Come one, come all, please join us in beta testing Issue 28, Page 1.

[Glacier Peak]

Time to test stuff and break things!

 

[MoonSheep]

the raid zone looks interesting if perhaps a bit complicated

 

marine affinity.. 😕 

[Lazarillo]

Nothing in it really strikes me as being interesting to test...

[Glacier Peak]

12 minutes ago, Lazarillo said:

Nothing in it really strikes me as being interesting to test...

An entire new zone, new end game raid experience, new enemies, revamped warriors, new powerset, new Aether costume rewards, new mini-pets, new badges, new accolades powers, new powerset customization options (especially teleport!), new costume auras, new entity in Pocket D, and various power and zone bug fixes...

 

Well you can't please everyone 😆

[Lazarillo]

7 minutes ago, Glacier Peak said:

An entire new zone, new end game raid experience, new enemies,

These are all really just one thing, and well, meh.  I figure it's the same as every other hardmode TF, just open world, and those aren't fun, so why would the new zone be?

 

7 minutes ago, Glacier Peak said:

new powerset

Seems needlessly complex/laden with janky mechanics.  Can't see myself wanting to figure it out when there's more straightforward stuff out there.

 

7 minutes ago, Glacier Peak said:

new Aether costume rewards, new mini-pets

A system I've never thought was worth engaging with.

 

7 minutes ago, Glacier Peak said:

new badges, new accolades powers

Lost interest in badging a few pages back.  Ironically they became such a slog that I stopped trying to get more.

 

7 minutes ago, Glacier Peak said:

new powerset customization options (especially teleport!)

There's, uh, one new Teleport, and a change couple changes copy/pasted from Energy blast to the Energy APP, and from what I saw.  Was there more?

 

 

7 minutes ago, Glacier Peak said:

Well you can't please everyone 😆

You can't, and I ain't saying it ain't grand for people who like this stuff, but it's a pretty bare-bones feature compared to what the last page was, especially if you don't care about farming Aether the way someone on the HC staff really, really, really, seems to think people should want to.

Edited July 6 by Lazarillo

[Glacier Peak]

 

36 minutes ago, Lazarillo said:

and those aren't fun, so why would the new zone be?

The fact that you are assuming it's not, but asking this question anyways - are you asking in good faith or trolling? This is the time to test out the content, make a contribution on the direction of the content, and find bugs or unintended design outcomes. If you don't like how something was done in the past, now is the time to do something about it. Do you like Hamidon raids? Mothership raids? Then give the new zone a try.

 

Revamped warriors...? Did you fight them? Too easy? Too hard? Now is the time to give that feedback. 

 

40 minutes ago, Lazarillo said:

Seems needlessly complex/laden with janky mechanics.  Can't see myself wanting to figure it out when there's more straightforward stuff out there.

Can't see yourself - does this mean you've tried it and didn't like it, or are you assuming you don't like it and won't because of your assumption? Now is the time to offer your feedback to the set so it's something you'll be likely to try when/if it goes live.

 

41 minutes ago, Lazarillo said:

Lost interest in badging a few pages back.  Ironically they became such a slog that I stopped trying to get more.

That's fine, but do you not like the new accolade powers?

 

42 minutes ago, Lazarillo said:

There's, uh, one new Teleport, and a change couple changes copy/pasted from Energy blast to the Energy APP, and from what I saw.  Was there more?

There are powerset customization options for teleport - you can alter the colors of the four teleport and combat teleport styles, in addition to the brand new Goop animation. And I would really recommend you look at the new Laser Beam Sweep alt animation/fx for Energy Torrent (only applies to versions of Energy Mastery with Laser Beam Eyes). It looks awesome!

 

46 minutes ago, Lazarillo said:

pretty bare-bones feature compared to what the last page was

Interesting that you think that's all. Perhaps it's just what's out for testing currently. 

[Lazarillo]

1 hour ago, Glacier Peak said:

This is the time to test out the content, make a contribution on the direction of the content, and find bugs or unintended design outcomes. If you don't like how something was done in the past, now is the time to do something about it. Do you like Hamidon raids? Mothership raids? Then give the new zone a try.

My feedback on hardmode-style content is generally not relevant because I don't like hardmode style content on principle and basically will never try it. Even "normal" ASF was very un-fun for me, but that appears to be what the current dev team likes to produce.  We'll never see eye-to-eye on that.

 

1 hour ago, Glacier Peak said:

Can't see yourself - does this mean you've tried it and didn't like it, or are you assuming you don't like it and won't because of your assumption? Now is the time to offer your feedback to the set so it's something you'll be likely to try when/if it goes live.

I can't see myself playing it because, again, precedent tells me that the kind of sets they like creating tend to not be the kinds of sets I like playing.  I don't want to build stacks of "Frenzy", or have my powers vary depending on how many are stacked in the same place, as the notes indicate.  I don't need to play it to know that I didn't like stacking mechanics in Seismic Blast or even back in the old days in Street Justice.  So for me, a set built around that is gonna be a wash (uh, pun not originally intended, but I'mma claim it anyway.)

 

1 hour ago, Glacier Peak said:

That's fine, but do you not like the new accolade powers?

I'm sure they'll be just as exciting as all the current Accolade powers I ignore and/or forget having because a minor 30 second buff once every 30 minutes isn't really meaningful.

 

1 hour ago, Glacier Peak said:

There are powerset customization options for teleport - you can alter the colors of the four teleport and combat teleport styles, in addition to the brand new Goop animation.

Except for that last thing, those are already in the game, AFAIK.

 

1 hour ago, Glacier Peak said:

Interesting that you think that's all. Perhaps it's just what's out for testing currently. 

Well, if they add more, maybe there'll be something that'll be both interesting to test play.  I don't expect there will be (because "what if maybe there's gonna be more stuff in the update" has been a mantra, that's been with the game since before its original closure), but I'll be keeping an eye out, because it does seem weird that it's so bare-bones compared to the previous "page" update.  That may also have to do with having only half as much time in the dev cycle this time(?), but it's a weird choice to call that a "page" and this an "issue" unless there's some plan from the seekrit server clique.

Edited July 7 by Lazarillo

[Glacier Peak]

2 minutes ago, Lazarillo said:

1 hour ago, Glacier Peak said:

That's fine, but do you not like the new accolade powers?

I'm sure they'll be just as exciting as all the current Accolade powers I ignore and/or forget having because a minor 30 second buff once every 30 minutes isn't really meaningful.

You can't tell me Mark and Recall isn't a cool accolade power, there's nothing like it in this game.

 

Quote

 'Mark' & 'Recall' - Instant cast. First usage records your current position as the Mark. Second usage return teleports caster to the location they originally set their Mark. Mark is not consumed until used or the owner leaves the zone. 10 minute cool-down. Unable to activated on certain missions.

Edited July 7 by Glacier Peak

[WumpusRat]

I'll hop onto the test server tonight when I get home from work and play around with it. Though I'm still holding out the faint hope that the MM sets that weren't updated will finally get their updates at some point. And maybe someday a new MM primary...

[Ukase]

14 hours ago, Glacier Peak said:

Revamped warriors...? Did you fight them? Too easy? Too hard? Now is the time to give that feedback. 

I want to give these a look today. I see the changes, but it's not super clear to me what a bullet point like this actually means: 

 

• Warriors with Crossbow levels 20-39 replaced with Crystal Arrow at 40+.
  
  Does this mean a Crossbow Warrior that's level 25 is going to have access to the Crystal Arrow that previously wasn't available to them until 40+? 
  
  
  
  I am thinking of auto-leveling a corr with marine affinity to look at that at the same time - and doing the Mercedes Sheldon arc with that huge map (the atta map is what I call it in my head). The arc is called Crown of Glory, and it's a 20-24 arc. 
  
  Would it be best if I just ran through it as  I normally would and just report what I liked, didn't like, or something else? 

[LegionAlpha]

 

So what is the lore on this new area? Who are these new enemies and what is their beef with us? Why did the Warriors upgraded themselves? Side note: Can we get a demo on the new water power?

Edited July 7 by LegionAlpha

[Glacier Peak]

3 minutes ago, LegionAlpha said:

lore on this new area

It can be discovered while in the zone. 

 

4 minutes ago, LegionAlpha said:

Who are these new enemies

It's explained through exploring the new zone and it's mechanics. 

 

4 minutes ago, LegionAlpha said:

what is their beef with us?

🐮

 

5 minutes ago, LegionAlpha said:

Why did the Warriors upgraded themselves

Blame Odyssesus?

 

6 minutes ago, LegionAlpha said:

Can we get a demo on the new water power?

There's screenshots in the original post of some of the powers in this powerset. Otherwise it's available to try out on the beta server. 

[LegionAlpha]

1 minute ago, Glacier Peak said:

It can be discovered while in the zone. 

 

 

It's explained through exploring the new zone and it's mechanics. 

 

🐮

 

Blame Odyssesus?

 

There's screenshots in the original post of some of the powers in this powerset. Otherwise it's available to try out on the beta server. 

Sarcasm noted. Back in the day to hype up a zone would post lore on it. Like Croatoa

 

Like Croatoa there would be a story behind them.

 

Why screens? An video is just as good if not better. 

 

When the council separated from the column there was lore on why and again on why it happened so people could read it. Odysseus should be no different. 

 

I am a lore (censored) and wanna get hyped on the new issue. Why push against on wanting on more information. I am askin for "Spoilers" just more hype. 

 

[JasperStone]

17 hours ago, Glacier Peak said:

An entire new zone, new end game raid experience, new enemies, revamped warriors, new powerset, new Aether costume rewards, new mini-pets, new badges, new accolades powers, new powerset customization options (especially teleport!), new costume auras, new entity in Pocket D, and various power and zone bug fixes...

 

Well you can't please everyone 😆

Yea...

...

but is there anything ... you know ... new?

[Glacier Peak]

23 minutes ago, LegionAlpha said:

Sarcasm noted. Back in the day to hype up a zone would post lore on it. Like Croatoa

 

Like Croatoa there would be a story behind them.

 

Why screens? An video is just as good if not better. 

 

When the council separated from the column there was lore on why and again on why it happened so people could read it. Odysseus should be no different. 

 

I am a lore (censored) and wanna get hyped on the new issue. Why push against on wanting on more information. I am askin for "Spoilers" just more hype. 

 

I did not apply any sarcasm to my response to you. I think if you took the time to get on to the beta server, you would receive answers to most of your questions by playing through the content. I'm not a dev, I couldn't begin to tell you why this was added or what connection it has to the greater story. 

 

Why screenshots? Because I don't have access to video clips, so you're best served by logging in to the beta server and looking at the powerset animations yourself.

 

I don't have the answers for you on lore. These are new features and content that I haven't played. The point of this thread is to raise awareness of beta testing new content to find bugs or make changes before it gets published to the live servers. 

[Ukase]

A minor thing - in the "safe" area of the lobby, I hop up on the pedestal to click on the portal to enter..and I'm not close enough. I have to get closer still. It just seems like the distance shouldn't need to be that close to click on it. 

There is another thing I'd like to see - another path to get to the content. The midnighter club locations - Steel, Croatoa, Founders and Cap...

The locations themselves..nothing wrong with them, but there's no path to get there quickly. 
LRTP to Steel, half the zone to the club. 
Founders is a little better. 
Cap is better still. 

But it would be nice if additional transfer points were also in Pocket D, Grandville and Peregrine Island. 

And...just maybe...not sure right now if this would be more annoying than funny. I entered a van in the labyrinth that looked suspiciously like one of the two vans in Pocket D. I thought, "Could it be?" I don't see any fliers promoting it...but I wouldn't have been surprised at all to find myself in Pocket D or Echo Plaza. 
 

Edited July 7 by Ukase

[Cobalt Arachne]

5 minutes ago, Ukase said:

There is one thing I'd like to see - another path to get to the content. The midnighter club locations - Steel, Croatoa, Founders and Cap...

As part of Issue 28, the Midnighter Club is being added to Long Range Teleport with the only unlock criteria being the same single badge that unlocks the zone.

 

That should make the zone one-click accessible from anywhere in the game with LRT.

 

Additionally, the Labyrinth of Fog appears in LFG which can be used to reach the content as well.

[Cobalt Arachne]

9 minutes ago, Ukase said:

in the "safe" area of the lobby, I hop up on the pedestal to click on the portal to enter..

There's actually clickable geometry in front of the portal we added so it can be clicked from the ground without needing to jump; Move the mouse around and it should register.

[Cobalt Arachne]

3 hours ago, LegionAlpha said:

Back in the day to hype up a zone would post lore on it. Like Croatoa

I like this idea! I'll look into writing something up for an introduction for the next patch notes.

 

There is a lot of lore to the Labyrinth, but parts of it are hidden, and those who want all the answers will have to look for it.

 

I wrote a lot of extra lore and details specifically for descriptions.... Powers, inspirations, badges, buffs; If it had a description, I snuck lore in!

[Cobalt Arachne]

19 hours ago, Lazarillo said:

19 hours ago, Glacier Peak said:

An entire new zone, new end game raid experience, new enemies,

These are all really just one thing, and well, meh.  I figure it's the same as every other hardmode TF, just open world, and those aren't fun, so why would the new zone be?

The Labyrinth of Fog is not advanced/hardmode content, it's not even Incarnate content, no more so than something like a Hamidon or RWZ Mothership raid is considered as such.

 

The Labyrinth of Fog is more... another style of group content aimed at providing a similar format of consumption to that of the popular Halloween leagues + GM hunts combined with a 'once a day per character' raid boss payout to engage with/target, and a variety of rewards that can be prioritized/optimized by the individual raid leaders.

 

It's not meant to be difficult, it's meant to be engaging.

 

But the zone is also a liminal space maze, with a variety of sights, discoveries, lore, stories, and prizes to discover that encourage exploring, a lot of which was designed to be doable solo with some stealth, independent of raids going-on.

 

I encourage anyone curious to give it a try, it's pioneering a lot of new approaches to things.

 

As with everything we create, there will be fans and those who decide it's not for them, which is normal for any work.

 

At least for me, I'm always looking to explore the horizons of new experiences, but I understand some prefer less complex experiences and that's okay too.

[GM_GooglyMoogly]

20 hours ago, Lazarillo said:

Nothing in it really strikes me as being interesting to test...

 

You are, of course, welcome to test or not test anything and to like or dislike whatever.  But out of curiosity, what sort of things would interest you enough to try them on a Beta.

[GM_GooglyMoogly]

6 hours ago, Ukase said:

Would it be best if I just ran through it as  I normally would and just report what I liked, didn't like, or something else? 

 

Yup.  Play your way and report your reactions to the new stuff and any oddities or bugs in the Focused Feedback threads.  Thanks, Ukase.

 

Edited July 7 by GM_GooglyMoogly

[Without_Pause]

My only real complaint is no real fixes to Psionic Melee or Kinetic Melee. The fact that KM can go this long being the dumpster fire that it is IS concerning. Any buff. Any buff at all. 

[Ukase]

So...I think it's worth typing this out - because some folks read the patch notes, and have brilliant minds and remember what they read an hour ago. Others...not so much. I had to do a fair amount of tabbing in/out to see if I could figure some things out. 

First - folks need to be aware that the place is going to be different every time. Go down a hall, take the first door on the left, you might come out at place "X". The next day - take that same door, you might come out at place "Y". At least, that's how it worked for me. I wanted to get back to fog, armed with my ghosts of draught inspirations and I couldn't even find the fog. Also much different from yesterday, my level shift was at 1, not 10 like most of last night. In fact, I don't think it changed at all last night. Whereas, this afternoon, it went from 1 to 6. 

And the minotaur was stalking me for most of it, while I was trying to clobber the malevolent fogs. Thankfully, he doesn't hit too hard. But while 8 incarnates were hitting him, he took almost zero damage. He's like a Tyrant level AV, being 54+6 and we didn't have any ultimates. We were 50+3 at the time, I think. I guess I should be grateful I hit him at all. 

My next time, I'm going to try and see how/if the xp in there stacks when you're not level 50. Or at least try to. Those npcs are hard to kill if you're solo. At least, they were hard for me to kill and survive. 
 

[gameboy1234]

21 hours ago, Lazarillo said:

These are all really just one thing, and well, meh.  I figure it's the same as every other hardmode TF, just open world, and those aren't fun, so why would the new zone be?

 

With four of us on test we were able to kill mobs and move around ok, and get buffs from the labyrinth.  It's not really soloable but you don't need a "raid" team to do the content.  Then again the four of us where all of our "hard mode" toons built for tough content, so don't bring a marshmallow and expect good results.

 

With the exception of the Minotaur, which we could basically do nothing with except flee.

 

It's not terrible though, you should at least give it a look at some point.