[oh, the feels...]

8 hours ago, Zhym said:

I'd quibble a bit both with the premise that Homecoming losing so many players is a huge problem and with the conclusion that the way to get them back is to add more things to grind for.

 

Yes, Homecoming doesn't have as many players as it had in March 2020.  No surprise there: it was "new" again, and most of us were home all day because of the pandemic.  Homecoming will never have that many players again. 

 

Is that a problem?  Well, I play almost exclusively on Excelsior, where it still doesn't take long for TFs and iTrials to fill.  Hami raids and MSRs are also routinely full.  And of course there's all that content that can be played solo.  If Homecoming's population drops to that of a ghost town, I'll still be incredibly grateful that I could log into that ghost town and play all that solo content that I missed so much after NC Soft took it away.

 

But the loss of players is felt a bit around the edges.  Less popular activities, like Hami Bud "raids" in First ward and Recluse's Victory runs, don't seem to happen as often than they used to.  And we're increasingly reliant on a handful of players who run iTrials on a regular basis.  If @Oklahoman, @STiTcH, and @Confusion got bored with the game and left, parts of the game would practically collapse.  Excelsior would be...well, like most of the other shards.  Fortunately, they don't seem bored with it yet.  And there's plenty of stuff to do even when there isn't a raid or an iTrial going.  By another metric, Homecoming's population is just fine: they're still getting enough donations each month to pay the bills, and getting them fairly quickly.  

 

Homecoming is never going to be the next big thing, even if talks to have legitimate use of the IP eventually resolve.  Maybe it's okay that it's a niche game that a few hundred people love and no one else cares about.

 

But suppose we grant the premise that population loss is bad.  I really don't think it's a lack of locked content or enough things to grind for that's keeping people away.  And adding NPC costumes that are locked behind a new currency isn't going to bring anyone back.  

 

Personally, I think Homecoming's biggest barrier to population growth is that it's gotten kind of unfriendly to new players.  I don't mean "unfriendly" in that we're intentionally hostile and mean when a new player shows up, but the way the game is structured now isn't really newbie friendly.  For example: just yesterday, someone who joined a Hess TF asked how to get to Striga, and it took me a moment to remember the smuggler's submarine and where it is, because what I usually do is use the macro to hop to the Excelsior Transportation Zone base and use a teleporter there.  Until recently, using LFG to get to Cimerora quickly was another piece of arcane knowledge kept from the uninitiated.  And don't get me started again on Homecoming's weird economy, which new players can't possibly be expected to understand unless someone explains it to them.  Someone who wants to try this game they've heard about, where you can be a superhero and fight bad guys, is quickly going to become lost in what Homecoming is now.

 

NPC costumes locked behind a new currency doesn't solve any of that.  In fact, it makes it worse by complicating the game even further. 

 

What would bring more players in?  Beats me, and this post is too long already.  New content is always good, but new content has just turned into the next thing to farm (see: Aeon, which is just full of wonderfulness and challenge but is usually just sped through for the rewards.  The only reason people do the AWESOME Hero 1 fight now is because it rewards Aether...so I guess I'm glad Aether exists, if just for that).  And because I think it's mostly casual players we're losing, adding more hard modes isn't the solution either.  Maybe there isn't a solution.  Maybe that's even okay.

Thank you much for the shout out. Personally I would do about anything to help the community thrive. I am glad to see others running trials and teaching new folks the game as well. @dragynmaster and PK run great trials and content. Awesome to see all the communities out there so willing to help others.

[City of Toxic]

6 minutes ago, Kendai said:

Feel free to post what was said. I can't cos I got kicked from your server so I can't look at it again. Your sarcasm betrays you. If you really wished me well you wouldn't have kicked me for merely disagreeing with you. You're not fooling anyone.

I actually did wish you well and highly recommended Cosmic Council and Soverign for you. We just were not a good fit for each other. Those groups are great groups. 

[City of Toxic]

6 minutes ago, Kendai said:

You not only allowed others to abuse me in your discord, you kicked me from the discord when all I did was bring some issues to your attention. I said, ok, we'll see how things work out if I try to organise something again in the future, but you didn't even give me that chance.

 

You kicked me - that is not helpful in any shape or form. Do not pretend that you are as polite or benign as you are trying to make yourself out to be here. You don't kick someone for their time difference or schedule not matching up. There was no warning or attempt to make things right - you just kept saying "I'm so helpful" on repeat. Well I guess we can see how helpful you really are.

Again I wish you the best and appreciate all the slander. I will not bother slandering you nor posting our side of your one sided story. Best of luck mate. 

[City of Toxic]

2 hours ago, The Peacock said:

Have you tried the Cosmic Council? They run nightly events, including weekly Master of Incarnate Trials. While they have an SG proper, they are more of a community of gamers across a wide swath of the player base. I've had nothing but positive experiences with them, and their leadership is extremely inclusive of all players and play styles. 

 

You can request content and they'll put it on their schedule and make sure you have a good team to succeed. 

 

You want to bring your petless mastermind to endgame content? Bring it!! You want to show how quick you can clear an ITF? They'll celebrate with you. 

 

Check out their discord if you'd like or if you have questions. https://discord.gg/DVksJ4N

 

Their schedule is a bit sparse this week due to the patch, but scroll through their Event Schedule to see if they run the type of things you're interested in. 

I can second this as well Kendai, this is another large community that runs all the content as well. They are more organized when it comes to scheduling events and there are a lot of good people and very knowledgeable players, I personally still play with a lot of their current SG. It truly may be a great home for you. Another large scale community would be Sovereign, also very organized. 

 

[City of Toxic]

3 hours ago, Kendai said:

It is a shame that Taskforce Junkies was not the welcoming, helpful group they made themselves out to be. Their leader has 0 regard for other events running, and I've witnessed highly confrontational situations where they don't back down, and do what they want anyway regardless. (An example was a clashing MSR with a regular scheduled slot with an SG - I don't know all the details)

 

They claim to be inclusive, yet make demands in their discord for only certain ATs and powers in their runs, implying that the ATs they don't want, such as controllers etc. are useless. Their leader will moan to get attention and approval from the discord channel, claiming that he doesn't understand people's complaints, that he helps so much and if anyone wants help they should ask for it.

 

Well I did ask for help a while ago, and got outright ignored. I brought up issues above and instead of addressing them I was berated, insulted, and again, just received more boasting about how helpful and great they were. Then their leader kicked me from the discord.

 

With TFJ running about half the events I see online, it will be hard for me to ever join incarnate runs or many other events again. It was a shame. I was enjoying the game but thanks to some toxic behaviour it doesn't look like I'll be able to take part in many community events here.

Thank you for the feedback Kedai. It was a pleasure having you in the TFJ community. It is a shame that we could not come to a better understanding. I am sure there are several members in the CoH community that do not mesh well with others, such is expected in large groups. We did offer several times to try and assist you with whatever badge runs you wanted or desired. Sadly our schedules did not line up or your request did not get noticed instantly, real life can be overwhelming. I truly hope you do find a group that better suits your playing hours and desires. Best of luck in your gaming experience. Sincerly, the moaning leader of TFJ. 

[League Chat]

On 8/4/2022 at 8:45 PM, vicuna said:

You can play with wdw and chat channels to customize your view when need be like I:

- switch general chat tab to league chat tab

- switch local/broadcast/group tab to group tab

- switch my customized story tab to my customized combat tab

- turn off lfg chat panel

I am not not talking about editing my own chats. I am asking if it is possible to get an update to change the league chat for the entire population so it sticks out to the entire community. It is currently a very bland color. I am asking if it is possible to have the devs update it to stick out like the request chat does.

[Instanced Hami trail (The Abyss)]

On 8/15/2022 at 8:03 PM, Ukase said:

Bud counter - yes. 
Instanced - I'm okay with it. 

But, with regards to the instanced version, consider the idea that whomever is griefing can do so whether they are on your league or not, can't they? 

But in an instanced you would see them in your league. I personally am a bigger fan of the bud counter idea...Easy fix I reckon

[Instanced Hami trail (The Abyss)]

On 8/11/2022 at 10:58 AM, Morgraine said:

These are all great suggestions and I agree would be a much easier fix than the instanced hami. A bud count and spawning at hami would really solve all the problems.
While I like the buds on the map idea, there's already 48 moving dots on the map, so it seems like it might be too much on the map, but I'd take it if it was offered.

Bud counter is a great idea!!!

[League Chat]

On 8/4/2022 at 3:48 PM, Oklahoman said:

Hey @STiTcH, I made a suggestion similar to this not long ago:

 

 

Not sure if this is what you had in mind. Of course, such a topic is highly controversial. There's already a setting that allows each player to have a different colored name, which helps me, but I would love for players to have an option to make the team/league leader stand out more.

 

Exactly Okie...I was just hoping that they would make the standard color of league chat STAND out for everyone rather than have it a dull color like it is now. Make it stand out like Request chat.

[League Chat]

50 minutes ago, biostem said:

Can't you customize the chat colors in the options menu?

I’ve only ever been able to customize created channels not set channels. Just thinking it would be beneficial to leagues/badge runs if the standard color for league chat stood out a little more than it currently does.

[League Chat]

I’m aware of using request chat. I was kind of curious if it was a fix that could be implemented to have the color updated to something more vibrant like the request chat rather than such a bland color. And not force the league to use a specific chat like request chat. Appreciate the response though.

[League Chat]

Where is the best place to post a request for an update to League Chats Color. Leading leagues I find the color pallet for League chat is extremely bland and does not draw in the leagues attention. Having it stand out like request chat would be beneficial.

[Focused Feedback: Permanent NPC Costume Power Rewards]

2 hours ago, Vanden said:

Anyone else think the Mini costume is too small? Like, I toggle on Super Speed and my character disappears into the speed sparks.

Personally opinion. I love it, I wouldn't mind if they made it smaller. But that is just an opinion.

[Focused Feedback: Permanent NPC Costume Power Rewards]

Is it possible to have Granite armor scale down with the mini costume?

[Badge/ TF channel]

FYI we run regular weekly Master of Incarnate trials by request on the weekends. Daily Hami runs and any badge request at request,

we are a little more than “Just That”. We are a community simple there to help each other and the CoH community. We are not an SG by choice but do have a nice hub built by @Gem. Feel free to join and request any badge help. The channel is open to the public. (“Task Force Junkies”) We don’t belong to anything we are simply a community.

[Badge/ TF channel]

On 2/9/2021 at 7:40 AM, Xiddo said:

Ello,
Is there a badging/ TF global channel on Excel who do stuff on the regs?
I used to be in Sals Badgehunters on Union during live and wish there was something like that here.

Task Force Junkies has a lot of active badgers if you want to join we have a discord as well..https://discord.gg/CxQe9FVZUr

[LF "The Really Hard Way" advice]

17 hours ago, Snarky said:

Well…… I do this every Saturday night still with Cosmic Council on Excelsior.   On a Beam Rifle/Temporal Blaster.  I stay ranged and flying and just keep the fire hose of damage up.   Rarely do I have to stop DPS for more than a few seconds.   
 

Then we do super inspirations for team buffs and Rebirth And Barrier.  
 

Goes real smooth

Snarky we also do this weekly and it isn’t a “TFJ” thing that has caused any real issues on the runs. We don’t necessarily require everyone to get into discord and not everyone pulls their weight. We also run this weekly and have a very high success rate and generally only use one ultimate and 2-4 team reds. As a leader you cannot control everyone’s constant dps. That simply applies to if that person is familiar with the trial or not and in our case we involve a great deal of pugs or people who don’t have discord so it is a learning curve for a lot of people. Anyone can complete a trial with ease with 20 plus people who have ran it 100 plus times together.

[In game heroes]

I would certainly like to throw @Ukase @lorraine and @sentenza into the mix. When it comes to general badge and in game knowledge these three are always my fall backs before I start searching the forums. I find these three to generally be very helpful and almost always willing to drop anything they are doing to assist someone in need. Thank you for all you do. 

[Excelsior Badge Leaderboard (no longer maintained)]

My Water/Cold Corruptor

[Excelsior Badge Leaderboard (no longer maintained)]

My Fire/Nature Corruptor

 

[Running on Empty Badge Bug]

Has anyone else had issues with Malta Sappers not being credited towards the new running on empty defeat 200 Malta Sappers badge in Ouro arcs? I defeated over 30 in a Black Scorpion arc through Ouro and zero were credited towards the badge.