Discussion: Issue 20: Incarnates Ascend is now live!

So if you want any of the new path auras, you have to do trials? I thought we were moving away from forced teaming? I also thought there was supposed to be some way for solo players to get these things.

I put more emphasis on RPG than the MMO part of the game. I like to design my chracter using all the costume parts and auras and power customization to make them unique for thier adventures in Paragon City/Rouge Isles.

I don't mind teaming but I don't seek it out and because of the times I play, doing trials so I can unlock powers and such that I only need to do more trials is not fun or possible for me. So far, the endgame content has all been forced teaming and a grind to get ready to do more grinding.

I am not pleased that a pathing aura (which has no effect on the game other than cosmetic) that would be perfect for my Ice/Energy Manip toon means I have to team if I want to get the aura for a toon that will probably never even get an ultra rare alpha.

My main level 50 with just the rare part of his alpha unlocked can already run at +3/x8 on PVE content. It seems to me that the trials are essentially busy work to get you ready to do more busy work.

Oh and so you can get costume parts for your alts.

I don't like or enjoy this type of gaming. I do not like being force to team and play content I do not enjoy just so I can play the part I do enjoy.

In my view, this is just power creep. You gotta be tougher to do the tougher trials and because they are so tough the loot has to be great and that makes you even tougher so the the next trial has to be even tougher, making the loot even better and so on.

What you end up with is a group of players who have the most elite gear (of the moment) because they can grind trial after trial and then all the rest of us "superheroic" wimps.

So when the Coming Storm gets here, all of my non 'leet' toons who play the oro intro arc and read all the clues can basically just cheer on the grinders.

Don't really care about the trial one way or another. The huge issue with clipping on the newly released Steampunk chest piece, which was fine before this patch... that I fine enormously annoying.

If I'm lucky, they'll have fixed that by the time I can be bothered to log in again. Well done, devs, charge us for a costume update, and then make it unsuably ugly.

(I shall await Golden Girl's responce where-in she tells us this is a brilliant change since it's far better to have something fast than quality controlled.)

Keyes is a pain and it will remain a pain until people figure it out. Same as any other iTrial/TF content when it first comes out.

My issue was that Defense and Resistance was pretty much moot. I had Anti-Matter 1-shotting me through both my Def and Res toggles + Demonic Aura. I even had Vickies making piecemeal of my toggles + Patron Darkest Night + Strength of Will (THAT bothered me).

Whatever +Regen I had just couldn't keep up

I already know that good workarounds involve bumping up my +Regen, keeping a pocketful of greenies, switching to my build that has a heal in it and/or teaming up with a few healers (maybe a teams worth (glad they buffed the Participation Metric a bit) ); maybe even getting a level shift for my SS/WP Brute.

The actual Boss fight is fairly simple.


My other BIG problem with the Keyes Trial is that its very unfriendly (reward-wise) to those who haven't unlocked all/any of their slots. iXP is being awarded (in a staggered fashion) for both sides of the fence... which means an absolute crawl for anyone looking to use Keyes as part of their efforts to spread out content vs. progression.

The Keyes Trial is pretty epic - it has a great map, lots of action, a tough end boss, and ranting and twirling loyalist masterclass from Anti-matter in the cutscene

Question: Is the softcap still relevant in the endgame? Or defense at all? Before I started doing incarnate trials I was under the impression that this game had a really solid mathematical foundation but now it appears that can be overridden by "the bad guy has a really big uber lazer."

I enjoy the new Trial.. Its quite a challenge but I've done it twice and have two characters with the badge.

A couple of suggestions.. Find a way to make the transition process with the Astral and Empyrean vendors a bit quicker. I realize it takes a little time to confirm and convert but it's really slow right now and I had a lot of incarnates with stuff to convert. I think I spend an hour or TWO just turning merits into Threads.

The second is a thought I had and during my 2nd Keyes Island trial a team mate stated the same idea. It's possible at the moment to convert an Astral merit into a reward merit. Many of us are still puzzled as to why anyone would convert an Empyrean merit into an Astral LOL The suggestion is this.... Allow players to convert Reward Merits into Astrals as well. A 1 for 1 swap would be ideal but I think most players would even be happy with say 4 reward merits for 1 Astral??? We have a number of players that can't or don't wish to participate in trials and many have been very vocal here asking for solo missions or some other way to earn threads and gain powers besides trials. This idea would allow players to run any TF and obtain reward merits (heck even getting the zone accolades for finding all the exp badges in a zone gives a 5 merit breward). If they convert those merits to Astrals and then the Atrals to threads they can eventually open and enhance all 5 of the current powers we now enjoy. Plus it gives them a way to obtain the new costumes, emotes, araus, ect.

Wendy, That's not a bad idea at all. It wouldn't be as fast but at least people like me who play at odd hours wouldn't be totally excluded! It would also make reward merits more useful. Right now, I convert them into hero merits but if I could use them as you describe, that would very nice indeed.

It would even save the Dev's from actually having to design specific missions for solo incarnate stuff.

Well done!

The opening sequence, I love.. I kinda hope to keep finding first timers to keep watching it.

The challenge.. yeah it's a bit tedious, but once we get the hang of it it won't be so bad...

The badges though.. *glares* Those challenges are murderous, I will not be attempting them till a few more incarnate slots become available. I have a feeling that was by design though.

However, Lambda badges now seem much easier to get!

I really, REALLY want to like KIR, but I do feel a it.. eeeh on it. To go through all that, and get common after common. Well, I dunno, and I know I'm about to get cruxified for this but..

KIR seems like the next stage in difficulty, compared to the BAF and Lambda, being one. Maybe it could offer 2 Emp merits? Or shift the reward table a bit, removing the super insp setting and everything getting shifted a bit? Pry not the best of ideas to come from me, I know.. but can we discuss? BAF vs. KIR are two very different animals in risk vs. reward...

yes i feel so so about it my self,my biggest complaint is for all the Itrials, they allow for almost no play style . in one the all mighty voice says do this and do this, makes me feel like a puppet on a string.now the new one , it is like you will take this punishment and you will like it. they are "forcing" us to play the way they want us to play.they even goes as far as to post the correct way to do it early in the beta,gee no real problem solving.


I also wonder if the "voice" is really the well talking to us? maybe to challenge Cole as he has gotten "lazy" and needs to be pushed to the next lvl.

i can also see a little "nudging" for some of us to swap out our barrier for the healing version(forget its name),so that after one of the pulses a large heal can be done. with 4 or so players with that and doing a rotating heal after the pulse, it should make surviving much easier.

also i wonder if the new super insp have much if any effect on the trial?

I like the new Lore Pets. Perhaps, in the near future, we'll be able to swap unequipped pet (or any Incarnate) powers account wide between qualifying characters (just like we can with unequipped Enhancements); via the voucher/certificate system?

The endless cycle repeats.

Day 1 "the trial is too hard, this is really bad design! My +4/x8 farmer can't breeze through these enemies and I have to think, plan and adapt!"

Day 7 "so this is how you farm this...why can't we have anything challenging?"

One last thing... please, PLEASE code in cross-server play for at least the iTrials (and then other TFs/Raids).

Anyone found the "new hats added to female model" Steampunk pack add ons?