MHertz

In real life there would be a penalty to accuracy for the superhero cruising in at top speed to take potshots, as well as a penalty to accuracy for anything targeting that hero (excepting AOEs).

Maybe what the Hollows needs is a flood event for the Red River.

I don’t PVP, but it seems like the workable solution to base raids and mayhem missions is to make a specific set of pre-made maps with different objective types — castle raid, capture the flag, king of the hill, or whatever. Maps could take the form of city blocks, bases, office buildings, etc. Yes, it would take some time to build such maps, and they wouldn’t be player-built and fully-customized bases. Still, it would solve the pathing problem for pets and create an interesting space where team PVP could happen. Toss those maps into the arena and you’re good to go.

I think introducing an entire set is an over-engineered solution, and I think specialty procs aren’t a very good model for future content. It’s just more power creep and more drops that won’t sell because nobody cares about anything but the special one. The only point to the remaining pieces is to convert them into the coveted one. If that is the model we’re trying to copy, remember that the 20% Slow resistance in Winter’s Gift is also unique (1 per character), which is not indicated here. It would give some sets (like Electrical Blast) multiple opportunities to slot that proc, and other sets only one (Stamina). While I would be okay on general principals to give Electric sets more built-in End Drain resist, I don’t think the IO here is the way to go. Finally, End Drain barely works at all, after a decade of being totally useless. I’m not excited about saying Electric’s reason for existing should be taken away by some Level 1 with some pocket money to spend.

It doesn’t seem like that set would ever be used to its fullest — people would just spend 20 million on the “resist End Drain” enhancement and slot it into Stamina. Maybe they’d throw an extra slot into Stamina so they could still have an End Mod. Seems like a pretty low-investment solution to mitigate 20% of one whole debuff effect starting at level 1. I don’t think there’s any equivalent solution for mitigating, say, Hold or Def Debuff — aren’t most of those like “reduce Hold by 3% if you have four IOs from this set”? You’d probably be better off petitioning for a Resist End Drain to be added a little at a time to a dozen different existing IO sets.

The problem isn't you. The problem is — and forgive me for saying this, because playing styles differ from person to person — I don't think those people who rush ahead are very good team players. They may be very good at playing their character. They might have an outstanding build. They might have spent a lot of money on IO sets. They might have dozens of level 50s and know every Task Force by heart. But that particular playstyle is often the cause (in my opinion) when there are team wipeouts. The Brute (or Tanker or Scrapper or whoever) is two mobs ahead, racing forward to use their big alpha strike on a bunch of puny minions. The Controllers and Blasters are left behind to mop up the more durable enemies, like COT Death Mages or War Wolves, which take a lot longer. Now the team is split up. The Defender can't keep the Tanker buffed in the other room and still keep the squishies safe; there's nobody to hold aggro in the back because the "best" players way out in front don't even pay attention to anyone else's health bar. The Stalker is suddenly getting pounded because he doesn't realize he's no longer got those tasty team buffs. People have to keep checking the map to see where the team's supposed to be. And some teams allow this to happen because some people are terrible leaders. Don't get me wrong. This is my perspective. I generally like it when the team is safe and there are no hiccups. But there are moments when the game is truly exhilarating because a couple of people almost get defeated. Maybe two or three do and have to be rezzed, and the ambushes are coming thick and fast, and you have to use every power in your arsenal (including Brawl) because you got nothin' else. That's fun. Some people like to play like that all the time. Because there's danger. That's just not me, at least not all of the time. And those players might find my preferred playstyle boring, where everything runs smoothly and people are generally not in grave danger every moment and the Blaster isn't racing to accumulate debt badges. My solution to this: I run my own groups. I usually don't try to run with someone else's team. If I run into somebody who's awful at running a team, who insults players or their builds, or who insists on a team full of solo artists, I put them on ignore. When I run my own team, I keep people informed about my decisions and I emphasize team play. "Can the Scrapper please take point? Both of our Brutes are lowbies and they don't have full armor yet." "I'm turning this next mission down because it's Carnival of Shadows." "Defender, my heals aren't very good, so if you can handle the team, I'll watch your back." "Controllers, if I see a Quantum in the crowd, I'll call it out, and you can target through me." It usually works. Nevertheless, there are still times when the team is rolling so well, you only get to use a handful of your powers. Sometimes on my ice/cold corruptor, I only have the chance to use Ice Storm, Sleet, Blizzard, Snowstorm, my shield powers, and a couple of blasts before the spawn is defeated and we're on to the next. That's fine. I'm like you; I want to see what all the powers do. I hate the idea of playing City of the Same Four Power Pools (Boxing, Tough, Weave, Maneuvers, Assault, Tactics, Hasten, blah blah blah). That's boring as hell to me. Why bother playing alts at all, if you're going to make them functionally the same? But you can look at this scenario as an opportunity. If you're only using certain powers when you're on teams like that, make a second build for those team situations. Take the very best powers you'll always want, and skip some others. Fill up on power pools. Make yourself a beast so you can keep up. And use your first build to see what powers you like, when you're on teams that allow for a more varied experience.

I guess we disagree on what the word "new" means in this context. For me, I take it to mean "recently arrived for the first time." I highly, highly doubt that this game — a feeble population on a rogue server for a dead game with no visible marketing strategy — is attracting floods of "new" players by that definition. It seems to me that you're using the word "new" to mean "unfamiliar with the elements of the game outside of PLing." And that I will freely concede could indeed be true, because the game has (as I've said) made it easier to progress in levels without progressing in game experience. A person could well be here for many months, quickly (or slowly) building up an army of level 50 door-sitters, because it is easy to progress in that fashion. That player might even think they're doing it the "right way," or they might feel proud to have found this loophole. I wouldn't know. In any case, I'm not seeing the connection between the alleged problem ("new" players) and the solution (make changes to AE XP). It might plug one leak, but it wouldn't stop PLing; and even if it did, it would not, on its own, serve to educate players. If I wanted to help prevent players from making it through the game in an uninformed state, I would introduce gate missions at certain levels. These would be required on at least one character in order to gain any XP past that level. Once the sequence is completed, the player would earn a global badge and would not have to do those missions on future alts. I don't have an exact list off the top of my head, but it'd be something like this: before advancing past level 5 (blueside), you must: complete any one contact mission in Atlas Park before advancing past level 10, you must: level up at least once from either Blue Steel (in Kings Row) or Foreshadow (in the Hollows) before advancing past level 15, you must: level up at least once with Valkyrie (Steel Canyon) or Mynx (Skyway City), who makes you do a zone-wide patrol that forces you to visit all 5 origin-based shops And so on. This might be a minor inconvenience for AFK PLing, but it wouldn't stop players from doing it in whatever manner they chose. It would barely be a speed bump, since it would only be required on your first toon. However, it might be enough to make sure that the player has at least once seen some of the contacts in some of the zones in the game.

Double post.

Can tell what? See, that’s the part I have trouble with. Can you tell some character got PLed? Yes, I agree, there are definitely combinations of badges that a character probably ought to have earned to some degree. If they have dealt no damage and taken no damage by level 50, sure, I agree that person was probably a door sitter or a PL baby. Can you tell that the player is new? No. The lack of badges doesn’t say anything about whether the player is new, uninformed, clueless, etc. Can you tell that the player got their XP in AE? No, not necessarily in all cases. They’ll definitely have the architect pages for playing a game, but that’s not the only way to PL to 50. One could door-sit for radio missions in PI, for instance. I refuse to agree that a lack of badges and accolades alone is proof that the character was PLed and that the player is new, without further evidence. This mythical newbie who somehow installs the game, stumbles into the LFG channel, happens to ask for PL, and accidentally falls into a Pocket D fire farm for 50 straight levels and then walks directly into your Posi 1 Task Force … yeah, gonna need proof of that. I find it unlikely. The game has made it easier than ever for people to camp XP in one spot for 50 levels — the AE building, radio missions, instant city-wide sidekick, free base teleporters to all zones, monsters that con the same to all levels — so it isn’t just an AE problem. Whatever solution is put forth will have to address more than just this one aspect of the game. Not for nothing, but people used to know how to use their travel powers because they used to have to travel.

I've been working on a lot of base stuff recently and this is my wouldn't-it-be-nice wish list. Snow and ice themed items. Snow-covered trees, snowy ground, snow-covered rocks, icicles, etc. Police and prison themed items. Wall of prison bars, prison bench, barred window, security guard NPCs, prisoner NPCs, etc. Military base items. We can put in lots of vehicles, but it'd be nice to have bunk beds, crates of military supplies, canvas tents, Quonset huts, etc. Tropical themed items. More large leafy plants that aren't in planters, more palm trees, and a surface of sand for beaches and dunes. Forest themed items. Taller conifers, blackberry brambles, dirt floors, forest floors, fallen branches, fallen trees, ant hills, animal dens, and so on. Underwater themed items. Sharks, rays, coral reefs, shipwrecks, seaweed, volcanic vents, filtered light effects.

I know, there's probably a ton of threads on this already, but I was thinking about this the other day and I wanted to put this idea out there. The three problems with Illusion Control as I see it: It relies too much on Phantom Army as a be-all, end-all power It has redundant stealth powers (Self + Group) It tries to be too many things: Psi, Energy, Confuse, Fear, Hold, Sleep Also, I'm sure many of us would like to see Illusion Control compatible with the Mastermind AT. Here's my proposal: Level 1. Spectral Wounds. High Spectral Damage (Psionic) Level 1. Summon Decoys. Ranged, Minor Spectral Damage (Psionic) Level 2. Blinding Illusion. Ranged, Moderate Spectral Damage (Psionic) + Foe (Special) + Foe Perception debuff Level 6. Enveloping Illusion. Ranged AOE, Minor Spectral Damage (Psionic) + Foe (Special) + Foe Perception debuff Level 8. Superior Invisibility. Self Stealth + Defense (All) Level 12. Summon Spectral Visions. Ranged, Foe (Special) Level 18. Illusion Mastery. Change secondary damage/effects (in the manner of Dual Pistols) to Fear, Confuse, or Immobilize. Level 26. Summon Phantasm. Ranged, Moderate Damage (Psionic), Minor Damage (Energy), Foe (Special) Level 32. Infiltration. PBAOE, Stealth, Defense (all) + Foe (Special) The set now reads like a Mastermind set, minus the training powers. The number of minions and lieutenants can follow the mastermind leveling scale, and not be indestructible pets; they can tank a lot of damage simply by being re-summonable. In place of giving the Illusion Controller training powers to increase damage and defense for all her illusions, she has the option (with Illusion Mastery) to toggle between various secondary effects. The default is Immobilize; but the controller can change the secondary effect in certain powers to Fear, Confuse or Stun. This also changes which kind of effect is thrown by the Spectral Vision (no longer just Spectral Terror) and Phantasm. The Tier 32 power would be similar to Grant Invisibility, but it would also proc the special secondary effect (Immob, Fear, Confuse, or Stun), turning it into an escape power or an alpha strike, rather than just a stealth power. In my dream world, the animation of this power would make everyone on your team take on the illusionary form of some enemy.

Illusion control could use something, but this isn’t it. The Confuse should be Mass Confuse, and maybe cause the bad guys to look like copies of your team. The Invisibility should come with an optional pop-up Mass Invisibility button. There could be an Immobilize that does single target damage, drawing on a random Immobilize animation from other sets. The pet summon can scale up in the number and type of pets as you level — first one decoy, then two, then two Decoys and a Spectral Fear, etc. Or maybe we stop trying to shoehorn so many different effects into the set and give Illusion Control a way to choose damage type and secondary effect (spectral wounds, confuse, or fear) like Dual Pistols and Staff get. But “needs to rely more on Phantom Army being an indestructible I Win Button” is probably not a good design direction.

Double post.

Double post.

I will admit that it is theoretically possible for someone to be PLed to 50 and have no working knowledge of the game or the zones or the locations of stuff. I have not yet, to my knowledge, ever met a player that I could be reasonably sure would fit this profile. So yes, you could be right. In theory. Lord willin’ an’ the crick don’t rise, with grace o’ God and a long-handled spoon. That’s not the problem people have with your position. There are tons of characters who PLed to 50 that lack those badges and accolades … but still know how to play. There are plenty of characters who played some non-PL way to 50, lack certain badges and accolades, and don’t know how to play. There are plenty of characters who played some non-PL way to 50, lack certain badges and accolades, and also know how to play. They just don’t care about badges and accolades. The problem is that you seem to want us to agree with certainty that a given set of symptoms (lack of badges, accolades, game knowledge) automatically means the player is an incapable neophyte with a PL baby. And we can’t. There are too many other reasons why someone could not know (or not care) about the things you think should be dispositive indicators of experience. And we obviously can’t be certain that the AE was the cause.

Really, that’s the only way to do witch hunts. You never hear of anyone going down the timid, accommodating pacifist witch hunt path.

The simplest way would seem to be repeating all-level content on a single kind of enemy, like joining a Trick-or-Treat league in PI. You wouldn’t get location badges, and you’d only get Defeat X badges for witches, werewolves, etc. Considering that Halloween just happened, I find it not unlikely that there may be a few 50s around who went up the ladder that way. Or, you know, doing all-Council radio missions in PI. Once players find a means for leveling up, I find they often stick with it. The new auto-sidekicking feature has made it much easier than on Live for a new player to team up outside his natural level, adhere to a narrow band of content, and skip whole swathes of missions and zones. It used to be that you had to know the minimum level for hazard zones and plan accordingly, and team mostly with people your level and play Mentor Tetris to get sidekicks in at an effective level. Now, I dare say most new players aren’t consciously aware of that sidekick system at all. It even allows players to participate in level 50 AE farms (or Trick-or-Treat) starting at level 1. That is what likely causes players do not know where Positron is. Blaming it all on AE is unwarranted, as it is not truly where the problem lies. In the Old Days, you couldn’t stick to one content faucet. You out-leveled that zone and you had to know where to go next. You had to slog through Steel Canyon and Skyway just to get to the Green Line. Now, you can just post “level 1 LFG” and buy a magic power to teleport you across the city right to the door. Or use someone else’s SG teleporters. AE has distorted the landscape of the game, sure, but other systems added for our convenience have done much more.

It can exist in pen-and-paper RPGs, too, where you adventure with the same party throughout the campaign. In an MMO there is no longitudinal character study with a fixed set of participants. That’s why playing it in an MMO presents different challenges.

Is now when I point out that I only have one character out of 40 with that accolade? I think you have a somewhat distorted idea of what people ought to have done by 50. The absence of certain badges (practically unavoidable location badges like Hero Corps Insider or inevitable X Damage Taken/Dealt badges) would be a better indicator … maybe you should’ve led with that. It’s perfectly possible to do radio missions through 20, or do the Hollows and then Skyway, and end up not knowing anything about Task Forces or Positron. At least on one’s first character. Do I think it’s common? No, I don’t. But I haven’t seen anybody like you describe, either.

If I’m leading a group, I have to set the mission, adjust settings for new team composition, and (depending on my AT) hand out buffs or summon pets. I have to keep communicating with the team so they don’t go in the door early. I really don’t want to have to constantly answer tells for 15 minutes while the mission is going on. I’ll gladly post to LFG that the team is full, as well as answer any stragglers that make it through before I get that message posted.

I have played this game for years, and have returned to Homecoming many months ago. I don’t know where all the task forces are located or what the common abbreviations are. The first time I participated in an ITF I didn’t know I had to have the Midnight Squad badge. The first time I ran the Winter Lord trial I didn’t know how to get there either. None of those things prove any of my characters were PLed. These things happen. Perfect knowledge of all maps, NPCs, mission content and lore should not required to prove one isn’t an AE baby.

I think what you're saying is "be realistic about your power level." As you say, if you are trying to RP as an ultrapowerful being, there ought to be a reason why you're not, in this exact moment, according to the game engine, as ultrapowerful as you want people to think. I don't think I ever said you have to play a level 1 as a total gosh-how-amazing! newbie every single time. I made a character named Techbonker. He dresses and talks exactly like Stickbonker, but instead of being a level 50 staff/WP brute, he's a low-level Robots Mastermind. I justify the fact that he's "weak" (he's not level 50) by saying he's trying to learn a new discipline but he's not good at it yet. I don't think I did try to dissuade anyone from being mysterious. There's a distinction to be drawn between being mysterious as a character and being a complete mystery to other players. You can play a character who has secrets, and even play one that refuses to discuss those secrets, but (as I said) the disadvantage to that approach is that you're either a) breaking character by constantly talking about the thing you claim you never talk about, or b) you have to wait for someone else to drag your secrets out of you. It can become repetitive for other players and for you. Other players may not want to participate in your story if you make it too difficult. One thing about the characters you mention — Black Widow, Dr. House, Batman, et al — they are all leads. That means the action always follows that character and the audience is slowly educated about each of them over a long stretch of time. You, as an RPer in an MMO, are not a lead except to yourself. Unlike with a TV show audience, it's unlikely that any player will be present to witness every moment of your long-haul story arc. You are a bit part in someone else's story. They might catch episode 5, then episode 22, then episode 24, then episode 60.* As such, you cannot expect everyone to be familiar with your backstory just because you told three dancers and one AFK dude in Pocket D. You're going to have to tell that story again and again. That means you have to figure out how to be both mysterious and communicative. I've seen players who lurk on the sidelines with those "I'm So Mysterious" bios filled with [redacted] and blank spaces and phrases like "name: unknown" and "he's watching you from the corner." I usually don't see anybody talking to them. I know I don't. But I think we're on the same page, pretty much, because you're saying to RP your character in a way that creates engagement despite the mysterious nature of the character. That's all I'm saying. Give your character handles. *This is why Stickbonker repeats himself often. If I want to make a running joke about his missing boot or his ongoing squabble with City Hall or his pretentions at being mayor, I have to keep bringing these things up when different people are online.

I'm not trying to say you're wrong, but I would love to see some numbers along those lines, particularly when it comes to street sweeping vs door missions. Street sweeping in a hazard zone (like Perez) may deal with spawns that often aren't the ideal level/size that you can get in a door mission, but there's no travel time. You wander around defeating everything that gets in your way. The lower-level mobs get steamrolled; the higher-level mobs take slightly more time. Compared to some door missions ("go talk to Genevieve Sanders, now go defeat 10 Skulls, now go talk to Shauna Stockwell, now go find the door mission") you spend almost no time looking for the next XP target. Other mission arcs ("here's another portal mission, and the portal is literally right here") have less travel time. In addition, some door missions ("hunt these 16 city blocks and try to locate 20 hostages, which are hiding under eaves and in alleys and behind fences and in doorways, and the last 20 minutes of the mission is wasted time because you can't find the last dude in the parking garage") are just irritating time-wasters. I would love for some of those door missions to have that slightly lower, but still steady, influx of XP. Farming is likewise a multi-headed best and can take many forms (including street-sweeping) so it's a little harder to pinpoint. Edit: Upon reflection, it's possible the devs killed street sweeping as a way to get people out of city zones and increase server performance. If so, it's understandable, but I'm sorry to see the zones much less busy as a consequence.

I have not seen this epidemic of uninformed players created by AE farms. I’ve definitely seen some Tankers that like to herd, and some that don’t; I’ve seen Blasters that like to blap, and some that don’t; I’ve seen Controllers who take none of their team-friendly buff powers, and those who do. I would never assume that one group or the other only plays that way because they “don’t know better” or because “farming ruined them” or whatever. About the only thing I can point to about the effect of AE farming is that zones like Perez, which used to be fun, have turned empty and boring. Street sweeping is a lost art. You don’t see characters flying through zones as much, or super-speeding somewhere, because so many players have chosen to chain themselves inside a cage like experimental rats that can’t stop pushing the cocaine button. This is a game about being super. We’re all sitting inside at our computers for the opportunity to be super. I find it incredibly sad that instead of getting out into the city zones, people choose to play a video game inside the video game. But you know, to each his own. If the devs didn’t want it to happen they’d find a way to change the rules. So I figure it’s no big deal. Edit: If I were to rebuild AE from the ground up, I would do two things. First, AE missions provide XP, but no other rewards. Influence is supposed to be fame and fortune; enhancements and salvage are stuff you find. None should be available in a virtual world. But second, I would allow that AE provides superior training and grants a real-world buff against certain enemies. Fight a bunch of Vahz in AE and get a bonus vs Vahz in the real world, and so on. That would encourage AE users to diversify their taste in missions.

I can’t be the only one who wonders why a psionic controller can’t offer any psionic defense to her team. Or why illusions can’t more effectively fight other illusions. Or why electric control doesn’t shut down robots. Is there a way to build some kind of team defense into the Control/Domination sets that plays on these elemental themes? I mean, there really ought to be Origin-themed power trees too, for stuff like Counterspell and Hack Enemy Software, but one thing at a time.