Luminara

Let's talk about A New Dimension, A New Team. It's the first story arc handed out by this guy. The arc begins with a surprising well designed mission. The spawns are larger than normal, and the critters used for the spawns have powers which can work together to make the mission more challenging. But, you also start with a bunch of combat NPCs who are capable of handling the spawns without you, so even "weak" characters aren't forced to slog through anything more difficult than normal, unless they choose to. Additionally, you don't even have to fight, you can just bypass everything, go straight to the end and move on if you wish because the objective is just a few hundred yards away, across the water, and there isn't a single critter between you and it. This mission gives you a lot of freedom in how you complete it. That's really smart design. You can clear it, you can only fight the spawns you want to fight, you can lead your posse around and let them do the fighting for you, you can skip all of it and go straight to the end. You have options and can play according to your preferences. Unfortunately, that's the highlight of the entire arc. It's all downhill from there. The second mission is very straightforward, you go to a place to talk to someone. The first problem with that is, talking doesn't net you a single experience point. The second problem is that, if you don't know which dialogue option to avoid, you can complete the mission without gaining anything but the standard mission completion reward. That's... not great. Having the option to complete missions without fighting, yeah, that's a positive thing, because an MMORPG really should have more than "kill moar stuffs" to engage the player. But the fact that one of the options leads to mission completion immediately should be emphasized. Strongly emphasized, because this contact is automatically inserted into your contact list at level 30, just when players are looking for the next big story arc or mission to help them reach the next couple of levels. And that's the bad design part on this mission. As interesting as it is to have a non-combat mission, it should always be noted. The player should be made aware that the mission doesn't involve combat, and has an option which completes the mission and deprives them of the opportunity to engage in combat. The third mission is the one which you have a chance to miss (or decline by sending someone else to "do it", if you know what the dialogue options mean). It's an average, standard mission. The fourth mission drops the ball again. The problem isn't with the enemy group, or the task, it's with the map. You're sent to a warehouse in which every door is closed. Take twenty steps, open a door, repeat. You spend as much time opening doors as you do defeating enemies. That's pointless busy work for the player. The doors aren't locked, with keys "hidden" on named enemies, like what occurs in some other missions. The doors don't open in a special way, requiring players to open them in the correct sequence to open the final door (which would be interesting). Clicking a door isn't a grueling chore, it's not something to throw a temper tantrum over, and that's not the point. The point is, they don't serve any purpose. They have no relevance to the story. They're just a speed bump deliberately place in front of the character. The person who created this mission didn't place spawns just on the other side of the door, to give players a surprise or increase the potential challenge. The doors weren't connected to the story in some way. They don't trigger alarms if they're opened. They're just there to make the player click on them. That's bad. Engage the player, don't bore them with pointless mouse clicks. The next couple of missions are, again, relatively standard. You've got some combat NPCs again, but they're not particularly sturdy, or devastating, so you're doing the heavy lifting. This is normal for this game. Combat NPCs aren't intended to be remarkable, so no bones about that. What is worth noting, though, is the unannounced AV/EB at the end. This is one of those quibbles which both Cryptic and Paragon heard so many times that they listened... but apparently, the designer of these two missions didn't get the memo. There's no warning when you're talking to Marchand. There's no "you might want to bring a friend" highlight. That suggests that the designer expected the combat NPCs to still be with the player, and useful, when he/she reached the AV/EB. The bad design parts here are the lack of info and the failure to appropriately buff the combat NPCs. If you're going to send the player up against a surprise AV/EB, give them the tools they might need to complete the mission. If you're not going to give them what they need, give them the appropriate notification so they can prepare. The last mission is the worst violator of good design philosophy, though. It's not a mission. No, it is not a mission. It's "Click OK to continue" half a dozen times, plus a cutscene. Click OK to continue. You walk in, click OK to continue several times, watch a cutscene... and that's the whole thing. That's it. You just sat through "Click OK to continue" being used as an alternative to the endless Black Queen monologue... PLUS A CUTSCENE. That's atrocious. It's reprehensible, and I do know what that word means and intentionally used it. There's no reason, at all, for this to be in the game. This is City of *, not Windows 95 Software Installation Simulator. Every line of dialogue could've been delivered at the beginning of the following story arc, or as a clue in the previous mission, or by sending the player to actually see the characters in different places, or even as a souvenir. A player should never be sent to a mission door unless there's a mission on the other side. Making the player click OK to continue several times and admire your positioning of NPCs is not a valid mission. And "Click OK to continue" just doesn't constitute a mission. Using Click OK to continue to drag an arc out so it reaches some mandatory number of missions is not good design. Using Click OK to continue to wrap up an arc isn't either, not when there are better and less tedious alternatives. Do it right, without Click OK to continue, or don't fucking do it at all. Every time I run this arc, I find myself wondering if it was a rookie's first attempt that no-one more experienced even looked at. It's that poorly done. The good parts are only mediocre, and the design flaws drag it so far down, I don't think it can be redeemed, or is worth the time attempting to do so. Set it on fire and walk away.

I know the real base value is displayed somewhere, without the 30% buff. Checking a power using the [Power Name] linking system should work. Teaming and looking at power info would work, too. But in the character creator... yeah, I see what you're saying. Might be something the HC team could spare a little time to fix. The math approach is still valid, and simple enough for anyone to do (computer, smart phone, pencil and paper, everyone's got something they can use to make the calculation), so there is that option for anyone who needs the info. Could see about making a post in the Defender forum and having a GM sticky it so more people are aware.

In Mids', click the green button on Vigilance. Outside of Mids, divide the base damage by 1.3 when the Vigilance buff is active.

I never claimed to speak for anyone. That is what I said, and it was neither an attempt to put words into other peoples' mouths, nor an arbitrary self-appointment of importance. Statistically, the majority of responses in threads which propose PvP activity which, in any way, has an impact on PvE are negative. The majority of people, the general sentiment. At the top right of the page, you'll find the word Search... Use it.

No.

You're proposing PvP activity which affects PvE activity. That's what the first half of your post was about. It doesn't matter if it's a "rare SG raid event" or a weekly event, it's still PvP affecting PvE activity. The majority of people do not want that. People don't want to take one day off every week because they don't want to participate in open-world PvP and don't want to grind lowbie levels on alts. People don't want the street sweeping missions in numerous story arcs made more tedious or annoying because an SG raid wiped out all of what they had to hunt, or buffed the critters, or forced them to go hunt for them in an area where they couldn't find anything within their level range. It has nothing to do with what you think people read or misread. The heart of the suggestion, adding PvP to the PvE game, isn't new, even if your take on it might be, and the "No, thank you" sentiment from most people isn't going to change because you say "It's just once in a while!". Search. Read. Learn.

You can also wall slide. Any nearly vertical surface with a slight slant will turn a jump into a slide. You can reach the top ledge of the War Walls this way, or rocket yourself off of a slanted building and soar a surprising distance.

I prefer objective-based PvP. Defending the MacGuffin, stealing the MacGuffin, completing objectives like repairing the MacGuffin and keeping it moving. PvP in which beating other players is a secondary or tertiary reason to engage in that mode. You can, and typically do fight other players, but doing so is neither mandatory nor, often, the most effective way to win, and when PvP combat does occur, it's for a reason other than to fight other players. Here, that would translate to... let's say someone designs and builds a prototype tank. Crey. Vanguard. The Freakshow. Whoever. Longbow acquires the tank and decides to take it to the RWZ to test it. They pass through Warburg on the way to the RWZ. Arachnos sees the tank and decides to steal it. Players working on the Longbow side are escorting the tank to an extraction point, and are expected to arrive within X minutes. Players working on the Arachnos side are setting traps to disable the tank, force it to change course so it ends up in a dead end, or some other strategy. Longbow players have to work to keep the tank moving, on the right path, etc. If the Arachnos players can prevent the tank from reaching the extraction point, by whatever means, Arachnos gains control of the tank and a new match begins with them escorting the tank to their extraction point. If the tank makes it to the Longbow extraction point, then another MacGuffin is brought in for the next match. Winner has escort duty, loser tries to stop the escort. Obviously, any of the above groups, locations, or MacGuffin can be changed. None of that is actually important, it's the style of play that matters. Objectives. Something to do, a reason to be there. Something that even people who don't like fighting other players can participate in and feel like they're accomplishing something. I'm horribly frightened every time I set foot in PvP, in any game, because of my mental illness. My hands shake so much, I can barely manage to operate a keyboard. And, in spite of that, I'll still engage in PvP when it's actually interesting, like objective-based PvP. I've even (hold on to your knickers) had fun, made friends and have some great memories of experiences in objective-based PvP, because playing wasn't about killing others, it was about completing objectives, working as a team and having fun. If the system you're proposing worked like that, I'd be all over it. But it doesn't sound like it, and as vague as you've left it, I have the sense that it wouldn't appeal to me. I'm not interested in fighting NPCs to get a score for comparison against someone else's score. Robbing or defending a bank filled with NPCs, and doing so just because someone else set the challenges to be met or created a different floor plan, isn't any different from standard PvE activities of the same type, and it's not even PvP, it's... comparing times on pylon defeats. Dick measuring. I don't care how big my virtual babymaker is when laid out alongside anyone else's, and I don't care how big anyone else's is, either.

You're going go find that suggestions which imply that PvP activity would have a direct impact on PvE activity historically gain no traction. The majority of players who respond indicate that they don't want that in this game. The search function for these forums works quite well, give it a whirl and sift through similar threads and see what the general sentiment is.

Woke up at 5 a.m. this morning, knew immediately where Jessica was. She sleeps near my legs. Clambered out of bed, checked the time, turned on the lights and started looking around for May as I filled the kettle for my morning coffee. Not on the base of the bed-tree-house-thing. Not on the love seat. Not in the shower. Not on a window sill. Finally, I turned to ask Jessica if she'd seen her. May was lying 1' away from Jessica. Jessica looked at May, raised a paw and bopped her on the head. May didn't flinch. We're going to be just fine.

There was a stretch of about half an hour with these two engaging in slap fights, chases and tackles this evening. Jessica whipped out the claws a couple of times, tail puffy and flailing, but she calmed down quickly when I spoke. I didn't shout, I just talked quietly, soothing her with my voice. May seems to know what's expected of her. She'll try to instigate play, and becomes submissive if Jessica asserts her dominance, but she defends herself when backed into a corner. They also spent more time on the love seat together, and Jessica even made a few attempts to pounce on May's tail. Bed time. Well, for me. The girls are already asleep. They probably need their energy for a 3 a.m. spaz-attack.

The AVs/EBs and GMs left whimpering on the floor after it's all over.

Depends on the archetype.

In the interest of non-discriminatory practices, I believe panty capes should also be ported to Male and Huge. They have a right to wear ball gowns if they want to. 😁

That's a feature. A feature of the local crematorium. You can die AND have your funerary arrangements seen to at the same time! No more worrying about plots, Nemesis or burial! Want to apply? Just visit Elevator Shaft 3, we'll take care of the rest!

If your loincloth is flowing, you should practice a little self-restraint.

That only works when you're trying to sneak past the Bugblatter Beast of Traal.

They have the technology. They can rebuild her. She is... The Psionic Woman. This week, find out what happens when she teams up with the Six Billion Inf* Build Man!

We had two frights this morning. Well, Jessica did. She's very easily startled, which is actually hilarious. Her tail puffs out like a chimney broom (her hackles don't raise, oddly), and she waves it furiously until I pick her up and calm her down. She's so used to not hearing unusual or unexpected sounds that May hopping down from her perch surprised her. Poof, swish swish! But they just had a nose to nose encounter without a hint of aggression. I should probably start drawing up plans for the next cabin...

Panty capes. Cimerorans have them. Talons have them. Janine Melnitz has them. Gimme.

Everyone has to settle for digi-Lumi. Sorry. Try the Roman Sandals option. I'm waiting for the panty capes. I could do a lot with panty capes. I need panty capes.

Dialogue. They had a lot of problems making it work properly. That's why two critters conversing on the street will say things non-sequentially (there are screenshots of this all over the favorite quotes thread), or critters in missions will say lines as soon as you zone into the mission rather than when you approach. Cutscenes were the only way they could ensure that the dialogue would show at the proper time. At least, until they added end-of-mission-delaying monologuing. *shakes fist*

They made some progress today. Several moments when they were almost in physical contact without hissing, growling or raised hackles. They even came close to playing together under the love seat. Jessica even did her butt wiggle when she was stalking May at one point. This is all on Jessica. May's settled in perfectly. She uses the litter box, knows where the food and water are, explores her new home and is absolutely happy. She's submissive to Jessica, but not to the degree of rolling over and showing her belly. She'll hiss back, that's about it. Once Jessica relaxes, I think they'll get along. If Jessica relaxes. Torties aren't known for being calm, and being half Savannah, she's owning crazy like she invented it. But she's not being hateful, and that's a big step in the right direction. My last tortie was hateful, and would've gladly killed my Maine Coon if she hadn't been half his size. The reversal in this situation, with Jessica being the big, strong one, is what had me most concerned. I think we're almost there. A few days and I might see them curled up together... or sitting in the rubble of the cabin, wearing their innocent expressions. May has that "incorrigible scamp" look. May is probably short for Mayhem, but when I ask, she just sticks her head in my hand for more scritches. Eh. I built one cabin, I can build another.

By default, Mids' displays the average damage after accounting for different variables. You can change it to show maximum damage, which will show the full proc damage, in Options -> Configuration -> Effects and Maths.

You're right, there shouldn't be a generic experience. But @Bill Z Bubba and @Wavicle are also right. Both of them. The experience of playing a squishie is already defined by several restrictions. Squishie archetypes almost all have lower base damage and lower damage caps. Ostensibly, this is because the archetypes as a whole have access to stronger and more utilitarian debuffs, like -Res, which, on paper, increases their damage output to a comparable level. But they still have to spend more time to reach that point. More time in animations. More time attacking. They might be capable of "keeping up" in regard to overall damage output in a given situation, but over time, they're slower and more endurance hungry. Buffing squishies don't even have that much going for them in many cases because they're restricted from benefiting from their own buffs, forcing them to spend more time in attack animations for a comparable return of damage output, and they aren't even guaranteed the reliability of the same debuffs other squishies may have for survival and increased damage output. For squishies also have little or no access to status protection, on top of the penalties having to spend more time and effort working toward the goal of defeating critters and not always being able to benefit from their own powers, really is a bit much in the way of creating a unique experience. The experience is unique enough, both solo and on teams, just in the way they have to use more powers to accomplish the same goal, and do so slower than archetypes with status protection. We can still have a unique experience on squishie characters without piling status effect vulnerability on top of more time spent in animations, reduced damage output and higher endurance usage. A solo defender isn't stepping on a brute's toes if he/she has status protection, or playing more like a brute. The defender still has to work twice as hard as the brute, is still paying the cost of being a team-oriented archetype, and has a play style nothing like the brute's. And a lot of squishie animations really should've been trimmed years ago, or the mechanics changed so powers wouldn't root or lock us into animations, so squishies wouldn't have to do so much more to achieve less. Animation times are the most heinous oversight Cryptic made when they were designing the game, but we're stuck with what we have until/unless someone deciphers the engine and tools well enough to start trimming animations or making new ones.