Focused Feedback: Travel Updates: Base Teleportation, Long Range Teleporter Accolade, Special TP Powers

[cloak3.141]

Never posted here before, and not likely to ever again, but I felt I needed to add my voice.

 

First of all, to the developers:  Thank you for all you have done.  I was overjoyed at being able to play City of Heroes again.

 

The /enterbasefrompasscode command was one of my top 5 Quality of Life improvements on the new server.  So much of the old content was designed as a time-sink to keep players playing, and monthly subs coming.  There are those missions, that send you hopping around to many different zones, sometimes only to talk to one NPC before being sent to another zone.  I didn't have patience for them on live when I had a lot more free time, I certainly don't have patience for them now.  The /enterbasefrompasscode allowed me to access that content.  There is a reason why radio and paper missions were/are so popular, they don't waste a lot of the players time hopping to different zones.

 

An in-game power with some actual animations is an improvement on /enterbasefrompasscode.  However I think it benefits from a quick activation time, and short, or non-existent cooldown.  I will give you insight into my personal playstyle.  I have a family, job, and kids.  If I am lucky, after everyone is in bed, I can sacrifice 20-30 minutes of my sleep time to get in a quick solo-mission, sometimes on weekends, if I don't mind being tired the next day, I can string that out to an hour, and get in a string of missions.  My game time is very limited and valuable to me.  Wasting time jumping or flying across zones has a high cost to me.  Activating my flight key, getting to altitude, and hitting the autorun key is not playing the game.  Playing the game implies decision making, and strategy, maybe some button mashing, depending on play-styles.  Travel is not playing the game.  Don't get me wrong, travel powers can be fun, and sometimes I just leap about seeing what I want to see, but when I want to punch baddies in the face, every second counts.

 

I can work around the proposed restrictions, but I am not a fan.  From my armchair, I don't see the advantage of long cooldowns, high influence costs, or convoluted recharging systems.  I am not in the developer's seat, so I am sure there is much I am missing.  I have seen explanations of the costs of /enterbasefrompasscode, and while I hate to see it go, I can understand the need to revamp it.  I have not seen a satisfactory explanation for the added difficulty in acquiring teleport powers, nor have I seen a satisfactory explanation for a need to severely limit teleporting capabilities.

 

I would ask, that the personal portal power is a P2W power that costs nothing to acquire, has unlimited uses, activation time under 5 seconds, and recharge time under 20 seconds.  No Dayjob power would be needed, and no reason to mess with all the issues that come with Dayjob powers.

 

For a controversial opinion, I really hope this change is not for PVP reasons.  This game was not ever designed for PVP, and it was shoehorned in sloppily.  PVP in this game is a joke, and every attempt to try and improve the PVP experience seems to come at a cost to the rest of the game experience.  There are better platforms for PVP games.

 

Thank you again, for all the work you have and are doing, and by going through the trouble of beta testing, and listening to the inane mewling of all us freeloaders.

[macskull]

3 minutes ago, cloak3.141 said:

For a controversial opinion, I really hope this change is not for PVP reasons.

It isn't.

[Hew]

There are a million ways to get around, and have always been used to get around, for fast travel. Oport. Mishtp. TT. Basetp. Portal (yeah, the one thats at nearly every tram). LFG (if you dont know how to fast-travel using LFG, you might want to look at that). We can still get around, but it will just be fast travel ala pre cheatcode. 🙂

 

[Heraclea]

One minor quibble.  I was able to confirm that a new character fresh out of the tutorial was able to get the Midnighter badge in Night Ward, then safely (at least through Founder's Falls) go through the Midnight Club to Cimerora, where upon claiming the badge that sits at Marcus Valerius's feet, he was awarded Entrusted with the Secret and a Ouro portal.  This is only a little bit more convoluted than going through Echo Galaxy to Ouro directly, and your character will eventually need all of these things in any case. 

 

While in Cimerora, I did notice that I could approach the contacts Senator Decimus Aquila and Marcus Valerius.  Both of them gave their standard intro.  Neither gave me a mission; more importantly, neither gave me the 'go 'way kid' speech you usually get when you approach a higher level contact.  To his credit, Imperious has and does give that speech. 

 

Going to leave him there for a while and see what progress gets made on Cimeroran Citizen. 

 

Also, I had somehow acquired two 'Talisman of the Initiate' enhancements that I noticed at the end of this process.  Is this what gets handed out in Outbreak instead of the training enhancements?

 

 

Edited October 27, 2020 by Heraclea

[AboveTheChemist]

7 minutes ago, Heraclea said:

Also, I had somehow acquired two 'Talisman of the Initiate' enhancements that I noticed at the end of this process.  Is this what gets handed out in Outbreak instead of the training enhancements?

Yep, it is mentioned on the feedback page for enhancements, third bullet from the bottom under 'Acquiring Enhancements'.

[QuiJon]

2 hours ago, macskull said:

I think you hit the nail on the head here. It's an opportunity cost thing. Either you log out by a base portal (which refills charges of both day job powers, by the way) to keep charges on the P2W version or you spend the inf to get the P2W versions. You can also do both, and cycle them as they're available. I think the only time this turns into a drag is if you're soloing, but even then you can do Ouro -> Talos or IP -> SG base and it only takes a couple more loading screens. On a team, players can cycle through the powers they have available, especially since the portals don't despawn when the owner leaves the zone.

You say "it only takes a couple more loading screens" like that is no big deal which to some like maybe you and I it might not be. But i do have several super group members that can crash easily a few times a night at loading screens. I am sure for those people adding in 1-2 loads per travel to keep up with the group is a lot bigger deal. Adding these tactics to what should be as simple of a travel as possible just makes possibly already crashing 1-2 times into something that might be 3-4 to get to a mission door and into a mission. 

[macskull]

3 minutes ago, QuiJon said:

You say "it only takes a couple more loading screens" like that is no big deal which to some like maybe you and I it might not be. But i do have several super group members that can crash easily a few times a night at loading screens. I am sure for those people adding in 1-2 loads per travel to keep up with the group is a lot bigger deal. Adding these tactics to what should be as simple of a travel as possible just makes possibly already crashing 1-2 times into something that might be 3-4 to get to a mission door and into a mission. 

Sounds like they should enable crash logging and submit crash reports then.

[QuiJon]

1 hour ago, Hew said:

There are a million ways to get around, and have always been used to get around, for fast travel. Oport. Mishtp. TT. Basetp. Portal (yeah, the one thats at nearly every tram). LFG (if you dont know how to fast-travel using LFG, you might want to look at that). We can still get around, but it will just be fast travel ala pre cheatcode. 🙂

 

LFG is only available as a solo player. If you are on a team it wont work.

[JAMMan0000]

I have used the Badge Grant commands below and received both badges, but am still not getting awarded the Rapid Response Portal. I tried logging out and back in, but still no Rapid Repsonse Portal in my Day Job power listing. The original Base Teleporter is there, but no RRP.  Is there some other requirement?

/badgegrant Dj_Monitor_Duty
/badgegrant Dj_Rapid_Response_Member

Edited October 27, 2020 by JAMMan0000

[QuiJon]

2 minutes ago, macskull said:

Sounds like they should enable crash logging and submit crash reports then.

Most of the time these are people that have been playing since the game came back. They are playing on old computers with little to no current support or live in areas that just get crappy internet service. But the point remains adding extra loading to these people is essentially a punishment as a solution to a non-problem for everyone else. I have seen some people that say "oh well i can live with it" i have seen no one yet post "good i want to waste a ton of time traveling and jogging through multiple load screens to get to where i wanted to go." 

 

I see no reason to defend this convoluted hodgepodge of a fix rather then just allowing players to keep an easy option for travel they had been allowed to grow accustom to without the exploits attached. If a minor subset of players dont like having base transport be easy, guess what, they dont have to use it right? Isnt that always the argument for everything else? If you dont like farming then dont farm. If you dont want to play the market then dont do it. If you dont want to badge then dont. If you want or dont want double xp take your pick. But now suddenly its dont fast travel to base unless you badge, unless you maintain the charges on the badges. No fast travel unless you endlessly spend time gathering explorer badges on multiple characters  etc. 

[macskull]

1 minute ago, JAMMan0000 said:

I have used the Badge Grant commands below and received both badges, but am still not getting awarded the Rapid Response Portal. I tried logging out and back in, but still no Rapid Repsonse Portal in my Day Job power listing. The original Base Teleporter is there, but no RRP.  Is there some other requirement?

/badgegrant Dj_Monitor_Duty
/badgegrant Dj_Rapid_Response_Member

You need Patroller as well.

1 minute ago, QuiJon said:

Most of the time these are people that have been playing since the game came back. They are playing on old computers with little to no current support or live in areas that just get crappy internet service. But the point remains adding extra loading to these people is essentially a punishment as a solution to a non-problem for everyone else. I have seen some people that say "oh well i can live with it" i have seen no one yet post "good i want to waste a ton of time traveling and jogging through multiple load screens to get to where i wanted to go." 

 

I see no reason to defend this convoluted hodgepodge of a fix rather then just allowing players to keep an easy option for travel they had been allowed to grow accustom to without the exploits attached. If a minor subset of players dont like having base transport be easy, guess what, they dont have to use it right? Isnt that always the argument for everything else? If you dont like farming then dont farm. If you dont want to play the market then dont do it. If you dont want to badge then dont. If you want or dont want double xp take your pick. But now suddenly its dont fast travel to base unless you badge, unless you maintain the charges on the badges. No fast travel unless you endlessly spend time gathering explorer badges on multiple characters  etc. 

There are many powers a player can use to essentially bypass travel time that already exist and they are being improved and new ones are being added. You're making a big deal out of something that isn't. I have been testing this for a while now, and with the options available it's very rare that I was waiting on a power to be recharged - and even in those cases there are usually shortcuts. Besides, this isn't the final version of these changes and there are improvements already being worked on.

 

If you want your feedback to be taken seriously, you need to come up with something more constructive than "change it back to how it was" because it's obvious that option is off the table.

[Bionic_Flea]

I agree with Mac.  I was initially apprehensive of the "fix" even though I know enterfrompasscode would eventually go away.  I think there are more and better options to get around the city quickly now than there was before this update.  The one thing that is slower is that the  enterfrompasscode cheat had no animation.  But that was part of what made it a cheat.

I can buy tps, earn them via badges, or both!  My old characters are logging in and getting Long Range Teleport granted on login.  Only my badger has all the location but most of them have at least a few locations as I generally go for zone explore accolades while I'm getting my other accolades.

[Blackbird71]

41 minutes ago, macskull said:

Sounds like they should enable crash logging and submit crash reports then.

Submitting an average of 1-2 crash reports per week for over a year has not reduced the number of times I crash.

 

23 minutes ago, macskull said:

There are many powers a player can use to essentially bypass travel time that already exist and they are being improved and new ones are being added. You're making a big deal out of something that isn't. I have been testing this for a while now, and with the options available it's very rare that I was waiting on a power to be recharged - and even in those cases there are usually shortcuts.

But how many powers does it now take to do this?  That's the point - you now have to rely on several powers (and take up several slots on your trays) to ensure having something ready.  This is a convoluted mess that could be greatly simplified.

 

25 minutes ago, macskull said:

Besides, this isn't the final version of these changes and there are improvements already being worked on.

Which is why we're providing feedback, to help drive those improvements.

 

25 minutes ago, macskull said:

If you want your feedback to be taken seriously, you need to come up with something more constructive than "change it back to how it was" because it's obvious that option is off the table.

And  you need to stop reducing everything that anyone says against these changes to "change it back how it was."  That's not what we're asking for; we're just asking for something simpler and better than having to rely on multiple powers to do what used to be handled by one command.

[macskull]

15 minutes ago, Bionic_Flea said:

I agree with Mac.  I was initially apprehensive of the "fix" even though I know enterfrompasscode would eventually go away.  I think there are more and better options to get around the city quickly now than there was before this update.  The one thing that is slower is that the  enterfrompasscode cheat had no animation.  But that was part of what made it a cheat.

I can buy tps, earn them via badges, or both!  My old characters are logging in and getting Long Range Teleport granted on login.  Only my badger has all the location but most of them have at least a few locations as I generally go for zone explore accolades while I'm getting my other accolades.

Yeah, I was dreading the day the command went away, but the sum of these changes so far makes it tolerable. It's definitely not going to be as convenient, but I don't think it's A Big Deal.

[JAMMan0000]

For consideration: Bellow is an example of a single key (F12) rotating bind that will;

1. Use the enterbasefrompasscode command to use a local portal if available, and if not available

2. Cycle through the various Base teleport powers, using the first one available to create a portal and then use the enterbasefrompasscode command

 

So basically, you press F12 and if you are near an existing portal you immediately go your base. If you are not near a portal, pressing F12 creates one, and pressing F12 again takes you to your base. Also, if you are teaming and one person creates a portal, you can just press F12 to use that persons portal rather than using your power/charges to create another one. 

 

Not as quite as nice as the prior unlimited enterbasefrompasscode, but it helps reduce tray icon clutter and conserve Day Job portal charges by using/sharing any existing 'free' portals and P2W portals if available.

 

Note: You will need to change the example below  for bind key (F12), sg passcode (HEAVEN-95), and CoH bind folder path to match your setup.

 

Example:

BaseTP Bind:
/bind F12 "powexecname Base Transporter$$enterbasefrompasscode HEAVEN-95$$bindloadfilesilent "c:\games\City of Heroes\binds\BaseTP2.txt""

 

BaseTP Bind Files:

BaseTP1.txt:
F12 "powexecname Base Transporter$$enterbasefrompasscode HEAVEN-95$$bindloadfilesilent "c:\games\City of Heroes\binds\BaseTP2.txt""
BaseTP2.txt:
F12 "powexeclocation me Supergroup Portal$$enterbasefrompasscode HEAVEN-95$$bindloadfilesilent "c:\games\City of Heroes\binds\BaseTP3.txt""
BaseTP3.txt:
F12 "powexecname Base Teleporter$$enterbasefrompasscode HEAVEN-95$$bindloadfilesilent "c:\games\City of Heroes\binds\BaseTP4.txt""
BaseTP4.txt:
F12 "powexeclocation me Rapid Response Portal$$enterbasefrompasscode HEAVEN-95$$bindloadfilesilent "c:\games\City of Heroes\binds\BaseTP1.txt""
 

[Hew]

2 hours ago, QuiJon said:

LFG is only available as a solo player. If you are on a team it wont work.

Does it have to? LFG is unquestionably the fastest way to get to point-of-start for task forces. It is also the fastest way to get to a wide variety of areas for general purpose needs. It also has no real limit. The use of LFG to launch a team is something I have never actually seen done, and have done it myself only once (to move the whole team from PI to cim for ITF), so I don't see how the comment is relevant?

[CFIndustries]

I tried reading entirely through this but my eyes and brain started to hurt. Overlapping options, expensive P2W stuff, long recharges…can someone just clarify:

 

Is there ONE power, that is free (or nearly so…I don't marketeer or farm at a level where 10m is remotely "affordable"), that has a sub 5m cooldown, that replaces the current base-slash-command-we-shouldn't-have?

 

Okay maybe TWO powers...use one while the other is cooling down.

 

SYNOPSIS. My brain needs *easy*.

 

Otherwise, this all loosely translates to "welp, buck up and use the oldschool transit options unless you happen to be near a base portal."

 

I mean that sucks, but whatever…just give me the Cliff Notes version. I tend to like options, but this change needs an Excel spreadsheet and detailed instructions…

[Blackfeather]

17 minutes ago, CFIndustries said:

I tried reading entirely through this but my eyes and brain started to hurt. Overlapping options, expensive P2W stuff, long recharges…can someone just clarify:

 

Is there ONE power, that is free (or nearly so…I don't marketeer or farm at a level where 10m is remotely "affordable"), that has a sub 5m cooldown, that replaces the current base-slash-command-we-shouldn't-have?

 

Okay maybe TWO powers...use one while the other is cooling down.

 

SYNOPSIS. My brain needs *easy*.

 

Otherwise, this all loosely translates to "welp, buck up and use the oldschool transit options unless you happen to be near a base portal."

 

I mean that sucks, but whatever…just give me the Cliff Notes version. I tend to like options, but this change needs an Excel spreadsheet and detailed instructions…

Quote

•  Base Teleporter (Day Job Power)
  • This power no longer requires the Rapid Response Member Accolade to earn, and has replaced the Monitor Duty (prestige boost) day job power
  • Recharge time reduced from 600s to 30s
    • This would be 0s, but we wanted to prevent accidental double usage as this power has limited charges
  • Activation time reduced from 15s to 10s

•  Rapid Response Portal (New Day Job Power)
  • A new day job power which replaces the Base Teleporter Power
  • Summons a base portal on the ground that lasts for 90 seconds (even after you leave the zone)
  • 90 second cooldown
  • Cannot be used in Ouroboros, Tutorial or PvP Zones
  • Summoning a base portal will remove other summoned portals within a 15ft radius (to avoid blocking contacts, doors, etc)

These ones will probably be the closest to that, with their lower cooldowns.

[Mr. Vee]

Here's hoping jamman0000 reposts that in guides if this stuff goes live as is since we'll never be able to find it again in here 😄 

[CFIndustries]

5 minutes ago, Blackfeather said:

These ones will probably be the closest to that, with their lower cooldowns.

Even one of those would do it, yes. THANKS @Blackfeather.

 

Since I don't usually go looking for the Day Job powers (I just park where it's handy), how are these two earned? Is it still 10 days worth of logged out (so more practically probably 12–15 calendar days depending on your daily game time)? So basically unavailable to new alts?

 

Are the day jobs the ones that rely on "charges"? If so, how many charges would build up over the course of 20–24 hours logged out in the proper location? Would it be the max of 30 charges?

 

Depending on the circumstances I've been known to use the base macro now a dozen or more times in a 2–4 hour session either solo or farming (it's just convenient to go to the base for most transportation needs, bop into base for recipe pieces, bop out to use auction house, bop back in because I forgot something…).

 

 

[Blackfeather]

Just now, CFIndustries said:

Even one of those would do it, yes. THANKS @Blackfeather.

 

Since I don't usually go looking for the Day Job powers (I just park where it's handy), how are these two earned? Is it still 10 days worth of logged out (so more practically probably 12–15 calendar days depending on your daily game time)? So basically unavailable to new alts?

 

Are the day jobs the ones that rely on "charges"? If so, how many charges would build up over the course of 20–24 hours logged out in the proper location? Would it be the max of 30 charges?

 

Depending on the circumstances I've been known to use the base macro now a dozen or more times in a 2–4 hour session either solo or farming (it's just convenient to go to the base for most transportation needs, bop into base for recipe pieces, bop out to use auction house, bop back in because I forgot something…).

These day jobs'll be earned via logging out inside a supergroup, or near a supergroup portal - I believe Jimmy did mention that looking at Day Jobs would be on the radar, but not in this page.

 

With the numbers there, given 24 hours logged out near a supergroup portal, you could get about 8 charges of supergroup teleportation (4 for each day job power, as said here). I do believe the maximum was indeed mentioned to be 30 charges.

 

Hope this helps!

[CFIndustries]

17 minutes ago, Blackfeather said:

Hope this helps!

@Blackfeather It does, thank you. But it's unfortunate. It still means using the power(s) very sparingly and generally if I have to concentrate too much on how stingy I have to be before using an optional power, I just don't bother. If it's not reliable, I don't want to count on it. If I have to try earning a bunch of different powers to make it work, it's too complicated. If I have to exit a mission and spend time deciding if I should use a teleport power (or which one!) or run to the transit…I just stop looking and run to the transit.

 

That's just me and likely NOT the majority of players as I see it on Homecoming. Also unfortunate.

 

It was a fun run, we were told not to rely on the slash command. Point taken; I'm not allowed to consider this a nerf. I was just hoping for…something closer to the convenience of the dev command, that's all.

 

I've played this game since i3 and will survive going back to transit/tunnel/ferry/Ouro/fixed SG Portals. Maybe I'll luck out and tailgate through someone else's dropped portal now and again as an added side effect. 😉

[CrudeVileTerror]

OH GEEZ!  I forgot to ask  . . .

What's happening to the Brain Storm Day Job, then?  Where is that getting moved to?

[Vanden]

3 minutes ago, CrudeVileTerror said:

OH GEEZ!  I forgot to ask  . . .

What's happening to the Brain Storm Day Job, then?  Where is that getting moved to?

It's being moved back to the same place it was before i25

[Coyotedancer]

24 minutes ago, CrudeVileTerror said:

OH GEEZ!  I forgot to ask  . . .

What's happening to the Brain Storm Day Job, then?  Where is that getting moved to?

'Getting dropped completely as far as I know...