Returning Player Diary

as a 5 year subscription vet I was already on the 'premier' train, if I understand these things correctly.

Store Review:
As SwellGuy noted, the interface is opaque enough that finding neat stuff to buy on the Paragon Wiki then searching for it is the way to go. Not a ringing endorsement of the platform, but hardly unexpected given the game's history of fumbling the promotional ball. Note to NC- you gotta spend money to make money. Kicking down for a better 'storefront', or putting someone with more marketing savvy in charge of the existing one would pay off handsomely over the long haul.

On the other hand, once I found the stuff I wanted paying for it was a breeze which is a big improvement.


Logged in the Goat and poked around the First Ward zone- couldn't get any missions, but it was an interesting, cool environment.

Ran enough scanners to get a contact in King's Row for Lizardroid, remembered why I always used to street sweep my way past it in the old days when the guy wanted to send me to the Hollows, logged out.

I may actually run the Hollows, I haven't been there since they reworked it....

Okay, leaving the shiny, new Atlas and it's shiny, new content behind and heading to King's Row has been an unpleasant wake up call.

I still love the zone, it's my favorite of all the originals.
But the content..blech!

So, I run my radios to open up a contact. I even did the lame-oh Safeguard mission, more to catch a glimpse of the original Atlas than anything else- with Ninja Run I don't need the temp jetpack. Right off the bat my contact sends me off to chat with a dude in the Hollows.

It's been so long since I touched the Hollows I figure 'oh heck, why not'.
I bop over to Atlas & hoof it to the Hollows...where the guy says "oh hey, this is the Hollows...no missions for you, but thanks for stopping by!"

Gee, thanks for NOTHING.

Back to the contact, which would really bother me if I didn't have my ninja run- hard to believe jogging all over hell and gone on wild goose chases was what passed for 'content' back in the day.

He gives me the opportunity to street sweep for skulls, or do a timed 'kill all' in Atlas. I take the kill all, hoping it'll open up more storyline. Do it, try and call him- oh no such luck, gotta run all the way back. Feh.

Okay, make it back, talk to him, and he offers me......street sweeping for Skulls OR talking to the Perez Park Security Chief.

It's like I took the Back to the Future car to 2005 or something.

I did level at some point, so I'm closing in on ten & the next bit of the Shooting Stars arc- I think I'll talk to the Perez chief then street sweep my way to the next level- I think this guy can handle the spawns.

Some general observations-

the new zone splash screens are nice. Not a jarring departure from the old ones, just....better. Cleaner, more modern, showcasing some of the graphic upgrades. I like 'em.

I'm enjoying Electric Melee, a set I've always wanted to try but never got into. I tried a couple of brutes back in the day, but they didn't stick. This scrapper is a lot of fun- solid single target damage, and already pretty good AoE at level 8, not even counting my Sands of Mu vet power.

the jarring transition from new Atlas to old King's Row makes the already weak older content look worse by comparison- it's like downing a mixed drink after brushing your teeth, just a really rough transition. it's nice that they've added what amounts to an official 'sewer run' PL system so folks in the know can skip past this rough patch, but hopefully they'll be re-working Kings along the lines of Atlas sooner rather than later.

I've written longer posts than that before

I don't want to derail Nethergoat's player diary, especially since there was a recent thread discussing zone revamps (that I can't find at the moment) but one thought on a possible Kings Row revamp:

- extend the range of Atlas Park to level 10, allowing players to transition from it to Steel Canyon or Skyway City
- revamps Kings Row and change its range to level 30-40, filling a much-needed content gap

This shifts the new player experience from shiny new Atlas to not-so-shiny Steel or Skyway, which may not seem like a huge improvement over Atlas -> KR but Steel in particular at least has some new mission arcs in it.

An alternate would be:

- extend Atlas to level 10
- extend/change Kings Row to level 10-20

This would make it easier to preserve the existing flavor of KR (since the villain groups there would not need to be changed as much) but still provide a smooth transition for the player. It would also make KR serve as an alternate to Steel Canyon and Skyway City, giving players more choices.

Okay, back to the grind after an evening off.

So, off to Perez to talk to the security chief and get that wretched 'kill X CoT in Perez!" mish....morbidly amusing that I *still* remember it in spite of switching to CoV exclusively at its release & not having run it since.....wow.

Anyway.
Happily, in the modern world I can take the train to Atlas- while the missions are old and stinky, at least I can make use of structural improvements to the game.

I get the mish, hop into Perez and check things out- wait, there's a HOSPITAL here now? Dang, nice! And I can buy inspirations from the nice lady medic? SWEET!

I load my tray with defenses and head into the woods, looking for a giant spawn- I think my AoE's are good enough to 'arrest' everyone before I my inspirations crap out- let's find out!

Yep!
Also, I'm now certain inspirations are dropping more liberally than I'm used to- took out one big spawn and my insp tray is half full again. Burn them all off and charge into the next spawn- I figure I'll keep this up until they get me, as the hospital is right next to the zone exit.

I wend my way through the trees, avoiding the clockwork, enjoying the new CoT costumes as I apply the beatdown.

Eventually I bite off more than I can chew, but mission complete and I'm about 1/2 a nugget from level 10 and more Twinshot story arc.

Turn in the mish. Check my salvage, remember I have the super cool /ah command and pull up a market window. 30 seconds later, I've sold 6 arcane commons for over 400k, 175k for my two Luck Charms.
Nice to see some things *haven't* changed in my absence!

Finally, something other than street sweeping or kill alls- defeat toothbreaker & bust up his Superadyne operation. Not too far away- bop over with Ninja Run (amazing how much *nicer* this makes the lower levels), level after the second spawn then sprint for the boss before my 'big' inspirations wear off.

Always a pleasure to use Sands of Mu on a Bone Daddy, as I still have bitter memories of the good 'ol days when they'd one-shot you with a Shadow Maul.

Finish the mish, hop over to Blue Steel to level (my favorite trainer by far), pick up Lightning Field- I haven't had a single stamina problem yet, so why not? I love the way it looks and I'm a big fan of damage auras.

Time to log off- I want to save the next Twinshot mish for tomorrow.
I'll mess around with the character creator a bit before bed.

Oh, and I need to post another screen of Lizardroid- for some reason my graphic settings were flatlined in the new install. Bumped them up to 'recommended' and he looks MUCH more stylish.

I don't think my appreciation for the 'new' Perez Park Experience came through quite sufficiently in that last post, so I thought I'd do a compare/contrast with the olden days.

Which, at the time, I was quite fond of!
Getting together a bunch of pals and running laps around the park, battling GIGANTIC spawns, was great fun. Let alone those halcyon days before the aggro cap when sufficiently powerful characters could 'herd' the entire park for a map-clearing nuke.

Even so, PP had its discontents- the maze of forest you inevitably got completely lost in, and trying to do anything, ANYTHING level appropriate while solo. Not to mention that horrific fortune teller mission, always buried deeeep in the forest where you could waste an entire evening just looking for the entrance.

So, if I'd been trying to run last night's mish back in the day I'd have had two choices- get a team together, or ignore the mission and have it take up a slot until I'd out-leveled it and everything was gray- remember, no dropping stuff in the old days, you either finished it or you carried it around your neck like the fabled Albatross of the Ancient Mariner.

This time around the modern amenities of hospital and inspiration vendor made it eminently solo-able. I still got lost in the woods, my new install not having the invaluable Vidiot map pack, but with debt being a non-factor and a hospital right by the gate there was no downside to using the 'fatal teleport' back to civilization.

The only down side to these improvements is providing less incentive to team. But the elimination of SO MUCH potential frustration wipes that out. It seems the game is shifting slightly to the endgame is where the action is model, which even as someone disinclined to spend much time there looks like a positive development.

The 'old' game was full of artificial drags on leveling. Lots of running around, lots of intentionally confusing time sinks (the Perez maze, certain of the mission maps that persist to this day, the organization of the enhancement system for goodness sake!). If the focus on end game power and content systems inspires these sorts of QOL improvments at the lower levels, that's a win even for players who'd just as soon eschew Incarnates and their like entirely.

also, poking around the costume editor last night I happened across something called PATH AURAS.

Very, very nice!
IMHO way cooler than the ever-contentious Power Slide sprint, I have several characters who'll be making use of these if I ever get their slots unlocked. I'm assuming these are Paragon Rewards of some sort- other than collecting all my familiar vet reward stuff I haven't poked around the system much.

My email's clogged with assorted weird things like "enchancement unslotters" and the like, I guess I should find out what they all do...

Okay back after a short hiatus.

Quick question- ran across one of those 'gift card' kiosks at the grocery store today and lo, it had CoH timecards. But the card promised 30 days of VIP access for.....$19.95?

Last time I checked CoH was $14.99?

I picked up a Hulu Plus card a while back and it was exactly one cent less than the online sub price.

What makes NC think they can get away with a five buck convenience fee?


Anyway, back to business.

I noticed one of those ex-Gamestop preorder freebie IOs has a knockdown proc, so I slotted it in my Lightning Field. Knockback procs in AoE's are one of my guilty pleasures- this won't be as hilarious as the Goat's Ragnarok KB in his Rain of Fire, but then what is?

So I ring up Twinshot to keep on with that arc.
They're in shiny new Manticore funded King's Row digs, and when I stop in to check up on Proton the place is swarming with Skulls.

I like the terminal interaction- y'know, I'm realizing it doesn't take that much extra effort to spruce up a completely generic mission. I've done countless 'beat up bad guys, click/destroy glowies' in my CoH career, but the simple addition of a little in-mission story progress made it seem fresh.

The enemies were pretty tough- orange lieutenants & yellow minions. No problem for Lizardroid, but if I were playing a blaster it would have been tedious.

The last glowie was tucked away in one of those intentionally confusing lab rooms, but my Spider Sense is still sharp after a year away and I found it without much trouble.

(One benefit of Ninja Run is using it as a kind of poor hero's stealth to bee-line through missions- it's fast enough that you can zip past most spawns taking scattered or no fire.)

Popped out, called Twinshot and was sent aaaaaaall the way across the zone to have a chat with Dillo.

I logged out there, as things were heating up around the house and I wanted to be able to fully enjoy his dialogue.

Hopefully I'll be able to finish up the arc tonight.

Were you looking at a Game Card instead of a Time Card?

Yeah, the jetpack is 30 days of unlimited flight from level 1, and used to cost five bucks by itself. So you weren't really paying more for anything.

However, the jetpack is now $2.50ish on the market, so you're actually paying an extra $2.50 to get the game card. Looks like they haven't rejiggered the price, and probably won't because that's just a hassle.

Quote:

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.

Back in the saddle!

Last night I ran around King's Row doing some targeted street sweeping- I've always loved jumping around Kings just for the heck of it, and inspired by a thread Sam Tow posted on an old story arc that made him remember why he wanted to play the game I decided to bust up as many muggings/threatenings/CoT sacrifices as I could.

This AM I had some unexpected 'alone time'- I got up at my now traditional 7am, but my son was still inexplicably asleep. I set his Easter Basket out for discovery, made a cup of coffee & fired up CoH.

I managed to finish the second Twinshot arc before he rousted me to witness the anarchy of jellybeans & beheading of the chocolate lambs, and it was fun.

An upgrade I liked was persistent waypoints- I took a few unlucky hits against the final spawn in Manticore's Mansion, hit the hospital and was not looking forward to wending my way back across the entire map. But lo, I popped in and was greeted by convinient waypoints steering me in the right direction.
Quite nice.

One of my tricks for skating through the lower levels is to stock up on Medium defense inspirations on the market- price is usually no object for my characters, but sometimes the annoyance of running to the market to check bids means I don't bother, and then mishaps like dying in the final room happen.

But of course NOW I have the portable market window, which I had totally forgotten about until dying. Never again need I head into a mission without a full compliment of big inspirations, whoohoo!

Tried pulling it up inside the mish and no dice- which makes sense from a balance standpoint.

The final mission was really fun, running around destroyed Galaxy City, stumbling across Maelstrom & mulching praetorian Clockwork. The enemy supervillains seem to have had quite a bit more thought put into their design than usual, which I appreciated.

I don't get the next installment until level 14, which isn't bad as I ding'ed 12 with a little street sweeping after the mission.

I headed over to the University to run the invention tutorial & pick up the badge, and found one more small annoyance of being FTP- no mission complete button. I reflexively tried to autocomplete the 'create an IO' mish so I could sell the Luck Charm, but the button was blanked out.

Oh well!

Finished that off, then picked up the Midnighter arc before logging off- that should get me to 14 or near enough.

Differences from the olden days:

inherent stamina is a huge improvement. It was around before I left, but at that point I was mainly playing my high level characters and hadn't bothered to respec any of them- this is my first time playing a new character with the new system.

Not only am I not running out of end every other spawn, but between inherent stamina & Ninja Run I've been able to take pretty much everything useful in my primary and secondary as it comes up- no deciding what to skip or having to make do with a weak attack chain because I have to get everything set up for a travel power and stamina.

It's really nice, having enough attacks without having to rely on vet powers.

oh, and from a money/outfitting stand point:


Lizardroid's bankroll topped out at a bit over $1,000,000, mostly from selling his big green insp from the tutorial and unloading a bunch of arcane commons from running missions.

Right now, after kitting out with level 15 generic IOs & spending profligately on stacks of medium defense inspirations, he has roughly 400k in the bank.

This is without "buying smart" on anything- I just found what I wanted and bid what I thought would get it for me without excessive typing- bid creeping is for ridiculously expensive stuff & losers, in that order. I also have standing bids on a couple of ten-stacks of medium defenses so I won't run out.

In my last couple of missions I was reminded of the awful feeling of getting the great orange RARE SALVAGE! & RARE RECIPE! alerts, then remembering "oh wait, I'm level nothing." Drives me nuts!

The rare salvage I actually sold for 11k, which was amazing- is there some kind of new market mechanism that would inspire people to buy up junk like this? I had no such luck with my level 11 Snipe recipe- ah well!

I might engage in some minor flipping, just for some spending money- I see in the market forum some misguided altruist has been trying to "crash" the price of luck charms, which smells like opportunity to me. =P

Just as an aside, the villains you faced in the Galaxy mission are the team from Dr. Graves's arc. He's the Red Side equivalent to Twinshot. I definitely prefer Twinshot's arc over his (Graves constantly insulting my characters got a bit tedious after a while, though his dialog does have funny moments).