50+10? Abandoned or still planned?
No, it did not meet your expectations, and apparently the OPs and GuyPerfect's. Are you representative of "a lot of" players? How do you know? Perhaps people I play with just don't talk about it, but I don't find your expectations to be something I hear mentioned by others in game, which leads me to question that assertion.
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These shifted enemies give EXACTLY the same rewards as a regular 54, yet they get a few purple patch levels over us to extend the fight while we get an extra 2 levels that ONLY work while fighting enemies that have various buffs designed to make them more like Elite Bosses than bosses (Like ISF Commanders and their massive debuff resistance and damage resistance to everything, and the DUST mobs with massive +Accuracy to ensure splash damage).
Our Shifts make the first three trials fairly trivial (Though my non-melee toons cry foul that they can be soloed by a boss if they cant apply a Mag 4 mez instantly), but the later trials give marginally better rewards (the Magisterium in particular is a waste of time if you fail - you only get Astrals upon completion), for a much greater investment of time and energy (those incarnate shifts are all but MANDATORY for a player to contribute).
In the end it feels like we only got ONE shift - mostly because the Alpha shift is the only one that works outside of trials - even Apex and Tin Mage don't let you bring your shifts from Lore/Destiny. Most of the mobs give almost nothing drop wise, have marginally better rewards than fighting 52s, and what are we left with? Shifts that can only be used to get more shifts, and even then only two for more than a year.
I don't feel like I'm a level 50+3 Incarnate of great power. I feel like I'm a level 50 fighting level 54s because the mobs have been designed to act that way even with my 3 level shifts. In fact, the ONLY real thing I noticed when I got my two incarnate shifts was that there were oranges and yellows in the BAF and Lambda. The numbers didn't really change all that much - my Fire Blaster could fire his attack chain at a Boss for an eternity and it STILL WOULDN'T DROP. Even though I was 50+3 and it was 54. Why? Because it had 50% Resistance to everything.
If I don't FEEL like I'm getting stronger, I'm not. Perception > Reality for me.
Deamus the Fallen - 50 DM/EA Brute - Lib
Dragos Bahtiam - 50 Fire/Ice Blaster - Lib
/facepalm - Apply Directly to the Forehead!
Formally Dragos_Bahtiam - Abbreviate to DSL - Warning, may contain sarcasm
Well, from my perspective you have a myopic view of "moving forward". That's not meant as a dig, though I think I probably can't avoid it sounding that way. But my reason for saying that is that I feel my characters are more powerful in an unqualified way. Outside of DA, they can survive higher difficulty settings beyond just moving the levels by +1. So if I was on 52/x6 before, now I'm often on 54/x6 or even 54/x8.
Inside DA, I am very, very sure I could not survive foes like the BP (and sometimes the Talons of Vengeance) at the settings I am on (again, 54/x6-x8) without my +3 shifts. In fact I am not sure I could survive BP that were +3 to me even if they didn't have +14% to hit me.
So, to me, the "progress" is real and perceivable, and directly related to my additional Incarnate powers.
Also, I don't understand your claim regarding foes with 50% resistance. No matter what resistance the foe has to you, if that foe is 54, the difference in being 50+3 and being 50+1 is that a 50+3 deals 38% more damage. That's not inconsiderable, and I definitely notice that difference on my characters. Is the problem here more Blaster-centric, where even such a large difference in DPS isn't enough to keep you alive because of lack of mitigation?
Blue
American Steele: 50 BS/Inv
Nightfall: 50 DDD
Sable Slayer: 50 DM/Rgn
Fortune's Shadow: 50 Dark/Psi
WinterStrike: 47 Ice/Dev
Quantum Well: 43 Inv/EM
Twilit Destiny: 43 MA/DA
Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
Final Rest: 50 MA/Rgn
Abyssal Frost: 50 Ice/Dark
Golden Ember: 50 SM/FA
I'm not sure what tests you're referring to, but that's not how the GM code works. The GM code neutralizes combat modifiers. Its the critter equivalent to the IgnoresCombatModifiers switch for attribmods. If you saw anything other than a disabling of combat modifiers, I would /bug it. If the Halloween GMs actually work in the way you describe, that would require completely new mechanics just for them, unless the zone imposed a level 30 level on all the players. There's just no way for an enemy to treat an attacker that way that I'm aware of.
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No, they're not. You can go on them all you want. You just suck real bad. Your rewards are exactly the same, though, which wouldn't be the case if you were -8.
Actual levels make it strictly impossible to attend, period. |
Emperor Cole's Incarnate Control -Combat Levels Emperor Cole's control over the forces of the Incarnate are preventing every hero, villain or in-between from utilizing their full strength. This is effectively causing you to fight at four combat levels lower than you actually are. Only those who have embarked on the path of the Incarnate and are utilizing an Alpha Incarnate ability are immune to the effect and fight at full strength. |
- Does the character have the Alpha slot unlocked?
- If no, trial cannot start.
- If yes, proceed.
- Does the character have the Alpha slot slotted?
- If no, apply Emperor Cole's Incarnate Control.
- If yes, do not apply debuff.
Were that true, I find actually find it very unlikely that the Magisterium trial would be gated purely on having Lore and Destiny unlocked, instead of slotted. Unlocking them gives you a badge, which is something that gates access.
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No, it did not meet your expectations, and apparently the OPs and GuyPerfect's. Are you representative of "a lot of" players? How do you know? Perhaps people I play with just don't talk about it, but I don't find your expectations to be something I hear mentioned by others in game, which leads me to question that assertion.
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![](http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g151/vg-mmorpg/ForumAvatars/SnowGlobe_sigprotest_zps7dee0180.png)
Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters
You posted an immense chunk of that post apparently correcting me when I said what you did. You can go on the trial without the slot slotted. That's what I said.
Edit: Here's what I was responding to.
Actually, you're wrong about that. Apex & Tin Mage are good examples of providing access to content based on incarnate slotting |
Blue
American Steele: 50 BS/Inv
Nightfall: 50 DDD
Sable Slayer: 50 DM/Rgn
Fortune's Shadow: 50 Dark/Psi
WinterStrike: 47 Ice/Dev
Quantum Well: 43 Inv/EM
Twilit Destiny: 43 MA/DA
Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
Final Rest: 50 MA/Rgn
Abyssal Frost: 50 Ice/Dark
Golden Ember: 50 SM/FA
You posted an immense chunk of that post apparently correcting me when I said what you did. You can go on the trial without the slot slotted. That's what I said.
Edit: Here's what I was responding to. You aren't barred from going on the trial without that slot filled. You're barred based on whether it's unlocked. Slotting doesn't provide access. Unlocking does. |
![](http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g151/vg-mmorpg/ForumAvatars/snowglobesig.png)
![](http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g151/vg-mmorpg/ForumAvatars/SnowGlobe_sigprotest_zps7dee0180.png)
Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters
![Smile](images/smilies/smile.gif)
![Smile](images/smilies/smile.gif)
Let's Dance!
![Wink](images/smilies/wink.gif)
Now let's keep things that way.
EDIT: (Reads the rest of the thread) Darnet. Zombie Man! You beat me to the punch.
Raid Leader of Task Force Vendetta "Steel 70", who defeated the first nine Drop Ships in the Second Rikti War.
70 Heroes, 9 Drop Ships, 7 Minutes. The Aliens never knew what hit them.
Now soloing: GM-Class enemy Adamaster, with a Tanker!
Here's my problem with most of the Level/Incarnate shifts - we aren't actually moving forward.
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But I digress. I personally see Level Shifts by themselves as an awesome idea to emulate exponential power gains without outdating content - but when applied only to PLAYERS. When you start applying them to enemies as well, you merely invite the concept of palette swaps - another no-no in efforts to maintain the illusion of progress. I also need not remind everyone of the rock-throwing civies in the TPN trial. Besides, NPCs have already had the benefits of level-shifting (up to level 54, as the standard is level 50), so adding more just neutralizes our own progress.
In addendum, more powerful or upgraded enemies also deserve upgraded graphical representations, or at least a power makeover like what we've seen in SSA 2.1. Several existing iTrials notoriously missed this and had us fighting upgraded Warworks with no discernible visual queues for their power enhancement (and please don't get me started on that "Cole powered them up" excuse; it's paper-thin at best).
Raid Leader of Task Force Vendetta "Steel 70", who defeated the first nine Drop Ships in the Second Rikti War.
70 Heroes, 9 Drop Ships, 7 Minutes. The Aliens never knew what hit them.
Now soloing: GM-Class enemy Adamaster, with a Tanker!
Actual levels make it strictly impossible to attent, period.
*snip*
And that doesn't meet a lot of players expectations as to "level shift".
Blue
American Steele: 50 BS/Inv
Nightfall: 50 DDD
Sable Slayer: 50 DM/Rgn
Fortune's Shadow: 50 Dark/Psi
WinterStrike: 47 Ice/Dev
Quantum Well: 43 Inv/EM
Twilit Destiny: 43 MA/DA
Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
Final Rest: 50 MA/Rgn
Abyssal Frost: 50 Ice/Dark
Golden Ember: 50 SM/FA