Maximum_J

For clarity, here is my main point in one sentence: "The removal of Training Enhancements at the beginning of the game makes it more difficult for brand new players to immerse themselves in the game." If you're arguing against anything other than that, then you're missing my point. The removal of TOs for someone like me who's played CoX for nearly a decade before it shut down doesn't matter because I already know and understand the game. All I'm trying to say is that making TOs easy to access helps new players significantly more than it harms experienced players. That's it.

First of all, you need to stop making ad hominem attacks. I said that *my friends* weren't having fun listening to me ramble about enhancements. I could talk all day about CoX, but surprisingly, they didn't carve out hours of their lives to listen to me talk about a game instead of playing it themselves. Imagine teaching a 3-year old to ride a bike. What's going to be more fun for them: 1) slapping training wheels on their bike and letting them ride it, or 2) teaching them how to read, then giving them a manual about how to ride a bike? I don't know why this is difficult to understand.

I'm playing with new players. I'm not guessing or playing with hypotheticals here. I'm telling what my experience is with brand new players who've never played the game before. I, myself, have played CoX from the original launch to the original end of life, so I can also tell you from personal experience that TOs made learning to use significantly easier. Once again, the icons match. There's no hovering or reading necessary. The reason why I used the Visor as specific example is because I played so many Magic heroes over the years that, even a decade later, I still have it memorized. I feel like everyone who's arguing with me has that level of experience and doesn't remember their first week playing the game (which makes sense because that would have been 15-20 years ago). Taking out TOs makes it easier for older players like me, but it's an unnecessary hurdle for new players. Again, this is not a thought experiment. I'm telling you what I experienced last weekend.

That's actually useful information. It still slows down the flow of fun by having to stop and go out of the way to get a training element that was intergrated to the gameplay, but we'll look into the Longbow Trainer. I only checked the Superpower Field Trainers and the Origin contacts. It would still be simpler to just have them drop again, though.

You're deliberately trying to miss my point. The Visor also has a bunch of extra text about Origin and flavor text that has nothing to do with function. Also, it should be pretty obvious that you don't have to hover over an enhancment to look at the icon. You can tell what the targeting reticle is just by looking at it... But more importantly, the other icons for TO *match the type of powers* they enhance... 😕 And yeah, going to the Auction House or joining a Super Group to get TOs when the whole point of them is to train new players is asinine. You're seriously suggesting that, instead of just having TOs readily available, new players should learn to navigate Super Groups and the Auction House, *then* train on TOs? The *entire* purpose of my post is to eliminate hurdles to learning Enhancements... And my "low opinion" of new players isn't a low opinion. It's from practical experience I had this weekend bringing in friends to play, only to have to stop the flow of fun to explain Enhancements to people with zero background in CoX. I ended just telling them to forget about Enhancements for the time being and let's just get back hunting Clockwork 😕 And the chat box telling a new player that an enhancment dropped is absolutely unhelpful when the player *doesn't understand what enhancments are yet!*

I'll explain it one more time: TOs are simpler because the icons tell you what the enhancement does with minimal reading. TOs are self-explanatory, none of the other enhancements are. What's more clear: An enhancement with a targeting reticle that says "Training: Accuracy," or an enhancment with a humanoid silhouette that says "Visor, Natural/Magic (Accuracy)?" Also, because TOs are simple to understand, it makes learning DOs and SOs easier because you can match them by the color of the TOs. Additionally, DOs and SOs come with the added complication of having to match your origin. That's fine, if a player is leaning heavy into their origin for RP, but removing TOs creates an unnecessary learning curve that's off-putting for new players.

That's my whole point: New players shouldn't have to do homework to understand a fundamental game mechanic when there was already a built-in mechanic to teach them through gameplay. What made TOs so useful in the first pllace was that you didn't have to do a lot of reading to understand them. The Damage TO uses the same icon as damage powers, the Defense TO uses the same icon as defense powers, the Hold TO uses the same icon as hold powers, etc. Even the ones that didn't match directly still made sense, like the Endurance TOs using the same icon as Catch a Breaths (which restore Endurance) and the Recharge Time TOs using a clock. What I'm saying is that the change is an unnecessary hurdle to new players. And, less importantly, the lack of TOs is a mild annoyance to returning players like me who don't have high-level alts to feed Influence/Infamy and other resources to their low-level characters, yet.

While I understand that bringing in new players isn't necessarily a goal of Homecoming, the removal of Training Enhancements makes it harder to teach brand new players how the game works. The big problem with having DOs drop from level 1 is that Enhancements don't make any sense to a new player, so gaining an Enhancement that you 1) can't use and 2) don't understand is off-putting for new players. Training Enhancements clearly tell you what they do. For example, if you're playing a Tanker and a TO: Hold drops, you can quickly figure out that it's not helpful for you specifically. Now, I understand most of the current player base has years of experience with the system and can what a DO, SO, or IO is just from the border and color, but we also had the luxury of learning how Enhancements work from TOs. At the very least, if TOs aren't going to be drops, then put them back in shops with the Superpowered Trainers. Yeah, DOs are much more powerful, but that doesn't matter when you can't afford to buy them.