Gods yes, /Signed every time. That those contacts and their dross still exist along side the more polished recent stuff is nothing short of terribad.
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.
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Originally Posted by Captain_Photon
NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.
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If I recall there are several contacts (one for each origin?) that give the same missions at each level range, and a lot of it is just filler. It would probably be neater to just retire them and introduce new contacts to give out revamped story arcs (I think this was done with Atlas/Galaxy, as well as Mercy Island red side, where the contacts are still there for people who have open missions or access them through Ouroboros).
There are some really nice arcs hidden away (and often padded out rather more than necessary), it would be great to see the stories around the likes of Vazhilok given a new lick of paint.
@Hakeswell
Union Ilservian, Evinlea
Defiant Expeditor, Hakeswell
Arc: 70119 Hellion Initiation
Forget the One Off missions. There at least you are doing something (even if a Radio mission would be a better use of time in most cases.) It's the "Talk to X to learn about this Feature and/or Story Arc" missions that grate on me. We now have a 'Find Contact' feature that automatically alerts us to those contacts. The new tutorial teaches us about Notoriety contacts, so I don't need to head over to King's Row and hear about it again!
I suppose I can give a pass to the PVP zone intros (as I can't figure out a better way to tell people about them...) but beyond that? All these busy work missions need to be scoured from the game.
-This Space Intentionally Left Blank.-
This is why im kinda glad they brought in new stuff when villains was launched. cos those hero ones are abit....pants.
I've said this before. Most of the non-arc missions from the orginal contacts could be removed entirely and no one would miss them. Radio missions and tips have made the old 'filler' sort of missions obsolete.
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@Inquisitor
This seems like it should be so obvious to do and yet it's still there. Personally, I think contacts need a complete overhaul... like a major aspect of an issue overhaul (Issue 26: First Contact, contacts overhauled and we meet a new alien race that's actually from outer space, rather than interdimensional refugees and mutated human explorers... shortly following Issue 25:To the Moon!) so that not only do they some get retired, and others get new/updated story arcs (old stuff saved in O-zone of course), but also incorporating the code used to make teams the right level for a task force when you enter a Story Arc mission, so that nobody ever has to worry about accidentally outleveling a certain contact. I know Orouboros does this, but this would feel more natural and appropriate... O-zone missions also don't alter your standing with a contact which would be important for the other change I'd make...
Contact stores... How often does anyone actually buy enhancements from a contact, unless it's some RP exercise? How often do you go to the auction house to buy what's is ostensibly a piece of common salvage, but there's only 3 for sale, and they're all priced at 1 million inf or something similarly absurd (at least uncommon/rare salvage can be gotten with AE tix if WW is out). I propose dumping the enhancement inventory from contacts, and replacing it with context-appropriate invention salvage. After doing one story arc, you get access to common salvage associated with the theme of the arc (a clockwork arc gets you clockwork parts, etc), and after completing a second story arc, you get access to uncommon salvage associated with the arc. No rare salvage in contact stores, after all, it's rare. This way, even if you have to do a story arc or two to unlock it, there will always be a place you can go to dependably buy common and uncommon salvage at a set price, and contacts will be selling something that is relevant both to the game as a whole and to their specific content.
Also, using the new phasing tech, you could even get improved contacts that could be available to you in multiple zones and that seem to have a clue what you've been up to and what seems important to you, based on recent focuses in trials, TFs, factions you've been picking on, recent respecs, and so forth. It would be interesting to have a personal handler or liaison in the game to function as your "go-to" contact for the important stuff, like cape missions (instead of pestering that poor City Rep) or introductions to PvP zones or TF contacts and such, especially if they'd recognize when you already know about something... Already have a badge from Bloody Bay? Hey your handler isn't going to insist that you go talk to the transport attendant about what PvP zones are, as if you just started playing this week.
We're also already seeing some effects of having different choices available to you when you respond in contact dialogue, and consequences for your choices. That's a direction that I think could be safely expanded upon greatly.
Dear NCsoft, if you go through with this shutdown you've guaranteed you'll not see another dime from me on any project you put out, ever.
http://xx-starhammer-xx.deviantart.com/
Keep these contacts just make them tap into the radio and tip mission architecture. At the end of the day, that is effectively what they are, just with a different face.
Roxy On DA...Finally!
So, I made a new hero character last week (a stalker) that I decided to do an experiment with; I would go through all the story arcs and low level content I possibly could. There would be a couple exceptions, some of which being stuff that I've done recently (such as Hollows), and xp saturated content (Death From Below, task forces, etc). Another rule I made was to only kill what I needed to beat the mission, so as to experience more content.
Anyhow, it's been really interesting but that's all beside the point. When I arrived at Kings Row (and on up to steel/skyway), I started getting a lot of contacts. I spoke to them to try to get story arcs, and what do I get? One off missions. Ok, perhaps that would lead to a story arc eventually, right? Nope. Nothing. There were several contacts that did that to me--but that's ok, not everything has to be tied together. Even though that's what we have radio missions and tip missions for. I had several contacts give me NOTHING but hunts (street sweeps) and "Hey go talk to that Security Chief/Longbow Liaison/Contact in Hollows." I even did one of those and went back. "Oh hai, here take this hunt mission." No story arcs from them either. And they were new contacts.
Compare this to contacts in Croatoa, Faultline, Peregrine Island and Striga (though some of them will have you do some "One offs" first), and of course any newer content that will immediately give you a story arc. I'm not sure if this is because of the over-saturation of contacts at low levels, with a random mission factor, but something needs to be done. It's embarrassing how bad some of these older contacts are.
I don't mind a few (ok, I do mind, but I can live with it) contacts that want to lead you around by the nose to visit the PVP/hazard zone contacts, but when every new contact you try to see does it? There's a reason I only run Twinshot/Graves on my badgers. So, my suggestion would be to cut down and remove the superfluous contacts, and delegate the nose leading to certain ones that people can skip around if they so choose.