Sanguinesun

First off, thank you for your post helping to give further insight into the state of the dev team, reps etc's collective mindset since you're seeming to speak for all of them. As well thank you for validating that there are issues between devs and players that exist that players have been expressing in various forms for a long time now. With that said then, it becomes hard to claim near/close to professional standards and then make statements that show blanket dismissal of criticisms/feedback that very well may have valid points being given just simply due to someone saying "x is bad and killing the game" at the same time as said valid criticisms/feedback. Plenty of volunteer groups can maintain professionalism btw. Being volunteer doesn't validate a diminishment of professional conduct unless the group chooses to not maintain such professionalism. So, the fact that you state your team chooses to make that distinction is a shame. Arguably that's helped groom the state of things now that have prompted your post to a certain extent: a growing distrust and animosity between players and devs due to the disjunction between both and with decisions made. Again, you've essentially admitted to as much with your post that, -Yes- there is a wall. Everyone has known this on both sides of the fence for a long while now. But understand that construction started with your team's decisions and has been growing and thickening in a vicious circle of reaction from both sides. I'd say your whole post reflects that and relations between both sides will continue to grow worse as long as this mindset continues. A dev in a different game once said (and I'm paraphrasing), that they well understood that people passionate about a game are the ones who speak up about it, be it angrily or otherwise. To listen to one group's criticism yet to dismiss another because one group's are presented positively and the other's are negative means you're extinguishing some of that passion for the game. It then contradicts your goals for helping to "refine, improve, iterate" the game when you narrow down and filter only what you're willing to read and listen to. So when your calling upon then specifically and only for players to break that vicious circle in part with this point on criticism/feedback by holding hostage transparency and community interaction punitively, that's just reinforcing the wall and strengthening the vicious cycle of conflict. That's how epistemic bubble development starts to become a thing with a team. And so, given your post, it seems compelling (and as evidenced over the years as it grows) that this situation -will- worsen. That's a shame. Regarding too how you say devs respond to criticisms/feedback at the end of your post is also not quite that either... as Neiska additionally and anecdotally pointed out from their experiences. Looking back over the threads in the beta forum section regarding feedback given (and Im not going to discuss the whole philotic to saying _NOPE_ and quitting either), can people find evidence there where folks attempted to give what you consider positively framed criticisms/feedback that wasn't addressed, explained, discussed or are the citable examples where responses (or more aptly lack of them) to the contrary? Next, regarding your statement of "I'll insist you realize we don't ever make ANY changes with an intended goal to make the game WORSE". That's a loaded if not partially disingenuous statement. 3 years of forums discussions where the definition of "WORSE" depends on which side of the fence (and multiple fences too both on your dev team and with players) that perspective is coming from would seemingly throw that into question. So I think you can't make that claim with such confidence(well you are but I'm saying you shouldn't), because changes the team enacts, knowing full well it -does- intentionally diminishes play that other players have enjoyed/experienced for years, -is- from those players' perspectives worse. What you're actually claiming is that its not worse for -your- team's "vision" for the game and the way -the team- intends for it to be played. Arguably the protracted and entrenched, inch by inch war with and intent to diminish the effectivity of AE farming to the point of discouraging it would be a pretty good example. Notice that if I'd said it was being slowly removed, it would be easily misdirected away by saying "we're not removing it".... All that also loops back into(if not exemplifies) what I was saying concerning epistemic bubble development too. All in all, unfortunately like Neiska, I think the chance of mindset changes of the team and what's to meaningfully improve are unlikely except in a worsening divisional direction. That wall is just going to continue to grow. Again, that's a shame.

Your admitting to intentionally derailing threads in an inane way is duly noted.

Most common tactic I see on these forums to mess with discussions or intentionally derail them is the pic spam...

Feigned apathy is never a good look after Labor Day....

For your last consideration with axe, what are the justifications/thinking for your choice in that rotation? Opening with your most flexible with range and highest damage dealing aoe base potential power would seem more apt instead of being at the end of the rotation(along with it having a -res in it to help the damage potential of the rest of the rotation. I'd also have different considerations for that opening rotation salvo(I'm assuming this is your opening one and not what you'd consider a sustained rotation).

1. Cyclone is a different mechanic and different utility in the axe set than your attempt to compare it with foot stomp. Most that use axe these days know this. Though not an exact analogy, better for you to think on it as sets that have combo building and look at it as a combo builder in that it does a bit of damage whilst pulling in mobs to be in better range for pendulum/cleave. Cyclone is thus not meant to be an equivalency for foot stomp and its rather disingenuous to consider it to be so. 2. Almost all of the powers in the axe set can take FF procs. Getting 400% cap in a typical rotation is pretty easy. 3. Can you provide evidence supporting that FF's proc for only cyclone is less than that say that of cleave or pendulum? All 3 are aoes in their own rights now. This feeds into why infinitum was saying that axe does have compelling evidence to be a good set because almost all the powers can take the proc and its 3 aoes in essence now with the pull in range utility power and 2 decent damage powers to follow it up with. Really end then becomes the challenge to juggle since one can fire the abilities more for more damage at the expense of such end and then whether one can get all 3 axe aoe fitting within their build choice for optimization. 4. You have said in multiple threads now that you believe certain combinations(mainly your inclination towards certain tanker ones) are better for farming yet when asked to provide more clear data to support that conclusion, including your main thread in the guide's section on these things, that information has yet to be made wholly manifest. Until all data sets, builds used, attack chain, map, testing controls and more are accounted for in detail, the evidence from your conclusions don't seem as compelling. 5. While I know you have seeming access to foreknowledge due to your testing rep status and communication with things to this point, should you be hinting/foreboding "until page 6" in such a manner? You're essentially implying, yet again, that people who have invested time and effort in farming are yet again going to have to endure changes and adjustments against it.

Pretty sure saying being skeptical is not an invalidation. Had I said "their results were not true" that would be an invalidation. And saying it would be nice to see more empirical data with their testing is not demanding either. And lastly, saying I should test it myself is also rather inane at this stage when their testing parameters/variables being not clearly/fully known, would be an erroneous comparison. Were all information with their testing to be made known with a full data set, then further testing by others to confirm such results would be more compelling. That's why I mentioned how it'd be nice to have such information to better know/compare to start with. I recognize you feel a defensive posture is needed on your part regarding that but I would think AA is more analytically inclined to not identify with your take on things.

I'm a rather skeptical of those comparative times. Would be nice to see more empirical data concerning that.

As I said, changes have been not just to diminishing fire farming but it has been the most directed at affecting fire farming. If you farm, you've had to deal with changes, especially since August that have diminished in varying degrees your farming effectivity. That said concerning your post with an attitude of "I dont care about fire farmers do something different".... "First, they diminished the fire farmers, but I didnt speak out, because I wasn't a fire farmer"... If you're truly that seemingly apathetic to the changes, then conversely you'd've been just as apathetic to the frustrations of others of it that you'd not have bothered to counter and thus had no opinion to proffer.

He was being sarcastic with an extremely obvious example.

Yes of course there are many at's and builds that farm and many of those use fire farms they build around. Others use slashing lethal that they build around. And yet others have methods they don't post about. However, lets also not let that sort of statement misdirect from the reasons why people for many many years do fire farming in combination with fire aura builds farming mobs using fire melee/range related attacks: Fire aura has been since the inception of the game, the most offensive build set for tank/brute due to its powers in the set. And building for fire resistance on that set is extremely easy and thus choosing mobs with those fire based damage becomes the most effective combination. Thus the combination is why that's been the most effective for farming in the past. The changes that continue to be applied intentionally diminish that. But keep in mind that while you cite those other AT/builds that can farm, they've been effected by updates to diminish their effectivity too. Aggro changes, changes to positional defenses etc have all had their effects felt by other farming builds to varying degrees too, but again, add that to changes with fire's endeavors and its thus more to diminishing its effectivity. And then there's the "bug" (that was there for so long as to have no one for a very very long time until juuuust when these other changes came about in August) with exp that was felt should be resolved then. Gibb's Rule #39 then, if you will. So your saying folks need to "get away from just using fire farmers" is acknowledging that it is the reason that its been arguably the most effective and at the same time trying to say it should be intentionally diminished(yet lacking the understanding that many of those non tank/brute AT's use fire farms and are in essence fire farmers in their own methods defense/resistances though again not limited there to). People do not need to diversify unless there's an effort to cause people to do so to neuter farming's effectivity since they are less effective by much larger margins. You're in essence then in agreement with diminished farming.

I think it may be better to consider this is a different way. If you're building for +damage bonuses in the way I'm assuming you are, it seems your goal is to overall be having a better damage output within a certain frame of time(which is undefined at this point). So to that end, +DMG bonus building exclusively is not necessarily going to give you that end result. Think more on things as a recipe if your goal is more damage output. Also understand that different AT's and even different power set combinations(be it primary, secondary, pool, or even epic/patron and of course the incarnate) are going to have different recipes for that result. Using the +recharge as an example, for some sets, using +recharge(be it from bonuses or from procs like ff's one) are meant to be used in recipe with other IO set bonuses and procs for damage etc because if your powers are recharging faster, you can get more damage in during a set amount of time. For example if a power normally has a 45s recharge but you're able to +recharge it to attain a cap of 400% recharge(under the most optimal conditions) then that power's recharge drops to just 9s. That means that in a 1 minute span of time, its gone from being used only once to being useable 6 times instead. That potentially then can mean it is able to do more damage in that 6 times than it could get from 1 use, even if it were to have all the maximum amounts of going for +dmg bonuses with a low recharge of using just 1 time. But..... Using for example the +recharge example above, if you have crap for endurance recovery(be it recovery through bonuses and or recovery powers) you could fire off those 6 hits on that power in a minute but be left limping for the next min or 2 due to using all your endurance and having to recover slowly. So again, it depends, due the large variety of variables mathematically that these different combinations can have, what is the best recipe for effectivity. This is why people post builds, test builds with certain test variables, show video evidence etc for different combinations. And this is also without adding another factor: more overarching goals in game. If you're playing the hardest difficulty, you're going to have to sacrifice some damage in various builds to shore up resistances or defenses(again depending on AT/power choices too) in order to be more effective with team dynamics in mind. A soloer may build differently. Someone who exclusively AE Farms would of course build differently and the list just goes on and on. Just too many permutations. So building for +damage bonuses is not something clear cut to consider as it may be leading you down an erroneous path of consideration.

Others have of course tried to explain the typical freedom of speech waving sentiment that ends up having people ridicule it on forums because in most cases its people's expectations that they can say what ever they want thinking it is linked o some sort of prescriptive rules made by a country or the like. I'll try to say this in a different way: You are free to say what you wish on forums like here. Absolutely. However, you're not free from accountability for what you say. You are also not free from the opinions of others based on what you say be that for or against (its a two way street on that). So sure, you can for example say something vulgar, make a threat etc as examples, however due to the rules enforced by GM's you'd be held accountable..... up to and including being no longer welcome to post on the forums. That's the agreement you make in participating in that commuinity. And sure you can say something that is unpopular or disliked by others and draw ire and ridicule and they too can conversely receive accountability in the form of said ridicule or condemnations. Pretty much that's the banter of forums, really. I think you understand those differences of course. That said, yes, AE farming is intentionally being (notice this means its going to continue) diminished in its effectivity with an intent to discourage the activity, though it'll be said they're not doing away with farming to misdirect from that intention. As I've also said before, don't let it discourage you. Let it motivate you to farm more, farm more often and teach others to do the same. Stream it. Youtube it. Get others to come to the game to do it. Help post and find ways for others to improve farming and make sure that information gets out to everyone to make it grow in effectivity. America's Angel's a good example of how they're showing in the guide section how to make more effective farms and offering builds with graphic, step by step instructions for folks. That's what you should give more consideration for.

You mean like pointing out that you're citing a retired community rep's post from 2019 who as well hasn't posted since 2019? Per my analogy, that'd be just another dry rot tire there. Again you're never going to see each and every dev come out and say they agree with AE farming. You're also not going to see what is defined exactly as that "condonement" for the ones that do, as the evidence over time is compelling that there has been a concerted effort to change its effectivity and therefore discourage it.

Keep in mind with this update that fire melee removed the lethal component from the fire sword attacks and replaced it with -def. If you are using older farm maps with mobs using those attacks, then consider changing to a map with mobs that do not for more effectivity as well.

1. There has never been a unified statement from -all- the devs stating that they condone/support everything stated. And.... there never will be as there are members that do not. 2. "Condoning" is loaded as well. Its like saying free extra tires from a used car salesman's advertisement only to realize later that its free bald and dry rotting tires. There is a concerted effort to lessen the effectiveness of farming through the AE. "Sure we condone farming".... but to such a point through nerfs and changes that farming to any or all forms of farming in the AE or otherwise becomes so discouraged as to not be a meaningful endeavor.

There's been multiple threads for the last couple of months discussing the changes and how to adapt and improve builds as well as ways to improve farm missions, and missions made by others that address the "changes". But above all else, don't let it/them discourage you. Instead, farm more and more often. Take full compliments of 7 folks with you. Teach others to farm and encourage them to do the same. Let this all motivate you.

Nope....

The mrs is actually Japanese. Nah xenophobia is rather pervasive in the culture and complicated. There are of course many many JP folks who are not but many also dont realize how xenophobic they are.

Stillkiller uses it almost exclusively when they do their CC's and streams them on twitch. However, they also use the beta graphics and miss alot of the animiations and details of costumes when they do unfortunately.

As I noted before, he does have an almost Japanese-Imperial-Flag-Waving-Black-Bus(if you're aware of that culture) dislike for non Japanese. Also this might be an insightful Hanazawa interview for you related to some of the practices of things in Japan. English translation option on the page may but a bit difficult to follow though as its not a great translation set up. Voice actor, Kana Hanazawa and women's talk! | Tokyo tsumitate daughter | Marui | Marui (transer.com) If you can read it in Japanese, it's better(just click the lang option at the top).

Not really. Pay and respect for workers in the industry in Japan, just like the manga mills, is pretty low, --especially-- if you're a woman.

He's reinstated his twitter account now and seems to have gone right back to his mass blockings.

Being disinclined to cite the sources is fine. I just have to consider the claim skeptically. As for your saying you have never flipped, that would make you an exception and not the rule for many players, especially new ones desperately trying to earn influence. And essentially you're feeding the flipping by throwing such back up there for 1 influence. Meaning, you could say your philanthropy is enabling/incentivizing flipping as well. I've nothing against that choice but I am saying that its all part of the vicious circle so to speak.

So creepily creeping against progression creep when that's not really the creep intended. Or more or less its just being creepy.