Troo

I'm sorry but this is False. There are many ways to play. Crafting, trading, etc are ALL intended ways to play and "gear up". I'm again sorry but this too is False. Not everything is available via Reward Merits. This is exactly what happens in City of Heroes. I agree. I will not defend outright purchasing complete builds, folks do it. I will say: Trading for final elusive pieces to complete a set or a build is absolutely intended. If you have any concern regarding outright purchasing finished builds - then - Adding rich-getting-richer setups should also be looked as potentially increasing the instances of outright purchasing finished builds. Adding content that favors those with expensive builds AND then also giving highly increased rewards for that content could result in a rich-getting-richer setup.

Maybe this is more clear

Not what I said at all. This is part of what makes it a great community.

Flavor that is good for the game.

umm... I wasn't pretending. While I can afford whatever I want, not everybody can. Expensive loot isn't necessary, though it can surely be nice to have. Expensive items might also help to participate in expanded difficulty levels. But hey - if your opinion is that folks who aren't "wealthy min/maxers" don't need nice stuff, okay. I am surprised though. I didn't guess you for one that looked down on some players. I could paraphrase your response as a Mr. Burns like: "suckit-less-thans you'll make due with 90% effectiveness". I'm guessing you didn't mean it that way. But, maybe you did. You're statement below is not troo. Situations where the rich get richer can definitely effect other players due to how the economy works. I gave ONE example, we could show many more, and we could talk about the market from live. Scarcity + some with outsized wealth = less opportunity for many While my intention is not to dress down a developer who volunteers their time and has contributed much to Homecoming. A glib comment by a blue name looking down on some players might need some clarification. {I am happy to edit this reply with the others in this exchange, but moderate as y'all see fit. I feel this is very relevant if new higher difficulty = higher rewards}

so many choices

I appreciate what you are saying & the effort that goes into things.

This matches the track record of changes to existing sets. Tradeoffs won't benefit everyone, and there are almost always tradeoffs. "about as effective as before" "should be expected to have lower DPS against even level" "should be somewhat more survivable" -vs- "perform much better against anything +3 and higher." If a player plays as intended. Getting a brief excerpt with the intention of changes up front could help focus the beta process. Maybe even a directive on what specific testing is needed.

"The intention is for them to have increased rewards, and Cobalt did expand the reward tables for critters up to 60" Ah okay. So it is the rich get richer. Thanks. Solo is for stories & the smaller servers are further disincentivized.

Numerically the changes are better. With the exception of a couple typos, they are better (unless folks can prove with examples otherwise). Play style may need to adjust in order to fully benefit. Accept this and a little lube will make the changes easier to take.

I think you can have "Mastermind Henchmen now all spawn even level" OR "ALL set bonuses should apply to pets and at 100% effectiveness.".. not both. don't forget: 40% of your Standard Set Bonuses now applies to henchmen that are within range of Supremacy.

doh, I forgot about those. I believe after a point difficulty should not solely determine rewards. Doing really hard things should be their own reward. If it gets people to play, that's good. If it gets people to play for longer that's good too. However if it results in folks leveling up even faster, skipping most of the content and quitting because "there is nothing to do".. that's not good.

See you take a Recipe that is cheap on the Black Market (buy a bunch of them), acquire the Salvage, craft the recipe, and then use Convertors to change the Enhancement to something more desirable like maybe a Luck of the Gambler. You can do it, I believe in you! (I've done this on a level 1 character using only the super inspiration from the tutorial as seed funding ) “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” - random Chinese proverb

Just my opinion: Since 56-60 are only for Incarnate level characters wouldn't regular experience and infamy remain the same? (incarnate experience would increase) What's to keep folks from abusing this for power leveling or infamy gathering? (rich get richer scenario)

interesting suggestion. below is as good a reason as any: 2B and returning to level 1. That's expensive, but likely worth it to more than a handful of characters. I have at least seven I'd immediately consider this for. (characters shelved for the above reason)

@Faultline - no worries. We got you. Disclaimer: The above are soon to be in open beta and subject to change.

I'm really sad to see folks feel this way. It's okay to earn some things rather than have them given. While I'd prefer accomplishment based rewards, I understand the optional transferable currencies and associated purchases. I'm also okay with new options being content completion based, for at least a period of time, and then made available to the wider population. (six months, a year, or more) I do agree difficulty should not solely determine rewards. Doing really hard things should be their own reward. That said, terms "Grinding" and "Gated" have been over used and lost their meaning. Now I mostly see the world's tiniest violin when I read them.

The thread likely went sideways (not necessarily any fault of yours). It might pop back after being cleaned up.

@Xalon I think some of the associated cost and level of effort might surprise you. Even your "I have no problem doing for 25% of the cost" could be into the millions. Now, a grassroots effort with the existing game that results in over say 5,000 concurrent individual users (not accounts) might be worth taking a look at. While I too would love to see a CoX3 (Homecoming being CoX2), chances are low. (I'm reusing some info from another of my responses) COX3 with "new graphics engine, more sophisticated AI, populated cities with a lot more stuff happening." blah blah blah That ask could be $120M+ on the cheap. a reasonable budget would need to be around $250M and could still balloon on a team. Carve up the example below however you want. There are real costs to take on bringing a legacy product current. Category Estimated Cost Range (USD) Details 1. Game Design & Pre-Production $500,000 – $5 million Concept art, game design documentation, prototyping, market research 2. Development Team Salaries $10 million – $100+ million Developers, designers, animators, AI engineers, testers, etc. 3. Graphics & Visual Assets $5 million – $50 million 3D modeling, animation, environment design, ray tracing, VFX 4. Audio & Music $1 million – $10 million Voice actors (celebrities or professionals), sound effects, studio recording, licensed music 5. Game Engine & Development Tools $500,000 – $10 million Licensing costs (if applicable), tools for back-end, physics engines, proprietary engine maintenance 6. Quality Assurance (QA) & Testing $1 million – $10 million Functional testing, bug tracking, optimization for platforms 7. Marketing & Promotion $10 million – $300+ million Trailers, influencer campaigns, pre-launch ads, event showcases, cross-media promotions 8. Post-Launch Support & Updates $1 million – $20 million DLCs, patches, seasonal updates, live service team 9. Platform Licensing & Distribution $500,000 – $5 million Fees to console makers (e.g., Sony, Microsoft), digital storefront cuts (Steam, Epic) 10. Miscellaneous (Legal, HR, Office, etc.) $500,000 – $5 million Legal fees, equipment, office space, insurance, admin overhead

At max level a player has skipped ~93% of the game. You can play down, but that content is trivial at max level since it was designed for much less capable characters. You'll need another character to access some of the content as it can be out leveled. (some accessible via Ouro) If I am remembering correctly there are around 5,000 missions not counting Architect Entertainment player created stories. You may have referred to some of these already: Signature Stories Incarnate Trials Radio Missions Newspaper Missions Mayhem Missions Safeguard Missions Unlockable Contacts Day Jobs Weekly Strike Target Architect Entertainment

If you escape the geometry of Pocket D, there are two Rikti motherships and a floating gas station out there. Also a Tardis.

Praetoria: Hamidon tentacles appearing may be linked to killing police.

Credit: Veracor Completely pointless, but the four Shadow Shard zones don't actually have boundaries, but rather are boxed in by teleport volumes. In Firebase Zulu, The Chantry, and Storm Palace, the teleport volumes making up the "walls" aren't flush with the "ceiling" volumes, so if you find exactly the vertical coordinates that the ceiling teleport volume is at, you can hover slightly below it and then fly completely horizontally (look straight down and hold jump) to get past the teleport volumes that make up the walls. There is nothing beyond the boundaries of the Shadow Shard zones, just endless emptiness (and a solid floor). In Cascade Archipelago, the volumes are flush with the ceiling so you can't escape that way.

AE Buildings are notable in that the interior really is inside the exterior. Hence, you can look through the glass doors.

Rumor: St. Martial in the docks area on the left side of the map - there is sometimes a Longbow Ballista just sitting there all by himself. If you engage, 10 or so hidden longbow spec ops will all jump you (it's a trap!)