In light of the success of Striga going co-op

[UltraAlt]

3 minutes ago, Rudra said:

Which would be nice if they did. One of the (many) reasons I prefer to play solo is specifically because on teams where we have Teleport Target, if I'm not the one that gets to the door 1st and starts recalling stragglers, no one does. They just go in the mission and get it done. I've been on too many TFs where I sat outside recalling team members to the mission only for the mission to finish while I am still recalling people or for the mission to finish just after I enter after recalling people. And this even happened on teams where I know half the team had Recall Friend (at the time). Except the other 3 people with Recall Friend ran inside, one ran to the end and recalled the other 2, and they finished the mission while the rest of the team was still being recalled to the mission and not even inside yet.

 

It's much a "team" when players are only looking out for #1 or when one more players don't really care about the rest of the team.

 

The frequency of this behavior seems to increase based on the level of the character that other players are playing.

50's are the most likely not to care about what the rest of team is doing or where they are. And, if it is a task force, they are only running it for the merits.

 

 

[golstat2003]

On 6/13/2024 at 11:15 AM, UltraAlt said:

 

I don't believe that they need to make it co-op.

Rogues can get there.

 

If the "red side" DEV feels like they want to create villain content there. I'm sure they will.

From my point of view, it will not be a useful addition to a majority of the player base.

 

I don't care either way if they do. Folks are just pointing out the things they need to do for the zone first if they ever intend to make it co-op.

[UltraAlt]

5 hours ago, golstat2003 said:

Folks are just pointing out the things they need to do for the zone first if they ever intend to make it co-op.

 

I'm just replying based upon the fact that the thread is named "In light of the success of Striga going co-op".

[Ukase]

On 6/12/2024 at 10:34 PM, UltraAlt said:

There really is no reason to create or change zones into co-op zones since there is an alignment system for those that really want do the content content that being a true hero or true villain wouldn't allow. That's why the alignment system was added in the first place.

You're not wrong here. But, just from what I've seen, the number of players in Striga looks to have at least doubled since the changes to Striga. Sure, we can change alignments practically at will. I would love it if alignments were just thrown out, but there's too much lore and too much content that would probably go with it, and it wouldn't make sense. 

I see no reason for an arbitrary change to the shadow shard to go co-op without something to do in the zone besides the very lengthy TFs that are there. Yet, there are a fair number of players who do NOT like to change alignments. I'm sure there are a number of reasons. 

The biggest reason villains (well, at least my villains) want to remain villain is Frenzy. 

 

Some dominators rely on this power. Certainly my brutes like it. Who's not going to like an extra 60% damage for 20s? And every 6 minutes. 


Again, it's just something I'd like to see. It won't be the end of the world if it never comes to pass. But the idea of NOT doing it just because people can change alignments is not my idea of a good reason. 

[Lazarillo]

On 6/18/2024 at 9:02 AM, Ukase said:

Some dominators rely on this power.

That's more for a thread suggesting how to address some Dominator-related design flaws, than anything related to the alignments themselves, I feel like.

[Chris24601]

One reason for the paucity of content is, obviously, it was added in issue 1 way back in 2004 and, for the time when WoW was just launching itself, it’s got quite a lot content… lots of large open world mobs, endless repeatable missions (including ones that originally rewarded large inspirations, rather than mediums today; a big deal pre-IO sets) and a number of lengthy task forces. It was certainly better developed than the old Rikti Crash Site.

 

Also of note is that, before Fitness became inherent, I remember the geysers working extremely accurately if you followed the gravity geyser tutorial’s instructions to turn off all your travel powers (including sprint) and did NOT have Hurdle from the Fitness pool (all the numbers for speed and height of the geysers were relative to the base numbers for jump speed and height and would drop you right on target if you had those… no one has the base numbers now due to inherent Fitness which is why they’re so inaccurate today).

 

This also suggests that fixing said accuracy might be fixable as a kludge via a “temp” toggle power that sets your run and jump speeds and jump height to the default values (call it a GTS… Gravitational Turbulence Stabilizer) even if it’s otherwise impossible to just set the jump values to ignore buffs.

 

Anyway, the zones are definitely showing it two decades these days, but given the closeout of issue 27 with Piecemeal’s personal story setting up the Battalion (and the new gravity mechanic), I don’t think it’s beyond salvaging/revamping… particularly if you’re looking to continue the story of the Oncoming Storm.

 

The most obvious update would be to replace the generic UN military presence with the UN military force specifically created to deal with trans dimensional threats; the already cross-faction Vanguard.

 

Subsequent issues have introduced Nemesis’ secret Shadow Shard base and the Rularuu-Shin cultists into the mix. There’s also supposed to be debris and survivors from Primal Earth (or mirror copies of them anyway) from when the Shard was created to imprison Rularuu that could also create more visual variety in the zones along with fodder for mission content.

 

TL;DR

- Make the zone into a Vanguard-coordinated co-op zone (which is already accessible from the RWZ if you’re of the proper alignment). Possibly an Incarnate Zone as only Dark Astoria and parts of Cimerora really work like that (and only the DA arcs offer Incarnate rewards outside of Vet levels/Trials).

 

- Fix the geysers either by fixing the way it interacts with the player jump values or via a temp toggle power (GTS) that suppresses player movement buffs to the base values while active.

 

- Add mission content based on seeking out Incarnate power (heroes for prepping against the Oncoming Storm, villains for their own ends). Possible new enemies would be high-level Rularuu-Shin (perhaps adding them to Rularuu proper for more variety in their forces) and giving more purpose to the Shadow reflections as harbingers of the Battalion (just like during the now-optional Incarnate unlock mission) seeking to stop you.

- Incorporate city debris (with human survivors) and a Nemesis base (and maybe a Circle stronghold) into the zones for a little more visual variety.

[Akisan]

On 6/21/2024 at 5:07 PM, Chris24601 said:

Also of note is that, before Fitness became inherent, I remember the geysers working extremely accurately if you followed the gravity geyser tutorial’s instructions to turn off all your travel powers (including sprint) and did NOT have Hurdle from the Fitness pool (all the numbers for speed and height of the geysers were relative to the base numbers for jump speed and height and would drop you right on target if you had those… no one has the base numbers now due to inherent Fitness which is why they’re so inaccurate today).

 

The geysers are still quite accurate (even with SJ/SS/Sprint on), but there is a trick to them - all travel powers (including sprint and hurdle) add some amount of air control.  If you hold any movement key while launching or after launching, it'll throw off the jet and you'll (likely) miss.  The only reliable method I know of to be accurately launched (nearly) every time is to run up the channel on the geyser, and stop moving as soon as you touch the geyser. (If you hold forward even a moment too long though, it overwrites some of the imparted momentum, causing a miss).  With this, it's pretty easy for me to navigate the Shards with SJ left on (for easy correction if I slightly mess up a jet), and a jetpack handy (in case I really mess up a jet).