stonehd

My toon affected was in Atlas as well. D

Same on Excelsior. I was in the middle of a blue-side Oroboros mission and mapserved. When logging back in I got the "still logging out...' message. There was an error message that I didn't write down since I thought I would be able to log in after waiting, but it's not showing up now. I can still log onto other blueside characters; it's only the one that I was playing when I mapserved. D

I've seen some weirdness as well. When I first logged on after the update, my cooldown timers were REALLY weird, especially with the PTW Veterans Rewards powers like Sands of Mu or the Nemesis staff. The recharge rates were all over the place, sometimes showing longer recharges than the powers had, sometimes they were skipping numbers, and sometimes went backwards. An example - used my Ghost Slaying Axe one time and the cooldown said 21 seconds (!), counted down to 18, jumped to 11 or so, then back up to 16, bouncing like that before recharging. They were too unpredictable to use in combat. It was much better after I logged off and came back later that night, although it still feels off. Inner Inspiration is still weird - twice since this update its countdown has ended and its icon returned to normal, but it wouldn't be clickable for 15-20 seconds or so. But then again, I kinda feel like that was a problem before this update. Also, I didn't catch it in the patch notes, but did those same Vet Reward Powers get a recharge change? I don't remember 16 sec on Sands of Mu. I suppose it could be an psychological illusion from seeing all the numbers on screen and seeing the time actually pass, but they feel slower. D

Thank you, just checked and I stand corrected, there is indeed a SG base portal option AND sg-passcode option in there. Somehow after all this time I've missed that. D'oh. Sorry. D

My point is that "being able to teleport to my base to level up is very handy even in Atlas" doesn't concern the LRT power or how many badges it requires because LRT has nothing to do with teleporting to bases. That's Fast Travel. And you can already earn it in-game without getting LRT - traveling through an Oroboros portal grants it also. I'm just saying, I think there's some conflation of Fast Travel and LRT here. I agree that teleporting to my base is handy, even in early Atlas. Giving us other ways to get Fast Travel, say through using any of the teleport powers it consolidates, would make a lot of sense. D

In all the discussion of this, it's occurred to me that when many people refer to the LRT power, what they really are thinking of is the Fast Travel macro we get at the same time. You still have access to any teleport power you purchased/earned through their own power button; the Fast Travel macro just makes it so you don't have to clutter your trays with those individual powers. The Fast Travel macro is also granted from traveling to Oroboros, so it's not uniquely tied to LRT. Could entering a super base portal also be made to grant Fast Travel? D

I mostly pop in for a month or two at a time when new updates or events happen, although I've been away more this year than last. I keep track of the Announcements page here on the forum to see what new is going on (updates or events). I hadn't noticed they don't announce the events, and the last week of Oct, after seeing nothing about Halloween this year (I was specifically checking to see if they fixed that bug that made AVs show up when soloing trick-or-treating), I logged in anyway and the event was indeed going on. Finally someone told me that the devs don't make announcements in the forum or the launcher for events, so I definitely know I missed the spring and summer event last year. For the just-ended winter event, I knew to start checking in early Dec to see if it was live, and I was online playing a lot through the holidays. There seems to be no place that the seasonal events are announced, just a "guess-and-check" method which assumes players already know about the events and when to expect them. That's not "new player" friendly, it's not "old player with limited gametime" friendly, and it's a part of why I haven't check back in sooner. Edited to add: that last part came off more critical than I meant it too. Given the volunteer nature of it all, what we have is great. D

Illusion Dominator - Spectral Wall. These aren't skulls; they look like the Ghostface mask from "Scream." d

Unless I'm missing something, the wall of ghost faces still look like ghost faces no matter what color they are. There isn't a minimal effect option I've missed, is there? D

I would like to be able to keep my vanity pet out when I'm using my stealth cat travel power. My black panther misses his dark wolf friend. Also would love some non-ghost animations for the fear powers. d

Thank you for pointing that out., I didn't see it was in T3. Like you, I still think 1500 is too much for T4, but yeah, thanks! D

A few more thoughts: I don't have a problem with the costs of T1 or T2. I should have specified that. For any T1 that I want, I'm pretty sure I'm able to earn or purchase. I was pleasantly surprised that I've gotten 3-4 aether just from running standard content solo, and between that and some marketeering, I can easily afford those with a reasonable amount of effort. The T2 & T3 don't interest me much, but those prices don't feel all that off for me, either. ** see edit below No, it's really the price of the T4 that hurts, specifically for the mini costume (which appears to not be included with this update, if I read correctly). And it's because you've added the ability to make a frickin' chibi version of our characters (!!!), and then made them incredibly expensive, and it's feels pretty crappy. But... I remember feeling the same way back on live when butterfly wings were a pretty hard-to-get costume recipe (oh, memories). Eventually, their costs on the market did come down, but it did take a while. When I checked the aether price on live a week or two ago, they were going for 140,000,000 each. Just now I checked and they were going for around 4,000,000, which is admittedly a pretty good drop already. Honestly I've not once, neither here nor on live, come close to having a billion inf. Base-building, costume-making, Pocket D-hanging, popmenu-building and such, they don't give any inf, and that's half my time in the game these day. I prefer doing those things to grinding, so for now I'll remain hopeful that as more people get earn them, the market prices will drop more -- hopefully a lot more. D EDIT: I posted this without catching the mini-costume was now in T3 (thanks @lemming for pointing that out). T3 is a lot of coin, but I can see it as reachable even for me with some effort. This definitely helps me feel like that particular costume is more affordable now.

This right here is my biggest problem with how this is being implemented -- it's based on the idea that cosmetic items aren't important to players, they're only something to "show off." And that might be true for many of the players who do the content that generate the most aether, but I think you underestimate how many folks are motivated by character creation, role-play, solo play and other things that don't involve grinding at all. This feels like you've created a reward for one group of people and then built it into a system for a completely different group of people. And yes, the aether are available at the market, but so far the prices on live are WELL beyond my ability to afford a T4. D

Very excited about this potential change. I love to solo, and I have many, many alts. Most only reach the early 30s, if that. This change will allow me to experience many more upper-level powers on a variety of characters without having to power-level,. It will also allow more variations between alts with the same power sets. For someone who plays a whole lot of the early/mid-game, this is a big deal. D

This - #2 in particular is why I'm not interested in the Hard Mode content. I use IOs pretty sparingly, mostly when they offer a great proc that fits my character's concept. Otherwise I'm fine with the game's content as-is. Hard Mode seems like an invitation to a grind fest I don't enjoy - more work than fun. But hey, live and let live; not everything in the game is for me.

It's an interesting thought experiment, though. An issue with something like this on Homecoming may be server transfers. Would this be a server where your whole progression is challenging? Then no transfers allowed. But a server where people can pop in and out when they want challenging content? Transfer whenever you want. Each have merits, and each would serve a similar, yet different service. I agree this would be challenging on Homecoming. Questions would be whether HC has the ability to set different rules for different servers within HC? Could they restrict transfers to one of those servers? Or would it have to be set up like Beta - completely walled off from everyone else? D

This is what I'm talking about as an ill-defined variable. You seem to be saying both "here's what Reward Chasers want," while also saying "I can't speak to how they play." If you don't know basic answer about the playstyle of the group you yourself have defined (and seem to be defending), then perhaps it's time to return to that group and figure out who they are and what they want. Not pointless. That thread title would have gotten fewer views and much more pushback. But even though you titled this thread "Determining if the game is too easy," you also immediately began with the assumption that "the game itself is too easy" and asked for discussion/suggestions on how to fix it. From your very first post: If your goal is to DETERMINE if the game is too easy, you should listen to those who say "nope, it's not" without trying to convince them that their concerns are misplaced and we really need to get back on the topic of how to make the game more challenging/difficult/whatever. Funny, I see you as the one antagonistic to others opinions. So I won't argue, I'll just bow out. Cheers. d

Really, though? If the "Reward Chasers" won't avail themselves to the already in-game ways to make content more difficult (by perhaps NOT using the PTW vendor, NOT power-leveling, etc), then how can you really say these folks want things to "feel earned" AND "they are ease haters"? Anyone using Amplifiers and Double XP cannot honestly call themselves "ease haters." I also don't agree with the dichotomy you've set up between your so-called "Reward Chasers" and "Role-Players," as if those are the only two categories of players. I'm an alt-a-holic, and for me the challenge is in playing all the archetypes, all the powersets, having fun with all of them. I like how easy the game is now, but I'd never describe myself as a "Role-Player." Those you describe as "Reward Chasers" sound like what I call the players who think CoH is a game that can be won and who get mad that their are easy options (I'm guessing a lot of Min-Maxers & PvPers, but I'm just guessing since I'm not part of those groups). And then where do the Badgers fit in? They feel like they should be part "reward chaser," but I can think of very few badger who want that grind to be more challenging/difficult. Making the game more challenging - specifically at endgame levels - is a worthy goal, but it involves a lot of moving variables in the game, and you can't solve a multi-variable problem when only paying attention to two ill-defined variables. d,

Yes to this. The updated starting zone layout & new missions in Mercy, in addition to the P2W vendor, has made it a much more fun place for me. I'm also one of the people who think the zone designs there are just so much better than the original CoH zones. The first time I wondered across the overgrown, crumbling Circle of Thorns temple in Nerva (at least I think that's what/where it was), it was absolutely awesome. Very few places in Paragon City give me that feeling of exploring somewhere new & interesting. Most of the city feels like the copy/paste locations they are (pre-update Atlas, Steel, Talos & Peregrine all may as well be the same zone). While there's some of that on Redside, it's less noticeable due to the fewer # of zones. The overcast, dark and gloomy weather in the Isles, though? That crap is as annoying as heck. It's the first thing I'd change to make redside more inviting. D

I noticed something today: when I use the Panther travel power, my Dark Wolf vanity pet now disappears (the combat pet does not). I tried it on another character (Coyote travel power with Coyote vanity pet), and it did the same thing. Is this WAI? Thanks, D

I have almost the opposite problem. I have a hard time making a defender anymore, mostly because I often solo on my characters, so I want them to be able to solo. I can do it with a Defender, but it's soooo much easier with a Corruptor. When I do make a Defender instead of a Corruptor, it's usually because I want access to certain powers at earlier levels (e.g. Kinetics). d

I'd really like ninja run to have an idle animation. Beast Run "seems" to have one (where you stand hunched over on two feet, instead of being on all fours), so it would be nice to see a ninja run idle animation with you standing but without your arms still in the awkward running pose. Otherwise, my thoughts on this are OMG!!!!! Stances in particular are something I've wanted forever, since CO really. Hopefully others can be included in time. D

What I'd like to see, off the top of my head... More pool powers - I really enjoy how the sorcery set gives flavor to my magic users, and would love to see more like that to help flesh out the other archetypes. I have a bajillion alts, and the more pool powers available, the better to differentiate them all. More non-city areas -- Croatoa, Striga, Cimerora, Nerva and even Perez Park do a somewhat decent job, but would like to see more unique environments to explore. A desert. Somewhere snowy. The long-awaited moonbase. Kalisti Warf looks nice and all, but dang I don't need yet another city zone. Updated cars, monorail trains, and citizen models -- These things are everywhere, so having newer, crisper models would benefit the look of every city zone they're in. More costumes -- in general, this is always good for the game. Thanks for everything, Homecoming team!!! D

I’ve encountered that Hellion in city hall several times now. D

I too would love to see this reverted (but I do understand if it can’t be done for performance reasons). I’ve got a few old characters that used the tux coattails/wings combo and would love to fully recreate them again. D