I20 Thoughts

Having attempted both trials a few times and seeing a few of the "enhancements", just a few thoughts:

1. I dont care much for the new colored player names. Yellow is for +1 con enemies and Purple is for +3 or higher level enemies. I really wish they'd return the standard color for player names and leave it alone.

2. The trials are extremely buggy and unstable as is. In the future they need to stress test these things a bit more. I'm getting extremely frustrated just trying to complete these things without being dbserved or randomly having the trial terminated.

3. The trials require a great deal of coordination that most PUGs just dont have. (especially when talking about multiple groups of people) I think they need to develop single group TFs that provide the same rewards.

4. I've played other games that provide the same level of difficulty as the trials, if not more. What I've seen in those games is more and more discrimination against new participants. Oh, you dont have "X" level/power/ability? Sorry, cant use you. I'm just afraid to see this game devolve into the same "arms race" that is prevalant in other MMORPGs.
I've already seen players advertising "Tier 4 Level 51/2/3 Fully IOed whatever" LFG or TF.

5. The League chat needs to be turned on by default. I have the feeling that many people dont know of its availability yet. Either that, or they just dont listen to directions.

6. The time limits in the trials are exasperating. In one BAF, for example, we had killed Siege and had Nightstar down to 3 HPs. We couldnt kill her in sufficient time to avoid full reset. The gap between their deaths needs to be extended OR give bonus time when one of them dies. As is, you get one shot to take both of them down, after that it's pretty much game over.
Also curious as to why we didnt have a followup to take down "Mother".

7. The League interface is unreadable. I cant read text that small and the "classic" option for standard groups isnt quite the same as what we used to have. Suggestions: When viewing by group number only increase the font size. Use the small font size only when viewing 3 or more groups. The classic group option needs to be 100% the old interface. The new green background makes it somewhat hard to read.

1. I dont mind the colored player names so much, or at least, the spirit behind it. I hope aren't taking the "Help" title for vanity reasons, even if they don't know much or intend to help others.

2. I got literally YANKED out of one BAF trial to join another last night. No prompt or anything. Very weird. And that second BAF had a surprise restart 30 seconds in.

3. That will get better with time, as people learn the roles. And gain access to more power.

4. Never seen that, myself. Actually, I was wondering if I could get away with role a level 1, run over to the RWZ and join a trial. I can't possibly die any more than I already have been.

5. Agreed.

6. Well, the nice thing is you can still reap lots of XP and drops even if you fail the trial. Success is merely gravy.

7. Agreed. The design is just awful. What a cluttered hot mess!


My 2 cents:
Give Pratorian White a longer list of taunts than just "On the ground again?"

Enough with the damn cut scenes. 2 minutes of talking heads, with Snookie Mayhem and her Skinemax implants, every damn BAF gets really really annoying.

Turn on some damn lights at the BAF, already. I know its supposed to be some sort of daring pre-dawn raid, but fighting hordes of shadowy black blobs is not exactly a sight to behold.

And just one, big fat suggestion to the Devs:

Cut scenes.

If you insist on cramming them in, GET BETTER AT THEM.

Seriously. They are garbage. I cannot emphasize enough how terribly boring, overwritten, and downright lazy that crap is. Talking heads, cycling the same 2 or 3 emotes.

I can watch a thousand better fan-made Co* cut scenes scenes on Youtube. If you insist on breaking the flow with "content" at least make it pleasurable to watch.

On point 1: The different colors are optional things the player in question chooses.

Yellow means "I have experience with the game and I am willing to help new players"

Purple means: "I'm a new player and could use some help from experienced players"

You can also choose neither and your name will still be blue or green like it's always been.

On 7: I'm not thrilled with the new interface either. But I've noticed that when in trials you can set it so you only see your team and not the whole league (by clicking on "Team" on your chat window)

I'm not liking the new UI either. Not only is it too "blocky" for me, the chat window takes up way too much space.

I've only ran both trials once each, both successful so there may be some things I missed. I really like the change of pace for these new trials, players should be patient though. There were times when the Sewer Trail was "impossible". Once players get the hang of things I think these trials may be more popular than some of the level 50 TFs.

Last night after running the BAF, I got booted from the league instead of getting the "enter league" confirmation dialog. My chat log said I quit my team, but my hand was nowhere near my mouse at the time. Annoying to say the least as there was no option to reenter the event, because I got booted right when it started.

The Incarnate system is getting a bit too cumbersome for my likes, way too much going on. For example after running the BAF I had to try and scramble to figure out which reward to choose, as I didn't want to lose the reward box if I zoned. I ended up taking something randomly. I guess I'll have to make a list of all my 50s, what Incarnate powers I want for them, and what I need to craft them. That's more work than I'd like to do for a video game, but at this point that seems to be the best option.