battlewraith

You have a history of powers being taken, used by players, and then changed throughout the history of this game. I shouldn't have to details nerfs and changes that have transpired in the game. The simple fact that players might be using a power does not make that power sacred and immune from future changes, That has never been the case. The comments about the status quo relate to the sense of entitlement people have about their builds. You might like the way things are structured now. That doesn't mean that there isn't a better way to structure things-one that may be blocked by how things are structured now. Improving the game should be the number one priority. That should take into account how players feel about the current mechanics, but development shouldn't be stymied by people who basically only care about what they want and don't want to be impacted by ANY change. Yeah...when I said "it doesn't affect anyone's current build" I was referencing something he said. Maybe go back and read it. No, not necessarily. It will be worthless as a taunt. Depending on the implementation it could be a cool power option. Some people might skip it, others might (gasp) adapt their playstyle. Is there a reason I should be trying to convince you? My impression is that you like to hold court over the suggestions thread and give people grief over their ideas. Remember the "monkey themed mastermind" thread? Where you kept saying things like "pass", "hard pass", "no thanks", etc. until the poster was so disgusted they swore off their own post and had it deleted? That was you wasn't it? People get all excited about an idea, come here to share it, and get shot down by the usual suspects. And you never leave, despite getting people's hopes up:

It's not about, for me at least, getting a gap closer. Obviously, everyone has access to that. The part of the initial post that resonated with me related to replacing scrapper confront with a gap closer. The taunt is generally speaking worthless in the current state of the game. YMMV. Indulge me. Let's assume for the moment that it's worthless. The idea is then to make it into something more useful/interesting/etc. The OP suggested a gap closer. Now even if that revamped power is just a copy of combat teleport, it would free up certain power choices and allow an increase in build diversity. And it could potentially be different in some way that be better/funner/etc. than those pool power choices. Scrappers would still have access to taunt via pools. The counter argument is "leave the power alone because some players still like using it." That could be said about anything. People are saying to just take the pool powers--well scrappers could take the pool taunt. The vitriolic response against that is a tacit acknowledgement of the OP's general concern. Taking a pool you don't want for something you think you need is a drag. My hot take is that there would be more overall benefit to scrappers in general from a revamp/replacement of the taunt power than keeping this outdated off-tank feature. The two perspectives are not equivalent and the way things are now is more restrictive and frankly boring.

No. To make it *objectively different.* It doesn't affect anybody's current build. The change is aimed at potential builds. The devs could simply not change anything ever again. That would also preserve your current build. What I'm hearing is that the OP needs to stop worrying about what they want and spend more time worrying about what you want.

No, I suspect you're simply not following the argument.

So first off, what I'm supporting in some way is replacing a power with basically the same power. None of your examples are equivalent. Aim is not tactics. The T9 powers from sets are not available in pools. Nevertheless, I'm certainly open to re-evaluation of things like T9s, tier one pets, etc. Why would I not be? Because some players, despite what the general consensus of the community might be at this stage of the game insist on playing their characters the same way they have been for over a decade? This is the part you don't get. People are already negatively impacted by the status quo, regardless of what the status quo is. There are things that are possible and impossible under the current state of affairs. So some people use their scrapper to taunt, which dates back to an era of the game when characters in general were far more squishy and taunting was more necessary. The general proposal here is to replace scrapper taunt with something more interesting--the specific proposal is a gap closer of some sort. This would open up build options and scrappers could still get the pool power version. It's up to the current devs to evaluate the pros and cons of enacting some sort of change like this. But it's not cavalier to want or expect things to change over time. Shooting down ideas based on their impact on niche playstyles--might as well not take suggestions relating to things like powersets.

IKR less options is more?

Again. Something maybe much less useful to YOU. The arguments about a gap closer being redundant are also completely missing the point. If I take this power or this power or another power, I can get there faster than a teleport. What if I don't want to take those powers? What if my build doesn't have vertical mobility and the gap closer fills that hole. What if I legitimately have some issues moving my character in other ways and want something to allow precision placement (again without being committed to the teleport pool)? I have a character with no +perception. If the gap closer was an aoe attack of some sort, it would help me deal with hidden targets. As it stands, confront does nothing for me. What if you found out that 95% of scrappers skip confront? Would you still be making this argument? I read you prior post. I think the actions of the devs in that beta and the reaction of the players then is pretty irrelevant. This is a proposal to change (not remove) one power option.

The OP's suggestion is: (A) Obviously wanted by someone or else they wouldn't have bothered posting it. (B) Maybe not helpful to you? I could see uses for it. (C) Duplicates functionality. Sure, with benefits that you are ignoring. And the idea that someone can just pick up a power pool is true in your direction as well. If you lose your taunt, just grab one from the pool powers. The crux of the issue is not about defending the status quo so that "nobody's playstyle is changed." You're defending the status quo so that your build preference remains unchanged. Nothing about this suggestion means you can't taunt on your scrapper. I haven't taken taunt on a scrapper in years. I can't remember the last time I teamed with a scrapper that was taunting. IMO to a lot of people, confront on a scrapper is a worthless power. So do you change it into something more interesting that frees up some build options or keep it the same for the faction that wants to keep things the way they have been from the onset. My vote is the former. That's me stating my preference. I get what your preference is. I don't fault you for wanting to have things your own way. But be honest about it. Don't crap on the idea and cop this attitude like it's somehow objectively bad and not worth discussing. If you don't want to discuss it, then don't. This game has gone through waves and waves of buffs, nerfs, and changes. Some were good, some were bad, and many were player driven. Some of these changes ruined the enjoyability of certain character builds for me. I didn't then park myself in the suggestions section and start pissing on ideas I didn't like. Not that you're the worst in this regard. On the contrary, I think you're one of the more reasonable posters on this board, but I think you're being very myopic here.

If this change went through and you lost your taunt, you would have options. You are rejecting this idea because it runs contrary to what you feel is essential to YOUR playstyle. And you are doing exactly what you are asking them not to do--you are forcing your preferences on other people who would like to have other options. Now if the idea of your scrapper having to take taunt from a pool is horrible and somehow detrimental to your build philosophy--well is it that hard to relate to people who feel saddled with a worthless taunt power that could be something cooler like a gap closer? I definitely have builds that could use that. But it's not worth consideration because someone wants to taunt a grate?

Same. I feel like this is the obvious outcome. Frankly, a lot of the content that people are skipping just sucks. It was engaging back in 2004, not so much now. I did a Synapse TF the other day. I was the only one on the team actually in the appropriate level range. And good thing for that because I only had a few weak attacks as we spent close to 2 hours clearing out warehouse after warehouse full of clockwork. Most of the mission content is like this--clear a map, talk to a contect, click a glowie, clear another map, etc. For a lot of people I think the magic of the game is not the content, but seeing how their character ideas play out in different conditions. Traditional slow, dutiful leveling is largely antithetical to this.

Homecoming needs to partner with a larger organization that has extensive connections to the types of people that would find this game and this community relatable. https://www.aarp.org/

You see me now, a veteran Of a thousand psychic wars I've been living on the edge so long Where the winds of limbo roar And I'm young enough to look at And far too old to see All the scars are on the inside

I struggled, won my willpower roll, and refrained from saying it.

Okay, so I think the general consensus here is that confront is worthless on a scrapper. So let's focus on that. Is a gap closer a good idea? Yeah could be cool. Could look cool. Could free up a power pool slot and allow for some cool builds that are not currently possible. These are legitimate reasons for consideration. What about the objections? 1. Thematic. Why would a character with say a staff be teleporting? Grow an imagination. Maybe the staff is magical or shoots out a grappling hook or something. The game is already full of weird powers that don't make a lot of sense (eg. the blaster martial arts secondary that lets you teleport). 2. You can achieve the same effects with power pools. So what? First of all, anyone can get a crappy taunt from pools. Secondly, I might be looking to make some kooky ass build that doesn't take the pool powers that would get me this effect. What happened to the "play your own way" ethos? People that arguing that pool powers already let you build for this are basically just saying that you should share their preferences. 3, It's not faster. Again, so what. There's a difference between the speed of a movement and the experience of using it. Also your build might have SS but no other travel power. The vertical movement from the gap closer could have a lot of utility. You might have no travel powers and want to pretend your batman scooting around with a grappling hook.

Great job on these!

Sure, but that's not how most people play in my experience at least in zone. You decide you want to go screw around in a zone. You take something you think is going to work reasonably well and pop in. Depending on the conditions, you team up with other people as needed. That's pretty much the entire appeal of zone pvp, it's casual unstructured fights. If there's an organized group in there farming people, then yeah you're going to need to form a team and actually put some thought into what you're playing. But you quickly reach the point where you would be better off doing arena.

Yeah, absolutely. If you get in melee range and land your hard hitting attack, it should hurt bad. Kinetic melee scrappers pre nerf were awesome. That should be the standard. They should be able to hold their own (ie survive) against multiple opponents if played reasonably well. On the other hand, they shouldn't get as much benefit from being buffed on a team as squishies would. Melee characters are the best options for soloists wanting to try pvp. If they don't have a good level of survivability there's no point when you can play a blaster with epic shields and plant shields that can melt targets from a distance. It's also pointless if they can't reasonably drop targets when they do connect.

No not like any of those, which are all zone events, suffer from numerical balance issues and were fairly long and boring even back on live. Who knows, maybe it will resonate with someone who actually wants to avoid that kind of outcome.

IMO there is no way that they will ever balance pvp in a manner that will cause a resurgence of interest along the lines of what people here are hoping for. That ship has sailed. Partly that is also due to age--there are veteran players around that will quickly figure out what the new meta is and make that meta necessary to be competitive. If your pvp has a competitive deathmatch mode and no real ranking or matchmaking system then beginners are going to face a harsh learning curve. Look at something like mez duration. If they make it long enough for an average player to solo someone in an extended battle, that same duration is going to make it ridiculously easy for a skilled team to burn down targets. This game doesn't need a balancing of the current pvp. It needs a new pvp mode. Something that is objective driven rather than rewarding raw kill counts. It could feature a lot of pve elements that make use of different things like mezzes, debuffs, etc. I think this has always been brought up in discussions about pvp from the beginning but never seems to get any traction. Maybe because back in the golden age when nobody had a clue what they were doing, pvp was reasonably successful. Of course someone is going to pop in here and say "I don't like pvp and I don't want the devs to waste precious time catering to the 10 remaining people that pvp blah blah blah." My rebuttal to that is this: This is it. This ancient game is not going to through some sort of rebirth. It doesn't matter if NCSoft transfers the rights or someone buys a Superbowl ad. The extant target audience for it is here. And you're not going to keep their interest by keeping new content trickling in. Their interest is waning (or they are simply dieing off). It's turning into an online retirement home where every so often someone comes in and puts a new VHS tape in the VCR. I think you could put a more appealing pvp mode in that would be enjoyable for pvers and that would improve the overall health of the game.

Imagine if individuals didn't go off on bitter rants about a game community because some offhand comment rankled them. It's easy if you try.

Aside from the issues of grifting and money laundering, I believe there is a general criticism against the tool itself. The resource requirements necessary to support crypto transactions are extremely wasteful and damaging to the environment. Any good that comes out of crypto is unlikely to offset the damage it inflicts.

Lol noooo. I think it's easier to complete the Aeon SF than to be in the position of the noob being ganked, which is why you don't see anything remotely close to that in pve. It's a silly point anyway. A skilled boxer could knock out pretty much any untrained person that walks into their gym. That is not an argument for boxing being somehow easy, or easier than some other sport.

It's not just a matter of opinion. Pvp requires skills and attributes that pve does not. The main thing is that pve is static. The AI is coded and it's always going to behave the same way. Even the hardest pve content is a formula to be solved. Once you solve it, you can repeat those same victory conditions over and over again ad nauseam. Actual players confronted with losing will change their tactics in order to win. That difference is fundamental, relates to things like adaptability, reaction time, etc. and is not a matter of opinion. Even the hilarious Aeon SF vs Ganking Noobs example points to this. Where is it even possible in PvE to risk the prospect of getting ganked?

You're the one forwarding your pet theory that the unofficial pvp designation has made this server repellant to other players and is to blame for the lack of growth. I know you think this obvious and true and whatnot--but it isn't. And pvpers have listened to variations of this line of reasoning throughout the entire history of the game. For me it's the inverse. The guildmates I used to pvp with don't want to come back for a variety of reasons but a common thread is that they don't want to hear crap like this. Pvers can completely avoid pvp if they so choose. The Homecoming devs made improvements, but pvpers still have to pve in order to prepare their characters. Also in the other thread you said that the zone pvpers had gone to Excelsior to find victims. Haha? Pot meet kettle?

He was talking about the current population. You are pointing at the peak population--which actually undermines your point. It suggests that Torchbearer has lost more active players than Indomitable despite the latter having the unofficial pvp designation.