SupaFreak

To the best of my knowledge, the AH doesn't know the difference between Attuned and un-Attuned or the enhancement's level. Just sell the one you have and buy it back unAttuned for near the same price you sold it for. It's like AH provides the service for a small fee. Example: Cacophony: Accuracy / Recharge has the same amount for sale in Crafted: All level ranges & Attuned

I'm totally down for Light-Based powerset

Condensed intro information to be pure bullet-point Updated layout of main post to have 1 Spoiler per Morality/Range instead of per Story Arc

TOPIC: Villain Arcs 21.05 & 21.06 OBSERVATION: The two arcs appear to be linked to an overall arc that's broken up through 2 contacts - still culminating to @14 minutes+ for 3 Merits. I do not recall being awarded any bonus upon completion of the two as Hero arcs 21.02 -> 21.04 did. CONCERN: The need to do 21.06 to be rewarded for 21.05, especially this early in the game for a new player. FEEDBACK: Same as feedback for Hero arcs 21.02 -> 21.04. Merits should be awarded at the end of each segment of the 2-part arc.

TOPIC: Villain Arc 21.12 OBSERVATION: The amount of travel time required within this arc. CONCERN: Sure, travel powers are available at level 4 now but having played all Hero & Villain 1-9 Arc in 48 hours, the travel time commitment required this early in the game is likely not very pleasant for a newcomer. FEEDBACK: I really feel the doors for missions 6 & 12 should have no chance of being on the opposite side of the Mercy Island map.

TOPIC: Hero Arcs 21.02 -> 21.04 OBSERVATION: The three arcs appear to all be linked to an overall arc that's broken up through 3 contacts - still culminating to @25 minutes+ for 3 Merits. I do believe there's a 20 Reward Merit bonus at the end for first time doing it which through normal gameplay is good but makes all 3 terrible for Ouroboros replay value. As intended? *shrug* CONCERN: Is it possible for the player to out level the 2nd or 3rd contact through doing other contacts? If so, then player is to never receive any Merits from first contact unless they finish the arc via Ouroboros. FEEDBACK: I think it would be better to award 21.02 with 6 Merits / 21.03 with 6 Merits / 21.04 with 12 Merits if the target max M/H is to be @60. Whether or not the bonus was to stay is irrelevant, because it's only awarded once. Dream Doctor's arc (50) is broken into two sections with a Reward Table at the mid-point, so it's not like this is unheard of.

Highest Rewarding Arcs as of 03/03/2024 WORK IN PROGRESS Compiled listing of Ouroboros flashback arcs and their current average for Merits/Hour on a speed run. CHARACTER USED & SETTINGS IN TEST RESULTS (BELOW) Level 50 (+3) Claws/Super Reflexes Stalker - finished IO & Incarnate build +0/x1 - No Bosses - No AV Super Speed available after Level 15 Flashbacks KEYMAP <C> = Able to call Contact once mission acquired Zone Changes marked in Orange >BASE< = Used Zone's Base Portal >MONO< = Used Monorail >FERRY< = Used Ferry >GATE< = Used Zone Gate <O> = Ouroboros Portal used to access Pillar of Ice & Flame for Contact's Location - often within mission upon completion <B> = Base Transport / Supergroup Portal / Monitor Duty Teleporter / Rapid Response Portal used <O> or <B> or >BASE< = Ouroboros or Base used to access Pillar of Ice & Flame for Contact's Location <MT> = Mission Transporter used <TT> = Team Transport used <LRT> = Long Range Teleporter used M/H = Merits/Hour Note: All Story Arcs started from SG Base using Pillar for ease of getting to 1st mission in different zone than Contact Note: Rescues in Defeat Alls are not listed due to the fact they will be rescued fulfilling the Defeat All requirement. Note: Enemies that spawn as Boss are counted as Elite Boss - may not be the case on teams or increased difficulty. Note: Enemies that spawn as Elite Boss are counted as Archvillains - may not be the case on teams or increased difficulty. Note: Dark Astoria & Personal Story Arcs will not be tracked since they do NOT award Reward Merits. LEVELS 1 - 9 HERO (6 Arcs) VILLAIN (13 Arcs) LEVELS 10 - 14 HERO (6 Arcs) VILLAIN (13 Arcs) EITHER (16 Arcs) LEVELS 15 - 19 HERO (10 Arcs) VILLAIN (8 Arcs) EITHER (20 Arcs) LEVELS 20 - 24 HERO (13 Arcs) VILLAIN (16 Arcs) EITHER (16 Arcs) LEVELS 25 - 29 HERO (20 Arcs) VILLAIN (17 Arcs) EITHER (8 Arcs) LEVELS 30 - 34 HERO (12 Arcs) VILLAIN (14 Arcs) LEVELS 35 - 39 HERO (10 Arcs) VILLAIN (16 Arcs) EITHER (6 Arcs) LEVELS 40 - 49 HERO (8 Arcs) VILLAIN (17 Arcs) LEVEL 50 HERO (14 Arcs) VILLAIN (39 Arcs) EITHER (7 Arcs) *** SPECIAL ARCS *** HERO (4/11 Arcs) VILLAIN (8/11 Arcs) EITHER (0/1 Arcs) ***** ARCHIVED ARCS ***** HERO (12 Arcs)

Yea, I'd venture to say the code would break my brain. Aside from Null the Gull following you around vouching for you - I got nothing else at this time.

I guess I've been fortunate on teams to not have this happen yet but... Yea, I have no idea how the code for any of the alignment checks work but seems to me a system similar to SK/EX could be applied to teams somehow. Experience Levels temporarily get changed to "Combat Level" in team situations based on the leader or the task's top level, whichever is lower. Can't something like "True Alignment" and "Combat Alignment" be applied here to leader's alignment for the duration of team of whatever the contact's required morality is for the duration of a TF, SF, Trial? -with new Prompt to Auto-Accept and Hide option, of course.

Okay, I've read through just about all of this thread and that quote from Rudra is the best I can summarize my feeling on this. "Prestige" is like a sinister old friend that was taken behind the proverbial Homecoming shed and put down,... and yet somehow here he is again, knocking at our City door begging to come in out of the cold and rejoin the party. Sure, he might be offering badge candy, but there's valid reason for concern that if we let that vagrant back in... we'd quickly be reminded that stranger was secretly a vampire the whole time! Heck, I can see him now. He's back to sucking the fun out of the community's veins and pointing to the leaderboard, like the junkie he was all those years ago. Once a vampire is let through that door, he's a real pain to evict. Earth Dragon - I can tell you're passionate about the good parts of the old system but in all honesty, as a whole it truly was a system that at its core encouraged "elitist" behavior on a level bad enough to drive some players (or paying subscribers on Live) away from the game. Your passion for it is admirable, but if you were to enter "Prestige" into a love compatibility test... the results would come back "World of Warcraft". And as much as I would love to have their subscriber numbers here... I'd rather not have to deal with that "Elitist" lovechild again.

That's why in my suggestion I went with a mystic portal to a remote island on Mercy Island near where Villains start off. I knew a gate or submarine or anything along those lines wouldn't work. Again, as someone who has barely a teaspoon of CoH Lore in their spice rack of knowledge - that part of the reasoning for possible interest in the Igneous in an arc isn't up to me - it's the challenge for someone on how to get them involved. Something related to them the Circle wishes to use in a ritual? Is there a relic the Circle want that's surrounded by Igneous? Etc, etc. Are people asking for this with the Villain access expansion into Striga that I'm not aware of? I personally don't see it as a full-fledged Co-Op zone in the sense of RWZ and DA of what's being added in Page 7. I don't even like that pure Villains or Rogues can start Moonfire TF as they're capable of on Brainstorm - but as one not real privy to Lore, who am I to complain? And to give justification as to why PvP in proposed selection of Hazard Zones will ALWAYS BE A NO-GO there ---> No real organization has your back there, at least not in the PvP zone aspect of the word. To both Heroes and Villain ----> No one there fully trusts either of you, so best just keep your heads cool and leave each other TF alone. TF being a metaphor for challenging moral Task Force, right? And hey - it's all just a Suggestion and Feedback on what it would take within reason to get someone like me to delve more into playing RedSide. If that's not the point of this Topic - I'll shut up now - otherwise - there's my 3 cents (I found an extra one on the way to this reply so now you've been granted a bonus penny on any mission to discredit the credibility of this thought- your lucky day!)

So, on my original response I made no suggestions on what I think *may* or *may not* help grow the villain population... but it's got me thinking the last few days. I like what you're doing with Striga... and I think it would be wise to continue to moving in that direction for Redside by "expanding their reach" to Hazard Zones. I mean, they are 'hazard' zones for a reason. Maybe next step, let them step into "The Hollows"? (Note the following should probably go to it's own Topic, but I'll leave it here for now) How would that be feasible you didn't ask? Well, I'm quite the ignorant on Lore in CoH but I know what love is.... I mean, I know how to read the text of a Badge and observe things. "Backwoodsman" from The Hollows mentions the area being saturated with mystical residue from the Circle's spells. What if some aspiring Mage of theirs found a way to connect from a location in Mercy Island such as the remote island located in Screenshot snippet attached below at the /loc shown in top right corner? What if all the sudden a contact sends you to a Circle mage in the Hollows and there's a mystic portal there surrounded by CoT mystics that will take you to a 2-way portal in the wooded area of The Hollows? You step through the portal into 'The Hollows" and quickly find your Circle contact awaiting you? He leads you on an arc of 4-5 missions, followed by 4 other mystics or something that give you level 5-15 content away from the Rogue Isles in a familiar setting. It could be related to Igneous. It could be related to Legacy Chain. (I noticed they're present in that back area of Hollows now.) It could be tied somehow to Karsis and the Cavern of Transcendence. But all the sudden you have 5 new arcs and a new Trial ONLY for Villains/Rogues to start (Vig can join?) to counter the Karsis one ONLY for Heroes/Vigilantes (Rogues can join?). How that could tie into the whole story arc there, I have no idea because I'm seriously an idiot who doesn't pay attention to Lore - no, seriously - I don't! PLUS this a more visually pleasant setting for those that have a distaste for the Rogue Isles and would ease that bitterness some. And then in upcoming Issues, you start slowly expanding Red-side's reach into Perez, Boomtown, Terra Volta, Crey's Folley and basically any Hazard Zone not mentioned... creating 1 or more new story arcs for both sides in zones currently without contacts? Or maybe Villains get new SFs in those Hazard Zones and the Heroes stay as is? Yea, that sounds better. Villains can't do Hero Missions in any of the Hazard Zones & vice versa for Heroes inability to do Villain missions but Rogues & Vigilantes could join any. Then people playing Red Side start feeling more like the Best Side because the "zone-count" superiority Heroes used to have over Villains has begun leveling out. But this doesn't populate Rogue Isle zones, Supa... which is the goal. Not directly... but indirectly it might. They gotta have somewhere to go after completing the new bad-ass content & SFs they can't do as Heroes. Y'all gonna keep crawling on all fours to Null the Gull and beg that bird to make you a pansy again or you gonna suck it up and stay put in the Isles for a whiles? *shrug* It's a thought. Good or bad? Who am I to say?

That suggestion was a jest for someone thinking it would be cool if all of Praetoria were level 50 Co-Op, I believe. Not a bad idea, but Paragon Studios should have done that before releasing Going Rogue with a new threat keeping it high stakes instead of low-stakes shambles. I know it's far-fetched in real life for a power (or country to the east) to be overthrown by a local power only to have a resurgence of the old power come back and reclaim their power and oppress their people. 😎 Sorry with disrupting - but did not want that joke reply taken serious earlier. STAY ON TOPIC!

My feedback (as shared by others): It's not inconsequential at all. The AH value of PAs is nothing to sneeze at... I'm very much a Rewards-focused guy - but one who loves the CoH community more than the Rewards, so unless that day I'm after PAs - I won't exclude anyone from my team. Not every Rewards-focused type is going to be like me though and I would venture to say this is *very likely* going to encourage a behavior we don't typically see here in CoH - despite its good intentions. If this does make it out of Open Beta, I'll do everything in my power not to let it affect my approach to the game... but I won't be surprised if it ends up being detrimental to what it was hoping to accomplish in the first place. PSA: If you do sneeze at Prismatic Aether AH values, please wipe it down with a soft cloth afterwards... soiled, if need be.

I haven't been through every single page yet, but has anyone mentioned that due to Power Pools and some Powersets - one could argue any AT could technically fill the role of Control (for example) in some capacity if the right powers are present? I mean, I know my main - DP/Martial has 2 stun/hold that can keep most Bosses locked down. And is KB considered control? Then I think about my Ice/Energy Sentinel with 2 holds, a lot of slows and a PBAoE Sleep vs my Illusion/Time Controller who has 3 holds, a confuse and a little bit of slows. They almost rank evenly in Control. The Sentinel Tanks better than Ranged and the Controller actually Supports better than Controls. Then I ask myself... well isn't Taunt a form of Control too? My Tanker with 2 Taunts (1 from Presence) can keep 2 AVs that are spread apart "controlled" by focusing on him. *shrug* I mean, it is considered a Status Effect under Resistance, isn't it? I see both sides of the argument on this but to me CoH seems like such a complex web of power possibilities to bring someone on and say "you're X and you're Y" when sometimes my /MA blaster who's IO'd out does more melees damage than an upcoming Scrapper who's defense focused. It don't matter to me whatever the decision ends up being. I'll form teams and tell them we're not going to worry about the bonus - if we get it, great - if not, oh well. Then it makes me wonder "Are there plans to do the opposite down the line for those of us that love themed teams/TFs? Like all-Blaster, etc?" o.O

Collective summary from speed / action perspective of new Striga Isle story arcs as completed by Level 50 Claws/Reflexes Stalker fully IO'd out. Buried Secrets Oberst Straxt Time 15:32 Replay Value: 8/10 "Most old school feel. Very basic." Suggested Merits: 16 to 18 Just Prototypical Dr. Francois Time 12:50 Replay Value: 8.5/10 "Personal favorite of the 5 because of the final mission." Suggested Merits: 14 or 15 Negotiations of the Living Dead Night Widow Ragana Time 9:37 Replay Value: 7/10 "Easiest one to speed through." Suggested Merits: 10 to 12 The Most Dangerous Prey Orpheus Time 12:42 Replay Value: 7.5/10 "Might have most travel time between missions." Suggested Merits: 14 or 15 The Last Witch of Striga Mage Killer Tatiana Time 16:04 Replay Value: 8/10 "Memorable final mission." Suggested Merits: 18 to 20 So, ran each one 2x and came across no technical issues. As stated in first reply, I was not paying attention to text (except for the in-mission pop-up text in Prototypical) so no idea if there were misspellings I missed or inconsistencies in story. A+ on diversifying all arcs with diverse missions, maps, enemies and objectives. From an action standpoint, they're all really well done for having a mostly "old school" feel. I hope you all don't mind me testing them in this manner, but it's best it's done now than when they hit the servers to find out people are exploiting certain ones for Merits over and over. Wish that were done and fixed with A/E before it went Live. I'm out for this session. PEACE! * forgot to mention * I really appreciate that each arc only had 1 "Defeat All".

More feedback from speed / action perspective. Playthrough of 'The Last Witch of Striga" thoughts Back to 'old school' vibes on this one except for the finale with colored text on Nav. Maps once again diverse enough to keep it fresh. Nice job on the BP ritual one with blending & randomizing the ritual groups. Was a bit of extra traveling on this one as well. Beginning is easily offset by MT or TT to 1st mission then Ouro/Base to crystal back to contact afterwards. Ran this one 2x as well because I lost a lot of time on the 1st run locating the *sniff* sweet witch I had to take out. BTW, the final map is gonna be great for teams. Knocked it out in @16 mins 2nd time (will post screenshot on wrap up). 20 Merits might be right about on the mark. 18 minimum, IMO. Less than that, it's never worth it. I can say on a scale of 1-10 Action/Reward-wise this is about a 8/10 - The zone clickies (while nice change of pace) are annoying when trying to speed. Will I be playing it again from time to time once it hits the servers? At least once, yea. The final mission is just too good. I'm going to go ahead and run the first 3 again with my Stalker and see how greatly I can reduce the times. I will post 1 single Reply with screenshot of time and contact with final thoughts once complete.

More feedback from speed / action perspective. Playthrough of 'The Most Dangerous Prey" thoughts Less 'old school' vibes on this one. The tricky 'kill all' after destroy object & the BP Mask threw me for loop. Maps again diverse enough to keep it fresh. Was a bit of extra traveling on this one. Ran 2x because the BP mask really threw me off and cost me time on first run. Knocked it out in @12 mins 2nd time (will post screenshot on wrap up). 20 Merits? Max 15 IMO. Trust me, I hate say lower reward - but if you leave as is - I know where I'll be going for Merits. The fastest avg. I have on old school arcs is roughly a Merit a minute. I can say on a scale of 1-10 Action/Reward-wise this is about a 7.5/10 - Really dig the ease to speed the missions but the travel from door to door takes it down. Will I be playing it again from time to time once it hits the servers? Maybe. Depends on if rewards change.

More feedback from speed / action perspective. Playthrough of 'Negotiations of the Living Dead" thoughts More 'old school' vibes with a slight touch of newer format but not mechanics, per say. Maps and enemies again diverse enough. Excellent yet again. Knocked it out in 14 mins 1st time, likely to be faster now familiar with it. 20 Merits? May want to tone that back close to 15, maybe 12. I'm testing these on Controller when I should be doing them on Stalker who will likely cut minutes off the time. Transferring copy of him now - will likely playthrough first 3 again after I do the others and give final results. I can say on a scale of 1-10 Action/Reward-wise this is about a 7/10 - Zone hunts always knock it down a notch. Will I be playing it again from time to time once it hits the servers? Maybe. Depends on if rewards change.

More feedback from speed / action perspective. Playthrough of 'Just Prototypical" thoughts More 'old school' vibes. Good, good. Touch of newer mechanics on finale. Great. Maps and enemies again diverse enough. Excellent. Knocked it out in 15 mins 1st time, likely to be faster now familiar with it. 20 Merits? May want to tone that back close to 15, IMO. I can say on a scale of 1-10 Action/Reward-wise this is about a 8.5/10 - New mechanic of text on screen and new glowies popping up was nice. Will I be playing it again from time to time once it hits the servers? Absolutely.

Just giving feedback from someone who doesn't read the text and is strictly action-focused because like it or not, our kind exists in MMOs. Playthrough of 'Buried Secrets" thoughts I immediately felt 'old school' vibes and thought it fit right in with the arcs presented Hero-side. Even commented on that to my wife while on second mission. I appreciated the diversity of maps and that it didn't feel like I was doing the same mission over and over in that regard - and that the maps were medium in size. I prefer arcs that are right around 5 missions so I don't have to be committed to it long, which again falls in line with the Hero arcs. So, that was also nice. Since I generally go through Ouro Flashbacks, I did so here - speed running it as fast as I could. Not making me travel far was great. Was able to pull it off in @20 minutes. I don't know if you're aware or even care about speed running these, but there are those of us that do it. 20 mins for 20 Merits is about the standard of old arcs. MPM or Merit Per Minute, we say around here. Note: Towards the end of Live, it seems like they were defaulting any new story arcs to 6 Merits no matter how long it took. That put them on the "Do Not Play Again" list for me - which sucks because some had cool mechanics within. Yes, I am that petty in regard to that. It is a factor to consider so people don't exploit arcs to do Merit runs for. Balanced well. I don't want the author of these arcs to feel their story-telling work is unappreciated by me, because even though I don't read it - I DO appreciate it's there for the Lore crowd. Angle them for feedback on that aspect. Both the Lore & Action crowds are essential to pretty much any MMOs success - at least in my opinion - and both need appealed to. I can say on a scale of 1-10 Action/Reward-wise this is about an 8 - unable to be higher because it *should* have less new mechanics to fit in with old Striga (Hero) arcs. Will I be playing it again from time to time once it hits the servers? Absolutely.

Also, since I super rarely ever play Redside or care about Badges - I had no idea about the "Spirit Trapping" or "Shakedown(?)" zone events over there. Wife is a badge hunter - so took her there since I recently was researching if Villains had zone events at all. Both are really cool IMO and I had no idea they existed because they're not mentioned on Zone Events notifications. This way new players and dummies like me could use internal resource instead of external resource for discovering things.

I never implied they were necessary, just something more aesthetically pleasing IMO than what I personally view as a generic portal dropped somewhere near amenities. The whole Emissary thing is just an idea to alleviate the need for an additional tab that those like you and I use but people like the wife don't. She's 2 tabs - 1 window separated in 2 sections with Events not on either. I know some friends of mine that no longer play did the same because I've seen their set-ups and I get the feeling a good portion of our population might have us in the minority on that aspect. They want more simplified - maybe.

Main reason for me is - the Endurance sapping aspect for players - not so much the Regen aspect at all really. If enemies were to get more End Recovery - then I would want those who love their End sapping characters to have their powers boosted to offset it. For all 7 of my MMs - I think only my Thugs seldomly have End issues. Primarily the Brawler boss one. Is it an issue with other MMs I'm not aware of? I haven't played Electric Blast since Live - I know the Sap aspect got boosted by HC - but on Live, I was disheartened with how little I sapped End with all the enhancements I dropped in the powers. I don't want to make anyone feel their Electric powers suck... at sucking.

I personally think there's a lot more at stake behind the scenes than what we know. There are motivations to NCSoft granting the license agreement, IMO. There could be future opportunities for the volunteers if they impress... which I think they've actually already done. Now the challenge for them will be to grow and maintain the boost in active players if my guess is correct. This is just way to cheer someone on that could be under that pressure. It would motivate me if I were them. If you need "safe space"... the competition of this world is going to eat you alive.