Ukase

So, I have been on a fair number of iTrials with LB3K. He is a chill leader, for the most part. Certainly a better disposition than mine as far as averages go. My jokes are better because Brain really doesn't put puns in his pop menus. But I digress. There was a time when Brain was promoting a discord he used; not sure if Brain still uses it, but he hasn't promoted its use at the beginning of Master iTrial runs like he has in the past. See, on Discord, when a player is crashing, they can let you know. Without it - they can't. About 2-3 years ago, doing an MoUGT with Cosmic Council, the server had a hiccup and shut the game down on all of us. Without Discord, I'm not sure I could have remembered every player's global to /tell them to "rejoin event already in progress". With Discord, I was and we did get the MoUGT a few moments later. Now, I'm not schilling for Discord. My headphones with the built in mic - they're noise cancelling. And in the Gulf Coast, especially during summer, they make my ears very uncomfortable. I don't like them, but I spend more money than I'm comfortable stating in writing, so I will use them until the break. Thankfully, the cord is super long and I'm likely to trip over it and rip it in two one of these days. But I digress. The replies to Brain make it clear they don't think it's a good idea, and some have even shared why. I don't know what a good solution is, because there's been many times when I've been on master TF or Trial runs and things have happened to other players. Sometimes they come back and explain bad weather or whatever, and sometimes they don't. I certainly understand LB3K's frustration at players who don't see the badge part of the game as a short term commitment of time. And focus. Certainly, a newer player may not understand how other players might feel about it. And it's also a valid perspective that some players just don't care. Their girlfriend came in the room wearing nothing, the tv show they forget about suddenly popped in their minds, they got hungry...anything could have happened that may have been more interesting or entertaining than whatever CoH was offering in that moment. There's a lot of players that will point blank tell you they don't owe any team a damn thing. If they want to quit, they'll quit and won't sweat it even a tiny bit. Back on retail, I don't know how it started or how it spread, but it was considered a major social blunder to quit a tf and leave your team hanging - even if you had no idea who they were. That may have more to do with how delicate team compositions were back then. Now, except for the advanced mode content and certain Master TFs, it really doesn't matter if someone drops - unless maybe your team is already small and they had a key role in being able to complete the effort, whatever it might be. Unfortunately, I think the best way to prevent such things is the rating system that's already built in. Right click, 1 star, with a note as to why. For someone like Brain who tends to lead with the same character repeatedly, there wouldn't be an issue of whether or not alts can see these ratings. (I'm just not sure if they do at the moment) It would add an extra few second to each player he invites, and I can see why any leader would want to avoid this process. But, until someone smarter comes up with a FAIR solution that doesn't screw other players over, it's probably the best we're going to get.

To me, this is the best method. I hear so often about how threads drop so much more, etc..and while that's true, you need 25X as many threads as shards, so they should drop more. (That's 5 incarnate slots that need threads. You need 60 threads for the t-1 compared to only needing 12 shards for the t-1) But- as I've stated a number of times, if you're only doing iTrials, shards will never drop - so by all means, use threads. I use threads to get my t-3 as soon as I unlock alpha. Then I hoard the shards until I can get t-4. Just makes sense to me.

The dilemma is it's problematic to determine what to put into the data set to determine average. We have speeders. Speeders tend to document their speed times. Folks who just do a TF because it's the weekly or whatever..some kill most, some kill-through. Really tough to determine how long a TF will take without knowing the details. You want Kill Most? Kill through? An average of everything?

So, it could be that I just haven't noticed this before, but because of a particular challenge I'm doing with a character, I noticed. And it's probably a known bug that I didn't know about. When trying to convert Overwhelming Force (within set, of course because there's no other set to convert into) it only costs me 2 converters. Just in case I was thinking I was special, I logged into my super secret 4th account and that account was also able to get the conversion for 2 converters. Mind you, I don't mind at all, but for consistency's sake, felt I should report it.

You pretty much say here part of what I was thinking. No offense taken at all.

Like yourself, I'm no expert either. But, let us suppose for the sake of argument you are correct and there is no obligation to appease the players. How do you think that plays out over time? Will it be like Comcast, where droves of people cancel as soon as they can get an alternative, but nobody at Comcast notices because they're just so gigantic, and new people move in the areas they cover every day so it looks on paper like they never lose anyone? Or will it be like when ...what was that game...Star Wars Old Republic or something. I remember when that game came out the population certainly seemed to drop. Subscriptions may have been consistently paid, but there were a lot fewer folks playing. After the Burn nerf, way back in issue 5 was it? They put an element of fear in it way back when and a lot of folks just stopped their sub and never came back. Now, before people think I'm shouting "dooooom!", it's not that bad - - yet. The HC Devs WILL continue to read, but they discount opinions at the peril of HC. There's probably a reason or two why they heed the voices of certain folks and not others. One reason might be a good one, and another reason might not be so good. No idea. I'm on the outside, but I do hear whispers now and then about what's going on. So, I'm not too worried about selective direction based on the voices of the chosen few. It's a concern. But it's not an actual worry, if that makes any sense. I'm still delighted to enjoy the changes that were made to blasters apparently during the shutdown. I certainly never had 1847.3 HP on any blaster I had before. There's a great deal that's been done that I'm delighted with. /enterbasefrompasscode is one of my favorite changes. Null the gull, Schweinzer...like those two NPCs aren't visited more often than any other contact, except maybe Maria Jenkins and Tina Mac. (Imperious and Yin and Positron might rank in there somewhere, I guess) It's not all doom and gloom. But, that freem stuff...great, silly name. But the mechanic itself is annoying. But, I'll soon get my characters to adapt so it doesn't happen anymore.

Contact: Mr. G Mission 4.1.4 of Criminals of War "Arrange your First Meeting" The way point on the map is in the wrong spot. It should be at [196.4 -16.1 51.7] in St. Martial

This is just anecdotal experience. Yes, there's a taunt cap of 16. But...the game doesn't care which 16. If the blaster on your team, or defender or whatever is in over their heads from a boss tank smacking them on the noggin, you simply taunt that tank. If the teammate in question isn't firing at them, they will turn around and come to you, allowing your teammate to back up, maybe use an insp and get "balanced' or "reset"- - whatever term folks are using now to be ready for battle. Yes, by doing that, you've lost aggro from at least one other npc. Don't worry, they'll die soon enough. I mean, for me, that's it really. Just a faster recharge on taunt. As a blaster, there's nothing better than teaming with a tank. I don't need the heals or the buffs if there's a tank. They really don't even have to do anything, as long as I can just run by them as I'm running for my life from the +4 boss or lieut. (on those occasions that I can't just dispatch them myself for whatever reason) I understand the desire for efficiency in aggroing multiple groups. With the AoE some teams have, it's usually a non-issue. Some teams however will struggle. And, as stated, this is how they learn. It's how I learned.

I have long ceded to the fact rewards may not make sense to me. I am still at a loss as to why the prismatic exists in the first place. They could have just used reward merits for the same transactions. Or inf. Or emp merits. Or any other store of value we already had. But, I recall the counter-argument was they wanted the players to earn the new costume options, rather than just plunk down stashes of loot they'd already accumulated. In that context I get it. I don't really appreciate that line of thinking, but I get it. To me, 2.5M isn't anything to sweat. But, my new characters who start with zip and struggle to get ATOs because the RNG can be a fickle mistress..yeah, I get it. Who'd want to buy that stuff anyway? More fun to "earn" it, via numerous GM clobbering for MAs. I just let the PAs drop when the game decides to drop them. I'm still getting used to the words "speed" and "Aeon" used in the same sentence, side by side. Did one the other day, and it was a pug, so my expectations were low - for myself as well as the others. Got through in about 30 minutes. I think that's slow for the speedy version of Aeon, but I really don't know. Or care. I got a crappy d-sync for my troubles - which honestly is not my usual luck. I usually get the Hami Cyto equivalent, or the membrane. Both of which I can and do use. But a dam/mez...just don't use them normally. But I digress. I will offer a statement that is consistent with how our HC team does things: Just because we have been doing things a certain way doesn't mean we have to continue doing them that way. So, a player thinks the prismatic should be an auto-drop for sub-50s. And why shouldn't it? Can't make a Clarion out of it. The only reason not to is perhaps a concern that the prismatic will become even more trivial than it is now. At least, that's the only reason that comes to mind as I wait for my morning coffee. So change it. Let the lowbies get some prismatics. What's the harm?

So, if I'm understanding you, in my example above, it's just one transaction which gave me the warning message. But if it were multiple transactions, it may not (or wouldn't/didn't in your experience)? Is that what you're saying? The "partial batch" term has me a bit confused and just want to make sure. Heh, for multiple transactions testing, I'd better go to Brainstorm. Wouldn't want to risk THAT much, lol.

For the most part, I do believe the HC devs read our posts and take note of certain feedback that's brief and concise, and in some logical order. Which means they probably don't notice mine much. But in all seriousness, I know they have changed their minds about an issue or two I was vehemently against pre-page 4. It was only because I'd joined Cosmic and heard about the proposed changes that I even knew about it. So, they will listen, and occasionally change course. I do think that whomever is influencing the direction of this "ship" is veering off-course. But, I don't know the bearings to get them back on course. Probably not the best analogy. My biggest concern with the HC devs is the ones that I'm aware of are not merely competent players. They play at a high level. They have a very solid grasp of game mechanics. It's like my experience with advanced lady grey tf. My first experience was a total nightmare. I would love to call the leader out, but it really wasn't his fault, because he'd recruited a pug for it. He could have spent more time explaining a few things, sure. My next experience was a bit better with a few folks who had done it before, and a few who had not. My last experience was the best with folks who normally did 4* and had zero issues carrying me through. Thankfully, I had a much better idea of what to expect and had respec'd specifically for it. So, it's my concern that these much better than average players test out these challenging things and don't realize that there's a lot of players who will never be able to figure this stuff out. I guess that's okay. No law says the content has to cater to the lower skill levels. I'm just against these upgrades permeating into the content where the folks who struggle with the content on "easy" mode wind up in AE just to have something they can do without getting stunned or smacked around with all of this Freem nonsense. It was funny the first time. Now it's annoying. But again, that's just me. I can adjust because I have a fairly good grasp of how to work with mids and builds. Problem is, not everyone has that ability. Occasionally, I make time during my longer rowing sessions to consider what might make content more interesting, where tactics and strategy might be implemented, without making things a pain in the butt for a leader to communicate to a league or a team precisely what should or shouldn't be done. It all comes down to lengthy cut scenes which I know nobody wants. Remember HC devs. If you're smarter than average, you kind of have to know the next guy you see is probably dumber than average. Try not to assume your players have a clue what mids is, what procs are and how they work, or even what toHit is, in contrast to accuracy. Or even defense debuff resistance. It would be great if we could survey every player in Atlas park on every shard right now and see if they know what that stuff is.

If you do go Thunderspy, I cannot encourage you strongly enough to try the pale blade secondary, only available to tankers. It is amazing AoE, and because the player that designed it isn't with their team any more, it remains a bit of a mystery in just how it works. But the graphics are very compelling, and the way the powers work are super interesting and effective. It's much like Rebirth in that the player base is very small, so you'll be running with the same folks for anything that's not solo.

So...how do you know what your team/league are saying? I see no chat box. It looks like lower left, you can type something - but you won't know the response. This is mine - and I wouldn't encourage anyone to get used to having the map on the left, lol. I don't know why, but when I first started, I moved it there. And it is problematic because I'm always closing it to get a look at the team (when I'm teamed). Other than that, tray 4 has the incarnate stuff, the pop menu for badges, the SG chat button that goes direct to that channel, etc. If this were my main badger, it would be even more crowded. My screen is just 20 inches. I need to get a 48 inch flat screen tv to use, maybe then I'd have more room.

My perception stems from back on retail when defenders and controllers were desperate to team to a degree. A fire tank didn't need their buffs to play at +4/8, so they were essentially relegated to doing whatever it is a controller or defender does when they can't find a team. Rumor has it a controller was the first AT to utter the words "PL Meh!" Now, I know there were some SGs that hosted various theme teams of all controllers, or all defenders that made fire farmers look a bit lethargic when it came to map clearing times, but that was 8 defenders or controllers, not one tank. I read it in the chat on retail "Why should I team with you? I don't need you." That was probably the beginning of the outcry to nerf farmers, or soloers who could handle +4/8 without external buffs. So many people (not players) who were really feeling alone and couldn't log on and team because solo tanks didn't need them. And shortly after that is when they added a very strong element of fear (the power, not the emotion) to burn. "This will encourage fire tanks to recruit controllers for their group immobs" was likely the thinking. And as you can imagine, or remember, the outcry was loud. A fair number of folks cancelled their subs and probably still haven't returned. And you're right. They (HC Devs) can't win. Not the way they're going about it now. The sad part is I don't really have a solution. At least, not a well-thought out, fair one. I think it's the inability of some characters (not the people behind them) to get on teams easily that is the driving force behind this more than some sharp coder/player who wants challenging content. But, I could certainly be wrong. Either way, I'm sure there's a way to: 1. Encourage SGs and other strong leaders to host diverse teams for diverse content 2. Allow solo players to feel super without having to fork over 7.5M every hour (amplifiers from p2w) or memorize sg empowerment buff recipes 3. For once, let Snarky have a pleasant experience with a PUG. It's the first one that I believe is the real lynchpin of the solution. Teaming doesn't add a thing to me personally, except easier badging. Sure, some characters that lack dps will get some faster xp. But there's not any more fun than there is taking my ice blaster through it solo. But - some folks could be on a Statesman build and still not have any fun unless they were on a team. And, I think that's at least 70% of the players. Maybe more. So, efforts should be made to encourage teaming. But I don't know that more challenging content is the way to do it. Imagine if the LFG actually functioned as it was intended. Would that solve some problems? Sure. It might cause some problems, too. Who can say? I do think the best thing any of us can do is try to host/lead more content so players aren't feeling like they can't get a team.

So, knowing you a little bit, I am probably being a little unfair when I ask these questions. 1. Would you say that you spend more time than other players on figuring out the strengths and weaknesses of your characters than the average player? 2. Would you say that you're probably inclined to dig deeper into complex problems than the average player? I completely get that you would find your excellence at portions of the game to be boring. I also get that you would enjoy more interactive team play, with tactics and strategy coming into play. You recognize that tactics and strategy only enter into bits and pieces of the game, and then the problems are somewhat solved or worked around, eventually. There was a time when folks would try to pull Black Scorpion as opposed to just jumping into the midst of BS, Mako, GW and Scirocco. The difference between these two tactics is generally team composition blended with players sharing what they know about builds here on the forums, and I suppose Reddit to some degree. And, experience. Compared to a lack of same. The thing is, while you're certainly entitled to push for and hope for higher risk/reward scenarios, you're not seeing the average player. Or, your just presenting your case - which is completely fine. You're having experiences that I know when I pug, I only see about half the time. The other half is full of dead teammates. They don't have IOs. A level 50 tank who's relying on SOs. And if his teammates had IOs, it wouldn't matter, but 3 of them don't have any either. One is a level 26 controller. No idea why level 40 and lower is even allowed to come to PI now that SGs are really old news. But then again..yeah, I get it. In any event, while it may not be most players, there are still a good amount of players that are playing a different game. And while nobody's saying they have to do an advanced mode lady grey, when our hc dev team is boosting the difficulty of radios - the average players bread and butter to get to 50...yeah, they're not likely to enjoy it at all. Doesn't make you wrong. Doesn't make them wrong either. Just different. There is no need for any revamps of anything. There is a need for more content. That should be the focus. But that's just this man's opinion.

Hey, that's never a bad thing. When I team, I give away too much stuff too. My issue is most of the time when I play, I'm not really connected to the content - tabbed in, out for work and such. I'll be halfway through exploring, have to stop, come back, hit the hospital or rez and continue. Until evening time, then I can team up a bit. Otherwise, I'd probably have a lot less inf. Most of my inf is just generated from sheer repetition. Nothing brilliant about it. I do recall feeling pretty bright when I discovered with salvage costs being lower at lower levels, and the unique way in which HC buckets the IO and recipes...it made sense to craft at the lowest level possible. I feel like I was the only one who knew for a long time, lol.

So, I have never made a mystery about how I do things. I do, however, have a number of accounts - some of which are what I would call "hedgers', in that I have them do different things in a different way, just not at scale. More to help me see what's going on in areas of the market I wouldn't ordinarily dabble in.

So, the ol' obtuse Ukase rears his head again with the question about alignment tip missions. I monitor help fairly often to try and be helpful, and today I was one of those whom I often refer to as "Well-intentioned idiots". I was the idiot! Ugh! When did mobs below level 20 start to drop alignment tip missions?

And there's the answer there. Thankfully, even though task forces (for now) can still be attempted solo, I am anticipating further changes to foster more of this "teaming". This leads me to believe that poor Snarky is going to be very busy writing about all the fun he has teaming with these players that are so helpful in creating memorable experiences.

Unless something changed in the past two weeks, when I wasn't paying attention and tried to collect all, I got a warning that I would go over the cap if I proceeded. I am going to test it just now and confirm that I didn't imagine it. Yes - verified. The game will no longer allow you to claim funds if it would push you beyond the cap. (I have lost unknown amounts because it used to let you claim it! - but you would only get up to 2B.

The last couple of UGs I was on that made an effort on the bomb badge failed. Both times I followed instructions and stayed behind the leader. Both times, some other person either ignored that request/suggestion/order/command, or just didn't see it and went past the bomb and triggered it. I honestly try not to think some of these players do this on purpose because they don't care about the badge, they just want the reward table. They don't think the extra time is worth the free uncommon, I guess. Or they're oblivious of it. I've never heard any leader talk about the extra free uncommon you get for each badge earned within the trial, nor the free random rare for getting Master of. None of them share the info about the trigger range of the bomb (150 feet) and the timer (10 seconds). They just say "Stay behind me". If they can't do that one thing...then I suppose giving them the extra information is pointless. And these are easy badges to get! It would be funny if it weren't such a sad reflection on the player base. But, I really need to try to keep in mind some folks are brand new, and genuinely know so very little that they are unaware of their ignorance. I'm sure 95% of the folks that make these kinds of errors don't do so maliciously; at least, that's what I repeatedly tell myself. They didn't do it on purpose; they just didn't know.

This is key. Playing a kheld is pretty simple. Playing one well takes a lot of practice. (I'm not there yet)

So, I want to the OP to know I've asked questions like this before. They were met with derision, and really, outright hostility. So much so, I took it to DMs with a couple of them. I got so angry that a full 6 months of no communication later or so...maybe it was 3, I sent a final DM telling this other player to take a flying F. Or some words to that effect. It cost me a friend. Kind of like two, really. But that wasn't my choice to make. Their loss. No more stale jokes from me! I was angry. I'm not so angry now. The game is still here, and I can cede the fact that those that can program for HC for free are going to have a lot more stroke to implement the things they want. I've no idea what game they were playing during the shut down, but I think these folks genuinely believe it is in the game's best interest to pursue this path. I don't think they did it just to screw with me specifically. (they may be working on that in the future, lol) I do think they are not really grasping what the community wants - at least, not as far as hard mode stuff goes. But - I'm just one player getting feedback here and there. I've heard lots of good stuff, as well as bad. Yes - I do concede that there are probably 200-300 players that LOVE the hard mode stuff. And I am kind of extrapolating that, so I could be way off, over or under. I just want to say that I know some folks absolutely love it. And it was done super well, really! I would only ever do it for the badge. It's interesting, but it's not fun for me. The weird voice during the Kong fight is super creepy and makes the entire death fest almost worthwhile. If I ever have to rez and put toggles on - the fun has gone for me. But I am one player that's just easily annoyed about something so insignificant as re-toggling. Maybe if they tweak things so toggles are always on, except when your dead - or just make them auto powers that cost endurance so we don't even have to have them in our tray...well, then I'll be singing praises. Until the next time they bug me, lol. (It's also worth disclosing that a good team makes it go from a deathfest to a really enjoyable experience. I should thank them publicly, but I don't want their rep besmirched for having associated with this mediocre ice blaster. ) Still, even though I don't agree with everything, I can still acknowledge the time, effort - and well, a super amount of creativity has gone into these changes. I've learned if I can't change things, I have to change my mind set about them. If I keep letting things out of my control piss me off, it's not going to do anything for me or anyone else. Yes, I still have a short fuse. But, I can kind of step back more easily now than I could in the past. Not sure why. Probably because I'm now sharing my time with other games that give me a different perspective. If you thought HC did some crazy stuff, take a look at most every other game. All these devs do things that don't make any sense to half the players that pay to play them. Here, at least we don't have to pay a thing.

Apologies; I'd been meaning to do this for a while. But here's my ice/devices build. Maybe it will help someone. Uncle Artica - Blaster (Ice Blast - Devices).mbd

I find it interesting there's this term "squatting" associated with people creating characters specifically to get certain names. And then not playing the characters. I completely get someone going about their day, and watching a cop show or listening to the radio, or even hanging out with friends or family, and then they have this epiphany about a name - and immediately log in and create a character with that name on all the servers. The part I don't see is them returning to that character every 30 days, or whatever the policy is to ensure they keep it. If you're talking about 1 person doing this for multiple characters, that seems like an awful lot of logging in and out. There's no point in having a great name unless you're playing the character. But, I am reminded constantly that most folks don't think like I do. In my mind, there's only one *ic Flea. If I did see an @Snarky with some version of *ic Flea, I would know Snarky's account got hacked - although, I suppose it is true that both Snarky and Flea are inclined to suck blood. I mean, we all know that's what vampires do, but not everyone is aware that Fleas drink blood - it's why they bite. Still, as likable as the two players are, it would be bad form for anyone to just take the name they're known by without permission. Conversely, I would find it amusing if it were an homage made with permission. I have had someone ask me for permission to use my name within their name - their version of my ice/ice blaster - whatever that looks like. I think it was "St1tch's UK453 or something like that. It seems as if we have two camps - those who care and those who don't. I'm of mixed opinion, as for me it depends on the specifics of the policy and how it's implemented. As I understand it, Champions would have folks going around like Ukase@Ukase or Flabbergasted@Apachefog. Or something like that. For email, that's fine. But for our silver comic age heroes to be known as such...I wouldn't enjoy that. I don't know what the solution is - but I don't think we need one, as there isn't a problem. The names work. You type it in, and if someone else has it, you can't have it. What's wrong with that? We have lots of words we can use. We have like a dozen different ways to say the same thing. Maybe more. I get that some names would be great to get. I do! I haven't always gotten my first choice. And I've renamed characters to something stupid just so I could play a new character with the better name. So, I understand the frustration, but I don't think it's THAT important. Yet. We should be thinking about what a suitable solution will be, when we have 10-20K players on at the same time. Until then, not sure it's really a problem.