DarionLeonidas

I see. So this perceived abuse was grossly unfair to other players… how? Understand, I have about forty Level 50s and more on the way. I play them all, and I’ve accumulated roughly a dozen extra Transcendent Merits to use for their Tier 3 and Tier 4 advancements and for those soon-to-become Incarnates. Along the way, I get them their Set Enhancements, which I usually buy with cash on the Market. Often I buy Enhancement Boosters, which can only be purchased with Reward Merits. When I was short of Reward Merits, I could rely on converting one or two Empyreans to make up the difference. I have so many Empyrean Merits because they’re easier to get than threads. Three Hamidon raids with three characters will net 12 Emps. Practically no Threads will. One of those, but those can be acquired in Rikti Mothership Raids, though not nearly as fast as empyreans, given the ratio needed of Threads to Empyrean Merits. And of course, neither Threads nor Empyrean Merits can be bought or sold on the Market, nor can they be traded between accounts. They are locked in to the player who earned them. And while Threads are eventually relegated to purchasing Super Inspirations, beyond a certain point, Empyreans made for a decent “nest egg” for acquiring Reward Merits. Now, unless I’m very much mistaken — and I hope I am — they become completely useless. So, to return to my point, I’d like to understand how my use of Empyreans was do abusive as to warrant them losing a huge portion of their worth? As for the other reasons, given that Empyrean Merits cannot be converted, traded or sold, this perceived abuse was grossly unfair to other players… how?

Can I ask the Devs why we can no longer exchange Empyrean Merits for Reward Merits? I'm just curious as to why you thought this change was warranted.

I just want to thank everyone who showed up for yesterday's Old School MSR run. We had a light League, about 36 players, but everyone pulled through like the champs they are; we never saw a single idle player and everybody worked together very well. One thing we all saw was that the greatest impact on the amount of Vanguard Merits awarded comes from teamwork and full participation; no matter WHERE you fight the Rikti, ramp or bowl, as long as there's a full League with a diverse team and everyone contributes, the rewards are very high. And it never hurts to have a Lizard and an Ant in your corner. 😉 The GUARDIANS are discussing running this on a semi-regular basis, and we'll post times and dates on the Calendar (thanks, Oklahoman!) when we settle on a schedule. Thanks again!

POWER BACK UP! See you al in the RWZ!

No, no reserve intended, there's always LFG mode... but I honestly thought that's where I was...!

POSSIBLE DELAY OR CANCELLATION DUE TO NEIGHBORHOOD POWER FAILURE The best laid plans, etcetera. A breaker has blown out on a construction site at the end of our road, knocking out all power in our neighborhood. If power is restored by 1:00-1:30, we’ll still have the event at 2:00. Otherwise we may try later today or re-schedule for tomorrow. Cross your fingers!

Greetings from the GUARDIANS SG! As an alternative to the 3:00 MSR, we'll be offering an "old school" Mother Ship Raid on the Excelsior Server this Friday, August 26 at 2:00 Eastern Stand Time (6:00 PM/18:00 UTC). The Raid Leader will be "AN0DYNE" (global handle @DASHER). We'll start announcing the raid around 1:15. Any player who is not a member of Vanguard should run the (very brief) "Welcome to Vanguard" mission before joining the raid, as this will let them earn Vanguard Merits. Note that you must be Level 35+ to run this mission, but not the raid. By "Old School", we mean that we'll try to organize teams for diversity of archetypes and that players fight where they want, how they want. Ramps, bowl, wherever you want to take on the Rikti, go for it. Pulling and supporting will, as always, be the general idea, but how teams do it is up to them. NO ONE WILL BE KICKED FOR THE WAY THEY PLAY, but standing idly in the bowl doing nothing, engaging in generally disruptive behavior, and harassing or disruptive texts will not be tolerated. Start time will be promptly at 2:00 to allow completion of the raid and clearing the zone for the traditional 3:00 MSR. If this format proves popular, we'll look into making it a regular event. Hope to see you there! DASHER

Agree 100%. Thematically it's very valuable, and I recall it was much better back in Live; when you could actually see the launcher!

I'm 65, started playing in original Live Beta.

I really don't see it as a set for "bad players" at all. Time was no one would even consider trying a TF/SF without a good Empathy healer along. Presumably, the game's long hiatus with a severely reduced population led the Preservers to make the changes they did which make all ATs tough enough to allow them to solo even the toughest TF/SF, with the result that Empathy isn't as crucial as it used to be. But it's still damn handy and as far as "bad players" go, I've solo'ed Empathy characters up many levels (in missions, not farming), and let me tell you, THATS a challenge. And let's face it: Nobody today is going to give up all the bells and whistles that have made everything so much easier in the game. Anyway... I guess my point is that players who choose Empathy aren't bad players; rather, all the stuff that lets players get away with bad play are what have made Empathy largely irrelevant.

Thanks, WanderingAries, that did the trick! Much obliged!

I'm just checking to see if this is a local issue or if anyone else is having trouble launching the game? As of 3:08 EST, both my wife and I cannot enter the game. We get hung up at Game Launch, or Login, or Character Selection, or Zone Loading. EDIT: Now getting a "no mapServer connection" message... We've both re-started our machines, checked settings, etcetera, just wondering if it's an ISP issue and if anyone else is experiencing this. Also, is this the right forum for this sort of question? If not, sorry!

Thanks! I have most of those; I don’t know if I have the Arachnid one, I’ll check it out. Sadly, earlier today I prevented the construction of the Paladin (again),and while my League-mates received badges and the temporary power, I did not, so it appears the Knights Errant are a one-time deal. but I am off to see a P2W lady about an Arachnos Combat temp summon. Thanks again!

I have a Robots Mastermind who is a "theme" character of "All Robots, All the Time". I did the Paladin event in Kings Row. It wasn't the badge I wanted, it was the "Knight Errant" Temp power for summoning Clockwork "Knights". Eventually, I used all five of those. If I do manage to thwart the construction of the Paladin again, will I get the Temp Power again, even though I already have the badge?

I donm't think the Admins -- now Devs -- can do what needs to be done to attract new players. I think one way to get new players is to make the game challenging, again. Everything, especially levelling up, is too easy. Incarnates are common as dirt and able to solo Task and Strike Forces. Why encourage friends to come into the game if you don't need a team to play?Eliminate Null the Gull's ability to freely change alignments. I think another way to get new players is to make players part of the game equation. Make good story AE missions part of the canon and put the contacts on the streets. Let good AE mission creators add to the tapestry of the game. And finally, whatever might be wrong with PvP, live with it and make PvP battles epic. Make them League versus League trials with the stakes being control of actual in-game Zones, or buffs which apply to an entire alignment class. I know that a lot of people dismiss PvP because they don't like it. I don't like it. But I have friends who won't play a game without it. The people saying they're glad we don't have more PvP are missing the point; PvP brings in players. I'm fine with a low game population if it means I don't have to deal with PvP, but I also realize that the game population will always be low without it. Those are just my opinions thrown into the stew. I could be wrong. Dasher

Hey, Admins and Devs: I just wanted to send out a big "Thank You!" for the recent "Mapserver" event. It was very lucrative and lots of fun and it had some of the CREEPIEST "monsters" you've come up with, yet. Thanks again for all the efforts you put into keeping the game fresh and entertaining. Yours truly, DASHER Excelsior Server

I wish it were. I wish there were some reason to PvP, just for the sake of moving the game forward. I still think it should always be optional. But if PvP mattered enough, it would be worth it no matter how "imbalanced" people perceived it to be. What's the greatest moment in any story of great conflicts? The great conflict. The colossal battle between dark and light, good and evil, heroes and villains. Picture a monthly event in Recluse' Victory with a hundred, two hundred people on each side fighting for the future of Earth. Winning side gets a badge and a temp power and a+5% buff to everything for a week. Whatever. Keep the badges and buffs, I'd be there every month for just a free set of in-game steak knives. The chance to have our own battle like the ones in "Endgame" or "Ready Player One" or "Return of the King" or whatever would be just too wonderful. In my 55+ years of gaming and 45+ years of game design, I have learned that the notion of "play balance" is a self-delusion people embrace to comfort themselves. Here is the cold, hard truth: There is no such thing as a balanced game, no such thing as a level playing field and no such thing as a fair fight. The whole point of conflict in sports, or gaming, or life for that matter, is to exploit your advantages, compensate for your defects and find a way to gain an edge over the opponent who may be better at a given contest than you. Nobody likes hearing that, but that's too bad. Play Balance is a myth, and the more people insist on imposing what they think is "fair", the more "unfair" the game becomes to someone else... and the less interesting any game becomes.

I think the most important question to ask oneself is “Why do I want to do PvP?” I don’t care for PvP, but I’d do it if I had to, if there were something in a PvP zone I wanted badly. The deadly problem with PvP in CoH/CoV, is that there is nothing in any PvP zone I want badly enough to have to deal with PvP to get. There’s nothing in PvP zones worth fighting for, because nothing in them impacts the game outside those zones. And before anyone says “Shivans” or “Warburg”, who bothers with the Warburg missiles, anymore, once they have Incarnate powers or the dozens of other tweaks given to regular powersets since the game came back? In the nearly two years we’ve been playing again, I have seen one Warburg missile strike used in PvE. And it was mine. And the return wasn’t worth the effort invested in getting the missile. Maybe your experience is different. So why bother? Badges? Okay. Then what? ”Bragging rights”? Well, now we’re getting close to the heart of the matter, but the points above show that “bragging rights” mean nothing, as well, since a PvP-optimized build is by definition only optimal in PvP zones, where nothing that happens affects the outside game. So what is the appeal of PvP in a game where it accomplishes nothing? Battles between players just for the fun of it? Absolutely! If that’s fun for both players. But if it’s fun for one player who insists on it, but not fun for a player who doesn’t want to be bothered… well, there’s a name for that. And it ain’t “good sportsmanship”.

If you proposed these sorts of ideas earlier, I apologize if it seems like I'm plagiarizing them; I'm not, as I think plagiarists should "burn in a very special level of Hell. A level they reserve for child molesters and people who talk at the theatre"*. We're just two highly intelligent people who had the same brilliant idea... because, when you get right down to it, it's kind of an obvious idea. 😁 Cheers! *Shepherd Book, "Serenity"

This is turning into a referendum about PvP. If you don't want to do PvP, don't go into a PvP zone. If you do, then you do not have a choice as to whether you are attacked or not. By the same token, my proposal to make Safeguard/Mayhem missions partially PvP was based, very clearly, on players being able to choose to set the mission for PvP; in no way do I advocate forcing PvP on anybody. My only complaint with PvP is that as it currently exists, it is pointless in game terms. It has no value regarding the overall events in-game. Hero or Villain, everybody hates Malta. Everybody fights Rikti. Everybody defies Nemesis -- there's even a supergroup called "League Against Nemesis" and anybody can join it. I would just like to see PvP matter within the context of the game.

I remember "Diablo" did this (I think). I have to say that if you go into a PvP Zone, you don't get to declare immunity. I just would like to see the risks made commensurate with the rewards.

So, we have had some interesting tangential discussions, here, and some very productive suggestions. I wanted to take a minute to thank everyone for reading through my looooong proposal and weighing in with ideas and suggestions, and yes, criticisms. More than anything, I'd like to see the "Arch Enemy" concept implemented, but right behind it I really would like to see PvP made relevant to game play. Even though I might never participate in it, I think it should matter, somehow, and that it could result in a lot more interest and variety in the game. Thanks again, everyone!

I think the second clause of Rule Number 1 in those "Contact Guidelines" proves his point. "If someone wants you to leave them alone, you must leave them alone" I have never seen a PvP'er stop attacking a player who asked to be left alone. It always required intervention by other players, and rarely stopped even then. So what we can agree on is for every player -- PvP'er or not -- "grief" is a term they define for themselves. But the variation on the old saying holds true: "If you would know a person's character, only observe how they play a game."

I think he's correct. I do accept that a PvP zone is a dangerous place and I will probably be attacked if I go there. The problem I have with it, is that there is no practical reason for attacking anyone except to be a "spoiler" to get a badge. That's exactly why I am proposing, and would like to see, the Arch Enemy mechanic implemented in the game. If attacking another player in a PvP zone actually accomplished anything material in the game, it would be worthwhile. "The Secret World" did this with global buffs for the faction which dominated the PvP sites, whether other players of that faction participated or not. But somebody bouncing in their Staker to gank someone about to capture a turret for no other reason than to satisfy an urge is, frankly, a little creepy. Whether or not it is a revelation of a person's character is a subject for another debate, but I would not trust such a person. If one is going to pull wings off flies, one should at least have a crippled pet frog they need to feed.

That is a pretty dastardly way to conduct oneself in any game. And by "dastardly", I mean Villainous (which is okay), not Heroic (which is cheesy). All gaming is roleplaying, and how people behave in a game proves it. 🙂