Ukase
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Posts posted by Ukase
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I'm not sure how this would be received, as I know some folks have characters that are pure heroes, pure villains, etc.
In new arcs, it would obviously be up to the writer, but can we implement more options for the free alignment points? But when we do, can we have the options allow for all each alignment? (It may not make sense for a vig to choose rogue, I get that. But for blue side story arcs, the options from the decisions could be hero, vig and villain, and if it's a red side arc, villain, rogue and hero.)
I notice Stribbling's arc offers a free point or two depending on the choices you make in the options presented. I'd like to see more of these, but some options are never going to give you a rogue or a vigilante point, and I think they should. But hey, that's just me and a thought I had.
Again, it's obviously up to whomever is writing it. Would those few alignment points add up? Yes. And I guess I don't know how I feel about that, but I would like to see each option available, if there's going to be an option at all.
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I'm not sure how this would be received, as I know some folks have characters that are pure heroes, pure villains, etc.
In new arcs, it would obviously be up to the writer, but can we implement more options for the free alignment points? But when we do, can we have the options allow for all each alignment? (It may not make sense for a vig to choose rogue, I get that. But for blue side story arcs, the options from the decisions could be hero, vig and villain, and if it's a red side arc, villain, rogue and hero.)
I notice Stribbling's arc offers a free point or two depending on the choices you make in the options presented. I'd like to see more of these, but some options are never going to give you a rogue or a vigilante point, and I think they should. But hey, that's just me and a thought I had.
Again, it's obviously up to whomever is writing it. Would those few alignment points add up? Yes. And I guess I don't know how I feel about that, but I would like to see each option available, if there's going to be an option at all.
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You folks want the truth? I don't know the truth.
But this is what I see:
I see the recipes drop that we call "rare", because they're orange. We look at them, and many of us, unless it's readily identifiable as a good seller, or one we can use, we probably check the AH to see what folks are willing to pay for it, or we just vendor it. And that's those of us that presumably know better.
What about the newer player, who hasn't learned crafting an IO at level 10 is cheaper than crafting it at level 50?
And then I see uncommon recipes that require rare salvage. The Air Burst and Cleaving Blows come to mind. Two of the recipes in each of those sets require a rare, and yet the recipe is classed as yellow, or uncommon.
So many questions!
Should all sets contain only uncommon recipes, and only rare recipes? Or is it okay for a set to have 5 uncommons and one rare?
Should all yellows only require ingredients that are common and uncommon?
Should any rare recipes be allowed to only require on rare component? Many of the procs require 2.
And this one isn't even a proc:
Now, for us market savvy folks, this is not unknown. But for the newer player, it stands out as one of the stumbling blocks for them for crafting their own stuff. Nevermind if they're trying to make some inf for their alts.
So, is it worth the investment of time (if the HC Devs are even willing to do it, and are able to) to suggest that all recipes become more consistent?
Is it worth pointing out that Experienced Marksmen recipes all require the exact same ingredients, as does Preemptive Optimization? (to me that makes things easier, not harder, so that doesn't matter to me as much)
I think it all points to a need to clarify a direction for HC.
Are we trying to make this game more new user friendly, or less so?
Would a change like this help a greedy marketer like me make more inf, or less inf? Regardless of answer - is that a good thing or a bad thing?
Would a change like this even help a newer player?
Y'all figure it out. Discuss. Point fingers. Eat leftover turkey. Speaking of, let's talk turkey? You know what we call turkey after Thanksgiving? Lucky! Well, the ones that are alive, anyway.
Edited:
Something else just occurred to me as I was grabbing a 2nd cup of roasted bean juice.
The salvage. So much salvage!
So many kinds of salvage.
A thought experiment:
Suppose instead of 12 rares, 12, uncommons, 12 commons, in each of the 3 tiers...suppose there was only 1 tier?
Take your pick, or whatever Dev is doing the work just simply eliminates the other 24 types of salvage and makes them legacy?
I don't know how all of you do things, but in my crafting base, I have 9 salvage bins. When I set it up, the idea was to keep roughly 8 of each salvage in the bin. So, the first tier 10-24 would have a common, uncommon and rare bin, as would the 25-40 tier also have 3 bins as well as the 41-50 tier.
But if they simply eliminated the first two tiers, wouldn't that eliminate my current need for 6 salvage bins? I already know if they let me have 18 bins, I'll find a use for all 18. No question. But suppose all this lag were minimized if the server didn't have to keep all that in memory, and it could be a reduced load on the server...wouldn't it? That's really the main reason to bring it up. Fewer types of salvage could lead to a reduced need for storage. Like from 18 to 15. Yeah, I'd hate it - because not all my bases are organized like that. One base doesn't even have salvage, just IOs. But it's not all about me. It's about what's best for the game.
Would reducing salvage requirements for recipes as suggested, or similarly, improve the learning curve for crafting, and reduce the load on the servers at the same time?
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Hah, I guess I forgot the year 2019! There's a real chance I wasn't paying enough attention the first year. I probably didn't have enough inf at that point to buy one, let alone a lot of them.
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11 hours ago, Lockpick said:
but was under the delusion that Winter Packs discount might be an annual thing for XMas.
I have a clear memory of the sale.
The first year it was 10M. The 2nd year it was 15M, and the message that we'd better enjoy it because they weren't doing it again. At least, that's how I remember it. But, I am older. I would bet some inf on it, but not my whole stack.
I think they got peeved that some players, instead of opening the packs, just relisted them when the sale was over for profit. But I never really did get a "Why".
Either way, I STILL have packs I've yet to open. Might never get around to it. And that's fine.-
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That is nice work. Where were you three years ago with this? I have them memorized now, lol.
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That's nice work. I don't know if folks appreciate how tedious that had to be to create, even if you started with a template. Good stuff!
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I anticipate it being the first maintenance of December, as that's consistent with how HC has done things previously. At least, that's the way I remember it.
It really doesn't matter to me. Pretty sure those Winter GMs in the wild give some kind of reward besides a random candy cane, so more merits for everyone. Seems like a win.
I know there are some folks who don't want to begin the festivities so soon as they get "event fatigue", a term I just made up. And, that's okay. I kind of get it. But the presents and the winter GM are a lot easier to avoid than the constant zombies and perpetual night skies.-
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1 hour ago, Glacier Peak said:
Or perhaps you mean Sonic Melee?
Yep, that's what I meant.
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Wylie's arc: I was disappointed that the arc still contained useless zone hunts that lent nothing to the story for me. Just busy work. I would have auto-completed both, but can only auto-complete one every 3 days.
The Zoe TF - so, I didn't play this one on Brainstorm. I might later. But I did do a PUG run and while I enjoyed the new maps, as is the case with pugs, there wasn't a lot of clear direction for me, so I just followed the tank. I wasn't clear on how to get the various badges, so I didn't even try. Have to run one on the advanced mode, which doesn't thrill me having to coordinate with other players as to when and what and incarnate slotting and all that other fine-tuning that can suck the fun right out for me. No badges should be tied to advanced mode play, but that's just my opinion.
Psionic Melee - not even going to make one for another few months. I'll wait and see how things get tweaked, because I imagine they will. And if they don't, I might make one and I'll let ya know, just not in this thread.
+5-+7 - Honestly, this isn't something that captures my interest. I imagine recipes drop at the same rate, so why should I fight harder mobs that will invariably take longer? I'm already level 50, so there's really nothing to gain here. Seems like a waste of time to me - but I do recognize that's just me. I know more than a few players who love to really push their builds and their skills to see how things play out. I am in that mood maybe 10% of the time, but even then, I rarely indulge because the juice isn't worth the squeeze.
The Labyrinth of Fog - So, I'm of a mixed mind on how to give this feedback. So, I go to brainstorm, and I see a number of things that are different. And it's hard to know just how challenging some things will be to a league of players, as opposed to just me. So, all I really did was look around and try a few of the repeatables. Fortunately, we don't need to be level shifted for those, (although, that certainly helps) I meant to try a repeatable to see if the +5 to +10 level shifts outside of the mission would carry over to the inside, but the opportunity to do that would have cost me a couple of badges, so I passed. I imagine it doesn't carry over.
Obols - Eh, they're not tradeable, so I can't disperse them to my alt accounts or sell them. So, they are treated like vanguard merits. The exchange rate...honestly, I need more runs to let you know if they're good or bad.
So, a character I have had not been in the new revamped lab and finished a mino run and a visit to the Dreamer's Promenade and that other 12 dollar word that starts with A, and we dispatched of some of the higher leveled Guardians (I'm trying not to reveal too much to those who haven't done it yet and don't want spoilers), and I ended up with over 250 obols. So, that comes out to 25 reward merits, in addition to the GMs, so I am a fan of this change.
I do think that some of the temps might be a little cheap, but that depends on the behavior you want to encourage. Which brings me to my last pain point, which impacts others, seemingly far, far worse than me. I don't know why. Maybe it has to do with the recharges of their powers compared to mine.
I will use the term lag, when I'm not sure if that's what they mean. Many of the league complained bitterly about lag on the first day of the release. Goddess Laucianne, league leader typically limited players to 4 teams, instead of 6 to keep the lag at bay. (although some still complained even then) But with the repeatables, and people exploring the new stuff, there were a lot more players in the zone, and that, of course, adds to lag, or latency, or whatever the issues are with these players whose powers look like they're recharged, but when they try to use them, they hear that sound and see a message possibly if the screen isn't too busy for their eyes telling them the power isn't recharged, and then they see the refreshed view of a power that needs X number of seconds before it can be used again.
So, maybe it's too soon to say "switch to an instanced lab", because once most of these folks get their badges, at least some of them will go back to doing whatever it was they did before - the most fun/loot/challenge for their time.
I'm not savvy enough to know how much some team doing a white test from Mother Teleote (I can't recall her proper name at the moment, I'm not in-game) will impact a league of 48 players. I am experienced enough to grasp that 3-4 teams causes an issue for 2-4 players out of the 24-32 players. And when it goes to 6 teams, The number is likely quadrupled. Every now and then, my screen will freeze for a second, but then things go back to normal. And that's rare. The mapserver event in April is really the only thing in game that gives me a lot of lag, although I will rubber-band sometimes, usually before the server crashes.
So, maybe we wait and see? My concern is that given past history, the lag sucks the fun out of it for many players, regardless of the loot or the badges or the fun or the challenge. So, if people stop doing it, I'd be hard pressed to solo any of this content for long. So, maybe we can cap the lab to 50 players, or even 35? Smarter folks than me may have different opinions and perspectives and ideas to share on that.
Lastly, I know from screen shots I've seen, and comments I've read, there's some "darkness" area. Maybe I'm confused, or missing something, but I've seen this in the forums here, but I've not seen anything in game that aligns with this "darkness". I grasp that the lab is a place to explore, with risk. But there's a reason I use Vidiotmaps and ATC's badgesetlist pop menu. Most of the stuff in game, I never discover on my own. Someone generally points it out to me. That hasn't happened yet. So, maybe there should be some element of the game that mentions this dark place (unless it doesn't exist, and I'm being punked) and some clue as to how I would get there. -
Let's not lose sight on the fantastic work that's been done by Cobalt and others. The labyrinth additions are amazing! The new TF is also very interesting, with some never before seen maps and visuals! Clearly my post was about something that was simply a mistake that was recognized and will be fixed. Let's not make a big ol' mountain of crap out of an oversight.
I know there are some who have so much regard for this game, they (and I) forget that others also hold the game in high regard. I don't expect anyone to forgo time with their families for this game. (unless their families are so dysfunctional the game is preferable) And I certainly wouldn't expect anyone to forgo family time to work on the game.
It'll get fixed when it gets fixed, and frankly, I'll make a point to review the beta channel on the hc discord in the future. (Which frankly, prior to today, I had no idea it existed. Discord is just wonky to navigate for me, particularly if I want to revisit something, unless it's pinned.)
Let's remember first to be grateful we have a game that's being attended to, and maintained. I'd be fine (I think) with no changes at all, but if they're going to change things, they've certainly done some amazing things, even if every change might not be reflected on the patch notes.
I can't imagine being able to keep up with half of what makes it there as it is.-
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So, a player just asked in our help channel if there was a way to change from imperial to metric. I had never thought about this, but I guess that could be problematic in certain scenarios.
I figured I'd mention it here. No idea how much a pain something like that would be. But if you're going to convert the language, perhaps the units of measurement might also be on the table. -
25 minutes ago, DeathMcKillenstein said:
Okay, if the combine is now done by Prometheus, where the HELL is the option to do so???
Fair question. I was in a mission and fighting during the discussion about it, but I went through my chat logs and found this "those transfers are coming back, they're just getting moved onto Prometheus, so they're not as easily found as a beginner trap"
Just a few minutes later, I saw this "im doing the convers as we speak" and I must have missed the context, because I assumed they were at Prometheus. My mistake, they must have been talking about something else. I'm guessing it's "bugged", or some such. -
26 minutes ago, lemming said:
The reason why it wasn't in the patch notes is not because they're trying to sneak it past people. It just didn't get in the patch notes.
I wish I had worded my initial post differently.
I don't think it was a matter of "Let's sneak one past ol' Ukase and see what he does!" or even anything like that.
I think it was a matter of a volunteer staff making a choice that it wasn't important enough to post, or it just got overlooked.This is another reason to not do large updates. Just the TF would have been enough.
Just the changes in lab would have been enough. Small, bite size chunks of new stuff more often, as opposed to huge amounts. But that's just my opinion.-
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So, I decided I'd had quite enough of the new stuff this morning, and went back to the new alt I'd made just prior to the surprise update. I only need the master run of the new tf (and the advanced mode required one). All in due time.
So, on my lower character, someone asks the question about why they can't convert 4 uncommon incarnate components into a rare anymore? And 4 rares into a very rare.
I quickly tab out, look through the patch notes. I saw no mention of this anywhere. I thought..Bug? Nah. Not bug. Further discussion on the help channel reveals it's not in the patch notes but on dev commentary in the HC Discord.
Apparently, this conversion is still available, but has to be done by Prometheus, the tall bluish guy who gives Avid Reader badge.
The reasoning is to spare the noobs from the inf sink. Well...I guess I'd have 125M more inf if this change had taken place 6 years ago.
But, I'm not sure how I feel about being unable to do the conversion in the spot I'm at - as this is generally done prior to some event, and leaving the zone can cost you the opportunity. At best, it can delay things for a team that would prefer you swap one Destiny for another, and you need to convert some of the many drops into the components you need to build it.
What bugs me is why in a discord dev commentary and not here in these forums? Discord has an awful name. It's a fine tool, but it's not where game change info should be listed. That should be in in the patch notes. What's the point of reading them if the information isn't there?
I'll use discord to coordinate in game challenges. But going there to get any information about CoH is just not sitting well with me. Now I have to pore over the patch notes, and then pore over Dev Commentary on the Discord?
Look, nobody's perfect. Least of all me. But this seems like a lack of a policy. Changes to the game should be articulated in the patch notes - not in a dev commentary (until sometime later, I imagine, in a discussion of the why, perhaps)
I am grateful that the conversion option didn't go away. But I don't care for the inability to do this where I'm at. I'm sure there were other ways to make this change. Why not let the players learn the hard way like I did? I wasn't rolling in it back in 2019. And clearly the lesson took hold, because I still remember it. Now I do it because I have it and it's convenient, and I'd rather not burn the emps.
I'm sure my take won't be popular. That's fine. Most of my takes aren't. But I don't agree with stealth changes like this. Given the nature of Brainstorm, this is a change I wouldn't have seen unless I was specifically looking for it. Nobody bothered to ask players what they thought. So, that kind of galls me a bit.
Please, in the future, use the patch notes, with explanations as to why you changed things. The benevolence behind the change can certainly mitigate most misgivings behind it. But the sneaky part of changing it without telling anyone other those few who use discord often enough to surf through it - that's just not sitting well with me.-
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I use a custom window. And I had to remake mine for reasons unknown to me. (after the patch) It's always been finicky, and likes one corner or another, and as you say, seems to prefer the top left. When I log a character in, and move it where I want it - it will stay there for the duration of the gaming session. I do notice that every time I'm teleported, or zone, if I want a portion of the macros to remain visible, I have to re-scroll to that portion of the window. Not a super big deal.
As for your problem, I can only advise you to remove it, and remake it, and perhaps it will revert to its previous still finicky, but less annoying state. But, sadly no guarantees.-
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I figured I'd just ask this down here rather than in general. For all I know, it's a bug.
Hitpoints. On a few of my blasters, I have them at max hp. Nice blue numbers on my combat attributes that are monitored. Love to see it.
But, I noticed, even with the level shifts those values don't increase. Shouldn't they? I imagine it's a lot for an antiquated engine to track, so I would understand why it doesn't, but seems to me the progression of those increases should continue as the character's levels increase.
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Well, it's this week, I know that much. I imagine it will just continue in that rotation.
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33 minutes ago, twozerofoxtrot said:
what kind of accent do we think the author was going for, here?
Well, in my head, I was imagining Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau.
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That's why there's so many nem invasions! I forgot about the recipe.
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When you defeat the mino, you're asked if you want prismatic and monstrous aethers, instead of the new name, Unstable Aethers. On the reward table that pops up. Sorry I didn't take a screen shot. Got ported into the Font and had to pay attention.
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I was going through my roster, looking to delete characters I hadn't played in over a year. One such was an invuln/mace tank. I know I got a ton of levels on it with that first April Fool's event. As such, I just had never really invested much into the character, but when I looked at it closely, I saw it had all the day job badges, which I'd earned on it before the April Fool's event.
It's a fine tank. No reason to delete it. And it only exists now because logging off/on, moving about, just for day job badges is a tiny bit annoying, I'm keeping it. For now. -
Um...I'm frugal in the real world. I listen to Clark Howard and routinely look for ways to save more money. Not because I'm broke, but because my father told me something a long time ago. I was probably 12 or 13. At the time, he was teaching at a nearby University as an Economics professor. He would say "Every dollar you save multiplies to the bottom line". Now at 12, I didn't even know what a bottom line was. I was a kid. So, he could tell by my puzzled eyes elaboration was needed. He explained to me that if I were to mow a lawn for $5 bucks, and then spent $5 on comics, I would need to mow another lawn to re-earn that $5, and I'd likely have to wait a week to re-earn it. Or, I'd have to go door to door to find someone else as a customer to mow their grass for $5. So, most of us are adults, and you can see where he was going with this, and the lesson I got from it. For folks as obtuse as me, "It's not how much you make, but how much you save that's important"
No way in hell am I going to spend one real dollar on some in-game loot. I donate when the window is open from time to time. If the game were to allow for such things, I'd love to sell my stacks of inf for real world cash on one inf for one dollar exchange, but that's seriously ridiculous to even write down. But hey, if I'm gonna make a wish for money, that's as good as any other wish. I couldn't get our country out of debt, but I could certainly buy a lot of stock and never have to sweat work again!
So, the one microtransaction I never want to see is Pay X dollars for 10X influence. Or any X influence.
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So, in a desire to learn more about the PB, I made another, and resolved to play it organically, no PL, and for most of the journey under level 30, no 2xp. I wanted to assess for myself if the PB specifically was really needing a rework. At least, from my perspective and in my worthless opinion, it really doesn't.
I went human only - mainly because I wanted to avoid shape shifting to take advantage of the "changeling" option to squeeze more dps. And frankly, while I did find the damage to be kind of meh, it's not the only AT that gives me that feeling. I've felt that way with a number of other ATs. It's just a different way to solve the problems the game presents.
I had some end issues because I was pursuing perma-lightform. But, the only issues were from the crash. It was easy enough to solve while leveling with START amplifiers, or recovery serums. And once I choose to Conserve Energy, in the high 30's, that was resolved. Having end issues is certainly normal in this game, and the solutions are there if you seek them out.
So, I'm not convinced the PB needs any changes. We can't expect an AT that's designed to do so many things competently to do anything exceptionally.
I will add that without proccing, I did think the dps was low. But a lot of that is my own playstyle, and lack of skill, I think. (Not that I'm without skill, but I tend to "overkill", using the next attack that's recharged, instead of a different attack that does lower damage but could get the kill. Maybe I'm being too hard on myself. But I think a better skilled player would eke out a fair bit more dps than I do.)
I can say, it was one of the few ATs I've played that never got defeated. Came close a number of times, but lightform recharged just in time. And with two heals, it's pretty hard to be defeated as a PB. But even in the lower levels, before the heals, and before Lightform, it's a sturdy armor for human form only. No juggling of slots to other forms and with lightform, status protection wasn't a concern from that point. In many ways, it was like a sentinel, but the resist caps were better, but a better mix of melee and ranged powers.-
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Recipes and ingredients
in The Market
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Would it be nothing?
Think about if you were a newer player. Would it be easier if when you got an uncommon recipe and it didn't require rare salvage to craft it?
Or do you just think any benefit would be insufficient for the effort?