Please no new Incarnate Salvage for next trials!

Because with one currency, I can earn that currency doing whatever I want to do, and then use the currency to buy stuff I want. With multiple currencies, I have to do specific things to get specific stuff.

I believe that's what the devs want more than stifling the shard hoarders...compel people to specifically do the trials and not just one trial...both of them. If there's a more reasonable alternative, many would not want to suffer through the growing pains of the new trials.

And that will reduce/deplete the player pool for them, especially once the new shiny wears off and/or the early adopters move on to the next.

I would prefer to do none of the trials, and be able to acquire the new slots by completing the missions and task forces I like to play, rather than having to compete in trials I don't like to play. If they want people to play their trials, they should concentrate on making them fun and engaging, and not resort to bribery.

Heh, i agree. Players don't often change their gaming preferences to suit a game, they find a game that suits their preferences. Compelling people to do something they don't enjoy tends to result in resentment over the long run.

Game design-wise, it's just kind of ugly.

Not a big deal, I know, but there ya go.

Don't forget about the 1.5 TF and the arachnos helicopters in the Longbow base.

Because it's clunky and dumb? Plus it forces you to only do one thing to get one part of the endgame content.

It's like trying to build a car, but you have to build it yourself by going from town to town, earning their proprietary type of money so you can buy specific parts of the car. To buy tires you need Anytown bucks and you can only buy tires in Anytown. So when you're forced to move on to Somewhereville to get doors, you have to earn their chips and shop at their car door store. Then when you are pushed on to Whatsburg for the windows, you have to start over and get Whatsburg credits to purchase Whatsburg windows. And so on and on. Dumb.

Your keyboard to the Devs' inbox.

Now that's just crazy talk. I mean, after the new shiny of Apex and Tin Mage wore off, everybody just stopped doing them and ran Hami raids three times a day for the shards. Nobody ever does the ITF anymore unless it's WST. Nobody ever does lower-level task forces that don't award components and aren't WST....

Oh wait...people still run all this stuff. Huh. Whaddya know, you don't have to bribe people to play after all.

It would make sense to upgrade the Apex and Tin Mage Task Forces to Incarnate Trials, as they are post-50 content and should offer Shards/Threads and Components commensurate with the Incarnate theme.

However, it would not make sense to offer those same rewards for the Positron TF or for any other pre-Alpha slot content.

While some people may not like certain parts of the Incarnate system, it makes sense from both a roleplaying/backstory and development perspective.

As the story of Incarnates, the Well, Praetoria, and goodness knows what else continues, we should feel that things are building to an epic apex and be immersed in that epicness if we are truly to gain the experience of becoming an Incarnate.

They did, and they are

You'd think developers would have figured this out by now.
If you have your Alpha slot unlocked, you will be able to gather Incarnate Shards from doing any content (assuming, I presume, you are running it at even levels; it's hard not to these days), whether you are running at 50 or you are Exemplared down. Clearly, the developers do not agree with you that it would be silly to have the same rewards for the Positron TF, and thus there's really no reason for them to create new currencies for the new incarnate stuff. Earning credit towards Incarnate powers should come simply from doing stuff as an Incarnate and not for doing specific stuff as an Incarnate (as is the case with non-Incarnate rewards throughout the game - they are rewards for doing stuff, not for doing specific stuff.)

Outside the Incarnate system, Vanguard Merits are the only reward that require doing specific things (AE Tickets transform into other rewards, and thus are not operationally different from those other rewards), and those only mandate specificity in enemy type, not in how you go about defeating that enemy (so I can still solo mission, team mission, TF, street sweep or even raid to gain them.)

Well, good. If they're fun, there's absolutely no justification at all for tying the sole path to higher level Incarnate abilities to them. They should just be fun, and drop shards and components like other high-level content, and thus, instead of being "the next step", they can just be "more fun stuff to do on your way".

If the Trials were just another way to garner shards and components, instead of being tied to new currencies, they would simply be more options, and those that like them can do them and get stuff, and those that don't like them could do other stuff, and still get the same stuff, and everyone would be happy (except for the small subset of people that think we should have to "earn" our rewards in some method other than paying for them, and forget those jerks.)

Initial reviews are always poor. This is the internet.

The trials are more difficult than standard content and provide rewards that are equally strong. That's enough justification right there.

In any event, the trials are simply the most efficient way to earn the rewards, they aren't the sole means to.

That's fine, but then they need to have an easy system of transferring things at least backwards, or a way of earning new rewards on the older content. The problem now is, if you want the new stuff, you only have 2 trials to earn it with, and now there are 4 slots to earn stuff for and they made it take even longer\more resources this time around for each slot.

If I could still earn Threads and such doing the ITF or STF it'd be one thing, but now if I want one of the four new slots, I'm going to be running Lambda and BAF over and over. Not to mention the fact that if they do it again for the next round, Lambda and BAF will be useless and we'll be on two new trials that we are quite literally farming for these rewards. Let the new Salvage but available as rewards for old content, as well as threads dropping like shards do, but as it is now, the "end game system" is just becoming very segmented...

The moving shards into threads isn't horrible, but considering how much shards do vs how little threads do, it seems like a downgrade, not to mention the fact that for some reason I don't personally understand, breaking down incarnate salvage results in much less shards than it takes to craft it. Why on earth should I only get 1 shard from a nictus essence that took 4 shards to craft, does it matter if they can be broken down back into 4 shards? I mean it's not like I can sell the shards off, it'll just be turned into another component...


This. First it was Salvage in different tiers. Fine. Then we got vanguard merits, then reward merits, then event salvage, then Incarnate salvage, now we got Alpha Salvage and new incarnate salvage... It's insane, and it seems each issue brings more and more, it's a lot of time to manage and keep track of all these different forms of salvage. It doesn't help that we seem to need so much more of these per incarnate slot now... If they don't want us stockpiling it, lower the max number we're allowed to carry at a time or something, but the constant waves of new salvage is just getting old...

So if that was typical, (and I don't believe it is since it took me 2 lambdas to get interface even using threads along the way to boost the XP) it'd still take 8 lambda runs just to unlock all 4 of the new slots. Not even for getting your basic boosts, but just to unlock them. 8 runs, just to unlock the slots isn't grindy to you? I mean hell, even if its 4 lambdas and 4 BAFs, thats a lot of time and you haven't even gotten the boosts...

I've run 3 lambdas and 3 bafs since yesturday. I have the Judgement and Interface unlocked with the tier 1 boosts. It'll likely be another 6 trials before I get the tier one boosts slotted for Lore and Destiny, and it's not like I can run any level 50 content, it's just these two trials... So tell me, how is that not grindy?

Between the amount of threads needed for these, how often threads drop, (not often enough imo given the limited number of places you can earn them) and the outrageous prices for upgrading stuff... It's a grind, people can say it's not, but repeating these two trials again and again for this stuff is the definition of grinding...

I wish this too. For what it's worth.

I think you are sort of missing the point of the OP Quas but sadly are probably right about the mindset of the Devs. Its getting a little complex out there and they have limited our options. When all this started we at least had 4 TFs that a hero could run that gave out shards and components and 4 SFs that a villain could do to earn the same. Rogues and Vigilantes had 6. We also had the COP which gave out another type of component. We added the Tin Mage and Apex which dropped SHARDS but no component reward so we had a pretty decent variety. When the Notices started we got even MORE opportunities since they came from the WST which could be just about any TF or SF regardless of skill level.. of course those didn't drop shards, UNTIL Issue 20, but at least it was something else we needed to do to slot our powers and gave us even more diversity.

NOW we have basically two options .. BAF or LAMBDA until we earn enough XP to open all four of the new powers and then only the BAF, Lambda, Tin mage and Apex drop Threads. We went from 4-6 options down to 2-4. Now of course if we want to spend 2.5 million in INF a day we can convert 10 shards into 10 threads once every 20 hours so you could continue running .. well now just about ANY TF with a 50 level and get shard drops.

But it makes you wonder is the next step a NEW type of building block (like the shards and threads) and we will be offered the same sort of deal 10 Threads for 10 ??? at a cost of ?? 2.5 Million again or MORE? So we have players running an ITF and then having to convert their shards into threads .. paying 2.5 million for that. And then converting again from Threads to WHATEVER for an additional fee. It sounds like its getting very VERY confusing and the last thing any company wants to do is confuse and annoy its client base. If they get frustrated and annoyed ..thats when they QUIT in droves.


I think they be wise to stay with Threads for the next power sets.. If they want to come up with some new components for the new powers fines! The trials only offer up one random component anyway so i doubt anyone would really care. But they need to increase what we can do to earn threads NOT come out with another whole new system we need to adapt to.

Wendy, you on the other hand absolutely have gotten my point and did a fine job there in the middle articulating my myriad technical concerns.

The only thing new to me is your mention that Apex and Tin Mage tf's drop threads? They do? At a comparable rate to the trials? Do baddies there still drop shards as well? (I did get one odd shard drop during a Lambda the other night. I was like "threa--awwwww. " )

No they give 2 Threads as a reward instead of a component.

Yes...a whole 2 Threads.

Literally they just took out the name Shard and replaced it with Thread on the excel data sheet.

Now 2 Shards wasn't bad, it was half way to a common component all on it's own...but 2 threads is just pitiful, it's one tenth of a common component.

So yeah, they're not a viable alternative.

As much as I hate to say it, I think Quasadu is right. A reason why there are threads instead of shards is because some people had stockpiles of shards so if they didn't introduce them then some people would probably have a t3 power/ability in the new slots within the first hour it was released.


I don't like new 'salvage/merits' but...unfortunately....I foresee it happening