Page 4 experiences so far...

[Crysis]

13 minutes ago, Trike said:

 

The aggro thing though… hoo-doggies, that definitely changed things for me. My Controller could not initiate any fights without serious risk of being immediately taken out, especially on teams. Even then he was at high risk because everyone else on my team had the two sonic shields to mitigate damage. So yeah, folks were really getting a chance to use their rez powers last night. 😆

 

I switched to a lowbie Blaster for a while just to see how the aggro would fare there and it was a lot of edge-of-my-seat nailbitiing in the lower levels — which I’m not complaining about, but it was kind of sweaty after awhile, so I then switched to taking screenshots to chill out. Stalkers are my least favorite, so if it’s that bad for high-damage Blasters, I’m not sure I’ll be interested in taking them out much.

I did a 2-Star/Rugged ITF last night on my dual build Widow.  She’s very tough in normal PVE stuff inclusive of all the iTrials.  Solo’s LAM objectives, DA incarnate level missions etc.

 

I got my a$$ handed to me multiple times last night.  Most of the team died repeatedly and had at least one or two total wipes.

 

Mad respect for the advanced difficulty sliders. I really enjoyed the challenge.  The whole “body thief” mechanic really pushes a new level of cooperation amongst team members.  It’s the only time outside of AV battles where I’ve seen the full team shift immediately to save a fellow player.  This was with a PUG which made it even more exciting.  The rewards earned me several hundred million as well (I’m not into costumes).

[High_Beam]

2 hours ago, Marine X said:

Microsoft stopped support for the 3D Sound that the game used after Windows XP, when 3D Sound stopped working was when I began having trouble locating Glowies, and that was quite a while before shutdown. I actually had a 2G Video Card, an Aegia PhysX Co-Processor and a Yamaha 3D Sound Card and had no clue upgrading to Windows 7 was going to kill the Sound, oops. ( That was late 2009, early 2010 ), they had already ended support with Vista.

I am at a loss here with regards to this, what am I missing/doing differently here.  I have a Windows 7 machine with onboard sound using an ASUS Motherboard.  No problem hearing glowies or any sound for that matter, directional, intensity changing depending on near or far.  Glowie hunts are in fact the only time I turn on the sound to my game because my spouse is in the same room watching effing wives with knives shows on A&E and doesn't like the sound of my demons growling.

[Marine X]

The glowies make sound when you are near them, so you can locate them, but back in the day, with stereo speakers or head phones you could tell exactly which direction they were in, as the sound would pan between the 2 channels allowing you to follow the sound, this is no longer available unless you are on a Windows XP machine. Could be that ASUS, independently of Microsoft, is enabling the effect, which is good for you, I have a Midband Gaming tower and this no longer works on mine.

Edited August 25, 2022 by Marine X

[PorkTips]

2 hours ago, Crysis said:

 

But if you are truly AFK farming....what difference does a few minutes clear time make? 

 

If you are ACTIVE farming, I'm using my pre-patch build on an auto-timeout fire farm in AE and I can active farm clear it in the 5 minutes allotted before the mission resets. If I'm AFK farming, it's -always- taken longer than Active farming.  Might just be the maps I use.  But I'm not really getting overwhelmed at all.  I do tend to start farming right inside the entrance but I've always done that as I'm typically using my phone and ShadowPC to AFK farm while going about my normal business day.  Worked before, still working now.

 

The increased time is mostly due to increased interaction .... moving from one edge to another every so often. So it interferes with being able to be AFK the entire time. Of course, increased time is bad enough .... AFK farming isnt fast, but making it slower isnt a non-issue.

 

All good though, I managed to get a good afk solution thats roughly where I was at, certainly in terms of convenience.

Edited August 25, 2022 by PorkTips
typo

[PLVRIZR]

51 minutes ago, Crysis said:

I did a 2-Star/Rugged ITF last night on my dual build Widow.  She’s very tough in normal PVE stuff inclusive of all the iTrials.  Solo’s LAM objectives, DA incarnate level missions etc.

 

I got my a$$ handed to me multiple times last night.  Most of the team died repeatedly and had at least one or two total wipes.

 

Mad respect for the advanced difficulty sliders. I really enjoyed the challenge.  The whole “body thief” mechanic really pushes a new level of cooperation amongst team members.  It’s the only time outside of AV battles where I’ve seen the full team shift immediately to save a fellow player.  This was with a PUG which made it even more exciting.  The rewards earned me several hundred million as well (I’m not into costumes).

^---this

Tried to get on one last night, as well, but was taking so long, so I started a PUG at 1-star.  Drove my (previously) unkillable Inv/SS tank and wound up with the rest of the team consisting of two Scrappers, two Stalkers, a Blaster, a Storm Corruptor and a Sonic Defender.  Good news is we had @Voltak driving the Defender, the bad news is he had mapserver issues and missed the last two missions.  Without his buffs, we couldn't defeat Romulus, in the finale.  We did kill the twin AVs and twin GMs (the new boss challenge is awesome), however.

 

The devs did a great job and "forcing" teamwork as teamwork is essential.

[Crysis]

25 minutes ago, PLVRIZR said:

^---this

Tried to get on one last night, as well, but was taking so long, so I started a PUG at 1-star.  Drove my (previously) unkillable Inv/SS tank and wound up with the rest of the team consisting of two Scrappers, two Stalkers, a Blaster, a Storm Corruptor and a Sonic Defender.  Good news is we had @Voltak driving the Defender, the bad news is he had mapserver issues and missed the last two missions.  Without his buffs, we couldn't defeat Romulus, in the finale.  We did kill the twin AVs and twin GMs (the new boss challenge is awesome), however.

 

The devs did a great job and "forcing" teamwork as teamwork is essential.

 

New Rommie is no joke.  That whole ending turned ITF (always one of my faves) into an -entirely- different game now.  I can see myself repeating that often.  I'm sure it will go faster over time.  But who wants the old and busted Rommie relative to the new improved bad-assed versions?

 

Loved the two GM's, but admit we cheesed that a bit by pulling them up the mountain to keep the riff raff adds from constantly ganking us.

[Black Zot]

1 hour ago, Crysis said:

 

New Rommie is no joke.  That whole ending turned ITF (always one of my faves) into an -entirely- different game now.  I can see myself repeating that often.  I'm sure it will go faster over time.  But who wants the old and busted Rommie relative to the new improved bad-assed versions?

 

Loved the two GM's, but admit we cheesed that a bit by pulling them up the mountain to keep the riff raff adds from constantly ganking us.

 

Frankly I care a lot less about which version of Romulus I fight than I care about STOP RUNNING LIKE A LITTLE BITCH YOU SPARTACUS WANNABE!

[Luminara]

3 hours ago, ZemX said:

 

Weird to see people spending $1000 or more on video cards and remember that PC audio hardware companies went out of business because nobody (except you and me, it looks like) were willing to buy actual sound cards instead of settling for the crappy onboard shit.

 

You can point the finger squarely at Creative Labs.  Their approach to dealing with competition was to bankrupt competitors with legal fees by filing false patent violation suits in rapid succession, buy out the companies they ruined and bury their technology.  The only choice anyone was left with was to use onboard chips or put money into the pockets of greedy, corrupt, dishonest shit-bags peddling an over-priced inferior product.

 

That was what caused the audio chip segment to collapse.  Aureal's Vortex was the most innovative audio chip ever created, and because CL was incapable of competing honestly, it's gone.

 

No, I'm not still angry, I'm just bitter and vengeful.

[Herotu]

48 minutes ago, Luminara said:

I'm just bitter and vengeful.

Vengeful?! WTF?!

[Lines]

Just now, Herotu said:

Vengeful?! WTF?!

 

At night, before they sleep, Lumi whispers a list of all the electronics companies that have wronged them, upon whom they shall exact vengeance.

 

[Bill Z Bubba]

3 hours ago, PorkTips said:

AFK farming isnt fast, but making it slower isnt a non-issue.

 

Yes, it is.

 

And I say that as a farmer. Even being ABLE to afk farm is disgusting on many levels to me but I have always been and always will be an active farmer.

[ZemX]

On 8/24/2022 at 12:27 PM, Number Six said:

Is there anyone at all who has ever set it above 15?

 

WHAAAT?!

 

 

Not a joke actually.  Windows volume is at 20% when I play CoH though so it's not blasting my ears at all.  

[ZemX]

4 hours ago, Marine X said:

The glowies make sound when you are near them, so you can locate them, but back in the day, with stereo speakers or head phones you could tell exactly which direction they were in, as the sound would pan between the 2 channels allowing you to follow the sound, this is no longer available unless you are on a Windows XP machine.

 

I have this problem when I am set to multiple speakers in Windows settings and/or if I am using a surround processing (HRTF) in the sound driver.   Then every sound is like it's happening inside my head.  Very annoying.  I created a profile to use 2-speaker setting and disable surround processing.  Now at least I get left/right panning.  Can't tell if a sound is in front of me or behind, but it's better than nothing.

[Zhym]

5 hours ago, Crysis said:

I did a 2-Star/Rugged ITF last night on my dual build Widow.  She’s very tough in normal PVE stuff inclusive of all the iTrials.  Solo’s LAM objectives, DA incarnate level missions etc.

 

I got my a$$ handed to me multiple times last night.  Most of the team died repeatedly and had at least one or two total wipes.

 

Mad respect for the advanced difficulty sliders. I really enjoyed the challenge.  The whole “body thief” mechanic really pushes a new level of cooperation amongst team members.  It’s the only time outside of AV battles where I’ve seen the full team shift immediately to save a fellow player.  This was with a PUG which made it even more exciting.  The rewards earned me several hundred million as well (I’m not into costumes).

I will say that the new ITF challenges bring a new level of excitement to PUGs.  "Excitement"...yeah, that's one word for it, anyway.

[Jacke]

20 hours ago, Luminara said:

Laptop master volume is generally at 20-24 (unless it's raining.  no insulation or ceiling between my ears and the roof (roof is thin corrugated steel over 1/2" OSB), and rain sounds like someone shooting cymbals with an assault rifle on full auto.  have to increase the volume to 66-75 to hear over the rain).  I'm not hearing impaired, the Realtek chip and speakers in this thing just aren't very good.

 

On my gaming laptop from ~2012, all 3 sound settings are only ever at 1, 2, or 3.  Only ever get higher, to maybe 5, when I'm glowie hunting (and that's with a replacement glowie sound).

[Dusty Longshot]

6 hours ago, ZemX said:

 

WHAAAT?!

 

 

Not a joke actually.  Windows volume is at 20% when I play CoH though so it's not blasting my ears at all.  

 

100%?! with Windows volume at 20%? and not getting deafened?

How you do that?

 

My Sound FX is set at 20%. Music and Voiceover at 15%. Windows volume at 32 and game volume at 16. Still getting occasional deafening moments.

[Cinnder]

6 hours ago, ZemX said:

 

WHAAAT?!

 

 

Not a joke actually.  Windows volume is at 20% when I play CoH though so it's not blasting my ears at all.  

 

Yeah, 60% 60% 80% here.

 

Please don't nerf the sound any more than you already have.

[ZemX]

6 hours ago, Retrobytz said:

100%?! with Windows volume at 20%? and not getting deafened?

How you do that?

 

These sliders don't correspond to decibel levels.  Depends entirely on your sound system.

[Coyotedancer]

19 hours ago, ZemX said:

 

Weird to see people spending $1000 or more on video cards and remember that PC audio hardware companies went out of business because nobody (except you and me, it looks like) were willing to buy actual sound cards instead of settling for the crappy onboard shit.

 

There are at least three of us who still have dedicated sound cards. (Sound Blaster for-eva, yo. 😆 I like my Z, even if Creative are asshats. )

 

It would be really nice to have the directional sound back... I do miss it... But if it's not to be, it's not to be. 

 

 

 

Edited August 26, 2022 by Coyotedancer

[Seed22]

18 hours ago, Crysis said:

I did a 2-Star/Rugged ITF last night on my dual build Widow.  She’s very tough in normal PVE stuff inclusive of all the iTrials.  Solo’s LAM objectives, DA incarnate level missions etc.

 

I got my a$$ handed to me multiple times last night.  Most of the team died repeatedly and had at least one or two total wipes.

 

Mad respect for the advanced difficulty sliders. I really enjoyed the challenge.  The whole “body thief” mechanic really pushes a new level of cooperation amongst team members.  It’s the only time outside of AV battles where I’ve seen the full team shift immediately to save a fellow player.  This was with a PUG which made it even more exciting.  The rewards earned me several hundred million as well (I’m not into costumes).

Can I ask what was your team makeup? I did HM2 on my Symph/Therm and funny enough, we had a PB as main tank. 
 

Only real deaths were from the final rommy fights, which was a fun doozy.

 

HM 3 however…we did well, but we REALLY got worked over on Rommy in that one. Hell, it’s where I’d say all our deaths came from. Weirdly enough we didnt struggle with the twins which I know folks had issues with

[PorkTips]

14 hours ago, Bill Z Bubba said:

 

Yes, it is.

 

And I say that as a farmer. Even being ABLE to afk farm is disgusting on many levels to me but I have always been and always will be an active farmer.

 

It affects one of my top 3 favorite aspects of the game (AFK build crafting and implementation) so it matters to me. But what's done is done.

 

I dont enjoy active farming. If I could make the influence/progress in COH doing the things I actually enjoy doing, I probably wouldn't bother, except that I love the "mini project/build tweaking" aspect of AFK farming enough that I'd probably always still tinker with it, because I enjoy the concept.

 

But I like making a steady bit of influence, even if its less than active farmers make by an order of magnitude, while I putz around doing other content I like.

 

Anyway, we all find alternate ways to enjoy the game, when aspects we dont like change, and I've moved forward.

 

I do wish you the best, despite our radically different preferences.

 

Cheers.

[arcane]

48 minutes ago, PorkTips said:

 

It affects one of my top 3 favorite aspects of the game (AFK build crafting and implementation) so it matters to me. But what's done is done.

 

I dont enjoy active farming. If I could make the influence/progress in COH doing the things I actually enjoy doing, I probably wouldn't bother, except that I love the "mini project/build tweaking" aspect of AFK farming enough that I'd probably always still tinker with it, because I enjoy the concept.

 

But I like making a steady bit of influence, even if its less than active farmers make by an order of magnitude, while I putz around doing other content I like.

 

Anyway, we all find alternate ways to enjoy the game, when aspects we dont like change, and I've moved forward.

 

I do wish you the best, despite our radically different preferences.

 

Cheers.

I think he’s just saying that, from a game balance perspective, afk farming being curbed in any way is a non issue because no dev team in their right mind should ever want to incentivize rewards for exactly zero work. Which is just a purely factual statement. I don’t think his intention was to be invalidating towards your preferences. I afk farm too but can still acknowledge it is a game flaw that just hasn’t been fixed yet.

[Crysis]

1 hour ago, Seed22 said:

Can I ask what was your team makeup? I did HM2 on my Symph/Therm and funny enough, we had a PB as main tank. 
 

Only real deaths were from the final rommy fights, which was a fun doozy.

 

HM 3 however…we did well, but we REALLY got worked over on Rommy in that one. Hell, it’s where I’d say all our deaths came from. Weirdly enough we didnt struggle with the twins which I know folks had issues with

 

3 Blasters, 2 Widows, a Defender (don't recall exact but know they were Empathy and did all the rezzing) and a something/electricity Controller.  

 

We were just too quick to resort to old tried and true "normal" ITF tactics and that's usually where we got clobbered, mostly individually but a few times multiples of us at once.  The biggest issues was drawing the extra ranged aggro from nearby spawns who no longer just wait their turn while watching us destroy their buddies across the way.

 

For first series of Rommie battles, it wasn't so bad as long as we worked together to take out the guardians when they respawned.  But Rommie wouldn't get locked down and he'd start pulling in adds from far and wide and those would get some of us ganked.  The final Rommie battle wasn't difficult at all as long as you avoided the Black Hole bombs.

 

Honestly, it got easier as we went along because we learned that old tactics didn't work any longer.  And the body thief tactic we'd defeat quickly once we learned it was slowing us down repeatedly.  

 

But for a PUG....think we did about as good as could be expected.

 

 

[Crysis]

34 minutes ago, arcane said:

I think he’s just saying that, from a game balance perspective, afk farming being curbed in any way is a non issue because no dev team in their right mind should ever want to incentivize rewards for exactly zero work. Which is just a purely factual statement. I don’t think his intention was to be invalidating towards your preferences. I afk farm too but can still acknowledge it is a game flaw that just hasn’t been fixed yet.

 

I'll give devs credit.  They curbed AFK farming for the filthy casuals.  There's already ways to tweak your AFK farmer if survivability is an issue (go Spiritual T4, IO bonuses for Regen/Health, get all the +Health accolades or just cheese it with Survival Amplifiers for +Regen).  But given how they tweaked the aggro stuff, added the damage type calculations, nerfed some of the easier fire farm XP/Inf mechanisms.....you have to -work- at it now to AFK farm.  A little bit more perhaps, but enough that some will just not bother and switch back to Active Farming.  Or just do what so many have already done and PL a AFK farming -tank- rather than a Brute.

 

They could have just outright killed it with a sledgehammer if they wanted to.  Instead, they left it possible....but not without relearning some things.  So in that way, those that still want to do it will stay in the game as players.  Those that don't won't...or simply switch back to Active farming.  Either way....while I disagree with it in principle, I have to give them credit for -HOW- they did it.

[Greycat]

Hmm. Thoughts.

- Did a HM ITF. Last room's a little chaotic, but that was in part to that being the group's first run. It was interesting. It's also the first ITF team wipe (earlier) I've seen in a while. Also, I sense that TP-resist IO might become a little more popular...

 

- Two new symphonic alts. I like the set, but it also is what I'm griping immediately about - I can do without the damage (and notification) on the ST confuse, and why did nobody do an editorial pass on the descriptions? I see they were brought up in the focused feedback thread - at least for some. Have to pay attention to "polish," there. But those are minor gripes.