Looks like just another "do stuff until you can get stuff" system to me.
Except it emphasizes steady progress over rolling the dice while praying to RNGsus.
You see, long ago, STO had a similar system, where you'd run certain STFs (queued content) for certain gear pieces. There was a horribly slim chance each run that what you wanted would actually drop, so you'd either get lucky on your first few runs, or you'd have been out of luck for the entire time that system was in effect. I'm pretty sure that most people who play currently would not want to go back to that old system. It was crap.
How the current system works is that you earn reputation by doing things related to that content. While people in CO are grinding against RNG for that lucky drop, people in STO are gradually working their way up to earning what they want. The content is still being run, just in a more rewarding and less frustrating way.
One could argue that the silver/gold champ recognition (is gold champ recognition a 100% drop?) currency is similar, however silver champ recognition's current implementation was poorly thought out and thus, something of a failure.
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
Except it emphasizes steady progress over rolling the dice while praying to RNGsus.
We have that, it's called recognition. You know, the thing people like you constantly complain about?
"People like me" don't "constantly complain about" recognition. What "people like me" are supposedly "constantly" complaining about is something most people with common sense admit was a mistake--the heroic gear price hike. Because heroic gear takes so long to get with its current price, it's been effectively removed from the progression path entirely.
I already have my full set of heroic gear since I got it before the hike, thank [deity of choice here], so it's not about me being a have-not jealous of the haves. It bothers me because endgame content, such the TA you seem to enjoy so much, would have a much larger talent pool to recruit from because more people would feel confident about going in. Now sure, you have your "things that have run TA" thread which boasts various low-geared characters making it through, and that's fine. A newer, more casual player doesn't really care that a long-time vet who knows the game in and out excelled with a mediocre character. They just want to be confident that their character is good enough to give it a shot.
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
Except it emphasizes steady progress over rolling the dice while praying to RNGsus.
We have that, it's called recognition. You know, the thing people like you constantly complain about?
"People like me" don't "constantly complain about" recognition. What "people like me" are supposedly "constantly" complaining about is something most people with common sense admit was a mistake--the heroic gear price hike. Because heroic gear takes so long to get with its current price, it's been effectively removed from the progression path entirely.
I already have my full set of heroic gear since I got it before the hike, thank [deity of choice here], so it's not about me being a have-not jealous of the haves. It bothers me because endgame content, such the TA you seem to enjoy so much, would have a much larger talent pool to recruit from because more people would feel confident about going in. Now sure, you have your "things that have run TA" thread which boasts various low-geared characters making it through, and that's fine. A newer, more casual player doesn't really care that a long-time vet who knows the game in and out excelled with a mediocre character. They just want to be confident that their character is good enough to give it a shot.
There is also the fact that there is honestly very little proof to validate any of the claims in said thread... I could state right now that I ran it on a build using only Nuclear Shockwave, it wouldn't make it true... I'm sure someone may have run it with any number of the build types claimed in the thread, but simply listing things the way they are does nothing. You can't convince everyone who reads the thread that those builds really ran it. Especially when it's been drilled into everyones heads over and over again that "you must be level 40 with good gear to succeed in TA"... seriously, go ask in zone for advice on TA and I promise you, you will get multiple people insisting that you have to meet certain requirements to succeed and that some builds do nothing more than drag the team down... I got told that my Shielder would be utterly useless in TA, and that most of my DPS don't deal nearly enough damage to be of any benefit, and that the one who did enough damage would spend 90% of the encounter dead due to only having 5k (exactly 5k) health.
Except it emphasizes steady progress over rolling the dice while praying to RNGsus.
We have that, it's called recognition. You know, the thing people like you constantly complain about?
"People like me" don't "constantly complain about" recognition. What "people like me" are supposedly "constantly" complaining about is something most people with common sense admit was a mistake--the heroic gear price hike. Because heroic gear takes so long to get with its current price, it's been effectively removed from the progression path entirely.
I already have my full set of heroic gear since I got it before the hike, thank [deity of choice here], so it's not about me being a have-not jealous of the haves. It bothers me because endgame content, such the TA you seem to enjoy so much, would have a much larger talent pool to recruit from because more people would feel confident about going in. Now sure, you have your "things that have run TA" thread which boasts various low-geared characters making it through, and that's fine. A newer, more casual player doesn't really care that a long-time vet who knows the game in and out excelled with a mediocre character. They just want to be confident that their character is good enough to give it a shot.
New people are running TA every day and doing fine. Not everyone on that list was a vet - in fact, the majority were not.
There is also the fact that there is honestly very little proof to validate any of the claims in said thread...
You can actually verify that the list is true very easily. Wanna know how? Get a group, and go do TA.
That list wasn't made for people like you - people who just want to stubbornly believe that they can't do TA cause of [insert reason here]. That list was made for people who would see it and say "Oh hey, look at that, maybe I'll give it a shot" - and yes, people have done that. If you look at that list and start thinking up new excuses for why you can't do TA, the list was not made for you.
You wanna keep believing you can't do TA? You're welcome to it. I won't be thinking of you while I'm running it
I'd be more impressed by that if I hadn't seen you talk down to someone in your own supergroup and accusing them of getting carried. You sound real benevolent in the thread when you're like "anyone can do it, just try!" but when someone's complaining about not being healed and dying all the time, and you're like "I let you die on purpose! ", I have to question how genuine you're being, or pretending to be.
I'm definitely only seeing a snippet of this drama, but you going on and on about it in-game about how amazing and easy the run was just because the guy "you were carrying" left and some random dude joined, don't accuse someone of just being willfully unable to do it when there's people like you icing people out.
I'd be more impressed by that if I hadn't seen you talk down to someone in your own supergroup and accusing them of getting carried.
They'll readily admit that they do it though, but you didn't know that part
You say I'm icing him out? Not sure what that means, but he leaves runs very quickly when it becomes apparent that it's not going to be a cake walk. He's the one forcing himself out of the runs, not me - I am, in fact, the one saying that he shouldn't leave and should instead stay, and keep trying.
Also, I ran with him since then, so whatever sort of "icing out" you think I did to him, he's clearly not feeling it. As it turns out, he's less sensitive to a bit of teasing than you give him credit for.
You seem to be confusing something here though. Yes, I am a bit negative towards people who aren't willing to even try... but, wouldn't that be completely obvious to everyone here? Heck, I express that in the post you probably looked at before you wrote yours. So I say people should try, and I don't think very highly of it when people give up too fast... exactly what hypocrisy are you trying to point out here? Were you under the impression that I was trying to hide my thoughts about people who give up too easily, after seeing me repeatedly express those thoughts publicly for everyone to see?
Everyone can do it if they try. If you give up right away, of course you can't do it. People who refuse to enter the dungeon unless they know for certain the group can do it, despite they themselves having barely done the dungeon, are getting carried. As has been the case in every MMO I've played, I'm happy to carry people, especially the individual in question cause I think he's a swell guy
I think I'm being quite consistent here Biff try again
I'd be more impressed by that if I hadn't seen you talk down to someone in your own supergroup and accusing them of getting carried.
They'll readily admit that they do it though, but you didn't know that part
You say I'm icing him out? Not sure what that means, but he leaves runs very quickly when it becomes apparent that it's not going to be a cake walk. He's the one forcing himself out of the runs, not me - I am, in fact, the one saying that he shouldn't leave and should instead stay, and keep trying.
Also, I ran with him since then, so whatever sort of "icing out" you think I did to him, he's clearly not feeling it.
Try again Biff
I'm just saying, all this "very friendly" action happened, and I don't care how many times you all ran, you made it a point to belittle the guy at every chance you could get.
EVERYONE'S WELCOME! Don't think I have to try again. You're not as friendly and inviting as you try to make yourself seem.
Should I do the mirror wink, or just a smiley? TIME WILL TELL!
I'd be more impressed by that if I hadn't seen you talk down to someone in your own supergroup and accusing them of getting carried.
They'll readily admit that they do it though, but you didn't know that part
You say I'm icing him out? Not sure what that means, but he leaves runs very quickly when it becomes apparent that it's not going to be a cake walk. He's the one forcing himself out of the runs, not me - I am, in fact, the one saying that he shouldn't leave and should instead stay, and keep trying.
Also, I ran with him since then, so whatever sort of "icing out" you think I did to him, he's clearly not feeling it.
Try again Biff
I'm just saying, all this "very friendly" action happened, and I don't care how many times you all ran, you made it a point to belittle the guy at every chance you could get.
EVERYONE'S WELCOME! Don't think I have to try again. You're not as friendly and inviting as you try to make yourself seem.
Should I do the mirror wink, or just a smiley? TIME WILL TELL!
That's nice Biff, but in the end what matters is what actually happens in the TA runs, and while you clearly feel that you have something to be very critical about here, the people I've actually run with on their first time in the dungeon haven't been. I don't have to make myself seem like anything, because I do what I say. Simple as that
Frankly, I always thought 35 SCR was ridiculously low. Granted, they may have bumped the new price up a little much, but 35 was absurd.
It wasn't.
It was an absurd low pricing for a player with a more than one character, but it was just right for a starter.
And it was rendered a starter gear when better sets appeared whether Cryptic wants to admit it or not.
In the end the change effectively removed heroic gear from the game - an amount of effort required for heroics now makes it completely pointless to waste any time when same amount of effort might give you a much better gear.
If heroics were actually comparable... But they're only slightly better than world drops.
Problem is with Cryptic being in a some kind of an imaginary environment when the game is supposed to work how it was envisioned long time ago with no account taken for how the game population progressed or any other gear was added. Facepalmworthy, really.
In the end the change effectively removed heroic gear from the game
Eh, if you're farming Justice Gear you're automatically farming SCR whether you choose to or not. You can spend that SCR on Heroic gear, or something else. All those folks who say it takes them months to get Justice gear due to bad luck might feel like some of the tons of SCR they've farmed up might be worth spending on Heroic Gear, since they don't see full Justice in their near future.
Then there's people who just plain don't want to do Rampages or Epic content, but who still want some gear to farm for. I feel like some people assume that "everyone is just gonna farm Rampages ad nauseam now", but that fails to account for those people who simply won't; it doesn't really matter if anyone thinks that that's what they're supposed to do or what's optimal, they just don't want to. Some people may very well just go ahead and do content that drops SCR and avoid rampages, and those people may very well eventually decide to strap on some Heroic gear.
See, rather than trying to enforce some sort of "You get this, then this, then this" gear ladder, they're basically just laying out choices. Heroic Gear wasn't removed from the game, it was just made one of many choices. You don't have to get Heroic Gear... you never did, and you still don't, so it's not really important if people are or aren't. If they thought it was super important that everyone make a stop at Heroic Gear before moving on to something better then they would have set the system up that way - they didn't, and so clearly they don't think that's important.
As has been the case for a while, the real underlying problem of why Heroic Gear suddenly became a non-factor isn't actually related to the SCR prices... it actually didn't happen at all, because Heroic Gear hasn't been a factor for a while, because of how easy the game is due to the massive increase in player power level after On Alert - Heroic Gear doesn't even do much for you. That's why you saw people shying away from saying "The prices are too high because I need Heroic gear" very quickly, and it rapidly turned into "The prices are too high because I want Heroic gear... for reasons unrelated to the actual performance of the gear". Hopefully after the game sees some more balancing adjustments, getting this gear will become a bit more meaningful and we won't be able to skip from junk to jewels quite so easily. For now though, it really doesn't matter if people are or aren't getting Heroic Gear, and it hasn't for a while.
That's nice Biff, but in the end what matters is what actually happens in the TA runs, and while you clearly feel that you have something to be very critical about here, the people I've actually run with on their first time in the dungeon haven't been. I don't have to make myself seem like anything, because I do what I say. Simple as that
No yeah, I totally agree, abusive behavior is totally all-inclusive and very inviting.
There is also the fact that there is honestly very little proof to validate any of the claims in said thread...
You can actually verify that the list is true very easily. Wanna know how? Get a group, and go do TA.
That list wasn't made for people like you - people who just want to stubbornly believe that they can't do TA cause of [insert reason here]. That list was made for people who would see it and say "Oh hey, look at that, maybe I'll give it a shot" - and yes, people have done that. If you look at that list and start thinking up new excuses for why you can't do TA, the list was not made for you.
You wanna keep believing you can't do TA? You're welcome to it. I won't be thinking of you while I'm running it
You don't have a damn clue what your talking about. I don't "stubbornly believe that I can't do TA". The only reason I havn't done a run of TA yet has been due to my work schedule, I don't have a whole lot of time to dedicate to it and I'm not going to start up a run only to have to leave halfway through it. I asked in zone about information on it and I got the very information I just posted. And yes, people still today even in zone chat will give the elitist speech about TA to anyone who asks for information on it. I already plan to run TA this weekend on my day off assuming I don't get dragged off to go do something else IRL again.
That little spat you just had with Biff makes me honestly question your list even more than just playing devils advocate to get a point across to you... Now I seriously have to wonder, just how many of the build types on your list were carried through TA? Sure you could say "they made it through, so the build can do TA" but in reality it can't... if someone were to put together a group of 5 random people off that list and just happens that those 5 random people were carried through TA to make it on the list, could that party succeed? highly doubtful... and i guarantee you, anyone who takes your list seriously could at some point put together a party that simply can't run TA despite your list saying "these builds can and have run it" for the reason of those builds only made it on the list by being carried.
That little spat you just had with Biff makes me honestly question your list even more than just playing devils advocate to get a point across to you... Now I seriously have to wonder, just how many of the build types on your list were carried through TA? Sure you could say "they made it through, so the build can do TA" but in reality it can't... if someone were to put together a group of 5 random people off that list and just happens that those 5 random people were carried through TA to make it on the list, could that party succeed? highly doubtful... and i guarantee you, anyone who takes your list seriously could at some point put together a party that simply can't run TA despite your list saying "these builds can and have run it" for the reason of those builds only made it on the list by being carried.
Come now, spat is usually used to describe a lovers' quarrel. We're not that. Not yet.
But yeah, Conquer is basically, every day, putting together teams for this thing, and they've got some of the best and most invested players in the game. (Honestly if anyone feels like this Lair is out of reach, join this Super Group, they're (mostly) friendly and inviting and you'll be running this thing til you're blue in the face.)
But, I'd imagine that me and my worthless (by my own account) builds would make it through just on the strengths of others. But but but again, I still see, to this day, people forming TA groups in zone chat, meaning it's still being run by "independent" folk and not just hosted by some of "the best" so, I'd say, wait to make your judgment on the state of the thing when you can run it yourself.
In short, don't trust everything you read on the Internet. ESPECIALLY MY POSTS!!!
You're not as friendly and inviting as you try to make yourself seem.
Spinnytop seems to do this crap on the forums all the time because he/she loves to be right about everything, even when they aren't. As long as you say things they agree with, they're super-friendly. But if you say something they disagree with, then hell will rain down upon you until you /tableflip and walk away. I almost didn't reply to them after how my last interaction with them turned out a month or so ago, but I had something I wanted to say. Yuck.
New people are running TA every day and doing fine. Not everyone on that list was a vet - in fact, the majority were not.
Based on some of the things listed in your own thread:
- A group that didn't have a healer for most of the first four bosses (because I was healing and I was dead)** - Glass cannon dps FF with no self heals - DPS in full heirlooom gear. - 4 man with chat offline
Especially with the last one, it's safe to say that technically, anything can run TA, provided that there's at least a few strong people in the group and they're okay with carrying. The 4-man one especially proves that you could even drag along an alert baby, freshly 40'd and still swaddled in level 10 quest gear, carry him/her through, and then say "hey everybody, look at what just ran TA! See! Anyone can do it!"
This kind of thing. Right here. Your response was fine up until you decided to add this. This is why people (not just me) find you so abrasive and unpleasant to interact with. Why the image you seem to have of yourself as "friendly and helpful" or whatever doesn't hold any weight. If you think about it, this kind of comment doesn't really contribute anything to the discussion other than to make you come across as rude.
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
See, rather than trying to enforce some sort of "You get this, then this, then this" gear ladder, they're basically just laying out choices. Heroic Gear wasn't removed from the game, it was just made one of many choices.
If a choice in of gear in a video game offers you no mechanical benefits it's not really a choice. The reward should be always proportional to effort.
Heroic gear is simply a pile of crap compared to effort when same or only slightly bigger amount of effort can yield you a better gear. It's not like gear in this game has any costume parts attached. It's for stats only.
If it's a pointless choice, could as well no longer be here.
Cryptic really should change their reward=effort philosophy because it was always lacking. They simply never could wrap their head around how it is supposed to work in games.
Hence why all their events and new content eventually ends abandoned - it's too difficult for them to grasp that most of players plays content for rewards.
Honestly, I'm just glad they didn't price the SCR secondaries up near the cost of Heroics... especially when you consider the fact that they are pre On Alert purple secondaries... I didn't realize this little fact until I logged into one of my older characters who's hasn't got any new gear since On Alert came out and noticed that her secondaries were the exact same ones offered in the SCR vendor.
At the end of the day... increasing the time it takes to get Heroics by almost 400% is just stupid - especially considering that getting Justice is faster. 400% increase is no laughing matter..
I realize now, really, that the biggest change for me is that farming using lots of alts isn't as easy as it once was. I also realize that though I am super social/chatty in Zone, I was reticent about joining team requests, and I almost never started forming a team on my own. I'm over that now.
Though I still feel the SCR prices are a bit high, and that costume parts in the GCR vendor are priced too high, I am beginning to see the light about earning recog. It really can be something like a month per costume piece for my play time. That means being focused on using big blocks of play time on TA (right now), not running alerts, not spending tons of time in trade channel, not cycling through a dozen low-level alts. It means changing my play style, which is a little painful. But I've changed my play style before, and I likely will again.
P.S. The low-level recog prices (MCPD, PRIMUS, even UNTIL) are still too high.
What about us who have dozens of alts we love and can't decide between? are we to just look for another game to play? this is the problem with making games not alt friendly with dozens of character bound currencies.
STO at least has reasonable prices and a guaranteed progress system for endgame items.
That is what I am coming to terms with. I have fifty four characters, and of them, about ten I play regularly. I am going to have to narrow my focus to just four or five if I want to earn enough SCR/GCR for things. My play style will have to change if I want the newest stuff.
*Crafting changed (or went away completely), and so did play styles that specialized in that *Hero Games changed (or became very difficult to queue because of bugs/alerts/etc), and so did play styles who wanted team PvP *Speed-leveling changed because of Alerts *Legacy devices changed several times, and so did builds that relied on devices
And now, the newest additions to the game don't work well with folks like me or you that liked bopping around 10 or 12 alts in a given play session. You can still do it, but then currency is too widely spread out, as you said.
Here's an observation that might shock you: You can farm SCR with NON-combat missions. I do Heat Wave for this daily.
Also, costume unlocks via recognition are account wide, so anything I earned on Tsin'xing is available on Lautna too. Lautna actually uses a mix of Maniacs and DEMON costume parts that Tsin'xing collected.
Dear forum management: Please go copy-paste the tweaks and adjustments your neighbors next door at the STO forums implemented. Thanks. Anyhow, for the post below, my reply will be the text in red:
See, rather than trying to enforce some sort of "You get this, then this, then this" gear ladder, they're basically just laying out choices. Heroic Gear wasn't removed from the game, it was just made one of many choices.
If a choice in of gear in a video game offers you no mechanical benefits it's not really a choice. The reward should be always proportional to effort.
Heroic gear is simply a pile of crap compared to effort when same or only slightly bigger amount of effort can yield you a better gear. It's not like gear in this game has any costume parts attached. It's for stats only.
If it's a pointless choice, could as well no longer be here.
Cryptic really should change their reward=effort philosophy because it was always lacking. They simply never could wrap their head around how it is supposed to work in games.
Hence why all their events and new content eventually ends abandoned - it's too difficult for them to grasp that most of players plays content for rewards.
- - -
Exactly. The only real "choice" being offered is "weak gear" vs "better gear" and since the effort required is similar, it becomes a trap or non-choice, especially since SCR has other, better uses. For a great example of an actual choice, look into STO's reputation system. While sure, the newer tier stuff is sometimes a fraction better overall, things all the way back from maco/omega/khg (the very first one) are still relevant and desirable even today. With heroic gear, I can't think of any reason why you'd want to take it over something better. Something with more mod slots and set bonuses. In contrast, CO tries to use a wow-style progression system (a "you get this, then this, then this" gear ladder) only unlike wow, it fails miserably.
If heroic gear is meant to be "a choice," why would anyone choose it over something better if the required time investment is similar? It's like playing classic Legend of Zelda and being the dumbass who chooses the medicine over the heart container.
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
I actually just noticed this change a few days ago...my jaw dropped. I had finally gotten around to making a new 40 and wanted to do a few rounds of UNITY to get my gear @35 per. THEN I saw the prices...what the...
Heroic gear is (or should be) ENTRY LEVEL 40 gear now...not this nonsense. Flooding the market? really...who cares about that? So what, people have to put them all up for 5G because more people can do it...Legion gear is lots better and comes from lockboxes so if you are spending G on it, most people are just buying Legion gear anyways.
What they really should do to avoid ALL Heroic gear issues, is to just put 3 Heroic gear tokens in your level 40 free box of junk and just make them all Bound to that character that claimed them. There all alts get free Heroic gear and no one can flood the market with anything.
Just looking at the prices, you can farm missions/Smashes for G and just buy Legion gear faster than SCR for Heroic gear...which is very poor design...from any standpoint.
The way I see TA right now, is my characters that are already wearing Legion gear, don't need to grind for GCR. Doing a raid for anything other than specifically advancing your character is nonsense to me and GCR gear isn't going to allow me to do ANYTHING this game has to offer that I can't already do with minimal effort. This is the same reason I don't do Rampages anymore either. I just never found it necessary to advance my characters to do things that I couldn't do before.
Doing Raids/Lairs in order to get entry level gear for alts should not ever be a thing...someone went stupid on this one...
Remember: Half the people you know are below average...
Do not correct a fool, for he will hate you for it. Correct a wise man, for he will appreciate you for it.
Don't be like the Qularr. They would not last one round in the Interstellar Galactic Arena...
"If it's too grindy, just don't do it. No one's forcing you."
Yeah, once again I'm seeing this obnoxious little condescending "advice" in this thread like before. Lovely.
Heroic gear with its jacked up price makes it pointless considering that better gear can be obtained with roughly the same amount of effort and time put into getting heroics. That's the core issue.
Sometimes people need to stop eating up every game development decision Cryptic makes as if it's the best tasting souffle in the world.
"If it's too grindy, just don't do it. No one's forcing you."
Yeah, once again I'm seeing this obnoxious little condescending "advice" in this thread like before. Lovely.
Heroic gear with its jacked up price makes it pointless considering that better gear can be obtained with roughly the same amount of effort and time put into getting heroics. That's the core issue.
Sometimes people need to stop eating up every game development decision Cryptic makes as if it's the best tasting souffle in the world.
"If it's too grindy, just don't do it. No one's forcing you."
Yeah, once again I'm seeing this obnoxious little condescending "advice" in this thread like before. Lovely.
Heroic gear with its jacked up price makes it pointless considering that better gear can be obtained with roughly the same amount of effort and time put into getting heroics. That's the core issue.
Sometimes people need to stop eating up every game development decision Cryptic makes as if it's the best tasting souffle in the world.
"If it's too grindy, just don't do it. No one's forcing you."
Yeah, once again I'm seeing this obnoxious little condescending "advice" in this thread like before. Lovely.
Heroic gear with its jacked up price makes it pointless considering that better gear can be obtained with roughly the same amount of effort and time put into getting heroics. That's the core issue.
Sometimes people need to stop eating up every game development decision Cryptic makes as if it's the best tasting souffle in the world.
All so very true..
Buffing everything to stupid high levels and nerfing everything to piss poor levels yields the same results, but not the same community reactions.
Well I don't bother gearing up my heroes anymore. If that was the goal then they have succeeded.
For minimal effort, you could do what I'm probably going to do with future alts, moving forward: Armadillo primaries, SCR secondaries.
For leveling I have nemesis heirloom gear. I have about 12 complete sets now on all my non level 40 toons, when they reach level 40 I just equip my level 40 toons with whatever blue or green gear I've collected, usually the [something] Handguards of the Apocalypse from the Vibora Bay Crisis, the [something] Duster of Mega-Terak, from Monster Island, and the [whatever] Overlay of the Elder Worms, also from Monster Island, and what ever level 40 purple secondary gear I got in my hideout bank. I then transfer my nemesis gear to my new toons so they can level up.
Previously I would invest time to get the Heroic Gear for toons I really and planned on using for both RP and super group stuff but now that's too much of a time sink.
Well there is one thing that did come from the SCR changes that personally effected me. I stopped making alts. So that's characters slots that Cryptic won't have to worry about me getting for free thanks to my LTS.
Everything involving changes and store prices in the last few years seems to all be vindictive toward players who have many characters.
I don't understand why people would stop making alts if that's what they like to do... so that they can do something that makes them feel like they need to complain. Video games?
Also, there's nothing vindictive about it - when you stop being the one reaping all the benefits and are put on an equal playing field, that's not people being vindictive towards you.
I don't understand why people would stop making alts if that's what they like to do... so that they can do something that makes them feel like they need to complain. Video games?
Also, there's nothing vindictive about it - when you stop being the one reaping all the benefits and are put on an equal playing field, that's not people being vindictive towards you.
While I do understand the problem from an altoholic's perspective (being one myself, quickly approaching 50+ characters) I kinda have to agree with Spinny, this really shouldn't stop those of us who like making alts from making alts... it might stop us from gearing up most alts at 40 but it certainly shouldnt stop us from making them...
Infact the only reason I might personally stop making alts is because I've run out of power concepts that are feasable on CO without duplicating builds...
I don't understand why people would stop making alts if that's what they like to do... so that they can do something that makes them feel like they need to complain. Video games?
Also, there's nothing vindictive about it - when you stop being the one reaping all the benefits and are put on an equal playing field, that's not people being vindictive towards you.
Because sometimes people make alts and want to run them in end-game stuff, but they feel like the grind to get the gear they want in order to be able to have them at a power level they want, is far too long to do it. So they opt to not do that grind. And if they're not going to do the grind, then unless you don't plan on playing the character at 40, leveling up that character isn't worth doing. People are doing that thing you tell them all the time: If you don't enjoy it, don't do it.
And while I wouldn't call it vindictive, the game used to award you for playing lots of characters. Recently, there have been changes put in that no longer reward this (perfectly fine and encouraged) behavior. And even playing field? Nah. People that play only one or two characters had the drawback of not being able to farm lots of currencies or whatever because they didn't have a big stable of heroes. But they had the benefit of not having to gear up more than a few characters. People who like alts who previously got them Heroic gear had the advantage of using lots of alts to get currencies, but also had to/wanted to gear up a dozen, maybe more characters. That's still a lot of time spent in-game getting the stuff, since they're doing it for more than just a few characters. That keeps alt-players playing and happy and spending money. Now, we're on an "even playing field" with people who don't like to play a bunch of characters, except now we have to spend more time gearing the alts, and at the same time, having lots of characters doesn't help this at all. Suddenly playing alts is no longer an advantage, and it takes us longer to gear all the characters we want to gear up.
Having lots of characters made it easy to gear up all those characters. I don't see what's bad about that. You spend that much time in the game making and leveling dozens of characters, spending money on stuff you like (instead of stuff you need) the whole time, but now the game no longer rewards that, and has made the gear grind unbearable to a lot of people. Honestly I feel like I'm being alienated by many of the recent changes.
Sometimes I make alts just to make them and have a laugh, but sometimes I make a new character that I'll probably make my main for a long time. I don't want to spend most of that long time just getting a few pieces of gear. Once my stockpile of gear is gone, I won't even have the desire to make more alts, knowing that I won't be getting them good gear. It's fine if you don't understand how different people feel, but there it is, that's the reason. If I feel like I'm not going to be taking the character all the way that I want, I won't even start that character.
NWO has a much nicer endgame gear set-up than CO, which I detail below.
NWO's entry endgame gear is Alliance gear: -has guaranteed drops in chests in all entry-endgame dungeons, sometimes several pieces, and many dungeons give you a choice between two options from the chest. -has additional random drop possibility from bosses -is account bound -can also be bought with elemental seals (there are two endgame seals, elemental are the lower tier) --It costs 300-500 seals per piece (300/400/500 jewelry/regular/chest) --A typical dungeon produces 120 seals (20 per boss x 3 bosses + 30 per chest x 2 chests with appropriate keys). Your first dungeon of the day produces an additional 80 seals. --There are other sources of seals, notably demonic heroic encounters, which can be played without limit. -Extra pieces can be converted into 3-5k raw Astral Diamonds (think unrefined Q, daily refinement cap is 36k)
In short, a fresh level-70 character who does 1 dungeon/day can expect to be decked out in the gear *they want* after ~1 week. They will then quickly be able to supply any additional characters with a full suite of appropriate gear of their choice. (Chest and regular pieces will need to be bought with seals for alts that are a different class).
Weapons actually work differently. Your primary weapon and offhand slots at level 70 are artifacts. -You get a starter artifact weapon for free for completing the elemental evil zone: Spinward Rise. This is also the intended 67-69 leveling area. -You get a starter artifact offhand for free just for reaching level 70 from Lord Neverwinter, along with a free level 70 purple cloak (neck slot) that's arguably better than the Alliance pieces.
Also working differently are foundational garments (under armor, 2 pieces). Starter endgame stuff is available from the water Elemental Evil zone, which is the level 60-63 area, and are quest rewards. You'll quickly have the option of achieving top tier upgrades by doing Demonic Heroic Encounters after you hit 70. (Takes about 1 week/piece).
So the game pretty much hands you starter endgame gear on a platter. Gear progression then proceeds by getting higher tier endgame gear, and by improving gems (think mods) and artifact equipment (In addition to weapon and off-hand, there's artifact options for neck and belt slots), and the game makes it easily possible to skip right to top tier pieces for most slots. (improving artifact equipment and gems takes sustained effort at farming refinement materials - does not require playing difficult areas).
I really wish people would stop making offhanded comments like this... Just because someone says they prefer the way something works in another game does NOT mean that they should just play that game instead... especially when it's from the same developer and brought up to adress a known issue. Cryptic has SHOWN that they are capable of doing endgame gear grinds in a reasonable and acceptable manner through their other games (STO & NWO)... It is far from unreasonable to request that CO get a system similar to the systems put in place in their other games.
Plus keep in mind, these are completely different styles of MMOs... Champions is a SUPERHERO MMO, Neverwinter is a DnD FANTASY MMO, Star Trek Online is a SCIENCE FICTION SPACE MMO... Most MMO players pick a game based on the type of world it has. Fantasy MMO players have a ton of options available to them, SciFi MMO players have a smaller variety but still a large number of options, and Superhero MMO players have three... And SERIOUSLY rather than constantly telling people to "just play something else" we as a community should be encouraging them to stay, try to help people find something they enjoy in CO... our player base is small enough as is, we need more players if we want CO to continue to recieve worthwhile updates.
What Biff said is pretty solid on the reason why. Another reason, getting Heroic gear on an alt (specifically theme focused ones) made their builds more sustainable. It was a standard to where a weird build can have the defense, energy and offense to keep up in newer content without relying on others to keep you healed all the time and to output enough dps to be an asset to the team.
Being useful without needing top tier, time consuming gear.
If I was playing a Soldier AT without Heroic gear, I would be downright useless in any of that end content. With heroics, I could at least deal a bunch of damage until I inevitably die and someone could rez me, but that wouldn't be a wasted effort as I was putting a big dent into the bosses.
This hurts alts as well as newer players having an even harder time trying to get their first level 40 to play with everyone else in end game.
(Exploit required counter arguments will be ignored.)
One thing to ponder is how much of the stuff is trade able. If char A grinds SCR for a helmet, and Char B grinds SCR for body armor, etc..... In terms of getting a full set of gear, the work is being spread across multiple characters.
One thing to ponder is how much of the stuff is trade able. If char A grinds SCR for a helmet, and Char B grinds SCR for body armor, etc..... In terms of getting a full set of gear, the work is being spread across multiple characters.
Yes. But back before the increase, that work was a total of 4 hours/week on 3 characters/alts to get a full set, now that time has increased by 400% roughly.. quiet a change for the worse. Doing Unity Alerts gives you 12, then you have to farm 10 Rampages for another 30, and then you can get another 10 on normal alerts which gets you a total of 42 in 1 day... IF you farm 10 Rampages and complete them..
However... not everyone has time to farm 10 rampages every day+Unity Dailys+Alerts.. BUT people had time to run Unity dailys once a day most likely. Lets say that each Rampage takes roughly 30 minutes to queue for and complete, that means you'll spend 5 hours per day on Rampages alone, then add the 1 hour for Alerts and 1 hour for daily event.. 7 hours per day to get max amount of SCR.
And the reason why i don't take Adventures into the calculations is because they are 2-3 hours long which would only add to the time it would take per day, and you'd still need 3 days to farm.
Comments
You see, long ago, STO had a similar system, where you'd run certain STFs (queued content) for certain gear pieces. There was a horribly slim chance each run that what you wanted would actually drop, so you'd either get lucky on your first few runs, or you'd have been out of luck for the entire time that system was in effect. I'm pretty sure that most people who play currently would not want to go back to that old system. It was crap.
How the current system works is that you earn reputation by doing things related to that content. While people in CO are grinding against RNG for that lucky drop, people in STO are gradually working their way up to earning what they want. The content is still being run, just in a more rewarding and less frustrating way.
One could argue that the silver/gold champ recognition (is gold champ recognition a 100% drop?) currency is similar, however silver champ recognition's current implementation was poorly thought out and thus, something of a failure.
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My characters
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
I already have my full set of heroic gear since I got it before the hike, thank [deity of choice here], so it's not about me being a have-not jealous of the haves. It bothers me because endgame content, such the TA you seem to enjoy so much, would have a much larger talent pool to recruit from because more people would feel confident about going in. Now sure, you have your "things that have run TA" thread which boasts various low-geared characters making it through, and that's fine. A newer, more casual player doesn't really care that a long-time vet who knows the game in and out excelled with a mediocre character. They just want to be confident that their character is good enough to give it a shot.
Not everyone on that list was a vet - in fact, the majority were not.
Your misconceptions are failing you.
You can actually verify that the list is true very easily. Wanna know how? Get a group, and go do TA.
That list wasn't made for people like you - people who just want to stubbornly believe that they can't do TA cause of [insert reason here]. That list was made for people who would see it and say "Oh hey, look at that, maybe I'll give it a shot" - and yes, people have done that. If you look at that list and start thinking up new excuses for why you can't do TA, the list was not made for you.
You wanna keep believing you can't do TA? You're welcome to it. I won't be thinking of you while I'm running it
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
I'm definitely only seeing a snippet of this drama, but you going on and on about it in-game about how amazing and easy the run was just because the guy "you were carrying" left and some random dude joined, don't accuse someone of just being willfully unable to do it when there's people like you icing people out.
You say I'm icing him out? Not sure what that means, but he leaves runs very quickly when it becomes apparent that it's not going to be a cake walk. He's the one forcing himself out of the runs, not me - I am, in fact, the one saying that he shouldn't leave and should instead stay, and keep trying.
Also, I ran with him since then, so whatever sort of "icing out" you think I did to him, he's clearly not feeling it. As it turns out, he's less sensitive to a bit of teasing than you give him credit for.
You seem to be confusing something here though. Yes, I am a bit negative towards people who aren't willing to even try... but, wouldn't that be completely obvious to everyone here? Heck, I express that in the post you probably looked at before you wrote yours. So I say people should try, and I don't think very highly of it when people give up too fast... exactly what hypocrisy are you trying to point out here? Were you under the impression that I was trying to hide my thoughts about people who give up too easily, after seeing me repeatedly express those thoughts publicly for everyone to see?
Everyone can do it if they try. If you give up right away, of course you can't do it. People who refuse to enter the dungeon unless they know for certain the group can do it, despite they themselves having barely done the dungeon, are getting carried. As has been the case in every MMO I've played, I'm happy to carry people, especially the individual in question cause I think he's a swell guy
I think I'm being quite consistent here Biff
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
EVERYONE'S WELCOME! Don't think I have to try again. You're not as friendly and inviting as you try to make yourself seem.
Should I do the mirror wink, or just a smiley? TIME WILL TELL!
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
It wasn't.
It was an absurd low pricing for a player with a more than one character, but it was just right for a starter.
And it was rendered a starter gear when better sets appeared whether Cryptic wants to admit it or not.
In the end the change effectively removed heroic gear from the game - an amount of effort required for heroics now makes it completely pointless to waste any time when same amount of effort might give you a much better gear.
If heroics were actually comparable... But they're only slightly better than world drops.
Problem is with Cryptic being in a some kind of an imaginary environment when the game is supposed to work how it was envisioned long time ago with no account taken for how the game population progressed or any other gear was added. Facepalmworthy, really.
Then there's people who just plain don't want to do Rampages or Epic content, but who still want some gear to farm for. I feel like some people assume that "everyone is just gonna farm Rampages ad nauseam now", but that fails to account for those people who simply won't; it doesn't really matter if anyone thinks that that's what they're supposed to do or what's optimal, they just don't want to. Some people may very well just go ahead and do content that drops SCR and avoid rampages, and those people may very well eventually decide to strap on some Heroic gear.
See, rather than trying to enforce some sort of "You get this, then this, then this" gear ladder, they're basically just laying out choices. Heroic Gear wasn't removed from the game, it was just made one of many choices. You don't have to get Heroic Gear... you never did, and you still don't, so it's not really important if people are or aren't. If they thought it was super important that everyone make a stop at Heroic Gear before moving on to something better then they would have set the system up that way - they didn't, and so clearly they don't think that's important.
As has been the case for a while, the real underlying problem of why Heroic Gear suddenly became a non-factor isn't actually related to the SCR prices... it actually didn't happen at all, because Heroic Gear hasn't been a factor for a while, because of how easy the game is due to the massive increase in player power level after On Alert - Heroic Gear doesn't even do much for you. That's why you saw people shying away from saying "The prices are too high because I need Heroic gear" very quickly, and it rapidly turned into "The prices are too high because I want Heroic gear... for reasons unrelated to the actual performance of the gear". Hopefully after the game sees some more balancing adjustments, getting this gear will become a bit more meaningful and we won't be able to skip from junk to jewels quite so easily. For now though, it really doesn't matter if people are or aren't getting Heroic Gear, and it hasn't for a while.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
That little spat you just had with Biff makes me honestly question your list even more than just playing devils advocate to get a point across to you... Now I seriously have to wonder, just how many of the build types on your list were carried through TA? Sure you could say "they made it through, so the build can do TA" but in reality it can't... if someone were to put together a group of 5 random people off that list and just happens that those 5 random people were carried through TA to make it on the list, could that party succeed? highly doubtful... and i guarantee you, anyone who takes your list seriously could at some point put together a party that simply can't run TA despite your list saying "these builds can and have run it" for the reason of those builds only made it on the list by being carried.
But yeah, Conquer is basically, every day, putting together teams for this thing, and they've got some of the best and most invested players in the game. (Honestly if anyone feels like this Lair is out of reach, join this Super Group, they're (mostly) friendly and inviting and you'll be running this thing til you're blue in the face.)
But, I'd imagine that me and my worthless (by my own account) builds would make it through just on the strengths of others. But but but again, I still see, to this day, people forming TA groups in zone chat, meaning it's still being run by "independent" folk and not just hosted by some of "the best" so, I'd say, wait to make your judgment on the state of the thing when you can run it yourself.
In short, don't trust everything you read on the Internet. ESPECIALLY MY POSTS!!!
OH NO, NOW IT'S DRAMA!!!
- A group that didn't have a healer for most of the first four bosses (because I was healing and I was dead)**
- Glass cannon dps FF with no self heals
- DPS in full heirlooom gear.
- 4 man with chat offline
Especially with the last one, it's safe to say that technically, anything can run TA, provided that there's at least a few strong people in the group and they're okay with carrying. The 4-man one especially proves that you could even drag along an alert baby, freshly 40'd and still swaddled in level 10 quest gear, carry him/her through, and then say "hey everybody, look at what just ran TA! See! Anyone can do it!" This kind of thing. Right here. Your response was fine up until you decided to add this. This is why people (not just me) find you so abrasive and unpleasant to interact with. Why the image you seem to have of yourself as "friendly and helpful" or whatever doesn't hold any weight. If you think about it, this kind of comment doesn't really contribute anything to the discussion other than to make you come across as rude.
If a choice in of gear in a video game offers you no mechanical benefits it's not really a choice. The reward should be always proportional to effort.
Heroic gear is simply a pile of crap compared to effort when same or only slightly bigger amount of effort can yield you a better gear. It's not like gear in this game has any costume parts attached. It's for stats only.
If it's a pointless choice, could as well no longer be here.
Cryptic really should change their reward=effort philosophy because it was always lacking. They simply never could wrap their head around how it is supposed to work in games.
Hence why all their events and new content eventually ends abandoned - it's too difficult for them to grasp that most of players plays content for rewards.
At the end of the day... increasing the time it takes to get Heroics by almost 400% is just stupid - especially considering that getting Justice is faster. 400% increase is no laughing matter..
I also realize that though I am super social/chatty in Zone, I was reticent about joining team requests, and I almost never started forming a team on my own. I'm over that now.
Though I still feel the SCR prices are a bit high, and that costume parts in the GCR vendor are priced too high, I am beginning to see the light about earning recog. It really can be something like a month per costume piece for my play time. That means being focused on using big blocks of play time on TA (right now), not running alerts, not spending tons of time in trade channel, not cycling through a dozen low-level alts. It means changing my play style, which is a little painful. But I've changed my play style before, and I likely will again.
P.S. The low-level recog prices (MCPD, PRIMUS, even UNTIL) are still too high.
Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
I am going to have to narrow my focus to just four or five if I want to earn enough SCR/GCR for things. My play style will have to change if I want the newest stuff.
*Crafting changed (or went away completely), and so did play styles that specialized in that
*Hero Games changed (or became very difficult to queue because of bugs/alerts/etc), and so did play styles who wanted team PvP
*Speed-leveling changed because of Alerts
*Legacy devices changed several times, and so did builds that relied on devices
And now, the newest additions to the game don't work well with folks like me or you that liked bopping around 10 or 12 alts in a given play session. You can still do it, but then currency is too widely spread out, as you said.
Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
Also, costume unlocks via recognition are account wide, so anything I earned on Tsin'xing is available on Lautna too. Lautna actually uses a mix of Maniacs and DEMON costume parts that Tsin'xing collected.
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My characters
Moving on.
Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
If a choice in of gear in a video game offers you no mechanical benefits it's not really a choice. The reward should be always proportional to effort.
Heroic gear is simply a pile of crap compared to effort when same or only slightly bigger amount of effort can yield you a better gear. It's not like gear in this game has any costume parts attached. It's for stats only.
If it's a pointless choice, could as well no longer be here.
Cryptic really should change their reward=effort philosophy because it was always lacking. They simply never could wrap their head around how it is supposed to work in games.
Hence why all their events and new content eventually ends abandoned - it's too difficult for them to grasp that most of players plays content for rewards.
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Exactly. The only real "choice" being offered is "weak gear" vs "better gear" and since the effort required is similar, it becomes a trap or non-choice, especially since SCR has other, better uses. For a great example of an actual choice, look into STO's reputation system. While sure, the newer tier stuff is sometimes a fraction better overall, things all the way back from maco/omega/khg (the very first one) are still relevant and desirable even today. With heroic gear, I can't think of any reason why you'd want to take it over something better. Something with more mod slots and set bonuses. In contrast, CO tries to use a wow-style progression system (a "you get this, then this, then this" gear ladder) only unlike wow, it fails miserably.
If heroic gear is meant to be "a choice," why would anyone choose it over something better if the required time investment is similar? It's like playing classic Legend of Zelda and being the dumbass who chooses the medicine over the heart container.
MCPD:
gear is from 5 to 15 for random junk
costumes are 100 or 200
hero games:
Heroic gear 75k each
costumes 35k each
Primus:
random junk gear at 5 to 15 each
90s costumes for 200 each
other costumes at 100
Until:
random junk gear at 5 to 30 each
costumes at 100 to 200
Nemesis:
Catalyst gear at 150 each
Heirloom gear at 200
mod box at 500
Snake Gulch:
steampunk costumes for 250 to 750 each
permanent lasso device for 975
SCR:
heroic gear 150 each
generic purple secondaries at 15 each
Ka and Mechanon costumes at 150 each
other costumes at 975 each
GCR:
Distinguished gear 500 SCR and 250 GCR each
Heirloom gear 100SCR+50 GCR
other GCR gear 200 SCR+100 GCR
costumes 200SCR+100 GCR
onslaught:
gear are 5k VT
costumes are 2500 VT and GT
Honestly the prices don't seem that strange to me....
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My characters
Heroic gear is (or should be) ENTRY LEVEL 40 gear now...not this nonsense. Flooding the market? really...who cares about that? So what, people have to put them all up for 5G because more people can do it...Legion gear is lots better and comes from lockboxes so if you are spending G on it, most people are just buying Legion gear anyways.
What they really should do to avoid ALL Heroic gear issues, is to just put 3 Heroic gear tokens in your level 40 free box of junk and just make them all Bound to that character that claimed them. There all alts get free Heroic gear and no one can flood the market with anything.
Just looking at the prices, you can farm missions/Smashes for G and just buy Legion gear faster than SCR for Heroic gear...which is very poor design...from any standpoint.
The way I see TA right now, is my characters that are already wearing Legion gear, don't need to grind for GCR. Doing a raid for anything other than specifically advancing your character is nonsense to me and GCR gear isn't going to allow me to do ANYTHING this game has to offer that I can't already do with minimal effort. This is the same reason I don't do Rampages anymore either. I just never found it necessary to advance my characters to do things that I couldn't do before.
Doing Raids/Lairs in order to get entry level gear for alts should not ever be a thing...someone went stupid on this one...
Remember: Half the people you know are below average...
Do not correct a fool, for he will hate you for it. Correct a wise man, for he will appreciate you for it.
Don't be like the Qularr. They would not last one round in the Interstellar Galactic Arena...
Handle @brayv
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My characters
Yeah, once again I'm seeing this obnoxious little condescending "advice" in this thread like before. Lovely.
Heroic gear with its jacked up price makes it pointless considering that better gear can be obtained with roughly the same amount of effort and time put into getting heroics. That's the core issue.
Sometimes people need to stop eating up every game development decision Cryptic makes as if it's the best tasting souffle in the world.
42 40s, LTSer.
Previously I would invest time to get the Heroic Gear for toons I really and planned on using for both RP and super group stuff but now that's too much of a time sink.
Everything involving changes and store prices in the last few years seems to all be vindictive toward players who have many characters.
Also, there's nothing vindictive about it - when you stop being the one reaping all the benefits and are put on an equal playing field, that's not people being vindictive towards you.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
Infact the only reason I might personally stop making alts is because I've run out of power concepts that are feasable on CO without duplicating builds...
And while I wouldn't call it vindictive, the game used to award you for playing lots of characters. Recently, there have been changes put in that no longer reward this (perfectly fine and encouraged) behavior. And even playing field? Nah. People that play only one or two characters had the drawback of not being able to farm lots of currencies or whatever because they didn't have a big stable of heroes. But they had the benefit of not having to gear up more than a few characters. People who like alts who previously got them Heroic gear had the advantage of using lots of alts to get currencies, but also had to/wanted to gear up a dozen, maybe more characters. That's still a lot of time spent in-game getting the stuff, since they're doing it for more than just a few characters. That keeps alt-players playing and happy and spending money. Now, we're on an "even playing field" with people who don't like to play a bunch of characters, except now we have to spend more time gearing the alts, and at the same time, having lots of characters doesn't help this at all. Suddenly playing alts is no longer an advantage, and it takes us longer to gear all the characters we want to gear up.
Having lots of characters made it easy to gear up all those characters. I don't see what's bad about that. You spend that much time in the game making and leveling dozens of characters, spending money on stuff you like (instead of stuff you need) the whole time, but now the game no longer rewards that, and has made the gear grind unbearable to a lot of people. Honestly I feel like I'm being alienated by many of the recent changes.
Sometimes I make alts just to make them and have a laugh, but sometimes I make a new character that I'll probably make my main for a long time. I don't want to spend most of that long time just getting a few pieces of gear. Once my stockpile of gear is gone, I won't even have the desire to make more alts, knowing that I won't be getting them good gear. It's fine if you don't understand how different people feel, but there it is, that's the reason. If I feel like I'm not going to be taking the character all the way that I want, I won't even start that character.
NWO's entry endgame gear is Alliance gear:
-has guaranteed drops in chests in all entry-endgame dungeons, sometimes several pieces, and many dungeons give you a choice between two options from the chest.
-has additional random drop possibility from bosses
-is account bound
-can also be bought with elemental seals (there are two endgame seals, elemental are the lower tier)
--It costs 300-500 seals per piece (300/400/500 jewelry/regular/chest)
--A typical dungeon produces 120 seals (20 per boss x 3 bosses + 30 per chest x 2 chests with appropriate keys). Your first dungeon of the day produces an additional 80 seals.
--There are other sources of seals, notably demonic heroic encounters, which can be played without limit.
-Extra pieces can be converted into 3-5k raw Astral Diamonds (think unrefined Q, daily refinement cap is 36k)
In short, a fresh level-70 character who does 1 dungeon/day can expect to be decked out in the gear *they want* after ~1 week. They will then quickly be able to supply any additional characters with a full suite of appropriate gear of their choice. (Chest and regular pieces will need to be bought with seals for alts that are a different class).
Weapons actually work differently. Your primary weapon and offhand slots at level 70 are artifacts.
-You get a starter artifact weapon for free for completing the elemental evil zone: Spinward Rise. This is also the intended 67-69 leveling area.
-You get a starter artifact offhand for free just for reaching level 70 from Lord Neverwinter, along with a free level 70 purple cloak (neck slot) that's arguably better than the Alliance pieces.
Also working differently are foundational garments (under armor, 2 pieces). Starter endgame stuff is available from the water Elemental Evil zone, which is the level 60-63 area, and are quest rewards. You'll quickly have the option of achieving top tier upgrades by doing Demonic Heroic Encounters after you hit 70. (Takes about 1 week/piece).
(Gear slots: Weapon + offhand, chest, helm, bracers, boots, neck, 2x rings, belt, foundational garments x2 (tunic and pants)).
So the game pretty much hands you starter endgame gear on a platter. Gear progression then proceeds by getting higher tier endgame gear, and by improving gems (think mods) and artifact equipment (In addition to weapon and off-hand, there's artifact options for neck and belt slots), and the game makes it easily possible to skip right to top tier pieces for most slots. (improving artifact equipment and gems takes sustained effort at farming refinement materials - does not require playing difficult areas).
Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
Plus keep in mind, these are completely different styles of MMOs... Champions is a SUPERHERO MMO, Neverwinter is a DnD FANTASY MMO, Star Trek Online is a SCIENCE FICTION SPACE MMO... Most MMO players pick a game based on the type of world it has. Fantasy MMO players have a ton of options available to them, SciFi MMO players have a smaller variety but still a large number of options, and Superhero MMO players have three... And SERIOUSLY rather than constantly telling people to "just play something else" we as a community should be encouraging them to stay, try to help people find something they enjoy in CO... our player base is small enough as is, we need more players if we want CO to continue to recieve worthwhile updates.
Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
What Biff said is pretty solid on the reason why. Another reason, getting Heroic gear on an alt (specifically theme focused ones) made their builds more sustainable. It was a standard to where a weird build can have the defense, energy and offense to keep up in newer content without relying on others to keep you healed all the time and to output enough dps to be an asset to the team.
Being useful without needing top tier, time consuming gear.
If I was playing a Soldier AT without Heroic gear, I would be downright useless in any of that end content. With heroics, I could at least deal a bunch of damage until I inevitably die and someone could rez me, but that wouldn't be a wasted effort as I was putting a big dent into the bosses.
This hurts alts as well as newer players having an even harder time trying to get their first level 40 to play with everyone else in end game.
(Exploit required counter arguments will be ignored.)
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My characters
now that time has increased by 400% roughly.. quiet a change for the worse. Doing Unity Alerts gives you 12, then you
have to farm 10 Rampages for another 30, and then you can get another 10 on normal alerts which gets you a total of 42
in 1 day... IF you farm 10 Rampages and complete them..
However... not everyone has time to farm 10 rampages every day+Unity Dailys+Alerts.. BUT people had time to run
Unity dailys once a day most likely. Lets say that each Rampage takes roughly 30 minutes to queue for and complete,
that means you'll spend 5 hours per day on Rampages alone, then add the 1 hour for Alerts and 1 hour for daily event..
7 hours per day to get max amount of SCR.
And the reason why i don't take Adventures into the calculations is because they are 2-3 hours long which would only add
to the time it would take per day, and you'd still need 3 days to farm.