Poor information about Signature Story Arcs
By
Agent White,
Posted on: 2011-10-14 10:01 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
I have to agree. Since the Wiki was down last night ( and we should not have to go to a wiki for this info ) I went looking both on the official site and forums ( Announcements, patch notes, Dev and community digests, searches etc. ) and the only way I found the contact was to go to each zone in-game and search the map for the "signature story arc" name on the contact.
I had no pop-up window on log-in, like when the first contact was introduced, and although there was an email and a web announcement the only info there was that you can "buy it at the store".
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"Chew Electric Death, Snarling Cur!"
Yeps. Well below par and needs addressing very soon.
This is one of the "signature" benefits of being a VIP member and it's not delivering. The content isn't the issue, it's the fact that the notification in game isn't happening.
Thelonious Monk
Its on your map
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if you know which map to look at and around where to look. I don't think people are precognitive enough to know to check Talos Island and likely zoom in amidst the dozens of icons already present on the map. |
Originally Posted by NovaFactor
Its on your map
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And that's assuming they haven't had the game turn the option off to show those contacts, as has been happening a lot with the buggy map options.
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Which one? There are eleven city maps and ten hazard maps hero-side. Do you really expect people to inspect each one to see if it's acquired an extra trainer contact icon?
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Originally Posted by NovaFactor
Its on your map
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I realize that this does not always work...but have you tried asking ingame on various badge channels? As soon as I logged into the game and started wondering about where the contact was, I saw no fewer than 5 people ask and get a response within 10 minutes time.
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This is true, and it's how I've done it. But having a helpful player base is not really a good substitute for poor game design.|
Originally Posted by Snarkhunter
I realize that this does not always work...but have you tried asking ingame on various badge channels? As soon as I logged into the game and started wondering about where the contact was, I saw no fewer than 5 people ask and get a response within 10 minutes time.
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Why doesn't the new contact show up in your active contact list? Say, right below the radio/newspaper? Would make it *much* easier.
"OK, first of all... Shut Up." - My 13-Year-Old Daughter
29973 "The Running of the Bulls" [SFMA] - WINNER of the Mighty Big Story Arc Contest !
- The Stellar Wind Orbital Space Platform
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I think the point is many players wouldn't even know to ask. There is no reason why the Contact didn't automatically get introduced to us like the first one did.
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Originally Posted by Snarkhunter
I realize that this does not always work...but have you tried asking ingame on various badge channels? As soon as I logged into the game and started wondering about where the contact was, I saw no fewer than 5 people ask and get a response within 10 minutes time.
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Because they utilize the TF system, which aren't standard contacts and can't/don't show up in the contact list.|
Originally Posted by Zubenelgenubi
Why doesn't the new contact show up in your active contact list? Say, right below the radio/newspaper? Would make it *much* easier.
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I don't know why they didn't use the LFG system for this. It's a perfect use for it. Everyone wants to do it (many people want to do it multiple times).
Paragon Wiki: http://www.paragonwiki.com
City Info Terminal: http://cit.cohtitan.com
Mids Hero Designer: http://www.cohplanner.com
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Originally Posted by Dispari
I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.
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This is just one small example of in-game features being less then obvious in how to access or use.
Things like getting a cape at 20 or aura at 30. Oroborus. And well many many more items.
I have a friend who just started playing -- I have to deal with the "how was I supposed to know about that" all to frequent. When he asks how I know the only answer I can give is that I have been playing from the dawn of COH time.
Far to many game features, new stories, enchantments ro whatever you want to call them are announces once, ever, in the patch notes. After those notes are down people just have to ask around or find out from other players. Not everyone likes to do that.
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The LFG system isn't a perfect fit for this. It doesn't like teams of 1, it thinks you need more people on your team and puts random people there.|
Originally Posted by Aggelakis
I don't know why they didn't use the LFG system for this. It's a perfect use for it. Everyone wants to do it (many people want to do it multiple times). |
Several people like to solo these, which LFG isn't built to handle.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
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Each piece of LFG content can have a different group size requirement. The SSAs could be marked as 1-8 people.|
Originally Posted by Texas Justice
The LFG system isn't a perfect fit for this. It doesn't like teams of 1, it thinks you need more people on your team and puts random people there.
Several people like to solo these, which LFG isn't built to handle. |
Additionally, the LFG system has a "lock group" option (does not allow randoms to join the group) which would allow solo people to enter the queue and go into the SSA solo.
Paragon Wiki: http://www.paragonwiki.com
City Info Terminal: http://cit.cohtitan.com
Mids Hero Designer: http://www.cohplanner.com
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Originally Posted by Dispari
I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.
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We've seen no indications that they can set the low end at 1. But assuming that they could set it that way ...
To run this with LFG (without the G) I'd have to join the queue, try to quickly set the Lock Group option before it forced someone into my group, then wait for it to decide noone else was going to join and send me into the mission.
I'd rather just talk to the contacts. Much simpler.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
They've shown a minimum of 2 (Halloween event on test), and it'd be pretty stupid not to code things for a possible solo LFG option "in the future". (Not that with the way things have been going these days I wouldn't put it past Paragon not to plan that far out for some things.....)
You select the "lock group" option before entering the queue. If you lock your group, there is no delay to add new people.
Paragon Wiki: http://www.paragonwiki.com
City Info Terminal: http://cit.cohtitan.com
Mids Hero Designer: http://www.cohplanner.com
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Originally Posted by Dispari
I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.
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I know the patch notes said it was for 2-4 people, but saw reports that it wouldn't launch with 2.
Also saw comments that the UStream chat said minimum of 4.
In any event, it's still easier from my POV to just talk to the contacts than to have to set an option, then join a queue just to do a short arc of missions.
Besides, it wouldn't be very intuitive if they added in content that is capable of being run solo and required you to click something called LFG to run it.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
i agree, i know in one of the pod cast they said that they are looking in to making it easy to find the contacts
sincerly yours:
Bzald of TopTen
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You mean like the "Find Contact" button? The one that only gives me a choice of some of my INACTIVE contacts? Wonderful tool!
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Originally Posted by bzald
i agree, i know in one of the pod cast they said that they are looking in to making it easy to find the contacts
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It's given me plenty of contacts that I haven't been introduced to. I've yet to get it to give me a contact that is in the normal contact chain (where they are introduced to you by another contact). |
Originally Posted by Hube02
You mean like the "Find Contact" button? The one that only gives me a choice of some of my INACTIVE contacts? Wonderful tool!
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Part of the problem is that TF contacts don't show up in the Contact List until you start the TF since they aren't a normal contact. They use the Trainer icon IIRC and work similarly to the TF contacts in most respects.
That's why Find Contact is useless for them, just as it is for TF contacts.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
How should we be finding out about the Signature Story arcs? ("Who Will Die")
When SSA1.1 appeared there was a popup window saying "new contact xxx" is in Skyway City. After which I couldn't find the contact in my contact list and had to log to an alt to get the window again and find where the contact was.
When SSA1.2 came out - nothing! It's only because there was a thread on the forums that I knew to look for it. And even then, finding where the villain version started was a another thing I had to crawl the forums for.
Shouldn't we be told about these arcs IN GAME?