What would you do to make Keyes fun?


Agahnim

 

Posted

re: entanglement removal.

So does it makes melee useless because it forces people to stay away or do people ignore it? I see both arguments here and they're kinda opposites.

Personally I've never seen it dent the health of my invul brute, or any other melee players for that matter, even when all clustered around Anti.

The only time I've ever seen it make a significant impact on my health was when my corruptor was enclosed by 4 opposing entanglements during a time stop.

So I'd say that most people ignore entanglements. Then why put time and effort into removing it if people ignore it anyway. I really don't see the point in spending the resources on that. I think it does what it's designed to do: be a minor nuisance and add a bit of flavor.


@True Metal
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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by TrueMetal View Post
re: entanglement removal.

So does it makes melee useless because it forces people to stay away or do people ignore it? I see both arguments here and they're kinda opposites.
If you're talking about my argument, it was not an "it makes melee useless" argument in regards to Entanglement. It was an argument against attempting to force people to move away from the target without having something else for melees to do.

Entanglement is indeed ignored, because its effects aren't debilitating enough to warrant the DPS loss that forcing melees to move away from Anti-Matter would cause. But my comments were in regards to the intent behind Entanglement (even if it failed to do what it was designed to do), and "move away from the target" gimmicks in general as they've been implemented so far in the game.


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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by TrueMetal View Post
So does it makes melee useless because it forces people to stay away or do people ignore it? I see both arguments here and they're kinda opposites.
I've never seen anyone even care, except if they are being disintegrated at the time. As such the entanglements could be removed and release any server cycles devoted to maintaining them to make the player experience better.

Quote:
Originally Posted by TrueMetal View Post
So I'd say that most people ignore entanglements. Then why put time and effort into removing it if people ignore it anyway. I really don't see the point in spending the resources on that. I think it does what it's designed to do: be a minor nuisance and add a bit of flavor.
If it isn't doing its job then it is wasting server resources.




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Posted

Personally, I really enjoy Keyes, just wish people would run it more often. The only problems I find are some oddities in the boss fight (such as being struck during the time freeze and the difficulty in telling who is affected by what).


Sermon
@sermon
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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sermon View Post
Personally, I really enjoy Keyes, just wish people would run it more often. The only problems I find are some oddities in the boss fight (such as being struck during the time freeze and the difficulty in telling who is affected by what).
So what are you willing to give up so that more people will consider it "fun" to run it?

Keeping it the way it is seems to be a losing battle because you will not get players to participate in the trial by keeping it the way it is.




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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Snow Globe View Post
So what are you willing to give up so that more people will consider it "fun" to run it?

Keeping it the way it is seems to be a losing battle because you will not get players to participate in the trial by keeping it the way it is.
I don't think players run it because the rewards don't match the time investment (compared to BAF or LAM). I don't think fun is the issue. It's rewards and player attitude.


Sermon
@sermon
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Posted

Then I suggest you read this thread again, as players have said that even raising the rewards won't convince them to play Keyes.




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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Snow Globe View Post
Then I suggest you read this thread again, as players have said that even raising the rewards won't convince them to play Keyes.
Perhaps not a surprise, but I didn't read the whole thread. That said, I think higher rewards would increase participation. Anyways, I only came in to give my standpoint, not to participate in the larger discussion or to try to obtain consensus.


Sermon
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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by TrueMetal View Post
So does it makes melee useless because it forces people to stay away or do people ignore it? I see both arguments here and they're kinda opposites.
Not really, since "makes melee useless" refers to the intent and "people ignore it" refers to reality. Not that I think making melee useless was the actual intent, it is just an unavoidable side-effect of forcing people to spread out while fighting a single target.

Quote:
So I'd say that most people ignore entanglements. Then why put time and effort into removing it if people ignore it anyway. I really don't see the point in spending the resources on that. I think it does what it's designed to do: be a minor nuisance and add a bit of flavor.
It would get rid of one more obnoxious graphical effect. It would get rid of one more obnoxious pop-up. It would get rid of one more countdown. It would be one less thing the server has to keep track of, and one less thing my crappy graphics card has to render.

The better question would be, why did they put the time and effort into designing and implementing it if people are to be able to ignore it? Minor nuisances are reduced to might-as-well-not-exist with all the buffs flying around on an incarnate trial. As for flavor, Anti-Matter has four other "special tricks," aside from his regular powers. He doesn't need five. Besides, the red and blue bubbles don't match his other powers. Thematically, that bugs me.


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Posted

I love the Keyes trial! I ran it a bunch of times when it first came out, for the badges. I was on a blaster, so as you an imagine, our Anti-Anti-Matter run was tedious at best. But our primary concerns were not being killed by the pulses, rather it was controlling our own AoE abilities so as not to kill Anti-Matter. The trial is not friendly to pick-up-groups, in the same sense that not all task forces are conducive to pick-up-groups. I don't view Keyes in the same vein as BAF or Lambda. While those trials seem to be designed for repetition where as the Keyes trial seems to be more suited to be run occasionally, for the challenge and experience of running it or for the badges. I agree with the dev's decision to increase the reward.

Keyes, in my experience, is the only trial where failure is common. BAF and Lambda nowadays are run so often that most players can complete it perfectly without instruction. I would like to see it remain the same, so that it is still as challenging as it is today.



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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Eva Destruction View Post
It would get rid of one more obnoxious graphical effect. It would get rid of one more obnoxious pop-up. It would get rid of one more countdown. It would be one less thing the server has to keep track of, and one less thing my crappy graphics card has to render.
All of this. I have to run team stuff of any kind on the lowest possible graphics, and I still end up with slideshows very often in things like Mothership Raids and the trials. If it was something that actually required tactics to deal with, putting up with it would be fine. But it doesn't require anything at all, becasue it is dealt with by ignoring it. Losing something that has no real effect on the battle would be a good thing.

In terms of Keyes in general, I enjoyed it. The mechanics are different, and it does require some thinking and more leadership than the other iTrials. I hope the increased award does encourage it to be ran more often. OTOH, I would not object at all to increasing the fun factor, whatever that may be for different people, if that would help get it ran even more.


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Posted

I'm all about ROI, Return on Investment. In this case, the Investment is my time. If I'm bothering to slot up a character significantly, that means T3s all around, and T4s for my badgers. I unlock all my slots without needing to spend Astral merits on iXP while earning iSalvage, so the real question is how to most efficiently earn iSalvage. That's my view of fun. The answer is BAFs, with LAMs being a close second. Keyes doesn't come close. Bumping it up to 2 Emp Merits is insufficient. It would need to drop 2 bits of iSalvage to be worthwhile. Better BY FAR would be to reduce the time it takes to be comparable to a BAF or LAM.

As to fun for other people, Keyes needs to be made simpler. The instructions for a BAF can be given in a single statement. "Kill mobs, kill Nightstar, kill prisoners, kill Siege, kill Nightstar and Siege AT THE SAME TIME!!!!! If you get 2 Warnings, back off." Except for the Prisoners, everyone is together doing the same thing. The LAM is a bit more complex, but still not too bad. "Kill mobs outside, inside, turrets, robot, team 1 acid, team 2 grenades, acid all but 2 doors, grenades to main tanker, spank Marauder, watch out for his Nova Fist." Teams split up during the sabotage phase, but otherwise everyone is together. Keyes has lots of people splitting up, constant damage from his pulse, 3 different reactors with different cell gathering and activation methods, and a mob you DON'T want to damage. Finally, there are too many gimicks on the final AV fight. You can't effectively use your character while watching the Obliteration timer and checking for Entanglement and Disintegration. It's a very steep learning curve.

Keyes uses too many cheats to make it challenging. The periodic whole-zone unresistable auto-hit pulse is a periodic cheat, cheat, cheat attack. Increasing the pulse damage if Keyes is damaged is a cheat to limit pets and AoEs. Requiring Keyes to be by the terminals plus no Warworks around is a cheat delaying tactic. EVERYWHERE else in the game, you can click on a glowie as long as the mobs nearby are distracted by someone else, or just lead a hostage to it to complete it. Stop Time is a cheat that makes Obliteration or Disintegration much more dangerous. Entanglement is a failed cheat to keep people apart so they don't benefit from buffs. In contrast, the BAF has the 10 second dual-kill timer and sequestering, while the LAM has Nova Fist.


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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by ObiWan View Post
don't run it? That's how i make it fun.
I agree. Keyes is a huge clusterscrew. I ran it once and doubt I'll ever run it again. Sadly the devs don't seem to understand that two E Merits aren't going to suddenly make something tedious become fun.

But then, I don't really even like Hami Raids. I find Lambda fun and BAF is okay. I guess I just enjoy the more traditional mission-like experiences as opposed to encounters with a hundred poorly explained mechanics running in the background.


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Posted

Well, I guess we could deal away with Entanglements too. It's just another minor annoyance.


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Posted

With only reading bits and pieces of what people could feel make Keyes better, in their opinion.The one change they should do to make Keyes better?

Make BAF and Lambda more on par with Keyes difficulty.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by TheProtector View Post
With only reading bits and pieces of what people could feel make Keyes better, in their opinion.The one change they should do to make Keyes better?

Make BAF and Lambda more on par with Keyes difficulty.
So instead of making Keyes something people would want to do, you want to make less people do BAF or Lambda as well.

I think that is the dumbest thing I've read on these forums in my entire time visiting them.




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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Snow Globe View Post
So instead of making Keyes something people would want to do, you want to make less people do BAF or Lambda as well.

I think that is the dumbest thing I've read on these forums in my entire time visiting them.



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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Snow Globe View Post
I think that is the dumbest thing I've read on these forums in my entire time visiting them.
Oh come on Snow, tell us how you REALLY feel. Don't hold back.


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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by TheProtector View Post
With only reading bits and pieces of what people could feel make Keyes better, in their opinion.The one change they should do to make Keyes better?

Make BAF and Lambda more on par with Keyes difficulty.
But the Trials are supposed to have different levels of difficulty - they're not meant to be the same - and as we open new slots, the Trials will get harder - the Coming Storm is an even bigger threat than Tyrant and the loyalists


@Golden Girl

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Posted

I think Keyes is fun already. Going for its badges, though...not so much.


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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by TopDoc View Post
Oh come on Snow, tell us how you REALLY feel. Don't hold back.
Essentially asking for BAF and Lambda to be made as difficult as Keyes is asking for a nerf.




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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Snow Globe View Post
I think that is the dumbest thing I've read on these forums in my entire time visiting them.
I've read an awful lot of dumb things, so I'm pretty sure it's not that for me.

But it's up there.


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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by ObiWan View Post
don't run it? That's how i make it fun.
This. Sorry, but I find the entire thing ludicrous and completely unfun. Start all over on the drawing board would be another option.

Cal


 

Posted

I enjoy Keyes just fine the way it is. It definitely takes longer to get the hang of than the other trials, and there's quite a lot to keep an eye on in the final fight, but I like to have something different to do. It's run reasonably often on Defiant.


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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Golden Girl View Post
But the Trials are supposed to have different levels of difficulty - they're not meant to be the same - and as we open new slots, the Trials will get harder - the Coming Storm is an even bigger threat than Tyrant and the loyalists
My only issue is this, is that people are deferring to the easiest and fastest trial just to accomplish their goals. Even if they make the trials harder to accommodate characters getting stronger, people will still just run the easiest missions for grinding purposes.

If BAF and Lambda were scaled up in difficulty, it wouldn't stop people from playing Incarnate content, it would just make Keyes seem like a more acceptable choice. People can throw out a lot of reasons why they avoid it, but it all boils down to it being the most difficult and time consuming of the 3. Two Emp Merits already cover the time consuming factor in i21, and whether you enjoy difficulty or not is a personal matter.

It's just my feeling if all 3 were around the same difficulty, people wouldn't outcast one of them. I have no idea how Snow Globe thinks less people will play the trials if they were tougher. I guess that speaks more about himself as a person than anything.