Thoughts on Trials after i12.5 - Mob Rule
By
Agent White,
Posted on: 2011-12-09 23:00 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
Just reading a few posts and what I saw were two things:
1.) Don't like waiting for a team to do a specific trial
2.) Don't like failing because of, either, your actions or someone else's actions
Obviously I only know "my" server's times/ability to do iTrials but usually any time late at night (for us US East Coasters 
) you can get any iTrial going.
I'm really glad that I see people wanting to do a TPN/MOM; heck even more people do Keyes and UG now! More than just 1 or 2 people leading them and we have more leaders actually leading the UG trials.
Sure some days/nights might take a while for things to get started but overall they form up fast.
And to be devil's advocate...don't you have to wait for TFs/SFs to form? Sometimes I've had harder times getting a, let's say, Numina formed than an iTrial.
As for # 2; well I can't say too much beyond, "keep at it." Like I said earlier, at first there were about 2 leaders (one of them being me) leading the UG trials.
Did we fail at sometimes because people didn't listen and/or we didn't have the right type of ATs/power combos? Yes.
But now that people have grown accustomed to it, there are more people willing to lead UGs and they've even been successful!
Don't feel "bad" about causing a wipe/deaths or what have you. I know I've caused plenty of deaths (not intentionally....well maybe a few (sarcasm people!)) but you just have to keep trying to get better.
You don't quit the first time you fail at something do you? Yes, others may be "mad" at you but...well, again, I just "know" the people on Liberty and...frankly they're too nice; especially in new trials; stuff happens, people didn't see the last instruction(s) for whatever reason. *shrugs*
Now if people yell at you or whatever....either ignore them or /petition for harassment (if it calls for that of course). Some people are jerks no matter what.
If people are failing the trials on purpose then take note of who it is (right-click player's toon and "Add Note"). Possibly even /petition against them. *shrugs*
If iTrials aren't your "thing" then fine...whatever...just don't go "bad-mouthing" it to other people (new or otherwise); meaning, if someone says/asks, "who wants to do an iTrial?" and you respond, "iTrials are stupid and are NOT FUN, don't do them!" ehh...yeah; keep that to yourself I'd say....
Anyways...
Leader of The LEGION/Fallen LEGION on the Liberty server!
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It'll be slower than for teams.
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Originally Posted by Ogi
So what about solo path players, how will their rate compare to the team path players?
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@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
Fascinating thread!
The Three Phases of Trials
I am of the general opinion that the iTrials are not always fun, but are necessary evils for anyone wanting to acquire Incarnate abilities during their natural lifetimes. For me, my personal relationship with any particular trial goes through the following phases:
- Phase 1: I don't know what I'm doing and the whole thing is a dizzying, stress-filled exercise in just doing what the team leader is doing (or tells me to do) in the hopes of not dying and not doing something that results in trial fail. This is not fun for me. I hate the Lamda acid/nade run, for instance, because everyone zips around like mad, leaving individuals or ad hoc teams of two or three to take down each chamber/container, leading to a lot of time coming back from the hospital.
- Phase 2: I have a good handle on what I should be doing and find the doing of it challenging, but not frustratingly impossible. Thanks to these trials being a large group effort, however, the presence of newbies still stuck in phase 1 themselves undermines the fun factor of this phase. If I am on a team of experienced players of the trial, and things go smoothly, then this is fun. But it only lasts for a couple of such runs because we then enter...
- Phase 3: The trial has become routine. Which for me means rather boring. The only reason to continue doing a trial after it has reached phase 3 is for the quick rewards. Not because it is fun anymore.
I'm Not a Superhero, I'm a Game Piece
I also have a problem with the "immersion factor" of these trials. Normally I only run each mission with a toon once; the narrative logic breaks down after the fourth time you've gone out to save FrostFire's butt. That's why I don't like grinding content, be it Tips or Trials. But the game requires you to do so since they are the only way to acquire the drops and rewards necessary to restore a sense of steady progression to a level 50 toon. But this doesn't feel like a comic book to me. It feels like a game just trying to copy what WOW does (repeatable content with gimmicks of questionable in-game logic that everyone grinds, not because it is fun to do so, but because that's the only reasonable way to obtain the rewards needed to maintain forward momentum on character development).
It's Not the Leader's Fault
The frustration with trial leadership is, I think, a direct outgrowth of the way the trials are designed. They aren't designed such that they make "sense"; they are designed as weird puzzles that you either figure out and intuit quickly or you just die a lot. This doesn't resemble any superhero comic book I've ever read. Trials shouldn't be designed such that you have to do them repeatedly before you figure out the trick(s) and are then able to succeed. That is just WOW-inspired puzzle-based get-it-right-or-die raid design mentality. It is disappointing to find that the devs couldn't think of any way to deliver "high-end" content without resorting to that. And I don't blame leaders for being forced into leading players through this kind of content with mixed results (and I don't find it the least bit surprising that few players want to try their hand at leading in such a situation).
Was That Maelstrom or Galactus I Just Fought?
Oh, and does anyone else find it bizarre that Maelstrom is a solo'able wimp in the Hero Tips mission, but a one-shot killing machine in the TPN Campus trial? Really? This is the same guy? What explains his sudden cosmic jump in power level? At least the other trials had an explanation: BAF makes you face two AVs simultaneously, Lambda makes you face a Marauder juiced up on super-formula, Keyes makes you face an Anti-Matter with "expanded powers" thanks to the reactors and killer satellites he taps into, and of course UG makes you face a mini-Hamidon (no explanation needed, really). But the incongruous leap in power for Maelstrom doesn't even have an explanation, does it?
NOR-RAD - 50 Rad/Rad/Elec Defender - Nikki Stryker - 50 DM/SR/Weap Scrapper - Iron Marauder - 50 Eng/Eng/Pow Blaster
Lion of Might - 50 SS/Inv/Eng Tanker - Darling Nikkee - 50 (+3) StJ/WP/Eng Brute - Ice Giant Kurg - 36 Ice/Storm Controller
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You'll need to repeat the DA content to unlock all your Incarnate abilities.|
Originally Posted by Wing_Leader
I also have a problem with the "immersion factor" of these trials. Normally I only run each mission with a toon once
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| Oh, and does anyone else find it bizarre that Maelstrom is a solo'able wimp in the Hero Tips mission, but a one-shot killing machine in the TPN Campus trial? Really? This is the same guy? What explains his sudden cosmic jump in power level? |
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
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Excellent post. One thing which saddens me about the trials is they are apparently story-based but it's nigh impossible to enjoy what little story they have at any stage of running them. GG is very fond of bigging up the fact that the game's Praetorian storyline is told through the trials, and Anti-Matter himself refers to the BAF and the LAM as though we've done them first, despite the fact that it's entirely possible to do Keyes first if you do Ramiels arc and then go to pocket D or the RWZ and get on a trial.|
Originally Posted by Wing_Leader
Fascinating thread!
The Three Phases of Trials I am of the general opinion that the iTrials are not always fun, but are necessary evils for anyone wanting to acquire Incarnate abilities during their natural lifetimes. For me, my personal relationship with any particular trial goes through the following phases:
I'm Not a Superhero, I'm a Game Piece I also have a problem with the "immersion factor" of these trials. Normally I only run each mission with a toon once; the narrative logic breaks down after the fourth time you've gone out to save FrostFire's butt. That's why I don't like grinding content, be it Tips or Trials. But the game requires you to do so since they are the only way to acquire the drops and rewards necessary to restore a sense of steady progression to a level 50 toon. But this doesn't feel like a comic book to me. It feels like a game just trying to copy what WOW does (repeatable content with gimmicks of questionable in-game logic that everyone grinds, not because it is fun to do so, but because that's the only reasonable way to obtain the rewards needed to maintain forward momentum on character development). It's Not the Leader's Fault The frustration with trial leadership is, I think, a direct outgrowth of the way the trials are designed. They aren't designed such that they make "sense"; they are designed as weird puzzles that you either figure out and intuit quickly or you just die a lot. This doesn't resemble any superhero comic book I've ever read. Trials shouldn't be designed such that you have to do them repeatedly before you figure out the trick(s) and are then able to succeed. That is just WOW-inspired puzzle-based get-it-right-or-die raid design mentality. It is disappointing to find that the devs couldn't think of any way to deliver "high-end" content without resorting to that. And I don't blame leaders for being forced into leading players through this kind of content with mixed results (and I don't find it the least bit surprising that few players want to try their hand at leading in such a situation). Was That Maelstrom or Galactus I Just Fought? Oh, and does anyone else find it bizarre that Maelstrom is a solo'able wimp in the Hero Tips mission, but a one-shot killing machine in the TPN Campus trial? Really? This is the same guy? What explains his sudden cosmic jump in power level? At least the other trials had an explanation: BAF makes you face two AVs simultaneously, Lambda makes you face a Marauder juiced up on super-formula, Keyes makes you face an Anti-Matter with "expanded powers" thanks to the reactors and killer satellites he taps into, and of course UG makes you face a mini-Hamidon (no explanation needed, really). But the incongruous leap in power for Maelstrom doesn't even have an explanation, does it? |
During the first few days of a trial being live, leagues are IMO slightly slower to proceed, which gives some opportunity to read the story etc, but because of the general zerg mindset of trialers, it's easy even then to get left alone whilst trying to read the info or the captions. During subsequent runs, as the trials become more understood and running them turns into the 'do the single optimal sequence of activities as fast as possible', time spent doing this is liable to get you booted for leeching. Take the MoM, for example. Anyone doing it for the first time now is going to be very lucky to get away with reading Desdemona and Metronome's briefings whilst the rest of the league is rushing off to do the actual whack-a-mole meat of the trial.
I would bet there are players who've run the MoM a number of times already who are still unaware that Des and Metronome even have anything to say.
The devs are hamstrung, i think. They can't just say 'OK, most players are Only Here For Godzilla, so this next trial has no story at all.' because the game is still ostensibly a story-based one rather than Team Fortress. But by putting instructions and explanations for the game mechanics into briefings and captions means that lots of people won't know what to do or why they're doing it.
Eco
MArcs:
The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)
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Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
[The Incarnate System is] Jack Emmert all over again, only this time it's not "1 hero = 3 white minions" it's "1 hero = 3 white rocks."
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Could you tell me where in game this information is given to us? I'm not being sarky or having a go at you here, I'm honestly interested. I personally think it's a bit weird that Maelstrom is so hard in the TPN, but if there is an in-game explanation, then I;ve got no problem accepting it.|
Originally Posted by Golden Girl
Tyrant empowers his loyalist henchpeoeple with some of his power from the Well.
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Eco
MArcs:
The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
[The Incarnate System is] Jack Emmert all over again, only this time it's not "1 hero = 3 white minions" it's "1 hero = 3 white rocks."
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Talk to Prometheus - he's the Incarnate Trial contact.
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Originally Posted by MrCaptainMan
Could you tell me where in game this information is given to us?
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@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
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I don't know about infusing power into Maelstrom, but I looked at it as a staple of the superhero experience. That point where that one mook you could never take seriously becomes a threat, and precisely because you'd never taken him seriously in the past his strength is enough to catch you off guard.|
Originally Posted by MrCaptainMan
Could you tell me where in game this information is given to us? I'm not being snarky or having a go at you here, I'm honestly interested. I personally think it's a bit weird that Maelstrom is so hard in the TPN, but if there is an in-game explanation, then I've got no problem accepting it.
Eco |
I think of something like Star-Scream suddenly getting cosmic powers, etc. Then you smack him around anyway and strip him of whatever it was what made him a challenge, and he's back to being a schmuck.
The Paladin
Steel Canyon, Virtue
Exalted
@Paladin
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
I've found Ramiel to be sometimes easy and sometimes hard, but I've honestly not come across a powerset combination that at level 50 with reasonable inspirations and tactics couldn't do it. However, I build everything to solo reasonably well, and that includes ensuring that by high levels I can generate enough damage to take down a reasonably strong Elite Boss with normal insps for assistance. Without that level of damage, I could see many more support-oriented builds having extreme difficulty with Trapdoor, or being stuck at the end in the Rikti portal room.
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For whatever reason, my Force Field/Ice Defender simply could not kill Trapdoor, even with enough IOs to put him at about 32% ranged defense. I beat him rather handily with most other characters. I'd get him to around 50% health and then the rate at which his adds showed up would outpace my endurance.
The Honoree was another story. He two-shotted many of my characters. I usually auto-complete that mission due to his presence. When I do play it, I also cheat and run the objectives out of order so I'm not facing waves of adds while dealing with a flying, unmezzable, unknockback-able, Elite Boss with stuns in his attacks and the ability to kill me in two lucky hits.
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Just because you're able to do something doesn't mean everyone else in the world also can.|
Originally Posted by Stormbird
Fixed. The AT is not the problem.
(Edit: I know how that sounds - it's not meant to be a slam on players who found they couldn't complete that solo. But if I can solo it on an SO'd emp defender, decidedly not a damage powerhouse, it's soloable. Inspiration use and paying attention to what's going on are all that's required.) |
Also, I've done that arc with several different ATs. I needed help with Trapdoor on some, and I didn't need any help on others. Even the same AT but with different sets can make that difference.
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A staple of poorly written superhero stories perhaps. Not exactly the branch of the source material that I would advocate emulating.|
Originally Posted by Paladin
I don't know about infusing power into Maelstrom, but I looked at it as a staple of the superhero experience.
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Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
The Honoree was another story. He two-shotted many of my characters. I usually auto-complete that mission due to his presence. When I do play it, I also cheat and run the objectives out of order so I'm not facing waves of adds while dealing with a flying, unmezzable, unknockback-able, Elite Boss with stuns in his attacks and the ability to kill me in two lucky hits.
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The Honoree mission is the only one that I go out and actively recruit help for because I can't seem to solo it with any of my toons. That last room with two Elite Bosses and a horde of Conscripts (with, what, four portals? spamming the room with more Rikti) makes it utterly undoable. What is the trick?
NOR-RAD - 50 Rad/Rad/Elec Defender - Nikki Stryker - 50 DM/SR/Weap Scrapper - Iron Marauder - 50 Eng/Eng/Pow Blaster
Lion of Might - 50 SS/Inv/Eng Tanker - Darling Nikkee - 50 (+3) StJ/WP/Eng Brute - Ice Giant Kurg - 36 Ice/Storm Controller
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It would change if the majority of the players preferred the solo content, and left the trials virtually abandoned. Unless the devs are intentionally trying to fly the game into the ground?* I'd think NCSoft would kind of frown on that kind of behavior!|
Originally Posted by Golden Girl
It won't change the Trials being the core content for the Incarnate system.
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*(I don't think the devs are intentionally trying to fly the game into the ground, or however that saying is supposed to go!)
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Waaaaait...|
Originally Posted by SpittingTrashcan
- At least one person must know what the Right Thing To Do is in advance, and
- That person must accurately convey exactly what that Right Thing To Do is, and - Everyone else participating must read, understand, and follow what is being said, and - If any of the above fails to be true for anyone, the result is failure for everyone |
Doesn't this describe every game ranted on by the Angry Video Game Nerd? At least, a single player version of it, LOL.
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The devs won't make the solo path more attractive than the Trial path - they've already said that.|
Originally Posted by Coyote_Seven
It would change if the majority of the players preferred the solo content, and left the trials virtually abandoned. Unless the devs are intentionally trying to fly the game into the ground?* I'd think NCSoft would kind of frown on that kind of behavior!
*(I don't think the devs are intentionally trying to fly the game into the ground, or however that saying is supposed to go!) |
Plus, it's easy to add special unique rewards for the Trials, like costume part or temp powers tbhat wouldn't be available through the DA content.
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
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Pull. Honoree, Holtz, and the Rikti are all unconnected spawns. Pull Honoree and nobody else should follow.|
Originally Posted by Wing_Leader
The Honoree mission is the only one that I go out and actively recruit help for because I can't seem to solo it with any of my toons. That last room with two Elite Bosses and a horde of Conscripts (with, what, four portals? spamming the room with more Rikti) makes it utterly undoable. What is the trick?
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Almost everyone has access to SOME ranged attack. If you don't, you're probably capable of jumping in there anyway. And if you're not, and by some chance you either don't have a vet temp power or a leftover temp from a mission, it takes all of two minutes to get a Revolver or Envenomed Dagger off the AH.
I know some people think temp powers are cheating. There are also people who think inspirations are cheating. These people are loons.
De minimis non curat Lex Luthor.
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I get that they're of a higher difficulty, but I'm not sure I understand how they're of a SIGNIFICANTLY higher difficulty. Could you explain this to me? And I mean that as a genuine question, not a trap. I get that the Honoree is a tough EB, but then so is Miss Liberty and Silver Mantis and Lord Recluse with his zillions of boss spanws. I get that Trapdoor is a gimmick fight, but then so is Castillo and the Cooling titan, and so is Protean. It's harder, yes, but is it really by this much? Why? Hell, I'd say the "zillions of Ghouls" mission in Praetoria is much harder, and the one from Sister Airlia where four Longbow ambushes, including a Ballista, all spawn on top of you at the same time, and you only have to lose Ghost Widow who shows up there as a fragile EB.|
Originally Posted by Arcanaville
But as I said, that's just me. Trapdoor and the last mission are significantly higher in difficulty than the average standard content. So anything that doesn't breeze through standard content will have an even higher difficulty with Ramiel. That's probably intentional: I would suspect that, setting aside the discussion of gameplay tricks like Trapdoor's bifurcation, the solo incarnate path will likely be something between standard content and Ramiel, with Ramiel's difficulty being at or near the upper end of what's likely.
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And again - if the solo Incarnate difficulty were as hard as Ramiel, I wouldn't have a problem with it. Ramiel's base missions are about stock, the enemies aren't that bad, and it's the occasional fights with named enemies where the difficulty really spikes. And, really... That's how it should be. I've always wanted most of a mission to be fairly easy to build up both confidence and ego, only to end in a hard fight that contrasts the rest of the content so as to make it seem more serious. Eventually winning that fight is, then, that much more satisfying because it was a "harder" fight, but still successful.
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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.
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The charge of being poorly written is going to be tossed around at anything the Dev's come up with. It may not something you'd enjoy, but it's a trope I find fun. If it helps deal with the egos people have grown while playing their characters, so much the better.
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Originally Posted by Wing_Leader
A staple of poorly written superhero stories perhaps. Not exactly the branch of the source material that I would advocate emulating.
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The Paladin
Steel Canyon, Virtue
Exalted
@Paladin
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Originally Posted by Golden Girl
The devs won't make the solo path more attractive than the Trial path - they've already said that.
Plus, it's easy to add special unique rewards for the Trials, like costume part or temp powers tbhat wouldn't be available through the DA content. |
Solo progress on glacial (at best, geological most likely, cosmic not too far behind) timescales and guaranteed to be more annoying than the iTrials. Great reasons to stay subscribed.
If the iTrials were actually fun they wouldn't have to make everything else unbearable to keep people playing them.
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Perhaps. But I think there are certainly cases where the devs got it right and cases where they didn't. I think there is a clear case of the former: the new Twinshot low-level story arc concerning The Shining Stars is fun, engaging, and full of classic superhero drama. And it is completely soloable. More like that I say!|
Originally Posted by Paladin
The charge of being poorly written is going to be tossed around at anything the Dev's come up with.
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Originally Posted by Paladin
It may not something you'd enjoy, but it's a trope I find fun. If it helps deal with the egos people have grown while playing their characters, so much the better.
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And taking players "down a peg" should never be the goal of the devs, should it? What is the value in making players/toons feel less like superheroes just for the sake of crushing egos?
NOR-RAD - 50 Rad/Rad/Elec Defender - Nikki Stryker - 50 DM/SR/Weap Scrapper - Iron Marauder - 50 Eng/Eng/Pow Blaster
Lion of Might - 50 SS/Inv/Eng Tanker - Darling Nikkee - 50 (+3) StJ/WP/Eng Brute - Ice Giant Kurg - 36 Ice/Storm Controller
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They are.
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Originally Posted by Ogi
If the iTrials were actually fun
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@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
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I would say Ramiel is more difficult than standard content in throwing four Elite Bosses at you in succession, in having one of them having unconventional defenses (Trapdoor bifurcation), two of them appearing together in a high density room, one of them heavily ranged and the other very resistant to control. Minos is, admittedly, anticlimactic after the Honoree, but he's still got unstoppable (which is good and bad).|
Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
I get that they're of a higher difficulty, but I'm not sure I understand how they're of a SIGNIFICANTLY higher difficulty. Could you explain this to me? And I mean that as a genuine question, not a trap. I get that the Honoree is a tough EB, but then so is Miss Liberty and Silver Mantis and Lord Recluse with his zillions of boss spanws. I get that Trapdoor is a gimmick fight, but then so is Castillo and the Cooling titan, and so is Protean. It's harder, yes, but is it really by this much? Why? Hell, I'd say the "zillions of Ghouls" mission in Praetoria is much harder, and the one from Sister Airlia where four Longbow ambushes, including a Ballista, all spawn on top of you at the same time, and you only have to lose Ghost Widow who shows up there as a fragile EB.
And again - if the solo Incarnate difficulty were as hard as Ramiel, I wouldn't have a problem with it. Ramiel's base missions are about stock, the enemies aren't that bad, and it's the occasional fights with named enemies where the difficulty really spikes. And, really... That's how it should be. I've always wanted most of a mission to be fairly easy to build up both confidence and ego, only to end in a hard fight that contrasts the rest of the content so as to make it seem more serious. Eventually winning that fight is, then, that much more satisfying because it was a "harder" fight, but still successful. |
I'm guessing that the solo path will have harder minions, but not likely harder end bosses, at least initially. The initial incarnate solo path has to be able to accomodate not just high powered incarnates, but players that haven't started the incarnate path yet, and aren't strong incarnates already. And that means the solo path has to be only moderately difficult.
The reason why a solo incarnate path has to be much less difficult relative to the combat strength of the trials is that with the trials you can assume getting some mix of stuff: melee and squishies, buff and debuff, melee and ranged damage, offense and control. With solo missions, you have to assume the player could have just one or two of those, for all reasonable combinations of those. You will have blasters with no defense or mez protection. Controllers with strong debuffs. High mitigation tankers. You have to make the missions passable with any combination of high and low melee damage, high and low ranged damage, high or no control, high or no debuff, high or no healing, high or no damage mitigation. In essence, the trials assume you have the best of all worlds, while the solo path has to assume you have the worst of most of them.
Which is not to say that down the road the solo incarnate path won't be much more difficult, to accomodate players that have advanced significantly in incarnate power. Its also possible it will release with a range of difficulty from Ramiel-level to just short of iTrial difficulty. But I think that is less likely given the amount of content required to do that, and the pace at which iTrials themselves are released.
The devs follow their own counsel on incarnate content, though. I have expectations, but I wouldn't bet a lot of money on them.
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Personally, I hope we have some way to control Incarnate difficulty like we control ordinary difficulty, which would allow us to balance our speed of progression against our difficulty of progression. If, for instance, I want my game to be a bit easier but a bit slower, I kind of which that were possible. It's probably going to take something above and beyond the ordinary difficulty slider, but we'll see.
What I hope and pray DOESN'T happen is for all the Incarnate content to be scaled at 52 minimum even for players with no level shifts. Because that'll be the end of me.
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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.
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But does it have to be that way? I mean, do the devs really have to make these assumptions (and be wrong half the time)? I've been on trials which was 95% melee, and only 5% ranged/support/control. And I've seen solo toons that have a little bit of everything at their disposal. In an ideal world, the content would adjust itself to the characters more dynamically. Simply scaling up the number of mobs, their level, or the EB/AV toggle isn't really adequate, as this issue clearly exposes.|
Originally Posted by Arcanaville
The reason why a solo incarnate path has to be much less difficult relative to the combat strength of the trials is that with the trials you can assume getting some mix of stuff: melee and squishies, buff and debuff, melee and ranged damage, offense and control. With solo missions, you have to assume the player could have just one or two of those, for all reasonable combinations of those.
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It seems to me that the game needs a smarter way of encoding a character's "combat DNA", if you will. A way to account for all a toon's abilities (and weaknesses) and adjust missions accordingly. But I suspect that it would require too great a leap in design innovation to implement something like that.
NOR-RAD - 50 Rad/Rad/Elec Defender - Nikki Stryker - 50 DM/SR/Weap Scrapper - Iron Marauder - 50 Eng/Eng/Pow Blaster
Lion of Might - 50 SS/Inv/Eng Tanker - Darling Nikkee - 50 (+3) StJ/WP/Eng Brute - Ice Giant Kurg - 36 Ice/Storm Controller
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I believe that sort of thing would require far more stringent control over what players are allowed to do than this game limits us to have.
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Originally Posted by Wing_Leader
But does it have to be that way? I mean, do the devs really have to make these assumptions (and be wrong half the time)? I've been on trials which was 95% melee, and only 5% ranged/support/control. And I've seen solo toons that have a little bit of everything at their disposal. In an ideal world, the content would adjust itself to the characters more dynamically. Simply scaling up the number of mobs, their level, or the EB/AV toggle isn't really adequate, as this issue clearly exposes.
It seems to me that the game needs a smarter way of encoding a character's "combat DNA", if you will. A way to account for all a toon's abilities (and weaknesses) and adjust missions accordingly. But I suspect that it would require too great a leap in design innovation to implement something like that. |
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I would not be surprised if the solo/team content turns out to look very much like the tip system.
De minimis non curat Lex Luthor.