Luminara

Again, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that there are levels of challenge that you're not addressing, in sub-optimal character builds. Not SO-only builds, or no purple builds, but actual, real, playable builds which are unique or unusual in some way. I built my sentinel as a dual purpose ranged/melee character. My standard attack chain is Stunning Shot/Fistful of Arrows/Blazing Arrow, and I have Rain of Arrows if I need it. I also have a complete, fully functional melee attack chain, Cross Punch/Air Superiority/Sting of the Wasp, with The Lotus Drops when I want to use it. This is not a normal sentinel build. This is not a +4/x8 build. This build has three purple sets and a Winter set, both ATO sets, more unique IOs than I can shake a stick at... but it's still a sub-optimal build. Do you know what else it is? Rewarding. I made this. I walked the miles, I earned the levels, I made it to 50 and I kitted her out with all of the shiniest enhancements (starting at level 7). She's fun to play, even if she's not a patch on my Staff/Willpower brute, and I feel a great sense of personal gratification when I log in with her. So what if I'll never have all of the badges. So what if I can't solo an AV with her. So what. I still did something that made me feel good. I took a theoretically purely ranged character and added melee combat to it, and I made it work well enough to be enjoyable to play. This is the challenge in the game. This is where the reward is. This is what I want to share with you. You can feel like you've accomplished something with this, even if there's no badge for it. There are potentially dozens, maybe even hundreds of ways to do this. The game has challenge everywhere, and none of it is self-imposed, it's inherent in the little things like archetype modifiers and role expectations, and meeting those challenges, beating them to a bloody pulp with your brain, that's immensely rewarding. I did not say that . 😛 We all find our own modes of gratification, I understand that, but I'm trying to help you find one, not abuse you. And, you should know me well enough by now, I don't accept defeat. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, I accept it, embrace it as a chance to learn something, and move on, but I am never defeated. No power in the 'verse can stop me. And I'm explaining to you that I know where other gates are, if you're willing to explore them. We can explore them together (if you're on in the middle of the night. sorry, but prepaid Verizon data doesn't work for MMORPGs unless it's after 2 a.m.), or we can talk about them, or we can just move on. Up to you. I'm here for you if you want to take that journey, though.

No, I'm arguing that personal fulfillment shouldn't be something one expects from the predefined rewards within the game. Personal fulfillment comes from meeting one's own goals and feeling rewarded for that, not from meeting someone else's goals and being rewarded. Game rewards can never fill the same role as personal rewards. Enjoying what one has accomplished for one's own satisfaction, not for a shiny digital representation of a developer saying "Good job". What we get from the game, intellectually, emotionally, not what the game offers us in rewards. And "new" content is only so new, since it's only new within the context of that specific game, and what newness it offers fades rapidly. This isn't a model for retention, nor for player happiness. Both have to come from giving players more than shinies. They have to come from giving players a sense of personal gratification, from them having more emotional investment in the game and feeling a sense of inner reward when they do things. The fulfillment of in-game rewards is fleeting. The fulfillment of setting our own goals and achieving them is permanent. I know what the topic is, thanks. I did. If you're asking why I'm not discussing pharmaceutical moderation of brain chemistry, or therapeutic methods, or something similar, because I'm not dragging the topic off in that direction. I'm responding to your points and keeping the discussion relevant to the topic, how various game rewards and content are valued and how they might be used. Okay.

Why do the shinies matter? If it's just getting them, you can still do that. You can do the cape and aura missions, you can get Task Force Commander the old-fashioned way, you can go to Cimerora and earn the costume parts before selecting them, you can wait for the holiday events and grind for the special things. If it's because they used to be behind a gate, and you could show people that you'd passed through that gate, you're losing nothing there, either. It doesn't matter if they recognize it or not, you know you did the work to earn them, and you're the only one who matters when it comes to that. If it's a sense of elitism, of having something that others don't have or can't acquire... well, I know you're a better person than that. I know you are. And I'm not going to stop, if this is the reason, because I like you and respect you, and I refuse to accept that you're just looking for a way to stand above others. I see more than that in you and I'm not sorry for trying to make you see it, too. So what is it? What makes gates so important to you? That's something you have yet to explain.

Short-term neurotransmitter increases don't fix mental illness. The high doesn't last. That's why it's a high, not a cure. And that's exactly why it's relevant to the topic. There are a limited number of badges, and adding more doesn't increase that number to ∞. Missions, story arcs, *Fs, they last a finite amount of time and can be run only so many times before they become actions performed by rote. Costume parts and special titles don't give the same thrill when they're acquired for the tenth or fiftieth or hundredth time. But personal gratification, achieving something that you set out to do and because you wanted to do it, not because someone offered you a shiny, that's long-term. Doing things for ourselves, not to get attention or show off or be recognized in some way, is what makes us feel truly happy with ourselves, and a game which allows us to feel happy with ourselves has a lot more going for its retention than a game with 6 hours of gameplay added every few months. Long-term mental health comes from stable, consistent dopamine levels. So does long-term player retention, i.e. falling in love with the game, not having a passing crush or brief craving for it. I addressed all of your points. An allusion doesn't specifically mention the subject. You didn't allude to depression as a comparison to player satisfaction or retention, you used it as an example and segued into why more "stuff" should be added. As I just said, I addressed all of your points. If you don't like being contradicted when you're unclear in your intent, be clear.

Make your own accomplishment rewards. Taking that sub-optimal character to 50 and letting people see how awesome you are, what an accomplished and knowledgeable player you are, is no less a reward than a badge or a cape or a title.

That's not toxic, and anyone who labels it as such has never actually encountered toxic behavior. @EmmySky couldn't be toxic if she tried, and her point is valid and honest. If someone has to be talked into playing, even by themselves, they're not really interested in playing anyway, and a token in a video game isn't going to help them feel better for more than the length of time it takes to get that token. Then they're right back in the stew pot. They don't need to be encouraged to play, they need to be encouraged to root out the reason they're depressed and address it, and they need to be encouraged to find things that make them happy for what they represent to them, not what they represent to others. Personal gratification, not gold stars.

Temporarily, within the context of the discussion, that being in a video game, and potentially to the detriment of finding long-term ways to overcome their mental state. A carrot on a stick doesn't fix depression. A short-term goal doesn't fix depression. A gold star doesn't fix depression. A video game doesn't fix depression, it distracts the player from the problems which cause their suffering. A distraction isn't a cure. A pat on the back isn't what everyone needs when they're depressed. Sometimes it's the opposite of what they need. Motivation has to come from within, and yes, it can be encouraged, but that doesn't solve the problems they're having. The game has finite rewards. Every game has finite rewards. Expecting an infinite supply of rewards, motivations, pats on the back, is pointless because it's impossible. And relying on finite rewards to "fix" depression is guaranteed to fail. One has to find personal gratification within the structure of a game, an inner need to continue playing, in order for it to be fulfilling, and unless it's fulfilling, it's not helping, it's just providing a delay in dealing with the problems which caused the depression. And others are going to get their temporary distraction from the real problems in their lives, then go back to being depressed when it runs out. I've spent more than 40 years of my life fighting mental illness. I've learned that distractions aren't solutions to depression, finding personal gratification and inner happiness are. No-one can truly change the way we feel, stop the pain, make the voices in the rain go away, except ourselves, and we can't do that with short-term, temporary fixes. Personal gratification, taking satisfaction in something that doesn't require external validation, self-acceptance, those are how we combat depression effectively. Badges and five mission story arcs and new animations, those are digital medication. Real healing starts inside. And sometimes, we can't be healed. Some of us are going to live with our demons forever. Understanding those demons and accepting that we're just not going to be "normal" does a million times more good than a reward or distraction in a video game. So no, I'm not going to agree with you, on any of your points. People suffering from depression need real assistance for their real problems, not the ephemeral relief of a pat on the back by video game developers.

There can be only Jaun.

I'LL TAKE IT! SEND IT TO ME! HURRY, BEFORE IT MELTS! 😨

Thought about that yesterday when I saw some heated gloves at a thrift store. But I'd have to replace the stator (only 6 pole), and... well, at least half of my riding is on unpaved county back roads. I had an accident, went sideways on another bike three years ago, it suddenly turned over and pinned my legs under it, slammed me onto ground at 30 mph and broke my left arm and collar bone. I'd rather be thrown clear if (when) it happens again, instead of being tied to the bike. Especially this bike, it's twice as heavy. I absolutely can't have broken legs, not when I have to walk down to the stream to fetch water every couple of days. I just placed an order for new winter riding gloves (mine are ten years old) and a scarf (can't find the one i had). With a thick coat and two pair of pants, and wool socks, I stay pretty warm. Not having the scarf last year was the worst. I'm ready for winter! Oh, wait, I need to download all of my Christmas music... winter event, then Christmas music, and hopefully lots of snow! Oh, crap, I only have one box of hot cocoa mix. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! PANIC! PANIC!

Personal gratification is the only real reward. Badges, titles, unique graphics and textures on gear, they're just acknowledgement from someone else. You knowing what you did, how hard you worked, what hells you waded through, and you seeing the result or your efforts, of your perseverance and determination, that's what matters. That's what playing less than god/goddess-like characters offers. That's where you can find the challenge, and satisfaction. I'm living in a 12'x16' cabin with no plumbing and no 110v electricity for my own gratification. Not to impress you, not to garner respect from my nearest neighbor, not for pats on the back from my friends, not to "prove" anything to anyone, but for me. There are no plaques celebrating me. I have no gold stars decorating my walls. My success isn't measured in the number of people who complement, or even notice, me. It's what I get, inside, from living where and how I do, that makes it rewarding. The measure of my success is my happiness, and the rewards I gain for doing this are innumerable and intangible. Waiting for developers to make "challenging" or "rewarding" content is futile, because challenge always exists if we choose to pursue it, and what we value in ourselves is what makes anything rewarding. It's not someone else's definitions of challenge or achievement you should be trying to meet, but your own. Sub-optimal characters can give that to you. The Plate of Argonnn can't.

That's not what I said. I said you can choose to create and play characters which are challenged by the existing content. Deliberately ignoring everything and focusing on enhancements as the intent and tone of my comments is on you, not me. Stop looking for a fight. I'm playing an Incarnate level character right now, with purples, Winter IOs, PvP IOs, ATOs, the whole shebang, and I can't solo this character at +4/x8. She's just not capable of achieving that, and it's not because she's missing enhancements or slotted with SOs, it's because the content is already difficult for her with the powers she has and the way I play her. +1/x4 is as high as I care to go with this character, because despite being at the soft cap for Defense, despite having a heal, despite having perma-Hasten, she's not a character designed to make the game easy. I don't even think about fighting AVs as AVs with this character, because she'd be smooshed in less than half a minute. Enhancements aren't the problem. The problem is making the choice to only play god/goddess-like characters. Make a sentinel or defender who uses melee attacks. Make a tank or scrapper who uses ranged attacks. Make a petless mastermind. Make something that only uses single-target attacks. Make something that doesn't have full status protection, maxed Defense/Resistance, travel powers. Turn off all inspiration drops. You can choose to play something less than optimal, and make the game quite a bit more difficult for yourself when you do that, even with all of the bells and whistles of IO set bonuses and procs and Incarnate powers. Play a C-lister instead of a member of the JL/Avengers. That's what I said. That's what I meant. The game plays very differently when you're Moon Knight or Matter Eater Lad, instead of Superman or Iron Man.

I did read all of it. Only commenting on this, though. The challenge was never removed. It was merely shifted into the hands of the players. We make our own challenge. I'm not referring exclusively to the difficulty settings, I'm pointing out that every character you create can be designed how you please, to handle whatever level of challenge you prefer. Your choices determine how easy or hard the game is. There is no automatic slotting process which stuffs purple/PvP/Winter/unique IOs into your powers. There's nothing which disables your ability to select less than optimal powers when leveling up. There isn't a mechanic which prevents you from creating a character with uncomplimentary power sets. There is no rule which prohibits you from pursuing builds which can't solo at +4/x8. Just as in reality, how difficult this game might be is up to you. You walk your own road, be it the easy path or the hard path. Granted, there are a lot of easy paths, but you don't have to scour the brush to find the hard paths, either. They're everywhere. Pick one and start walking.

The most satisfying feeling was a tie between hitting 50 with my TA/A before Issue 7, and fighting Adamastor solo on my Issue 5 Kinetic/pool melee character when everyone was screaming about ED killing the game. The most satisfying sound... peacebringer *WHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG* when attacking.

They're also not directly affected by inflation. Temporary power vendors don't raise their prices. Merit vendors don't show something as unavailable. SOs don't sell for less to stores because there's a glut on the market. Six of one, half a dozen of the other. It's fair in that there isn't a comparable merit sink to fight inflation, or inflationary effects on the costs of the goods they buy or sell, or stock shortages at the vendors they use, or taxes for characters contributing to inflation but not being affected by it. Using or not using the market, there's an up side and a down side, and something that might not seem fair on both sides. Inf* sinks are necessary. And fixed price items are as fair as they can be in that no-one is excluded from generating the funds, even if they choose not to use certain methods.

Inf* is readily available and in constant supply. I don't know anyone who uses merits to buy ATOs, but I suppose there might be some people who do. Super packs are cheap, only 10,000,000, and with converters, every ATO you get from one is either useful for your characters, or the most valuable that can be sold (convert, sell). And super packs can drop two ATOs (not guaranteed, but often enough for the marketeers to have assembled some good, reliable data on drop rates, suggesting ~20% chance per pack on average), as well as other things which can be sold on the AH, so they typically pay for themselves and provide a profit over time. Buying super packs also helps combat inflation by directly and permanently removing inf* from the game. This helps keep prices on everything low, and dumping super pack items on the market increases supply. Basically, super packs are a win win win for everyone, whereas buying specific ATOs with merits doesn't offer any specific benefits. I suppose if you imagine the RNG being hateful and singling you out to be screwed over, you'd buy with merits instead of spending inf* and converters. But the smarter, more profitable and game-healthier method is to buy super packs and convert the ATOs it gives you, sell everything you don't want or can't use, and pocket the inf*. Also, what everyone else said about attuning through the AH. I always forget it does that until I'm actually looking for attuned enhancements.

I don't want to be outside in it. I'm 5'6" and 130 lbs, I don't have the body fat to play in the snow, or the boots/shoes to keep my feet dry and warm (the woes of self-imposed poverty). But I adore seeing it, and I'll tolerate it cheerfully, because it's beautiful and serene. I spent most of the last 30 years living in cities, living with social anxiety disorder, living with the feeling of not being able to be happy, being afraid to stop to enjoy something as simple as a dandelion, a robin, a snowfall. My life is different now, and I've got decades of enjoyment to make up for. BRING ON THE SNOW! ❤️ That's more than we had in Virginia last year. This year will be better! I will see my Christmas card view again! Or else!

Enhancement Catalysts attune enhancements. ATOs and Winter IOs are already attuned, but using a catalyst on them at level 50 upgrades them to the Superior versions. Catalysts drop when you're at 50, or can be purchased with merits from the merit vendors, or bought on the AH. Only from those two sources, or from the AH.

Converters weren't in the game at all when I stopped playing near the end of '11, so I had to learn that from scratch. Merits weren't useful for buying anything but recipes when I left, but all it took for me was to see converters offered by the vendors to know that I could use them, to make what I needed from garbage and make a profit. And market prices are right there, in plain sight. I had that figured out within 15 minutes. I can't understand why anyone presumes new players will find it any more difficult. There is no knowledge gap. It's not even a crack on the sidewalk.

Then don't enter the cage. You've got plenty of other damage/mez mitigation tools at your disposal. You've gone from stating that staying out of melee range was preferable to asking for a mobile Faraday Cage attached to critters so you... still have to be in melee range to benefit from it... That, or you're asking for a PBAoE Hold emanating from critters, which is just... way over the top. Game breaking over the top. If you consider the actual impact of those changes, you might. I'm an exclusively solo player. I disagree with your assessment. EMP Arrow has always been a crutch for players to lean on, propping up a set that was so bad at debuffing that only enthusiasts bothered to play it as a defender, corruptor or mastermind, and so heavily reliant on controls that it allowed controllers to almost completely reverse the changes which prevented the game from being City of Statues. The beta changes to TA have removed the need for a crutch, the need for EMP Arrow to compensate for the poor performance of the debuffs in the set, while simultaneously adding new utility and versatility to the power. Solo or teamed is irrelevant, beta TA as a whole is leagues ahead of where it stands on the live servers. Your suggestions ignore that, disregarding the set entirely and focus on one power. You're not looking at it within the context of the set. TA doesn't need the changes you're asking for, and EMP Arrow doesn't have any glaring issues which would justify those changes.

Sounds like you already had a lot of support on the team. Not much that can be done to TA to fix that... if anything, these going to make the problem worse. People might actually ask for TAs on teams now, instead of everyone mentioning that their cats are on fire and logging off when a TA joins, and you'll have to endure this situation frequently. Oh, well, at least you can blast! 😄

It is.

It's really not. I had more than that before the end of my first week when I started on the HC servers.

Isn't every luxury? No it isn't. A pay wall would restrict players from entering certain bases or zones at all unless they paid for the item. That's not the case here.

I hate being cold, but I love winter. The view outside of my door is like a Christmas card when it snows, young pines covered in snow, the ground white and shining. I wait all year for the snow, every year, since I built my cabin. It's glorious to behold. It's worth the discomfort of wet socks or having to ride a motorcycle in December, as far as I'm concerned. Remembering the beauty and wonder of winter is what makes me a happy person, keeps Christmas in my heart year-round. They can get around to turning on the snow in-game whenever. I want the real thing. I need my Christmas postcard fix.