We will be adding new ways to get GCR, but they are all going to be as difficult as TA or harder (for example the new Cosmic encounters will reward GCR to those who meet a minimum threshold of participation).
TA is a level of difficulty we haven't had in the game for some time, it will take some getting used to.
We will be adding new ways to get GCR, but they are all going to be as difficult as TA or harder (for example the new Cosmic encounters will reward GCR to those who meet a minimum threshold of participation).
TA is a level of difficulty we haven't had in the game for some time, it will take some getting used to.
I hope that participation threshold includes the healers. Because if it's anything like the current open missions, then people will just dps the heck out of cosmics. The scoring in open missions should also count the support the support role does.
__________________________________________________________________
Alts:
Lord Sans (Full Healer FF)/Axel Leonard (Crowd Controller/Off-Tank)
- - - - - -
Feel free to visit my websites!^^: DeviantART|FurAffinity| Twitter
We will be adding new ways to get GCR, but they are all going to be as difficult as TA or harder (for example the new Cosmic encounters will reward GCR to those who meet a minimum threshold of participation).
TA is a level of difficulty we haven't had in the game for some time, it will take some getting used to.
I hope that participation threshold includes the healers. Because if it's anything like the current open missions, then people will just dps the heck out of cosmics. The scoring in open missions should also count the support the support role does.
Heh, trust me. You're going to want healers when you run these into these cosmics. Anyone who previously farmed cosmics solo is in for a massive surprise if they try that post patch/ post cosmic update.
As to whether support role/healing counts...I'm not entirely sure. I don't know what is happening with that...
I hope that participation threshold includes the healers.
My understanding is that they're working on proper points for both healing and tanking.
If its possible, they can count the amount of threat the tank/s generates and amount of healing/debuff the support role does as points. It can go alongwith dmg they deal.
__________________________________________________________________
Alts:
Lord Sans (Full Healer FF)/Axel Leonard (Crowd Controller/Off-Tank)
- - - - - -
Feel free to visit my websites!^^: DeviantART|FurAffinity| Twitter
We will be adding new ways to get GCR, but they are all going to be as difficult as TA or harder (for example the new Cosmic encounters will reward GCR to those who meet a minimum threshold of participation).
TA is a level of difficulty we haven't had in the game for some time, it will take some getting used to.
Please be careful with the "minimum threshold of participation" implementation. I get that you want to keep out bots and mooches who pretty much just tag & afk, but please make sure it doesn't also lock lesser-geared or support-heavy players out from rewards. Back in December, when I was newer and weaker, Clarence (an example of a minimum participation threshold in action) wouldn't reward me anything unless I got there right at the time it spawned. Over at STO, when the Badlands battlezone first came out, there was a high participation threshold which turned what should've been teamwork-oriented objectives into a mad scramble of "gimme gimme" as everyone raced ahead of each other to be the one to interact with zone objectives (interacting with a thing was a 1 person job) since that was a large part of what determined participation.
GCR is always going to be gated behind difficult content. We don't want to invalidate any of the content that currently gives it out as a reward by adding it as a reward for something that's a lot easier to complete (Unity and Onslaught, for example).
You will inevitably end up doing this anyway, whether you realize it or not.
Let's say, later on down the road, you guys release something new that awards GCR. This happens a few more times until eventually, we have like 4-5 different sources of GCR. Excellent. How will a person with several alts they want to gear up approach this? Will they run them all on every alt? Or will they just pick whichever one has the best reward to time/effort ratio and run it repeatedly?
Over at STO, we have a lot of queued content that's been added as the game has grown. Despite the size of the playerbase, they're all dead except for the easiest and fastest ones, such as ISA.
Also, I humbly ask that you guys not forget about the majority of the playerbase, those that (according to some here) aren't ever meant to be in content such as TA. Perhaps whatever new content comes out can have both a normal difficulty for SCR and an elite difficulty for GCR?
Heh, trust me. You're going to want healers when you run these into these cosmics. Anyone who previously farmed cosmics solo is in for a massive surprise if they try that post patch/ post cosmic update.
As to whether support role/healing counts...I'm not entirely sure. I don't know what is happening with that...
Of course you're going to want healers and support. The trick is implementing this participation thershold nonsense in such a way that healers will actually get rewarded for doing their thing. If not, nobody (except for perhaps extreme altruists) is going to bring their healer and the whole thing will go tits up.
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
The number of DPS players that I've been healing while they held aggro on bosses in TA lately makes me wonder if you really even need 2 tanks for that place. Also, watching someone do adds with an offensive passive in hybrid role... I wonder if you need a tank at all. Also considering I spend more time spamming attacks on my healer than I do healing, I wonder if you actually need a super dedicated healer either...
As it turns out, these "strict requirements" are about as strict as the dress code at a gathering of hippies.
The number of DPS players that I've been healing while they held aggro on bosses in TA lately makes me wonder if you really even need 2 tanks for that place. Also, watching someone do adds with an offensive passive in hybrid role... I wonder if you need a tank at all. Also considering I spend more time spamming attacks on my healer than I do healing, I wonder if you actually need a super dedicated healer either...
The only fight that's actually difficult to off-tank is the Teleios fight; a durable dps can do the rest. Likewise, Teleios is the only fight that really requires a healer (mostly because 18%/sec exceeds the limits of healing normally available to non-healers).
I hope that participation threshold includes the healers. Because if it's anything like the current open missions, then people will just dps the heck out of cosmics. The scoring in open missions should also count the support the support role does.
In the current PTS build, participation includes damage dealt, damage taken, and healing dealt. The devs stated that they haven't found a good way to include mezzers yet, and likely would not for the near future.
Make the content friendly to those of us with lots of alts by making the currency bind to account (not character) and I know one other person who will join in. The challenge should be the content, not the grind,
We will be adding new ways to get GCR, but they are all going to be as difficult as TA or harder (for example the new Cosmic encounters will reward GCR to those who meet a minimum threshold of participation).
TA is a level of difficulty we haven't had in the game for some time, it will take some getting used to.
And if few people bother utilizing all this difficult content, what have you accomplished with the company resources?
You might also want to reconsider if the potential rewards are up to the task of jacking the people's desire to get used to the difficulty they're not used to.
So far, it's looking like a fail. But keep explaining to the people how it's not a fail, it's just them, lol. Maybe that will work one day.
It's perfectly fine, and actually rather important for them to add elite-level, challenging content. They just need to make sure they don't neglect the other 98% of the userbase in the process. Hardmode content should be more of an afterthought than the focus because it only caters to a small portion of the population.
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
Last night, Saturday from 8-10 EST, there were at least two groups doing TA at the same time. While that was great, that is actually not very many people.
On the other hand, there was only one group doing Fire and Ice, albeit with some players rotating through (most were rotating alts). A similar number of people, and still quite small.
I think the content needs better in-game advertising to get more of that 98% to play. I suspect making the contents deliver GCR rewards is going to accomplish this somewhat. They are open world, and plenty of messages will appear in Zone asking folks to travel to Canada or Monster Island. Once more folks have some GCR, there will be some curiosity about how to earn more.
The number of DPS players that I've been healing while they held aggro on bosses in TA lately makes me wonder if you really even need 2 tanks for that place. Also, watching someone do adds with an offensive passive in hybrid role... I wonder if you need a tank at all. Also considering I spend more time spamming attacks on my healer than I do healing, I wonder if you actually need a super dedicated healer either...
As it turns out, these "strict requirements" are about as strict as the dress code at a gathering of hippies.
Remember Spinny - Tanky DPS builds are the norm in CO. Which isn't the case in other games. I bet those were FF DPS'rs with the appropriate defenses and self healing talents.
In the current PTS build, participation includes damage dealt, damage taken, and healing dealt. The devs stated that they haven't found a good way to include mezzers yet, and likely would not for the near future.
Support and healing are my preferred play-styles. So this is good news!!!
GCR is always going to be gated behind difficult content. We don't want to invalidate any of the content that currently gives it out as a reward by adding it as a reward for something that's a lot easier to complete (Unity and Onslaught, for example).
Overall TA has a real PR problem in the game. I've even seen zone fights break out over it. Again all anecdotal so your mileage may vary. But the feeling I get is that most players, especially Silver players don't believe they can run it. Count me in as one of those people. I'm a silver -- and I don't want to gimp a team by bringing one of my AT's along. And this is something that isn't being discussed at all.. where do AT's fit in all of this? I can see Silver AT's doing well in the Open World content. I just don't see them doing as well in TA. Most AT's don't have the tools to survive a TA run. Sure the team can carry them - but who wants to be the person dragging the rest of the team down?
IMHO that's the reason many Silvers are too scared to run TA. So if we aren 't going to make GCR more readily available, it's on the CO developers to address this issue. Whether that's by re-balancing AT's or through player education. Otherwise you are creating content that the vast majority of your player base isn't going to participate in.
The number of DPS players that I've been healing while they held aggro on bosses in TA lately makes me wonder if you really even need 2 tanks for that place. Also, watching someone do adds with an offensive passive in hybrid role... I wonder if you need a tank at all. Also considering I spend more time spamming attacks on my healer than I do healing, I wonder if you actually need a super dedicated healer either...
As it turns out, these "strict requirements" are about as strict as the dress code at a gathering of hippies.
Remember Spinny - Tanky DPS builds are the norm in CO. Which isn't the case in other games. I bet those were FF DPS'rs with the appropriate defenses and self healing talents.
What other games? Not STO... STO space combat has tank/DPS of some sort in most if not all builds.
Last night, Saturday from 8-10 EST, there were at least two groups doing TA at the same time. While that was great, that is actually not very many people.
On the other hand, there was only one group doing Fire and Ice, albeit with some players rotating through (most were rotating alts). A similar number of people, and still quite small.
I think the content needs better in-game advertising to get more of that 98% to play. I suspect making the contents deliver GCR rewards is going to accomplish this somewhat. They are open world, and plenty of messages will appear in Zone asking folks to travel to Canada or Monster Island. Once more folks have some GCR, there will be some curiosity about how to earn more.
Sorry to be pessimistic, but success in that content feels very much as if it is dependent on having certain other people playing. In essence many of us feel like we're leeching, not really understanding what the heck is going on. I hear that the Cosmic revamp is going to have a complex scoring system to prevent people from benefitting from the efforts of others.... if that's true I'd expect it to either be a small-group/SG farm or be ignored in a month.
Whatever the devs do next, I hope they take on board that there's a need for end-game content which lets people work out what's going on, even from a low knowledge base.
But the feeling I get is that most players, especially Silver players don't believe they can run it. Count me in as one of those people. I'm a silver -- and I don't want to gimp a team by bringing one of my AT's along. And this is something that isn't being discussed at all.. where do AT's fit in all of this? I can see Silver AT's doing well in the Open World content. I just don't see them doing as well in TA. Most AT's don't have the tools to survive a TA run.
The only role that would actually be hard to fill with an AT is tank, and not because of survivability -- it's just that threat management in TA is really tough and AT threat moves are not great.
Also, I humbly ask that you guys not forget about the majority of the playerbase, those that (according to some here) aren't ever meant to be in content such as TA.
Those "some" are incredibly wrong. Content like TA is doable by everyone.
Remember Spinny - Tanky DPS builds are the norm in CO. Which isn't the case in other games. I bet those were FF DPS'rs with the appropriate defenses and self healing talents.
I've actually kept glass cannons up fairly easily when they had boss attention, and the fact that there were multiple of them in runs recently where I did exactly that is what has me thinking this way. Sure, those glass cannons knew the fights, paid attention, and pushed their shift key, but these aren't things that are some sort of "elite skill" that only 2% of the population possess.
TA is content for 100% of the population. You people just need to stop grossly underestimating yourselves. That includes archetype players - as my Things That Have Run TA thread demonstrates, I have run with ATs filling in tank, dps and healer roles. So that's where you AT players fit in... in the exact same way everyone else does.
The only thing keeping you out of there is you saying "I can't do it, and I won't try". I've publicly said that I'll take anyone in, and that stands.
I ran it a few times, wiped a few times. Did it once after changing characters and I'm still salty about it. It just wasn't "fun." However, I think it should stay as-is for the super elite, but I think the rewards should be upped (like 10-15 gold rec). Either make it grindy or hard but for the love of god not both. Yes, it's do-able in 45 minutes with a well-prepared group of holy trinity players... but not everyone wants that. Freedom and customization is the best part of Champs.
Also as far as Gold rec goes have some mid-core stuff that more casual players can grind-through. Honestly, I love Gravitar and wish there were more rampages like Gravitar but most of the people in my elite SG think she's too easy. Maybe the cosmic overhaul will fill in this void or maybe it'll be too trifling like TA/Grond and people will ignore it.
I ran it a few times, wiped a few times. Did it once after changing characters and I'm still salty about it. It just wasn't "fun." However, I think it should stay as-is for the super elite, but I think the rewards should be upped (like 10-15 gold rec). Either make it grindy or hard but for the love of god not both. Yes, it's do-able in 45 minutes with a well-prepared group of holy trinity players... but not everyone wants that. Freedom and customization is the best part of Champs.
Also as far as Gold rec goes have some mid-core stuff that more casual players can grind-through. Honestly, I love Gravitar and wish there were more rampages like Gravitar but most of the people in my elite SG think she's too easy. Maybe the cosmic overhaul will fill in this void or maybe it'll be too trifling like TA/Grond and people will ignore it.
Ah-hah~! You sound just like those folks back then that felt this way about Therazikiel's Lair Before rampages came out (Or was it vice versa), Or when rampages came out and Fire and Ice became the most difficult thing to do to get End game gear for the time being. Like you just said, freedom and customization are indeed the best part of Champs, but you're going to have to work and make sure that freedom and customizability is good to you to do okay in everything! Just like a real hero goin' through challenges!
And would you like to know how to be a part of the crew of said elites? *whispers* Simply knowing that you have a shift key.
All in all, like Spinnytop said, TA is 100% for the population and is very well done for it too. You just gotta know your role, skill,situational awareness, and BLOCKING to have a simpler easier time. 'sides... you can't name a game who's grindy and NOT hard... that'd defeat the purpose of a game, yeah?
Last night, Saturday from 8-10 EST, there were at least two groups doing TA at the same time. While that was great, that is actually not very many people.
On the other hand, there was only one group doing Fire and Ice, albeit with some players rotating through (most were rotating alts). A similar number of people, and still quite small.
I think the content needs better in-game advertising to get more of that 98% to play. I suspect making the contents deliver GCR rewards is going to accomplish this somewhat. They are open world, and plenty of messages will appear in Zone asking folks to travel to Canada or Monster Island. Once more folks have some GCR, there will be some curiosity about how to earn more.
Advertisement isn't the problem, the low drop rate of tokens and people deciding the justice gear grind isn't worth doing is a much bigger issue.
The rewards for a lot of the custom alerts and rampages need to be re-evaluated.
I've ignored PQ's for months now, (not putting them on ignore). I haven't tried TA, but Rampages are less gratifying to play than the rest of the game. The gameplay feels similar to the easier stuff, but with less variety and more downtime. I might get around to TA, but I don't see much reason to do it.
I've got the tokens for Justice Gear and a couple pieces of Onslaught gear, but I why spend them when I'm not doing anything that warrants that kind of power. Why should I grind for end game gear that is only necessary for making me better at grinding for end game gear?
I've ignored PQ's for months now, (not putting them on ignore). I haven't tried TA, but Rampages are less gratifying to play than the rest of the game. The gameplay feels similar to the easier stuff, but with less variety and more downtime. I might get around to TA, but I don't see much reason to do it.
I've got the tokens for Justice Gear and a couple pieces of Onslaught gear, but I why spend them when I'm not doing anything that warrants that kind of power. Why should I grind for end game gear that is only necessary for making me better at grinding for end game gear?
Well if you want content that is more difficult than rampages and not really gives you better gear, TA and the cosmic overhaul is something you should love.
'sides... you can't name a game who's grindy and NOT hard... that'd defeat the purpose of a game, yeah?
Difficulty and/or grindiness have nothing to do with the purpose of games. In making a game, only one thing really matters: Do people enjoy playing it?
Well if you want content that is more difficult than rampages and not really gives you better gear, TA and the cosmic overhaul is something you should love.
Except technically, he/she said they're not interested in grinding for endgame gear that is only necessary to make them better at grinding for more endgame gear. For now, one can completely disregard the GCR section of the game and still do just fine everywhere else.
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
Difficulty and/or grindiness have nothing to do with the purpose of games. In making a game, only one thing really matters: Do people enjoy playing it?
At which point the phrase "You can't please everyone all of the time" becomes gospel. So the logical thing to do is to try to start pleasing the people you're currently leaving out, rather than just pleasing the people you're already pleasing even more. Casual players continue to have the lions share of content in this game, hence why the devs continue to very reasonably focus on content that gives player some challenge.
Maybe some day they'll actually make content for "elite players" too. They're pretty much being completely left out still.
Ah-hah~! You sound just like those folks back then that felt this way about Therazikiel's Lair Before rampages came out (Or was it vice versa), Or when rampages came out and Fire and Ice became the most difficult thing to do to get End game gear for the time being.
So much truth. Today's impossible challenge is tomorrow's easy cakewalk. Folks used to clamor about F&I and Gravitar being the elitist downfall of the game... now people farm it like it's nothing.
People act like some of us run TA in 40 minutes because we have "elite trinity builds"... little do they know that it's just because we learned what to block and when to move. The people with the elite builds run it in 20 minutes.
Maybe some day they'll actually make content for "elite players" too. They're pretty much being completely left out still.
You can't possibly be serious. TA isn't "for everyone." It's for the "elite players" because only they have the gear, patience, and desire to throw themselves at such an awful grind, day after day, just to get gear with bigger numbers on it.
And that's exactly how I like it, and I hope it stays that way.
Don't get your hopes up. As more and more GCR content rolls out, there will probably be more and more perks associated with GCR grinds as well as more GCR content that will likely spill out into the rest of the CO world. Thus, making it seem more and more "mandatory" to enjoy any type of endgame content. Since, for whatever reason, they chose to bar silver players from the test server, all I can do is speculate, but it seems to me like this cosmic revamp is an example of that already happening.
That participation threshold they're trying to add is going to be a huge mistake, and will mean the difference between players jumping in to help midfight, or simply saying "nope, I probably won't get credit since it's already missing 25% of its health and my dps is too low" and either watching the group wipe or simply walking past them.
To contrast, current cosmics are, to my knowledge, for just about anyone.
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
You can't possibly be serious. TA isn't "for everyone." It's for the "elite players" because only they have the gear, patience, and desire to throw themselves at such an awful grind, day after day, just to get gear with bigger numbers on it.
My main "DPS" character in TA uses AoPM and a mix of Eldritch Blast and Lightning Arc, plus occasional Gravity Driver and Psionic Accelerator. I love the visual on Eldritch Blast rank 3, which is why I use it. This is my main, and he is not optimized for anything really, but I have learned the fights, and have found ways for a jack-of-all-trades to be useful, especially as a backup rezzer/healer.
My main tank is, in fact, an elite-style build, which I rebuilt specifically for TA. I don't enjoy playing him as much as my main, because I compromised on the build I really wanted (theme, favorite powers) to get massive health and defenses.
I also have a healer I use in TA, who uses Seraphim, Iniquity, and Life Drain w/adv as main forms of healing. Works lovely, lots of fun to play, and not an "elite" build by any means.
I went from being curious and enthusiastic about TA, to be bummed out and negative, to being open to learn, and now, to teaching others.
Me and Roughbear snatched 3 randoms out of zone the other day to do TA. They did great despite it being their first time, all 3 of them. Folks can speculate on "who TA was made for", but I have practical experience because I actually take people who I don't know, who have never been in there, and I take them through there without asking them about their build or gear. The vast majority of the first timers I have taken through there have done great. The ones who did so poorly that they caused the run to fail are a minority by far - those people were identified as such btw because once they left the group and were replaced by someone else, the run succeeded. Now sure, maybe I'm so amazing at the game ( and feel free to tell me so! ) that I carried all those people by my lonesome... but if one player can carry people like that, then how hard can the content actually be?
I think the population is fine. They just need to stop believing the myths, step in the door, and do what I know they can do. There are some folks around here who are insecure about their own abilities and feel the need to try to pass their insecurities on to other players - those folks, if they actually want the game to succeed, should stop doing that. Feel free to say that you can't do it, but don't try to use your own inability to succeed as justification for why the population at large is incapable; You don't speak for them.
Now sure, maybe I'm so amazing at the game ( and feel free to tell me so! ) that I carried all those people by my lonesome... but if one player can carry people like that, then how hard can the content actually be?
To be fair, Spinny is good, but not actually amazing.
The key factors to being successful at TA are:
* Actually wanting to learn * Listening to explanations * Asking questions * Having the time for that first newbie run (might take 2-3 hours for first try)
This fuss reminds me of the same situation in STO about ground queues. Peeps complain about how it's sooo hard.... Then you find out when you ask more questions that they don't understand the importance of melee combat. Enemies, especially the Borg, who like to shield tank on ground need to be stabbed in the face. Also, anything stupid enough to voluntarily come into melee range needs to be stabbed. STO ground enemies aren't as hard to kill as the Cosmics in CO.
Went on a really fun run last night. Pretty sure that most of the difficulty here is due to the novelty of the mechanics. Once people get used to them, we'll be bulldozing through this like anything else.
The biggest change I see having coming back is that the mechanic of Blocking is useful again. Rank up your block to r3 and get used to doing it again and you should be mostly set.
I guess if I were in charge of the company my concern would generally be to create more content that is likely to attract the largest number of paying customers. Currently, a fairly small subset of players does TA. How much money does that group contribute to the game as compared to the rest of the player base? Is it financially worthwhile for the company to put dev time towards content that many players will just not do? Is creating high end grindy content going to attract and retain enough new/old players to justify the cost of the development of the content? I won't pretend to know the answer. It seems like the company is currently rolling the dice and hoping that the high end grind is what paying customers want. Only time will tell if that gamble pays off.
At which point the phrase "You can't please everyone all of the time" becomes gospel. So the logical thing to do is to try to start pleasing the people you're currently leaving out, rather than just pleasing the people you're already pleasing even more. Casual players continue to have the lions share of content in this game, hence why the devs continue to very reasonably focus on content that gives player some challenge.
Maybe some day they'll actually make content for "elite players" too. They're pretty much being completely left out still.
I logged in last night to see how the new Cosmics on MI were doing. I can confirm that the locations are not marked on the map and the timer was only visible when you were very close to the site. Sat around for 20 minutes watching a group trying to organize itself. Almost everyone was hybrid or dps. A few tanks. I showed up with a healer and there may have been 2 others present. Pretty much everyone agreed that more healers were needed, but either none of the other players had one, or they weren't willing to switch from a pew-pew-pew character to a support character. Left after that because I wanted to play the game.
I've got the feeling that in this current user-unfreindly manifestation only a relatively small number of dedicated farmers are going to do it at all regularly. I can't see what are essentially PUGs pulling this off in any reasonable amount of time.
Ohhhh, so it's the "challenge" you're after. Got it. So you don't care one whit if they make the rewards more accessible to others at a lesser challenge, because all you care about is the challenge. Nice.
I don't care if they take the rewards and mail everyone in the game 10 copies of each of them every day for the next month. However, it's not about me and what I want or what I care about; it's about reality. In that nutty place called reality, developers have limited time and resources to output content, and because video games is a business they need to shoe certain business people in suits that a game is active and that people are interested in the product, so they have to make sure that the limited content they're able to put out maintains people's interest while they make the next batch of content. Now keep in mind, I'm the one who thinks folks should just do content because it's fun and that rewards shouldn't be the driving factor - and if everyone was like me, then they could in fact just give away the rewards because they would know that we would just keep doing the content anyway. Problem is, most of you aren't like me; you're reward chasers, and you generally stop doing stuff once you have the rewards... so as a result they have to make sure that they don't invalidate content by making the same rewards that that content gives available from a significantly faster/easier method.
So yeah, I wouldn't really care if they made the rewards more "accessible", or just plain dumped them in your lap. But it's not about what I care about... it's about that pesky reality thing, and rats only pushing buttons when there's gonna be a pellet falling out of the chute.
I've got the feeling that in this current user-unfreindly manifestation only a relatively small number of dedicated farmers are going to do it at all regularly. I can't see what are essentially PUGs pulling this off in any reasonable amount of time.
Not sure if you've checked since then, but the Cosmics are now being beaten regularly, and each time they spawn there is a very large turnout ready to tackle them. There are still some flubs, but people are catching on to how it works, and if we're seeing this much more success this early on, just imagine how it's going to look in a week - I'm guessing farm status.
Not sure if you've checked since then, but the Cosmics are now being beaten regularly, and each time they spawn there is a very large turnout ready to tackle them. There are still some flubs, but people are catching on to how it works, and if we're seeing this much more success this early on, just imagine how it's going to look in a week - I'm guessing farm status.
Not at this time of the night they're not. As per. No-one in Canada, no-one in MI. Although that might bebecause these guys aren't that easy to find - the spawns drop you a long way out with no obvious way of finding them (especially if you don't know where the darn monsters are to begin with). Any chance of some more obvious signage? I know it should be easy to see a giant flaming monkey, but it's not....
Pretty much everyone agreed that more healers were needed, but either none of the other players had one, or they weren't willing to switch from a pew-pew-pew character to a support character. Left after that because I wanted to play the game.
That is because the daily mission for the support class is broken. Doing the cosmic as a healer wouldn't count to the daily quest.
Pretty much everyone agreed that more healers were needed, but either none of the other players had one, or they weren't willing to switch from a pew-pew-pew character to a support character. Left after that because I wanted to play the game.
That is because the daily mission for the support class is broken. Doing the cosmic as a healer wouldn't count to the daily quest.
Ye. Don't worry tho I'll keep showing up on my healer, cause just the dropped rewards are still pretty attractive
That reality thing you are such an expert on says when a mere 2% of the players are enjoying a piece of "challenging" new content those people in suits payed the makers to make, the payees may not be payees much longer.
Don't worry it's fine since that statistic you pulled out isn't part of reality.
Remember when rampages were "only the 2% are able to do that!". This happens to all content. At first only the brave go in... then more and more people shuffle in once it's figured out... then nobody is even willing to admit that they ever cried about the content being too hard and wants to act like they farmed it all along.
Yeah, "epic content" is new, and it's scary because it's not the brainless "stand there and spam" stuff you've gotten used to... but you'll get used to it eventually, and then you too will act like you were always good at it.
Not at this time of the night they're not. As per. No-one in Canada, no-one in MI. Although that might bebecause these guys aren't that easy to find - the spawns drop you a long way out with no obvious way of finding them (especially if you don't know where the darn monsters are to begin with). Any chance of some more obvious signage? I know it should be easy to see a giant flaming monkey, but it's not....
That is unfortunate... but every game has "that time of day" when less people play and it's hard to do group stuff. Low population just exacerbates the problem - nothing anyone can do about that for ya. As far as I can tell, in my time zone (est) that time rolls around at about 6 am? I know that last night that was the time that the cosmics stopped being farmed. Which time zone are you in?
Comments
TA is a level of difficulty we haven't had in the game for some time, it will take some getting used to.
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Alts:
Lord Sans (Full Healer FF)/Axel Leonard (Crowd Controller/Off-Tank)
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As to whether support role/healing counts...I'm not entirely sure. I don't know what is happening with that...
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Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained
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Alts:
Lord Sans (Full Healer FF)/Axel Leonard (Crowd Controller/Off-Tank)
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Feel free to visit my websites!^^:
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Twitter
Let's say, later on down the road, you guys release something new that awards GCR. This happens a few more times until eventually, we have like 4-5 different sources of GCR. Excellent. How will a person with several alts they want to gear up approach this? Will they run them all on every alt? Or will they just pick whichever one has the best reward to time/effort ratio and run it repeatedly?
Over at STO, we have a lot of queued content that's been added as the game has grown. Despite the size of the playerbase, they're all dead except for the easiest and fastest ones, such as ISA.
Also, I humbly ask that you guys not forget about the majority of the playerbase, those that (according to some here) aren't ever meant to be in content such as TA. Perhaps whatever new content comes out can have both a normal difficulty for SCR and an elite difficulty for GCR? Of course you're going to want healers and support. The trick is implementing this participation thershold nonsense in such a way that healers will actually get rewarded for doing their thing. If not, nobody (except for perhaps extreme altruists) is going to bring their healer and the whole thing will go tits up.
As it turns out, these "strict requirements" are about as strict as the dress code at a gathering of hippies.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained
Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
On the other hand, there was only one group doing Fire and Ice, albeit with some players rotating through (most were rotating alts). A similar number of people, and still quite small.
I think the content needs better in-game advertising to get more of that 98% to play. I suspect making the contents deliver GCR rewards is going to accomplish this somewhat. They are open world, and plenty of messages will appear in Zone asking folks to travel to Canada or Monster Island. Once more folks have some GCR, there will be some curiosity about how to earn more.
Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
Overall TA has a real PR problem in the game. I've even seen zone fights break out over it. Again all anecdotal so your mileage may vary. But the feeling I get is that most players, especially Silver players don't believe they can run it. Count me in as one of those people. I'm a silver -- and I don't want to gimp a team by bringing one of my AT's along. And this is something that isn't being discussed at all.. where do AT's fit in all of this? I can see Silver AT's doing well in the Open World content. I just don't see them doing as well in TA. Most AT's don't have the tools to survive a TA run. Sure the team can carry them - but who wants to be the person dragging the rest of the team down?
IMHO that's the reason many Silvers are too scared to run TA. So if we aren 't going to make GCR more readily available, it's on the CO developers to address this issue. Whether that's by re-balancing AT's or through player education. Otherwise you are creating content that the vast majority of your player base isn't going to participate in.
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My characters
Whatever the devs do next, I hope they take on board that there's a need for end-game content which lets people work out what's going on, even from a low knowledge base.
Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained
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My characters
TA is content for 100% of the population. You people just need to stop grossly underestimating yourselves. That includes archetype players - as my Things That Have Run TA thread demonstrates, I have run with ATs filling in tank, dps and healer roles. So that's where you AT players fit in... in the exact same way everyone else does.
The only thing keeping you out of there is you saying "I can't do it, and I won't try". I've publicly said that I'll take anyone in, and that stands.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
Also as far as Gold rec goes have some mid-core stuff that more casual players can grind-through. Honestly, I love Gravitar and wish there were more rampages like Gravitar but most of the people in my elite SG think she's too easy. Maybe the cosmic overhaul will fill in this void or maybe it'll be too trifling like TA/Grond and people will ignore it.
Like you just said, freedom and customization are indeed the best part of Champs, but you're going to have to work and make sure that freedom and customizability is good to you to do okay in everything! Just like a real hero goin' through challenges!
And would you like to know how to be a part of the crew of said elites? *whispers* Simply knowing that you have a shift key.
All in all, like Spinnytop said, TA is 100% for the population and is very well done for it too. You just gotta know your role, skill,situational awareness, and BLOCKING to have a simpler easier time. 'sides... you can't name a game who's grindy and NOT hard... that'd defeat the purpose of a game, yeah?
The rewards for a lot of the custom alerts and rampages need to be re-evaluated.
I've got the tokens for Justice Gear and a couple pieces of Onslaught gear, but I why spend them when I'm not doing anything that warrants that kind of power. Why should I grind for end game gear that is only necessary for making me better at grinding for end game gear?
Maybe some day they'll actually make content for "elite players" too. They're pretty much being completely left out still.
And that's exactly how I like it, and I hope it stays that way.
So much truth. Today's impossible challenge is tomorrow's easy cakewalk. Folks used to clamor about F&I and Gravitar being the elitist downfall of the game... now people farm it like it's nothing.
People act like some of us run TA in 40 minutes because we have "elite trinity builds"... little do they know that it's just because we learned what to block and when to move. The people with the elite builds run it in 20 minutes.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
That participation threshold they're trying to add is going to be a huge mistake, and will mean the difference between players jumping in to help midfight, or simply saying "nope, I probably won't get credit since it's already missing 25% of its health and my dps is too low" and either watching the group wipe or simply walking past them.
To contrast, current cosmics are, to my knowledge, for just about anyone.
My main tank is, in fact, an elite-style build, which I rebuilt specifically for TA. I don't enjoy playing him as much as my main, because I compromised on the build I really wanted (theme, favorite powers) to get massive health and defenses.
I also have a healer I use in TA, who uses Seraphim, Iniquity, and Life Drain w/adv as main forms of healing. Works lovely, lots of fun to play, and not an "elite" build by any means.
I went from being curious and enthusiastic about TA, to be bummed out and negative, to being open to learn, and now, to teaching others.
Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
I think the population is fine. They just need to stop believing the myths, step in the door, and do what I know they can do. There are some folks around here who are insecure about their own abilities and feel the need to try to pass their insecurities on to other players - those folks, if they actually want the game to succeed, should stop doing that. Feel free to say that you can't do it, but don't try to use your own inability to succeed as justification for why the population at large is incapable; You don't speak for them.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
The key factors to being successful at TA are:
* Actually wanting to learn
* Listening to explanations
* Asking questions
* Having the time for that first newbie run (might take 2-3 hours for first try)
Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
Yeah, especially with you explaining the fights cause you take like 20 minutes to explain them u3u
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
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My characters
Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
The biggest change I see having coming back is that the mechanic of Blocking is useful again. Rank up your block to r3 and get used to doing it again and you should be mostly set.
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I've got the feeling that in this current user-unfreindly manifestation only a relatively small number of dedicated farmers are going to do it at all regularly. I can't see what are essentially PUGs pulling this off in any reasonable amount of time.
So yeah, I wouldn't really care if they made the rewards more "accessible", or just plain dumped them in your lap. But it's not about what I care about... it's about that pesky reality thing, and rats only pushing buttons when there's gonna be a pellet falling out of the chute.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
Not at this time of the night they're not. As per. No-one in Canada, no-one in MI. Although that might bebecause these guys aren't that easy to find - the spawns drop you a long way out with no obvious way of finding them (especially if you don't know where the darn monsters are to begin with). Any chance of some more obvious signage? I know it should be easy to see a giant flaming monkey, but it's not....
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
Remember when rampages were "only the 2% are able to do that!". This happens to all content. At first only the brave go in... then more and more people shuffle in once it's figured out... then nobody is even willing to admit that they ever cried about the content being too hard and wants to act like they farmed it all along.
Yeah, "epic content" is new, and it's scary because it's not the brainless "stand there and spam" stuff you've gotten used to... but you'll get used to it eventually, and then you too will act like you were always good at it.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.