High level enemy group revamps

[Eiko-chan]

Mayhem Missions are awesome. Safeguard missions are, in fact, gutter content. They aren't comparable. Safeguards were a bone thrown to Hero players that were mad Villains had something cool, but it wasn't a very good bone. 

[PeregrineFalcon]

  On 5/8/2024 at 9:50 PM, Eiko-chan said:

Where am I supposed to discuss this topic? Why the hell is the Council hard now? Who's fucking idea was this and why is it just allowed to happen!? 

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To answer your question, since it doesn't appear that anyone else is, a small group of people spent a little over a year spamming the forums with threads complaining that "Game too easy, bruh!" Every day there was at least one new thread with that subject. Day after day after day after day. Over and over and over and again. For over a year.

 

Meanwhile the Council of Thirteen checked the game metrics and noticed that a sizeable portion of the game play, that wasn't AE farming, was people steamrolling Council PI Radio missions. Day after day after day. Over and over and over again.

 

So they responded by creating a Hard Mode for a new task force and implied that they'll be rolling out this Hard Mode setting to other task forces in the future. But that didn't stop the onslaught of constant "Game too easy, bruh!" threads.

 

So they then revamped the Council and the CoT to be more difficult because that's what people who spent so much time spamming the forums wanted.

[Lunar Ronin]

  On 5/9/2024 at 3:51 PM, Eiko-chan said:

Mayhem Missions are awesome. Safeguard missions are, in fact, gutter content. They aren't comparable. Safeguards were a bone thrown to Hero players that were mad Villains had something cool, but it wasn't a very good bone. 

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Not to mention that there are easier and less dull ways to unlock both mayhem and safeguard missions now.

[tidge]

Hero Safeguard's do allow you to face off against Lord Recluse as he robs a bank!

[tidge]

  On 5/9/2024 at 3:54 PM, Lunar Ronin said:

 

Not to mention that there are easier and less dull ways to unlock both mayhem and safeguard missions now.

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  On 5/9/2024 at 3:50 PM, tidge said:

The radios/newspapers are the way to get Safeguard/Mayhem missions (modulo specific badge unlocks), and the Tip missions are a nice change of pace. They are not gutter content.

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[GM_GooglyMoogly]

There were two similarly titled threads in two different sub-forums that I just merged.  Apologies if that threw off the flow, but at least everyone is literally on the same page now.

[Eiko-chan]

  On 5/9/2024 at 1:17 PM, GM Impervium said:

Also, per the question posed by the title of the OP, you can leave feedback in the Suggestions & Feedback forum. 

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I posted in the Suggestions forum because I was literally told to do so by a GM. This moderation action is in direct violation of what the GM told me to do.

[GM_GooglyMoogly]

Oh dang!  My bad.  I meant to merge into S&F.

 

Reset!

 

[Sanguinesun]

  On 5/9/2024 at 3:30 PM, Eiko-chan said:

Do we even play the same game? Malta and Carnival have never been the most annoying groups, at least not since Going Rogue. The groups added in Praetoria were the gold standard for toughness, and the new Council outstrips even them.

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I consider the Archons to now be mini AV's.  They're essentially over-tuned, but as you've seen, the response you get is "bring them in line with" or they were too easy etc.   As the feature creep tree marking continues, more will be "made more in line" to the point that it'll cycle up and up.  That's the intention.  Not smacked all at once but over time with the dismissiveness against those criticizing it, as has been seen for a few years now.    This wasnt the first and certainly wont be the last to be sure. 

Edited May 9, 2024 by Sanguinesun

[lemming]

Hmm.  Carnies and Malta are annoying with their Endurance sapping, though with them, it's easy to avoid if you're not just jumping in without looking around.   Carnies go down fast from lethal, but some chars have difficulty.

Council didn't have any real strengths, so they got some buffs, but for most of my chars, they're just a little chewier.  The FREEM KB was the only thing I thought was a bit overdone with them, but iirc, someone said it's got a reachable resist now?

 

Arachnos I find are more likely to be a tougher fight, mainly from various debuffs and more of a mix of powers.  IDF is similar for me.

 

Steamrolling is still happening, even at +4/x8 with teams.

[Frostbiter]

  On 5/9/2024 at 3:30 PM, Eiko-chan said:

Do we even play the same game? Malta and Carnival have never been the most annoying groups, at least not since Going Rogue. The groups added in Praetoria were the gold standard for toughness, and the new Council outstrips even them.

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The Carnival of Shadows haven't been a problem since the amount of summons the Illusionists and Master Illusionists create were nerfed to correspond to team size.

[Bionic_Flea]

I argued during beta that they should not change Council and CoT.  I did not and do not want changes to the existing base game but absolutely want new challenging content like they made with the new hard mode stuff.  Others thought differently, including the devs.

 

However, now that it's been in game for a bit, I find it more of a speed bump than a wall.  It's a bit slower and inconvenient, but I can still get past it easy enough.

 

I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but what AT and powersets are you having a hard time with Council x8.  It may be that new Council is particularly strong against what you are bringing.  For example, SR laughs at Malta sappers, but resistance armor melees better take them out fast or risk being left naked.

[Ukase]

  On 5/9/2024 at 1:17 PM, GM Impervium said:

This has been remedied in order to encourage team play at the higher difficulties that are meant to be team content.

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And there's the answer there. 
Thankfully, even though task forces (for now) can still be attempted solo, I am anticipating further changes to foster more of this "teaming". This leads me to believe that poor Snarky is going to be very busy writing about all the fun he has teaming with these players that are so helpful in creating memorable experiences. 

[PhotriusPyrelus]

  On 5/9/2024 at 3:21 PM, KaizenSoze said:

The game is too easy at the high end.

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Is it?  Or is it too easy when you've spent 5 billion influence in Enhancements to reach the absolute pinnacle of power?  I thought the whole point of reaching that peak was to make the game easier and be a walking nuclear bomb...

EDIT:  To expand, it's very strange to me the answer to complaints about difficulty being too high is *always* "turn down the difficulty", but the answer to things being too easy is never "turn down your character's power."

Edited May 9, 2024 by PhotriusPyrelus

[Eiko-chan]

  On 5/9/2024 at 4:58 PM, Bionic_Flea said:

I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but what AT and powersets are you having a hard time with Council x8.  It may be that new Council is particularly strong against what you are bringing.  For example, SR laughs at Malta sappers, but resistance armor melees better take them out fast or risk being left naked.

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I am currently levelling a Demon/Pain MM. Key phrase: levelling. This is not a 50. This is not an Incarnate.
I imagine that once I have Clarion Destiny, the difficulty bump with ramp down a lot, but at current level (47 as of this post), this build is handling UPA, IDF, and Arachnos x8 spawns with less difficulty than Council spawns. 
Knockback has always been a sort of soft-counter to MMs, especially area knockback, but the Council revamp is taking this to extremes that not even Fake Nemeses are matching.

Edited May 9, 2024 by Eiko-chan

[Rudra]

  On 5/9/2024 at 2:04 PM, Frostbiter said:

Personally, I like the new Council. They aren't chumps anymore. I think Malta needs the next revamp. They've become the chumps at 50 now.

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Are you kidding me? Malta is the only group I worry about. Between their extremely long mezzes and their Sappers, if you aren't a melee type and pick off the Sappers 1st, they're a problem.

[Rudra]

  On 5/9/2024 at 3:54 PM, Lunar Ronin said:

 

Not to mention that there are easier and less dull ways to unlock both mayhem and safeguard missions now.

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There are? How? The only other method I know of is through the two dedicated contacts that only give those missions, but you need signature heroes/villains for the Mayhems/Safeguards to get them.

Edited May 9, 2024 by Rudra
Edited to add missed "I know of".

[Eiko-chan]

  On 5/9/2024 at 5:20 PM, Rudra said:

There are? How? The only other method is through the two dedicated contacts that only give those missions, but you need signature heroes/villains for the Mayhems/Safeguards to get them.

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Signature heroes and villains often appear in Tip missions.

[Rudra]

  On 5/9/2024 at 5:21 PM, Eiko-chan said:

Signature heroes and villains often appear in Tip missions.

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I've only seen maybe a handful of them in Tip missions that you actually fight. Out of the (I think) 25 you need to unlock direct Mayhem/Safeguard access.

Edited May 9, 2024 by Rudra
Edited to correct "in" to "of".

[KaizenSoze]

  On 5/9/2024 at 5:11 PM, PhotriusPyrelus said:

Is it?  Or is it too easy when you've spent 5 billion influence in Enhancements to reach the absolute pinnacle of power?  I thought the whole point of reaching that peak was to make the game easier and be a walking nuclear bomb...

EDIT:  To expand, it's very strange to me the answer to complaints about difficulty being too high is *always* "turn down the difficulty", but the answer to things being too easy is never "turn down your character's power."

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I have never had 5 billion in influence. Never will. I have farmed some, crafted a lot, and just played. You make a lot of influence just playing.

 

My problem with high end. Practically no risk for reward. Mob are still getting wiped out incredible quick. So, quick that I can barely have to time to click more than 1-2 attacks sometimes.

 

Doesn't feel fun. Doesn't feel powerful. It's feels boring. Add a "little" bit of difficultly and people might actually have to use a "tiny" bit of teamwork.

 

Also, I have suggested nerfs. I think the problem is on both ends.

[KaizenSoze]

  On 5/9/2024 at 5:24 PM, Rudra said:

I've only seen maybe a handful of them in Tip missions that you actually fight. Out of the (I think) 25 you need to unlock direct Mayhem/Safeguard access.

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I think you are looking for this task force to help with that. Mender Silos Task Force between this and Maria Jenkins you should be pretty close.

[Frostbiter]

  On 5/9/2024 at 5:13 PM, Rudra said:

Are you kidding me? Malta is the only group I worry about. Between their extremely long mezzes and their Sappers, if you aren't a melee type and pick off the Sappers 1st, they're a problem.

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No. that's what I think. Thanks for asking.

[Rudra]

  On 5/9/2024 at 5:25 PM, KaizenSoze said:

I have never had 5 billion in influence. Never will. I have farmed some, crafted a lot, and just played. You make a lot of influence just playing.

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That's a semi-contradictory statement in that you say you never had the money and you also say you can have the money. The claim of players spending 5 billion inf' doesn't mean they had all 5 billion at once to spend. Your response doesn't say you didn't build an expensive IO build, just that you didn't farm it, which does not counter the statement you quoted.

 

Edited May 9, 2024 by Rudra
Edited to correct "ahd" to "had".

[Eiko-chan]

  On 5/9/2024 at 5:25 PM, KaizenSoze said:

My problem with high end. Practically no risk for reward. Mob are still getting wiped out incredible quick. So, quick that I can barely have to time to click more than 1-2 attacks sometimes.

 

Doesn't feel fun. Doesn't feel powerful. It's feels boring. Add a "little" bit of difficultly and people might actually have to use a "tiny" bit of teamwork.

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The funny thing is, despite this being an MMO, teaming up is not the norm for superheroes. There are super teams, yes, but they don't all turn out for everyday threats. The entire team only assembles to face world-shattering threats. Mobs should be getting wiped out incredibly quick by a full team of supers. The team isn't assembled to fight Joker's minions, or even Joker himself. The team assembled to face down Darkseid, Galactus, or the entire Thanagarian military. 

Solo/duo play is where the individual power of a hero really shines, both in comics and in this game. If you feel like you aren't really contributing in team play, might I humbly suggest trying to play with smaller teams but at the same difficulty?

[Luminara]

OP combines complaining about not being able to solo Council at */x8 with complaining about the Council being too hard for sub-50 characters, and complaining about Council being too hard on casual players.

 

"Casual" players who solo at */x8, on sub-50 characters, without purples, Superior ATOs, level shifts, Incarnate abilities, and only 2/3 of their powers and 1/2 their slots.

 

And who are struggling when fighting the Council, because they're "hard".

 

Right...