Focused Feedback: New Player Experience (NPE) Improvements

gameboy1234 · February 10

Other random stuff, NPE-ish:

1. New MMs have three buttons in their tray for controlling pets. One, "Follow" directs the pets to "follow aggressive". Can we get that changed to "follow defensive"? I think new MMs should have at least one way to activate bodyguard mode available to them. The default buttons on the Pet Window could also use the same change.

2. The Longbow inside Mercy (the walled area of the red side starting zone) are just thick. I think it's worse than a hazard zone. I can evade them pretty easily with a Jetpack and Athletic Run, but new players might feel they need to fight their way through. Can the density of spawn inside Mercy be decreased? It feels a rather new player unfriendly as it is now. Longbow especially but some of the Ripper and Blighted too. Outside of the walled area I think the spawn is fine.

Lockely · February 10

1 hour ago, gameboy1234 said:

Other random stuff, NPE-ish:

2. The Longbow inside Mercy (the walled area of the red side starting zone) are just thick. I think it's worse than a hazard zone. I can evade them pretty easily with a Jetpack and Athletic Run, but new players might feel they need to fight their way through. Can the density of spawn inside Mercy be decreased? It feels a rather new player unfriendly as it is now. Longbow especially but some of the Ripper and Blighted too. Outside of the walled area I think the spawn is fine.

To second this, they respawn *really* fast. Like, you just finished killing a second group and the first group is back up fast.

Reiska · February 10

On 2/9/2024 at 11:11 AM, Lunar Ronin said:

Sweet. Does that mean that the originally heroic ATs should be re-written to have their heroic descriptions removed as well, since they can be played as villains?

Yes, I would say they should.

Since I'm bored I took a stab at doing a light rewrite of all of them to clean up both gendered and aligned language without changing the substance of the descriptions too much, which I'll stick behind a spoiler tag since it's long. I kept most of the substantive text unaltered, but removed aligned language in a few instances (except from EATs) and shifted all of the descriptions to second-person (I chose second-person because most villain descriptions were written this way and they were written later). Anyone can feel free to use these as a starting point for further cleanup/rewrites 🙂

Spoiler

Blasters are offensive juggernauts. You can deal a ton of damage from a distance, but are somewhat fragile compared to other offensive archetypes. The Blaster can't stand toe to toe with most opponents at melee for long; your best defense is a great offense!

Brutes live to fight, and as a Brute you revel in hand-to-hand combat. With strong offensive power sets to inflict pain and impressive defenses to take it, you're the best there is in a straight fight. Protracted battles only makes you mad, and the madder you get, the more damaging your attacks become. You do lack ranged attacks, which could leave you vulnerable to hit and run tactics without some allies to cover you.

Controllers are at the same time the weakest and yet the most powerful of the archetypes. As a Controller, you have few offensive attacks and few hit points, but you have access to a range of powers and abilities that few others do. Armed with these powers, you can affect the behavior of villains, from freezing them in place, to putting them to sleep, to routing them away. These abilities make you the backbone for any team, but dependent upon your teammates for protection.

Corruptors twist the forces of the universe to do their bidding. As a Corruptor, you might strike your foes down with blasts of fire, entomb them in ice, infect them with radiation, or curse them with pure darkness. As your foes are weakened, your Scourge ability kicks in, increasing your damage to an enemy as their hit points drop. You can even impart a portion of your twisted power to your allies to protect them from harm, heal them, or increase the damage they deal. This wide array of abilities comes at a price: your defenses aren't strong, and you can quickly attract the ire of your enemies if you aren't careful.

As a Defender, you help your allies and attack your foes from a distance. You excel at powers that assist friends, but can also hinder your enemies. You are able to attack at long range; however, you are fragile and will not last for long in close combat.

As a Dominator, you control a devastating combination of control and assault powers. You can freeze foes in place, render them unconscious, or cause them to flee in terror; you can also smite your foes with a selection of single-target melee and ranged attacks with devastating effectiveness. Additionally, each time you attack, you come closer to unleashing your true power of Domination. With so much emphasis on diverse offensive powers, you lack in defenses and work best with teammates who can provide protection.

As a Mastermind, you excel at using others to do your dirty work. Perhaps you build killer robots, command deadly Ninja, order hardened soldiers, or summon the undead to do your bidding. Whatever your choice, you have an army of minions at your beck and call. You can summon them when needed, order them to work your will, and even use your own powers to enhance them or weaken your foes. The Mastermind is a difficult archetype to play, often demanding constant attention to control your minions and stave off the retribution of your enemies.

As a Scrapper, you are a fierce melee combatant; in close combat, few other archetypes can compare to your ability to sometimes deliver critical strikes for increased damage. But you are not as resilient as the Tanker or Brute, and might find yourself in a little trouble if you heedlessly wade into combat. Your aptitude for melee is countered by a total lack of long distance attacks.

Sentinels are powerful mid-ranged combatants with moderate protective powers and protection against control powers. Sturdier than a Blaster, you also use your superior perception to quickly identify threats and expose their vulnerabilities, at the price of your area-effect powers being less effective.

Skill can divert clumsy raw power, and precisely applied force can solve many problems. As a Stalker, this is the core of your specialty. You do your best work when attacking from ambush, and can even hide in plain sight to escape foes. Deadly attacks and good defenses make you a dangerous combatant and assassin, but you can be overwhelmed if you're not careful.

As a Tanker, you can take it and dish it out all at once. You deal the lowest damage of all melee archetypes, but make up for it in numbers by being able to hit more enemies than your melee peers while absorbing vast amounts of damage. You lack ranged capabilities, but you would prefer just to charge straight into a large group of foes anyway.

Arachnos Soldiers begin their career as a Wolf Spider serving Arachnos, with a strong mix of Melee and Ranged attacks and strong protective powers available via their power armor. At level 24, you will have to choose whether you will progress down the "Crab Spider" or "Bane Spider" path; Crab Spiders gain access to the "backpack" and the powerful claw/cone attacks it provides, while the Bane Spider track provides stealth and a stronger focus on melee. This archetype must begin play as a villain on Primal Earth, and is not recommended for new players.

Arachnos Widows begin their career as a Blood Widow serving Arachnos, with modest melee, ranged and buff skills. At level 24, you will have to choose whether to switch to the "Fortunata" path, gaining stronger ranged attacks and control abilities, or remain on the "Widow" path and become a "Night Widow," gaining considerably stronger melee capabilities. This archetype must begin play as a villain on Primal Earth, and is not recommended for new players.

Peacebringers are formed from the fusion of an alien energy being called a Kheldian and a willing host. As a Peacebringer, you have solid hit points, a good variety of energy attack powers and strong defensive powers, inherent flight, and eventually, you even gain access to two shape-shift forms. You become stronger on a team, gaining bonuses to your own powers based on the archetypes of their teammates. This archetype must begin play as a hero on Primal Earth, and is not recommended for new players.

Warshades are former Nictus who have left that dark path behind and reformed, joining with a willing host. As a Warshade, you have solid hit points, a good variety of dark energy attack powers and strong defensive powers, inherent teleport, and eventually, you even gain access to two shape-shift forms. You become stronger on a team, gaining bonuses to your own powers based on the archetypes of their teammates. This archetype must begin play as a hero on Primal Earth, and is not recommended for new players.

SaxyGuitar · February 10

2 hours ago, gameboy1234 said:

1. New MMs have three buttons in their tray for controlling pets. One, "Follow" directs the pets to "follow aggressive". Can we get that changed to "follow defensive"? I think new MMs should have at least one way to activate bodyguard mode available to them. The default buttons on the Pet Window could also use the same change.

I am strongly for this! This is one of the 1st things I change when I start a new MM.

If I redid what buttons the MM had at start I'd go; Defensive/Follow, goto, Aggressive(/maybe follow).

If I could get more then just 3, and didn't think it was info overload I'd go; Defensive, Aggressive, goto, follow.

I like passive/follow but really the only times I use my passive binds are in Itrails.

52 minutes ago, Lockely said:

To second this, they respawn *really* fast. Like, you just finished killing a second group and the first group is back up fast.

This it true you'd kill 1 or 2 mobs, on the next the 1st is respawning. And you're only like 50-100ft away from the respawning mob. So you see it all.

InfamousBrad · February 10

18 minutes ago, SaxyGuitar said:

I am strongly for this! This is one of the 1st things I change when I start a new MM. ...

I use keybinds instead of buttons, but yeah, when I'm in /help I tell people they need three: pet_com_all:

Att Def (attack my target and immediately return to bodyguard mode)
Foll Def (bodyguard mode)
Foll Pass (stop everything and return to me)

SaxyGuitar · February 10

How did I forget attack!

I think I'm to use to it being on middle mouse click.

Edited February 10 by SaxyGuitar

Wavicle · February 10

5 hours ago, gameboy1234 said:

the queuing system is borked because no one uses it

that's my guess

If the Search and the LFG were put together, and instead we had a "Party Finder" where you could list your own event, then maybe it would work.

Edited February 10 by Wavicle

gameboy1234 · February 10

2 minutes ago, Wavicle said:

that's my guess

If the Search and the LFG were put together, and instead we had a "Party Finder" where you could list your own event, then maybe it would work.

I don't play other MMORPGs, so I wonder how they implement something like this. (A "Party Finder" is a good idea, kind of a way of making a permanent and scrollable LFG announcement.)

Wavicle · February 10

17 minutes ago, gameboy1234 said:

I don't play other MMORPGs, so I wonder how they implement something like this. (A "Party Finder" is a good idea, kind of a way of making a permanent and scrollable LFG announcement.)

both WoW and FFXIV have a system like this, in addition to their more basic queue systems.

I'm not sure a regular queue system would ever work here simply because there aren't enough people, but a Party Finder might.

They are handled differently in those two games though. In WoW, the person who starts the Party Finder group gets to decide who is allowed to join their team on an individual basis. In FFXIV anyone who the game deems eligible automatically gets to join. I definitely prefer the FFXIV version, and would for CoH purposes as well.

If it was done right, you could check a couple boxes when you make the Party Finder entry. One would include the new Team Composition badge options, so the game would know which roles are eligible to join. Another would be the event you were all joining for, so the game would know what levels were eligible.

Tatterhood · February 10

4 hours ago, gameboy1234 said:

2. The Longbow inside Mercy (the walled area of the red side starting zone) are just thick. I think it's worse than a hazard zone. I can evade them pretty easily with a Jetpack and Athletic Run, but new players might feel they need to fight their way through. Can the density of spawn inside Mercy be decreased? It feels a rather new player unfriendly as it is now. Longbow especially but some of the Ripper and Blighted too. Outside of the walled area I think the spawn is fine.

3 hours ago, Lockely said:

To second this, they respawn *really* fast. Like, you just finished killing a second group and the first group is back up fast.

These specific Longbow are the ones you need to beat up in Kuzmin's arc, so I guess these were both done to avoid problems if a lot of people are trying to do those missions at the same time. The Hellions across the street from Atlas Plaza work pretty much the same way, but I guess the difference is that Mercy is much more cramped so you're more likely to run into them by accident.

Reiska · February 10

20 hours ago, Blackbird71 said:

Personally I'd rather keep the original flavor. The AT names themselves are already indicative of their heroic or villainous nature, there's no need to strip them entirely of those identities. Unless we're really going to rename all the ATs next like we're doing with powers to blanderize them?

There's barely any aligned language to remove anyway, all it amounted to was a couple replacements of the word "hero" and removing "sadistic" from the description of Dominator's inherent. None of the other villain ATs' descriptions clearly align them.

In general I think the villain descriptions were much better written than the hero ones, but if someone were going to do a fuller rewrite it should be someone with broader experience than me. A good AT description at character creation should clearly and unambiguously communicate to the player:

The expected role of that AT in general terms, e.g. Blasters are damage specialists
How that AT differs from other ATs that share similar power sets, e.g. the varying niches of Scrapper/Tanker/Brute/Stalker/Sentinel, Controller vs. Dominator, Corruptor vs. Defender
Some sense of how difficult the AT is to play for a new player, especially in a solo context (e.g. Controller and Defender have limited damage output, EATs should absolutely have a "not recommended for new players" tag)

And no, I would absolutely argue against renaming any ATs at this point.

Edited February 11 by Reiska

Luminara · February 12

The AH sorts enhancements from level 1 (top) to level 50 (bottom). It sorts recipes from level 50 (top) to level 1 (bottom).

That's an entry barrier to the player market. Pick a sort order and apply it universally.

gameboy1234 · February 12

On 2/10/2024 at 11:46 AM, Lockely said:

To second this, they respawn *really* fast. Like, you just finished killing a second group and the first group is back up fast.

There's two groups and both are part of Operative Kuzmin's missions. The first is "Defeat 5 Longbow" (his first mission I think), these respawn really quickly. A longer respawn timer would help. Also you could add something so there's an immediate repawn if *all* of this group of Longbow are defeated (ideally respawn only some of the group, but if you can't a full respawn is acceptable), I think that would solve both too fast respawn problem and also address times when there's high demand from people running this quest.

The second I think is Kuzmin's third mission, "Find 3 codes from Longbow Technicians". This group also repawns really quickly, and there's a *huge* number of them. They also don't go away if you complete the mission, which is a shame. Same deal with these guys. First, reduce the number that spawn (keep the number of spawn points, but reduce how many are active at one time). Then increase the spawn timer so they respawn much more slowly. Finally if all of the groups are defeated then immediately respawn a few more.

Last, this may be a big ask, but if phasing volumes support more than two phases, you might be able to get rid of them completely if the player isn't doing Kuzmin's arc. That would clean up the area completely for everyone. If Kuzmin's arc isn't started, or if it's completed, just remove these guys entirely. That I think would help a lot.

Lockely · February 12

15 minutes ago, gameboy1234 said:

There's two groups and both are part of Operative Kuzmin's missions. The first is "Defeat 5 Longbow" (his first mission I think), these respawn really quickly. A longer respawn timer would help. Also you could add something so there's an immediate repawn if *all* of this group of Longbow are defeated (ideally respawn only some of the group, but if you can't a full respawn is acceptable), I think that would solve both too fast respawn problem and also address times when there's high demand from people running this quest.

The second I think is Kuzmin's third mission, "Find 3 codes from Longbow Technicians". This group also repawns really quickly, and there's a *huge* number of them. They also don't go away if you complete the mission, which is a shame. Same deal with these guys. First, reduce the number that spawn (keep the number of spawn points, but reduce how many are active at one time). Then increase the spawn timer so they respawn much more slowly. Finally if all of the groups are defeated then immediately respawn a few more.

Last, this may be a big ask, but if phasing volumes support more than two phases, you might be able to get rid of them completely if the player isn't doing Kuzmin's arc. That would clean up the area completely for everyone. If Kuzmin's arc isn't started, or if it's completed, just remove these guys entirely. That I think would help a lot.

There's a third group for the missions in Northern Mercy where they just respawn like crazy. I don't recall the name, but I do recall you had to kill 15 longbow. It might be part of Lt. Harris' quests? The prison camp he has you clear is pretty quick respawning too.

Wavicle · February 12

1 minute ago, Lockely said:

There's a third group for the missions in Northern Mercy where they just respawn like crazy. I don't recall the name, but I do recall you had to kill 15 longbow. It might be part of Lt. Harris' quests? The prison camp he has you clear is pretty quick respawning too.

yes, the next arc sends you north to another area with too many longbow and another with too many legacy chain

Vic Raiden · February 12

Harris also has a mission where you're tasked with clicking three glowies, and then one with destroying some Legacy Chain runes... neither of which disappear upon mission completion, oddly enough. I'd be happy to see that changed as well.

SirNatural20 · February 13

The P2W Wyvern Interceptor inside Fort Trident is still named as such on the minimap, instead of SMART Wyvern interceptor

Edited February 13 by SirNatural20

ZamuelNow · February 13

Likewise, the P2W Field Agent in the Crucible is still using the original name.

Jacke · February 15

User Interface Improvements

The power recharge timer now defaults to on (Center).
When centered, the recharge timer slightly increases in size as it approaches 0, and has an extra animation when the power is recharged.
Icons of recharging powers no longer shrink when the recharge timer is enabled, to make them easier to see behind the number.
New settings added to control power tray animations and add more customization options (format options, color coding, opacity) for the recharge timer.

Kudos to whoever thought of these changes.

I just popped onto Brainstorm to check these new settings out.

Located under Menu > Options > Options window > Windows tab > Powers section about midway down

Having the recharging powers icons no longer shrink but just grey-out is a good change.

I still think "Top" is better than "Center" or "Bottom". Out of the way of the tray slot numbers and above the centre of the icon, making the icons of recharging powers easier to make out.

I prefer these settings:

Power Tray Animations
- Enabled
Power Recharge Timer
- Top
Recharge Timer Format
- Minutes & Seconds w/ fractions
Recharge Timer Color
- Enabled
Recharge Timer Opacity
- 100%

macskull · February 15

It took a little bit of time for me to get used to the power icons not changing size anymore but I don't mind it. I don't like the recharge timer numbers themselves growing in size, it looks weird and the numbers seem to "jump" around instead of there being a smooth scaling up of the size.

gameboy1234 · February 15

Just jumped on Brainstorm, RC2 is looking good overall. Just some last minute thoughts:

1. I think my biggest issue is that running Outbreak sends you to the old contacts in City Hall. Would like to see this redirected to Matthew Habashy.

2. At the very start of Breakout, there's a dialog telling you to use WASD to move and other stuff. This is missing for Outbreak (I'm sure it was there at one time). Could it be added in?

3. I like the defaults for power timers, but I prefer to see the fractional seconds. Dunno who else feels the same way. I'd like to see the fractions as the default tho.

That's all I can think of that we haven't all given lots of feedback on already. Looks good and great for new players!

Lord Goldmane · February 15

On 1/27/2024 at 5:55 PM, Tatterhood said:

The current text already does say Outbreak is for heroes and Breakout is for villains.

FWIW I don't mind Breakout, it has atmosphere at least.

I personally like the fact that Galaxy City gives an impression of the Player's origin story, unlike Outbreak/Breakout which just skips anything of the sort.

although it does need to be overhauled in the tutorial department.

Sovera · February 15

Someone else brought it up but I was thinking the same yesterday: should not the options to see the mob's names and HP be turned on by default? I believe that the option is only(?) found hidden in a slash command.

Blackbird71 · February 15

11 hours ago, gameboy1234 said:

1. I think my biggest issue is that running Outbreak sends you to the old contacts in City Hall. Would like to see this redirected to Matthew Habashy.

No thank you; this would make no sense. Matthew Hashaby specifically continues the story after the fall of Galaxy City. If you don't take the Galaxy City tutorial, there is no reason to route to him. By contrast, the old City Hall contacts still present some solid missions, and it would be a shame to have those forgotten and disregarded just because the Outbreak tutorial doesn't send anyone there anymore.

Doc_Scorpion · February 15

22 hours ago, Jacke said:

Power Tray Animations

Enabled

So, what exactly does this setting do? I've played with it some and can't figure it out.

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