[Focused Feedback] Paladin Event

[Faultline]

Brainstorm Only

 

Paladin Event

• Reverted the Paladin Event to the pre-Issue 24 version; you have to prevent the Paladin from being built by defeating waves of Clockwork.
  • The event runs the same as it did on Issue 23, with the only change being that the Clockwork ambush mobs are level-less in order to reward XP and drops.
  • This may or may not make it to Live based on player feedback.

 

The current version of the event is pretty buggy and requires Kings Row to be set to a very low player cap on the live servers in order to work around its issues by allowing players to open multiple instances of Kings Row to run the event in before it glitches. It is also not particularly great, as it requires players to hunt down bosses spread all over Hide Park before defeating Paladin, which rewards the badge.

 

The old version of the event does not get stuck and will allow the player cap in Kings Row to be set to normal, but it is a random timed spawn with no way for the players to trigger it; you just have to watch for it. Once it does trigger, it consists of many waves of clockwork that must be defeated while preventing the Paladin from being built. After all the waves are defeated, destroying the Paladin construction site rewards the badge. If the Paladin is built, it will not reward the badge even if defeated.

 

Revamping this event has been on my to-do list for a long while, but it is unlikely anything will be ready before Page 4. This thread and poll is to discuss which version of the event do players prefer to keep until then.

[GraspingVileTerror]

THANKYOU!

THANKYOU!

THANKYOU!

THANKYOU!

THANKYOU!

 

Even if it does't get kept for the long term, I have absolutely been missing this old event ever since joining Homecoming.  The new one . . . it just . . . eugh.  The "beacons" were just immobile Princes, the Shining Stars are blah, and while it was nice to see the north-end of Kings Row get used, I much prefer Zone Events that can happen in multiple places AND multiple times!

 

Of course . . . I may just be looking at things through rose-tinted glasses.  I'll try to pop on to Beta a few times over the weekend and see if I can catch a Construction Site.  Maybe I'll try it and realize my nostalgia is wrong-headed.

 

Maybe, hopefully, in some distant (or near) futurescape . . . we can have an entirely NEW Paladin Event which combines the best of both!

[dnomad333]

I'm in agreement with all of Grasping's points.

 

Thank you for this. 

 

Currently running around in Beta to see if I can't catch this event :D

 

I also look forward to a new revamp, but until that happens, this will do.

[starro]

Be mean to us and alternate. 
 

Call one the Paladin and the other the Earl or some other royal title. 

Edited May 29, 2021 by duane

[Wavicle]

If this goes well, maybe look into making ALL zone event mobs level-less. The Praetorian zones, Brickstown, etc, etc.

[Burk]

1 hour ago, Wavicle said:

If this goes well, maybe look into making ALL zone event mobs level-less. The Praetorian zones, Brickstown, etc, etc.

 

Not sure what you mean, the Praetorian, Brickstown, and St. Martial zone events are already level-less.

[Wavicle]

1 hour ago, Burk said:

 

Not sure what you mean, the Praetorian, Brickstown, and St. Martial zone events are already level-less.

I must be getting something else confused...hm...

[Aberrant]

All that time spent writing the page on the wiki wasted 😔

 

Seriously though, good idea and for the best. Definitely better for there to be a working event for the time being than a fundamentally busted one.

[Bionic_Flea]

If you are going to be revamping it to some better thing in the future, I say keep it as is until you change it. 

 

If I had to choose between the two events, I choose the old one.

 

Suggestion:  Give wild Babbage, the one in Boomtown, not the Synapse TF one, the power to summon Paladin instead of those little clocks.  If you can't have just the wild one do it, make it both of them!  Any TF team that can solo Babbage could do both, and many teams already ask for help.

[SuperPlyx]

While I don't do this event very often, and honestly can't really remember the old way of doing it. But I like fighting the Paladin, I wanna fight the Paladin. 

Can we have old event plus have random Paladin spawns like the other GMs that random spawn? 

[PeregrineFalcon]

Now that's the way to do a focused feedback thread.

 

Thank you for all of your hard work, Faultline.

[Shocktacular]

Thank you for this!  I've been waiting and waiting on my badger to get that badge.  No dice with the new system.  If this goes to the main servers, I'll at least have a chance...

[AboveTheChemist]

I grabbed the Issue 23 version of the VidiotMap for Kings Row, showing the Paladin construction sites, and added it as a temporary reference to the Paladin Construction wiki page here:

 

https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Paladin_Construction

 

I've uploaded the same map in the spoiler box below if anyone needs it for reference. If the event is reverted to the old version (which, given the poll responses, looks likely), I'll publish an updated vidiotmap for King's Row showing the changes.

 

Spoiler

This map dates to Issue 23 and may have some errors. It is intended for reference to show the Paladin Construction sites, which I have circled in red for emphasis.

 

[ForeverLaxx]

I've always preferred the previous version and it made more sense to me as a player in a hero game to take preventative action against the Paladin rather than letting the Clockwork do whatever they want out in the open and deal with the fallout later.

 

Count me for "revert to old version". It being "random" fits with most, if not all, of the other giant monster/events in the game also (though I am aware that even those random triggers tend to fall in a wide time window rather than just whenever).

[GraspingVileTerror]

Sooooooo . . . yup.

These lenses were kind of pink.

 

Just did the event with someone, and I -totally- forgot that it's a matter of blocking construction for 20 minutes, rather than dismantling the Construction Site.

Given how quickly the other Giant Monster encounters are these days, it started to wear on and feel tedious.

A 10 minute (or dare to dream, 5 minute) timer may feel better.  Especially for no Merits.

 

HOWEVER.

It was still more exciting and interesting than the version of the event on the Release realm right now.

So, despite this event not being the best it could be in either scenario, I'll keep my vote for the original Construction version, rather than Shining Star Redux version.

 

Also . . . 

NPC CHAT FLOOD!  OH MY GOODNESS!

[GraspingVileTerror]

@AboveTheChemist; should this reversion hit Release, don't forget to flag the High Park area as the completed Paladin gathering site.

[Monos King]

Hold on a second. What about the Knight Errant temporary power? Will we still be able to get that from this?

[Derek Icelord]

Just to be that guy...

 

What about keeping Knight Errant/Black Knight as the badge for defeating Paladin and adding a 2nd badge for preventing the construction? Wrecking Crew or something?

 

And yeah, the timer needs to be lowered from 20 minutes.

[Wavicle]

I definitely like the idea of a badge for each outcome.

[Faultline]

I can reduce the TimeToHeroSuccess to 10 minutes, but that's pretty much it for tweaks - the event runs on the original COH scripthook+spawndefs system which is not very pleasant to work with, and I don't want to waste a lot of time on it. When the event is properly redone it will be using a different scripting system that we have been expanding recently, but that won't be patched to Live until Page 3 for use in the [redacted], and it's unlikely the Paladin event will be looked at before Page 4.

[Glacier Peak]

Dropping redacts everywhere lately, I'm excited 😁 

[GraspingVileTerror]

The Team may also want to poll more than just the Beta crowd.  It may be worthwhile to see what the regular players think of this by calling attention to it with an in-game Message of the Day, or Admin channel announcement during peak hours.

[TraumaTrain]

Hells yes! I really liked the old Paladin event. And I liked seeing Paladins walking around that no one stopped in their build.

[TheZag]

I tried to find this event so many times back in the day.  Never once found it back then.  Plenty of paladins rampaging around the zone though.

 

Event notifications are better now so i imagine ill be online eventually for it.  However, once the novelty of the 'new' event wears off, i think it will be a mostly solo event afterwards.

 

I run a giant monster hunt occasionally and if we get to 15+ league members before seed of hamidon,  we make a detour to KR2 for a paladin battle.  That obviously cant occur if reverted to the old version but overall is a minor inconvenience while looking forward to the new event.

 

 

[Arbegla]

On thing I'd like to see is a badge for downing the already built Paladin, and another for stopping the construction. The idea behind this, is to encourage people to actually kill the Paladin if you fail to stop the construction, (and thus not leave a random Giant Monster in Kings Row with all of the lowbies there..) and to give a chance to get the Knight Errant temp power. Give the temp power to stopping the construction, and give another badge for it (maybe the current badge that is tied to saving the Shining Stars?)

 

It seems like a best of both worlds compromise.