High level enemy group revamps

[Infinitum]

My usual task force setting - no matter the task force is +1x8 because these days I'm just looking for the journey. I can accomplish the 4/8.but i have learned to slow down the last few years in all aspects of my life because I don't want to miss anything being in a rush to the destination. 

[Ukase]

13 hours ago, Ghost said:

I’m just not sure how true that actually is.

Yes they were given a license to operate a server - but it’s technically still a private server.

They did agree to some things, but still have absolute control over everything.

 

Now, I’m no expert on anything, and may be misinterpreting the whole agreement.

However, what I do know is that they are under no obligation to appease the players.

Companies such as Sony or Blizzard have to make the player base happy or they will lose money and eventually go out of business.

 

 

Like yourself, I'm no expert either. But, let us suppose for the sake of argument you are correct and there is no obligation to appease the players. How do you think that plays out over time? Will it be like Comcast, where droves of people cancel as soon as they can get an alternative, but nobody at Comcast notices because they're just so gigantic, and new people move in the areas they cover every day so it looks on paper like they never lose anyone? 

Or will it be like when ...what was that game...Star Wars Old Republic or something. I remember when that game came out the population certainly seemed to drop. Subscriptions may have been consistently paid, but there were a lot fewer folks playing. 

After the Burn nerf, way back in issue 5 was it? They put an element of fear in it way back when and a lot of folks just stopped their sub and never came back. 
Now, before people think I'm shouting "dooooom!", it's not that bad - - yet. 

The HC Devs WILL continue to read, but they discount opinions at the peril of HC. There's probably a reason or two why they heed the voices of certain folks and not others. One reason might be a good one, and another reason might not be so good. No idea. I'm on the outside, but I do hear whispers now and then about what's going on. So, I'm not too worried about selective direction based on the voices of the chosen few. It's a concern. But it's not an actual worry, if that makes any sense. 

I'm still delighted to enjoy the changes that were made to blasters apparently during the shutdown. I certainly never had 1847.3 HP on any blaster I had before. There's a great deal that's been done that I'm delighted with. 
/enterbasefrompasscode is one of my favorite changes. 
Null the gull, Schweinzer...like those two NPCs aren't visited more often than any other contact, except maybe Maria Jenkins and Tina Mac. (Imperious and Yin and Positron might rank in there somewhere, I guess) 

It's not all doom and gloom. 
But, that freem stuff...great, silly name. But the mechanic itself is annoying. But, I'll soon get my characters to adapt so it doesn't happen anymore. 

[shortguy on indom]

On 5/8/2024 at 5:50 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!? 

where are these 'new' 6-million dollar council found these days... striga still?  certain contact arcs?

lmk

think it's important to replicate your experience, before commenting.  

Edited May 12 by shortguy on indom
clarity

[Ghost]

8 hours ago, Ukase said:

The HC Devs WILL continue to read, but they discount opinions at the peril of HC. There's probably a reason or two why they heed the voices of certain folks and not others. One reason might be a good one, and another reason might not be so good. No idea. I'm on the outside, but I do hear whispers now and then about what's going on. So, I'm not too worried about selective direction based on the voices of the chosen few. It's a concern. But it's not an actual worry, if that makes any sense. 
 

This part has always fascinated me about this forum.

I remember a couple years ago, a couple posters tried cramming “inner circle” into seemingly everything they posted.

Well, every world leader has trusted advisors.

Every coach/manager of every pro sports franchise has a group of trusted assistants that they take with them everywhere they go.

Every team leader at every company has at least one person they rely on to close deals, make sales, etc.

If you have a group of friends, I’m sure there are one or two that you could count on to have your back, or help you hide a body.

 

So, why should the HC devs be any different? (not necessarily directed at you Ukase)

Why are they expected to operate differently than the rest of society?

Why would they not listen to a few trusted individuals that they feel comfortable with?

Im not saying they only listen to a “select few”.  I got no idea, and honestly don’t care - I love the game, and they’ve not made one single change that bothers me so badly that I want to complain.

Are there things I’d like to see changed or included? Yes, of course.  But I won’t have fits because they’re not.

 

 

Edited May 12 by Ghost

[Ukase]

45 minutes ago, Ghost said:

Well, every world leader has trusted advisors.

Every coach/manager of every pro sports franchise has a group of trusted assistants that they take with them everywhere they go.

Every team leader at every company has at least one person they rely on to close deals, make sales, etc.

If you have a group of friends, I’m sure there are one or two that you could count on to have your back, or help you hide a body.

 

So, why should the HC devs be any different?

You pretty much say here part of what I was thinking. No offense taken at all. 

[Eiko-chan]

4 hours ago, shortguy on indom said:

where are these 'new' 6-million dollar council found these days... striga still?  certain contact arcs?

lmk

think it's important to replicate your experience, before commenting.  

Try Provost Marchand's New Praetorians story arc.

[Rudra]

8 hours ago, shortguy on indom said:

where are these 'new' 6-million dollar council found these days... striga still?  certain contact arcs?

lmk

think it's important to replicate your experience, before commenting.  

They're found pretty much everywhere you find level 36+ Council. I've been fighting them in paper missions as I try for the next mayhem mission badge.

[Akisan]

On 5/10/2024 at 12:13 PM, Infinitum said:

I think the most balanced enemy group is the crey. I run a lot of crey missions because you literally have a chance to see every damage type in every mob. 

 

So very much have to disagree here.  I could see them being the "most balanced" if they had varied resists at all levels (like Arachnos does), but since all 46+ Crey have the same resists (including 50% Lethal), I have to say they're unfairly punishing towards a common damage type.  (AFAIK, no other common enemy group has uniform resists that high on all mobs - even Malta varies between "only" 30% and 50% resists, depending on mob).  I'd love a balance pass across 46+ Crey, mostly just to spread that 50% resist more evenly with other types (like Cryo tanks having strong Fire/Cold resist, but less Smashing/Lethal).

 

I haven't done much soloing lately (50 mission teams and lowbie duos/trios), but from what I've seen, Council radios still go down pretty quick on a full team.  As ever, though - shapeshifting Archons, Paragon Protectors, etc. are much easier to take down with Holds (so they can't activate MoG).

[Infinitum]

2 hours ago, Akisan said:

So very much have to disagree here.  I could see them being the "most balanced" if they had varied resists at all levels (like Arachnos does), but since all 46+ Crey have the same resists (including 50% Lethal), I have to say they're unfairly punishing towards a common damage type.  (AFAIK, no other common enemy group has uniform resists that high on all mobs - even Malta varies between "only" 30% and 50% resists, depending on mob).  I'd love a balance pass across 46+ Crey, mostly just to spread that 50% resist more evenly with other types (like Cryo tanks having strong Fire/Cold resist, but less Smashing/Lethal).

 

I wouldn't be opposed to anything you wrote here - but the discussion and my angle was about the damge types enemy groups inflict on us - and let's face it - our ability to output damage - there is really no shortfall there. 

 

Take a look at what I wrote again. 

 

2 hours ago, Akisan said:

  On 5/10/2024 at 2:13 PM, Infinitum said:

I think the most balanced enemy group is the crey. I run a lot of crey missions because you literally have a chance to see every damage type in every mob. 

 

I can see why you said what you said - but it really has no bearing on why I said what I said - mainly because each crey group could include inflicting every damage type in the game on us.  

[shortguy on indom]

9 hours ago, Eiko-chan said:

Try Provost Marchand's New Praetorians story arc.

Testing of lvl 50 Council arc 24.06 in ouro.  Prevost Marchand contact.
1st Arc; 3rd mission; went thru 3 rooms; 2 groups aggroed at a time.
used: lvl 50 defender; no ispirations; Alpha intuition slotted; no other incarnate powers used.

• premise: went thru various notoriety settings to see what's up w/the 'new' council on the same arc same 3rd mission and took some notes.  each time went through first 3 rooms in the arc.  stopped after freeing aurora pena.  then changed notoriety settings, then logged off then back on to do the next difficulty setting.
• notoriety setting/notes:

+0/2 - was too easy.  no difficulty at all.
+0/4 - easy.  now includes equinox adjutant (vamps) and zeniths.
+1/4 - interesting at this point, now includes above plus nightwolf champion and galaxy archons.  lots of Recharge DeBuff.
+2/4 - starting to get fun.  level 53 bosses (purple eclipse war wolf) present a couple lvl 53 LTs also.  getting 'stunned' at this point.  had a 3 minute fight with boss in last room.
+3/4 - now noticeably taking longer to clear rooms.  lots of lvl 54 LTs and lvl 54 bosses (eclipse war wolf).  was knocked down (surprising because have very high knockback protection).  took about 7 or 8 minutes to clear last room. boss fight about same as before.
+4/4 - whole groups are now all comprised of lvl 54.  everything else including times and such seemed very similar to the +3/4 setting.

• overall impression:  jump between +1/4 and +2/4 was quite large in the difficulty department.  +2/4 seemed stronger than usual to me.  all the other notoriety settings seemed on par with what i would expect. (side note, my toon did not seem particularly 'soft' to this enemy except for the surprising -Recharge DeBuff and very unusual knockdown).

[Ruin Mage]

time for my 2cents:

The game at 46-50 needs to not be a joke. Right now, in most cases, it is. At 46-50, you should be expected to use your full suite of powers and more as you change your difficulty settings. Every group should be some variant on the word tough and not be a mow-them-down mindless exp pits. Mindless EXP pits are for the AE and that's just fine by me.

At most, Council is tedious right now and that joins up with most of the 46-50 groups depending on AT/build or skill issues.

[golstat2003]

2 hours ago, Ruin Mage said:

time for my 2cents:

The game at 46-50 needs to not be a joke. Right now, in most cases, it is. At 46-50, you should be expected to use your full suite of powers and more as you change your difficulty settings. Every group should be some variant on the word tough and not be a mow-them-down mindless exp pits. Mindless EXP pits are for the AE and that's just fine by me.

At most, Council is tedious right now and that joins up with most of the 46-50 groups depending on AT/build or skill issues.

 

Tedious is the right word . . . for solo. For teams I think it's fine as it always was. 

[MsSmart]

On 5/8/2024 at 4:50 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!? 

Sadly there is a group of players from a particular server, that reserves the right to tell others how to play and enjoy the game, their continuous complaining and demanding the game is to only be played in their way and no other way, because you see they know everything and the rest of us are just stupid.

 

So because of those, really sweet people, who thinks way too much of themselves, they have devastated AE, and PI missions with the objective that you MUST play the game as THEY see fit, what you think and want is totally irrelevant to these people

 

Sue

[Laucianna]

15 hours ago, MsSmart said:

Sadly there is a group of players from a particular server, that reserves the right to tell others how to play and enjoy the game, their continuous complaining and demanding the game is to only be played in their way and no other way, because you see they know everything and the rest of us are just stupid.

 

So because of those, really sweet people, who thinks way too much of themselves, they have devastated AE, and PI missions with the objective that you MUST play the game as THEY see fit, what you think and want is totally irrelevant to these people

 

Sue

Please assume good faith as per the rules hun, this feature was implemented by the homecoming team as a way to turn two of the most boring and easy enemy groups into something a bit more fun 🙂 Most people enjoy at least a minimum amount of challenge in their games which the previous Council or CoT didn't provide, however if you do wish to steamroll content to fulfil your idea of a superhero MMO, there is quite a simple fix implemented into the game, lowering the difficulty down. The game has a great way to change the difficulty that makes it super easy to tailor the difficulty of the game to your desire, something very rare in an MMO ❤️

[johua]

I don't think the Council needed a buff tbh. But also I don't think I'd mind it as much if not for the Freem thing, which I find incredibly annoying and unfun, and the tedium of having to fight the bosses 2-3 times, because I could swear I've had bosses resurrect and then when I get them low again they turn into warwolves, and I'm just like... who thought that this would be fun?

I also assume that the resurrected mobs don't give any rewards, but I honestly zone out pretty hard when I have to deal with a mob just refusing to stay down. But if the Freakshow bosses don't give XP after they resurrect, I figure it's probably the same for the council, which just adds to the tedium.

[Eiko-chan]

7 minutes ago, johua said:

I also assume that the resurrected mobs don't give any rewards, but I honestly zone out pretty hard when I have to deal with a mob just refusing to stay down. But if the Freakshow bosses don't give XP after they resurrect, I figure it's probably the same for the council, which just adds to the tedium.

Resurrected mobs give full XP rewards. Freakshow that resurrect grant full XP for the second defeat, and so do the nuCouncil. 

[johua]

15 minutes ago, Eiko-chan said:

Resurrected mobs give full XP rewards. Freakshow that resurrect grant full XP for the second defeat, and so do the nuCouncil. 

Huh. I thought the Freakshow resurrects got nerfed because people were using them for farms.

[Eiko-chan]

6 minutes ago, johua said:

Huh. I thought the Freakshow resurrects got nerfed because people were using them for farms.

They come back randomly and at full health. I'm not sure how that's exactly "farmable". 🙂

[KaizenSoze]

29 minutes ago, Eiko-chan said:

They come back randomly and at full health. I'm not sure how that's exactly "farmable". 🙂

It's 20% rez chance for all Freakshow, except Super Stunners which rez 100% if someone is within 25'.

[PeregrineFalcon]

This is exactly why all of you should read the beta patch notes, test on the beta server, and post in the Feedback threads.

 

The developers have actually changed things in response to feedback in their feedback threads. What they generally don't do is change things in response to complaints after its gone live. So basically you all missed your window to keep this from going live simply because you weren't interested in beta testing or giving feedback.

 

Want to keep more changes that you'll dislike from going live? Give feedback in the feedback threads when a new patch is on the test server.

[lemming]

1 hour ago, johua said:

Huh. I thought the Freakshow resurrects got nerfed because people were using them for farms.

Nah, it is why they don't give as much XP though.

 

There is that one Unai mission that gives double credit towards the badge for Tanks, but that's a different beast anyway.

[lemming]

12 minutes ago, PeregrineFalcon said:

Want to keep more changes that you'll dislike from going live? Give feedback in the feedback threads when a new patch is on the test server.

And, the feedback seems to go better if you have a reasoned response more than "THIS SUCKS"

 

They definitely do listen to us, but remember, they're people.

[Eiko-chan]

53 minutes ago, PeregrineFalcon said:

What they generally don't do is change things in response to complaints after its gone live.

If this is true, this is a bad stance to have. The beta is not the live servers. Expecting your player base to expend a lot of time and effort - and levelling - on beta testing is aspirational but grossly unrealistic. 

 

But I don't believe this is actually the case. 

[Eiko-chan]

40 minutes ago, lemming said:

And, the feedback seems to go better if you have a reasoned response more than "THIS SUCKS"

 

They definitely do listen to us, but remember, they're people.

My suggestion and feedback post was quite reasoned. My general post asking where I was supposed to post about it was not. But then some GM came and pasted them together sloppily and now it's a big mess.

[Glacier Peak]

11 minutes ago, Eiko-chan said:

If this is true, this is a bad stance to have. The beta is not the live servers. Expecting your player base to expend a lot of time and effort - and levelling - on beta testing is aspirational but grossly unrealistic. 

 

But I don't believe this is actually the case. 

It's not unrealistic at all - it's worked this way for five years now. If players care enough about something, they'll do it. If a player gets on to the beta server, they can instantly level any character to 50, get all Incarnates, badges, accolades, and IOs, anything they need for testing is free and easy accessible.