Multi-group content is not the way.

Lambda > Baf Imho. Gotten it down to where my group of friends usually just 8-10 man it.

Oh man don't be Anti-Social, Since These trial's Started ,They bond the Coh Community together, I seen people who I though where dead and now I feel this is a great way to Socialize now. This Game hasn't change much, you still can form 8 man teams and stuff, no one is forcing to do the trials. I been doing great lately Since these trials started, Also don't worry in time they add more TF/SF and other cool stuff, I am sure there be more none Incarnate Trials and TF to come.

OK...
I have been a somewhat vocal member of the "is this really what we want?" crowd.

Well, I devoted a moderate amount of time playing the trials over the weekend.

I think I get it now. With it being what the Devs have not explicitly said from a design perspective and a) I wish that they had/would or b) I'm still missing it and I wish they'd spell it out more.

It appears to me to be a fallacy to look at the costs for the slots by starting at the top and working down. Working with a focus on unlock, tier 1, tier 2, etc. makes it clear that they are relatively accessible. Moderate to light players can get an unlock in a couple of runs.

For instance, my effort this weekend included a cutoff of any character that had Interface and Judgement unlocked, and had them slotted to a minimum of level got shelved and I moved on. This succeed in two finished (one with a level III), and a third with Interface slotted at tier II. And I would have been a lot further along if a team could get together faster than paint drying (one of the great benefits of soloing being not having to wait for slow pokes) or I hadn't jumped down on some lowbies for a while.

I think part of the discussion is being driven by an issue of expectation and recognition. My experience convinced me that the lower tiers are accessible, that any player can play with a reasonable expectation of reward and advancement - and alts have a shot at gaining as well. I do not have a wealth of MMO experience to compare to, but the ability to progress with failure is flat out elegant and faster than I expected once I adjusted where I placed my goals.

It is the driven min/max-maxers and the completionists (badgers included) that have a hill to slog because the costs climb at Tier III and jump for Tier IV. (And some crazies are already just farming Lambda by running the street/courtyard for IXP and threads and restarting, so there will be lots of discussion coming on how to milk the angles.)


Now, I also completely get that true casual (or soloist) players are still presented an unreasonable hurdle. Not everyone can devote even 2 hours a weekend (and I probably played...5ish this past) to cramming in trial runs (particularly with how slow some leaders form up), and no matter what you think the solo buy/drop route is ridiculously prohibitive. So now matter how I look at it, I remain disappointed that the path is single threaded (if you'll accept the pun), but I can see how the design tried to remain true to CoX's strengths. (And again, if our dev team would just share a little more on design intent they could prevent a lot of angst and teeth gnashing.)





tl;dR To the core discussion, the implementation falls short of historic CoX design feel and flavor by limiting advancement options. But it is attempting to stay true to it more than I had previously recognized.

Something the devs seem to fail to understand, is that if you set the maximum at 24 people, many many many people will refuse to start without 24 people. Even if that means standing around for an hour finding those 24 people only to fail ten minutes in.

Lambda is a pain primarily because of the 'hunt for temps' phase:

You're taking the team that just steamrolled the street, courtyard, turrets and EB... and splitting it in half.

Then you're either on the clock to to attempt that same steamroll (at 1/2 strength) while trying to find hidden objects or Stealth/Spiking the objects while avoiding mobs (effectively diminishing iXP, drops and/or neutering the AoE heavy members of your team (in fear of aggroing a map full of purpled out chasers))

This ultimately sets the pace for the Marauder showdown... if your hunt phase didn't go too well; chance are that your Boss phase won't be easy (without some further coordination)

If the hunt did go well and instructions are followed; then you can practically steamroll through the last phase as well.


BAF is a big free for all; everybody gets to let loose and kill stuff.


One thing that I wish the Team Leaders would do is 'team sharing'; taking half the members of a tagged team and swapping them with half the members of another team... so all parties involved reap the benefits of 'split activities'. Or at least creating 'soft teams' by grouping members using their numbered position on their respective League teams.

[and I just found out my Accolade Powers will work in the Trials... dun dun dun; Controller on crack coming soon]

BAF is stupid fun. It has something for everyone. And I totally love blasting the snot out of things. Plus, it gives my tricked out dom something dangerous and exciting to do. My tray is always full of purples, which I eat 6 at a time, to try and stay upright. Between that, my inherent powers, my incarnate powers, I find BAF to be a truly awesome expenditure of my time. I log in, spend just a few minutes, blow the snot out of some things, get some rewards, log out and have dinner.

What I don't like is Lambda. I'm sorry, but the break-neck pace at which people try to speed from container to container just gets me killed in the middle part. I can't contribute without dying. And the hospital is so far away from the middle part, dying becomes a horrible detractor. Dying in BAF is no problem. Wait some time, buy up on inspirations I used, jump back out there and blow things up!

You just don't get this kind of crazy awesome (BAF) elsewhere in the game. I just wish Lambda had something more interesting. The first part and last part of Lambda are great. If the middle part were great, I'd play that a lot more too!

Screw ITF.

I did them. I think I have done them 3 times. Well Lambda, but truthfully never have run the other. I really don't want to run them again. Sure the rewards are shiny, but I don't find them fun.

My build is fine, and enjoyable, but faceplanting every 5 seconds is boring to me. Not because I suck, but because pretty much everyone seems to faceplant all the time. Blasters, Scrappers, Controllers, defenders, anything thats not a tank really.

I litterally need to fly around, bubble everyone and then just Personal Forcefield myself the entire battle. Otherwise Im pretty dead.

I'm not going to tell you how to play, Sam, and I'm certainly not going to diagnose your psyche, but you just pointed out exactly what your problem is in your own post.

You did 4 TFs. And instead of saying "Well, I met X amount of players I liked and would team with again" you decided to harp on only recognizing 1 from a forgone past of the game that will not and can not ever return.

I'm going to point this out now: your own personal hang ups in no way makes content other players enjoy "invalid" or "wrong for the game" like yourself or Eva have pointed out countless times. The fact that you can't seem to move on from the headstones of CoH Past is not a reason why people who enjoy the raids should feel bad for you because you lost your smile.

I used to lead one of the top three SG/VGs on Pinnacle. I helped run one of the bigger ventrilo servers on the server. But what happened? Life happened. Personality conflicts led to people no longer teaming after a while. Other people left the game. I even took a break myself due to ISP changes. I came back and a SG of 40+ people was a SG of 3.

Did I sit on the forums all day bemoaning people who were in active SGs doing things I couldn't do? No. I used globals to form TFs and then I invited people I liked into my own global channel. I globally friended people who played competently and were fun to team with. It took precious little work on my part, but now I have a pool of people to join in on any LAMBDA I lead whenever I feel like it.

No, you are not being antisocial. You are being self centered and a nostalgic for a time that won't come back.