Elite Bosses and Arch-Villains in Dark Astoria

Actually, the burden is on the people who want a change from the status quo. If you think things are not ideal as they exist, you have to make a case for it, and you should at least be aware of the consequences of the change you want.

No one here has any need or reason to prove to anyone who wants a change why a change shouldn't happen, because it's not going to happen without a convincing campaign to change it in the first place. Y'all want the devs to change DA in that way? Then convince them. You don't have to convince us, and there's literally no reason to convince you of anything.

I will agree that, after dying to 2 random unnamed bosses in spawns on the way to the end, not even taking a hit from Reqieum and Reichsman was a bit of a let down.

I stood there smiling, knowing I finally had the power to take them all by myself. Then 1 minute later I was wondering why I even bothered with them when I'm obviously light years above them in power now...

I wouldn't want them to be ultra-tough sacks of HP, but I don't want them to crumble like Blasters either!

I'm not complaining that the SSA Incarnate rewards are bad, I'm just pointing out that even the other thing that remotely resembles a solo/small-team Incarnate path does not do what I want, either. Telling me to stop looking at everything as an opportunity for farming is completely missing the point.

Once again, I am not demanding that EVERYTHING fit my playstyle perfectly and grant awesome Incarnate progress. It would be nice to have ONE thing that fits and gives halfway decent Incarnate rewards. Since "fits my playstyle" currently includes almost everything in the game EXCEPT Incarnate content, I don't think I'm too out of line in asking for that, either. Apparently, it's too late for DA to be that thing. Oh well. Then I shall voice my opinion in hope of whatever the next thing is. Please do not claim that I'm "beating a dead horse" by providing dev-requested feedback.

I'd like to get AVs in my DA, because honestly EBs don't so much fight me as melt slightly less quickly in my presence. However:

I have found the content to be pretty weak as well. I just adjusted to the idea that the arc was meant to be more story based than action and move on.

To start, I'd like to summarize how I view the game both from a story standpoint and a from a game play standpoint.

Contact missions should be run Solo or done with 2-3 players. My outlook on this is.. why would a large group of superheroes be taking on something so trivial as a jewelry store heist or a small group of thugs holed up in a warehouse? Story Wise it never made much sense. Somehow playing with a huge team of players to fight through story arcs took away from the uniqueness of running through your hero's own career and somehow lessened the impact of that toon as a whole. In a game progression sense, it gave you so much experience that you never really got to enjoy part of the game ( Until they added Flashbacks in Oro, but even then it feels kinda like I missed out on some stuffs.) No you can't do everything and your not meant to, but at the same time you should be able to do experience some content as you level up. This was especially the case when it came to lower levels. ((So I could never quite understand the rush to make 50 as the game has always been about getting there and not reaching it. But that's another subject entirely.))

Beyond that, I always found TFs to be the place to form teams to take on tougher crimes. Here's a case where, you and a few others need to team because the threat is so large. Story wise it made sense. In the format of game play it was also fun because it didn't really cause you to miss out on game content by leveling your toon too quickly. And Taskforces..... well they were a great way for Supergroup members to team up and play together.

iTrials... they are another thing altogether. I know it was added for endgame content with the intent on allowing players to create massive parties to take on some crazy godlike enemy the way some other MMO's allow you to do. While that might work with something like... oh say WOW for example...(( yeah I mentioned it)) it really doesn't work in this game. For a MMO that's intended for your character to be the center of attention and well "the hero" (( or the Villain)) iTrials just make you feel like your just someone who's there. You don't know what's really going on, you just do what you need to pass and that's really it. So they never really worked for this game.

So here's all these different formats in this game and so I get to the point of this post: There is something that caters to just about everyone here. I realize that my playstyle is vastly different from the next guy, a person for instance who might just enjoy getting on CoF just take on some AVs and level up their toon. That person can do what they want. I can do what I want. And everyone is happy.

That's how it used to be until we started dealing with endgame content.

Now it's either iTrial and fight with a few dozen folks or Solo and fight ridiculously easy enemies. Where's the middle ground? Why can't we level up as Incarnates just as we do during the rest of the game?

If people want to form large groups in DA and fight AVs, why can't they do it? If they want to Solo EBs in DA, why can't they do it? And that's really the question posed to the Devs here. If the option to this was there, players would be happy. And that's really the whole point of this topic. Giving the player a choice in the matter.

So, You know what I really want to know?

Why did we stop using iTaskforces like Tin Mage to continue on with endgame content? I haven't seen anything like that since we started doing iTrials. I sure thought they worked alot better because they were alot less confusing, your group had to depend on each other to have success and the fights were fun and challenging. (( Again some might not agree with this but it's all in the player's outlook. )) Would it have been something else if DA ended with a nice TF at the end? Sure would have... ((Assuming there's not. Haven't played the whole content yet.))

I know the Devs are gonna do what they're gonna do, but well at least it's all here on the table.

Edit: and to SlyGuyMcFly - Grunnerkrig Court. Nice! *thumbsup*

Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

I've found the DA content more challenging generally. I was on a team of six running story arcs and half the team was getting killed in each encounter -- we had to stop and work out a slightly more deliberate approach to get through.

Why the difference from others' experiences? I think there's three parts. First, it was a pug, and wasn't full of tricked out, min/max-optimized characters. Second, it wasn't full of plus-3's; this was mostly a group of non-incarnate fifties, some of whom hadn't run trials because they dislike that style of play. Finally, some of the new boss-level enemies in the DA arcs are very dangerous to 'normal' characters -- we had an invulnerability brute, IO'd but +0, who kept getting a new hole ripped into him over and over; he said he felt like a squishie.

I think if there's a perception that DA is too easy, try it from the perspective of a non-incarnate, less heavily optimized build. Here in the forums, active posters generally aren't average players.

High base accuracy (65%) plus a lot of defense debuffs.

I use Destiny: Barrier all the time on my scrapper, but I haven't done anything with her defense via IOs, and I think it sits at 11%.

Our story so far:

Host: "Welcome! I've prepared a feast for you all. We have roast beef, and turkey, and duck, and ham..."

Guests: "Yay! Nom nom nom..."

Other guests: "Excuse me, but we're vegetarians. Is there something for us to eat?"

Host: "Oh, vegetarians exist? I didn't think of that. Well, let's see if I can fix something."

Host: "Here you go, vegetarians. An all-vegetable meal for you. I hope you like it!"

Vegetarians: "Thank you. It took a long time to make, but it's good. Nom nom..."

Carnivores: "Hey, Host! This isn't satisfying. Why isn't there any bacon in that salad? What's the point of eating something that doesn't have meat in it?"

Host: "This is for the vegetarians. I made the first feast for you. What happened to that?"

Carnivores: "We already ate all that and we're still hungry. Put bacon in the salad, and if they don't want the bacon they can pick it out! Then everyone's happy!"

Vegetarians: "You know, this was made specifically for us..."

Carnivores: "lrn2eat, n00b"

Host: "That kind of defeats the purpose, so no bacon. But I'll keep that in mind for the next feast."

Even in beta, DA was never touted as content just for "vegetarians". DA was never "solo" content. The feedback and bug threads for it were (and still are) titled, and I quote, "Non-trial Incarnate Progression".

The closest that comes to your analogy is a set of menu items from which one can create a vegetarian meal. iTrials are heaping plates of rare steak, but the DA content has only processed meat patties.

I finished the DA arcs last night for the first time. I know it doesn't add much to the discussion, but I really felt like the ease with which my purpled-out 50(+3) Fortunata trashed regular spawns and EBs was entirely appropriate for a character with some fraction of deific power. None of the EB fights seemed inconsequential. In a group setting, yes, they probably would have been and I think I'm OK with that.

But then again, I've seen groups of 50(+3) toons massacre level 50+ AVs in non-trial content and I don't really know if bumping anything up to AV level would do anything but make some fights take a little bit longer. Challenging groups of Incarnate-class characters largely means having some kind of non-standard mechanic to prevent a battle from turning into 40 seconds of pounding on a bag of hit points, and that's something downright hostile to solo and small group play regardless.

I think the devs balanced DA just about perfectly.

Also, dammit, the entry to the last Dream Doctor mission was awesome. Totally made me grin. I just wish they could have put Info on all the characters so I could finally see who all the Members of the Civic Squad are.