Prismatic Aether and locked costume items

[ivanhedgehog]

19 minutes ago, lemming said:

Why? You don't get Aethers via AE runs either.   I assume the reasoning is that under 50s don't get Notice of the Wells either.  You still get a huge XP bonus and maybe they'll add the Aethers to the reward.

maybe in a few years. maybe not. leveling to 50 in ae is a lot faster

 

[Blackbird71]

I just want to know whose bright idea it was to add a new reward and call it "PAP;" the mental association is... disturbing. Clearly no female input on that one!

 

https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/pap-smear/about/pac-20394841

 

 

[srmalloy]

11 hours ago, ivanhedgehog said:

The wst wasnt a lvl 50 tf. synapse and moonfire, neither are ever gonna be hm. but you have to be level 50 to get the reward that they said anyone could get? by running the wst. evidently not.

The text from the patch notes is "Completing the Weekly Strike Target for the first time each week on a max level character that receives a Notice of the Well salvage, will also earn 1-2 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage depending on the length of the content completed." (emphasis mine) So if you're not running the WST on a 50, or you're running it again after having already received a Notice, you don't get the automatic PAP reward.

[Troo]

Maybe 'max level' is the top of the Weekly Strike Target level range and varies Task Force to Task Force.. nope

 

Numina Task Force
The last of six Freedom Phalanx Task Forces

Level Range	35-40
Suggested Team Size	4 players
Merits	36

 

So..

a level 40 or higher would receive 72 reward merits, 2 Prismatic Aether Particles, and a 2% chance for a drop of an Aether

a level 39 or lower would receive 72 reward merits and only the 2% chance for a drop of an Aether

 

Is that correct? nope

 

Weekly Strike Target

"If the character is level 50 when they start the target activity, they are awarded with a Notice of the Well, used in Rare and Very Rare Alpha Slot boosts."

• a level 50 or higher would receive 72 reward merits, 2 Prismatic Aether Particles, and a 2% chance for a drop of an Aether
• a level 49 or lower would receive 72 reward merits and only the 2% chance for a drop of an Aether

 

This would appear to reward a "skip to 50 double experience AE train**, IO out your character, and then exemplar down for accolades" method over anyone actually in the level range of the Task Forces.

 

Why wouldn't it simply be anyone doing the Weekly Strike Target Task Forces? Folks need to be the minimum to participate already, right?

 

**I don't begrudge anyone skipping to 50, I just don't think it should be rewarded above and beyond.

 

 

Edited September 5, 2022 by Troo

[Excraft]

On 9/1/2022 at 8:09 AM, Zhym said:

Apologies if this was in the beta feedback thread and I missed it, but have the devs said why they introduced another "currency" into the game?  We already had inf, merit rewards, empyrian merits, astral merits, vanguard merits, and probably others I'm forgetting at the moment.  What was missing that prismatic aether solves?  Is it mostly that we need a different reward for hard mode?

 

To try and entice the average player to try their "hard" mode content.  The three or four players who cried for this content supposedly wanted it "just for the challenge" because the "game is too easy" and the "challenge was reward enough".  That's not the reality though. 

[Glacier Peak]

12 minutes ago, Excraft said:

That's not the reality though. 

It is the reality

[arcane]

A guy claims only 3-4 people are interested in hard mode content and then claims to have a grasp on reality. Classic 🙂 

[Coyotedancer]

I'm still just a little annoyed at the position solos and small-team players are in, for all practical purposes, when it comes to getting these Aether Particles anywhere but the auction house.

 

In the last two weeks I've managed to accumulate exactly five of the things through regular game-play.... Four from duoing a pair of WST task forces (Which not everyone is capable of-) and exactly ONE from a random mission completion drop. If you aren't running HM with a team, in other words, these things aren't exactly falling from the sky at a generous rate.

 

Stingy drop rates are probably fine for the lowest tier, least expensive costumes... but if the MiniMes and other, more interesting options are going to cost in the 1000+ range? Yikes, o_0

 

I mean, I get that the devs are trying to encourage a very particular playstyle here, and that solos and small-teamers are like the proverbial red-haired step-children when it comes to their Vision of the Game... But still... Like I said, as one of those step-children, I do personally find the situation annoying. I can (and probably will-) just farm up the INF to buy my Particles when the time comes to get the MiniMe costume for Snickerdoodles, so my cat-girl can be cat-sized, but just like soloing or duoing task forces, that's not something that every sans-a-full-team player can do.

 

And no. I do NOT believe that there should be any prizes in the game that are reasonably accessible only to -~The Right Sort Of Players~-. That sort of thing is bad mojo, 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 5, 2022 by Coyotedancer

[Black Zot]

1 hour ago, Coyotedancer said:

 

And no. I do NOT believe that there should be any prizes in the game that are reasonably accessible only to -~The Right Sort Of Players~-. That sort of thing is bad mojo, 

 

 

This right here is my problem regarding this whole thing.  CURRENTLY Aethers are only used for what amounts to permanent Halloween costumes.  If you believe that's going to last, I have a bridge to sell you.

 

Nobody, but nobody, goes to the trouble of creating and implementing a new currency in a game without the intent to force people to grind for it.  What else is going to get buried behind these particles that're being handed out with a clogged eyedropper?  New costume pieces that should've been on the character creator?  Enhancements or inspirations that don't drop normally?

 

The door's been opened.  What's coming through?

[Glacier Peak]

21 minutes ago, Black Zot said:

Nobody, but nobody, goes to the trouble of creating and implementing a new currency in a game without the intent to force people to grind for it.

But the Homecoming Team did.

[Luminara]

Oh, good, we're up to the wild conspiracy theories part of the thread.  I was worried it was going to stay at the boring "framrers sux" "no u sxu" part forever.

[MoonSheep]

i can’t believe the devs have introduced rewards which are received by playing the game, this is outrageous and so strange

[Glacier Peak]

37 minutes ago, MoonSheep said:

i can’t believe the devs have introduced rewards which are received by playing the game, this is outrageous and so strange

They better be careful or they're going to alienate the people who don't play the game next! 

[El D]

3 hours ago, Coyotedancer said:

I'm still just a little annoyed at the position solos and small-team players are in, for all practical purposes, when it comes to getting these Aether Particles anywhere but the auction house.

 

CoH is a massively multiplayer game. The default orientation for content for MMOs is team-based and the rewards are set up accordingly. The 'position' that solo and small-team players are in is one they put themselves in, by choosing to go through content solo or with a small, select group and refusing to engage with the core team-based content.

 

Not all content can be soloed or easily managed by a small team. Not all ATs/powerset combos are even capable of soloing. That's not a misstep, that's the core framework of how the game operates. The further you venture outside of the team-based set up that game runs on, the longer things take - if they're possible at all - and the more rewards players miss out on because they're choosing to try and earn them in ways the game does not inherently incentivize.

[Coyotedancer]

1 minute ago, El D said:

 

CoH is a massively multiplayer game. The default orientation for content for MMOs is team-based and the rewards are set up accordingly. The 'position' that solo and small-team players are in is one they put themselves in, by choosing to go through content solo or with a small, select group and refusing to engage with the core team-based content.

 

Not all content can be soloed or easily managed by a small team. Not all ATs/powerset combos are even capable of soloing. That's not a misstep, that's the core framework of how the game operates. The further you venture outside of the team-based set up that game runs on, the longer things take - if they're possible at all - and the more rewards players miss out on because they're choosing to try and earn them in ways the game does not inherently incentivize.

 

I wondered how long it would take for someone to trot out that old line...

 

City is, and always has been, a very solo and small team friendly game. As a result it has had, from Day One, a substantial number of players who don't regularly run around in groups of eight, No matter how much the TeamsTeamsTeamsOMGTEEEEEAMS!-types may disapprove of the practice, that's a feature, not a bug. It's a little late in the game to be telling us we're SOL because some portion of the current dev crew want to turn the thing into a different sort of game.

[Coyotedancer]

30 minutes ago, Glacier Peak said:

They better be careful or they're going to alienate the people who don't play the game next! 

 

Are you sure they aren't more intent on alienating people who do play... in any of the ways they don't approve of. 😝

[Frostbiter]

7 minutes ago, El D said:

 

CoH is a massively multiplayer game. The default orientation for content for MMOs is team-based and the rewards are set up accordingly. The 'position' that solo and small-team players are in is one they put themselves in, by choosing to go through content solo or with a small, select group and refusing to engage with the core team-based content.

 

Not all content can be soloed or easily managed by a small team. Not all ATs/powerset combos are even capable of soloing. That's not a misstep, that's the core framework of how the game operates. The further you venture outside of the team-based set up that game runs on, the longer things take - if they're possible at all - and the more rewards players miss out on because they're choosing to try and earn them in ways the game does not inherently incentivize.

 

That's an old MMO philosophy that hasn't been strictly followed in decades. CoH has certainly never required grouping and there has been plenty added for the solo player. The HC Team has even gone back and removed the mechanics that made it require two or more people to run a TF or Trial. Then there is the Dark Astoria revamp that was literally a way for solo players to get Incarnate powers. Nothing the HC devs have done before has been designed to strictly funnel people into doing what the devs want us to do, which is HM content that doesn't even necessarily appeal to every group player.

[El D]

19 minutes ago, Coyotedancer said:

 

I wondered how long it would take for someone to trot out that old line...

 

City is, and always has been, a very solo and small team friendly game. As a result it has had, from Day One, a substantial number of players who don't regularly run around in groups of eight, No matter how much the TeamsTeamsTeamsOMGTEEEEEAMS!-types may disapprove of the practice, that's a feature, not a bug. It's a little late in the game to be telling us we're SOL because some portion of the current dev crew want to turn the thing into a different sort of game.

 

Solo Friendly =/= Solo Everything. Never has, never did. Especially in-regard to end game-level content. iTrials weren't designed to be soloed. Hard Mode, likewise, is not designed to be soloed. That's not 'late in the game,' that's how CoH has always worked under the various Live devs and the HC devs

 

11 minutes ago, Frostbiter said:

 

That's an old MMO philosophy that hasn't been strictly followed in decades. CoH has certainly never required grouping and there has been plenty added for the solo player. The HC Team has even gone back and removed the mechanics that made it require two or more people to run a TF or Trial. Then there is the Dark Astoria revamp that was literally a way for solo players to get Incarnate powers. Nothing the HC devs have done before has been designed to strictly funnel people into doing what the devs want us to do, which is HM content that doesn't even necessarily appeal to every group player.

 

<points to above comments on End Game content>

 

Yes, there are ways to progress solo on Incarnate content via Dark Astoria (and now earning Incarnate XP via all content at level 50) - but it's much slower than the intended, default method of 'gather a team/league and run trials.' That's the exact same design philosophy behind story arcs and task forces going by faster with a full team.

 

You want a solo path to Prismatic Aether? There is one! WST rewards or inf purchases. It's just going to take longer, like soloing does for every other piece of content in this game that allows for it.

Edited September 5, 2022 by El D

[Frostbiter]

1 minute ago, El D said:

 

Solo Friendly =/= Solo Everything. Never has, never did. Especially in-regard to end game-level content. iTrials weren't designed to be soloed. Hard Mode, likewise, is not designed to be soloed. That's not 'late in the game,' that's how CoH has always worked under the various Live devs and the HC devs

 

 

<points to above comments on End Game content>

 

Yes, there are ways to progress solo on Incarnate content via Dark Astoria (and now earning Incarnate XP via all content at level 50) - but it's much slower than the intended, default method of 'gather a team/league and run trials.' That's the same design behind story arcs and task forces going by faster with a full team.

 

You want a solo path to Prismatic Aether? There is one! WST rewards to inf purchases. It's just going to take longer, like soloing does for every other piece of content in this game that allows for it.

 

I never stated it meant I should be able to solo everything. And at this point everybody has mentioned the other ways of getting them, this thread is five pages long. I have however stated that I don't care about the new currency. Right now all you can by with it is fancy costume stuff. There is room now for that to change though, and that is what concerns me. Glad I could make that clearer for you. If you'd like me to point back to the posts I've made about that already then I guess we'd both have our fingers out.

[ivanhedgehog]

except that costumes ARE NOT ENDGAME CONTENT. if a 1-49 character joins a wst, they dont get the salvage to get costumes. Its an idiotic system.

[Coyotedancer]

Just now, El D said:

 

Solo Friendly =/= Solo Everything. Never has, never did. Especially in-regard to end game-level content. iTrials weren't designed to be soloed. Hard Mode, likewise, is not designed to be soloed. That's not 'late in the game,' that's how CoH has always worked under the various Live devs and the HC devs

 

 

Has anyone asked for HM task forces to be soloable?

Not that I've seen... That's not the issue.

 

My concern is that currently the only way for solos and small teamers to get Aether Particles at any reasonable rate is limited to the auction house.

 

As you say yourself, not everyone can solo or duo even the non-HM task forces. That, along with the requirement that characters be 50 to qualify for the reward, limits the WST's usefulness for collecting PAPs.

 

Random mission-completion drop rates for them are set to 2%, With the RNG being what it is, that works out to a pretty paltry rate of acquisition in practice. (As an example, I went through enough DA runs to completely open and then equip my latest 50's Incarnate slots and got ONE.) Getting ten that way? Not too horrible a grind as that sort of thing goes. Getting a thousand? That's a whole different animal.

[Bill Z Bubba]

19 hours ago, ivanhedgehog said:

Its looking like we should pl to 50 and go back and do the tfs later. Back to AE to level.

 

Been doin that for ages. Accolades and soloing the TFs for them is much easier when you're 50, fully IOed out and exemplared down.

[Bill Z Bubba]

8 minutes ago, Coyotedancer said:

My concern is that currently the only way for solos and small teamers to get Aether Particles at any reasonable rate is limited to the auction house.

 

Yup. It's good to be rich. It's even better not to give a single flying fark about the aethers or the costumes you get with 'em. I think it sucks complete taint that these devs added yet another gorram currency to the game. It was a stupid decision.

[Coyotedancer]

10 minutes ago, Bill Z Bubba said:

 

Yup. It's good to be rich. It's even better not to give a single flying fark about the aethers or the costumes you get with 'em. I think it sucks complete taint that these devs added yet another gorram currency to the game. It was a stupid decision.

 

Just what we needed, right? 😆

 

I do like the idea of the costumes, though, I'd love to have an old school Death mage outfit for Tavaris... and the MiniMe is pretty much perfect for making my little black witch-cat tiny enough to, you know, look like a little black cat.

 

I'm just afraid that I'll be too old to still play Snickers by the time I've gotten enough Aether to buy her the option. I'm no spring chicken over here.

 

*waves cane*

*says something about whipper-snappers and her lawn*  

 

 

 

 

Edited September 5, 2022 by Coyotedancer

[ForeverLaxx]

2 hours ago, Bill Z Bubba said:

I think it sucks complete taint that these devs added yet another gorram currency to the game

In my experience, new currencies are only added so people who have been around the longest can't immediately buy/unlock everything the day of release.

 

Personally, I think that's a weird reason. It feels like long-time players are getting punished for playing a ton. Destiny does this constantly and it's extremely frustrating to have been playing for years, building materials, just for the next update to make all of it useless and you're at the same level Joe Shmo is who just installed 20 minutes ago. Why invest time when it's going to be spat on is how I look at it.