Forced teaming makes me sad

I'd like to see the minimum number required to start dropped a bit to something that can be done with a single team (6-8.) I don't mind that it requires a team because it has a GM in it. But when it goes live, we'll have a spike of people running it the first few days, then it'll peter out. (And I don't care that I can "go skiing while I wait." The novelty wears off fairly fast.)

My main feeling is, this is a limited time event, it should be open to as many people throughout its run as possible, and there are times in the wee hours that, no, I *can't* get 12 or more people interested - but that's when I have the time to play.

Personally, I like the large (greater than 8) raid setting, if the map can handle it. BAF can handle 24, UG can not. I have not done the Winter Event but I assume it is outdoors so I would be all for 12 or greater.

You are correct Grae Knight, the Winter Event takes place outdoors. I would like to add that "event" alludes to "a happening of significance to be enjoyed by a group or groups of people." For those who prefer to solo; unless you are new to this game, there is not much at all that can't be solo'd so happy hunting.

I have been playing 4e some recently, it has its brutes and controllers but it also has its stalkers and peacebringers....

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Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow Welcome to the World of Nonsense. An MMO is a game in which many players share a persistent, common world and are free to interact with others if and how they choose to do so. If I should so choose to interact with other people via chat, trading and the forums, then you have no power to tell me to go find another game. Furthermore, of all the MMOs out there, City of Heroes is one of the most solo-friendly ones, and this is both an acknowledged and intended feature of the game. If you feel incapable of playing a game without other people, perhaps a Pen and Paper RPG would be more to your taste. I hear D&D Fourth Edition is very well balanced, but I don't have first-hand knowledge of it.

This an aside, but I think the team up teleporter sucks because it lacks a contact.

Don't get me wrong. I totally appreciate what it's trying to achieve. I think it has a looooong way to go to realize its potential, but I really do appreciate the potential of the TuT.

With "old-school" TFs and missions, someone on your team visits a contact who presents dialog. Then the team travels to a mission door and finds an area that (usually) has some vague sense of belonging behind that door. The combination gives a sense of context and immersion. It is a tenuous one to be sure, but it's better than nothing.

And yes, I know, we've all seen those contacts and have maybe read their dialog a bazillion times. I'm a speed TF runner, I very much get that.

But with the TuT there is no explanation for why we're all suddenly teleporting away. There's no context for the mission we find ourselves doing. When we invade Praetorea, we don't first gather in a staging area at Portal Corp. We just magically disappear from Pocket D or Wentworths or the Hollows and show up, ready for battle, in Praetorea.

Even though I've been here for seven years and run a bazillion TFs and never read the dialog any more, that still makes me sad. Just because I've seen it a bazillion times doesn't mean everyone else has. On top of that, it just feels hollow compared to meeting a contact.

I'm not sure how to address this, as actually forcing everyone to gather at a contact would invalidate the benefits of a (properly functioning) TuT. But I do feel like something is missing.

Hey, I have an idea. Random think popped into my head just now.

If "Massively Multiplayer Online" unavoidably entails being forced to play with other people, shouldn't it also entail being forced to play against OTHER people, as well? I mean, pick any online shooter and you're essentially always fighting against other PEOPLE, so why aren't we doing that all the time here?

Actually, when you stop to think about it, why do we have NPCs at all? Shouldn't we be buying our stuff from and selling it to other people and other people only? This is a very multiplayer game, after all. And why should there be NPC enemies. This is supposed to be massively multiplayer world. Shouldn't my enemies be other players, as well? I mean, OK, it's hard to get 50 people to stand in place waiting for me to come into the mission, so why not do the same thing half the F2P MMOs out there do and focus solely around competitive multiplayer arena matches? Or... Why are there just random buildings the developers made? Shouldn't the city be made by actual player building up their tenements?

While I'm sure a game exists where all of the above is true (Eve Online comes to mind, and possibly SWG), the simple fact is we HAVE to involve the computer somewhere along the line. It's just a question of degrees, and "solo play" is simply MMO play which involves the computer to a very high degree. It's still not absolute, mind you, as solo play still permits chatting to provide entertainment, help channels to provide tips and instructions and, if all else fails, chat channels to ask for direct assistence, so it's not JUST one player and JUST the computer. It's just... Mostly that.

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Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

This change makes teaming for it easier - before, the only way to play it as a co-op run was for a team of Heoes to spawn a and defeat a Winter Lord blue side while a team Villains spawned and defeated a Winter Lord Red Side, so that both sides would spawn the giant present to let them enter the map together.
With fewer players red side, this now means that running the Trial as a co-op run will be the main way it's done.

I still think there should be a single player offline server. Would stop these reoccurring demands from soloists.

Speaking of, why are my mid-level contacts' mission streams still likely to dead-end with "of course, you'll need three friends to help you disable the bombs" missions? That mission design is so Jack Emmert. Let's clean out the database, shall we?

All you silly Americans* and your selfish mentalities. It's always about "me me me" and not about the community or helping others

* Obsidius is a silly American, and therefore, a hypocrite (at times).