ArchVileTerror

/ah is probably a much more significant contributing factor to people not going to Vendors. And really, I don't think I've seen much in the way of socializing at Vendors anyway. People go to them, do their business, and go on their merry way. That's just my perception on the matter, of course. I very obviously could be missing something huge there. I just find most of that kind of socializing happens around Trainers and Task Force Contacts in my experience. Incidentally, there are Vendors near them usually, but it's pretty clear which NPCs the players are hanging around. Also, as has been mentioned; this won't really eliminate the need for Vendors under most circumstances. People will still need to purchase the SOs in the first place, not everything will be accommodated by drops alone. People are still going to be selling their "trash." The net effect, based on present evidence, suggests these changes should have minimal impact to Vendors as a social space.

So, @BubbleWrap . . . what ever happened to you? Did you end up becoming one of the Homecoming Team members? Inquiring minds, and all that, now that Asymmetry is a thing.

I think it was actually from the new Enhancement Upgrade stuff, Herotu. I don't know if the thread was pruned yet, but if not, you can take a gander.

"Remember?" I still experience it from time to time.

Mind you, Everlasting has the most villains of any Shard, but that's because we roleplayer types enjoy the diversity and narrative conflict offered by the story, rather than just the game mechanics and grind, as a generalization. Even then, I think our peak is around 27% of the population being Red at any given time. I do like the idea of the team who initiates the Invasion getting credit. That's big. That gives you a feeling of "I Did This. _I_, DID, /THIS/!" But there is a drawback; not everyone is in it for the glory. If that could be programmed to be optional, that would be ideal. Basically, add a toggle to the Trial mission itself. Each player gets to decide whether they get credit or not. If no players take credit, the Invasion alert reads something like "A mysterious group of villains has X,Y,Z'd! No one knows who they are!" That has an appeal too. Of course, a player -could- just use a Shard-wide channel (like the new General) to declare the Invasion was their doing. So it's not a dealbreaker if it can't be programmed in. Now, I don't think it's a smart idea to make this exclusively high-level content. Villains should have the opportunity to be involved in this straight from level 1, frankly. However, I do think it would be okay if different level ranges offer different Invasion Events. ie: 1 to 10 is Gangers. 11 to 25 are Soldiers. 15 to 30 are Zombies. 20 to 40 are Demons. et cetera! There are a lot of different ways we could implement this. I also like the idea that if the Heroes win a Zone Invasion, then -they- get the 1 Hour Buff. Same deal; extra Merits from Safeguards. Now, some of you may ask: "Well what's the point, then? Wasn't this meant to incentivize Redside?" Fair concern, but here's the kicker: Redside players are still the ones who have to LAUNCH this. The whole thing is impossible without them. The incentive is still there. But it also ensures that if the Heroes actually manage to Win The Day, they get a little recognition for their accomplishment too. And then the Villains are encouraged to try harder next time. I figure the Invasion Win/Lose Conditions should be based on current Hero population at the point of Invasion's launch. If there are 500 Heroes online, to Win the event, Heroes need to defeat 500 Points worth of Invading NPCs within 10 minutes. Using the existing spawning mechanics for Invasions; good luck having just 1 Hero beat 500 Minions in 10 minutes when those Minions are spawning at a rate of 1 per 5 seconds. So then the Heroes -have- to Rally! If they want to defeat the Invasion, they need to band together and get enough of a presence to not only defeat the Invading NPCs, but to ramp up the spawn rate so that enough NPCs are even present. Conversely, if it's a slow night, and there's only 100 Heroes online, a single Hero -could- potentially be all that it takes to turn the tide, if they're diligent and strong enough. That would also encourage the Villains to be strategic for which time of day they plan to launch the invasion. Do it during the Hamidon Raid, for example. Make those Heroes SQUIRM! This whole thing is just ripe with potential! Even still, please. Anyone who can poke holes in it: Do so. If there are problems, let's address them now, so they can be resolved and a better version of this idea can make its way to the Devs for review and (hopefully) implementation.

Another point worth making: This event WOULD have to be on some kind of timer, so we're not looking at perpetual invasions. Having it so the Trial has the CHANCE of failure, is also potentially a way to limit "invasion spam." Again, I'm not suggesting this idea is simple. It will definitely be a bit of work. I'm saying it's a bit of work that is worthwhile.

Sadly, Arachnos is balanced around level Tiers. That would mean any Invasion in a low level zone would have Wolf Spiders, who are a breeze to knock down for Incarnates, while it would be nothing but insanity in high level zones, where low level players wouldn't be able to contribute so well. Unless they made a Standardize Arachnos Group specifically for Invasion events? That seems like a bit of work. I think Henchpets with the first Upgrade applied are just the right difficulty for every level range.

I mean Zombie Invasion, but it's Gangers/Soldiers/Robots/Demons/et cetera*. Depending on what the Team picks for their Trial. A voting mechanic could be made using the tech we see in the Summer Blockbuster. This isn't some magical impossible task. It's all doable! It will just take time, effort, a lot of bodies, and serious engagement from the playerbase to beta test the hell out of it. * I'd suggest Wild Animals too . . . buuuuut I recognize that one as too much of a hot-button. Basically, though, any of the Mastermind Henchpet groups, as NPCs. No actual direct player-Villain involvement in the Blueside Zones.

Also, uh, @Apparition babe . . . can we, um, workshop the thread title? I mean, I know we're villains. We're evil! But . . . dude. I ain't THAT evil.

I would suggest the Zones be vetted by the Devs first. So, for example, Kings Row, Talos, and Brickstown are your choices. Alternatively, only zones that can be selected as Hazard Zones. Boomtown, Terra Volta, Perez Park. It's workshoppable. As for Heroes invading Villain zones . . . eh . . . they don't really need that, do they? Besides, this idea of Villainous Invasions DOES give the Heroes something: It gives them the chance to react to a threat and BE HEROES! And earn some Badges in the process. I mean, the WHOLE POINT is that Heroes have WAY MORE STUFF than Villains already. This isn't giving something cool only to the Villains to spite the Heroes. It's giving Villains something cool to CATCH UP with the Heroes.

T- T- T- TRIPLE POST! (sorry) Not Double Inf. Devs don't like Inf. I forgot. Instead, make it so the Mayhems drop Merits for the next hour. That's better. Like 1 Merit for every 30 Seconds added to the clock. That shouldn't be too much, right?

Actually. On second thought, you know what? Let's combine the two! Whenever an Invasion is successful, all Redside Mayhem Missions grant double Infamy Rewards for an hour! Narratively, Paragon City is reeling from failing to stop a villainous invasion, and all Villains can then capitalize on that to grab more cash, resources, and assets while making themselves scarier in the eyes of Paragon's citizens. Gameplay-wise, a successful invasion basically encourages all those Vigilantes and Rogues to get their butts back Redside so they can be part of that bonus period.

Doc Scorpion absolutely NAILING it there. 100%, on all points!

As said; yup. Inf bonuses won't attract people interested in Redside. It will attract people interested in Inf. I think the best way to incentivize people to be playing Redside is to give players the power to make an impact in the game world. It's been suggested before, and it would take some development effort, but if Redside could -trigger- Blueside zone invasions, I think that would be a huge step in the right direction. Essentially a short Trial (15 minutes, a la Death From Below/Drowning in Blood/Summer Blockbuster), which upon completion gives the Team Leader a pop-up which asks "Which zone do you want to attack?" That zone then gets a regular auto-level-scaled Invasion Event. And if the invaders aren't defeated before the timer runs out, the Villains who initiated the invasion get themselves a Badge and bonus Merits. This also has the benefit of making players feel like they're Villains! They're big! They're bad! They're important and powerful enough to launch attacks on Paragon City! Two birds, one very big stone.

IT's not on the wiki since Leandro added it on SCoRE.

Not to hijack the whole thread, but a Dev also mentioned that the fade-away option for the Baby New Year auto-stalker "pet" would not work for existing pets. Basically, none of them would ever "die" (which is certainly something I imagine some players want), and would instead just fade away when defeated in combat too. Making that optional on a per account basis is tech which is still . . . well, honestly, I think it might be a dead end, unless someone has some epiphany on a means to develop it. It's certainly a piece of tech which would resolve a LOT of issues. Including the one expressed in this very thread, in fact. So, maybe not that much of a hijack after all.

Just checked. I have both Boon of the Ancestor and Summon: Tsoo Sorcerer at full charge on my main villain.

Don't apologize, Green. I think you really hit the nail on the head quite a few times there. Kudos.

Generally, it has been my professional experience that what holds back a development team from sharing their thought process is more habit reinforced by publisher mandate. I also think it's high time that habit gets quashed and we move in to an age where information moves more freely. We've seen success in this regard with many of the crowdfunded games that have become hits. I feel that the Homecoming Team is presently in a scenario which leaves them more prepared to function in one of these newer development paradigms, rather than being locked in to old ones. Also, because of my professional background, I tend to have a perspective where . . . YES! Sometimes we just threw things at the wall to see what would stick, but in a game THIS far along in development, we still had to choreograph those experiments. A design document expressing our intention, extrapolating the theoretical success rate to our targeted goal, but also the predicted consequences and (sometimes optional, but more mandatory as time went on) the player-demographic impact. I would like to believe that members of the Homecoming Development Team came from similar professional experiences, and that they see the value in this form of documentation. I urge them to share this process with the community, because the increased flow of information has a measurable positive impact on design iteration. Yes, even when there are angry, vocal players who don't "get it." But that's part of it: The more clear and expressive these documents are, the better we can communicate to those who aren't seeing the same picture we are.

Ah, but putting a reward in each Positron 1 AND Positron 2 means that players almost immediately get to see the effects of having two pieces of a Set! What we'd need to do is add a Redside two-piece Strike Force to give parity, though. That's not a small undertaking . . . but frankly, it's one that needs to happen anyway, as far as I'm concerned. (Money where mouth: I'm willing to attempt writing one of those, if anyone cares.)

UI would be ideal, but word is that changes to the UI are a bit beyond the scope of the current team if we also intend the changes to make their way to the servers in a reasonable timeframe. That's why Null is leaned on so heavily. Creating in-game toggles from NPCs is apparently far less strenuous than implementing even a "simple" UI change.

I mean, if anything, the SOs from DFB are kind of a trap. And this change does look like it's meant to address that, which is nice. But as other players are bringing up, it does have far reaching consequences. Given the negative impact the recent feature removal has on some playstyles (my own included), I am glad to have this opportunity to theorycraft that impact. So . . . not to bang on a Schrödinger's horse . . . but could we address the full depth of the intent and design plans behind the proposed change? From the Homecoming Team directly, please. The rest of us would just be speculating. Is the intention to prevent the DFB SO Trap mentioned above? Is the intention to "give a purpose" to SOs, DOs, and/or TOs given the current "meta" of the game? Is there some kind of extended effort to lead to some other, as-of-yet unannounced design goal? Where are we going, exactly, and are we in a handbasket? (that last bit was meant entirely in jest! But, seriously: Where -are- we going?)

Another idea hits me, which would require more effort to implement, but might satisfy the intention behind this new feature AND address concerns being raised by players who are interested in holding on to the original design: The mass Upgrade button ALSO reduces SOs to DOs, and DOs to TOs. It's a measured choice by the player if they intend to use it. Granted, to really make this worthwhile, the gap between SOs, DOs, and TOs would need to be lessened, I think. Perhaps only a 17% effectiveness falloff between tiers, rather than the full 50%.

It's actually 5 per run. One for each floor boss (and two bosses on the final floor). Four runs, the (presumed) average, means 20 SOs. GRANTED: Those SOs typically expire instantly, given how fast levelling up happens. That may have been part of the original design intention to bear in mind.

er, Peacemoon? "The functionality of Exemplaring can not take into account when you slotted powers, nor can we dictate which Enhancements to keep if we were to reduce the number of slots you have. Because of this, we have implemented a system with Exemplaring that reduces the overall effectiveness of your Enhancements based on the level you Exemplared to. This is meant to loosely simulate the fact that you would have fewer Enhancements at any given level. In addition, this reduction in power does not take into account the "power jumps" that occur for regular players when they hit 12 to 15 and 22 to 25 (as they move from TO to DO to SO Enhancements). Instead it is a smooth curve across the levels. This was done on purpose so that there wasn't "ideal Exemplar-to Levels". For example we didn't want people saying "Exemplaring to 22 is WAY better than exemplaring to 21!" Which would have been the case had we not put in the smooth curve. Is it an exact science? No, and it was never meant to be. Exemplaring was an extension of the Sidekicking system (which does not increase Enhancement strengths by the way). We realized we would need to reduce Enhancements or else Exemplared characters would simply outshine their Aspirants because they would be better slotted. —Positron, July 7, 2006"