Discussion: Issue 19: Strike Pack is live!
By
American_Valor,
Posted on: 2011-02-01 24:24 in News, Events and Announcement Discussion
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The very first "Hello World" program I ever wrote compiled bug free. |
Originally Posted by Nericus
Show me an error-free release and I'll show you a release that didn't happen.
 |
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Not mine. The compiler I used whined like mad for lack of arguments in main(). |
Originally Posted by Eiko-chan
The very first "Hello World" program I ever wrote compiled bug free.
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To answer that question: Yes, of course I would. The problem was not affecting me, nor would it have affected me. The Strike Pack patch gave me nothing and was rushed onto Live with inadequate testing, with a bug which would have been spotted if they had bothered to do adequate testing and the result of that is that I (undoubtedly not you) have lost an evening's play.|
Originally Posted by SpaceNut
Would you rather they not fix it until tomorrow and keep letting zones crash?
Hint: Going back in time to test it more is not an option. |
This entie year, so far, seems to have consisted of Paragon Studios making rather paniced moves, presumably due to the release of Cataclysm and DCUO. Calm down Paragon guys and gals! You're messing up my game quite enough as it is with this push to mimic every other End Game/Raid oriented MMO there is. There's no need to give me more reasons to quit.
Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.
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First program I ever wrote was a BASIC program to add matrices. It was written on paper, and then actually put into a Commodore PET about a year later. It ran and worked first time.
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Originally Posted by JD_Gumby
Not mine. The compiler I used whined like mad for lack of arguments in main().
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Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.
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More like the release of Spring Fling.
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Originally Posted by Ravenswing
This entie year, so far, seems to have consisted of Paragon Studios making rather paniced moves, presumably due to the release of Cataclysm and DCUO.
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De minimis non curat Lex Luthor.
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This is just a tad overdramatic. I could probably do a whole page but I'll just go over the key argument points.|
Originally Posted by Ravenswing
To answer that question: Yes, of course I would. The problem was not affecting me, nor would it have affected me. The Strike Pack patch gave me nothing and was rushed onto Live with inadequate testing, with a bug which would have been spotted if they had bothered to do adequate testing and the result of that is that I (undoubtedly not you) have lost an evening's play.
This entie year, so far, seems to have consisted of Paragon Studios making rather paniced moves, presumably due to the release of Cataclysm and DCUO. Calm down Paragon guys and gals! You're messing up my game quite enough as it is with this push to mimic every other End Game/Raid oriented MMO there is. There's no need to give me more reasons to quit. |
You'd leave the bug up just to spite people; great. You're considering quitting over something that didn't even affect you anyway. Testing is a two-part process and when I got on test there was nobody around to run a TF with to properly test things. Basically every issue has launched with a bug of some time and the nature of testing means 10 people can find some bugs; thousands of people will find all the bugs. It's impossible to test for every possible situation before launching unless you want releases to take 6 months each. If you're going to quit, do me a favor and give me your stuff.
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Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU
Dispari has more than enough credability, and certainly doesn't need to borrow any from you.
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Although I agree he was a bit overdramatic, (and another word I can't use for his silly idea of letting just a game breaking bug stay live) I think you need to recognize that the reason that there was no one to test with on TEST was because the patch was released during a double xp weekend.|
Originally Posted by Dispari
This is just a tad overdramatic. I could probably do a whole page but I'll just go over the key argument points.
You'd leave the bug up just to spite people; great. You're considering quitting over something that didn't even affect you anyway. Testing is a two-part process and when I got on test there was nobody around to run a TF with to properly test things. Basically every issue has launched with a bug of some time and the nature of testing means 10 people can find some bugs; thousands of people will find all the bugs. It's impossible to test for every possible situation before launching unless you want releases to take 6 months each. If you're going to quit, do me a favor and give me your stuff. |
They should have waited a WEEK (and I don't know who they are--I'm assuming it was marketing/NCSoft and not the dev team) AFTER dxp was done so that enough people could then go onto test and run the tfs there. Also note that the WTS should have been announced on TEST as soon as the patch was dropped on TEST.
Doing that the bug would have been caught almost immediately. You're right it is a two way process, but only when the testing process is allowed to work. Rushing it on TEST during a dxp weekend and not even keeping the patch on test for a week was DIRECTLY responsible for the problem that was cured by the devs with yesterday's patch.
I don't blame the players for this going to live with such a show stopping bug. AT ALL.
Blazara Aura LVL 50 Fire/Psi Dom (with 125% recharge)
Flameboxer Aura LVL 50 SS/Fire Brute
Ice 'Em Aura LVL 50 Ice Tank
Darq Widow Fortune LVL 50 Fortunata (200% rech/Night Widow 192.5% rech)--thanks issue 19!
As per my other posts, and in life, you can see Im about as negative and anti-establishment as it gets. Even so, I have to take the devs side on this. They have gotten tons of Why are we getting only half of Alpha? Why was this content not in Going Rogue? Why are we waiting so long for GR?. So, admittedly, they rushed things. A lot, but really, due to pressure from the playerbase and the competition.
Now its Why is it so buggy?. Personally, Im of the Wait until its ok, like Blizzard does despite the generational wait between their games, but thats not what the devs thought was best. So they rushed. Rush means mistakes. Then they get criticized for the mistake. Rock and a hard place
I just hope the people complaining about how long they had to wait are NOT the same people that complain about the bugs.
I would have preferred Going Rogue been delayed an extra year and half, have 1-50 Praetorian Content, have Alpha through Omega Incarnates, and yes, Id have shelled out an extra 20-50 bucks for that. Sadly, the accountants dealing with CoH didnt see that as viable, and, not being an accountant, I have to defer to their expertise. I prefer an early release and buggy GR+, than waiting 1.5 years to find theres no point because people left due to stagnation and the game is down. Obviously, a full 1-50 Praetoria and L1-10 Incarnate all at once would be more popular, but that wasnt feasible without waiting a lot longer, or so I suspect.
So, as negative as I am, I file the bugs under oh well rather than OMG but thats just me.
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I agree with this whole heartedly but after yesterday here are my questions:|
Originally Posted by Fiery_Redeemer
I would have preferred Going Rogue been delayed an extra year and half, have 1-50 Praetorian Content, have Alpha through Omega Incarnates, and yes, I’d have shelled out an extra 20-50 bucks for that. Sadly, the accountants dealing with CoH didn’t see that as viable, and, not being an accountant.
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1. What are they doing inside PS? I thought the content was done and they were just teasing us. It seems like now that ideas are on the table but things are still being developed. How are they going to get this right if their running things so close. Are we being too demanding?
2. Why a 19.5? We have so many members who still have lots of characters to Alpha enable. I thought I would be doing repeat TFs at least until summer 2011. This creates more pressure on me because now I have to do this weekly stuff now in addition to trying to mature my other characters. After the Double XP weekend, I'm just tired.
3. What are they going to tell us in the weekly meeting? I'm not really concerned about what the devs do week to week. The stuff their doing now is demanding too much of my time. I'm a loyal fan until summer 2011. Less B.S. PR is ok with me. I feel like they just saying things.
4. How are they going to prevent what happened yesterday? The window dragged on for almost 3 hours. I lost valuable time that could have been avoided. I cannot come online and then be kicked off for unscheduled maintenance. I should have been able to get 2 notices yesterday but I now have to come online again for several hours this week to get my final weekly notice for my controller.
Thats all very interesting but some of us are locked out of the website to even see what everyone is talking about. Currently I can log into the forums only on my old laptop. I can log into the game on my main system, but My system has been reporting that the DSN is not found for the website , boards or anything. The patch broke something and I have no idea how to fix it. Sent a support request in still no reply.
If anyone has any ideas let me know.
Valor
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by Star Ranger 4 WIN LOSE OR DRAW, WE WILL FIGHT. WE ARE HEROES This is what we DO! |
Decide that this will be another day in which you Walk The Talk.
MA #14724 Operation: Discredit @American Valor
Sentinel Of Liberty SG
Well, I'd like to thank the devs for how smart they were being by starting the Seven Year Reward at the same time they introduced the WST. If not for that, I would have canceled just to indicate my *eye-roll* at the STF and LRSF being the first WST and decision to not participate.
I loathe those two task forces with every fibre of my being - and it's not because I can't complete it, I have - but because of how picky and exclusive and negative it 'encourages' the community to be in its design. a) Look for tank to start. b) Lather on the buffer/debuffers. c) Stare at powersets and pick and choose. Not to mention, grind and prepare for a few hours outside of TF time for nukes, shivans, HVASes and other stuff just in case the team can't do it by themselves. Every time I think about doing one of those TFs, I think meh, I rather do an Apex or Tin Mage and I much rather log off. Because I'm not having fun even thinking about preparing to do them, let alone doing them.
Perhaps I'm the only one who feels this way about it. That's just too bad. I wish the rest of you well in enjoying the WST. Thanks for playtesting all the problems with such an annoying task as the target. Let's hope that between the patches and the inherent frustrations of the STF/LRSF that more people don't end up coming around to my way of thinking about them, because the chore/grind/obligation-to-complete factor is a good way of killing long term interest and subscription to a game.
For myself, I will not be logging onto CoH this week. I will not contribute myself as an additional number in the dev's datamine to say, oh, the WST was a success. I will cheerfully wait for next week's ITF and delay a Notice of the Well by one week. It's not worth the effing aggravation of an STF or LRSF - if it succeeds, I'm grinding my teeth because of the cheesy tactics or team composition used, if it fails, it's hours and hours of wasted time.
I have chosen to avoid hamster wheel raid endgame grind (grind in the sense of repetitively doing something -I don't find fun-) in other games, and I will be avoiding it here. Hopefully, it will just be for a week.
If not, then well, seven years is a long time to stick with any game, whereas games can change beyond recognition in the space of weeks or months. Please be very careful that while adding 'endgame' to pander to the hardcore subset that desires one, that the rest of your game's population are not alienated in the process. I am content to wait and see until I20, but my unease has been developing for quite some time.
Invictus Est Level 50 Invul/Fire Tank
Malentis Level 50 Ice/Energy/Leviathan Dom (Freedom)
Black Jeremiah Level 50 Fire/Fire/Mu Dom
Sejanna Level 50 Dark/Dark/Elec Def (Virtue)
Arc #119664 - The MiniMech Cometh - Hess TF Mini-Sequel
bad teams will make a person jaded...sorry, I find the misconception of requiring certain teammates rather annoying.
I'm trying to recall the team make-up of the two LRSFs I've done so far...
first one was a complete pug, 2 brutes, my tank, 1 widow, non-perma mind dom, stalker, /dark corr, /traps mm (one person had nukes and a shivan, we wiped in that encounter regardless)
second one was a team I formed from my sg channel...two tanks, scrapper, dom, blaster, widow, cold, rad
Hardly cheesy (unless popping oranges so I survive Psychic Alphas counts) or cookie cutter. Though I'm sure if they were cookie cutter teams, we would of done both runs in 30-45 minutes instead of 60-90 minutes.
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Not sure if anyone said this SN, but good job on the chart and thanks|
Originally Posted by SpaceNut
I'll just chime in here, and mention that I've put together a Google spreadsheet with the updated incarnate information, so you can plan what you need to do for rares and very rares. The way it's set up in-game makes it hard to get an overview of the whole process, at least for me.
http://tinyurl.com/IncarnateFlowchart Can't wait for Judgment, etc.! |
"Forum PvP doesn't give drops. Just so all of you who participated in this thread are aware." -Mod08-
"when a stalker goes blue side, assassination strike should be renamed "bunny hugs", and a rainbow should fly out" -Harbinger-
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I didn't see this before, but it's neat. I put together a list of requirements and stuff in the GR section myself.|
Originally Posted by SpaceNut
I'll just chime in here, and mention that I've put together a Google spreadsheet with the updated incarnate information, so you can plan what you need to do for rares and very rares. The way it's set up in-game makes it hard to get an overview of the whole process, at least for me.
http://tinyurl.com/IncarnateFlowchart Can't wait for Judgment, etc.! |
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=251208
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Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU
Dispari has more than enough credability, and certainly doesn't need to borrow any from you.
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It's been changed.|
Originally Posted by Lycaeus
I will cheerfully wait for next week's ITF and delay a Notice of the Well by one week.
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February 1st to February 7th - The Statesman Task Force (from Statesman in Independence Port)/ The Lord Recluse Strike Force (from Lord Recluse in Grandville)
February 8th to February 14th - Return of he Reichsman (from Dr. Kahn in Founders' Falls) / Thus Spoke the Reichsman (from Barracuda in Grandville)
February 15th to February 21st - The Lady Grey Task Force (from Lady Grey in the Rikti War Zone)
February 22nd to February 28th - Clamor and Destruction (from Sister Psyche in Independence Port) / Pirates of the Skies (from Silver Mantis in Sharkhead Isle or your supergroup or villaingroup base's mission computer or oracle)
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Originally Posted by Jetpack
It's been changed.
February 1st to February 7th - The Statesman Task Force (from Statesman in Independence Port)/ The Lord Recluse Strike Force (from Lord Recluse in Grandville) February 8th to February 14th - Return of he Reichsman (from Dr. Kahn in Founders' Falls) / Thus Spoke the Reichsman (from Barracuda in Grandville) February 15th to February 21st - The Lady Grey Task Force (from Lady Grey in the Rikti War Zone) February 22nd to February 28th - Clamor and Destruction (from Sister Psyche in Independence Port) / Pirates of the Skies (from Silver Mantis in Sharkhead Isle or your supergroup or villaingroup base's mission computer or oracle) |
Since when and what's your source? Didn't see any red name info on this.
It's the post where she announced this week's. It was updated. I just asked in another thread and then immediately found it. 
Blazara Aura LVL 50 Fire/Psi Dom (with 125% recharge)
Flameboxer Aura LVL 50 SS/Fire Brute
Ice 'Em Aura LVL 50 Ice Tank
Darq Widow Fortune LVL 50 Fortunata (200% rech/Night Widow 192.5% rech)--thanks issue 19!
Ahhhh! My weak Search Fu (with a little help) has come back! Found the info; thanks.
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=251519
Not liking ITF not being next week...
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can you say cheezy? They should have left the itf and just added the others after it on the list.|
Originally Posted by Major Deej
Ahhhh! My weak Search Fu (with a little help) has come back! Found the info; thanks.
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=251519 Not liking ITF not being next week... |
What is up with villain rewards being lower for tougher task forces then heros?
What is up with the well passing out notices for pissant strike/task forces?
(
February 22nd to February 28th - Clamor and Destruction (from Sister Psyche in Independence Port) / Pirates of the Skies (from Silver Mantis in Sharkhead Isle or your supergroup or villaingroup base's mission computer or oracle) Why should the well give a crap out some lowbie task force and if so then why don't our "new enhanced abilities" work at lower levels? What we suddenly gain power and then lose it when sking down for lower level tasks? Makes me not want to sk down ever.
"Sorry jimmy I just can't help you crack that drug ring case. You see it's far below my awsomness and if I do help you I'll lose my MegaKryptonian ability....let me know how that all works out for you" ~Supes.
Djeannie's Costume Creator Overhaul Wishlist
Carnie Base
"Once the avalanche has started, it is too late for the pebbles to vote" -Kosh
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I lol'd! My co-workers are looking at me funny. |
Originally Posted by Djeannie
"Sorry jimmy I just can't help you crack that drug ring case. You see it's far below my awsomness and if I do help you I'll lose my MegaKryptonian ability....let me know how that all works out for you" ~Supes.
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Blazara Aura LVL 50 Fire/Psi Dom (with 125% recharge)
Flameboxer Aura LVL 50 SS/Fire Brute
Ice 'Em Aura LVL 50 Ice Tank
Darq Widow Fortune LVL 50 Fortunata (200% rech/Night Widow 192.5% rech)--thanks issue 19!
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This highlights a large problem in development priorities and a lack of cohesive focus. For years, a relative paucity in endgame content has driven players, with developer encouragement, to a culture of alts. Despite that, the majority of pre-50 content, especially pre-CoV, is stale, of poor quality, and in need of attention. Revamping RWZ and Faultline was a smart move, but rather than continuing this much-needed renovation, or even filling out the empty islands in CoV, the devs moved on to a new world and endgame. Boomtown is still burning.|
Originally Posted by Djeannie
What is up with the well passing out notices for pissant strike/task forces?
( February 22nd to February 28th - Clamor and Destruction (from Sister Psyche in Independence Port) / Pirates of the Skies (from Silver Mantis in Sharkhead Isle or your supergroup or villaingroup base's mission computer or oracle) Why should the well give a crap out some lowbie task force and if so then why don't our "new enhanced abilities" work at lower levels? What we suddenly gain power and then lose it when sking down for lower level tasks? Makes me not want to sk down ever. "Sorry jimmy I just can't help you crack that drug ring case. You see it's far below my awsomness and if I do help you I'll lose my MegaKryptonian ability....let me know how that all works out for you" ~Supes. |
Now that we're getting a taste of the endgame system, it turns out to be yet another move that conflicts with CoX's culture of alts. It doesn't work when one exempts down more than five levels, and requires substantial time investment on single characters. More non-transferrable soulbound currency is introduced. Although I can understand that the system may be designed this way to give players huge room for advancement over a long period of time, it feels more reminiscent of the 'epic' badges of old.
The WTF system is yet another addition that seems to have been conceived in a vacuum. The short time frame of WTFs pressures rather than incentivizes players into participating. Some may feel compelled to work doubly hard to avoid upcoming WTFs that they dislike (like Barracuda SF next week...). Many will feel left behind because they don't have enough time or inclination to grind the same tasks a dozen times a week just to keep all their alts up to par. WTF badges, in addition, intensify player frustration and reward pathological behaviour, like epic badges. Hasn't that dead horse been laid to rest already?
I18 Hamidon raiding guide
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One WTF Task force is enough to get the Rare booster, giving the +1 pseudo-level. The difference between that and a Very Rare is honestly not all the great. An extra few percent damage or end reduction is not going to leave anyone trailing in the dust.|
Originally Posted by ROBOKiTTY
Some may feel compelled to work doubly hard to avoid upcoming WTFs that they dislike (like Barracuda SF next week...). Many will feel left behind because they don't have enough time or inclination to grind the same tasks a dozen times a week just to keep all their alts up to par.
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If people want to grind the heck out of the same TFs over and over so that all their alts can get Very Rare boosters in the minimum timeframe...well, that's their prerogative. It's also their choice. It certainly isn't a requirement to take part in the Incarnate system.
The WTFs will be there next week, and next month, and next year. In a couple of months we'll probably have I20 and other ways to get the Rare Alphas. Personally, I'm planning to use the WTFs at a leisurely pace to get some nice XP and merits, maybe a few Notices, maybe a little badging.
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Defiant @Grouchybeast
Death is part of my attack chain.
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Your unfortunate enough to team with some really bad players, then.|
Originally Posted by Lycaeus
Well, I'd like to thank the devs for how smart they were being by starting the Seven Year Reward at the same time they introduced the WST. If not for that, I would have canceled just to indicate my *eye-roll* at the STF and LRSF being the first WST and decision to not participate.
I loathe those two task forces with every fibre of my being - and it's not because I can't complete it, I have - but because of how picky and exclusive and negative it 'encourages' the community to be in its design. a) Look for tank to start. b) Lather on the buffer/debuffers. c) Stare at powersets and pick and choose. Not to mention, grind and prepare for a few hours outside of TF time for nukes, shivans, HVASes and other stuff just in case the team can't do it by themselves. Every time I think about doing one of those TFs, I think meh, I rather do an Apex or Tin Mage and I much rather log off. Because I'm not having fun even thinking about preparing to do them, let alone doing them. |
My first ever succesful LRSF run was this week. I'd run it once before and we lost because two members dropped out, and we aggroed the whole Phalanx and faceplanted. By the time we got back, Numina had turned even Manticore into an unstoppable juggernaught.
The first run we pulled as best we could, but ended up with about 5 of the Phalanx coming running, Including States. We didnt use nukes, or shivans.
We won.
The next run? Well, it consisted of whatever our SG and friends threw together (sure, all at 50 and mostly Alpha slotted), ran through to the last mission, stood around, buffed up and then...Well 'tactics' ammounted to run in screaming and crash into the Phalanx like a de-railed and angry freight train.
We won.
Next run? PuG off Sals Badgehunters channel on Union. Again? Tactics were the same, albeit with one Shivan by someone. And we won again.
All this BS about nukes and shivans being needed is the result of this bloody speedrun mentality people have picked up somewhere from the gutter. Pick a team of friends and some randoms if you need numbers, make sure peeps know how to coordinate, and then go kick some righteous donkey!
Believe me, when you win it makes it all worth it. I now have no qualms about running something I previously hated with a passion, evidence enough being the tree times a week run.
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.
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Originally Posted by Captain_Photon
NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.
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For anyone having a problem getting on a team because the leader is looking for a specific AT or power set, avoid that team. Quite frankly if I see "STF Forming pst with AT and ....." I ignore them. I'm there to have fun, not to stand stand around for an hour while the leader puts together what he/she thinks is the bet possible team.
Look for "STF Room for X"
I have never been on a team that required specific AT until maybe the last 1 or 2 places if we are glaringly short on something, like we might want a tank or a brute on the STF and have not found one yet. Yes, sometimes these teams fail, who cares. Most of the time we've always found a way to finish successfully.
However, I do have to say that the new TFs, (you know, Apex and Tin Mage) have done more to promote the "We need specific ATs" than any other TF in the game so far. I've done it 4 times and the team has given up 3 of those. While fun, it seems the BM fight is well beyond the abilities of most of the people I've done this with. .... so much for them "promoting a game that is easy to participate in for everyone"
At any rate, I hope tonight's patch put that ugly crash bug to bed. It shakes my faith a bit in QA that something this substantial went live.
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