Dev Chat Highlights, July 27: Doc Aeon
By
Amy_Amp,
Posted on: 2011-07-27 11:36 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
Great stuff, thanks VK
"Null is as much an argument "for removing the cottage rule" as the moon being round is for buying tennis shoes." -Memphis Bill
VK rules.
There are no words for what this community, and the friends I have made here mean to me. Please know that I care for all of you, yes, even you. If you Twitter, I'm MrThan. If you're Unleashed, I'm dumps. I'll try and get registered on the Titan Forums as well. Peace, and thanks for the best nine years anyone could ever ask for.
Thanks for the recap!
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Argh! This was more of a request because I know you all *can* make the Echo available at level one through some magic portal stuck somewhere. Or even by clicking on a contact (a mystic mourning over what Galaxy City once was).|
"Can you make the Galaxy City Echo available at level 1? It *is* a level 1 zone after all." Nope. Ouroburos was the best way to do it, though they lowered it to level 14 access. |
So... please?
Speeding Through New DA Repeatables || Spreadsheet o' Enhancements || Zombie Skins: better skins for these forums || Guide to Guides
Thank you very much for the transcription, as always.
Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.
Thanks for the transcript!
Who is the lady standing up in the back in the first pic?
Who do I have to *&^% around here to get more Targeted AoE recipes added?
Arc Name: Tsoo In Love
Arc ID: 413575
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Which, by the way, I actually DID license the music for (not just "fair use"). Same as I did for the last one. Long live AudioJungle. |
Originally Posted by Von Krieger
Mention of Samuraiko's signature story arc video.
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Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite
Dark_Respite's Farewell Video: "One Last Day"
THE COURSE OF SUPERHERO ROMANCE CONTINUES!
Book I: A Tale of Nerd Flirting! ~*~ Book II: Courtship and Crime Fighting - Chap Nine live!
MA Arcs - 3430: Hell Hath No Fury / 3515: Positron Gets Some / 6600: Dyne of the Times / 351572: For All the Wrong Reasons
378944: Too Clever by Half / 459581: Kill or Cure / 551680: Clerical Errors (NEW!)
THE COURSE OF SUPERHERO ROMANCE CONTINUES!
Book I: A Tale of Nerd Flirting! ~*~ Book II: Courtship and Crime Fighting - Chap Nine live!
MA Arcs - 3430: Hell Hath No Fury / 3515: Positron Gets Some / 6600: Dyne of the Times / 351572: For All the Wrong Reasons
378944: Too Clever by Half / 459581: Kill or Cure / 551680: Clerical Errors (NEW!)
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First pic top row: Black Peble; Avatea|
Originally Posted by EnigmaBlack
Thanks for the transcript!
Who is the lady standing up in the back in the first pic? |
bottom row: War Witch; (NCSoft personnel? Was it Karen?); Tunnel Rat
Speeding Through New DA Repeatables || Spreadsheet o' Enhancements || Zombie Skins: better skins for these forums || Guide to Guides
lots of interesting news, i know there was a sizeable number of posters that wanted older stuff updated, glad its starting..now..lets all start chanting SHADOW SHARD really really loudly.
It appears your photobucket bandwidth has exceeded.
Have they mentioned whether revamps to lowbie zomes will experience power creep with the new foes and/or stories? A long time ago, the developers promised to leave the old power / difficulty in original content, and that difficulty increases would be limited to new content, especially new higher level content. However that is a 4 or 5 year old promise and those guys are gone. Plus a new change to an old zone is a grey area in that it is both old and new.
But I will say this. I will never do Praetoria as a lowbie ever again due to the fact that the foes there are a LOT harder than normal foes. I got my butt handed to me over and over. It was a tedious slog due to the enhanced difficulty. Therefore I am hoping that new versions of galaxy, atlas, and mercy dont suck in the same way.
Want to tell a cool new story? Fine. But please dont fill my default/standard path lowbie missions chock-full of foes with massive damage and esoteric status effects. If I want a challenge (read: if I want my low level experience to be a dreadful chore) then I will go slide my difficulty up.
Thanks,
Lewis
Random AT Generation!
"I remember... the Alamo." -- Pee-wee Herman
"Oh don't worry. I always leave things to the last moment." -- The Doctor
"Telescopes are time machines." -- Carl Sagan
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This.
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Originally Posted by That_Ninja
It appears your photobucket bandwidth has exceeded.
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Originally Posted by UnicyclePeon
But I will say this. I will never do Praetoria ad a lowbie ever again due to the fact that the foes there are a LOT harder than normal foes. I got my butt handed to me over and over. It was a tedious slog due to the enhanced difficulty.
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I've seen people say this a lot, and I'm still wrapping my head around it. I've run 2 characters through Praetorian content now, and just never run into the kind of travails people seem to be encountering. Both times I ran mostly solo, and on base difficulty. Both times, I only encountered 1-2 missions that were at all problematic, and most of my difficulties were solved by getting a full load of Inspires and giving my full attention.
Nothing even approaching the difficulty inherent in "Hunt 10 CoT in Perez Park" or the Atta mission, or getting across the Hollows in the old days. Praetoria was a breeze.
"Null is as much an argument "for removing the cottage rule" as the moon being round is for buying tennis shoes." -Memphis Bill
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Key part is you did this solo and on base difficulty. Now, try it on a 8 person team where the melee ATs have little ways to counter the mass ranged energy attacks that come after them. I have seen numerous teams get to the bottom of the stairs where the tracks are at on the map and the initial group simply mows the team down. Add in things like lower level characters so they are fighting +1/+2 versus +0/+1. The zombie bosses with their two handed attacks have dropped somewhere around 3/4 of my health bar in one hit if the boss was purple to me. And yes, I was on a brute at the time.|
Originally Posted by Lemur Lad
I've seen people say this a lot, and I'm still wrapping my head around it. I've run 2 characters through Praetorian content now, and just never run into the kind of travails people seem to be encountering. Both times I ran mostly solo, and on base difficulty. Both times, I only encountered 1-2 missions that were at all problematic, and most of my difficulties were solved by getting a full load of Inspires and giving my full attention.
Nothing even approaching the difficulty inherent in "Hunt 10 CoT in Perez Park" or the Atta mission, or getting across the Hollows in the old days. Praetoria was a breeze. |
EDIT: I soloed a stalker through there without a death. I even bumped diff up to x2 just to help with leveling speed towards the end. I have a couple doms going through there that have yet to die as well.
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I agree, I've ran a bunch of characters through Praetoria with little problem. Especially since Stamina went inherent. Although it may partially be because I solo a lot, I've heard complaints that some of the groups especially Ghouls get really bad with numbers.
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Originally Posted by Lemur Lad
I've seen people say this a lot, and I'm still wrapping my head around it. I've run 2 characters through Praetorian content now, and just never run into the kind of travails people seem to be encountering. Both times I ran mostly solo, and on base difficulty. Both times, I only encountered 1-2 missions that were at all problematic, and most of my difficulties were solved by getting a full load of Inspires and giving my full attention.
Nothing even approaching the difficulty inherent in "Hunt 10 CoT in Perez Park" or the Atta mission, or getting across the Hollows in the old days. Praetoria was a breeze. |
Arc #40529 : The Furies of the Earth
Youre so good you didnt notice it was hard? Well I guess you just need to wrestle CallMeAwesome's forum name from him and all will be right with the world. Should be a snap. 
Meanwhile, those of us who suck would like to relax a bit and enjoy the game a bit.
Lewis
Random AT Generation!
"I remember... the Alamo." -- Pee-wee Herman
"Oh don't worry. I always leave things to the last moment." -- The Doctor
"Telescopes are time machines." -- Carl Sagan
Wait...they ran the UStream at the same time as the Pocket D event? And they had Aeon on today??? Gwar...
[Assassin Strike's computer desk]
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It could be that, but I too never felt stressed in Praetoria except for a few really bad ambushes. Outside of those ambushes the enemies did not seem bad to me. Are you sure it was the enemies that made it harder or was it the sometimes close together spawn points and a few mechanics issues (very tough ambushes) that made it harder for you? Alternatively, maybe you avoided Vahz and CoT in Primal, although on bigger teams I always found Damned and Bone Daddies to add some good challenge (but Hellion and Skull Lts. have always been pretty pansy, likely the main cause of those groups being a bit on the easy side).|
Originally Posted by UnicyclePeon
Youre so good you didnt notice it was hard? Well I guess you just need to wrestle CallMeAwesome's forum name from him and all will be right with the world. Should be a snap.
Meanwhile, those of us who suck would like to relax a bit and enjoy the game a bit. |
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Originally Posted by Amy_Amp
Key part is you did this solo and on base difficulty. Now, try it on a 8 person team where the melee ATs have little ways to counter the mass ranged energy attacks that come after them. I have seen numerous teams get to the bottom of the stairs where the tracks are at on the map and the initial group simply mows the team down. Add in things like lower level characters so they are fighting +1/+2 versus +0/+1. The zombie bosses with their two handed attacks have dropped somewhere around 3/4 of my health bar in one hit if the boss was purple to me. And yes, I was on a brute at the time.
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Why Blasters? Empathy Sucks.
So, you want to be Mental?
What the hell? Let's buff defenders.
Tactics are for those who do not have a big enough hammer. Wisdom is knowing how big your hammer is.
Zwill said "Coeur de Sept" (Heart of seven) instead "Sept de Coeur" (Seven of Hearts). While it's funny in its own absurdity, maybe it means something else in French. My studies didn't go so far.
I like the way the new sewer Trial is going to be a kind of tutorial for the whole CoH Trial system - it gets players used to the mechanics of them, ready for the Incarnate ones.
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
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What characters were they?| I've seen people say this a lot, and I'm still wrapping my head around it. I've run 2 characters through Praetorian content now, and just never run into the kind of travails people seem to be encountering. |
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| Nothing even approaching the difficulty inherent in "Hunt 10 CoT in Perez Park" or the Atta mission, or getting across the Hollows in the old days. |
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
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Um, no. Not even close.
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Originally Posted by Venture
Both of which took place in hazard zones, explicitly designed for groups. Praetoria hits you with worse in solo missions.
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Arc #40529 : The Furies of the Earth
Um, yeah. Loads and loads of status effects, tight-packed spawns, mobs with better attack chains and multiple ambush waves. Praetorian mobs in general are more powerful than the original Hollows Trolls and Outcasts that never made it off test, and mission design just exacerbates the problem.
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
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My experiences are similair. I enjoy the Preatoria arcs. Great stories and a nice challenge. Though I happen to play characters that solo reasonably well. But please try to run solo through the normal old arcs. Think Clockwork or Vazhiloks for example. Those are nasty opponents as well.
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Originally Posted by Lemur Lad
I've seen people say this a lot, and I'm still wrapping my head around it. I've run 2 characters through Praetorian content now, and just never run into the kind of travails people seem to be encountering. Both times I ran mostly solo, and on base difficulty. Both times, I only encountered 1-2 missions that were at all problematic, and most of my difficulties were solved by getting a full load of Inspires and giving my full attention.
Nothing even approaching the difficulty inherent in "Hunt 10 CoT in Perez Park" or the Atta mission, or getting across the Hollows in the old days. Praetoria was a breeze. |
Praetoria is noticeably harder than Skulls/Hellions but with the exception of a few dubious situations it seems similar to groups of CoT in difficulty. It does seem to take a bit of a different set of tactics than some other things.
And I heartily agree that the problem with Skulls/Hellions is the LTs. Adjusting them allone would not only shift things but also make them more interesting.
QA has donuts! Zwill refers to Random QA Guy as Arbiter Donut.
Zwill has apparently accidently said something unpleasant in French by accident. Again.
Double XP weekend got delayed due to some urgent changes that need to be ported to live ASAP. It's a bug and a lot of optimization and performance enhancement.
Pics from Comicon!
They had one guy there pretty much all weekend.
Doc Aeon has snuck in in the background.
Zwill wants to talk to Black Scorpion to see if he can get a Tier 9 "Summon Asian Man" for Desdemona.
Tangent: Bowling!
Signature Story arc update on the Website. Zwill breaks out the radio announcer voice and reads the website copy.
http://www.cityofheroes.com/includes...comic_cvr1.jpg
http://www.cityofheroes.com/includes...s/ssa_lava.jpg
Goals of the signature story arc from design:
Wanting to tell an interesting and impactful story. Likening it to the work in Praetoria like the Aaron Walker story arc. The goal is to tell a good story, not merely making it for the shock value.
You're directly taking part as a hero and as a villain. The stories are different, along similar lines. Essentially seeing the same story from heroic and villainous points of view.
There are going to be unique, never before seen things in game done for them. New maps at the very least.
It's not quite a standalone story, there are bits of lore from other places tied in.
Internally they call the story arc something that infuriates Positron. He mutes the mic to say it. Boo.
Devs are in the training room now for the EU meet and greet event.
More than likely the arcs will come along with the first maintenance period of the month.
Doc Aeon has been working on the new sewer trial, "Death From Below". Baronyx worked on the Underground trial.
Zwill was hoping they'd call it "Down the Drain."
Doc Aeon: "What is flushed cannot be unflushed."
The goal with it was to improve the sewers using the tech they have and to give players a fun, exciting sewer romp. Maybe 25 minutes and a bonus at the end. Damage, Accuracy, Endurance, Defense, and Recovery that last til level 22.
You can run it at 50 and be exemped down.
Each stage of the event has a trainer, there's a hospital, and inspiration vendor, etc etc, to make it as smooth and as fun as possible for low level characters.
It will be done through the LFG tool.
It's a relatively easy trial.
Both sides have their own version of it.
Zwill and Aeon have been playing through some player AE arcs. Zwill likes Becky's Revenge.
They're going through and playing arcs on a weekly basis.
Starting this month they will be picking a Dev Choice.
Q and A time!
Minimum size for the sewer trial is 4, maximum is 8.
In Atlas they're giving a proper storyline and not the random "Kill 5 Skulls in a neighborhood" stuff. Like the Praetoria stuff with branching contacts. The goal is to make you feel more heroic and attached to Atlas Park and give the place more of a story, as well as giving the neighborhoods some defining stories.
Tangent: Zwill's Diet Coke/Coffe burps.
Tangent: Missing white board, Other QA Guy's Action Figures.
Mercy Island's goal was to make you feel more villainous and not "Oh hey, go fight evil snakes" and not make you feel like a lackey to Arachnos. Also to streamline Mercy Island and changing the spawn points. So you don't have to run all the way back from Fort Darwin when you die.
Tangent: IT guys doing work in background
Some storylines involving the Infected and Longbow's presence in Mercy.
Level range of signature story arcs: They vary.
Plans to update Port Oakes or King's Row?
They're going to systematically review and update older content, so odds are eventually. But there is nothing they have that they can share yet.
They're already working on Issue 22 and 23, and maybe Issue 24.
Zwill and Aeon creep us out with an unreheased, simultainious "In the year 2000!"
Shadowstar and Sunstorm's arcs have been put into place in Atlas properly.
The sig story arcs will not need to be unlocked by doing papers or being introduced by another contact.
Mention of Samuraiko's signature story arc video.
Will Black Pebble ever become an ingame contact or trainer?
Aeon: "Not if I have anything to say about it!"
Zwill: "How about a Zwillenger contact?"
Aeon: "Not if I have anything to say about it!"
Zwill will have to go to Proetean to get himself in there, but will have it pronounced Zvillenger.
Dr. Aeon knows beforehand when things are Nemesis Plots.
The new contact thing will make it so you might not have to unlock contacts, you can just pop out of the Sewer trial at level 8 and get missions from Mr. Bocor.
They still have Facebook Facepalm codes available.
Dark Watcher says go run ITF on training room! They're wanting to track performance issues. Possibly fix of Lag Hill in the works!
The regular sewers are untouched, so you can still sewer sweep.
"Will revamped arcs outside the new tutorial get voiceover?"
Tangent: Avatea and Freitag and giggling madly in the background. Zwill wants screenshots.
Voice is just for the tutorial and possibly PopHelp.
Zwill is registered on Google+ and is going to see what they offer for businesses.
" Are there chat bubbles still as well as voice overs? I read the CoH content, sound is off by default."
There are captions to display what is in the voice overs, but they were not on the SDCC build.
"Will there be more Dean McArthur goodness?"
Dr. Aeon hopes so, Dean is his favorite contact and the first one he wrote for.
Tangent: Desk eating the IT guy.
League content for MA?
Interesting idea but apparently broke Zwill's brain of how that would work.
"Can you make the Galaxy City Echo available at level 1? It *is* a level 1 zone after all."
Nope. Ouroburos was the best way to do it, though they lowered it to level 14 access.
Hinting that destroyed Galaxy is part of the sewer trial.