Regarding recent changes…

[longtime]

I played a ranger at the begining of EQ. There was nothing wrong with the class, until the first nerf that was two months after the release.

I don't mind change. I think that Geko and Positron are moving too fast. The problem is that change after change is happen with little time to see how the effect each or the game in general.

I have played this game since day one and have said I would be the last player playing.

I was not taking about AV chain mezzing. I ran into a group of tsoo on the street. My hero can kill sorcerers and can kill green ink men. You put the two in the same group and it makes a long prolonged death for the hero.

I have like most of the changes to the game. It seem to peak after issue. There were alot of good changes. Unless you work for Sony, I can see how people can say that no mistakes were made and the game is prefect, when cryptic acknowledges that there are unfix bugs.

I have played mmorg for years. I don't mind dying. The game would not be interseting if don't could not lose. Dying helplessly is not fun either. The key for a game to be fun is the times that you nearly get whiped and lived or go back to avange your death. Most importantly that you can live thru good game play.

I don't mind the game becoming difficult at the same time you need a way to survive. To me grouping is not the correct answer. I challange Geko and Positron to find a way to make the game a little more survivalbe.

[Engulf]

[ QUOTE ]
I was not taking about AV chain mezzing. I ran into a group of tsoo on the street. My hero can kill sorcerers and can kill green ink men. You put the two in the same group and it makes a long prolonged death for the hero.

[/ QUOTE ]

You can beat this combo solo by using 2 insprations, namely Disabline and insight start off attacking the green ink man and swiching to the sorcerer till it dies or ports away then swich back to the green ink man. repeat till thay are bolth dead. works wonders for my scrappers anyway. a level 21 dm/inv and 25 ma/regen. the game froces you to think more then before thats all.

[Geoff_NA]

I read a few of these and thought I'd toss in a few bits:

1) If anyone's system crashes more than before, they should not just blame devs. Windows XP SP II patch ruined the game for me for about 2 weeks for a bit there. I'd say I've had a few more disconnects going from area to area than I used to, but mapserver disconnects in-mission or in zone have gone way down since launch, greatly reducing my frustration with this game. Some of this was me kicking my cable company's butt, some may have been NCsoft. I certainly haven't noticed them making things worse anyway.

2) IMO Smoke Grenade was stupid before. I could just see the mobs:

"Gee, it got real smokey in here all of a sudden after that BOOM noise, ooh well must not be a big deal." says mob 1
"AARRGG!!, I've been shot" says his buddy
"Ohh well, I can't see where it came from, guess I'll just stand here" says mob 1

Gimmie a break. It was awfully nice to get easy XP, but it was really way too lame. I'm glad it was FIXED (I would not say nerfed in this case).

3) I do think the Hollows still has issues. Nowhere else in the game that I know of can a low level guy (under travel power level down to lvl 7 or so) have to wade their way through lvl 15 mobs to get to a mission in a hazard zone. Add to it that some spawns are close enough together in the hollows to make it nearly impossible to get by without drawing aggro (I'm an experienced player and I have a little trouble. What about that newbie with their first lvl 7 guy?) and that there are big dropoffs making navigation sometimes tougher than Perez, and I think there is a problem. Is it terribly flawed? No, but it could use improvement (IMO).

4) For the Mobs in levels thing. After patch 2 we had all those +1 cons pissing some people off and making others happy. Going back more towards primarily even level was necessary IMO for the early game, but the game post 22 or so should be mostly +1s, and post 33 or so could be mostly +1s w some +2s IMO. Yes, I think the level slider would be a smart addition as well. I just think the default could do this. This would bump the challange up (if you're lvl 33 you know what you're doing by now) and would have a feel that I think is appropriate for the game. As your character gets more powerful, you'd kinda like for them to have a bigger advantage over the evildoers, which we have now (what is so super about your superhero after all if they are no better than the average guy?). I think there's no need to try to skew the mobs much tougher (a little'd be OK by me).

5) I believe Hasten has been nerfed 2x now. Once to about 3 Rech reducts to make it permanent (not sure what it was before this, I didn't have SOs till just before Patch II), and now you pretty much need all 6. I like this. Call me crazy, but I don't like how much this power felt like a "must have". Now I gotta decide if I really wanna burn both a power and 5 enhancement slots to make my guy perma-hasten. I still mostly go with it, but now I don't feel like I've intentionally weakened my character if I skip it. (This is the general opinion of my SG - 10 members, all friends)

6) It seems to me there's something wrong with the enemy kill counters (I feel like someone must have posted this before). I dusted off my lvl 18 blaster last night from about 2 months of disuse and noticed he had no gear kills. He had made a small living killing Clock Princes before, and I know I wiped up a fair # of gears too. Similarly, he had no kills for any other boss type. Were the counters reset after the badge patch, or do you have to kill at least 1 of something post-badge patch for the kill badge counter to come up or what? I feel there's a bug in here somewhere.

7) There's been a bug since day 1 where missions do not always stay in the Nav window after selection (again, I feel this must have been posted somewhere before). This is especially annoying with teams because the mission isn't visible either (if you haven't gotten there yet), and in mission if you have to destroy x or something, sometimes it doesn't update, sometimes you just can't see it. You guys really gotta fix this. It's annoying and it looks like you don't care, leaving such an obvious bug up for so long.

8) Stay the course Cryptic. You will have people upset whenever you change something. Deciding what you really should do is the tough thing. So far your changes have imprved the game IMO, not made it worse.

OK, opinions and ideas exhausted for the night. Gotta go shake my butt at a club.

Peace in Paragon!

- Madfro

[NapierNavlys]

[ QUOTE ]

6) It seems to me there's something wrong with the enemy kill counters (I feel like someone must have posted this before). I dusted off my lvl 18 blaster last night from about 2 months of disuse and noticed he had no gear kills. He had made a small living killing Clock Princes before, and I know I wiped up a fair # of gears too. Similarly, he had no kills for any other boss type. Were the counters reset after the badge patch, or do you have to kill at least 1 of something post-badge patch for the kill badge counter to come up or what? I feel there's a bug in here somewhere.

[/ QUOTE ]

No bug here. None of the kill counters (or debt counters, or heal counters, or damage taken counters, etc) counted anything that happened before the badges went live. They only started counting after the badges were created. The only things that were retroactive were the mission and task force badges (because they could go through your character data on the server and see if you'd done those).

[longtime]

I actually enjoyed that I had to be more carefull hitting AV and bosses. I think it stupid that I need disapline to street fight when my Hero has three anti-stun defenses.

If you think my play is weak, I did go back and kill the same group. I shut off my toggle powers and took the disipline and defeated the tsoo no problem.

It is one thing to be hit by this and given a chance to run away and being hit and have no chance to save yourself. I did have a disapline on the hero, I never got the chance to use it. Now I know to use it before, due to my powers being useless.

Another change they made was to the amount of influance gained. This is much lower all all levels due to it being too much 34+. Pre 32 on the first hero, money was tight. I had to trade a bunch of influance from my higher level hero. My lower one is 200,000 influance in the hole from the loan mostly from buying full sets of inspirations. Yes, at this point I have had to fill up around 1,000 times.

This is what I am posting about that make two changes that by themselves are improves lead to things that make the game worse. There is a situation in the game now where you need to carry around disapline, but can't afford to have them. Decrease accuracy and enduracne recovery but add more groups larger mobs with boss and increase the damage and hitpoints they have. All of these chanages are within the last couple of months. From prespective they keeping on added these improvement, Don't seem to notice how they interact.

[sharky7337]

Hi i have a question for Geko. I have a regen scrapper and a controller with radiaton. Now AM needs to be reworked but you have already talked about that. But are you going to nerf regen? If so why? And I think that invulnerability has a far superior advantage when u see them herding 30 mobs at a time . I am worried that my regen scrapp that i had to work hard on to get him to where he is by 6slotting QR, Stamina, Instant Healing is going to be all washed up. I truly hope U dont nerf it because i still die with instanty healing, where as invulnerability tanks and scrapps barely get touched.

[Notpersonal]

You have a great game but the worst reputation off all MMOG’s. Yours is the only board that the customers are afraid of dev’s. That is, if they find a way to make a character work well, to never, ever let the dev’s know because they will nerf it. Justified or not!
Your rules are nice but not followed by your team, stealth changes go on all the time to powers and bad guys.
Please but a details page that will have all changes, to show that stealth is not your way.
I want to keep playing this game and have been since Bata.

But you have to make a game doable for casual players not just hard core, of which I am. Else it is much less fun for anyone but hard core, and hard to get good teams.
I stopped telling my friends to get this game because u keep stealth nerfing or do major changes powers without telling us.
You should have a way that, if u make a major change to a power, that people have a way to exchange the power or at least reslot it.
More choices and information will help change your reputation.
:) From a hopeful player.

[Notpersonal]

[ QUOTE ]
As for the burn "exploit" or the hasten "exploit" or the provoke/invinc "exploit"; its a load of crap all of it. The devs are delaying the inevitable. This game is unfortunately doomed. They are trying to balance out something that in a year will be running at AC2 numbers. If someone finds a way to level fast or have some fun let em. Your mistake not theres. Stop worrying about what to nerf and start worrying about what happens when the players hit lvl 40 and have ...

We will see and only time will tell. I would like to renew interest in CoH as it is one of the few original online games on the market. I am a little dissapointed with the approach and lack of non-combat content though.

[/ QUOTE ]

Nicely Said. Non-combat and stopping the nerfs may save this game but only if it can be done quickly, and they can show that the nerfing will stop.

[R___C]

I say keep the character models they way it looks on the live servers. Please dont change our character models.

[PsychicKitty]

So um...are you ever going to remove the accuracy penalty from group flight..or just leave it the gimped power it is.
I would really like to use it as a combat aid for my team, instead of a power i get laughed at for using or told to turn off.

Also are you going to fix Invisibilty and Superior Invisibilty or just leave it so only two stealth powers which use practically no energy and have no real penalties will work better.
You know i like these Invisibilty powers, but it seems the higher level i get the more things see me with Invisibilty.
I thought wow maybe they would give a good defense bonus..., but they give less then stealth, and it looks like everyhting targets me first, even if i dont attack.

So anywise...just some questions.....

[MAJ_Vic_Surge]

Geko,

I know this has been put on the boards before and I am sure I will not be the last...What is going to happen with Dimension Shift? I am "sick" of seeing that power in my power pool and not be able to use it...it just doesn't help us at all and I have never seen a power that all gravity controllers say...."this sucks". People complain about propel, but I love it. If that is how damage has to be done by gravity controllers then so be it...but I saw DS used one time. No one else has used it. There must be some way of addresssing this.

[Airhammer]

There are over 40 pages of complaints on the Controller board about the Gravity powerset and DS in particular, how it is hated by everyone.. I havent seen one comment by a Dev yet...

[rabelais]

I have heard that they are considering making IH and integration mutually exclusive.

I hope this is not so, as it will make regen scrappers extremely tedious to play.

I could see putting some of IH's power into fast healing to make players use more slots, but messing with status protection and/ or primary power will make the game unplayable.

Regen is already a dog for the first 30 levels, making the last 20 hell will not improve the game.

I will try out issue 3, but if regen is too badly hobbled, I will certainly allow my subscription to lapse.

You folks have excellent customer service... don't blow it with a poor paradigmatic optimization.

Game is supposed to be fun. Will this be fun?

[Siberian_Gale]

Geko: Maybe it's time to close the shop on this post, LOL!

[The_Major]

great code of cyber game conduct:)

[BegBy]

Haven't played in 2 months. Why? The game is boring, and too difficult. By that I mean you spend hour after hour grinding it out just to get a level...what happens then? Great I get to pick a power, and f I haven't picked my powers in the proper order prior to this level I may aswell start over. Or I get some nice enhancement slots. YAY! The game, in essence, is very easy, the most noob friendly MMO out there, but the juice is NOT worth the squeeze.

Devs...I have said it 1,000 times...QUIT NERFING, and ADD CONTENT. Or you will lose paying customers...like me, and about 13 of my guild mates. We all have one more monht left on our memberships...I thinl we will just have to wait for Villians.

[JubeiLev]

Thanx Devs, Thanx for screwing Regeneration!!!

Regeneration/Integration now offers some increased Regeneration, and can accept Healing Enhancements.

FOR WHAT? Thats What IH is for.

Regeneration/Instant Healing Max Regeneration buff was slightly reduced. Additionally, it gains less of a boost from each added Enhancement.

!Now IC weaking IH cause Intergration now has regeneration bonus.

Also ingame description claims that Intergration & IH can no longer be used togeather.

Ok this is my point, IH will become usless. Why you ask?, becasue as soon as an enemy uses Hold, Sleep, or other status hits IH will simply turn itself off. With Intergration now having Regeneration and not stackable with IH, IH one the great powers for Regeneration Powers used by higher levels will become nothing more than a respec drop.

If this was done to help out the amazing amount of endurance it cost to run Interation & IH then let me tell you that wasn't a problem, by the time you get IH level 28 you should have Quick Recovery and Stanima with both of those sloted the right way running Interation & IH should be no problem.

If it was done because of thought the combo of Intergration/IH was to strong well agiain not true, from time to time it was still possible to get killed soloing and even in groups.

And now with the new Enhanced Enemys/Bosses there is no way a regeneration scrapper could go toe to toe with a boss or the new elite boss.

I give the regeneration changes,
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[PolarKnight]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanx Devs, Thanx for screwing Regeneration!!!

Regeneration/Integration now offers some increased Regeneration, and can accept Healing Enhancements.

FOR WHAT? Thats What IH is for.

Regeneration/Instant Healing Max Regeneration buff was slightly reduced. Additionally, it gains less of a boost from each added Enhancement.

!Now IC weaking IH cause Intergration now has regeneration bonus.

Also ingame description claims that Intergration & IH can no longer be used togeather.

Ok this is my point, IH will become usless. Why you ask?, becasue as soon as an enemy uses Hold, Sleep, or other status hits IH will simply turn itself off. With Intergration now having Regeneration and not stackable with IH, IH one the great powers for Regeneration Powers used by higher levels will become nothing more than a respec drop.

If this was done to help out the amazing amount of endurance it cost to run Interation & IH then let me tell you that wasn't a problem, by the time you get IH level 28 you should have Quick Recovery and Stanima with both of those sloted the right way running Interation & IH should be no problem.

If it was done because of thought the combo of Intergration/IH was to strong well agiain not true, from time to time it was still possible to get killed soloing and even in groups.

And now with the new Enhanced Enemys/Bosses there is no way a regeneration scrapper could go toe to toe with a boss or the new elite boss.

I give the regeneration changes,
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[/ QUOTE ]

Relax. The description is wrong. You can use Integration and Instant Healing together.

They originally changed it to the way you described, and it sucked hard for nearly everybody for precisely the reasons you described, although Ambigula was able to kill every monster in every zone in one shot without any problems whatsoever. In a brief lapse in their traditional routine, they actually listened to the players and changed it so that both powers work together again.

It's just laziness, however, not to fix the descriptions and power names before releasing I3. I'm sure somebody can come up with a "poor devs" excuse to justify that, if you'd like.

[Isutiri]

My particular concerns are with Invulnerability from the standpoint of a claw/invul scrapper who doesn't powerlevel, and uses tactics and insp, in addition to acc,end,dam, and recharge enhancements in my attacks instead of just damage, and as many defense enh as i can in my defensive powers (except for togles which get at least one end redfuction).

At lvl 30, before it was take out minions first, then fight just the boss, prepared with insp.. one lvl 30 boss, ok.. be prepared to run if need be. two.. get one, then definately run and get prepared for next one..

Now- one lvl 30 boss... use all my insp tray tohold half end, half health with maybe a damage or acc, definately a luck or two thrown in, and dull pain and rest ready if i need em, and still die at least once before taking him out. I am supposed to have some resistances to lethal and smashing damage with the invul set, but when i can only do a max of maybe 75 pts of dam with a hit, twice that IF i crit, with usual being about 45, and he turns around and hits me with his sword for over 200 points of damage, i become very concerned. I only have around 600+ hp to beging with 2-3 hits and I'm down. (Not to mention all the ranged attacks everyone seems to have now)

Also, i've noticed a problem with my end. one lvl 30 minion, and one lvl 30 leutanant, and i am almost out...

Just what I've noticed so far...

[anomaly76]

[ QUOTE ]
My particular concerns are with Invulnerability from the standpoint of a claw/invul scrapper who doesn't powerlevel, and uses tactics and insp, in addition to acc,end,dam, and recharge enhancements in my attacks instead of just damage, and as many defense enh as i can in my defensive powers (except for togles which get at least one end redfuction).

At lvl 30, before it was take out minions first, then fight just the boss, prepared with insp.. one lvl 30 boss, ok.. be prepared to run if need be. two.. get one, then definately run and get prepared for next one..

Now- one lvl 30 boss... use all my insp tray tohold half end, half health with maybe a damage or acc, definately a luck or two thrown in, and dull pain and rest ready if i need em, and still die at least once before taking him out. I am supposed to have some resistances to lethal and smashing damage with the invul set, but when i can only do a max of maybe 75 pts of dam with a hit, twice that IF i crit, with usual being about 45, and he turns around and hits me with his sword for over 200 points of damage, i become very concerned. I only have around 600+ hp to beging with 2-3 hits and I'm down. (Not to mention all the ranged attacks everyone seems to have now)

Also, i've noticed a problem with my end. one lvl 30 minion, and one lvl 30 leutanant, and i am almost out...

Just what I've noticed so far...

[/ QUOTE ]

If you took invincibilty you want to keep the minions for the defense bonus and take out the hard hittin boss first.

[Psipher]

[ QUOTE ]
Thats cool. but umm what about telekinesis? that power should not be aoe and needs to be fixed as well as it needs to work on bosses. add a level restriction to it or something but please fix it the way it is and makeing it aoe just does not cut it. leave to aoe push to storm controllers and give the mind controllers a single target hold/push just as it was

[/ QUOTE ]

WHOA! I can't believe someone is complaining about THIS power. I mean, as controllers go, Mind Controllers have a hard enough road anyway. The TK change actually made it POSSIBLE for us to solo effectively. It certainly is more draining on END than the Storm powerset. Additionally, it tends to push the mobs OUT of the battle completely, so don't EVEN try this when you have a blaster with you! (" Stop! You're pushin him out of my range! ")

It's sometimes the LAST defense in my "toolbox" to hold a boss, so I can't possibly see this as a threat to the Storm powerset.

If anything, I am a little annoyed that an Illusion controllers' pets now cast Fear and Stun. Sort of makes us Mind controllers obsolete. :mad: (Of course, to the devs defense, the pets fear power at least does no damage).

If you've never played a Mind Controller, give it a try. Its an exercise in zen-like patience. :p

Psipher, Mind/Emp Natural Controller 38 (Protector)
aka Crimson Stalker, Storm/Dark Magic Defender 23

[Thurgald]

I thought we were going to get a free respec with issue 3. Why haven't we got it?

[Danks]

Alot of people need to back down off of the Devs, they are a limited # of people doing all the work they can in a day, these are people like you and me, who gave us something that now over 3\4 of us are addicted to, Look at it this way, you file a in game pentition and what do you get, a mass amount of e-mails and a Dev talking to you within 5 mins (longest iv had to wait) how can you get better tech support, They have so many buggs that need fixing and so many powers that probbly were over looked, Cryptic and Ncsoft would NEVER lie to the players, they have no reason to, They will say what at the time they see to be true. if something chagnes they cant ignor it based on something they said two weeks ago, The Devs are doing a goddly job at keeping this game up and running in the best way they can, Give it time people, the lag will stop with time, bugs will be worked out.
And for all thoughs who quit because of a bug or seomthing, get the hello otta here and stay out, dont bribe the devs like they give a crap if ONE more person is paying, yea im sure they care alot about there #'s but they got alot more to care about tthen one person playing a game they are workin on,
Mad Props to the Creators of this game.

(on a side note, not sure if this is a bug or being caused by uber lag, Has anyone else noticed that sometimes when you go to cast PA it uses a random Insp???)

[Kevin_Schultz]

The respec hit the test servers yesterday, I believe.

[Shadow_Theif]

I believe he means the live servers. ;)

[Danzeman99]

Is anyone else hugely upset with the nerfing of all blaster (and some defender/controller secondary) pbaoe lvl 32 spells such as inferno, nova, etc. For those of you who haven't noticed, this has been changed to the complete loss of all endurance instead of a huge chunk as a cost, along with no endurance recovery.
---AREN'T BLASTERS FRAGILE ENOUGH ALREADY???---
CoH team has just made blasters most powerful spell useless against anything that it won't kill in one hit, which means useless against bosses which you need your most powerful spells for. It is plain suicide because you lose all your toggles and can't even activate a travel power to escape, not even sprint! WHY WAS THIS DONE? I've seen tankers be able to stand in the middle of 70 +lvl enemies and take no visible damage but this has not been nerfed, but why would it?...they are TANKS! Why has the offensive juggernaut been reduced to one hit and then dead?

[Captainmycaptain]

Hate to burst your bubble, but at least in nova's case it almost always drained all endurance. This isnt anything new. :eek:

[New_Hope]

[ QUOTE ]
Hate to burst your bubble, but at least in nova's case it almost always drained all endurance. This isnt anything new. :eek:

[/ QUOTE ]

Dude, I think you are missing his point. Blasters are surpose to be near one shot killers because they have low HP. So they need the strongest offence to do as much damage as possible in order to stay alive.

But now since isuue 3 release all that has changed. NOVA blast has been transformed from I can kill you in one shot. To I HOPE it can if possible kill you in one shot otherwise I get easy dept. :(

So when it comes to the Energy Blasters since issue 3 they are the one that got hurt. Which I think is an oversight on the devs part since the intend of issue 3 was to promote team play and make the game more of a challenge.

What the devs need to do is test the Energy Blaster themselfs and see if NOVA blast is still the extreme blast they promised. Or has it been transformer into a low damage giving power with an extreme endurance cost. ;)

[Drakos]

The so-called Provoke nerf was a good thing. I've always had a problem with a pool power (Provoke) being better than the Primary/Secondary power (Taunt). Provoke wasn't nerfed it was brought in line with what a Pool power should be. It in no way stops the "Burn Exploit" because with the free respec the burn tankers just respeced into Taunt instead.

Until I3 Provoke was always a better choice for Tankers because it easily outshined Taunt. I also highly agree with changing the Scrappers Taunt to Confront.

[Drakos]

I have to disagree. Nova was intended to take ALL your END from the start, at least that is the way the description read. I play a Energy/Energy blaster and see very little difference in the use of my NOVA blast. I still do around the same damage and it usualy took all my end befor. I keep blue Insp for when I use Nova. No you cant regen end for awhile but one blue pill followed by Conserve Power keeps me going until I can regen END again. Don't blame the Power working the way it had always been intended for a lack of tactics on your part.

BTW: does your Nova blaster use Hasten? If so try a build that doesn't inherently require more end to begin with. Also what are your teammates doing to help while your temporarily down? If your trying to SOLO with a blaster then there is your problem. SOLO with a scrapper. I regularily use Nova and I do occasionally die but that is an understood limitation to the power. Nova wasn't nerfed it was fixed to mach it's intention. It isn't the end all be all power, no level 32 power is, you always take a chance when you use it, so think first.

[OR_Nurse]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

6) It seems to me there's something wrong with the enemy kill counters (I feel like someone must have posted this before). I dusted off my lvl 18 blaster last night from about 2 months of disuse and noticed he had no gear kills. He had made a small living killing Clock Princes before, and I know I wiped up a fair # of gears too. Similarly, he had no kills for any other boss type. Were the counters reset after the badge patch, or do you have to kill at least 1 of something post-badge patch for the kill badge counter to come up or what? I feel there's a bug in here somewhere.

[/ QUOTE ]

No bug here. None of the kill counters (or debt counters, or heal counters, or damage taken counters, etc) counted anything that happened before the badges went live. They only started counting after the badges were created. The only things that were retroactive were the mission and task force badges (because they could go through your character data on the server and see if you'd done those).

[/ QUOTE ]

Only your last TF,I had done Positron with one of my characters but only got credit for Synapse :(

[Vauluur]

I would love to know more about these new archtypes

[Biostem]

I wholeheartedly agree with you! Leave the non-exploits as they were and move onto new stuff. You think hasten is too good? Make a power that does somethign similar, but better in some ways, worse in others. Give players options. AM is too good? Make a new powerset that does other things - some btter, some worse. Instead of hamstringing existing powersets, why not create new stuff to whet people's appetites. Make new power pools that maybe speed you up but also do other things. Make power pools that give status ranged attacks. I don't know... make more options, not fewer, crippled ones... Also implement a reroll system for players you have so-reduced in effectiveness.

[alphaforce]

Im not going to sludge through every post here so if you are tired of what Im about to say then ignore it. Endurance costs of powers is rediculous. They cost too much. And some powersw dont cost enough. Ex Fly is a major drainer and its a slow power, SS can be left on all day and your fast as all get out. I know Fly has other benifits but its cost is too high for the slugishness of it. Also with so many toggle powers in game Staminia is a must. I think it would be more fun if end cost were reduced and stamina was made less effective. Just my opinion

[Steel_Ogre]

There are two things I wanted to bring up that I think are not even remotely balanced. First, I think the two new hero types should not be for characters who have a level 50 character only. This is just plain bias. I work full time and attend a university full time so I do not get a lot of time to play. I am luck to slip a few hours in during the week. With the amount of time I have to play I have a better chance of deciding that I don't want to play anymore long before I might make level 50. I have a tanker on triumph and he is level 25 and I might be able to try the new class types by .... October, November if I am lucky. I pay the same amount a month as players who rack up my months playing time in well under a week. It is just wrong and my opinion of the designers plummeted when that was added. Those type of ideas were the reason I took time off from games like these. My mothly fee should allow me full access to the game not a limited access. Bad decision on your part!

My other point is the Respec TF. There should be another way to get a respec. For the last two weeks I have tried to complete this TF and have failed eight or nine times. I have been in a group that SK'ed everyone to near 30 and we fail. I have been in one where we exempted ppl to around 25-6 and failed. New Players and very experienced player alike fall from this. Still being relatively new when I made my tanker that is my primary and for the most part only char i play, i have made a few mistakes with my powers that I want to correct now that I have become more experienced. Since I lack a great deal of time to play why must the only way to get a respec is this Armageddon style task force but not a mission someone could do solo. Generally, everytime it gets really tough someone quits and the entire TF is ruined since everything is still gears for the initail amount of people. This game is based on being a comic book style super-hero fighting off evil that lurks at every turn. I wonder why I can't be a loner all the time if I really chose. Again on your part, I feel you have made bad decisions. People who have insanely busy in life but manage to sqeeze a little time in to play should not have to play knowing they are at the mercy of a design team that makes the game nearly unplayable for the casual player.

[Cheetah_Chop]

[ QUOTE ]
I wholeheartedly agree with you! Leave the non-exploits as they were and move onto new stuff. You think hasten is too good? Make a power that does somethign similar, but better in some ways, worse in others. Give players options. AM is too good? Make a new powerset that does other things - some btter, some worse. Instead of hamstringing existing powersets, why not create new stuff to whet people's appetites. Make new power pools that maybe speed you up but also do other things. Make power pools that give status ranged attacks. I don't know... make more options, not fewer, crippled ones... Also implement a reroll system for players you have so-reduced in effectiveness.

[/ QUOTE ]
This is exactly correct! You guys are focusing on the wrong things with alot of your time, sorry its the truth. If each new upgrade is bringing reactions in droves of this sucks, that sucks, maybe you should listen or your measely 4% market share will dwindle even more.
Imagine putting out updates were the majority is happy and exited as opposed to your last 3 were the majority is outraged and dissapointed....duh!


Dtrain
Loose the stupid class based system!
;) ;)

[Ridolfo]

First, the Dev's did a huge favor to ATs who have not reached 50 by not allowing Epic ATs. When you get to the point where you actually have to manage more than 2 trays (which doesn't happen until your 40's) and you face AVs that require a greater amount of strategy and teamwork, then you're ready for the headache that is Kheldian, IMHO. I mean to further your argument, why can't you just roll a 50? Why should people that pay as much per month as a 50 have to start as a level 1? Paying a fee doesn't mean you get to short-cut everything. Besides which, how long to you think people would subscribe if everything was immediately available to everyone who paid a monthly fee?

Regarding the new ATs, it depends on whether they are considered "epic" (what else is the point in getting to 50 is there is no reward) and how complicated they are. If they are just graphic differences and variations on the two power set of the standard ATs, I agree with you. If the new ATs are more complicated, like the Kheldians, a level restriction makes sense.

Regarding Respec, there is a way to Respec without the TV trial. Type /respec. If your toon was in existence before update 3, you can respec that way. I do agree that for folks who have used all 3 TV respecs need some relief when the powers they picked (or opted out of) change markedly, but that is a different concern.

Lastly you're at 25. That's not halfway to 50 (from an xp perspective). I spent at least as much time getting from 38 to 50 as I did 1 to 38. So just play and stop worrying about what other people are doing - if you're not having fun why the heck are you playing anyway? Really.

[CrabbyLobster]

[ QUOTE ]
Imagine putting out updates were the majority is happy and exited as opposed to your last 3 were the majority is outraged and dissapointed....duh!


Dtrain
Loose the stupid class based system!
;) ;)

[/ QUOTE ]

Majority? What are you basing that on? Did you take a poll or something? It seemed like people had a few problems with the free updates, but I wouldn't say the majority was "outraged and dissapointed". Some were, but not the majority.

We all know they'll listen to us and do what they can to fix problems. They're nice devs.

[Junction_Boy]

Houston, we have a problem.

There has been a pattern of dev changes to this game in recent months, and until I spoke with a friend about it last night I really could not put my finger on it. Around every couple of weeks we get news of changes made or changes in the works, and each time this happens the things that detract from my enjoyment of the game always outweigh those that enhance it. Some of these have been nerfs to powers that I use, some have been nerfs to powers my friends have, and some have been more general game changes. I will touch on a few specifically.

Foremost in my mind we have the scrapper scrutiny that's going on right now. This process could have been good for the players. The devs could have performed their tests, gotten a baseline, noticed that dark armor is underpowered, invul is strongest (according to their criteria), and that super reflexes needs some help outside of the perma-elude build, and moved on from there. Instead, they chose to start this process by nerfing a balanced set, and then nerfing the weakest set... both before doing any structured published testing. The devs chose to do nothing to enhance the enjoyment of dark armor players and instead chose to make them and regeners go through another miserable round of nerfage.

Then we have the changing of content that people enjoy... the high level wolf missions, specifically. Again, the devs did things backwards. They could have offered us new content (maybe luring some players away from repeated wolf farming), but instead chose to remove content. Not only that, we had to put up with facist accusations that players who farmed wolf missions were not having any fun. Last time I checked this was a computer GAME. The whole point is to have fun. If players did not find wolf herding fun, they would not do it. There were some players who did not enjoy playing the game that way and did not participate. There were some that did enjoy it. The devs did nothing to enhance the enjoyment of those players who did not wolf herd (except for a sadistic few elitists who were glad the missions were nerfed), and at the same time, they robbed players who did enjoy those missions of the option to repeat them.

Most recently I log in and hear (read, actually) chatter about accuracy debuffs being placed in Super Speed and Super Jump. On one hand I find this not a big deal, but then again, if it's not a big deal, why did they bother making such a drastic change this late in the life of those powers? Is it truly abusive to be accurate and mobile in combat at the same time? Do the high endurance costs of those powers not make up for that? Why could they not instead remove the -acc from Fly so that flyers can be mobile and accurate in combat without having to resort to complex bind sets or the increased button pushing and annoyance of making sure that your movement powers are toggled correctly. How, exactly does this help the game? From my point of view it doesn't, it is just annoying.

This is not my "I quit" letter, but I am a little upset in general about all the negative changes to the game that I love and play for 20+ hours each week. I'd like to log in and find that my heroes have become more heroic or have more opportunities to be heroic, not less. Can I get an Amen?


Just because I don't want to make a second post, here's my wish list for the devs:

No more nerfs. Balance through power set improvement and mob difficulty adjustment. Yeah it's harder, it's also less aggravating. Make my weaker heroes more heroic, not my stronger ones less so.

Allow the respec trials to be repeated for respec reward. Powers get changed every issue and between issues as well. Number of respecs is capped. That's not cool. Also, allow /respec command to work for all respecs.

Stop imposing your ideals of what is fun and how the game should be played on your players. There are parallels to this behavior throughout history. One of them was named Hitler. Once a game like this is out of your studio and in the hands of thousands of players across the globe, it is unlikely to be exactly what you originally envisioned. It is no longer just your creation. It is influenced by every player who bothers to write a character background, make a post, or otherwise go beyond the mechanical grind of clicking icons. Let go. Let the game live as it will. (Sorry to go all hippy on you there.)

Add a Dark Astoria Task Force... this is a really cool zone with little story support.

Add a TF for SKULS.

Give more details on flashback. Will I be able to go back to do TFs and trials that I missed and get the badges? Will I be able to finish old storylines and mission arcs from incomplete contacts?

Make reward from monsters and AVs worth the bother of fighting them.

[Gabriel_Sun]

Warning: Detecting point of 0 credibility.

[ QUOTE ]
Add a TF for SKULS.


[/ QUOTE ]


You just lost all the credibility you built up in the previous paragraphs with this one...

[Junction_Boy]

[ QUOTE ]

Warning: Detecting point of 0 credibility.

[ QUOTE ]
Add a TF for SKULS.


[/ QUOTE ]

You just lost all the credibility you built up in the previous paragraphs with this one...

[/ QUOTE ]

That was my attempt at humor. I can't help it if you chose to not find it funny. =P ...but assuming I were serious with that particular comment, if you don't find beating up skulls fun, then I cannot fathom why you play this game.

GO. HUNT. KILL SKULS!

[BeautifulEnd]

[ QUOTE ]

Warning: Detecting point of 0 credibility.

[ QUOTE ]
Add a TF for SKULS.


[/ QUOTE ]


You just lost all the credibility you built up in the previous paragraphs with this one...

[/ QUOTE ]

What does a desire to Kill Skuls have to do with credibilty. I guess that means I just *Detected Extreme Humor Bias*

[Somnambulator]

[ QUOTE ]

Warning: Detecting point of 0 credibility.

[ QUOTE ]
Add a TF for SKULS.


[/ QUOTE ]


You just lost all the credibility you built up in the previous paragraphs with this one...

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow, that's where you think he lost credibility? I thought he lost it when he compared developers attempting to balance a MMORPG with being Hitler.

[Free_Spirit_NA]

Okay....Listen. Just because because Junction made a couple of colorful, and even silly remarks in his "second post" section, let's not lose sight of the ACTUALLY important stuff he said. This game is about having fun. Trust me, people had alot more fun when the were actually super. As a tank who always bank'd in basic resists, and never had Perma-Unstop. I was actually happy with the invince changes (and just for the morons out there invincibility already got nerf'd) because it validated my build. On the other hand, i felt bad for my friends who did use perma unstop, and i watched helplessly as their enjoyment of the game dropped, eventually leading many to quit playing their tanks. Nerf'ing has never made anyone happy (and if im not wrong, a devs main concern should be making his customer happy). Its only made them feel weaker and less cool.

As for the restriction of content, ala. wolf farming, this also leads to a lessening of a players enjoyment of the content. As I belive Junction was pointing out, why not spend more time creating new and interestings things for us to do so we will leave our farm mishes and actually have somethign to do, besides just standing around waiting for someone to ask us to pl them. I can't tel you how many times i come upon a new restriction and wonder'd: "Why are they wasting time messing up the fun stuff and not spending it making more stuff for me to do?"

And for those "squeaky wheels" out there: Stop being so worried about how I play my game and go play yours. If you don't like pl'ing or farming, fine, you don't have to, im not gonna twist your arm; God knows I have enough other people begging for me to help them out. If the fact that i work'd my [censored] of gettin to 50 the first time and now i just wanna makes some toons and HAVE FUN pisses you off... well... i dont know.....GO PLAY SOMETHING ELSE. We pay our money too. Stop screwing things up for us.

Lastly i will talk about the Arena. I personaly, don't care. I like PvP, but my main focus is on PvE, you know: the game I pay for. I won't begrudge the PvP-heads their fun, I too enjoy a good match. But tweaking powers just so that they are more even in the Arena is bogus. The Cardinal rule of this game has always been: a Blaster should never be able to go toe to toe with Tank. This is a team game, with each ATs powers balancing and accentuating one another. A balster should need another tank to occupy the big nasty, and said tank should need the squishy blaster to ever do enough damage to take out his tanker brother. Thats why, frankly, team battles in the arena are still more fun than dueling, but the changes made to ATs for the arena affect them in the ACTUAL game, you know: the one they pay for. If you start nerfing things (or should i say, having nerf'd things) your gonna make everyone who doesn't live in the Arena very pissy. As i mentioned earlier, people don't like being made less powerful, we're superheores for pete's sake, we're supposed to be ridiculously powerful.

All in all i don't mind the changes, im gonna play either way. But if everyone else quits because the devs stomped on their nutz, well, then who am i gonna have to play with? All the whiny crybaybies who screw'd it up for the rest of us? Thnx, I'll just play with myself. :p

[ll2DoPe]

Ive only played a few months but i have to say this patch comepletey ruined a perfectly good game. My scrps couldnt hit the blind side of a dam barn if there life counted on it. /useless and going to be deleted.. My ctlr's pets are so dumb now they dont tank they just draw agro to u. PA are no longer usefull at all. Along with loss of acc i dont even wanna play the game anymore. I think we deserv refunds. I want a server with is 3 on it myself cause 4 plain sux. I sure as hell wouldnt have payed up if i had known u would ruin the game like that. Worked so hard to hit 40 on my main and now i wont ever use it again. Thx for the wasted time. :mad:

I waited to post my opinion hopeing they would fix the probs but i had to get it off my chest. It was a very awsome game. :)

[mrballer]

If they do increase the accuracy I just don't want them to make it too easy to hit stuff and get hit. . As far as the decrease in accuracy goes I really don't mind it as much, but I do think they went a little overboard. Oh...It's still way worth the dough cause' the game is still awesome.

[Geek_Boy]

Since there isn't an official thread open about the travel powers changes, I'm guessing this is where I should come to whine about them. ;)

First of all, I like the idea of suppression. I think it works, but the problem is that it is applying to certain defensive powers. I know the official dev statement is "this is working as intended. Turn off Invincibility while you travel," but that doesn't cut it in my mind and I'll explain why.

Okay, Invincibility "damages" enemies in melee range adding to your accuracy and defense while also taunting them. That's why your travel powers are supressed if you get too close to a mob with it turned on. That almost makes sense until you realize how integral Invincibility is to keeping a scrapper alive and that other scrapper defensive sets (and tanker sets) don't have the same penalty.

If I have Invincibility on I do have a chance of agroing groups that I would not have without it on, so I've made a habit of not traveling with it a lot of the time anyway. If I'm in a place like the Hive and am surrounded by groups of monsters, I tend to leave every defense on though. Why? Because if I'm close enough for Invincibility to agro them I already screwed up and need all the help I can get.

So now I need to choose between a defense bonus that can agro a mob I get too close to (but that I can normally get away from between SJ and SS) or having my travel powers supressed every time I get to close to a Skull in Perez Park on my way to a mission. Is that a game-breaker? No. Is it annoying? To the extreme.

If I was, say, a regen scrapper though I could leave every single power in my defensive set on and have no problems whatsoever. While it almost makes sense that Invincibility would supress your travel power, does it make the same amount of sense that if my regen scrapper (and I do have one that I'm pulling through the 20's right now) should have their travel powers supressed if they heal damage from someone they accidentally agroed while moving through a zone?

I don't think it makes sense for a regen to have their powers supressed, but it does follow the same logic as why an invuln is being supressed. My solution isn't to apply it to everyone because the players that are currently being supressed are having it done (in my opinion) unfairly. I say remove the supression for all non-damaging powers.

Now I realize that since Invincibility "damages" enemies in melee range to determine how many are there, that might be more difficult than I'm anticipating. If that's the case then let us know, but if it's just a matter of the devs thinking that it should work that way then I respectfully disagree.

Now I'm off to play my Warshade.

[Sufferance]

[ QUOTE ]
Thnx, I'll just play with myself. :p

[/ QUOTE ]

Dude....waaaaay too much information.

[Rhynalae]

[ QUOTE ]
Stop imposing your ideals of what is fun and how the game should be played on your players. There are parallels to this behavior throughout history. One of them was named Hitler....

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh no -- not the NAZI card!

(That's always an effective way to win someone over to your POV: Compare them to a megalomaniac manic-depressive psycopath. I'll have to write that one down.)

Don't give them an excuse to scrap all the good things you had to say by throwing barbs like this into the mix.

[Rogue_Scorpion]

Geek_Boy, there actually is a semi-official thread over in the training room forum on the SS/SJ/Fly changes regarding supression. The reason it is on that forum is because it was initially put on test (thus the start of the thread), and not expected to be dumped onto live servers two hours later....otherwise the thread probably would have been started here instead.

You say that you like supression and that it works, yet give an outstanding arguement of exactly why it DOESNT work regarding invincibility. Its a great arguement, and you got some stars for it. Keep in mind though, there are a multitude of other toggle type powers that supression affects just as adversly as invincibility. As for regular attack powers? Well It doesn't do much for those except supress the fun of fighting with travel powers on. Jousting can and still does work just fine, and if one still does choose to use travel powers for jousting (which isnt even necessary), they can just use key binds.

Fact of the matter is, supression doesnt do ANYTHING except annoy people and "supress" the enjoyment of the game. Thats the ONLY purpose it serves (regardless of what the devs intended it to do). Everything that was possible before supression is still possible now; except now you have to put up with this annoying 4-second sluggishness every time you use an attack power. I know the devs had some benevolent purpose in mind when they made these changes, but whatever it was, they missed it by a lot.

Constructive or not ~ Supression is stupid and needs to be removed ASAP.

* * * * * * *

Now that thats out of the way, there is a real problem with super speed that actually does affect game play in ways that dont only regard personal enjoyment of the game. Apparently the stealth component of super speed has been changed (without notice). Before Issue 4, if you had super speed up, the stealth wouldnt drop until after an attack activation sequence had completed. Now the stealth component drops the instant you activate an attack, essentially giving away your position before your first attack can complete, leaving you vunerable to alpha-strikes.

This one simple little change has killed the solo game for close range blasters which relied upon the stealth component of super speed.

As of right now, super speed is at the rock bottom of the travel pool powers list IMO.

[Jabbrwock]

[ QUOTE ]

This one simple little change has killed the solo game for close range blasters which relied upon the stealth component of super speed.


[/ QUOTE ]

What's especially annoying about this is that those Blasters, who really needed the stealth, were the major reason I considered the accuracy penalty to be such a horrible idea. Mind you, I thought it was a useless idea for a variety of other reasons, but by and large, for pretty much ever aspect of the game I cared about, it was harmless - except for Blasters who needed SS for stealth. And the suppression system doesn't help worth squat for that - it is, if anything, even worse than the accuracy penalty. At least Aim + Build Up can overcome the accuracy penalty.

[Ecliptus]

[ QUOTE ]
Ive only played a few months but i have to say this patch comepletey ruined a perfectly good game. My scrps couldnt hit the blind side of a dam barn if there life counted on it. /useless and going to be deleted.. My ctlr's pets are so dumb now they dont tank they just draw agro to u. PA are no longer usefull at all. Along with loss of acc i dont even wanna play the game anymore. I think we deserv refunds. I want a server with is 3 on it myself cause 4 plain sux. I sure as hell wouldnt have payed up if i had known u would ruin the game like that. Worked so hard to hit 40 on my main and now i wont ever use it again. Thx for the wasted time. :mad:

I waited to post my opinion hopeing they would fix the probs but i had to get it off my chest. It was a very awsome game. :)

[/ QUOTE ]

Im with this guy..exept going back to I1 and I2...the pa used to be incredibly powerful, i think that the Illlusion controller community deserves some of their pa power back. I like how the spec. terror fears instead of makes villans run, but now my decoy phantasms will NOT fight. My phantasms make me stay close enought to the fight for them to start atacking, but now my decoy phantasms make me get right in the bad guys face for them to do any thing. The phantasms will spawn them into the center of the battle (which made them get some aggro) and the decoy phantasms will just fly away and cower. whats up with that.... :(

[SablePhoenix]

I was in Beta, and I have said this before. This game has a great dev team, one of the best I've seen. Thanks, Geko.

However, one thing stood out glaringly to me in your commandment list:

[ QUOTE ]
*I will do my best to continue to make this game fun.

[/ QUOTE ]

The recent changes do not follow this commandment. In fact ever since I3 it's been a downhill trend (Rage and it's ten second ADHD syndrome is a perfect example... no, it's still not fun, and nothing's been done about it). To be honest, as great as the dev team is, I'm convinced that there has been a fundamental disconnect between what the dev team thinks players consider fun and what the players actually consider fun. I don't know when this happened, but it's very noticeable; Issue 4 was the last straw and destroyed the fun of the game for me and many others. I think you need to re-evaluate how you're going about trying to achieve this commandment.

[bluething]

Kinda gotta agree, theres alot of changes that are hurting the fun factor more than helping it. I have played with Rage a great deal and still think it sucks, its absolutly no fun to have to stand there mashing buttons waiting to be able to play again.... give me build up or let me respec into an entirely different power pool ;P

I thought suppresion was pretty cool at first then I played it and played it and played it and after experianceing it and multiple deaths on my Blaster and Defender as a result, I'm not impressed. If you suddenly realise you have to attempt a quick retreat, you have only realised your already dead cause you wont escape in time.

I just ask that you put this thought into place when make changes "Are we takeing the super out of the hero?" cause alot of the changes made are makeing me feel alot less Super Hero and more like a Super Zero.

But lets not end this on a negative note, cause you guys "the Devs" have made some great changes and added some really awsome things as well. Tar Patch for one, I'm happy for those playing a Dark/* Def along with many other powers that got improved like Speed Boost. I can only hope that Ice/* Tanks and */Dark Scrappers get alittle love soon, not that they are the only ones needing it. I've read some amazeingly cool ideas from players for makeing blasters more Fun and team worthy and I can only hope the Dev team has seen those posts and and sunk their hooks into some of those ideas.

What I and I'm sure many others would like to see is more bringing the hero at the bottum, up to level with the guys in the middle and less takeing the guy at the top down. It would be nice if one issue wasnt a mighty swing from the nerf bat and it would surely reflect possitivly if for once it was fixing the weak and not balanceing the strong.

We the players do need to understand however that (for example) the changes to Energy Absorbtion probly had to be made without changes to the Ice Armor pools other powers so they could see the impact it made and then figure out where to make improvements and this probly goes for alot of other powers as well, like Elude the Devs need to see how SR performs without it perma before they can make improvements else where. I'm sure internal testing doesnt answer all the questions compaired to all the info they can gather from the vast number of payers.

Okay shutting up now cause this post has become longer and covered more than I intended.

[HeroDude9]

I have an Idea for an update for archtype powers. I have several ideas:---> Blasters could have optic powers[Optic Blast, glowing eyes(protect from mental attacks) ect.] , Controllers could have Speed control (slow, Super Speed, ect.), defenders could have Attack Buff (Super strength, weaken, ect.) Scrappers could have Bow and Arrow. Thats all I can think of for now. What do you think? Do y'all like them??? :D :) :cool: :) ;)

[Xavierix]

[ QUOTE ]
I have an Idea for an update for archtype powers. I have several ideas:---> Blasters could have optic powers[Optic Blast, glowing eyes(protect from mental attacks) ect.] , Controllers could have Speed control (slow, Super Speed, ect.), defenders could have Attack Buff (Super strength, weaken, ect.) Scrappers could have Bow and Arrow. Thats all I can think of for now. What do you think? Do y'all like them??? :D :) :cool: :) ;)

[/ QUOTE ]

DUDE no love for the TAnker??? :( :mad: :(

[Avatar_NA]

[ QUOTE ]
I have an Idea for an update for archtype powers. I have several ideas:---> Blasters could have optic powers[Optic Blast, glowing eyes(protect from mental attacks) ect.]

[/ QUOTE ]

Interesting idea, I guess. Flying around shooting laser beams out of my eyes with a cape on might make me feel like a hero for the few seconds before I'm killed by return fire :P

[ QUOTE ]
, Controllers could have Speed control (slow, Super Speed, ect.)

[/ QUOTE ]

ice/, /kinetics, and /storm have slow, and /kinetics has speed.

[ QUOTE ]
, defenders could have Attack Buff (Super strength, weaken, ect.)

[/ QUOTE ]

kinetics/ and even empathy/ have attack buff powers

[ QUOTE ]
Scrappers could have Bow and Arrow.

[/ QUOTE ]

No. Scrapper sets have too many ranged/AoEs already.

[The_Alt_oholic]

Excellent game! I love it. Keep up the good work.

[Spectre_NA]

Add my whining to the chorus . . .

What sucks about suppression? Have Faultline as the ONLY mission you can get from the ONLY contact that will give you missions, and no one else wants to team with you at the moment so you are forced to go solo . . .

Makes life hard for a lvl 14.5 blaster.

That is not the fun of a challenge . . . it is hard, frustrating work, and not being able to run for the ceiling when the swarm of eck throwing mobs locks in on you is not fun at all. :mad:

[Star_Seraph]

[ QUOTE ]
For those of you who were in Beta, you know I always do my best to listen to the community, as does the rest of the Cryptic team. As always, we are all listening and watching.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well I hope you are listening and watching this morning because the atmosphere in Peregrine Island and other zones today is hostile. Your release of i5 on test is being noticed, and not in a good way. So get into the game itself and listen to dialogue. Not everyone likes or trusts the boards and what is being said needs to be heard.

[King_Moloch]

/signed.

I expected to have a few unpleasent experiences with the changes, and figured that I would try and work around them, as with Supression. So far I have been instructed, based on the constant baselining and reduction of playability from the hail of nerfs that there is only ONE way to play this game. The dev way. SO, as has been mentioned in numerous other threads, CAN WE GET A WORD ON WHAT THIS "VISION" YOU ARE DESTROYING OUR GAME FOR IS? Because thus far, the development team seems to be the only people allowed in on the joke. I have accepted the weakening of the ATs, and have accepted the utter lack of high level content, and accepted the ruination of the only high level content worth performing. I have accepted the lack of immersion and utter sameness of the leveling process, I have accepted the dreary grind of ho hum missions. All this because I loved the characters I had created. Because I loved the story of the game, because I enjoyed teaming with my SG. Well, guess what. Out of 46 of us, there are 7 left. Seven. After today's latest debacle, there will be 4. Please, stop this. This game can still be salvaged. Stop trying to make everyone fit the same rigid mold and allow us the freedom to experience the world we have all helped to create, in the way that we are most comfortable.
Honestly, and forgive my earlier wailing, but after an "update" like this one, I feel I'm allowed a little venting. But honestly, tell us how were supposed to be playing, since so far, no one has ever seemed to match the dev team "vision" of what that's supposed to mean. Since we're all doing it wrong, tell us how to do it right?


-King Moloch

[Stormbringer]

[ QUOTE ]
For those of you who were in Beta, you know I always do my best to listen to the community, as does the rest of the Cryptic team. As always, we are all listening and watching. Nothing is permanent in an MMP. New features will be added, and things will change. Not every change will make your Hero more powerful, but it is our goal to make it more fun. Those are not always the same things. It is not fun if it is not challenging (that is, easy is not always fun).

[/ QUOTE ]

what's fun about movement suppression?

:eek:

[_Kosh]

[ QUOTE ]
*I will always listen to the community (that goes for the boards, in game, and thru mining data and statistics).

[/ QUOTE ]

It seems like you're hearing but not listening.

[ QUOTE ]
*I will do my best to continue to make this game fun.

[/ QUOTE ]
Please advise me what is 'fun' about movement suppression?
Please advise me what is 'fun about capping my Nova's AoE?
Please advise me what is 'fun' about reducing my base resistances?
Please advise me what is 'fun' about reducing my few defenses (Stealth, Hover, Hasten)
Please advise me what is 'fun' about reducing my two Dark Servants to one and reducing their effectiveness?
Please advise me what is 'fun' about reducing the effectiveness of my enhancements for content that doesn't exist yet?

[ QUOTE ]
*I will try my best to give you detailed information.

[/ QUOTE ]

What percentage, exactly, was mob's ToHit reduced? What percentage, exactly, was resistances and defenses reduced?

Thank you.

[DarkPhoenix]

I know that the devs do not like to give raw numbers because we tend to obsess over them but at the moment our numbers don't look very good at all. If you would kindly post the numbers for the changes tankers,scrappers, defenders and controllers whatever information you can will be of great help you guys have all the data it's possible that we are not looking at the big picture. At this point some glimmer of hope or understanding behind those numbers would help tremendously and maybe quell the DOOM.

[DameDella]

With all the changes that the devs have made so far, I can't help but to think is this push for *improved game stability* a alterior promotion to get people to play City of Villians when it goes live? Knowing that people will be frustrated with these changes and some will leave the game etc... is this just another marketing ploy to nerf a good game to promote another?
(Okay I will stop with the conspiracy theories...=P)

I see this coming up a lot in groups "anyone have an awaken on them?"

Dame Della

[El_Guapo]

This has been my first experience with an mmorpg. I'm a very casual player usually. I'll pop on for a few times a week and play an hour maybe 3 if I'm lucky. I've played since beta and my controller has finally reached level 40. He's my first and favorite creation.

But with all this news, I'm beginning to dread it. I don't want to leave the game cause I've made great friends here. But when they leave cause of bad changes thats just not cool.

I hope someone is seriously reading all this stuff cause if people on the boards aren't happy, what will happen to people who don't read them and play the update? They'll be shocked first cause of the changes then they'll be frustrated then stop playing. CoH can easily become a ghost town with so much mmo competition available. The guy in the cubicle next to mine is promoting WoW. :p

But seriously, this game is awesome. Its the only form of entertainment I have at the moment since money is tight. I'd like to continue with it. Besides didn't we make a a difficulting setting for those that wanted a harder game anyway? That was a cool idea. Just add a new bar for it called Ridiculous and make it so hard you'll be thrashing your keyboard in frustration cause the minion punched you in the gut and sent you to the hospital.

[DJ_Dazzler]

Actaully Dark's were affected too, Need foes For all thier powers except thier Shadow fall or Tar Patch, oh and the pet, other than that its all foes, Specially the heal or rez.

[Gemini_II]

So, with that said, let me give you my 10 Commandments of Geko:
[ QUOTE ]
*I will always listen to the community (that goes for the boards, in game, and thru mining data and statistics).

[/ QUOTE ]

- Hopefully, you are hearing the cries coming from the general populace about the wide-ranging nerfs of I5.

[ QUOTE ]
*I will not be scared to be wrong.

[/ QUOTE ]

- Great, please stop adjusting AT powers and add more content instead. The general consensus of the players that show up here is that we'd like some things that are *broken* fixed, and more content, *NOT* power adjustments/nerfs.

[ QUOTE ]
*I will react as quickly as possible, but not sooner than needed.

[/ QUOTE ]

- Hopefully you won't wait until the I5 release to back away from the nerf button. I foresee a large population leaving the community, and its a real shame if Cryptic takes the viewpoint of "Some leave, some come"......

[ QUOTE ]
*I will not be scared to be unpopular.

[/ QUOTE ]

- You might want to rethink this one. Being unpopular in a business leads to failure.

[ QUOTE ]
*I will not make a change to the game simply because it is popular.

[/ QUOTE ]

- Why was suppression added to travel powers? Was it because PvP'ers were crying about it? Did you find out from the PvE'ers if they wanted that change? Oh, nevermind, you aren't going to change the game just because something is popular.....

[ QUOTE ]
*I will do my best to continue to make this game fun.

[/ QUOTE ]

- Recent changes to the game have made it decidedly UN-fun. Can we please go back to I3?

[ QUOTE ]
*I will not intentionally stealth nerf.

[/ QUOTE ]

- That's dandy, but a nerf is still a nerf. Knowing about it doesn't make it any better.

[ QUOTE ]
*I will not reduce Accuracy.

[/ QUOTE ]

- But you will reduce Defense on the heroes across the board? I guess I should have read the small-print.

[ QUOTE ]
*I will try my best to give you detailed information.

[/ QUOTE ]

- Could we get some hard numbers on damage, recycle times, magnitude, etc.? I've yet to see Cryptic provide this information that many of us have been asking for since day 1.

[ QUOTE ]
*I will make Statesman wash my car.

[/ QUOTE ]

- :)


BTW, making something more challanging does NOT mean its more interesting.....

1. Walking a tight-rope over lava is challanging, but I wouldn't consider it "fun".

2. Running a marathon is challanging, but not necessarily "fun" for most people.

3. Playing chess against a Master might be challanging, and probably futile, that doesn't make it fun.

4. Committing a crime and getting away with it might be challanging, but is not necessarily fun or morally comforting.

5. Memorizing 'War and Peace' would be challanging, but definitely not fun.

I could go on for hours, but I think you can see that something that is challanging doesn't make it fun or even interesting....its just challanging. And, just because something is easy doesn't make it boring, I could lay out under the night sky and watch a meteor shower, eat some pizza, hold hands with my wife and listen to some Pink Floyd. That would be easy and a lot of fun.

[King_Moloch]

Ugh.
After waiting a few weeks I think it is safe to assume none of the developers read these boards once they start them. Somone once told me that they very seldom, if ever, read the boards the people who play the games posted on, as that would lead to a conflict of interest. I didn't believe her, not really. After all, a dev started this thread, right?
((looks back up at the many, many pages of unaddressed concerns and unasnwered questions))
Hmm...
Maybe need to rethink what I thought...

-King Moloch

[ProfessorD]

[ QUOTE ]
Ugh.
After waiting a few weeks I think it is safe to assume none of the developers read these boards once they start them. Somone once told me that they very seldom, if ever, read the boards the people who play the games posted on, as that would lead to a conflict of interest. I didn't believe her, not really. After all, a dev started this thread, right?
((looks back up at the many, many pages of unaddressed concerns and unasnwered questions))
Hmm...
Maybe need to rethink what I thought...

-King Moloch

[/ QUOTE ]


do devs post more than once in a thread? even if it's a thread he/she started?

[stengah_NA]

Lack of communication and Stealth nerfs can kill this game.

Please notify EVERY SINGLE change on the forums, don't hide anything to the players.

because this leads to confusion and it's just a total lack of respect, what's the use of the patch notes then ? It's really insulting.

[BlackStormer]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It is entirely unacceptable to say "100% working as intended, will not change" and then change it barely two weeks later. I think it is unacceptable to change it ever, without explaining the reasoning behind the change but that is just me.

[/ QUOTE ]

If the developers decided that something was (or was becoming) a balance issue, they have to fix it. They can't just toss up their hands and let it go on just because they said they wouldn't beforehand. Game balance trumps all.

[/ QUOTE ]

Unacceptable! It's fine to say there are problems and they are under review but to give a generic answer such as "working as intended" when it's clearly not, then that's a problem. Honesty is always the best policy when you are dealing with everyone, especially your paying customers.

[katrina_lexa]

[ QUOTE ]
I have not played a controller, but I am a gamer and have been for some time. I think the issue that is being missed here is one of balance. You are complaining about losing something you never should have had in the first place. What is the point of having different power sets within an archetype if they are not distinct? .

[/ QUOTE ]

I am pretty new here however I have played COH for a while know. I found it hard to level because people did not want to have my healer in there group. They said they did not need it. Then i made a blaster. People said they had tankers and scrappers so they did not need me. Know I am needed. My point is, the characters where never properly balanced from the get go.

Some of us who wanted to play support roles spent days trying to gain a meazely few levels, while in the mean time tankers culled enemys and gain several levels in a matter of weeks.

I my self am happy with the changes. I also like the fact the XP has been tweaked and know I gain level faster at earlierl levels.

For those who are complainging, I have a few words that I was told in navy boot camp. addapt and overcome or be left behind. That is the simple fact. We knew the game was going to change. Any of here who has played an MMO, speacially star wars galaxy, know patchs come out. There is no use in whineing about it.

[Raider_Zero]

I'm glad that you and the team bent to the PvP and completely screwed the game; that's grand.

The game now sucks and I don't care if you came to my house with an engraved invitation, you'll never see my $ again. I can't believe that my hours and hours of thought and careful play to develop a tank that was very fun to play was tossed out by a major overhaul of the game disguised as a patch.

More content, fix typos, add feature sets and stability. Do NOT completely revamp which AT's are any good and make characters that were highly regarded yesterday into unplayable wretches today. This is a bunch of crap and the response obviously illustrates who got screwed. If you ever get this far down the thread, you've already lost me so please don't bother responding.

But please do observe the massive outcry from those who are willing to pay for the right to be cheated out of the work that they put in. Please do take note of those with the time available to start over and think that it's not a big deal. Also note that gimping existing accounts in advance so that the CoV purchasers don't b!tch too much is stupid. Don't you know that 90% of those CoV buyers are CoH owners who want to switch to the dark side?

These changes did not increase the appeal of the game prior to the release of CoV. It actually causes double damage to the community because myself and all the others who are quitting will also not be buying CoV anymore either.

I'm looking forward to watching lots of Katrina coverage as it is now more fun than this game.

[MistressNoire]

an analogy; if someone sells me a car, and i drive this car around, and think "gee, i like this car". but the next day, that same someone comes over and takes all the tires off of it, points out in the sales contract i bought the "car" and not specifically the tyres. how would you feel?
would you:
a) tell him to go *^$#@%**^%$#@
b)buy the tyres off of him
c)look for another car dealer next time around
or whatever .
in almost every team i have been in the was a sidekick or an exemplar, so does it really matter who levels faster if you like teaming with these people ?
it is in teaming with my friends that i find the patience to deal with i5 fyi.i have no loyalty to CoH and would not recommend it to other players as of now.
and why am i even wasting space on my hardrive to keep CoH Test Server? it doesnt seem to matter what our imput is ,changes are coming anyway. since i am not a dev i cannot fathom what this "balance vision" means. i suspect the visions deviate amongst the devs themselves. i have had experience DMing tabletop RPGs and i know that new miniatures and brightly colored maps do not hold a players attention (in the over 12 yo gamers) if the DM is seen to be unfair, or disrespectful.
heres one specific i thought would be addressed, the old knockback that was taken out of super strength unless you had it slotted. this was to ease the difficulties of fighting while rooted in unyielding stance. but unyielding is not a self root anymore. why does kb still knock up ?

In summary of my thoughts on i5? Even Aleksandr of Macedonia went too far, once.
with regards

[Evil_Illusions]

I have a question about the changes in issue 5.. that werent listed on the patch notes...several costume parts are missing now... ones before issue 4 were have they gone? Are they gone forever? to list a couple...
<ul type="square"> Suit Jacket under the "Jacket" section of upper body creation
The old pants, They have been replaced in "Pants" but they are very differant. you cannot color each section (upper lower) on those. [/list]

[Captain_Amazing_NA]

[ QUOTE ]
it doesnt seem to matter what our imput is ,changes are coming anyway. since i am not a dev i cannot fathom what this "balance vision" means. i suspect the visions deviate amongst the devs themselves.

[/ QUOTE ]

The balanced vision means that Statesman comes up with the worst ideas (eg Defiance) and not a single developer on the team thinks it's a bad idea: they don't have the courage to bring up anything negative. Besides, States is clueless anyways. Keep fighting that boss on your hand-held, States. Maybe one day you'll look up and notice more and more of your customers are GONE. CoH is not the #1 MMO that it could be.

Due to the lack of in-house testing, crap gets uploaded to Test and WE are suppose to "beta" everything whether we do or not: their response will be..."well, we PUT it on test for y'all to look at"...despite the fact that they change about 3% of what we ask to be looked at/changed/added/removed. For CoH Beta over a year ago I asked that Vahz and Clockwork be looked at as they seem a bit overpowered. To THIS day these two villain groups are STILL OVERPOWERED when your hero is small and does not have enough powers. Form a team and there are just more of them.

- Captain Amazing

[Lothart]

[ QUOTE ]
The balanced vision means that Statesman comes up with the worst ideas (eg Defiance) and not a single developer on the team thinks it's a bad idea: they don't have the courage to bring up anything negative.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ok, why is it a stupid idea? If you want to insult people (yep, real live hum,an beings NOT just names you read on the Internet) you should be able to back it up with something.

[ QUOTE ]
Besides, States is clueless anyways.

[/ QUOTE ]

Have you designed a commercially successful MMOG? If not you should face the possibility that you are the clueless one.

[ QUOTE ]
Keep fighting that boss on your hand-held, States. Maybe one day you'll look up and notice more and more of your customers are GONE.

[/ QUOTE ]

Some of us came back because the game was finally getting close to the vision it was designed under. Maybe more are leaving thatn returning but as long as people are returning the customer base won't be GONE as you so apocalyptically chose to put it.

[ QUOTE ]
CoH is not the #1 MMO that it could be.

[/ QUOTE ]

I dispute that CoH could be the number 1 game without being run by a much larger company. There is a price you pay for dealing with the small guys and that price includes delays in implementing all the change the dev team would like to implement. The alternative would be much higher fees for the customer in order to increase available staff resources. That, in turn, would drive more people away and start a downward spiral.

[MrQuizzles]

[ QUOTE ]
I have a question about the changes in issue 5.. that werent listed on the patch notes...several costume parts are missing now... ones before issue 4 were have they gone? Are they gone forever? to list a couple...
<ul type="square"> Suit Jacket under the "Jacket" section of upper body creation
The old pants, They have been replaced in "Pants" but they are very differant. you cannot color each section (upper lower) on those. [/list]

[/ QUOTE ]

I believe those are known issues.

[JonnyDeadSide]

LMAO.....I5 itself is a "known issue".

[ironfreak247]

I just recently started reading through some of this post. While Geko's commandments sound noble, it's hard to keep believing them since he hasn't made a reply or post to the thread in over a year. I was disheartened to read he has the same mindset as Statesman. He also believes that if something is not challenging, it is not fun. Once again the old argument over what is fun. I won't go into it because Gemini has stated it pretty well.

I've only been playing since February, so I don't know what the game was like before I3, but I have seen that since the Arena was introduced, there seems to be more discontent. I'm not interested in PvP even when CoV comes out, and I know I'm not the only one. I would say the majority of players are not that interested in PvP. That wouldn't be a big deal normally, but I see a lot of changes that are mainly PvP oriented and I think it's just the beginning of a trend. Just think about the mindset of the devs. They say more challenge=more fun. What's more challenging than playing against another human player who can strategize and *gasp* even exploit? It's certainly more challenging than going up against the goofy AI (which I believe if the AI was fixed, a lot of the herding/PL issues would be fixed and a lot of nerfs unnecessary). I think they're all steering us toward this course, though I hope I'm wrong. Come on devs, please prove me wrong.

[usedtolikecoh]

I've been playin this game for a long time, since beta and the whole time, im not always around to play, but i always come back. I have 2 accounts, and high lvls on both. I just wanted to post my spite on these new nerfs. My favorite character and one of the reasons i play is cause i love my fire/kin troller. Since shes been nerfed, i have absolutly no reason to play this game. I now i have very low aspirations for city of villians, and am sad to say i pre-ordered it. If this is how COV is goin to turn out, then i wish i could get my money back for it. I am so disappointed with how far this game has gone down hill as to what it was when i first started playing. I know im not the only one who feels this way. Sad to say, but i will not play either game anymore because its just not fun, and if there is a refund available on my COV pre-order, please let me know so i can get reimbursed for a game that i have no intentions on playing. Thanks for ruining something that was enjoyable, one of the few things left in my life.

[Emnity]

Um.... Used....

[ QUOTE ]
My favorite character and one of the reasons i play is cause i love my fire/kin troller. Since shes been nerfed, i have absolutly no reason to play this game.

[/ QUOTE ]

Buddy....erm... yer build is the new burntank. What are you talking about? Fire/Kin is now one of the AoE powerhouses for damage. Try that PBAoE power you never would have taken in I4.

Emnity

[usedtolikecoh]

It doesnt really matter though cause its not nearly what it used to be, the games fun cause the fast pace, this slows it down a lot, specially since its takes 2 times as long to kill 1 guy, ide rather have it back the way it was. Thnx for your input ... buddy...

[Goldbrick]

[ QUOTE ]
I just recently started reading through some of this post. While Geko's commandments sound noble, it's hard to keep believing them since he hasn't made a reply or post to the thread in over a year. I was disheartened to read he has the same mindset as Statesman.

[/ QUOTE ]

Indeed, Geko may want the game to move toward "EQ in tights". If so, perhaps he will get reassigned someday to another project.

[ QUOTE ]
I would say the majority of players are not that interested in PvP.

[/ QUOTE ]

Current subscriber base only. They hope for more robust subscriber numbers with realm vs realm PvP. It seems to have been a factor in the more popular games like WoW.

[ QUOTE ]
Come on devs, please prove me wrong.

[/ QUOTE ]

You are not wrong. The game since I4 has been moving steadily toward an emphasis on PvP. The current playerbase will be ignored on this issue because they know the current playerbase has a bias for PvE. They want bigger subscriber numbers, it's not more complicated than that.

Well, okay, it may be about more than money. I think there's some ego concerns driving the game. Notice how they've altered things to steer people into doing the mission content. They work hard on the missions and they want people to experience them, even if a fair number of subscribers find it fun to level up as fast as possible and start another toon.

This is a subtle devs vs the players issue that appears to be behind some of the changes (half debt in missions, increased xp earned in missions, stuff like that).

A lot of the changes since the game went live hint to me that the devs want to cram us into a narrow, "proper" way to play the game from 1 to 50. It seems to gall them that people skip content or find unexpected, "less challenging" ways to complete missions.

I would rather that the devs learn not to be offended by the playerbase and stop nerfing.

[Emnity]

[ QUOTE ]
It doesnt really matter though cause its not nearly what it used to be, the games fun cause the fast pace, this slows it down a lot, specially since its takes 2 times as long to kill 1 guy, ide rather have it back the way it was. Thnx for your input ... buddy...

[/ QUOTE ]

Then Used you have not built it for I5. I run a fire/kin and a fire/rad and both take down enemies at a faster pace than I4 and both can take down MORE enemies at a faster pace than I4.

Again I say: try that PBAoE you never would have taken in I4. The one that shoots your FPS to .03.

Try it. Don't get pissed, you wanted advice, now try it. Take the power, use containment, then come back and tell me why we won't be NERFED in I6.

If you are running a fire controller and relying on just your single target holds and your AoE holds to deal damage, then you are ignoring the major damage dealing power in the set.

Try it.

Emnity

[Von_Dahk]

listen, i don't know if this has been addressed in this post yet, cause i haven't read the entire thing, but there are a lot of controllers out there that are happy with the changes, I am not one of them, I have a lvl 50 Illusion / storm controller, and have found that my main abilities as a "controller" have been nerfed, my illusion set that is, for my storm seems to work fine still. I'd like to know at what point the term "controller" lost all meaning to the dev's and quite a few players, when i broughtthis subject up on broadcast everyone said i shouldn't complain cause i can do mor edamage now, ....it's at this point my coronary induced by others stupidity set in. If i had wanted to deal damage i think i woulda taken a blaster or scrapper, but thats not what i wanted, silly me i wanted to be a controller and now what do i have? a mock blaster with one good hold, don't even get me started on pets, all i want is to control large groups of enemies so my pets or my teammates can smack em around, but that ain't happening, so all you damage lovinblaster wannabe's that think its ok to nerf illusion this way...please get a blaster and leave controllers to do what their "supposed" to be best at....controlling

[FaTaL_GlorY]

[ QUOTE ]
For those of you who were in Beta, you know I always do my best to listen to the community, as does the rest of the Cryptic team. As always, we are all listening and watching. Nothing is permanent in an MMP. New features will be added, and things will change. Not every change will make your Hero more powerful, but it is our goal to make it more fun. Those are not always the same things. It is not fun if it is not challenging (that is, easy is not always fun).

My point is anything can change. If a change is bad, it can be modified. Many rants about Hasten hit the boards before most people even tried out the changes. Also, many of the upgrades and improvements to other powers were not even considered. So, for now, I am simply asking you to try things out for a while, and we will do the same. I promise things will ebb and flow until we hit a sweet spot. My guess is Hasten will not be reverted, but the pendulum will probably swing back the other way a little bit. The same may hold true for Accelerate Metabolism.

So, with that said, let me give you my 10 Commandments of Geko:
*I will always listen to the community (that goes for the boards, in game, and thru mining data and statistics).
*I will not be scared to be wrong.
*I will react as quickly as possible, but not sooner than needed.
*I will not be scared to be unpopular.
*I will not make a change to the game simply because it is popular.
*I will do my best to continue to make this game fun.
*I will not intentionally stealth nerf.
*I will not reduce Accuracy.
*I will try my best to give you detailed information.
*I will make Statesman wash my car.

(well, 9 out of 10 aint bad)


A few last words…

Please try to avoid rumors. We have no intention to stealth nerf. Once in a rare while a change goes out that falls off a patch note, or a change is made that affects things in an unforeseen way (technically, this is a bug). But it is not in out best interest to try to pull the wool over your eyes. If you think you see a problem, please politely let us know. Long ranting posts full of disrespect often gets ignored and a real problem may get overlooked. If you see a change that is not in a patch note, it may not belong there, but it may also simply have been overlooked. Either way, we will do out best to confirm things for you.

Finally, there are a lot of you, and these boards are huge. We read as much as we can, but we can’t read and respond to everything. But never assume you are being ignored. Remember, for most issues, please use the in-game petition tool.

[/ QUOTE ]

*I will not &gt;&gt;&gt;intentionally&lt;&lt;&lt; stealth nerf. That sounds fishy.

[Fritzy]

Ho-hum. Same song, 1000th verse - it ain't no better and it ain't no worse. Same old feedback from dev - same old complaints from players. And here I am happily playing my lvl 50 and lvl 36 regen scrappers as if nothing ever changed.

Maybe I am not discontented with recent changes because I almost always have played conservatively within my characters' limits. If I start taking too much damage, I back off and heal or use a different tactic. I assess every mob group to determine the best tactics to use for the fight - much like a field officer does in the military. Do the same regardless of teaming or soloing.

The bottom line is that Geko, Statesman, et al, are businessmen who are not out to ruin the product the provides them with their personal income and profits for NCSoft. Their ultimate goal is to grow the userbase so that their products gain market share. As good businessmen, they have a long-term plan for reaching their business goals. It is to be expected that there will be bumps and potholes along the way. Fortunately, their products can easily be adjusted to remain viable forces in the gaming market. I don't expect them to always make perfect decisions anymore than I expect Ford to make vehicles that never get recalled or develop a product that satisfies 100% of the buying public. That's just the way it is in business.

Proceed, Geko, do what you feel is right for your products. If your decisions are correct, the buying public will let you know with their +$$$$. If you are wrong, the public will let you know with -$$$$$. It's a risky business - this gaming world - with lots of competition. I admire the Cryptic staff for their willingness to take risks rather than sit at their computers and play it safe by not taking any risks.

I sincerely hope your risks pay off in the long run. But remember (and this is something developers tend to minimize and forget), ultimately, it is the consumers - who with their $$$ - will tell you whether you were right or you were wrong.

[DeathSentry]

Totally agrew the sentiments in this post. However, one thing I am concerned about is that I have been finding it harder now to find teams and I don't know if it is perception or misperception but it seems like there are less people playing; is there any way to substantiate this?

Again, I am not trying to flame or whatever, just that I am a die-hard fan, have 2 lvl 50's that I still like to play along with practically every type of alt ranging from the teens to the upper 30s and am concerned that for something which I consider so much fun, I won't have as large of a community to partner with anymore.

As an aside, did one of the 6-hour TFs last night in the Shadow Shard, and while it was fun playing with the team, the lack of uniqueness for the missions was a bit disappointing. After awhile, the "destroy leaders in the base camp" with turning off 4 computers simultaneously got really really old, especially after putting in so much time. So my one comment would be that if you want to make the game overall more fun, PLEASE work on the mission content; if I hadnt put in so many hours already in the TF, and, didn't want to leave my comrades in a bad position, I would have just quit it and went to bed earlier (as oppossed to 5:30AM this morning before going to work at 8am).

Thanks!

[Great_Scott]

Devs: Challenge is always fun. Oh, and this exact amount of challenge, too. Otherwise, you'll get bored and leave, or something.

Players: Challenge is sometimes fun, with some toons. What's the deal with this level of challenge, anyway? None of my toons work, I'm leaving.

Moral of the story: Challenge is defined differently by every person. Even worse, it's defined differently by the same person playing a different toon.

Furthermore, people that are "bored" by CoH because it's "too easy" are still here playing it, after 5 Issues. I don't see that argument as holding as much weight as the Devs seem to.

[Great_Scott]

Just a sec...putting on my "Dev Hat"... ok! done.

[ QUOTE ]
Please advise me what is 'fun' about movement suppression?

[/ QUOTE ]

It stops ganking in some, specific, Arena matchups.

[ QUOTE ]
Please advise me what is 'fun about capping my Nova's AoE?


[/ QUOTE ]

What ISN'T fun about this? Why would someone be Nova-ing more than one spawn? That's not playing the game as intended, and so it can't be stopping any "fun".

[ QUOTE ]
Please advise me what is 'fun' about reducing my base resistances?

[/ QUOTE ]

This change adds "fun" for Sonic Defenders. After all, their "fun" counts, too.

[ QUOTE ]
Please advise me what is 'fun' about reducing my few defenses (Stealth, Hover, Hasten)

[/ QUOTE ]

This is the much-talked-about "fun increase" for Force-Field Defenders. In addition, sleepwalking through a mission where nothing can hit you isn't "fun". Oh, and it reduces the Defender's role, as well.

[ QUOTE ]
Please advise me what is 'fun' about reducing my two Dark Servants to one and reducing their effectiveness?

[/ QUOTE ]

Danger can be exciting, and excitement is "fun"! Multiple Dark Servants effectivly added Controllers to the party roster. Since Controller AoEs were reduced, pets that could duplicate an extra Controller need to be reined in as well.

Now DDD's can experience the "fun" of "the threat of Defeat", like other power sets.

[ QUOTE ]
Please advise me what is 'fun' about reducing the effectiveness of my enhancements for content that doesn't exist yet?

[/ QUOTE ]

We'd have to do it some time, in order to add more "fun" later! And we're doing you the favor of having plenty of time to get used to the new power performance, so you'll be all ready for the new content...when it arrives.

[Fire_Foxx]

[ QUOTE ]
Moral of the story: Challenge is defined differently by every person. Even worse, it's defined differently by the same person playing a different toon.

[/ QUOTE ]
bingo

which is why I don't blame or flame anyone who says these changes are not fun. My advice is try another AT I would quit a game too if all they had was one AT I enjoy. Since fun is really relative I think both sides of the arguments have their merits.

[DeadlyLove]

[ QUOTE ]

So, with that said, let me give you my 10 Commandments of Geko:
*I will always listen to the community (that goes for the boards, in game, and thru mining data and statistics).


[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry Geko i really dont mean to call you out but you put it out there. Last time I counted there were over 2500 posts about ED in the first 36 hours. Someone ran the math saying it was one post every 1.5 minutes. I read through 2 hours worth when i couldnt sleep that night. I did not find any positive support for this. I am comfortable in my assumtion that there were few if any. I apologize to turn your statement against you but it doesnt appear to the playership that anyone is listening.

Please find another way.

[Dogface]

[ QUOTE ]

Some of us came back because the game was finally getting close to the vision it was designed under.

[/ QUOTE ]

Really? Would you be so kind as to tell us all who are not immediately privy to all of Jack's secret thoughts where he has been so kind as to have written and published this alleged "vision"? After all, it's not like he's some kind of demented sadist who refuses to tell people BEFOREHAND what the "vision" is. After all, he's not some monster who prefers that people flounder around without the faintest idea that they're going to be punished for failing to play "as intended" because the "as intended" is never actually published until AFTER punishments are dealt out. No, he's a decent, upstanding individual. And, like any decent, upstanding individual, he would have published this "vision" and laid out plainly how "as intended" works, and he would have had the basic decency and humanity to have put this somewhere that players can access it.

I seem to have misplaced my copy. Can you tell me where I can find this document?

After all, it's not as if the developers are fumble-bumbling around without the faintest clue of what they're doing and merely lying--rationalizing their changes ad hoc with some silly, false tale about a "vision" and "as intended" that actually do not exist. Who would be such a low individual? No, they are decent, admirable people. Thus, they have their "vision" and guidelines for "as intended" laid out plain to prevent unnecessary player distress. Could you please point out where I could get a copy? I seem to have mislaid mine.

[Dogface]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Moral of the story: Challenge is defined differently by every person. Even worse, it's defined differently by the same person playing a different toon.

[/ QUOTE ]
bingo


[/ QUOTE ]

Oh, no. There is a single, universal standard of fun, and it is laid out in perfect detail in The Big Book of Vision, or How to Play As Intended. Don't we all have a copy?

[MooMoo_NA]

Every Patch that comes it slowly sucks the life of what was once a great game. You didn't learn anything from the so successful arena!! You mess with the powers and people will leave.Are you guys even reading the forums?? You killed FireTankers and destroyed scrappers! I hope City of Villians isn't this bad or I'm going back to console games!

[Bluefan]

MooMoo you've only been with this game since March. Having been on since closed beta for CoH, and in closed beta for CoV, I've seen quadruple the updates you have, and none of them have been crippling. Every single update some AT has whined their pants off, and yet I still keep playing all 5 ATs exactly the same in CoH, and they all work exceptionally well in different ways. I team with a fire tanker regularly and he appears to tank quite well covered in fire (hence his fire tank title). I team with scrappers regularly, and have a scrapper, they seem to scrap to my delight. So calm down and just the play the game. Almost two years and I've never seen an unplayable build (well, maybe Trick Arrow :p), much less an unplayable AT.

[Froze_In_Hell]

Just a quick side-note, using as person's postcount and/or date reg'd, is an insufficient way to map another player's total experience with the game, and in no way places you above them in the Noob/Vet Heirarchy.

Keep in mind that date reg'd only means they registered on the forums on that date, some players (many, with the case of the ED Issue) just play the game and don't feel a need to come here on the forums, until something affects their playtime so dramatically that they feel compelled to voice their concerns and/or opinions.

Some, like myself, have been here since Beta as well, even though our post count and/or date reg'd may lead you to believe you otherwise.

[MooMoo_NA]

No I've been with the game longer than that, March is when i reg. w/the forum. I to am doing the beta for COV. And your wrong if u think that FireTanks have not been serverly altered. The fact is the updates are slowly taking apart what was once a great game. An update is suppose to make a game better not worse. So just because you think the everything is fine there are 35 or so more post that say other wise.

[Max_Firepower]

[ QUOTE ]


Quoted from Geko - pulled out a few relevant points and comments (Max_Firepower)

Not every change will make your Hero more powerful, but it is our goal to make it more fun. Those are not always the same things. It is not fun if it is not challenging (that is, easy is not always fun)... If a change is bad, it can be modified...So, for now, I am simply asking you to try things out for a while, and we will do the same. I promise things will ebb and flow until we hit a sweet spot...

So, with that said, let me give you my 10 Commandments of Geko:
*I will always listen to the community (that goes for the boards, in game, and thru mining data and statistics).
*I will not be scared to be wrong.
*I will react as quickly as possible, but not sooner than needed.
*I will not be scared to be unpopular.
*I will not make a change to the game simply because it is popular.
*I will do my best to continue to make this game fun.
*I will not intentionally stealth nerf.
*I will not reduce Accuracy.
*I will try my best to give you detailed information.
*I will make Statesman wash my car.

(well, 9 out of 10 aint bad)


A few last words…

We have no intention to stealth nerf...But it is not in out best interest to try to pull the wool over your eyes...But never assume you are being ignored.

[/ QUOTE ]

Keeping it simple:

Ask us to test ED, then put it up so quickly - It STRONGLY appears this was a 'done deal' from the time that States announced it. What changes - if any - were made as a result of NON-internal testing?

If you wanted lots of testing done on the I5 Powers (though not Enhancement changes - to be clear for Statesman's benefit) and listened to that feedback, how in the world did the data have any meaning when the plan you've had since March was going to change the EFFECTIVENESS?

For example, We're dropping SR Toggles from 20% to 12% and Passives from 10% to 5%. OK... but now if I have more than 3 slots in a power, I'll end up even lower. Truthfully, that's A LOT. I4 Toggle, 44%, I5 Toggle 25%, I6 Toggle... 20% Maybe?

Is that data from I5/pre ED still valid? If Devs knew ED was coming down the pike, then why not include it so you COULD get good data?

ED was externally tested for all of 5 days before releasing to live. How many days was the I5 setup on the Test Server before release. Any tweaks or changes to it during that time? Hm... Yes - some up and down, but that was based on OLD Enhancements. I sincerely doubt you have anywhere near as much info on how much of an effect it'll have, but that's only my opinion.

I feel like I'm lifting wool off of my eyes. And it's scratchy.

So, Geko - do you feel that the ED scenario and the Devs have lived up to your commandments? What would you have done differently?

[prof_chaos]

[ QUOTE ]
For those of you who were in Beta, you know I always do my best to listen to the community, as does the rest of the Cryptic team. As always, we are all listening and watching. Nothing is permanent in an MMP. New features will be added, and things will change. Not every change will make your Hero more powerful, but it is our goal to make it more fun. Those are not always the same things. It is not fun if it is not challenging (that is, easy is not always fun).

My point is anything can change. If a change is bad, it can be modified. Many rants about Hasten hit the boards before most people even tried out the changes. Also, many of the upgrades and improvements to other powers were not even considered. So, for now, I am simply asking you to try things out for a while, and we will do the same. I promise things will ebb and flow until we hit a sweet spot. My guess is Hasten will not be reverted, but the pendulum will probably swing back the other way a little bit. The same may hold true for Accelerate Metabolism.

So, with that said, let me give you my 10 Commandments of Geko:
*I will always listen to the community (that goes for the boards, in game, and thru mining data and statistics).
*I will not be scared to be wrong.
*I will react as quickly as possible, but not sooner than needed.
*I will not be scared to be unpopular.
*I will not make a change to the game simply because it is popular.
*I will do my best to continue to make this game fun.
*I will not intentionally stealth nerf.
*I will not reduce Accuracy.
*I will try my best to give you detailed information.
*I will make Statesman wash my car.

(well, 9 out of 10 aint bad)


A few last words…

Please try to avoid rumors. We have no intention to stealth nerf. Once in a rare while a change goes out that falls off a patch note, or a change is made that affects things in an unforeseen way (technically, this is a bug). But it is not in out best interest to try to pull the wool over your eyes. If you think you see a problem, please politely let us know. Long ranting posts full of disrespect often gets ignored and a real problem may get overlooked. If you see a change that is not in a patch note, it may not belong there, but it may also simply have been overlooked. Either way, we will do out best to confirm things for you.

Finally, there are a lot of you, and these boards are huge. We read as much as we can, but we can’t read and respond to everything. But never assume you are being ignored. Remember, for most issues, please use the in-game petition tool.

[/ QUOTE ]
I for one like the changes introduced, and please DO NOT roll back the changes to hasten. I played CoV beta and it was refreshing to see not *every single character* have hasten in their build. I had hasten in some of my characters and didn't in others. It was not a *must have* power, but it was still a very strong power.
Leave I6 changes as they are, they are very positive for the game and makes the game a lot more fun.

[Great_Scott]

[ QUOTE ]
I had hasten in some of my characters and didn't in others. It was not a *must have* power, but it was still a very strong power.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hasten was never a must-have power. Hardly any of my Heroes had it. The "theme" Heroes I had that DID have perma-Hasten needed it.

You are assuming that because a Power is powerful it *must* be taken. That assumption is wrong, by your own admission (I had hasten in some of my characters and didn't in others.)

The only explaination that I can see for why the I6 changes as they are, they are very positive for the game and makes the game a lot more fun is that you disapprove of other player's build choices.

When viewed in that light, your response to this post is technically a form of greifing.

[Max_Firepower]

In the interest of accurace - please note that Geko's post is regarding changes to Hasten is OLD - it is from BETA COH to Issue #1.... Like WAAAY back. It is most assuredly NOT dealing w/ED. But his "9 points and a wish" are theoretically still valid, no?

[StrangeMatter]

[ QUOTE ]
When viewed in that light, your response to this post is technically a form of greifing.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not at all, but points for attempting to belittle another poster. Pie for you!