Abraxus

I think I heard that there was a bug in the 1-10 XP, and that it was being looked at for a fix. So, it doesn't match the intent at the moment, but I feel like a fix is coming soon. They are probably just gathering other things to make the patching/downtime effort worthwhile.

The only concern though is that then because the ping pong ball has bounced back over into the ae side of the net, that they'll further pop it etc etc etc. I get server stability concerns that were had due to the AE map server stuffs but the congregating to the trial was the direct result of that change. Limiting choices in the short term is what leads to folks being funneled into something else. Speed of leveling should not be a worry for the team, really outside of server related issues. We're not in the epistemic bubble days of the NC folks needing to figure out how to eek out as much time to play in the game to maintain transactions and subs etc. Its a different perspective now. Personally, my only concern is that there is a desire to continue to maintain nc's previous thinking (or a reluctance to let that go for what ever reason). We're seeing a few of these decisions now and while trying to think of them in the context of the now, it still is compelling to have concerns of the direction that it may continue to go towards. *shrug*. I understand what you're getting at. But, I guess I'm just not accustomed, or familiar with being that tied to the stats the game, that any change would change how I feel about playing it. I love the game, I love the lore, and I love all the things one can do in a such a mature game. Mostly, I like sharing that play time with friends on-line, which also makes it a social thing. So, there is very little that could be done to make me want to play anything else. I have played "anything else" for the past 7 years, and all that ended up being was marking time in the faint hope that this one would come back. Now it has, and I couldn't be happier. It's a RARE second chance that I won't be wasting on worrying over what I consider minutia. I know others feel differently, and that's their prerogative. But, please don't accuse those of us who are perfectly happy playing the game we love, as being deluded, or viewing things with rose colored glasses. Some of us have been around long enough to realize what really makes us happy, having tried many other things. This makes me happy. But, for those of you who still need to make that journey, I understand. I was young once too. 8) :)

Proof positive that if XP is really all you're after, there are still ways to do it. I'm sure there are those who will point out that it isn't the same, which is true. But, in total it will make the difference between taking less than a day to get to from 1 to 50, and possibly adding a few more hours to the total. Might seem like light years worth of difference, but in the grand scheme of things, it's really not.

Just a thought for those that objected to the DFB changes on the basis of using it to level-up toons quickly to try out different powersets for viability. I believe that has now been addressed with the addition of the beta server.

There are some who expressed disappointment, and did it without threatening to quit, or criticize the Devs unduly. Then again, there were those that weren't as courteous, and making them out to be fun-killing, unsympathetic individuals who were just out to ruin the game for them unnecessarily. As I have said, I support their right to say that, but I don't agree with the sentiment. The game is still awesome if you're willing to be flexible, and creative in finding workarounds to perceived obstacles.

The change to the XP Curve for DFB, unless I am mistaken, was part of yesterday's patch.

Plus, if you pop an XP pill, and run it, you're not really losing that much at all. I have said from the beginning, there are ways to compensate. But, we just can't seem to move beyond the fact that it happened.

Truth! ^ No change(s) is every going to be good with everyone. As I have said many times, it is then that those that are unhappy have to decide what to do about it? Since it is unlikely that their concerns will be enough to change the outcome (no matter how many times they say it, or how emphatically they say it); do they see it as a step too far, or do they find a way to adapt, and overcome? That's really what it comes down to. Everything else just becomes a circular argument that we have already seen play out here on this thread, and others that accomplishes nothing more than pointing out what everyone already knows. No changes please everyone. I don't begrudge you the right to state, and re-state it, but I do point out the ultimate non-effectiveness of doing so.

Is there absolutely no trust that perhaps the Devs had legit reasons for doing the things they did? Judging from a good portion of the responses, I'd say that's a "No" in those cases. We may think we know, and we tend to supposition our own reasons for what was done, based on how it affected us personally. One thing I'm pretty confident about. They didn't do them just to change your play experience to the extent where you get mad, and leave. I tend to believe that these things are done for the good of the many, rather than catering to the needs of the few. Sometimes, things must be done for long-term viability. You don't have to like them. You just have to decide for yourself if you can still find in yourself to play under these conditions. If the answer is no, then by all means, go to one of the servers where this is not an issue. You have that choice now, where it did not exist when the game was live. Or, set-up your own server where CoH can be whatever you want. I'm not trying to tell anyone to leave, but if you're not happy with the conditions here, isn't that better than complaining about decisions that have already been made, and there is little chance of changing without empirical evidence (not emotional) that it should be changed? I get that some are unhappy, disappointed, or whatever. However, I think the points have been made, and the truth is that most of us are not privy to what goes on behind the scenes, and we really don't have enough information on which to complain effectively, beyond the obvious. Adding to that, this is all run by volunteers who are under no obligation to serve this community, save for their love of the game, and the community; and it makes even less sense.

We do both enjoy the game differently. Neither is wrong, and neither is necessarily right for everyone. However, I keep in perspective the degree to which any changes like this affect me, which is mostly not much. I don't think these things are being done to corral anyone's play style, as much as doing things to make things more realistic across the board for the large population we have now, as opposed to the small one for which these server set-ups were originally done. Things had to be more rewarding in an environment like that, and now with a robust population, these things are achievable on larger teams, and might require 4 runs instead of three to get into your teens. I don't believe there are any nefarious plans afoot to be a fun killer. Just doing what's necessary for the whole, rather than a segment of the player base. I love this game. I have always felt since the first day I played it, that it was the best thing I ever played, before or since. And really, there is very little that could be done that would dampen my enthusiasm. I simply come up with different ways to accomplish my goals. I am flexible. I have found in my years that without that, the inevitable change that comes to everything we do, is that much harder to deal with, and lessens our enjoyment of things to the point where we don't do them any more. That's when we begin to die a little every day. When we can honestly say that's the last time in my life I will ever do that thing. I'm not here to preach to anyone how to play. But, I will go so far to say that we have all been given a second chance, and within a month, we are able to take this gift for granted enough to complain about the manner in which our volunteer benefactors are providing it. Saying that our play style is permanently damaged, and I am leaving. Are our attention spans so short? I hope not, because I am enjoying every aspect of this game, even the maps, and missions I detest. I enjoy detesting them again! After hanging out in Paragon Chat for years, being in the live game is a gift that I personally will not take for granted. I want to do EVERYTHING again, and I look forward to learning again all the stuff I forgot (and it's a lot more than I would have thought). I will play this game for as long as it's available, and I will adjust to whatever changes are necessary to keep it alive.

Still all kinds of bite-sized stuff one can do. Between doors, radio missions, and just jumping on a PuG for a bit, it is possible. I know, because I do it. If you are limiting your enjoyment of the game to one thing, you aren't getting all there is to be had from it. 8 years of content, all available right off the bat. This is a mature game, and there is plenty to do if you know what to look for.

Surely, these changes couldn't be for the long term balance of the servers, and players. No, there HAS to be an ulterior motive that involves castrating your game play experience, because that's really what they enjoy doing. I believe you are taking it too personally, and associating rationale that doesn't exist. Perhaps it will encourage folks to go out and seek the MASSIVE amount of content that is available, even at the lower levels, and see what the game is really about. I'd be willing to wager that even most veteran players have not done all the mission content in all of the level appropriate zones, and there is a lot to do at any level.

Yup. All of the above!

And this is the part that is relevent. The only one for the end user, really. The end users worried about getting in 'hot water' by 'the man' over playing this game are simply wasting thier own energy. Stress kills. After 7 years of no game, maybe you could try to understand how some people are anxious that the game could disappear again or they could be banned for some legal loophole? Such is the nature of life my friend. Things end. The idea is to enjoy it while you have it, rather than wasting undue worry on how long it could last. Now that the code is "in the wild", the game will never disappear again. However, until the legal matters are more clear, anything can happen. So, play like there is no tomorrow, because sometimes...there isn't. 8)

So, whoopie for you? How about stopping the trolling as well as the playing then? :) Continuing this charade of 'holier than thou' morals while we are all playing in a grey area is just hilarious. So, the Leo thing still bothers some folks, huh? I'd have thought we were past that, but obviously not all of us. Personally, what happened over the 7 years when SCORE ran their own server is what allowed this to happen now. Would it have been nice to have it happen sooner? Sure. But, I don't see that recriminations for something most of us would have done in his position are necessary at this point. Also, bear in mind that he was also the one who had the experience to make all of this happen as soon as it did. Without his expertise, it would have been months before anyone was familiar enough with all of it to get things going in such a sustained way. So, bottom line is...no story really, and moving along.

Duh! And you're calling them disconnected from the internet? They have stated an age restriction and you have to click to agree. If someone underage gets on, that means they lied to do so and that's beyond their control. I mean, oh my god, there are literally thousands (or hundreds of thousands) of games and apps out there with this kind of stuff. Have you been under a rock the past 20 years? Hey now, maybe he's just old and doesn't understand this newfangled interwhatsis thingy. In his day they didn't need to restrict nothing. In fact, you were too busy working 36 hours a day down at the mine, after hiking naked in 6 feet of snow uphill both ways, to play some videe-o game. (as opposed to me who's old and remembers the pre-interwhatsis thingy, and trying to untangle your phone cord enough to stick it in the phone-shaped modem holder and THEN go work in the mine since it would finally be connected by the time you got home, if you were lucky...) Tru dat! This from a fellow ancient gamer who also knows what a dangerous place the web (and associated games) can be for a kid. Anyone who thinks otherwise is naive, or not very realistic. As for how the devs here handle it, how about letting the people (the aforementioned devs) whose asses are the ones actually on the line if it all goes south, decide what legal maneuvers they have to jump through in order to keep doing the volunteer work that, in turn, keeps us playing this FREE game?

Why? Are they so noticeably overpowered that they would scream "Nerf candidate"? So much so, that they would jump to the top of the priority list?

Honestly, it wasn’t about learning more. It was a good way to get up to low to mid 30s to test out a new powerset combination. Many, perhaps even most, of us are veterans from live. The low levels are boring and a lot of people do t want to slog through then just to see if their powerset combination is worth investing more time into. Getting to mid 20s quickly and having a bit more of the build gives a better (though still incomplete) picture. The reasons for nerfing it was silly. People running through DFB to however many levels they wanted wasn’t hurting others. The mass majority of complaints I see from anti DFB posts were: - People should do the content instead just like me. Nothing is stopping people from doing the content if they so wish. - People doing DFB makes it harder for me to team. Again, no it doesn’t. Never had a problem filling a non-DFB team quickly. - It’s annoying seeing DFB advertised in LFG. LFG channel is for looking for group. So why shouldn’t people use it to fill a group for DFB. If you don’t want to join just ignore it. I don’t have a problem ingoring the myriad of LFG posts that I don’t feel like participating in at the moment be they for DFB or otherwise. - People shouldn’t level up so fast. Again, why? Why does this hurt someone who wants to do it slowly? It doesn’t. Nothing prevents people from leveling as slowly or as quickly as they want. None of these reasons are compelling in my opinion. Most of them are about restricting how another player enjoys playing the game, even though it has no bearing on how they themselves are able to play. It does not enhance other content. It just restricts a popular content. I always like more options. Not less. And this does not open up more options. The alternatives were always there. People just chose not to do them. This also will do nothing about getting people to play more story arcs or other similar content in lower levels. The same people who wanted to get passed the low levels quickly will still do DFB or AE, or find a power leveler. The same people who want to do Kings row story arcs will still do those. And they will still complain about people leveling too fast. So I’m the end, I highly doubt it will change any behavior (although the venue may change somewhat). People will still complain about people playing the game a different way than they want them to. All this does it make DFB less rewarding for people who enjoy leveling up new alts quickly. None of the root behaviors are changed and thus it is a meaningless nerf. Even so, the devs are the boss and I’m playing their game. So I will take it in stride. I have no intentions of leaving and very much appreciate all that they have done. I’m bound to not like some decisions made, but honestly that doesn’t matter. All that matters is that I still get to play, for which I am very grateful. This is a situation where knowing someone with a private server can be of great benefit. As I stated before, on a private server you have GM level access to everything. So, characters can be boosted to whatever level, missions can be run, and knowledge may be gained to see if this is something they might want to pursue on the "Live" server. Hopefully, there are enough folks doing private servers that this is an option for anyone using DFB to do research on powerset viability, and unhappy with the reduction in the XP curve.

Bye I have to wonder why Crysis, or anyone he has recruited to his private server even worry about regular game play. There, they have the ability to boost themselves right to L50, give themselves every accolade in the game, and all Incarnate powers. Game over. ;)

My experience to date has been nothing but positive. When I don't have any of my SG mates around, I form teams to do what I'm in the mood to do. I have had no issues with doing that, or with the folks I have teamed with during that time. I'm pretty sure it was said already in this thread, but I think the majority of the folks they are referring to in that article are on the Reddit, and COXG servers. They touted it as "The wild, wild west", and I'm sure it lives up to that. If you go there, and don't know that about their servers, 1.) you need to do more research. 2.) Perhaps Homecoming wasn't that bad a place after all, huh? ;)

I played the game from 2004 through early 2012. By this time, my gaming group had moved to SWTOR, and I followed them. I tried to stay in CoH alone, but there just wasn't time for 2 MMOs in my life. In the ensuing months, the shutdown was announced, and I was faced with trying to spend time with friends where they were, or try to get in some game time in Paragon City before it left (presumably) for good. I stayed with my friends, and that is my big regret. Because, not long after that, they pretty much stopped gaming altogether, so I was left in SWTOR alone too. I could have been playing somewhere I would have been much happier, on the whole, and felt like I had a chance to say a real good-bye. Now, I have my second chance, and I could not be happier, or more grateful! Thanks guys! You gave this old gamer another chance to play the only game that ever really mattered to me, before or since.

As I understand it, there is no legal precedent for a company going after players on a "grey area" server.

Here's a thought... How about we let the good folks running this show figure out what they have to do to keep afloat from a legal, financial perspective, and ask for our help when necessary. Other than that, our options are really easy. You either dig what's going on and play here, or you don't, and you go elsewhere. Complaining about folks doing volunteer work on your behalf is just kinda silly, and you are not paying ANYTHING to play here, so let's keep things in perspective.

Roger that!

I believe this situation is like so many others where folks have found grounds to voice complaints, and lodge allegations against the Homecoming team. If this place isn't to your liking, there are plenty of other servers out there which apparently would are more to your liking. So, what are you still doing here? Please avail yourself of the opportunity to exercise a stealthy exit, and godspeed to you! In your absence, we will be playing the game we love in a friendly environment with rules preventing obnoxious play tactics, and behavior. Not to mention, any illegal activities which would obviously draw the kind of attention we don't need here.