Stop being Scrooge! Open up the content! (every contact opened)

[Snarky]

I run a bit of solo story arcs.  Always an issue when you outlevel them.  

 

I do not know if this is possible.

 

Open every contact to anyone above the contacts minimum level.  This way you have access to the entire game and not just the ouro arcs.  Also, these would be "part of your world" unlike Ouro that is "a different timeline"

 

I suppose this might only be doable for 50s?  Possibly anyone over max level of contact could also do it?  Then you would walk up to the contact and start their missions as if you were low level.  I assume being auto examplared while you were doing the contact.  Character chooses when to break connection.  One mission, one arc, all arcs, all content until the contact says "I have nothing more for you check your other contacts."

Edited December 20, 2022 by Snarky

[Zepp]

46 minutes ago, Snarky said:

I run a bit of solo story arcs.  Always an issue when you outlevel them.  

 

I do not know if this is possible.

 

Open every contact to anyone above the contacts minimum level.  This way you have access to the entire game and not just the ouro arcs.  Also, these would be "part of your world" unlike Ouro that is "a different timeline"

 

I suppose this might only be doable for 50s?  Possibly anyone over max level of contact could also do it?  Then you would walk up to the contact and start their missions as if you were low level.  I assume being auto examplared while you were doing the contact.  Character chooses when to break connection.  One mission, one arc, all arcs, all content until the contact says "I have nothing more for you check your other contacts."

I think that you can open most (if not all) contacts using the "Find Contact" button at the top left corner of the Contact screen.

[Astralock]

1 hour ago, Snarky said:

I run a bit of solo story arcs.  Always an issue when you outlevel them.  

 

I do not know if this is possible.

 

Open every contact to anyone above the contacts minimum level.  This way you have access to the entire game and not just the ouro arcs.  Also, these would be "part of your world" unlike Ouro that is "a different timeline"

 

I suppose this might only be doable for 50s?  Possibly anyone over max level of contact could also do it?  Then you would walk up to the contact and start their missions as if you were low level.  I assume being auto examplared while you were doing the contact.  Character chooses when to break connection.  One mission, one arc, all arcs, all content until the contact says "I have nothing more for you check your other contacts."

 

The Thunderspy server has done this.  I'd really like to see it done here as well.  It's been suggested here quite a few times over the years, but some people who strongly dislike playing at level 50 and also strongly dislike playing with malefactored level 50 characters on teams feel that it would encourage people to only play the game at level 50.  But that's not a good argument IMO, because most people already do.

[Darmian]

I considered that the Hero Corps Field Analysts could be refitted to let you "in the field exemp", allowing you to "go undercover" at a lower level and access contacts or arcs you may have missed.  And since this isn't an Ouro timeline quasi TF thing you could still join teams.  I'm sure that sort of a flag would be hella fiddly but it would give a purpose again to the Field Analysts and the Redside Fate Weavers.

[Uun]

1 hour ago, Zepp said:

I think that you can open most (if not all) contacts using the "Find Contact" button at the top left corner of the Contact screen.

It's not well documented, but there are a lot of contacts that you can just walk up to without using Find Contact (i.e., Tina Macintyre, Maria Jenkins, Stephanie Peebles, Gordon Bower). I would like to see a mechanic where you could walk up to contacts you've outleveled and automatically exemp down to do their content. 

[Snarky]

Just now, Uun said:

It's not well documented, but there are a lot of contacts that you can just walk up to without using Find Contact (i.e., Tina Macintyre, Maria Jenkins, Stephanie Peebles, Gordon Bower). I would like to see a mechanic where you could walk up to contacts you've outleveled and automatically exemp down to do their content. 

This is what I mean exactly.   I know how to find (most) everyone.  But sometimes they think they should not talk to me!

[Nyghtmaire]

4 minutes ago, Snarky said:

This is what I mean exactly.   I know how to find (most) everyone.  But sometimes they think they should not talk to me!

You’re too scary. Maybe you need a “Hi! I’m totally a friendly, caring person” disguise in one of your costume slots.

 

 

[Snarky]

For me this is inspired by the evolution of my playstyle.  I do a lot of teaming, mostly PUG.  But I have done far more solo.

 

I started with regular “do all redside” which I would do about once a year.  Early this year I did a “every contact” which I completed on a Brute for all contacts pre50.  
 

But what about characters I levelled normally without stopping experience and playing the stories.  Characters I found I liked?   Crush them and reroll as level 1 then solo the game on them?  Seems….awkward. 

[TheZag]

This suggestion is in line with the game continuing to grow wider but not grow up (more content without increased level cap).  Its been asked for previously so its either a large project that the devs havent had time for or they arent interested.  Some form of improved access to outleveled arcs would be appreciated though.  I would play more through ouro but my friends cant join after its started and cant rejoin if they leave.  Some arcs are really long though and i cant expect people to stay for the entire thing through ouro.

 

[Rudra]

The problem is that contacts will not talk to you outside of their level range. The only fix for that was Ouroboros because the only way to bring your character back down to the contact's level was using the TF level mechanic. If there is a way for characters to exemplar down without having a lower level team leader who has that mission/arc or having to run missed content in a TF format? Great. It all depends on what can be done with the game's engine though. It was because of the game's limitations that we got Ouroboros though.

 

Edit: Please note that I am saying "was", not "is". I don't know what the current devs can do with the system, just what the previous devs said was the problem.

Edited December 20, 2022 by Rudra

[Zepp]

On 12/21/2022 at 12:18 AM, Uun said:

It's not well documented, but there are a lot of contacts that you can just walk up to without using Find Contact (i.e., Tina Macintyre, Maria Jenkins, Stephanie Peebles, Gordon Bower). I would like to see a mechanic where you could walk up to contacts you've outleveled and automatically exemp down to do their content. 

So, Ouro without going to Ouro?

[Snarky]

1 hour ago, Zepp said:

So, Ouro without going to Ouro?

Even better than Ouro.  Ouro is an alternate timeline.  This would be something in your own timeline.  

 

I hope you know this will go down on your permanent record!

[Zepp]

28 minutes ago, Snarky said:

Even better than Ouro.  Ouro is an alternate timeline.  This would be something in your own timeline.  

 

I hope you know this will go down on your permanent record!

your view of time is so... so... linear...

[Rudra]

Ouroboros isn't necessarily an alternate time line. A fun point is made in the Laura Lockhart arc: the player isn't the only one using Ouroboros. There are other characters, possibly even players, who are undoing elements of the things you do in Ouroboros. (Check Mender Valen during the Collateral Damage arc from Laura Lockhart. She flat out tells you that someone else is preventing you from accomplishing your goal. Also see some of Dream Doctor's comments to similar effect when you read his messages and talk to him through Ouroboros and the Dark Astoria bit.) That is the problem with time travel when utilized by so many. Odds are that anything you are currently mending or experiencing through time travel is being opposed or mended in different ways by someone else.

 

(Edit: To be clear, I am not opposing the OP. My previous comment stands. I'm just saying that the Ouroboros bit isn't quite so cut and dry in how it works.)

Edited December 22, 2022 by Rudra

[Snarky]

58 minutes ago, Rudra said:

Ouroboros isn't necessarily an alternate time line. A fun point is made in the Laura Lockhart arc: the player isn't the only one using Ouroboros. There are other characters, possibly even players, who are undoing elements of the things you do in Ouroboros. (Check Mender Valen during the Collateral Damage arc from Laura Lockhart. She flat out tells you that someone else is preventing you from accomplishing your goal. Also see some of Dream Doctor's comments to similar effect when you read his messages and talk to him through Ouroboros and the Dark Astoria bit.) That is the problem with time travel when utilized by so many. Odds are that anything you are currently mending or experiencing through time travel is being opposed or mended in different ways by someone else.

 

(Edit: To be clear, I am not opposing the OP. My previous comment stands. I'm just saying that the Ouroboros bit isn't quite so cut and dry in how it works.)

Oh yes.  I use these elements in some of my origin backstories.  With the timeline being shredded around Paragon you can justify nearly any crazy idea

[Uun]

2 hours ago, Zepp said:

So, Ouro without going to Ouro?

The problem with Ouro is that it forces you into TF mode. You can't add people to your team. You can't pause an Ouro arc and go do something else and then come back to it.

 

Between shutdown and the launch of Homecoming, I played SWTOR. In that game, they changed it so that you could go back to the planets you outleveled and play the missions from the planet contacts at the level for that planet. That's the mechanic I'm looking for.

[Zepp]

I agree that the TF mode (in general and through Ouro) is annoying. It would be nice if you could temporarily leave a TF, but not sure how much coding that would take.

[srmalloy]

8 hours ago, Uun said:

Between shutdown and the launch of Homecoming, I played SWTOR. In that game, they changed it so that you could go back to the planets you outleveled and play the missions from the planet contacts at the level for that planet. That's the mechanic I'm looking for.

I'm not sure how you would make it work internally, but I can see having the 'visible' part of the process be a contact in Ouro you can go to who applies a specialized form of temporal scaling to your character, locking them into an earlier stage of their life when they were a lower level, and you'd have to go back to the contact to have it removed. It would be necessary to adjust the code for determining if a contact thinks you're in their level range to recognize when a character is scaled and use their scaled level.

 

As an afterthought, an amusing side effect of doing this would be to have any of your contacts that you've been scaled to below their level range give you the "you're not high enough level" spiel if you go to them, and "Who are you? How did you get this number?" if you try to call them, and not be able to use their 'store'.

Edited December 22, 2022 by srmalloy

[TheZag]

11 hours ago, Zepp said:

I agree that the TF mode (in general and through Ouro) is annoying. It would be nice if you could temporarily leave a TF, but not sure how much coding that would take.

 

The functionality is already in game.  AE places you into some sort of psuedo TF mode.  It blocks out your other contacts,  exemplars or sidekicks you when necessary,  puts the 'TF' logo under your level,  requires you to open the team window and choose leave team when solo,  but most importantly it lets others leave or join as needed in the middle of missions.

 

If the AE taskforce mode were adapted for ouro and outleveled contacts without ouro,  then alot of the functionality people are asking for would become available.  We would run into a problem with merit rewards at the end of ouro arcs this way but i think its solvable by either only giving merits to those that were there from the start or only give them to the team leader like in a normal story arc.  The option to run in normal TF mode should remain though and run in AE TF mode would be an added check box.

 

[Zepp]

I was thinking about this, and was just thinking that it may be easier to introduce a different mechanic than the one being considered in this thread.

 

New mechanic - holding back,

slash command - /HoldBack [number]

additional slash command (to end mechanic usage) - /LetLoose

 

Holding back allows you to voluntarily reduce your level. This could be used for street-sweeping or engaging in outleveled content...

[srmalloy]

Ohhh. Let's create a mechanic that's exploitable right out of the box.

 

Scenario 1:

Use /holdback to lower your level until a contact talks to you.

Get mission from contact.

Enter mission.

Use /letloose to revert to your normal level.

Wipe out grey mobs.

 

So we clearly can't allow /letloose to be used inside missions, only out in the world.

Scenario 2:

Use /holdback to lower your level until a contact talks to you.

Get first mission of story arc from contact.

Use /letloose to revert to your normal level.

Steamroll the now-grey story arc, because once you have the first mission, the contact will keep giving you the arc missions, no matter how badly you outlevel them.

 

Since the second scenario can be used even with my idea to have a contact in Ouroboros to scale you, the idea is unworkable due to exploitability. The only way to address that would be to have scaling hide your current missions, and be unable to 'unscale' while you have any missions open at your scaled level. Which is almost identical to the 'TF mode' that Ouro puts you in now, except that you can join teams or invite people to team.

 

[Zepp]

On 12/25/2022 at 6:12 PM, srmalloy said:

Ohhh. Let's create a mechanic that's exploitable right out of the box.

 

Scenario 1:

Use /holdback to lower your level until a contact talks to you.

Get mission from contact.

Enter mission.

Use /letloose to revert to your normal level.

Wipe out grey mobs.

 

So we clearly can't allow /letloose to be used inside missions, only out in the world.

Scenario 2:

Use /holdback to lower your level until a contact talks to you.

Get first mission of story arc from contact.

Use /letloose to revert to your normal level.

Steamroll the now-grey story arc, because once you have the first mission, the contact will keep giving you the arc missions, no matter how badly you outlevel them.

 

Since the second scenario can be used even with my idea to have a contact in Ouroboros to scale you, the idea is unworkable due to exploitability. The only way to address that would be to have scaling hide your current missions, and be unable to 'unscale' while you have any missions open at your scaled level. Which is almost identical to the 'TF mode' that Ouro puts you in now, except that you can join teams or invite people to team.

 

Sorry for not going into the details of the proposed mechanic. I would suggest that players can not change level while a mission is active (red). In addition, an additional lockout mechanic would need to be added, you can not enter or activate a mission more than one level below you.

 

still simpler than the proposal I would guess.

[lemming]

7 minutes ago, Zepp said:

Sorry for not going into the details of the proposed mechanic. I would suggest that players can not change level while a mission is active (red). In addition, an additional lockout mechanic would need to be added, you can not enter or activate a mission more than one level below you.

 

still simpler than the proposal I would guess.

Could be very similar to the Mayhem/Safeguard missions from Lord  Schweinzer and Agent Hassell.  You get set to their mission level on entry no matter the level of the owner.