Cosmics and Contribution (How to Make People's Effort and Time Investment Wortwhile)
lezard21
Posts: 1,510 Arc User
Facts:
* It's been almost a year since Cosmics were introduced.* In this time some people have taken the time to learn Everything Cosmic and improve (the less)
* In this same amount of time some people just couldn't careless and continued to show up and demand more without giving anything in return (the many)
* The current contrib ceiling of 100k allows for multiple exploits, including but not limited to:
a) doing enough damage to get contrib and then going AFK while the rest of the raid does all the job,
b) people to show up only when they read that the raid is succeeding and avoiding raids that are failing,
c) some AFK builds that rely on Passive contrib to get the ceiling (Medical Nanites + Sentinel Aura).
*Parallel to this, the current contrib system does not reward people that do everything in their power to make the raid succeed, people who keep on trying no matter how many wipes the current run has had, people who have invested hours of build testing, resources (both ingame and real life) to be able to carry their weight during Cosmic.
As a result of all the aforementioned facts you have:
Player A with a score of 5 million+, who stood there for more than 45 minutes trying and trying and trying to make the run succeed while
Player B did enough damage for the 100k contrib (less than 1 minute) and then alt tabbed to watch some Big Bang Theory
Player C showed on the last bar for the 100k contrib after hearing in Cosmic HQ that the boss was going down
Player D contrib 700k+ by holding block and being AFK with Nanites/Sentinel Aura
To fix this I suggest the following scenarios:
Scenario A
-Increase the minimum Contribution to something like 400k [Cosmics have around 12.5M/240 seconds (the average minimum Cosmics' last)/2k DPS = 26 players which is the average team intended]Pros:
Will discourage Player C and D
Will encourage people to learn how the fights go so as not to needlessly die and lose contrib points
Will encourage people to work on their builds
Cons:
On long drawn fights, this will not Discourage Player B, while also not rewarding Player A's effort
Scenario B: Dynamic Contribution System
-Keep the minimum Contribution as it is right now-100k Contribution = same amount of Mods/GCR/SCR as currently /same drop chance for shinies
-Greater Contribution translates to more amount of Mods/GCR/SCR /increased drop chance for shinies
- Wipes reset the contribution
-Anti-Exploit Measure: To avoid people purposedly drawing out the fights for better rewards, introduce an Enrage Timer on Cosmics; after 10 minutes Cosmic Enrages dealing increased damage (guaranteeing a wipe)
Pros:
Will be rewarding to Player A
Will discourage the behaviour of Player B,C and D
Will encourage people to learn the fights and work on their builds so as to aspire to be Player A
Anti-Frustration measures to prevent fights from drawing on for more than 2 hours. If it's not happening with the current group, it's not happening. Try again later.
Cons:
Cosmics will become either not doable with current team or a breeze, leaving very little gray area inbetween of "Barely Making It" due to the Enraged Timer.
OVERALL FOR BOTH SCENARIOS
Make Tank contribution come from Damage Mitigated and NOT Damage taken. In fact, make the score for tanks be calculated as:Damage Mitigated - Damage Taken = Score
This will encourage Tanks to actually Block (or Dodge), which currently is the opposite, you are encouraging Tanks to take as much damage as possible or to create DPS oriented Tanks.
As suggested by @coach
/10 centspwestolemyname said:
See, there is very little reason for the lazy folks to get any better, since the nice vets will always show up to save the day. The way to fix this is not any of the things that Lez suggested. The way to fix this is to incentivize them to actually learn the fights. That means, every mistake subtracts points. Got knocked by a Dino boom because you didn't block? -1000 Shot a slept heart at Qwij? -1000 Shot a slept dog at Kiga? -1000. (Those numbers are just made up.) Also, the death penalty needs to be greatly increased, up to something like -25,000, at least.
That way, if you are a knowledgeable player and you make a couple mistakes, you can still easily get the 100,000 credit. But if you are a slaggard who never bothered to learn the tactics, you are quickly going to get into negative numbers. This is the only way to fairly reward knowledge without punishing certain support-type builds. It also rewards knowledge of tactics without forcing people to min-max their builds. Just bring a decent build and know the fight and you'll get credit.
Comments
- If you raise the contribution ceiling, then people who have trouble getting credit now will be even less likely to get credit.
- Higher contribution for more rewards only makes the fat kids fatter. It's a terrible model, one that's mainly used by predatory pay-to-win mmos to encourage heavy spending.
- Enrage is a legit mechanic used in games like wow where all classes are balanced to be roughly the same in terms of dps output, but in co (which is much more open-ended) it seems like a bad idea unless the time limit is very generous. Besides, what's to stop people from circumventing an enrage timer by just resetting a boss?
If you don't want B, C, and D to get any credit for whatever reason, then what you should be pushing for is all future bosses to be lair/raid-based. That way, you can pick and choose your people, kick the non-performers, and know that everyone participated 100% of the time.
With the current stuff, why do people even care what B, C, and D are doing as long as the boss goes down?
2) In what way would this be pay-to-win heavy spending encouraging model? Everything that the "fat kids" have can be acquired ingame and ingame only (Justice gear, DUC), with mods being the only thing that can be acquired from Zen Store Lockbox gamble. Also bear in mind that the model proposed would not necesarilly benefit only the fat kids, but also the people that show up at the beginning and contribute the whole fight, since getting more than 100k in a margin of 10 minutes (or hell, even a bigger Enrage Timer) is something exceedingly easy The fact that Resetting the boss resets the contrib score board. I stated that in the scenario. Basically the Enrage would be there to prevent people from purposedly drawing out the fight for higher scores = higher rewards. I would very much love that, but with every patch it becomes even more clear that it is most definitely not what the current devs intend. So I'm trying to make Lemonade with Rocks and some paper towel.
Player B,C and D have a negative impact in that they are occupying a slot in zone that could be better occupied by someone actively trying to contribute. In the case of player D, he is also adding up to the Boss's scaling (Dino Shield, Tombs/Enervating Crystal HP, overall Damage Resistance of Cosmics) while not contributing anything.
But most than anything, it's a huge middle finger to people that keep on keeping for more than 50 minutes, only for player B,C and D to get a shiny RNG reward for contributing absolutely nothing and being leeches.
If this is the kind of community you are comfortable with, then by all means, disregard this topic.
This is without mentioning that these fights rarely last 4 minutes In what way would this fall under the category of "pay-to-win heavy spending encouraging" model? Everything that the "fat kids" have that makes them "fat" can be achived ingame and ingame only (Justice Gear, OV secondaries, DUC) with only mods being also achived through Zen Store Lockbox gamble.
Also, you are apparently under the belief that gear is the do all end all in this game, when in fact gear is only the min/maxing part of a build to add an extra 800-1k DPS. With the right choices in Stats, Specs, Passive and Form (none of this affect Themes since this is the most frequent counterargument people bring up, all this factors are invisible) you can easily make a 2k DPS build in Heirloom Gear.
Finally, getting more than 100k is not something that is exclusive to the fat kids. As previously stated, in a fight of 4 minutes, 400DPS would already net you over 100k, which is a very low threshold in DPS. Most people who put effort into participating in Cosmics and are not there just to leech can get more than 100k easy, meaning that they would also get benefit from such a change. Which is why my suggestion includes the VERY important line that Reset = Contrib reset.
Wholeheartedly agree. I've pressed this opinion in the past, but after succesive patches it has become clear this is not in the intentions of the current dev teams, so I am trying to make Lemonade with rocks and a paple towel. Mostly because:
A) Player B,C and D are occupying a slot in zone that could be better occupied by people willing to contribute
B )Player D in particular is also adding to checks and scaling
C) Is very disrespectful for player A who has kept on keeping throughout the whole fight. Note that in my OP I said 5m score which is not equal to DPS. In a long drawn fight, someone with a DPS of 1k is not a "fat kid" but can be most definitely be carrying his own weight, which then becomes completely unfair when player B or C show up (who may very well be "fat kids" in order to get that amount of contrib in such little time) get contrib score and then RNG favors them with a Shiny drop whereas Player A gets squat for being a helpful and dedicated player. The current system heavily encourages leeching, if this is the kind of community you want to see, then by all means skip this topic.
In general, the key personnel get screwed on their credit (except healers).
Now, this is not going to fix any of the problems that Lez discussed, but until we deal with the fact that the contribution matrix is so incredibly out of whack that it's basically meaningless, we cannot really fix any of the other problems. Not only that, but it will encourage a wider variety of builds, and result in better beatings of the cosmics. Imagine of 5 AoEDs showed up, for example...
SIGNATURE:
Used to be coach on the forums. Still @coach in game.
Courage is doing what is right even when it isn't popular or safe. Honor is retaining the dignity and virtue in one's self, so it can light the way for others in the darkest of times. Compassion is showing patience and mercy towards others, even when it isn't returned or deserved. A hero is defined by these 3 words, they set him apart from others as a beacon of hope and excellence.
See you around AFKing in zone.
I suppose that was a bit confusing. I didn't mean it would be a pay-to-win tactic in this game. What I meant is that it's largely unnecessary because it rewards the people at the top in a lopsided way. Does that person and their max-rank mods, full gcr gear, and nonsense-themed minmax build really need a bigger slice of the pie than the people in merc gear? In seedy pay-to-win games, this model of bigger rewards for bigger contributors encourages more spending because those players (whales) are able to glean more resources as rewards to push even further ahead of everyone else. CO doesn't use that model, so having rewards work like that doesn't really make any sense.
Besides, isn't it supposed to be team-based content? If the biggest payouts go to the guys who can pull the biggest numbers, who's going to bother with the vital, yet currently underpaid roles?
I never said that. Gear in this game is mostly a QoL thing due to this game's crappy design with energy management. The bonuses to knock resistance are sure welcome, too.
The counterargument though is that, in doing so, the content becomes too exclusive unless it features multiple difficulties. Why would Hardcore Hank invite Casual Bob when instead, he can just turn to his guild and personal friends. Given the size of this game's population, you'd probably see a few groups eventually put the content on farm while everyone else tries (and fails) in various pugs.
I'd say the devs had quite a dilemma, but did the devs choose correctly by focusing on open-world bosses instead of closed raid bosses? I'm not sure, actually. Either way, somebody's going to lose out.
Don't misunderstand, I actually do get the whole argument against it. The thing is, world bosses are like that in general. I've got wow open as I type this and actually need to run a few before the tuesday reset, and there's almost always somebody who just throws a fireball to get the tag, then goes afk. The thing is, everyone else contributes, the boss dies, and everyone gets loot. Mr Leech standing on the hill may not have contributed much, but the bosses are designed in such a way that Mr Leech's lack of contribution really doesn't have much of an effect on the general outcome.
Therein lies the biggest problem with open-world bosses--balancing the challenge to match the number of players. Wow aims pretty high by basing them around a group of about 40 people (the max size for a raid in that game) This way, Mr Leech's lack of contribution isn't even noticeable. Secondly, they're generally easier than CO world bosses. You avoid some stuff on the ground and pay attention to other basic mechanics, hit the boss, heal allies, get a reward at the end.
In CO, the world bosses are harder and the participation limits are hard capped via zone limits while in wow, a second group can (and sometimes does) show up for an absolute steamroll.
Ultimately, world bosses aren't really the best place to be focusing your most challenging content due to how difficult they are to balance vs player participation while taking leeches into account. Unfortunately, that's what we have, and the flaws really aren't easily fixable.
World bosses pretty much call for a choice: Challenging but with all of the problems we face now, or fairer to everyone due to being much easier so that Mr Leech's lack of participation becomes irrelevant.
Courage is doing what is right even when it isn't popular or safe. Honor is retaining the dignity and virtue in one's self, so it can light the way for others in the darkest of times. Compassion is showing patience and mercy towards others, even when it isn't returned or deserved. A hero is defined by these 3 words, they set him apart from others as a beacon of hope and excellence.
Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained
1. Resetting scores after a wipe would solve some of these issues, and would not be painful to implement.
2. Short runs can make it such that some important folks don't get credit, such as baby tank/healer, side tanks.
3. Short runs can be problematic, since there is a limited amount of "DPS points" available. The total points on a 4 minute run are a zero sum game--if a few folks score incredibly high, folks that are contributing can get bumped off the scoreboard if they die once.
Cosmics need another pass, maybe for difficulty or new mechanics. Still, they were not designed to be a contest among players for rewards.
Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
I would, however, support the addition of enrage timers (preferably clearly visible as a buff on the boss that's counting down how long you have), and clearing contribution credit when there's a wipe. These things wouldn't make the fights notably more difficult, but would add a useful "please stop pounding your face into a wall" effect.
...That said, the above would -have- to come with better contribution rewards for tanks*. Perhaps something like: Split-damage attacks put a short-duration buff on the target, tripling contribution point gains for the next six seconds. This would give tanks a significant boost, while offering no benefit to DPS who accidentally got themselves caught and one-shot by things they should have been avoiding.
Might still not be enough for a really good baby tank, so I'd add one extra: if the baby's breath hits exactly one person, they get bonus contribution points.
* Footnote: I'm assuming that credit for CCers is acceptable now that it's been added to Kigatilik and Qwjibo. If that's not true, then that would also need to be fixed.
100k is an unrealistically low ceiling. In a full zone of 50 people where everyone dealt, healed and took the same amount of damage and the Cosmic didn't heal at all, they would still get 250k as a minimum.
100k contribution only means that:
a) you arrived too late
b)you afked
c)you didn't contribute at all to the fight, and depending how long the fight lasted for you to get this score, you could also count as a hindrance
It's endgame content. While this doesn't necessarily mean it's not meant for everyone, it surely doesn't mean "Yeah, just pop in, you will get awesome rewards just for attending".
A's only going to work with a big score overall, plenty of people doing their jobs legitimately and getting close to 100k on 40man speed runs [See you already disagree here]. And until recently, I've been having fairly good speedy runs on average (things seemed to have taken a downard turn after desert OM)
B's contribution level rewards: Still needs a score overall. Plus, competition and co-operation mix badly often .. so again no tanks cause no max rewards, more healer bots builds rather than buffs cause rewards. In a game with less variety than CO (and gear detection) 2 tiered tearing would work, don't see that working here.
If we had (good) gear detection along with scoring I could get behind multi-tiered scoring, more SCR rewards as a 'hun, perhaps you need some gear', more mods for the mod-less (I see you have gear, would you like some mods/mod fuel?). But the games too varied, scoring too poor, too many variables and false readings. I took this more of an overall cheapening of rewards (plus comics being on farm-mode). Stores have become a bit of a joke with R6, R5, R4 boxes gone, SCR travel powers gone, gear cost hike. Smells more like the 'work harder' / 'buy more' theme
more than reward devaluation. Be glad you got the free-ride to the top of the pile, I would not want to be a new player.
Also to do? Find old link where this was advertised as level 35 content, (with possible rewards for even lower players) . Audience is wider than you think or want. Probably right there, by your comments in game you've got all the toys all the practice and are just bored and think everyone else sucks. It's not the level 40 role centric end game you want and are trying to shoot for. Same with snake gulch. Also again, comment regarding content for broader audience than you are thinking.
- Overall-
Think the only thing I'll agree on here is the scoreboard problems causing Problems. Currently it's not the worst-off-good build (the one you're making for 2k dps), its the worst-off-badly-scored roles shoe-horning your plans (Plus 'player standards' disagreements). Not sure what the worst thing I can dream up is ... a level 35 master AT in leveling gear who didn't get dodge drops and is trying to fill a tank role (and the heals are light)? A hybrid AT whose roll would be damage (Void, Impluse w PFF?) A new low dps tank when all tank slots are filled (fails on old and fixed scoring)?
[blockquote]It's endgame content. While this doesn't necessarily mean it's not meant for everyone, it surely doesn't mean "Yeah, just pop in, you will get awesome rewards just for attending". [/blockquote]
Or possibly 2 things to agree on, with nearly no mid-game it's straight from grabs in starter gear set to dino. Part of me thinks I'm exaggerating and they'd get destroyed, part of me knows there's people doing it cause i've tried to push the gear limit for fun. Even I don't want to overpay for Heroics when I need that SCR for GCR too, don't see other players doing so either.
This will favor only Defiance & LR tanks. Here is why:
If you take 10k (unmitigated) damage from a single attack with the average values for each.
Defiance tank with 300% resistance takes 2500 damage and mitigates 7500, resulting in +5000 score
LR tank with 90% avoidance takes 1000 damage and mitigates 9000, resulting in +8000 score
Invuln tank with 150% resistance and -250 reduction takes 3750 damage and mitigates 6250, resulting in + 2500 score
Regen tank with 100% resistance takes 5000 and mitigates 5000, resulting in +0 score
PFF tank with 90% resistance takes ~5250 and mitigates ~4750, resulting in -500 score
It's a system that is purely in favor of massive amounts of resistance. Sure it may encourage blocking more, but that also means that tanks are focusing more on mitigating damage than holding aggro. HOWEVER, I do agree with your initial statement, of making contribution based on mitigation, however, all forms of mitigation must be factored. Regen tanks must get credit for damage healed, PFF tanks must get credit for damage absorbed by shield, etc... Regen tanks however will still end up with the sort end of the stick, since healers will reduce their credit for mitigation by healing them.
It's a pretty bit prediciment... how do you give each tank type equal capacity for contribution without encouraging bad play? Credit from damage taken encourages bad play, while damage from mitigation favors certain passives...
d) you tanked baby on a fast dino run
Not that I would try to do anything that complicated. I'm not sure what the exact limits on the open mission system are, but I'd probably just assign a flat score to tanking that is not directly linked to damage.
Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained
What's preventing others from:
a) Getting all the toys. As previously stated, everything can be grinded ingame. This is not a swipe to win game
b) Getting all the practice. In fact a very renowned member of this community dedicated an entire week to taking people into OM practice runs. He even handed out gear and mods to people that showed up for the practice runs. He stopped. Why? Because people kept demanding more of him without offering anything in return. They demanded for winning runs without taking the time to learn the fights. People would much rather AFK in general Cosmics areas or tag certain players to get a piggyback ride instead of trying to organize runs themselves.
The bored part is true though. Currently this game has 2 types of events going on:
1) Events that are hard or average challenge that require a group of "fat kids" to pull through (e.g Cosmics, OMs) with the casual population ending up being a hindrance, or
2) Events that are so easy that they do not appeal to the "fat kids"...and yet the community fails to complete them when the "fat kids" are not around (e.g Bloodmoon, High Noon).
Despite having my contrasting view on some points, I admit that the current Dev Team is very dedicated in keeping content and fixes flowing. However despite all their efforts they end up sitting on a patch in PTS for 2 months at times trying to balance it's difficulty to what low ceiling the community currently has, and they still end up failing (e.g High Noon). The playerbase comes rushing to the forums to demand for Bound to Account Emotes and "Bring Back Old Drops", but that same playerbase is not even willing to put the least effort into saying "Yo, look at this. We are capable of handling a simple event of pressing F next to a tower at regular intervals. We are ready to take on more challenging content, so consider adding appropiate rewards to said content".
The community is spoiled and demanding. They demand awesome-o rewards and more content for doing absolutely nothing instead of, maybe, trying to improve their average quality so that patches don't have to be revised over and over for 2 months and end up setting the bar so low that the rewards in turn are low. This bores me, yeah. It bores me to see CO getting more dev activity than it has ever had in all it's history and it going to waste due to the egotistical, conformist and mediocre mindset of the community.
Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained
Maybe at the same time don't sign off some posts with "/the CO community". You can't say you despise the community and then pretend to be the voice of the community.
You're not "investing time and resources" btw, you're choosing to play a game and choosing to pay to play. It's not your job, vocation or project, it's a game.
Click here to check out my costumes/milleniumguardian (MG) in-game/We need more tights, stances and moods
Also I did not sign any of my posts in this thread as /the community. I know my views on this subject are unpopular with the community.
I'll be honest, I don't mind leechers so much, if they come in, pop their 100K, and then back out of contribution range to AFK, that's not such a big deal. It slows things down a bit, but not a lot. As long as they are far away enough so that they do not have a negative impact on the difficulty of the fight, it's not that big an issue.
The ones that bother the heck out of me, are the ones who do not bother to learn the fights, show up, and continue to bork everything, ruining the fights for everyone. If you want to see an example of this, go to Dino and watch how many people get knocked back from the KB booms. It is not just one or two who accidentally miss a block, it is often a dozen or more, over and over again. (They also miss other blocks and DPS checks, but the KB boom is the easiest one to see.)
As I've said many times, I'm no elitist, I do not think these people are stupid. I do not think the mechanics are too hard for them. I think they are plenty smart to learn how to be a Cosmic expert. They are just lazy. They don't bother to read the great guides that other players have worked so hard to put together. They don't bother to look at Smackwell's awesome infographics. They don't listen to Kanger screaming the instructions in Zone over and over and over... and... over........ and........ over........ again. They just show up, push 2 until enough knowledgeable people show up to carry them along. THOSE are the ones that I don't like.
And that is just how too many of the fights go these days. Cosmic is called, people show up, fail 3 times, ask for more help, a few vets show up with the right builds, finally Cosmic completes quickly. Nobody bothers to thank vets. Sometimes there are enough vets at the start to carry it through. But, there is rarely a case where the Cosmic succeeds without at least a few vets to help carry the lazy people. I've seen this happen over and over.
As was stated earlier, this is why OM runs are held in secret. It's nearly impossible to complete them when an open call is given. But just 7-8 vets can clear them in one quick run.
See, there is very little reason for the lazy folks to get any better, since the nice vets will always show up to save the day. The way to fix this is not any of the things that Lez suggested. The way to fix this is to incentivize them to actually learn the fights. That means, every mistake subtracts points. Got knocked by a Dino boom because you didn't block? -1000 Shot a slept heart at Qwij? -1000 Shot a slept dog at Kiga? -1000. (Those numbers are just made up.) Also, the death penalty needs to be greatly increased, up to something like -25,000, at least.
That way, if you are a knowledgeable player and you make a couple mistakes, you can still easily get the 100,000 credit. But if you are a slaggard who never bothered to learn the tactics, you are quickly going to get into negative numbers. This is the only way to fairly reward knowledge without punishing certain support-type builds. It also rewards knowledge of tactics without forcing people to min-max their builds. Just bring a decent build and know the fight and you'll get credit.
SIGNATURE:
Used to be coach on the forums. Still @coach in game.
It seems from what you have posted in this thread that it's the community that is unpopular with you. You made that very clear.
Click here to check out my costumes/milleniumguardian (MG) in-game/We need more tights, stances and moods
in this thread
Additionally, if you have a personal bone to pick with me, please do so through PMs/pidgin/steam. Personally I don't mind replying to them here, but since they add nothing at all to the topic at hand due to their low content nature, they will end up being deleted.
Also, isn't it a little hypocritical to tell me to work on my attitude, but I can't tell people to work on their builds :^)
I don't have a personal bone to pick with you. I just wish you would stop insulting the community that I'm a part of. You keep the insults towards the community out of your public posts and we're golden. Maybe you should post them privately through PMs/pidgin/steam
I never claimed you couldn't. Tell people to work on their builds without insulting the community.
Click here to check out my costumes/milleniumguardian (MG) in-game/We need more tights, stances and moods
Additionally I have yet to insult the community in this thread (not gonna deny I have done so ingame). Being spoiled/mediocre/conformist/egotistical are all descriptive adjectives, not insults, on my views about the mentality of some people.
If anything, you can accuse me of over generalization when using the word "community". If it appeases you, I will start saying Cosmic HQ instead.
Finally, the way I perceive Cosmic HQ members (or the way anyone else who comments on this thread perceives them for that matter) is not something that should be taken to PMs/pidgin/steam because the philosophy of Cosmic HQ members (@coach explained this way better than I did) is at the core of the suggested changes; whereas direct assaults against any one member falls under the category of things that should be taken to PMs/pidgin/Steam.
Click here to check out my costumes/milleniumguardian (MG) in-game/We need more tights, stances and moods
Courage is doing what is right even when it isn't popular or safe. Honor is retaining the dignity and virtue in one's self, so it can light the way for others in the darkest of times. Compassion is showing patience and mercy towards others, even when it isn't returned or deserved. A hero is defined by these 3 words, they set him apart from others as a beacon of hope and excellence.
Ah, well.
Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
Ive learned a lot from this thread, i decided not to persue doing the cosmics. Not only are they hard to find teams for, I probably dont meet the standards of some using the merc gear thats why im not invited to the elite's hunting club, but I know when to block and when to heal/shield others from experience doing them so the none vets are happy....unless they forget to block, then they often die, I also learned not to chase after dead players, they disappear half way through the rez "you couldnt wait the whole 3 sec casting time?? Really??!"
Angrey dead player: "rez! REZ!!"
Me: "you better stay there for it this time!!"
I havent read the endless postings for guides, which disqualifys me from the elites approval, but i rarely die unless theres a wipe, and as long as you stick near me during event or boss fights, ill keep you alive (blocking in is your responsibility!) a rez will come if you shout out (those not on my team) because I can see team status already.
..i mean because if you run to someone, and start to cast, half the time it stops after the first wave of the hands (bug) and you have to start again, I didnt change my mind about the rez, its just an annoying bug in the game that plagues healers trying to hurry for impatient players....while watching for the lines on the ground to appear "whew"
^hug your healers, they work hard to keep you alive!!
Courage is doing what is right even when it isn't popular or safe. Honor is retaining the dignity and virtue in one's self, so it can light the way for others in the darkest of times. Compassion is showing patience and mercy towards others, even when it isn't returned or deserved. A hero is defined by these 3 words, they set him apart from others as a beacon of hope and excellence.
a) add to checks they cannot DPS down
b) hit hearts/dogs
c) die due to not blocking
Additionally DPS is the go to role for the majority of the Cosmic HQ population since it's "harder" to notice if you are screwing up than if you play a tank/healer/CC.
Tanks/Healers/CC are generally considered to be contributing, with certain exceptions like Tank Role DPS or AFK Aura Healer.
If you are a healer that knows how to block you will be a useful asset to Cosmics no matter your gear (Healers are the class with less gear dependancy to be useful). This is correct, yet both are not mutually exclusive concepts. Cosmics have been going down fast when the ratio of contribute to non contribute player is equal to or less than 1=2 (bar some exceptions of high DPS players). This happens mostly at night time. What these fast runs have caused is for people to believe that they are actually contributing when in fact they aren't.
The problem this thread is directed to is for situations where the ratio is greater than 1=3, that is, you have a team of 6-10 players that could take down the Cosmic in a reasonable amount of time, but 20 more people show up and start screwing over and over leading to the 40 minutes runs we have been having the past 2 weeks.
Thus my suggestion that the contribution scoreboard system should be updated to better reflect who is really contributing and who isn't, and offer incentives to encourage people to contribute instead of piggy riding. (though @coach 's suggestion would better reflect who is actively being harmful to the raid)
I actually find the groups you listed kind of interesting. Out of B, C, and D I only really consider B an issue - and even then so long as they stay out of range of the fight while they afk it's not a big deal. D is technically still contributing ( all that passive healing can keep people up ), and C might have just logged on after getting off work just in time for the last little bit of a Cosmic; just as likely as being the type who watches Cosmic HQ for those super common "the boss is almost dead" announcements o3o
The real problem group is E - player who just doesn't care to get better, and drags everyone else down as a result. My solution for that group is to just make the fights more lethal, so that group E gets slaughtered repeatedly and the penalties for dying crush their score down to 0 - then add DPS checks to each fight so everyone can't just switch over to playing a tank
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
Honestly, at this point, my belief is that the devs are actually trolling the players. I think they get a kick out of seeing us fight amongst themselves. There is no other explanation for how poorly set up these cosmic fights are. Again, I will not be so insulting as to say that they are stupid in their content design. I just think they are smarter than that, and griefing us on purpose for whatever reason.
SIGNATURE:
Used to be coach on the forums. Still @coach in game.
SIGNATURE:
Used to be coach on the forums. Still @coach in game.