[Many of the TFs and SFs need Updating. Can we do this?]

6 hours ago, SuggestorK said:

 

I believe he means Numina TF mainly, in this TF you have many many Hunts and for most of em u get zero XP cause theyre just grey, only the last 2 Hunts in Founders/Eden can grant XP's.

 

And yes its a tour through the whole city that existed when Numina TF was Created for Launch and Maximum Level was 40 so basically a goodbye tour, that is the reason Croatoa as example is not part of it or Striga/Hollows, Peregrine Island....

Yes, Numina is the worst offender in that regard. I think there are something like a dozen 'Hunt X' missions involved.

 

I'd simply like all of the TFs and SFs t be as fun as the ones that people are always starting. I hear calls for ITF and Posis daily and I don't play every day. Most of the others are either a special kind of team started for fun (like the 'All MM' team or the 'All Controller' team) or people are getting badges or it's the WTF and they're going for the double Merits. Many of the TFs and SFs take so long that players have developed tricks to shorten them. Why would they do that unless they'd gotten tired of trying to run through Quarterfield the long way?

 

There is a fine line between Challenge and Tedium. I'd like more of the game content to be the former and not the latter. 

[Carnies Should Drop Bonus XP]

4 hours ago, Six-Six said:

I'm trying to read between the lines here, so forgive me if I'm way off. But it seems you've found your nemesis in Carnies. It sounds to me they're giving you a harder time (more than other foes at least) and therefore wish to get extra compensation for your efforts.

1) I personally don't think XP is a big issue. The P2W lady and I have long been on non-speaking terms; and on regular XP gain, I still get enough XP to the point that I have to turn XP off every now and then as not to out-level certain contacts. Also, Carnies (on redside) appear around mid-30s. at that level, a few hundred additional XP from the summons in question would be negligible.

2) Decoys ARE annoying, but I believe they're there for a purpose. Even when the summoner dies, they linger, but they don't really follow you much. I think they're there to throw a monkey wrench on you target_nearest_enemy_alive macro or your tab targeting. They shouldn't bother you if you're paying attention to what your hitting.

3) Illusionists are vulnerable to holds and stuns/disorient. knock em silly and take em down with ease. Another way, if your hold wasn't blessed by the RNG gods, is to take note of their dress colour. Their summons will have different dress colours so you can identify the original and take them down. IIRC, you can ignore the summons and they vanish after a while. Also if they do get to phase, it doesn't last long and then they dish a weak attack that's a tell tale giveaway that they're vulnerable again (like Fake Nemesis and his giant popsicle stick).

For you it might be Illusionists. For another bloke, it may be the the Seneschals or Ring Mistresses... or Devouring Earth Sentries and their Cairns... or Sappers, Rikty Monkeys, or something. Just think of it as a weakness of your particular toon. The weaker you are against it, the more satisfaction you get when you overcome it.

I play way too many characters of all stripes to worry about a nemesis. One of the reasons I'd like Illusionists (and Warwolves but that's another thread) is that I'd like for them to not be SO annoying that teams want to skip them. I like playing the content...just about ALL of the content...because in many cases there's some good story in there. However, we currently have some enemy types that are SO egregious that random teams actively avoid them. Nobody likes Arachnos because of the everlasting Blind effects. Nobody likes Malta because of the Sappers. Nobody likes Paragon Protectors because (as far as I know) they still use the OG 2-minute MoG. Since Homecoming I've discovered that all of my old teammates are gone and many of the new ones just want to race to 50. I'd like for the outlying enemies that everyone mentally rolls their eyes at to be more fun and less tedious to fight so teams stop skipping them.

 

A look at game data would likely reveal that the single least-chosen group of powers is the one that renders the target Untouchable for a certain amount of time. Many of us have been trying to get this altered since the game was Live. It's all about player agency. We don't care if we have to hammer on an enemy for ten minutes to defeat them as long as we see a few of the little numbers appear. But show a team the 'Unaffected' marker and let the groans commence. If a player uses such a power on enemies, you can be sure that eventually someone will ask them to stop because it keeps everyone from actually affecting the target.

 

Everyone encounters enemies that they either have a tough time with or simply can't defeat solo. That's part of how the game is designed. But when a whole team is reduced to 'well she's immaterial...guess we'd better stand around and chat' then that kills the vibe. The Carnies, as a group, are fine...I simply think that because the Illusionists are so predicated on Summoned pets and defeating those pets grants no xp, I think that there should be some incentive to actually fight them. 

[Carnies Should Drop Bonus XP]

53 minutes ago, Aurora_Girl said:

No. We already had this conversation about summoned enemy things 15 years ago. No mas.  Something about how the decoys work, maybe fix the despawn on defeat part sure. 

 

Also who the hell are you and why are you necro-ing the entire board?

Just a concerned player back after a long hiatus ma'am.

[I Want to Thank the Devs for Blasters]

My first ever character in CoH Live was a Blaster. CoH was my first MMO and I had NO idea what I was doing and by the time I was level 20 I think I had all of my Debt badges. Blasting was HARD back then.

 

Blasting now is a joy. Most of the sets feel different to play so it doesn't get boring. The changes to the Secondaries have helped a ton and now Blasters are among my top 3 ATs...right up there with Brutes and MMs.

 

Thanks for listening and working so hard to make Blasters fun!

[Can We PLEASE Dispense With the Dancing Warwolves?]

12 minutes ago, Lazarillo said:

I don't think there is, inherently, anything wrong with Warwolves being immune to Slow and Immobilize effects.  And they're hardly the only enemies immune to certain effects; getting around such things is part of intended strategies.  There is, however, some great deal of annoyance that stems with how they seem to be programmed to deliberately run as far as they can if hit with powers that cause such effects, though.  That's probably unnecessary, but digging so deeply into the AI programming might not be viable.

The programming aspect is a valid point but I would at least like to see the topic reviewed. I've never seen another group behave this way when being affected by powers that are intended to do the opposite.

[Pet Upgrade Powers]

12 minutes ago, Arbegla said:

I mean, MMs still have their secondary to fall back on in Incarnate Trials and the first phase of the MSR.

 

Having said that, the MM build I have can actually solo the MSR herself, so who needs a league when you can just do it?

And as I said before, I'm willing to bet folding money that you're in the minority.

 

As for the first bit...'MMs have their secondary to fall back on...' that's nice. So I create my character and then a good portion of its power is stripped away during certain missions or TFs? That sounds like loads of fun. I might suggest that Doms would enjoy this too. Just eliminate 2-4 powers from their primary the next time they do certain missions.

 

I sense pitchforks and torches in your future...

[Many of the TFs and SFs need Updating. Can we do this?]

The new Posi 1 and 2 TFs are among the most fun in the game. Nothing like the slog that was the original Posi TF back in the day.

 

The ITF is quite possibly THE most fun I can have in a group with my clothes on and no controlled substances involved. I think that a review of the data would reveal that it's among the top most-played TFs in the game.

 

And yet many are played once for a badge or accolade, a few times when they come up as the WTF, and that it. After playing MANY of them, I think I know why.

 

1) Many of the TFs involve travel to different zones. Not different instances within a common zone (like the ITF) but rather travel from one zone to another. This is less odious now that loading times are greatly improved and Movement Powers are available much sooner but the fact remains that a significant portion of the time it takes to run a TF is consumed by simply moving from zone to zone.

 

2) Fetch quests. How many of the TFs include a 'go here and defeat 20-30 of X group?' Oh, by the way, said group cons gray in many of the zones you'll find them in so you're gaining NO reward for defeating them. Wow...a time-sink built into an MMO? Seriously?

 

3) The sheer number of missions can be daunting. I read somewhere that when the game was first envisioned, the TFs were designed to be done over the course of several session if necessary. That's why you don't get kicked if you log off and don't finish. The idea was that you could pick it up later. Sadly, almost nobody plays this way any the normal group for a TF is whoever responds when the hail is put forth on the LFG channel. IMHO several of the longer TFs would be greatly improved if they received the same treatment as the OG POsi and cut them into more manageable pieces.

 

I'm not suggesting that the TF rewards be increased, nor that they be made less challenging...simply less tedious.

[Can We PLEASE Dispense With the Dancing Warwolves?]

Back on Live it was discovered that some players were farming Warwolves for the relevant badge. I'm not sure why this particular group was singled out but whatever. Back then, the Devs decided in their infinite wisdom to fix the problem by making Warwolves virtually impossible to Slow by any means.

 

Now that we're in the Sunset phase of the game and it's no longer run by money-hungry corporate overlords, can we PLEASE turn this off? It makes me crazy that an entire effect type of the game (Slows, not sure about Immobs and Holds) are ineffective against this one type of enemy.

 

Who cares if the badge gets farmed anyway? What difference does it make now?

[Require Two Level 50 Characters to Get XP in AE]

For what purpose? Why should they do this at all? What are you trying to improve or accomplish?

[Carnies Should Drop Bonus XP]

The xp system in the game is based on a typical risk/reward metric where tougher opponents (usually measured by the Diff level) grant larger rewards. IMHO the Carnies, specifically the Illusionists, do not follow the normal benchmarks because with their Summoning abilities, you might wind up fighting twice as many opponents and the Summoned ones don't count for xp.

 

I have several suggestions as to how to remedy this:

1) Make the Summoned pets worth some xp. Not enough to rate farming them, but SOMETHING.

2) Make the Decoy pets vanish as soon as the Summoner is defeated. As it stands, the Decoy pets can remain after their creator is gone. No bueno.

3) Enable Illusionists to take SOME damage while in their Phased form. Right now they're immune to damage and this has got to be the most frustrating thing in the game. I don't care if they have 75% Damage Reduction...they should take SOME damage to enable the players to feel like they're doing something other than standing around waiting for the enemies to reappear.

 

If none of these suggestions (or others) are adopted, I think Carny Illusionists should grant more reward when they're defeated.

[I've got a bone to pick with you... Adjusting Spines for the modern day.]

1 hour ago, Lazarillo said:

That was actually fixed in the late days of the game's original lifetime.  Barb Swipe used to do the berserker-ish animation, but it does not anymore (except when enemies use it). Now if only we could have an alternate, at least, for Spine Burst...

Dammit, George...now I need to go and make one! LOL!

[Pet Upgrade Powers]

3 minutes ago, Arbegla said:

I think the first thing they could do is change the power to a PBAoE power, instead of a targetted AoE, so you can use the upgrade without having to select your pets, and therefore don't need to wait until they spawn completely. Adding anything else to it, might require a rework of the entire AT, as MMs can get very powerful with the right slotting and skillset.

As powerful as any character can get with the right build, my concern is for the majority of the player base. I wonder if it's possible to see how many players actually use set enhancements and Hami-Os? Hmm.

 

My point is that just because YOU know how to set up the ultimate MM build does not make that the norm.

 

I have two pages of MMs and I never bother to bring them to some of the Incarnate trials because as I said before, most of them simply die. Without Group Fly, they're also useless for the first phase of the MSR.

[Name Release System]

When I saw 1000 character slots available I thought 'Challenge Accepted!" and I now have 1-2 pages of each AT. Many of these are under lvl 10. I would be more than willing to have them taken if I haven't logged in for 6 months or more. Once you hit double-digits, the name is yours IMHO.

[Can We Get Rid of Aggro Cap?]

If I may make a suggestion: Make this one of those 'runs long enough for one mission then has a 15 min cooldown' things. That way, if you have just the right team, just the right map, your favorite enemies etc...go ham with it. However, I would NOT want to see the 'good ol days' where you could aggro a whole map return for the same reason I don't want the game to return to the pre-ED days.

[AT Suggestion: Subjugator]

On 12/8/2021 at 6:32 AM, Aurora_Girl said:

And a character where all you do is walk into a mission and let your pets kill everything? No thanks. That sounds positively absurd. 

My Bot/Force Field MM does the Clipboard emote in the middle of battle and says 'Hurm...interesting data...' now. In many cases, you buff your pets and they kill everything NOW!

[Pet Upgrade Powers]

Not sure if this is the right way to go, but I sure would like to see my MMs get some love. In many cases my T1 and T2 pets aren't worth summoning because they die so fast.

[Sentinel QoL]

Let me begin by begging everyone to stay on-point as I just discovered the 8-page Sent thread locked for straying off-topic.

 

That being said, I do agree that Sents need a role to fill within the party. They don't do DPS like Brutes or Scrappers, they can't hold aggro like Tanks, they don't do ranged DPS like Blasters and they don't have Controls other than the soft kind. They're cool but they don't do anything really well.

 

One of the suggestions I saw on the other thread dealt with the Inherent being changed to inflict more damage and/or debuffs the more enemies were in front of them. It sounded like something worth looking into at least.

 

I would rather see the Sent's Inherent changed rather than trying to alter the various powersets etc. It seems to be less work and more continuity if we start with the Inherent.

 

The definition of the word Sentinel is 'a guard or soldier who watches over others or possibly guards a place.' The Defender Inherent Vigilance grants them an End discount when their team begins to lose Health. What about altering Opportunity so that Sents do more ST damage when solo but more AoE damage the bigger their team? That way solo players aren't punished with lower damage but the Sent gains a distinct role as an AoE specialist on big teams.

[I've got a bone to pick with you... Adjusting Spines for the modern day.]

+1 on the No Redraw suggestion but I have only one other complaint about the set: The manic wavy-hand animation for the T2 (I think) power. That one animation keeps me from playing this set...like ever.

 

Fix the redraw and PLEASE for the love of God and your own bodies fix that one animation.

[Faraday Cage: Show Us On the Doll Where it Hurt You, Devs!]

As someone who frequently does the MSR, let me please say do NOT touch our Faraday Cage! It is by far one of the best powers for any sort of 'stand here and fight' situation! Please try and avoid the 'all sets must be so homogenized that they're essentially the same' issue that Champions Online had!

[Necromancy>Soul Extraction]

Not sure which way I'd like the power to go, but it's a hard skip for me right now. In a typical MM battle I'm way too busy to be trying to pick out a body to target with things like this.

 

I sure wouldn't mind it being improved somehow.

[Premade editable bases]

I suggested this on Live a couple of times:

 

Remember those really HUGE bases we had to clear out Redside? I think most of them were Arachnos? My suggestion was to award the base as part of the prize for finishing an arc where the base was the final battleground. Please hear me out:

 

So we have three story arcs (I hope this isn't going to be insane to code), One at lvl 20, one at 30-35 and one at 50 (to give the 50s another thing to do). At the end of each one, there is a base that needs to be cleared of enemies. Once the arc is completed, the Team-lead at the end of the arc is awarded the base as part of the reward. The lvl 20 base would be smaller and less well-decorated, the 30-35 one would be middle of the road and the 50 one would be as grand as we can envision it.

 

BEST PART: You host a base-building contest for the end-reward bases! This way the Devs don't have to waste tons of time creating the bases, the players get involved, and you can even have tours before the arc goes live. There should also be a choice at the end of the first two arcs where the leader can refuse the base. That way they can play the arcs without being locked into the smaller base. There would be badges for all of this of course because some player love their bling.

 

After they win the base the owner can redecorate them however they like. If the coding isn't too harsh and the playerbase does well on the base design end, there might be choices of bases.

[Extra power slots idea]

With what we can do now with Incarnates and Crafting? Hard No.

[P2W Vendor: Level 50 Ticket (Cost: 20 Million Influence)]

I'm going to remind everyone that this game, officially, is free to play. People make donations to keep the servers on but if I understand the terms of use the HC Devs are NOT allowed to earn a profit doing this.

 

That being said...most of the reasons why the 'instant 50' idea was bad existed on Live and they were bad because CoX was a for-profit venture. This is no longer the case.

 

I'd also like to point out from my own person opinion that I strongly dislike absolutes. They're often unnecessary and what's worse when they get overturned later and the world DOESN'T stop turning the people who screamed about the sky falling look pretty silly. Many of you do NOT need to be reminded of the Dark Days under Jack Emmert and his list of absolutes. 'The players should NEVER seen the numbers behind their powers!" was one of my faves. Once he was gone, the Devs let us see the numbers and guess what? Many of the powers were BROKEN! I'm sure many of you can cite many more such situations.

 

So saying 'we should NEVER have an instant 50 feature' makes some of you look a bit paranoid. Sure, we don't want EVERYONE to take EVERY toon to 50 right away or else who will the new players play with? However, before you go painting the world in black and white, think about WHY this was always a bad idea and understand that most of that reasoning is GONE.

 

If every player were allowed to make one 50 after getting another character to 50 (the way Khelds and VEATs used to be), what would it harm? No, we should NOT sell this is any way or it will be abused. No, we should NOT gate this behind any sort of rare accolade or obscure badge. All of that is crap. When a player reaches their first 50 on an account, they're awarded one free token tradable at the Merit Vendor for one free boost of another character from 1 to 50. Once per account, ever, period.

 

As has been noted many times above, a new toon can be PL'd from 1-50 in a few hours. But what about the players who don't do that? WHat about everyone that simply PLAYS THE GAME? Wouldn't ONE free 50 be a nice reward for them? PLers and farmers won't care because the free 50 will be one in a stable of dozens if not hundreds. But that one person who played the game, with no PLing or free rides of any kind...now THAT player is going to look at such a reward and think 'Yeah...I WORKED for that!'

 

How about we reward the NORMAL, non-Marketeering, non-PLing players for once?

[Characters that work for RP]

On 12/17/2021 at 12:11 AM, jkwak said:

you can but there should be a reason why they are weak,

i play a character who is a incredible old spell caster, why did the character start on level 1 and why is the character not a good fighter, well because she never even concidered learning any combat related magic and rather focused on magic to make her every day life easier or magic that works well for a party trick.

a Goddes might be weak because she is not attuned to the mortal realm, she might be immortal but "killing" her would send her back to the realm of of gods where she would have to wait a 100 years to get another chance to move to the mortal realm. Master psionic? sure maybe old, retired and not as strong as they used to be "back in my prime i could have melted your brain for that thought, at least i can give you a mild headache" that actually gives me a character idea

This is a wonderful way for characters in some RPGs to explain how their characters are ancient but not powerful. Vampire, the Masquerade it a good example. If your character has been awake and active for 400 years, why are they still an intro-level punk? Easy...they weren't active. Some enemy stabbed them and threw them in a hole for 350 years and their powers waned. It happens in comics all the time as well.

 

The best part about this is the RP opportunities. Say you're running a Tank or Brute who used to be mega-powerful but is now lvl 20 or so. The SG wants to go do some high-threat work. You assume that you're still as invincible as before and jump right in...and get crushed. Boom...plot thread and RP opportunity. "Well...I guess that Zeta-Ray I got zapped with at Dr Evil's lair took more out of me than I thought!" Now you can RP going from the powerful (and maybe a little arrogant?) leader to a more humble member of the team...relying on others to help.

[Map Clipping in PI Police Station]

On several occasions I've gone into the police station in PI to speak with the Mission cop and found myself clipping into the floor. Reloading does not seem to fix it. This only affects character touching the ground. Hover and Fly seem to prevent the issue.