Game seems way to easy.

[MunkiLord]

40 minutes ago, Mansome said:

What I would like is for them to do away with speed running but not turn everything into a kill all as that gets ridiculous with some of the maps and missions. Maybe give bonus merits for killing 95% of the map or something. These days you literally have to announce this is not a speed run before doing the TF just to keep folks from trying to speed run it when you want the xp or threads for the kills.

I like this idea

[Dahkness]

49 minutes ago, ivanhedgehog said:

level as a solo empath. that should do it for ya.

Actually I am a solo empath. I can send you my Ill/emp build. I’ve been working pretty hard on it. 

[Lost Ninja]

3 hours ago, Hops said:

Actually I am a solo empath. I can send you my Ill/emp build. I’ve been working pretty hard on it. 

Ill/Emp would be easy mode compared to Emp/* Defender though. Hell back on live I levelled a Kin/Dark Defender (for theme/story purposes) and solo she was incredibly slow/boring. Was great in a team ofc.

[Dahkness]

4 hours ago, Lost Ninja said:

Ill/Emp would be easy mode compared to Emp/* Defender though. Hell back on live I levelled a Kin/Dark Defender (for theme/story purposes) and solo she was incredibly slow/boring. Was great in a team ofc.

There is always something harder

Edited October 1, 2019 by Hops

[Lost Ninja]

14 hours ago, EmmySky said:

 At least they didn't use the number 2.

OP does say his first language isn't English, I think to be as understandable as he is in a language not his own is pretty impressive TBH. Because I bet I couldn't post in his language with anything like the same understand-ability... 😄

[Brutal Justice]

The power creep is real and diminishes the fun for me, and I feel the longevity of the game.  

 

The issue I have is how I have a full tray of powers but generally only need to fire off a couple per spawn and everything is dead.  I play the game to be a super hero but I also play the game to USE the powers and set combinations.  When the game gets reduced to simply firing 2 aoe powers per spawn, and maybe one single target on a boss, it gets boring.  

 

I dont want to be debuffed  into the dirt by every spawn because that makes me feel unsuper.   I don’t want to feel depowered in a super hero game.  Again, I play to USE the powers, not to have them just miss or do nothing.  

 

For me it would be about simply slowing the game down a bit.  Half of the rush people have comes from being able to just teleport anywhere they want to be all the time.  The enterbasecode macro is not good for the game and should have been removed once it was discovered.  Somebody mentioned the tunnel system allowing Atlas Park to Fire Base Zulu transportation.  Null the Gull allowing insta alignment swaps.  Ouro portals, if your in the north end of Talos it’s quicker to drop a portal and zone back into Talos than to self travel to the train.  

 

There is no more time vs reward aspect.  It’s all just become reward vs reward.  Outside of gaming, if you just give money to people for nothing over and over forever they don’t do well.  There is no sense of accomplishment, no self worth, no fulfillment.  We all want to win the lottery, and when we do, our lives fall apart.  

 

Slowing down travel will slow down gameplay.  The need to rush.  AE missions already exist for those that despise travel.  I think the plethora of insta travel abilities needs to be reigned in.  

[Twisted Toon]

7 hours ago, Lost Ninja said:

Ill/Emp would be easy mode compared to Emp/* Defender though. Hell back on live I levelled a Kin/Dark Defender (for theme/story purposes) and solo she was incredibly slow/boring. Was great in a team ofc.

Easy mod would be a */Emp Mastermind.

[Lost Ninja]

1 hour ago, Mr.Sinister said:

The power creep is real and diminishes the fun for me, and I feel the longevity of the game.  

 

The issue I have is how I have a full tray of powers but generally only need to fire off a couple per spawn and everything is dead.  I play the game to be a super hero but I also play the game to USE the powers and set combinations.  When the game gets reduced to simply firing 2 aoe powers per spawn, and maybe one single target on a boss, it gets boring.  

 

I dont want to be debuffed  into the dirt by every spawn because that makes me feel unsuper.   I don’t want to feel depowered in a super hero game.  Again, I play to USE the powers, not to have them just miss or do nothing.  

 

For me it would be about simply slowing the game down a bit.  Half of the rush people have comes from being able to just teleport anywhere they want to be all the time.  The enterbasecode macro is not good for the game and should have been removed once it was discovered.  Somebody mentioned the tunnel system allowing Atlas Park to Fire Base Zulu transportation.  Null the Gull allowing insta alignment swaps.  Ouro portals, if your in the north end of Talos it’s quicker to drop a portal and zone back into Talos than to self travel to the train.  

 

There is no more time vs reward aspect.  It’s all just become reward vs reward.  Outside of gaming, if you just give money to people for nothing over and over forever they don’t do well.  There is no sense of accomplishment, no self worth, no fulfillment.  We all want to win the lottery, and when we do, our lives fall apart.  

 

Slowing down travel will slow down gameplay.  The need to rush.  AE missions already exist for those that despise travel.  I think the plethora of insta travel abilities needs to be reigned in.  

As it stands at right this minute you can build a character that plays at pre-IO levels of "Super", nothing is stopping you from doing that. You can chose to take your 1st main travel power at 14 (with a prerequisite from 6. You can use TOs until the mid 20s, DOs till the mid 30s and SOs from then on. AT 50 you can stack those SOs to 50++. You can farm and trade (directly with other players) for HOs (and similar). And you'd still be super, you'd still be able to do some of the "end game content", it might even be fun to be so far below that normal power curve, we all take fun from different things.

 

I doubt that you'd be two-shotting groups, I doubt that you'd be comfortable at +4/x8. You would certainly be able to earn all your debt badges. And if that makes you feel super go for it.

 

Change the rest of the game because you want full IO sets, you want amazing Incarnate Powers or to trade your effectively unlimited inf (maybe earned through AE farms) for the perfect set up of extremely rare (by definition) purple IO sets and to still feel that the game isn't too easy? Please don't go there.
 

 

[Brutal Justice]

1 hour ago, Lost Ninja said:

Change the rest of the game because you want full IO sets, you want amazing Incarnate Powers or to trade your effectively unlimited inf (maybe earned through AE farms) for the perfect set up of extremely rare (by definition) purple IO sets and to still feel that the game isn't too easy? Please don't go there.
 

 

Huh?  Did I say any of that?  I believe I suggested adjusting the non superpower related means of travel.  Akin to how the SG base transporter works.   

 

I played this game for 7 years.  I am back to play it for 7 more.  Instant gratification leads to short life spans.   This isn’t a retail game that has a constant influx of new players.  I am here for the long haul.  All I ever care about when I post on this forum is the longevity of the game.

 

buff buff buff, give give give, is like a form of socialism.  It’s party time for a while.  Woo life is good! 🎉. Then your society falls apart because people stop working.

[ZeeHero]

Doing away with speed running just hurts those who like to do it and would make them very angry. more people like to speed run than you think its a significant portion of the community. Just give a special reward for killing every last enemy on say, an ITF map lol.

[Apparition]

Removing the Null the Gull alignment change swaps would kill redside dead.  May as well wall off the Rogue Isles at that point.

[The_Cheeseman]

Be very careful about what you choose to incentivize in the game. If you add a reward for clearing entire maps, assuming the reward is worth the trouble, many players will see that as a requirement for optimal play. I enjoy clearing the final map in ITF, just because I like blowing up tons of easy MOBs, but I most certainly don't want to do that on, say, every council base map. Then you get into situations like the final MOB falling through the floor, or whatever, that normally nobody would notice, but now would cause huge uproar. There is a reason people tend to avoid kill-all missions--they're annoying and generally not fun.

Besides, there is already a reward for clearing the map: more exp and loot. I enjoy running clear-all LGTFs because I get a ton of inf, often a purple or two, and upwards of 2-3 vet levels over the course of it (assuming +4/x8). I don't mind the extra time it takes, because I actually enjoy the gameplay, the extra reward is just kind of a bonus.

Remember: not everyone enjoys the game for the same reasons. After a long day at work, sometimes I just want to load up my crazy-OP Dominator and go obliterate some spawns without having to think too hard. If I want a challenge, I will play a different character, one who isn't as OP and actually requires some strategy, as that can be really fun, too. I have a blaster that doesn't take any powers from the primary, just because I wanted to play with the /Martial Combat powers, instead. That toon will never be OP, it won't ever be able to solo almost every TF or GM in the game like my Dom can, but both toons are fun in different ways.

CoX is unique among MMOs in that it allows you to be as broken as you want, if you're willing to expend the resources. If you pay a ton of inf to get a bunch of purples, min-max your build to the absolute extreme, and practice playing it to the point of mastery, yeah, the game will be pretty easy for you. Time to start a new character that plays differently so you can try to get that one to maximum performance, as well.

CoX is not a game with strong vertical progression. CoX is a game about variety and experimentation. The game is pretty easy once you've mastered it, but that isn't really the point. It's like a pen-and-paper roleplaying game: sure, you can build a super-strong character that can perform ridiculous feats if you want to, but you don't have to. You can have just as much fun playing a kooky concept character, because the GM can tailor the difficulty to your character's abilities. If you're bored with your OP character and the game is too easy, play a new character. That's why you have 1,000 slots.

[Heraclea]

The thing that makes this game uniquely beautiful and relaxing is that you can team up with a group of random players and take on just about anything it can throw at you.  No equipment repair costs, no corpse walks, none of the other drama generators that mar other games, no trinity (no prima donna tanks or healers as a result), no need to watch for That Red Light or wonder What Phase is This, no boss fight choreography to learn. 

 

No failure.  You're superheroes.  (Comic books where the superheroes fail to save the world are pretentious and bad.) 

 

Nothing should ever change this.  It's what makes this game better than its competitors. 

[Lost Ninja]

4 hours ago, Mr.Sinister said:

Huh?  Did I say any of that?  I believe I suggested adjusting the non superpower related means of travel.  Akin to how the SG base transporter works.   

 

I played this game for 7 years.  I am back to play it for 7 more.  Instant gratification leads to short life spans.   This isn’t a retail game that has a constant influx of new players.  I am here for the long haul.  All I ever care about when I post on this forum is the longevity of the game.

 

buff buff buff, give give give, is like a form of socialism.  It’s party time for a while.  Woo life is good! 🎉. Then your society falls apart because people stop working.

But changing or removing fast travel options won't actually make anything harder.  Not being able to travel quickly will increase the time it takes to get somewhere but once there you'll still be OP and two-shot groups.

 

I'm not sure I agree with your socialism argument, but what you're actually asking for is to still have your expensive car, house and holidays but you can live without your electric toothbrush. You'll still be in the lap of luxury but without something completely incidental that won't in any way reduce your comfort level.

 

[MunkiLord]

14 minutes ago, The_Cheeseman said:

Be very careful about what you choose to incentivize in the game. If you add a reward for clearing entire maps, assuming the reward is worth the trouble, many players will see that as a requirement for optimal play. I enjoy clearing the final map in ITF, just because I like blowing up tons of easy MOBs, but I most certainly don't want to do that on, say, every council base map. Then you get into situations like the final MOB falling through the floor, or whatever, that normally nobody would notice, but now would cause huge uproar. There is a reason people tend to avoid kill-all missions--they're annoying and generally not fun.

Besides, there is already a reward for clearing the map: more exp and loot. I enjoy running clear-all LGTFs because I get a ton of inf, often a purple or two, and upwards of 2-3 vet levels over the course of it (assuming +4/x8). I don't mind the extra time it takes, because I actually enjoy the gameplay, the extra reward is just kind of a bonus.

Remember: not everyone enjoys the game for the same reasons. After a long day at work, sometimes I just want to load up my crazy-OP Dominator and go obliterate some spawns without having to think too hard. If I want a challenge, I will play a different character, one who isn't as OP and actually requires some strategy, as that can be really fun, too. I have a blaster that doesn't take any powers from the primary, just because I wanted to play with the /Martial Combat powers, instead. That toon will never be OP, it won't ever be able to solo almost every TF or GM in the game like my Dom can, but both toons are fun in different ways.

CoX is unique among MMOs in that it allows you to be as broken as you want, if you're willing to expend the resources. If you pay a ton of inf to get a bunch of purples, min-max your build to the absolute extreme, and practice playing it to the point of mastery, yeah, the game will be pretty easy for you. Time to start a new character that plays differently so you can try to get that one to maximum performance, as well.

CoX is not a game with strong vertical progression. CoX is a game about variety and experimentation. The game is pretty easy once you've mastered it, but that isn't really the point. It's like a pen-and-paper roleplaying game: sure, you can build a super-strong character that can perform ridiculous feats if you want to, but you don't have to. You can have just as much fun playing a kooky concept character, because the GM can tailor the difficulty to your character's abilities. If you're bored with your OP character and the game is too easy, play a new character. That's why you have 1,000 slots.

These are good points. Any such rewards would need to be carefully balanced so it encourages a variety of play and not just funnel everyone into doing a clear all every time.

 

Also, what Dom are you speaking about? I have a Dark/Stone that I LOVE and I've been thinking about making another one, just can't quite decide. I think part of the problem is Stone smashes so much that I'm worried about another secondary feeling weak in comparison.

[The_Cheeseman]

My Dom's build is here:
 

Be careful, it will spoil you for every other build. 😉

[MunkiLord]

Awesome thanks, gonna look at this tonight. Been leaning towards Mind/Martial, but /Fire is on my short list.

[ShardWarrior]

3 hours ago, Heraclea said:

The thing that makes this game uniquely beautiful and relaxing is that you can team up with a group of random players and take on just about anything it can throw at you.  No equipment repair costs, no corpse walks, none of the other drama generators that mar other games, no trinity (no prima donna tanks or healers as a result), no need to watch for That Red Light or wonder What Phase is This, no boss fight choreography to learn. 

 

No failure.  You're superheroes.  (Comic books where the superheroes fail to save the world are pretentious and bad.) 

 

Nothing should ever change this.  It's what makes this game better than its competitors. 

Cannot upvote this enough. 

[Llewellyn Blackwell]

On 9/26/2019 at 9:23 PM, Solarverse said:

Problem I am seeing, is a good amount (seems like all of them) are running their missions/Task Forces and anything else at +0. If you even increase your mission to +1, somebody always has something to say about it, especially in a Task Force. Seems a lot of level 50's have power leveled to 50, now they are back tracking to run all the Task Forces and "don't want to spend all day running it."

 

Meanwhile, people like myself use Task Forces to not only level, but obtain the Task Force Commander by time I am level 40 or less. The struggle is real. I don't think the game has changed, I think the players have.

What I think a lot of of people keep forgetting is that the vast majority of homecoming players are the most die hard of the old city of hero community. Your dealing with a community that has basically very few who dont understand how to build a toon well, They are often remaking old faves who had been fine tuned. Likewise once you have a single character to 50 your able to make sure all later characters are decked out in top IO sets for leveling.

 

The playerbase has changed because now its basically only the best of the best and most committed of players left. When we are running new power combos we never used before we usually do so alone to test out their strengths and weaknesses. Most of us are leveling up with double XP because inf while leveling is too low to matter once you have a 50. We would rather do TFs with all the extra power we can muster. Regular TF leader builds usually incorporate stealth and recall friend and have since year one.

 

Most older TFs are such time sinks asking anyone to spend one more minute in them then needed is terribly rude. People have lives outside of the game and most do not want to sit at their computer for an hour or more at a time these days. Hence the popularity of TFs like penny Yin which routinely takes a half hour for most teams.

 

[Greycat]

23 hours ago, Mansome said:

Some the wussification was needed in order to make teaming better. Quantums should never have been in the game to start with. Khelds were and still are way too weak for something to be called epic. The whole cyst thing was just flat out wrong. Causing teams to wipe repeatedly over one damn cysts. What made matters worse is that the enemies that were specific to khelds could still smell the kheldian funk on the team members even after they got kicked from the team for the cysts team wipe. You literally had to log everyone off and back on again to get rid of the smell so the enemies would stop showing up later.

 

As was repeated many times on live. Epic = "story based." Unlike the fairly open ended standard ATs, the PBs and WS (and veats, but their story is horribly done and best skipped after the extra costume slot mission at 10 or so) were tied to an origin and a degree of backstory. Yes, people played around it (and still do.) But that was what was meant by Epic, not "go in and one shot kill everything." (Which, yes, some people seemed to expect.) Honestly, having a whole set of 1-50 arcs *plus* the world changing for me (in the forms of quantums, voids and cysts, yes) was, and is, part of what I still love about the AT. (And something I think that was missed in VEATs - Arachnos should, to me, react differently to you.)

 

And Quantums and Voids were, and are, fine and frankly not a threat to other ATs for anyone to complain. Cysts meant the team had to just not bum-rush in - it should only take 1-2 experiences to teach that, after that, they were just not that hard. My Khelds would often just go deal with it themselves (or haul a DA scrapper along.)

 

I am biased. They are probably my favourite ATs in the game.

23 hours ago, ivanhedgehog said:

level as a solo empath. that should do it for ya.

Emp/Psi defender versus that ... Striga, I think, mission that's mostly Mek Men in a warehouse.... which strongly resist Psi. That was annoying.

[Williwaw]

On 10/1/2019 at 5:35 AM, Mansome said:

Khelds were and still are way too weak for something to be called epic.

 

The game uses "epic" in the original sense of "a long-form story".  They're "epic" because they have their own story arcs that can only be played as those ATs, not because they're what I like to call "internet epic" (which just means "totally awesome, dude").

[Mansome]

17 hours ago, Greycat said:

As was repeated many times on live. Epic = "story based." Unlike the fairly open ended standard ATs, the PBs and WS (and veats, but their story is horribly done and best skipped after the extra costume slot mission at 10 or so) were tied to an origin and a degree of backstory. Yes, people played around it (and still do.) But that was what was meant by Epic, not "go in and one shot kill everything." (Which, yes, some people seemed to expect.) Honestly, having a whole set of 1-50 arcs *plus* the world changing for me (in the forms of quantums, voids and cysts, yes) was, and is, part of what I still love about the AT. (And something I think that was missed in VEATs - Arachnos should, to me, react differently to you.)

 

And Quantums and Voids were, and are, fine and frankly not a threat to other ATs for anyone to complain. Cysts meant the team had to just not bum-rush in - it should only take 1-2 experiences to teach that, after that, they were just not that hard. My Khelds would often just go deal with it themselves (or haul a DA scrapper along.)

 

I am biased. They are probably my favourite ATs in the game.

Emp/Psi defender versus that ... Striga, I think, mission that's mostly Mek Men in a warehouse.... which strongly resist Psi. That was annoying.

They should have just used another word than EPIC because players are not going to think like that which is why it got brought up so much on live. I remember bringing it up on Live as well. The khelds for the most part are a just a bad parody of the Gau'old and Tok'Ra from Stargate.

[Solarverse]

On 10/1/2019 at 11:16 PM, Bentley Berkeley said:

What I think a lot of of people keep forgetting is that the vast majority of homecoming players are the most die hard of the old city of hero community. Your dealing with a community that has basically very few who dont understand how to build a toon well, They are often remaking old faves who had been fine tuned. Likewise once you have a single character to 50 your able to make sure all later characters are decked out in top IO sets for leveling.

 

The playerbase has changed because now its basically only the best of the best and most committed of players left. When we are running new power combos we never used before we usually do so alone to test out their strengths and weaknesses. Most of us are leveling up with double XP because inf while leveling is too low to matter once you have a 50. We would rather do TFs with all the extra power we can muster. Regular TF leader builds usually incorporate stealth and recall friend and have since year one.

 

Most older TFs are such time sinks asking anyone to spend one more minute in them then needed is terribly rude. People have lives outside of the game and most do not want to sit at their computer for an hour or more at a time these days. Hence the popularity of TFs like penny Yin which routinely takes a half hour for most teams.

 

I would agree, except the very same people who are doing this, are the same people complaining about how easy the game is. Seems like a catch 22.

Edited October 3, 2019 by Solarverse

[Yomo Kimyata]

So today I hopped on my dark/dark defender who I haven’t played in a while.  Low to mid 30s, not optimally slotted or IOed.  I ran two solo missions and they were more difficult than usual.  I chalked that up to WTF.  I’m not above eating dirt, but I’m not fond of it.

 

Then i realized my settings were at +4/x8.

 

Im not a godly player by any means, but I get the OPs point even more so.  When you can solo missions 4/8 on a defender in your 30s, albeit a good build, maybe we should consider more challenges.  When you add level shifted incarnates and purple sets I can’t imagine how much easier it could be.  I still don’t get how people think that going to 50, getting incarnate and fully setted, can go back via Ouroboros and meet any sort of challenge.  I love fighting Atta, but I’m never going to go back and fight him when buffed.  Let my Lore pets fight him.

 

I will take her to Vanguard at lvl 35.  Some Debuff magic will slap some sense into me.