Advanced difficulty (general settings?)

[PancakeGnome]

Discovering and playing task forces with advanced difficulty has really brought back a lot of excitement to the game for me. 

 

One of the biggest problems was getting to level 50..... and finishing a character build.... and then just being able to stomp all the content in the game from them on. 

 

But challenge stars are actually throwing a bit more interesting into the mix. 

I've love to see it rolled out to just general villain groups and all of the game in general. Just a full pass on all of the mobs in the game to give them some challenge star abilities and the same treatment as the task forces.... then with some extra rewards.

 

MAYBE EVEN a 5 star? Where ALL of the enemies are elite bosses??? Or heck, even all AV setting too. 

And don't be afraid to throw in some crazy abilities and stuff that makes players really stretch out and start to explore / use their powers in more ways. Like what if missions with advanced rating had doors you had to kill with a spawn in front of them? no more easy stealth to the end of stuff. 

Basically, there seems to be a LOT of content that could be added to the game just by tweaking the existing content and expanding the challenge system.

[arcane]

Yeah it’s a nice sentiment but that’s a lot of work to ask for

[PancakeGnome]

44 minutes ago, arcane said:

Yeah it’s a nice sentiment but that’s a lot of work to ask for

Yea, doing unique abilities for each enemy group would be a lot. 

So instead why not just a blanket big stat boost? I know advanced difficulty already does this, but take it even further to make up for the lack of personal attention / unique stuff. ((Then later, slowly add in unique things. Set it so you can tweak the bonus for each group, so when / if advanced abilities are added to a group.... then you can lower their blanket stat boosts).

 

Once the defense soft cap raises.... and the damage rises..... and the HPs of enemies is boosted.... then things become a lot more difficult.

Heck, even just making it go +5 and +6 and +7 would go a long way to adding spice to the typical +4 missions. 

[Uun]

11 hours ago, PancakeGnome said:

So instead why not just a blanket big stat boost? I know advanced difficulty already does this, but take it even further to make up for the lack of personal attention / unique stuff.

If you run task forces or content through Ouroboros, there are challenge settings. You can select players debuffed, enemies buffed, no temp powers, no incarnate powers, no inspirations, no enhancements, etc. 

[SeraphimKensai]

Well I'm not opposed to the idea from a conceptual standpoint, I recognize the large amount of work that goes into creating advanced difficulty TFs having had a few discussions with Cobalt Arachne as he was working on the Lady Grey TF.

 

From a player perspective I'd be extremely interested in all the TF/SFs getting the advanced mode treatment and scale to lvl 50 for the sub 50 TFs. However I realize that is a far fetched request as the amount of time that would go into it would likely take a couple years to really implement.

 

To do generalized content and missions would likely take substantially longer.

[PancakeGnome]

43 minutes ago, Uun said:

If you run task forces or content through Ouroboros, there are challenge settings. You can select players debuffed, enemies buffed, no temp powers, no incarnate powers, no inspirations, no enhancements, etc. 

Those aren't very much of a challenge. And I hate the idea of removing my own powers to have a challenge... it's like "ok, i guess I could tie one hand behind my back I guess".

But I'd rather have a challenge that can match my characters full power and everything they can do. 

 

Quote

From a player perspective I'd be extremely interested in all the TF/SFs getting the advanced mode treatment and scale to lvl 50 for the sub 50 TFs. However I realize that is a far fetched request as the amount of time that would go into it would likely take a couple years to really implement.

 

To do generalized content and missions would likely take substantially longer.

Yea, it looks like they are going through (especially the high end TFs) adding challenge settings. But if one or two task forces get it each update, then yea it will take.... 5 - 10 years for it to get to all the TFs. 

That's why doing an easier "just buff all the enemies more" would be a lot more doable fix we could actually see within a year. Or even just "give us +5, +6, and +7 settings with more rewards". It isn't a perfect fix (far from it), but it's kind of the best we can hope for.

[Glacier Peak]

Turn off Enhancement Bonuses - that'll do it 😆 

 

*when solo

Edited January 23 by Glacier Peak

[PancakeGnome]

27 minutes ago, Glacier Peak said:

Turn off Enhancement Bonuses - that'll do it 😆 

 

*when solo

That's like playing WoW or Everquest and then raiding and working on your character and getting elite armor and weapons.... then looking for a challenge to use your awesome stuff you worked so hard to get.....

And people being like "just take off all your epic stuff, and don't use some of your elite powers". 

It defeats the entire purpose of getting a strong character. I want a challenge to test my cool toys on 😛

Edited January 23 by PancakeGnome

[Doomguide2005]

Have you tried the 801 series in AE.  If not do so.  It'll likely be eye opening the first time you exit the mission door going oouuuccchhy!!.  I'd love a relatively straightforward optional  means of upping the difficulty via notoriety but a lot of simple solutions like simply upping defense and health of foes is well a boring solution in the long-term.  It's why i don't really solo AVs and GMs.  A bigger dumb sac of hit points meh.  Better solutions like adding powers, new foe types within a group require a lot more time and effort to develop 

[SeraphimKensai]

42 minutes ago, Doomguide2005 said:

Have you tried the 801 series in AE.  If not do so.  It'll likely be eye opening the first time you exit the mission door going oouuuccchhy!!.  I'd love a relatively straightforward optional  means of upping the difficulty via notoriety but a lot of simple solutions like simply upping defense and health of foes is well a boring solution in the long-term.  It's why i don't really solo AVs and GMs.  A bigger dumb sac of hit points meh.  Better solutions like adding powers, new foe types within a group require a lot more time and effort to develop 

I will second this. @Linea made some seriously tough missions that test even the toughest of builds (which I personally think helped inspire Advanced Difficulty TFs).

[PancakeGnome]

1 hour ago, SeraphimKensai said:

I will second this. @Linea made some seriously tough missions that test even the toughest of builds (which I personally think helped inspire Advanced Difficulty TFs).

Too bad AE missions are.... AE missions. 

It's the CoH equivalent of "it was all just a dream!!". I just can't get into them like I can running task forces and things "in the real CoH world" 

[SeraphimKensai]

3 minutes ago, PancakeGnome said:

Too bad AE missions are.... AE missions. 

It's the CoH equivalent of "it was all just a dream!!". I just can't get into them like I can running task forces and things "in the real CoH world" 

Perhaps change your mindset to "it's a glowing green portal to an alternate dimension in time and space, and shit is about to get real...."

 

Seriously tough there's some really talented mission architects that have written some better story arcs than what the OG devs did with CoH. You get XP and drops from doing them, so it's not like there's no reward to play them.

[Rudra]

17 minutes ago, PancakeGnome said:

Too bad AE missions are.... AE missions. 

It's the CoH equivalent of "it was all just a dream!!". I just can't get into them like I can running task forces and things "in the real CoH world" 

There are multiple ways to look at AE missions. They can be Danger Room scenarios. They can be dreams. They can be alternate realities you visit through the portal. They can also be active in the real CoH world events that you are accessing through the contact's provided portal, saving you the time of running to the mission door. What AE missions are for you is what you decide you want them to be. And what that is can change from AE arc to AE arc.

 

Edit: And if you are hung up on using the console to access the AE arcs instead of walking up to a contact somewhere in a zone? Just think of it as a mission computer that tracks the various contacts, movers, and shakers in the world so you can contact them as needed on a moment's notice. So you call up the contact and that contact appears in your holo-display to give you the information directly. Then you use your warp portal just like in a base to go directly to the problem location. (Edit again: Like how in the RWZ, several missions send you to far off locations or game zones via the portals right there not far from the contact giving the mission.)

Edited January 23 by Rudra

[PancakeGnome]

31 minutes ago, SeraphimKensai said:

Perhaps change your mindset to "it's a glowing green portal to an alternate dimension in time and space, and shit is about to get real...."

 

Seriously tough there's some really talented mission architects that have written some better story arcs than what the OG devs did with CoH. You get XP and drops from doing them, so it's not like there's no reward to play them.

Eh, I like to stay within the game world. I hope one day they take the AE system and make it more though! There is a ton of potential for it. 

I think end game CoH needs more progression and stuff to work towards. Prismatics are a good start. Hopefully they also take that and go further with it than just random costumes. 

Devs need to sit down and really think "ok, what do we want the end game to be like?". I don't know that will see too much in the next 5 years, but advanced mode settings in a few task forces were a good first step. 

[UltraAlt]

3 hours ago, PancakeGnome said:

t's the CoH equivalent of "it was all just a dream!!". I just can't get into them like I can running task forces and things "in the real CoH world" 

 

Yeah, because "in the real CoH world" wasn't dreamed up by anyone?!

You know, because it is "real".

 

In a very real sense, the non-AE missions have just as much of an impact on what happens "in the real CoH world"  as the ones in the AE.

 

There are good AE missions and bad ones  .... and then ... the "farms". 

 

You can create your own "dream" to meet your specifications. Then it will be your own dreamworld, but you have to share it with others to get the drops.

 

Sleep well and dream us an adventurous dream ... or would that be a nightmare of difficulty and challenge?

[PancakeGnome]

11 hours ago, UltraAlt said:

 

Sleep well and dream us an adventurous dream ... or would that be a nightmare of difficulty and challenge?

Haha I just want a challenge in the game.... and actually be able to play with other people for rewards and stuff 😐 Using my abilities of a character I leveled up and outfitted with stuff 😐 

I'm not sure why people are pretending this is a strange desire lol. 

[Etched]

17 hours ago, Doomguide2005 said:

Have you tried the 801 series in AE.  If not do so. 

Is that the name of the arc? Anyone have the arc ID for it?

 

@Etched

[twozerofoxtrot]

6 minutes ago, Etched said:

Is that the name of the arc? Anyone have the arc ID for it?

 

@Etched

 

It's a series of challenging missions created a while back by @Linea. They all start "801" but have different suffixes based on the challenge. 

 

If you seach by Linea's name or just 801 you'll see them.

 

Hopefully by pinging the creator they'll drop in and offer a more detailed explanation. 

[Doomguide2005]

1 hour ago, twozerofoxtrot said:

 

It's a series of challenging missions created a while back by @Linea. They all start "801" but have different suffixes based on the challenge. 

 

If you seach by Linea's name or just 801 you'll see them.

 

Hopefully by pinging the creator they'll drop in and offer a more detailed explanation. 

Believe, going off memory, it starts with 801.0 and runs up to 801.F.  The ones beyond roughly 801.4 (again iirc) are intended for teams and are all but guaranteed to hand you your ass (increasingly rapidly at that).

[Uun]

 

[Uun]

2 hours ago, PancakeGnome said:

Haha I just want a challenge in the game.... and actually be able to play with other people for rewards and stuff 😐 Using my abilities of a character I leveled up and outfitted with stuff 😐 

I'm not sure why people are pretending this is a strange desire lol. 

Everybody is posting viable options to satisfy your request, which you've decided to shoot down. At this point you have nobody to blame but yourself.

[PancakeGnome]

1 hour ago, Doomguide2005 said:

Believe, going off memory, it starts with 801.0 and runs up to 801.F.  The ones beyond roughly 801.4 (again iirc) are intended for teams and are all but guaranteed to hand you your ass (increasingly rapidly at that).

Would be awesome if this sort of thing gets added to the game as a TF or other "extreme challenge" thing with a badge or something. 

[Rudra]

On 1/23/2024 at 7:15 AM, PancakeGnome said:

On 1/23/2024 at 6:27 AM, Uun said:

If you run task forces or content through Ouroboros, there are challenge settings. You can select players debuffed, enemies buffed, no temp powers, no incarnate powers, no inspirations, no enhancements, etc. 

Those aren't very much of a challenge. And I hate the idea of removing my own powers to have a challenge... it's like "ok, i guess I could tie one hand behind my back I guess".

But I'd rather have a challenge that can match my characters full power and everything they can do. 

 

5 hours ago, PancakeGnome said:

Haha I just want a challenge in the game.... and actually be able to play with other people for rewards and stuff 😐 Using my abilities of a character I leveled up and outfitted with stuff 😐 

I'm not sure why people are pretending this is a strange desire lol. 

Challenge in game? Check. AE provides options for challenge in game. Even before you get into the 801 series. You hate the idea of removing your own powers to have a challenge? Like @Uun said, you can play with enemies buffed and you debuffed. Still full access to to your powers, inspirations, and enhancements. Coupled with the already available difficulty settings that seemingly everyone runs at +4/x8? You will get that challenge. I think you can add new team members after starting an AE arc too, but I'm not sure. You can definitely gather friends to play with you before starting one though. So you have full access to teams, powers, enhancements, and inspirations, while getting standard rewards from the mobs/missions and facing a challenge from being debuffed while your enemies are buffed. I fail to see the problem with the proposed solutions since as far as I can tell, they meet your needs perfectly.

 

AE isn't "real world CoX"? Neither is "real world CoX". Where everything you do (except in Praetoria) affects nothing else in the game. You fought Captain Mako in a dev created arc and defeated him? Well, depending on your character and what your character does, you killed Captain Mako. Except, you didn't because he is still in GV, in Recluse's command/throne room, still giving out missions and turning up in other missions. AE just lets you access a portal to reach your mission anywhere in the game world just like they do in the Vanguard base in the RWZ. You aren't walking up to a contact to get your missions? You are still talking to and engaging with the contact. Just through a holographic display so you don't have to keep running to some random location to deal with the contact. You are starting with the contact's phone number already available, except with the benefit of a holo unit so you can see the contact.

 

You think any new difficulties the devs make are any different than this? The more stars you choose for the Hard Mode content, the more the enemies are buffed in relation to the players. And AE (and Ouroboros) let you do the same thing with just 2 little flags.

 

Edited January 24 by Rudra
Edited to add missing space.

[UltraAlt]

11 hours ago, PancakeGnome said:

Haha I just want a challenge in the game.... and actually be able to play with other people for rewards and stuff 😐 Using my abilities of a character I leveled up and outfitted with stuff 😐 

I'm not sure why people are pretending this is a strange desire lol. 

 

We are trying to help you, but you obviously can't understand that.

[PancakeGnome]

6 hours ago, UltraAlt said:

 

We are trying to help you, but you obviously can't understand that.

I don't know why people on these forums are so hostile / against the idea of adding more features and end game content.....

I think the game could use more end game content and progressions systems and challenge settings..... and the counter to that is "nah nah, we got everything we need already, there are some hard AE missions!".

Kind of not the same... and everyone knows that... but it won't stop you from insisting that the AE mission and turning off my powers is "really what you want". lol