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Champions Online Is a Waiting Game

Hi There!

I've been playing the game off and on since initial release, I am a LTS, and have been back for about about two months (?) after about three years away.

It's still a fun game to play but with the low population it has turned into a game of standing around waiting for alerts to pop (if they aren't bugged), organizing private queues for rampages, waiting for tanks or crowd control to show up at Cosmics, or enough people to show up for Eidolon.

Do the few developers who work on this game think that's fun? Because it's not.

Most of the endgame stuff is a grind to get the best gear and then try out different builds but this process has become much more time consuming because of all the waiting. I don't mind a grind so long as I can progress when I want to progress. That's hard to do when you have to wait for other people to get online or for others who want to do the same content.

Admittedly, getting Distinguished gear isn't too bad because you progress toward that goal without any RNG interference with every successful Cosmic fight. The same cannot be said for Justice gear. Yikes! Getting drops in rampages would probably be fine if you could get enough people to play them regularly, but again the standing around amplifies the time investment in chasing after Justice.

Eidolon secondaries? More RNG which would probably be balanced if you could get enough people in there to consistently succeed. You can't even buy this stuff from other players because of the RNG and scattered successes. This also means there are players out there who won't be buying Zen to make those purchases (this right here should be incentive enough for the Devs to make a change because I'm sure I am not alone in this sentiment.)

I suspect Qliphothic Essences were going to be used at some sort of store where the secondaries could be purchased. If that's the case then now is the time to put that store in place. That would give hope to those who are forced pray to the RNG Gods every time Eidolon is defeated.

I like this game. Trying new builds and then testing them out at endgame content is what I like doing. I've grinded Justice gear for 8 of my 10 main characters, while the other two have Distinguished. I have zero desire to begin that process again but I would like to experiment with builds using the Eidolon secondaries. Unfortunately the way things are now, that's a HUGE time investment. It would be nice to see a light at the end of the tunnel similar to Distinguished gear instead of having to pray to the RNG Gods.

Cheers!

Comments

  • dialamxdialamx Posts: 931 Arc User
    But aren't most of the mmo's out there just like this? Drops are RNG based, and you either put together your own team, or have to queue up and wait for a party with rando's. I recently started playing Final Fantasy XIV, which is WAY more populated than CO. Even with it's massive population, the dungeon and raid queues are quite long, and you can't run them unless there is enough tanks and healers in queue to meet the dungeon/raid's quota. Also any drops you do get from them are RNG based. I've ran some where not a single piece of gear that dropped could be used by my character.

    Honestly, the only mmo I can think of that's not like that is Adventure Quest 3D. But that's because anyone can use any piece of gear, no matter your class. And Dungeons are designed to auto adjust. So you can enter a dungeon solo, and if someone else happens to pop in, it auto adjusts all remaining enemies to account for the new player or players. Which means no queues.
  • jaazaniah1jaazaniah1 Posts: 5,424 Arc User
    edited May 2021
    Well, of course part of the problem is that many people only want to dps. If you show up to cosmics it tends to be the same relatively few people filling the other roles. I can remember lots of times people calling out "LF OT/MT for TA" for an hour since everyone else wanted to dps. The solution for that is for more people to be willing to do something other than dps.

    It can also be tough to find people for any raid like Andrith, NemCon, etc.

    Rampages are at their lowest participation rate that I can remember. Probably the best solution is to just phase out tokens and make Rampages just additional sources of scr/gcr.

    Hard to get anyone for War on Peace. Probably best to rename that one so that the abbreviation isn't a slur against people of Italian descent (Devs really should have seen that one coming; no excuses).
    JwLmWoa.png
    Perseus, Captain Arcane, Tectonic Knight, Pankration, Siberiad, Sekhmet, Black Seraph, Clockwork
    Project Attalus: Saving the world so you don't have to!
  • mcgarnacklemcgarnackle Posts: 31 Arc User
    dialamx wrote: »
    But aren't most of the mmo's out there just like this? Drops are RNG based, and you either put together your own team, or have to queue up and wait for a party with rando's. I recently started playing Final Fantasy XIV, which is WAY more populated than CO. Even with it's massive population, the dungeon and raid queues are quite long, and you can't run them unless there is enough tanks and healers in queue to meet the dungeon/raid's quota. Also any drops you do get from them are RNG based. I've ran some where not a single piece of gear that dropped could be used by my character.

    Honestly, the only mmo I can think of that's not like that is Adventure Quest 3D. But that's because anyone can use any piece of gear, no matter your class. And Dungeons are designed to auto adjust. So you can enter a dungeon solo, and if someone else happens to pop in, it auto adjusts all remaining enemies to account for the new player or players. Which means no queues.

    CO itself has partially addressed the RNG problem with Distinguished/Virtuous gear by allowing the players to gather the resources to purchase the pieces they want. I am sure it's the most common type of endgame equipment compared to Justice. The only real hinderance there is the waiting for groups to complete the tasks necessary to progress.

    It would be great if they would allow us to gather resources to purchase Eidolon secondaries by switching to a similar model as Distinguished/Virtuous equipment. That's something I suspect was in the works with Qliphothic Essence but has yet to be implemented. I am sure that would increase the participation in Eidolon raids significantly.


  • mcgarnacklemcgarnackle Posts: 31 Arc User
    jaazaniah1 wrote: »
    Well, of course part of the problem is that many people only want to dps. If you show up to cosmics it tends to be the same relatively few people filling the other roles. I can remember lots of times people calling out "LF OT/MT for TA" for an hour since everyone else wanted to dps. The solution for that is for more people to be willing to do something other than dps.

    It can also be tough to find people for any raid like Andrith, NemCon, etc.

    Rampages are at their lowest participation rate that I can remember. Probably the best solution is to just phase out tokens and make Rampages just additional sources of scr/gcr.

    Hard to get anyone for War on Peace. Probably best to rename that one so that the abbreviation isn't a slur against people of Italian descent (Devs really should have seen that one coming; no excuses).

    Yeah, I agree it would be great if people had a broader spectrum of characters to fill the needed roles for some of the content. That being said it's not a solution because people prefer playing what they enjoy and are less likely to create and gear out characters they don't like.

    One step the Devs could take would be to eliminate the daily cap. At least in that case a healer/tank/CC could do more than three raids before "working for free" so to speak. The Devs could also allow Players to transfer GCR between their own level 40 characters. People might be more inclined to play different roles if they were simultaneously working on their favourite characters while helping out at Cosmics.

    The game's population isn't what it used to be. It would be great if something could be done to help the Players who remain, or maybe even attract new ones to Millennium City.

  • negusonic#7245 negusonic Posts: 103 Arc User
    Doing only Cosmics or even alerts is a choice.

    There are 5 full zones of storyline and content that players can run (and it's actually fun). If the challenge is what you want turn it up to elite.

    There are plenty of things to do if you want to do them. But if all you want to do is build an action figure and make them a uberstrong DPS char until you've fully modded them and then do it again and again, that CHOICE is there for you too.

    Even if you've already done a piece of content ONCE what's stopping you from doing it this time with a new team or even help a new player learn?

    Also Player vs Player is different every single time.

    Have you tried roleplaying through the content? Using your imagination will always be more engagement.
  • mcgarnacklemcgarnackle Posts: 31 Arc User
    Doing only Cosmics or even alerts is a choice.

    There are 5 full zones of storyline and content that players can run (and it's actually fun). If the challenge is what you want turn it up to elite.

    There are plenty of things to do if you want to do them. But if all you want to do is build an action figure and make them a uberstrong DPS char until you've fully modded them and then do it again and again, that CHOICE is there for you too.

    Even if you've already done a piece of content ONCE what's stopping you from doing it this time with a new team or even help a new player learn?

    Also Player vs Player is different every single time.

    Have you tried roleplaying through the content? Using your imagination will always be more engagement.

    Yes, it's a CHOICE. All of your suggestions (all of which I've done except the RPing - because yawn) can be done SOLO. The Cosmics and Endgame Lairs are team/raid based and require enough people, enough specific roles, and enough cooperation to complete successfully. It's a choice to do all of them but only if OTHERS choose to do them as well.

    As I said above, I enjoy trying different builds to see how they perform but there is an RNG block and population block that prevents me, and others who pursue similar goals, from achieving those goals within a respectable time frame. The same block can not be said to exist for all of your suggestions. There is nothing stopping you from roleplaying, or exploring all the different story lines, or repeating it all over and over again to your hearts content.

    The one thing, and probably easiest thing, the Devs could do to help is to put in a store with all of the Eidolon gear where we could use our already existing Qliphothic Essences to make the desired purchases.


  • ariesmajorariesmajor Posts: 394 Arc User
    Hi There!

    I've been playing the game off and on since initial release, I am a LTS, and have been back for about about two months (?) after about three years away.

    It's still a fun game to play but with the low population it has turned into a game of standing around waiting for alerts to pop (if they aren't bugged), organizing private queues for rampages, waiting for tanks or crowd control to show up at Cosmics, or enough people to show up for Eidolon.

    Do the few developers who work on this game think that's fun? Because it's not.

    Most of the endgame stuff is a grind to get the best gear and then try out different builds but this process has become much more time consuming because of all the waiting. I don't mind a grind so long as I can progress when I want to progress. That's hard to do when you have to wait for other people to get online or for others who want to do the same content.

    Admittedly, getting Distinguished gear isn't too bad because you progress toward that goal without any RNG interference with every successful Cosmic fight. The same cannot be said for Justice gear. Yikes! Getting drops in rampages would probably be fine if you could get enough people to play them regularly, but again the standing around amplifies the time investment in chasing after Justice.

    Eidolon secondaries? More RNG which would probably be balanced if you could get enough people in there to consistently succeed. You can't even buy this stuff from other players because of the RNG and scattered successes. This also means there are players out there who won't be buying Zen to make those purchases (this right here should be incentive enough for the Devs to make a change because I'm sure I am not alone in this sentiment.)

    I suspect Qliphothic Essences were going to be used at some sort of store where the secondaries could be purchased. If that's the case then now is the time to put that store in place. That would give hope to those who are forced pray to the RNG Gods every time Eidolon is defeated.

    I like this game. Trying new builds and then testing them out at endgame content is what I like doing. I've grinded Justice gear for 8 of my 10 main characters, while the other two have Distinguished. I have zero desire to begin that process again but I would like to experiment with builds using the Eidolon secondaries. Unfortunately the way things are now, that's a HUGE time investment. It would be nice to see a light at the end of the tunnel similar to Distinguished gear instead of having to pray to the RNG Gods.

    Cheers!

    I had a good answer to this but somehow the forums ate my post.
  • jaazaniah1jaazaniah1 Posts: 5,424 Arc User
    Yeah, I agree it would be great if people had a broader spectrum of characters to fill the needed roles for some of the content. That being said it's not a solution because people prefer playing what they enjoy and are less likely to create and gear out characters they don't like.

    Sounds like you are almost suggesting that the Devs abandon developing trinity-based content and only create/revamp stuff that is friendly to groups that are all dps, since that is what most players want to play? ;) Sign me up!
    JwLmWoa.png
    Perseus, Captain Arcane, Tectonic Knight, Pankration, Siberiad, Sekhmet, Black Seraph, Clockwork
    Project Attalus: Saving the world so you don't have to!
  • zwipezantherzwipezanther Posts: 109 Arc User
    edited September 2021
    The more you are able to contribute to the bigger picture, the faster the gear will come.

    Even Tanks/Healers/CCers could benefit from versatility, because not every encounter is going to need a CC, extra Tank, or extra Healer.

    With Dino and Eido, for example, an excess of these roles can actually hinder the group.

    I and many others were in the same predicament as you. I was a pure DPS before, but got sick and tired of waiting for necessary roles to get filled. So I dual-role'd all of my endgame toons and learned to MT/BT/Interrupt/CC/Heal. I rarely have to wait around nowadays.

    I suggest getting proficient in at least one of the mentioned support skills. It will give you a lot more control over your time spent gearing up your toons.

    You said you're LTS, right? Put the extra build slots that you paid for to use.

    Edit: 8 of 10 of your characters have justice gear? I'd say RNG has been very generous to you. I barely got one of my toons a full Justice set.


    Post edited by zwipezanther on
  • glortorglortor Posts: 324 Arc User
    Agree.
    Cosmics are the worst offender of this.

    - You can only do 3
    - You can only do them when the game tells you
    - You have to wait for people
    This kind of over-regulation plagues the entire game, it's a very bad development mentality.
  • jaazaniah1jaazaniah1 Posts: 5,424 Arc User
    Heh. If you didn't have limits on the cosmics you will see all the time what happens during cosmics weeks. The relatively few ccers will do their thing, then there won't be any more people to cc since they are capped, and people will end up having to wait around again. Forget the fact that kiga can be done without a cc. But that requires more people to bring tanks and healers, and most people just want to pew-pew-pew.
    JwLmWoa.png
    Perseus, Captain Arcane, Tectonic Knight, Pankration, Siberiad, Sekhmet, Black Seraph, Clockwork
    Project Attalus: Saving the world so you don't have to!
  • omnius#0640 omnius Posts: 204 Arc User
    > @jaazaniah1 said:
    > Heh. If you didn't have limits on the cosmics you will see all the time what happens during cosmics weeks. The relatively few ccers will do their thing, then there won't be any more people to cc since they are capped, and people will end up having to wait around again. Forget the fact that kiga can be done without a cc. But that requires more people to bring tanks and healers, and most people just want to pew-pew-pew.

    I'd enjoy tanking because it's so easy to level to 40 in this game anyway. My only question is can I be a viable MT for everything in blue gear to start? Sorry for the dumb question but it's been so many years I'm basically a noob all over again
    Unholy Consult | Pantheon | Lazarus Frost | Sword Saint | Gammatron | Blackguard | Imperator | Sardaukar | Risen Osiris
  • jaazaniah1jaazaniah1 Posts: 5,424 Arc User
    Depends on your level of experience (i.e your block timing), if you have soak tanks at ape or dino (no soaks at kiga), what kinds of supports are there, and if the high octane DPS have threat wipes. If you know what you are doing, have 2 other tanks and AoRP (and maybe some other supports) you can tank at ape or dino in mercs with R4/5 mods. You may not be able to hold aggro, but you can still be useful soaking or grabing baby. Kiga is possible, if you have good supports and can hold aggro on your own. If not, just stand to the side to on the altar. One miraculous time I solo tanked dino in mercs and R4s, but the heals were super and the dps made sure to TW often.
    > @jaazaniah1 said:
    > Heh. If you didn't have limits on the cosmics you will see all the time what happens during cosmics weeks. The relatively few ccers will do their thing, then there won't be any more people to cc since they are capped, and people will end up having to wait around again. Forget the fact that kiga can be done without a cc. But that requires more people to bring tanks and healers, and most people just want to pew-pew-pew.

    I'd enjoy tanking because it's so easy to level to 40 in this game anyway. My only question is can I be a viable MT for everything in blue gear to start? Sorry for the dumb question but it's been so many years I'm basically a noob all over again

    JwLmWoa.png
    Perseus, Captain Arcane, Tectonic Knight, Pankration, Siberiad, Sekhmet, Black Seraph, Clockwork
    Project Attalus: Saving the world so you don't have to!
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