse it, I'm sure there are easy ways to check it out (somebody suddenly getting lots of inf and/or xp) that, now that the chaff is gone, can be investigated properly.

48 hours until arc gives out full rewards? A story arc will be up for much longer, two days won't kill the maker. Throw in a per-character badge for completing an arc(nix that) five missions' worth of an arc before it gives full rewards and you won't be hurting for people playing it. Plus, 48 hours means a lot of time for some automated script to check the description for blatant signs of a farm ("farm" "good xp" "do not rate" etc.) and flag them for review.

No inf from AE? When a exploit like this rears its ugly head, it doesn't mean umptillions of inf injected into the economy before it's fixed, instead there's a higher supply of recipes and salvage.

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Posted

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Originally Posted by Chad Gulzow-Man View Post

But before the Mission Architect was released, they made it very clear that it was absolutely not to be used for farming, and that abusers would be punished.
Personally I liked the ranting whiny dev letter we got from the first exploit. I think they should write one of those every time a new exploit is found. I'm always up for a good laugh.

 

Posted

I think it important that people stop and realize that farming does not mean exploiting. I farm AE all the time... on my level 50 toon. I made a mission that is tough and fun. It takes about 45 minutes to complete. I run it over and over and over... why?

Because I love to do it on that specific toon.
Because I get tickets.
Because I get inf/prestige for my solo SG.

My mission is a farm... it does not use any exploits. I could easily farm a radio or regular missions, but I choose not to... because I like cashing in tickets The "roll" excites and irritates me at the same time

Do I sometimes farm my own lowbies... Yep. Is the xp "good" yeah... Is it exploitable good.. uhh no.

I have found most players in this game to be rude.... and I have been playing for 5 years now. I think in total I have 6 people on my global list. So I farm my own toons... and play them once I get them around 32-35.

If these types of changes would occur I would definitely unsub my accounts because I ENJOY farming. Farming has been one of the main things that has kept me and my three accounts playing for so long (that and base designing).

My advice... Leave AE the way it is and if you find an exploit... report it. The devs will do what they want/need to do regarding that exploit. In the meantime... stop telling me I cannot farm... stop trying to take one of the things that I love out of this game. I don't care if you do not like farming... I don't care if you don't like power-leveling... so long as it is not exploitative... why does it really matter to you?

And FYI... If I hear "Well farmers got Dreck made into a timed mission" ONE MORE TIME as an argument against farming... I am going to scream. So what? Why does it matter that it is timed? The only reason to not have a timer on it is.... so you can rerun it over and over... and FYI I still have the un-timed Dreck mission on 3 of my toons...

I pay my $45 a month to play this game WITHIN the set rules... and there is NOTHING in the rules that states I cannot run the same mission over and over... there is nothing stating I cannot farm my own toons. Farming DOES NOT equal exploiting... they are COMPLETELY different. I enjoy working my butt off on my 50 and getting xp on my lowbies at a decent pace. That is how I CHOOSE to play this game.

If this game were to start penalizing "legitimate" farmers.... I think it would create quite a decline in subscriptions. I don't come for the story arcs (I could care less). I don't play to interact with people... 90% of the people who play this game have major social deficiencies. I play to be a super hero... plain and simple.. and I feel pretty heroic whooping on hundreds of baddies in AE all by myself

 

Posted

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Originally Posted by Fixxer View Post
I think it important that people stop and realize that farming does not mean exploiting.
/this, and

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My advice... Leave AE the way it is and if you find an exploit... report it. The devs will do what they want/need to do regarding that exploit. In the meantime... stop telling me I cannot farm... stop trying to take one of the things that I love out of this game. I don't care if you do not like farming... I don't care if you don't like power-leveling... so long as it is not exploitative... why does it really matter to you?
this.

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And FYI... If I hear "Well farmers got Dreck made into a timed mission" ONE MORE TIME as an argument against farming... I am going to scream. So what? Why does it matter that it is timed? The only reason to not have a timer on it is.... so you can rerun it over and over.
Not true. Yeah, the timer's of no consequence if you're teamed or high damage. But - for instance, another that got a timer, the Shadowhunter mission - I was doing just fine on my Earth/FF. Slow, but fine - but I came within 30 seconds of *failing* that mission because of the timer that got added. No, there's no consequence to failing it - you don't need Shadowhunter for the accolade - other than having defeat snatched from the jaws of victory and the irritation that goes with that.

 

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Originally Posted by MunkiLord View Post
Personally I liked the ranting whiny dev letter we got from the first exploit. I think they should write one of those every time a new exploit is found. I'm always up for a good laugh.
That was hilarious.

Alas, War Witch seems to be more grounded and realistic than Posi, I doubt we'll get a reprise.

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Originally Posted by Nethergoat View Post
That was hilarious.

Alas, War Witch seems to be more grounded and realistic than Posi, I doubt we'll get a reprise.
Pure speculation here, but I'm thinking the PR department now has a lot more say on dev forum activity then they used to. And I bet that rant has a ton do with it.