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Yeah, there are definitely solutions to be found in reward merits. One big change that really needs to happen is that everybody who participated in an arc get the merits, not just the arc holder. But that comes with a few caveats. As others have said, looking at drop distribution while teamed would help. I've found as a trend that characters I solo with can end up with 50-100mil inf by 50, plus at least a few sets, with little effort on my part, whereas support characters who teamed sometimes end up with just 5-10mil and generic IOs. I see that as a design problem.

I think a lot of the perceived difficulty comes from information overload rather than technical complexity required to operate it. A new player looking at crafting for the first time needs to take in a lot of new ideas all at once to make the most of it, while at the same time trying to work out what might work best for their character. Not that I have any solutions, but finding natural ways to take players through it, or consolidate some of the features, would go a long way.

I actually agree with you on this point. I don't think it's particularly great that the two best ways of making money in the game have little to do with the core of the game. Diversifying ways of making income would be a challenge though. It's kind of a two-pronged situation that's led us here. On one hand, the rewards of the game never really updated to match where the IO economy went (and it went wild on Live) and on the other hand, players found and created optimal ways to make money that exceeded the expectations of the game. Depending on if Homecoming's market finally reaches a point of "This is normal forever" it could be possible to adjust balance accordingly. On the other hand, adjusting that balance could push the prices up... Ugh, I don't like thinking about this stuff. It goes in circles makes my brain go gooey.

It comes up because the market is at the eye of the storm in that conversation. Those who can engage with it are the 'haves' and those who can't are the 'have-nots'. By the end of Live, that disparity was huge. On Homecoming right now, everyone can engage with it. And that's incredible. Amassing a fortune isn't an issue (Just typing that out, I feel the urge to add that I don't feel the same way about real life wealth. Different beast). Worst case scenario is that someone with an incredible amount of wealth and no sense decides to buy every IO five times each for a few million more than what they're worth. There would be a temporary bump in the market and it would normalise again as people buy and sell for a more average wealth. A few wealthy players cannot make any long-term change to how much things cost* - the average wealth is a more powerful mover. As money gets poured in and swished around, the average goes up and the prices go up with it. On Live, that average must have been very high - not because a lot of people had that much money, but because the disparity between rich and poor was so big. *I guess a sustained, coordinated, 24-hours-a-day effort with the intent of screwing up the economy for everyone would do it. But then nobody benefits out of that. The wealthy players most of all, who just lost all their money buying a ton of crap that was worth half as much as they bought it for.

Possibly. (though I don't think of myself as a marketeer. I just convert and sell my drops. I don't flip anything.) But also keep in mind that using the auction house only moves existing money around, and someone who might be hoarding money is taking it out of play and deflating the economy. Plus the tax, which is more money gone. Inflation, and the large prices that come with it, happen when new money is poured in.

It did impact marketeers. Pretty directly. With less inf generation, the market prices reduced. With reduced market prices, marketeers make less. Before the nerf I considered 2mil a good average sell when I'm converting drops. Now I consider 1.5mil a good average sell. But it's fine because everything is a bit cheaper.

I really appreciate the empathy with which you're making the case, and you're always good to talk with. But I do want to argue this point. The move was one to prevent the markets getting to the same place that the Live market got to. Those were a nightmare. While Homecoming have done a lot of different things to prevent that from happening (converters and merit changes being freakin' amazing), it wouldn't solve the eventual inequality that Live got to of severe haves and have-nots. There was a colossal amount of influence in play, so each unit was worth so, so much less than on Homecoming (I wonder what the exchange rate of Live inf to HC inf is? Do we have enough data to estimate that?). It bounced around in giant chunks and farming really was the only feasible way to sustainably keep up. The market and farming (or any best way to generate money, whatever form that might be) are related in this way - inf generation impacts market prices. Even with the change, it might still eventually, gradually creep that way. But much slower. Maybe half as slow*? There are two reliable ways that I know of right now to generate income: farming and selling on the market. The other ways, like earnings from regular content, seems to belong to a pre-IO and pre-auction house economy. I personally think the game could do with more diverse ways of getting income, or a pass of regular content rewards to bring it beyond, like, issue 8. It would help those who want to stick with SOs or IOs and avoid the market. But this change means that the disparity between those who play that way and those who have a big income is much, much lower. Imagine playing like that on Live and then wanting to break into set IOs - it just wasn't possible. *Has anyone actually calculated what percentage inf generation from farming optimally has changed by? Is it as much as half?

Yes, it's a nerf to farming. Sorry?

Better for farmers wasn't the goal. Levelling the playing field and keeping inflation rates down for all players was. Which has been successful. That required farming to take a hit, but even after that it's still the most effective way in the game to generate inf.

That sounds more like unrealistic expectations? All my characters fund and kit out themselves, and I can do so with barely having to think, let alone farm. Totalled over their whole 1-50 progression I maybe spend like... 30-50 minutes crafting, converting and using the AH to do so.

Yeah, stuff is crazy cheap. You don't need much inf right now.

Yeah, I was literally just thinking how many missions they joined for. You're right, most other metrics would be impossibly unfair. Joining for 5 of 10 missions of an arc would award half the merits at the end of it, but how on earth you'd track this I wouldn't know. Especially if someone joined for like missions 1, 2, 6, 7 and 8. You're right, participation is a better word. But I'd already used the word 'participant' and it felt wobbly to say both in quick succession. This is through the lens of the OP's suggestion. I'm not sure I'd back the corner of recruiting people mid-TF, as it kinda goes against the grain of what they are. But if that were the case, I'm just considering how it could be fair.

It would be good to find a way for the game to dosh out merits on all arcs for all participants based on their individual contribution. Taskforces could share this system. Would arcs and taskforces then become almost indistinct? Is that a bad thing?

Is there any lore reason Koago from the Cavern trial couldn't haunt the Hollows? Maybe even a little upscaled?

A mod would only be a local change. The devs would need to add it to the manifest that your computer installs in an update if they wanted everyone to see the new parts.

#8 is called bone zone or I'm out.

There sure is. If you use the email function on the chat window and send an email to your own global name (the one that starts with @), then you can attach some inf. It will appear in your email straight away. Switch characters and the email will then be there with the inf attached.

A few I was really happy about: Hawkmoth Ego Grasshopper Kadabra Quetzalcoatl Thunderbird (High Five, Enormotron, I'm your Reunion counterpart!) Soothsayer Python Warsuit Sonar Acid Bluebottle Man o' War

This thing of beauty? https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BFWfOT1ds4J1OJFuAqRX_2B43Cq9rJEF90xFkXyeDsk/edit#gid=0

Furthermore, we can all agree that "Can you hand me a fruit?/What Kind?/Tomato" is somehow incorrect. Things don't have to make sense to make sense.

I think it's possible, but complicated, to imagine the game with the best of both worlds. It's a mistake to think that bringing back some of the challenge, or creating new challenges with those same feelings of adventure and danger, must also mean bringing back some of the grind.

Awesome stuff! It's amazing to see people execute ideas like this. I think it's the future of CoH.

Someone's compass must have been proper broken.

This thread is making me tear up. Oh hang on. That's just someone chopping Onions. Love, Defiant

Then do you consider The South The North?