Lockpick

I think this bolded and highlighted section is probably the most important section I have seen in this thread. I know @Solarverse has tried to explain it multiple times from his perspective and it doesn't seem as though people are understanding his points, so I'll take a stab. I'm not sure I can explain it better than he has already though. Yesterday I was wondering why I was spending my time replying to this thread as opposed to playing the game. After all, I love this game. It was my first MMO. I started playing when it first came out. I was going through a rough patch and I can honestly say that playing this game kept me out of a lot of trouble, I probably played 15 to 20 hours per day early on. Over the years my play time diminished, but I was still probably playing 20 hours per week and had 2 accounts due to the character slot restrictions. It was a happy moment when my first character dinged 50! I was always happy when I unlocked my travel power or earned a cape for the characters then needed them. Still happy today when I unlock one of the 4 passive powers. I was pissed when the game was shut down and was ecstatic when it came back. I again jumped right back in and played like crazy becasue I was afraid it would get shut down again. Over time I gradually diminished my play time, but was still playing 10 to 15 hours per week. Recently I have been trying to think about what I should do in game. My typical routine is to get a character to 50, incarnate to T4, make sure I have the 4 passives, make sure the costume slots are unlocked, make sure I have $100M Inf. Once I do that I take an alt through the same journey. I now have 18 level 50 characters with the majority of them complete within the parameters I set. I have 2 level 40s and probably 20 characters in the 30s. The desire to play the game is slowly ebbing away because I don't feel like there is a way for me to continue to progress once I hit 50 and my parameters. I like to be rewarded for playing content because I feel like I am being rewarded and am achieving an accomplishment, but once you cap yourself with all the rewards that are available that you believe provide a reasonable reward there is really no reason to play further. My thoughts are that additional rewards added to existing content will allow continual progression. That is why my suggestions focused on adding rewards to the task forces, vet levels, etc. There would be an incentive to progress and a feeling of accomplishment. I also think that adding rewards to vet levels means more people would play one character longer leading to them becoming more well known within the server community and fostering more community spirit. I have no stats to back that up, just my opinion. I honestly don't know hwy people keep acting like we are talking about making the whole game move in this direction. I have not suggested that at all. I have suggested adding additional new rewards to existing content. I have not suggested changing any current rewards at all. My take is that there are no rewards for certain sections of the game. Let's add some rewards there. No one is getting those rewards today, so it shouldn't really be an issue if they choose not to earn those fictional rewards in the future. Y'all know this is just my opinion, right? I'm not trying to take anything away from anyone or tell anyone how to play the game. I am just expressing my opinion.

Sure, of course we can impose self-discipline, although I fail to see the relevance in the position I have been advocating. I have already stated multiple times that I would not change any of the existing rewards or existing costume parts. Any comments I have made about Vanguard or Cimerora are only examples of why I think it is reasonable to earn costume parts in certain situations. I have suggested they might add future rewards to existing content to incentivize doing the content and I think it is reasonable to have to unlock those rewards. I agree that there is already a compromise between gated content and non-gated content. I think we are in a pretty good place right now, although I might have gated a few more things than the HC team did. I am really glad we agree on something. That being said, is it possible that you might agree that for new rewards it might be reasonable to have some of those new rewards gated? Let's even assume that costume parts are off the table. The current HC team doesn't seem to want to lock costume parts behind content, so lets assume there will never be a costume part that has to be earned in game. Are you okay to add new rewards to existing content to incentivize doing that content? I feel like we are really getting derailed by the costume part issue, so let's take it off the table and discuss other areas. No, I'm not saying that at all. What I said was pretty basic. It is my opinion that is appropriate occasionally to gate rewards behind having to unlock in game to include costume parts. I think you keep misinterpreting me to try and justify your position. That being said, I feel like we are really getting derailed by the costume part issue, so would suggest we take it off the table and discuss other areas.

I was quoting you because you said: I agree that people don't want to wait. I don't think it matters if a costume part makes the game easier or not. A costume part historically has been one type of a reward for accomplishing certain activities in game. My question was is it unreasonable to have 5 to 10 new costume parts earned in game out of hundreds or thousands of costume parts that are freely available? If not, how many costume parts earned in game would be reasonable? Sorry, I don't agree. I think it is entirely reasonable that you would unlock Vanguard costume parts for becoming a member of Vanguard and Roman costume parts for having been sent back in time to Cimerora. It sounds like you think it is unreasonable to have any costume parts gated behind content. I'm curious if you were to step back and look at the positions: Position 1: It is okay to have 5 to 10 new costume parts unlocked through game play because historically this was how some costume parts were awarded. After all there are hundred or thousands of existing costume parts that are unlocked that can be used immediately. Position 2: It is not okay to have to unlock any new costume parts through game play because there might be a character concept I want to create using those costume parts and the game values freedom of expression. Which position do you think a reasonable person without a stake in the outcome would take? All of this is moot really since the HC team has already made their position clear, so I think for further dialogue it might be better to focus on other aspects rather than costume parts since that seems to be clearly a position that most people in this thread oppose. Do you have thoughts on the other reward suggestions being earned in game? Most gated content was probably badges, followed by temp powers (think Day Job powers), then I would guess it would be cosmetics and then non Day Job accolade powers. All of the other gated content aside from the cosmetics remains today.

A good point. I think when evaluating a position we should be asking is the position reasonable or not. In most of my posts I say things like "it seems reasonable to me" or "it doesn't seem unreasonable to me" primarily because I am trying to align my opinion / position on this topic with trying to be reasonable. I'm not suggesting we change any of the costume parts that are there now. I don't necessarily agree with the position the HC team took to make everything unlocked, but it is what it is and I get why they did it. However, I don't think it is unreasonable to have 5 to 10 new costume parts be earned in game when all the other costume parts are unlocked. I haven't seen any argument that has persuaded me that my position is unreasonable. I will say that I do like much of what HC did to remove the grind. I guess there is one server that is just like Live. I have no desire to play that level of grind. I'm just looking for a few more rewards to incentivize playing the existing content and provide a sense of continual character progression. I don't think that position is unreasonable. All that being said, I don't think my position is going to persuade the HC team or the people who are opposed, so not sure it matters. I just thought I would add my opinion to this thread becasue I think it is good for the HC team to hear a variety of opinions. And is it unreasonable to have 5 to 10 costume parts earned in game out of hundreds or thousands of costume parts that are freely available? How many costume parts earned in game would be reasonable?

I don't quite get this and it seems the majority are in agreement with your opinion. I have just never understood it. I have no idea how many costume parts there are now. I tried to look on Paragon Wiki and couldn't get an answer. I assume there are hundreds of costume parts; maybe thousands. I have a hard time understanding why having 5 to 10 costume parts behind an accomplishment gate would be an issue. I mentioned the Ranger tab (badge) progression above that I went through. What I forgot to mention was that at that time if you made it to the Ranger Regiment you were issued a black beret. Only 3 units in the Army were able to wear berets. Airborne units got Maroon, Rangers got Black, and Special Forces, of course, were Green. It was a huge accomplishment for me to be issued and wear that black beret and I took pride in earning it. I still have it today. Of course, this is a video game, so the sense of accomplishment in earning a costume part or accolade may not be the same, but for me it would still be a symbol of accomplishment. An interesting side note: In 2001, General Eric Shenzeki took the black berets away from the Rangers and gave the black berets to all the soldiers in the Army. He apparently saw the Rangers in their black berets and thought they looked sharp and motivated. He felt that taking the black berets away from the Rangers that earned them and giving them to soldiers who had not earned them would instill a sense of pride in all the soldiers. Of course, all he did was piss everyone off. The Rangers were pissed because they felt the effort they put in to earn the beret was denigrated. I was out of the Army by then, but still had buddies that were in and they were all pissed as were many in the Special Operations Group. The soldiers that received the black berets were pissed. The berets were hot and uncomfortable and because they didn't know how to properly maintain / wear the beret and generally did not care about appearance as much as the Rangers they just looked sloppy with berets. It was a failure all around. Eventually, the Rangers got the tan beret as a replacement. I obviously did not know General Eric Shenzeki, but I just read his wiki. He was apparently pretty smart (West Point and Duke) and he had a Ranger tab. It looks like he was a standout soldier. However, he did not serve in a SOG unit and was never an enlisted soldier. If he had been or taken the time to talk to someone who had been he would have known this would be a major mistake. People still talk about it today, although usually they blame Clinton since he was President. http://edition.cnn.com/2011/US/06/13/army.beret/

I definitely would like to see reward rationalization across the board and would favor providing higher rewards for doing content with various difficulty challenges. I would also like to see additional rewards for existing content that does not have rewards today. Maybe a passive accolade power for completing the 4 shadow shard task forces plus some combination of exploration / history badges Maybe rewards for vet levels plus combinations of badges or accomplishments Vet level 50 + Task Force Commander receives a badge + X Vet level 100 + the 4 passive badges receives a badge + X Vet level 150 + Z receives a badge + X Etc. Maybe new day job badges for logging off in the Abyss or the Hive Maybe a new accolade for achieving all the day job powers in the game Maybe a new costume part and an accolade for completing all the TFs in the game Maybe a new costume part and an accolade for completing all the Trials in the game Maybe a reward for completing all the missions in the Oro portal Y'all know this is just an opinion, right? I'm not dictating how anyone should play the game, just providing my opinion that I wouldn't mind seeing new rewards for existing content.

I'm not demanding anyone play my way. I have suggested adding new rewards that need to be earned in game. In case it was not clear, the Vanguard parts and the Epaulets were examples. I wouldn't change any existing costume parts. I am merely offering an opinion that maybe some new rewards can be added to other areas of the existing game to incentivize doing the content. Anyway, I don't expect everyone to agree with me, so it should be expected to have differences of opinion.

When you call someone selfish that is an attack. When you say that expressing an opinion is "stomping your feet and saying everyone needs to play by your logic" that is an attack. Do you not even understand basic courtesy? I could use your same exact logic to say you are being selfish and you are stomping your feet to get everyone to play the way you want. I just believe you are expressing your opinion and I respect your opinion. I'm not sure why you cannot provide that same courtesy. All very good points and I understand your reasoning.

I can always count on you to attack people. I find it ironic that in one breath you say you have more respect for people that seem nice and in the next breath you are calling me selfish for expressing an opinion. As to your specific question, it doesn't benefit me at all how you play your character. However, from a lore perspective, I believe that someone cannot become a member of Vanguard until that character gets the Member of Vanguard badge. It seems reasonable that if someone wanted to be a member of Vanguard they would have to earn a spot and then the parts would be unlocked. It seems reasonable to me that Vanguard wouldn't just let any level 1 character in. Before I joined the Army I wanted to be a Ranger. Becoming a Ranger required me to join the Army, pass Basic Training, Pass Advanced Infantry Training, pass Airborne School, pass the Ranger Indoctrination Program, join the Ranger regiment, compete for a Ranger school slot, and then pass Ranger school to earn my Ranger tab. That is a logical progression. I do not believe it is unreasonable to have some instances of that type progression in the game as long as it is limited and everyone has the ability to complete the accomplishment. Why is that people expressing an opinion and making suggestions for additional rewards behind certain accomplishments are "stomping their feet and demanding everyone play by their rules"? I understand your opinion. My opinion is different. I'm not attacking you for your opinion and it would be refreshing if you could restrain yourself from attacking others for their opinions.

I honestly wasn't expecting that response. No wonder there is no middle ground to be found. It looks like the opinions are to far apart to get to a middle ground. I do agree with you on the soloing aspect. I sometimes solo both Synapse and Citadel on occasion. I'm not a fan of either TF and do them becasue I want the accolade. I don't think I would want to be able to buy the accolade though.

I agree with a lot of what you are saying, but not the costume part section. I don't think there should be an issue with having to unlock some costume parts. Let's say the Vanguard parts for example. Why are they available at level 1? You cannot become a member of Vanguard until I believe 35. Why would it not make sense to unlock the parts as you do the missions? This doesn't seem unreasonable to me that you wouldn't be able to wear Vanguard costumes until you were actually a member. I do agree that there should be some middle ground. I'm not seeing much in this thread though. It seems when people are making suggestions for reasonable gating or new rewards locked behind some content that they are getting shut down.

You are certainly welcome to your opinion. My opinion is different. I'm not talking about adding a huge amount of gating. I'm talking more about adding additional rewards to existing content. Maybe 5 to 10 unique costume parts, maybe a couple of more accolade powers, maybe some temp powers. TFC: Glad we agree here. I mentioned "We still have the accolade power, so it is not necessarily needed because people will still do these TFs for the accolade." You were able to form a Synapse in 20 minutes. Great! Do you think it would be easier or harder to form that Synapse if the TFC accolade was not gated behind it? I do appreciate you bolstering my case that additional rewards provide incentive for doing activities. I agree that doing SS TFs during the WST is really the best time to do them. I wouldn't mind though if an additional incentive like an accolade power or a costume part was awarded for completing all 4. It's not there now, no one needs it, what is the issue with adding something like that? If you don't care to do the activities that would unlock the reward then you would not miss it. Those that want the reward bad enough will find a way to earn it. Do you think the accolade powers that are gated today should be unlocked for everyone at level 1? Or do you think they should be earned as is today?

I can see the benefits of some gating and we already have some gating. Overall, I think we are in a pretty good place. That being said, I wouldn't mind seeing some additional rewards based on additional gating / accomplishments. I think it is fine to have accomplishments that reward players with items that can only be received from completing said accomplishment as long as everyone has the same opportunity to choose to do these accomplishments. Examples: I would have preferred that the Military Epaulets were still gated behind Task Force Commander. It was a unique costume part that indicated you had completed the core Task Forces. If you saw people wearing that part you knew they completed the TFC and if you wanted the part you were incentivized to do the TFs. This pushed more people to do these TFs and ensured groups could be found. We still have the accolade power, so it is not necessarily needed because people will still do these TFs for the accolade. However, if there wasn't a TFC accolade how many people would really do Synapse or Citadel? I would love an accolade power and costume part tied to completing the 4 Shadow Shard TFs and exploration of the shard. How many people really complete these 4 TFs? I don't think I have ever done all 4 on any of my characters. There is no incentive for doing it. Groups can be hard to get together unless they are the WST. Even during WST is available I very rarely will answer the call to group because it is not worth it to me. I saw one of the posts earlier that indicated these types of accomplishments are akin to doing the laundry; an unpleasant activity that needs to be done. I don't view them that way. I view them as achievements that I completed that provided me rewards I wanted. Everyone has the option to not pursue them, so I don't think it is unreasonable to have some rewards behind gating. I'm also an advocate of providing more rewards for vet levels tied with other accomplishments. Example: You have earned Task Force Commander and achieved 100 vet levels and you get X I like these gates / rewards because IMO they allow a character to continue progression beyond 50 and incarnates. I believe that characters that continue their progression will become better known on their server and as they become better known it will drive more of a community spirit, which I believe adds longevity to the game and player base. I, of course, have no data to back this up; just my opinion.

I just finished reading this thread. I find it interesting because I had just posted a suggestion recently that is on the topic of grind and rewards. I always felt the Live Dev team had missed the boat on not having an accolade power for finishing the shadow shard TFs and I also miss the grind to a certain extent. I came up with a grind with rewards and posted in the Suggestion forum and it is not popular at all. It seems grinding is a thing of the past... BTW, I don't want to grind all the time either, but I certainly wouldn't mind some challenges or content that provides unique rewards. I don't subscribe to the theory that everyone has to have all the rewards, but I do subscribe to the theory that everyone should have the equal opportunity to pursue the rewards. There are several accolade powers I will never get because I don't think the reward is worthwhile, while I always try to get the 4 passive accolade powers.

If you didn't want to do the challenge you wouldn't have to choose it. This is for people that miss the grind or want harder game play. Of course, they could team with 50s and be carried through the TFs, but you can't close every loophole. This is for people that want to grind. which surprisingly a number of people like and they would get some decent rewards for doing it. I would definitely do it once, but couldn't imagine doing it more than that.

All good points. /signed

A number of people have been stating the game is to easy, so my suggestion is to create an option at character creation that allows that character to choose to level the Hard Way. I'm sure someone will come up with a better name; maybe call it Incarnate Extraordinaire. The intent will be to limit the abilities / power of the character and make the grind harder, but once all tasks are accomplished a badge and an accolade will be awarded. Got to put some restrictions in to make sure people cannot just power level their way through the Hard Way. During character creation the character selects the Hard Way option Only SOs can be used for the first 30 levels The character will not have the option to slot anything but TOs, DOs, and SOs Only basic IOs for 40 to 50 The character will not have the option to slot anything but TOs, DOs, SOs, and Basic IOs Set IOs can be used at 50+ All IOs available All task forces must be done at original level No exemping down to do the Task Force New badges provided for doing the TFs the Hard Way in addition to the normal badges All task force must be done for the side selected at creation Might have to rationalize this because I think Villains get less Task Forces and the intent would be to make sure every character has to do the Shadow Shard task forces Temp powers cannot be used and will not be accessible at P2W All the Shadow Shard badges must be completed All the DA badges must be completed Hamidon badges must be completed XP will be limited to one level every 20 hours This will help prevent over leveling the task forces Maybe also have the system prevent leveling past a certain level if you haven't completed the required task forces at level At vet level 100 if all the prerequisites have been met the character receives A Badge - Incarnate Extraordinaire An accolade power that provides an auto buff that can be selected by the character (can only select one option): 7.5% Recharge 5% Defense to all 5% Resistance to all 7.5% Move speed Maybe something else A travel power that allows the breaking of the rule of 4 power pools, but the travel power only has one slot Basically, if you have selected 4 power pools like Leadership, Fighting, Speed, and Leaping, but you want Fly you could get the Fly power, but you would not be able to add more than the original slot. A new costume part that only characters that have completed the Hard Way challenge can receive Once the character receives the Incarnate Extraordinaire badge everything reverts to normal Leveling reverts to normal, so you can get more than one level per day You can exemp with set IOs Etc. I think the reward is pretty good and I would certainly create a character to do this challenge, but it would take a long time to do with the leveling restriction. You can't completely stop the power leveling, especially when you are working on the vet levels, but you would still have to put in an extreme amount of time. You would also be able to team with others that are leveling normally, so it might not be as challenging as possible. Any ideas on what restrictions you would add? Any other rewards you would add? Would you do this challenge? Am I crazy?

I have been paying for the Pocket D power since I started playing here. I had no idea I could get for hanging out there.

Glue Arrow is not usually part of an attack chain either. ENA is mandatory, but at least it had decent range and damage, so it fit into an attack chain of ENA, Snap Shot, Aimed Shot, repeat. I've played it with the reduced range and while I certainly don't like it and it affects the character I am sure I will learn to live with it. Or actually without it, since it now gives me an excuse to try out Archery / Devices.

They did; I didn't see the latest update until after I made this post. It looks like the reversion may be temporary though, so taking Ninjitsu now with the expectation that Shinobi-Iri will have good movement speed may not play out long term.

Thank you for these adjustments!

Shinobi-Iri is nerfed on Beta as are a number of secondary powers with movement speed...

I don't recall saying "How dare they". I merely stated my opinion agreeing with Tore and stated that there will always be a set that is stack ranked #1. I don't find balance changes in general to be very good for the health of the game, although I do agree that in very rare instances there might be a need to tune a power or set. However, IMO, it should be extremely rare. Right now TW is on top, next week EM will be on top, the following week something else will be on top. Balance changes beget balance changes and that leads to picking winners and losers. Some people are going to be happy and some are going to be not happy with the changes. The TW change doesn't mean much to me since I played the set to about 17 and did not like the mechanics. However, a lot of the Blaster secondary and movement changes do affect me and will definitely have an impact on whether I play those sets. By the way, I don't know what has happened to these forums. I recall the old forums as being relatively friendly without much drama. People were able to state their opinions without vitriol and animosity. These forums it seems like people are attacking each other all the time (which I admit I have fallen prey to occasionally). It's a bit sad how far we have fallen, especially since we are all here because of our passion for the game and we are all stating our opinions so that we hopefully get an improved experience.

I pretty much agree with this in the main. I'm not a fan of any of these power set changes and saw no real need to do them. I could see some minor changes here and there, but in the overall scheme of things all these balance changes are not needed because we are a small private server that is predominately PVE. Who cares if TW over performs a bit in PVE? I very rarely see them when playing and I know I shelved mine early due to the clunky mechanics. However, there are a number of other changes in this release that do affect me negatively. I just feel like this release was a "let's make change just to make change" release. There are some good changes like a new power set, story arcs, stances, TP changes, and maybe the EM changes, but for the most part I find all the balance changes to TW, Blaster secondaries, and secondary movement powers have really missed the mark from a "fun" perspective. I'm curious how they will be received when they go Live because I am sure a number of players are going to get an unwelcome surprise. What I really fine a bit ironic is that TW is getting nerfed, but EM is getting buffed. I expect that EM is going to be the new FoTM and is likely over tuned. Does that both me? Nope. One power set is always going to be on top and players that care about that kind of thing will adapt. These types of changes don't change that behavior, so why make changes that are not needed and likely not wanted?

Just tested the stances: Non-Default Stance (Does not seem to be working as intended) If I choose any stance but Default and then toggle on Athletic Run the inherent stance does not change. I choose Ninja Stance and my stance changes. I toggle on Athletic Run and I continue to run in Ninja Stance. I choose Beast Stance and my stance changes. I toggle on Athletic Run and I continue to run in Beast Stance. I choose Slide Stance and my stance changes. I toggle on Athletic Run and I continue to run in Slide Stance. Default Stance (Seems to be working as intended) If I choose Default Stance then toggle on Athletic Run the stance is standard run stance If I choose Default Stance then toggle on Ninja Run the stance is Ninja run stance If I choose Default Stance then toggle on Beast Run the stance is Beast run stance