FC.31.20130110.15 PTS Update

lordgar · February 2013

This build is scheduled to hit PTS by 5:00pm Pacific on 2/26/13

Greetings!

We're updating PTS with the upcoming update build to test stability, as well as the items detailed below.

Please format any bugs you find in the following format:
Bug
Where it happens
What happens

Release Notes:

Vehicles:

Adjusted the effectiveness of vehicle stats.
- Hawkwing: slight increase to damage output and damage resistance
- Hover Tanks: slight increase to damage output
- Grav Bikes: increase to damage output, slight reduction to damage resistance and hit points. slight increase to flight speed.

The Lemurian Invasion Event:

- Players are now teleported to near the loot at the end of the Bleak Harbinger fight
- Added an image to the mission journal for the event
- Improved the finale cutscene

Misc:

- The Drifter's Energy Surge and Team Energy Surge items now have a cooldown and are single-use.

thebuckeye · February 2013

Trail Turtle wrote:

We heard the player response on Friday, and we looked into the auto-leveling to 30 over the weekend -- and yes, the devs did work on Saturday. Unfortunately, it was not a simple fix to just change the number. Changing to auto-leveling to 40 would have required a major overhaul of the mission.

We have heard player opinion and recognize it, but changing the level of the Lemurian Invasion mission isn't in the cards, unfortunately. Whatever decisions are ultimately made with autoleveling for future content will be fully cognizant of this feedback.

Feel free to quote me.

It sucks that the issue couldn't be fixed in time for this event, but c'est la vie. Thanks for the info TT.

By the way, as a consolation prize, is there any way we could get the new Telepathy powers brought back and finished up? IMHO it would go a long way towards getting some of the players to feeling better. No, it wouldn't help all of them, but probably enough to where they could move past some of their irritation. Again just my opinion.

bwdares · February 2013

Not gonna bother anymore. This is nothing but crap. You could be 40 before and not now...so the Tech was there. they ruined for everyone by setting the auto-level, so I am not going to bother with this mission.

crypticbuxom · February 2013

Anyone up for getting on PTS anyways just to see?

flyingfinn · February 2013

Thanks Cryptic, for improving the Vehicles.
Now we can truly unleash the Power of Vehicles.
To boldly go where no one has gone before. Except in any missions that is. But atleast we can do the remaining of the stuff with style.

falchoin · February 2013

Given what Trail Turtle posted it sounds to me like the scary monster tech only works when players are level 30. Otherwise it would be a relatively easy change, no?

somebob · February 2013

Did you seriously move all the responses we had into another thread? What is wrong with you people...er person?

oyo32 · February 2013

somebob wrote: »

Did you seriously move all the responses we had into another thread? What is wrong with you people...er person?

Which brings up the question; why even give feedback if they are just going to discard it like that?

I mean, they already do that, but they never went as far as to actually try to purge a thread of it. Maybe it's a hint to stop trying.

crypticbuxom · February 2013

falchoin wrote: »

Given what Trail Turtle posted it sounds to me like the scary monster tech only works when players are level 30. Otherwise it would be a relatively easy change, no?

Tested it and things went down faster. I remember 40s dying during initial testing. Gonna try a Disciple AT at 30 with regular greens now and see how that goes.

thelastsonofzod · February 2013

Tanks should be a lot more durable. If you're looking at buffing vehicles to be useful, then it should go something like this:

Tanks: Slower, Much more durable

Jets: Faster, more firepower

Bike: Medium speed, firepower, less durable.

Tanks really need some sort of a buff. They're pretty wussy at current, even properly geared.

honestresearcher · February 2013

Ignorance and laziness, two words which sum this whole mission up.

Why should i inform you of anything if you refuse to listen to anyone. Im done with this, absolutely over it.

theravenforce · February 2013

thebuckeye wrote: »

By the way, as a consolation prize, is there any way we could get the new Telepathy powers brought back and finished up? IMHO it would go a long way towards getting some of the players to feeling better. No, it wouldn't help all of them, but probably enough to where they could move past some of their irritation. Again just my opinion.

A consolation prize? Well call it what you will but it was unfinished business which was unfairly ripped from PTS without any reason. They can't claim "event testing" as Takoface and Friends stayed up throughout on the PTS since Halloween..

But I officially love you for bringing this back into the forefront. I would be extremely happy to get these telepathy powers onto LIVE asap. Been waiting 5 months (9 days or so till half a year's wait!!!

) to play my main character..after I signed up for LTS on the premise that those powers would be ready by now.

meedacthunist · February 2013

thelastsonofzod wrote: »

Tanks should be a lot more durable. If you're looking at buffing vehicles to be useful, then it should go something like this:

Tanks: Slower, Much more durable

Jets: Faster, more firepower

Bike: Medium speed, firepower, less durable.

Tanks really need some sort of a buff. They're pretty wussy at current, even properly geared.

This.^
Tanks should be more like vehicular equivalent of protector role. More durable, more threat generation. Not necessarily hitting harder.

No point in having a tank when it's nearly as vulnerable as jet.

sigmaseven0 · February 2013

theravenforce wrote: »

A consolation prize? Well call it what you will but it was unfinished business which was unfairly ripped from PTS without any reason. They can't claim "event testing" as Takoface and Friends stayed up throughout on the PTS since Halloween..

Who would do it? GC is gone, no one is working on powers now. They only have just enough of a skeleton crew to do these events every so often.

vazkro · February 2013

Come on devs! Can you atleast answer us about telepathy powers.
It seems to be ignored on purpose by now looking at the fact that you are replying on other questions asked. I love you for answering other questions don't get me wrong, but a lot of us have been waiting on the telepathy to show up back in the pts or even better on live for a very long time now.

gamehobo · February 2013

vazkro wrote: »

a lot of us have been waiting on the telepathy to show up back in the pts or even better on live for a very long time now.

6 Months to be exact

serendipitynow · February 2013

6 months, try waiting 15 months for new permenent story content, thats an eternity for an mmo!

xcaligax · February 2013

Just be upfront with us and tell us there is only 2 developers working on the game right now, if that. We can take it.

tacofoodsolol · February 2013

lordgar wrote: »

Misc:

- The Drifter's Energy Surge and Team Energy Surge items now have a cooldown and are single-use.

May I ask the reason behind this awful nerf?
Don't say "balance" cos there is none in this game. All the energy surge does is increase the numbers of viable superstats and power choices.

bioshrike · February 2013

tacofoodsolol wrote: »

May I ask the reason behind this awful nerf?
Don't say "balance" cos there is none in this game. All the energy surge does is increase the numbers of viable superstats and power choices.

That costs, what, 1 drifter salvage? It never occurred to you that a device w/ unlimited charges and no cooldown seemed a little too powerful for such a low cost?

And as for "viable superstats" - they all are viable. You can use gear that decreases power costs to alleviate any energy woes you may have. That, or you can use your EB more...

terrenceknight · February 2013

With the change to 35-40 I hope using vehicles will be viable and this won't be balanced around Freeform's potential durability and damage output.

theravenforce · February 2013

Gotta say thumbs up to Cryptic for that post on the SNN.

Faith has been restored, as a result I am buying a large sum of Z for CO

tacofoodsolol · February 2013

bioshrike wrote: »

That costs, what, 1 drifter salvage? It never occurred to you that a device w/ unlimited charges and no cooldown seemed a little too powerful for such a low cost?

And as for "viable superstats" - they all are viable. You can use gear that decreases power costs to alleviate any energy woes you may have. That, or you can use your EB more...

Too powerful for what?
Unless you're one of these ATs or failed freeform who leech in Alerts, you should know the whole game consists in steamrolling npcs with awful AI.

It never occurred to you that that some superstats are way superior to others? Have fun spamming your energy builder with your SuperRecovery character...

wesleytansg · February 2013

tacofoodsolol wrote: »

Too powerful for what?
Unless you're one of these ATs or failed freeform who leech in Alerts, you should know the whole game consists in steamrolling npcs with awful AI.

It never occurred to you that that some superstats are way superior to others? Have fun spamming your energy builder with your SuperRecovery character...

I know there will be unhappiness for players who have build their toons around the broken energy surge. It means likely having to rethink, rebuild and refarm the whole toon. However, it was clear that the energy surge and team energy surge was broken.

A properly built toon with proper energy managment using the correct energy unlocks, forms, gears and statting will not have to depend on Energy Builder.

There are indeed some superstat which are superior to others. Endurance comes to mind as being one of the weaker ones unless you need a huge energy pool to pull off a force cascade. Precisely because the energy related superstats are weaker in general that is precisely why an infinite energy refill spam will totally negate the need for endurance or recovery.

I bought a couple of team energy surges too since they were so cheap. However, I definitely did not bother to build any toons around it. In fact I just left them in the bank because I fully expect them to be fixed since they were quite obviously not performing as they should.

bioshrike · February 2013

tacofoodsolol wrote: »

Too powerful for what?
Unless you're one of these ATs or failed freeform who leech in Alerts, you should know the whole game consists in steamrolling npcs with awful AI.

It never occurred to you that that some superstats are way superior to others? Have fun spamming your energy builder with your SuperRecovery character...

Funny... my primary SS Recovery characters never have energy problems. Wanna post your builds so we can critique them?

kenpojujitsu3 · February 2013

bioshrike wrote: »

Funny... my primary SS Recovery characters never have energy problems. Wanna post your builds so we can critique them?

That would be interesting. I can't imagine anyone building specifically around needing something clearly out of whack like an unlimited use, unlimited energy device for the cost of...two salvage considering how astoundingly simple energy management already is.

itsbrou · February 2013

There are many strategies for energy management:

Energy builder ranking and END/ REC and END together.

Accelerated metabolism.

Specific toggles, passives, and energy unlocks.

Being in support role.

Certain pets.

Powers that grant energy in their description.

Blocking with EGO(correct me if this has been repealed in a patch)

Nowhere has Cryptic ever endorsed the spamming of a consumable that has glitched to no longer consume itself or have a cooldown.

bioshrike · February 2013

kenpojujitsu3 wrote: »

That would be interesting. I can't imagine anyone building specifically around needing something clearly out of whack like an unlimited use, unlimited energy device for the cost of...two salvage considering how astoundingly simple energy management already is.

BTW, I love END as a primary SS - kick back (or w/e it's called that returns energy after using your EB even just once) is awesome! Plus END's spec tree can boost my equilibrium and HP... :biggrin:

But yeah... as Brou said, building around a "consummable that doesn't get consumed" just seems off to me as well.

sphier · February 2013

In my opinion using Energy Surge that was only one thing: An Exploit. It was clearly not meant to function that way from the beginning. Ontop there surfaced another bug/exploit regarding those items, that allowed overeager trolls to kill bystanders with AoE's when dueling someone.

Overall I think the change was long coming, and is reasonable.

If you built your character solely around a broken item and exploit, woe to you. Blame yourself. Not the devs who finally fix a long-standing bug.

Energy problems? Hell. I am running chars with STR/DEX/CON and I never run out of energy. There are enough ways to easily manage energy in this game.

You are tank? Take Force Shield with the 1 point advantage. Unlimited energy.

You have INT as SS? Get Molecular Reassembly and a power with low CD, like Conviction. It's a self-heal too!

DEX? Get some MA form and use one of those many attacks that grant Rush.

Basically every sort of Energy Unlock is golden. Every role got some form toggle too now that gives energy when proccing.

My god. I really see no reason why people would use Energy Surge in the first place.

Dumb people are dumb.

thebuckeye · February 2013

Bug - Failed to Connect to Account Server if I can't log in to my toons on the PTS I can't help you test

just thought you should know

chalupaoffury · February 2013

Well, to be fair "taken into consideration" doesn't mean anyone's gonna listen. But the response is appreciated, TT. Good to see you're at least trying to get us what we deserve, it's nice to have a CM that actually manages the community and listens to us.

selphea · February 2013

Ouch @ bike HP. Wouldn't that make them even squishier than a character with 10 Con?

theravenforce · March 2013

thebuckeye wrote: »

Bug - Failed to Connect to Account Server if I can't log in to my toons on the PTS I can't help you test just thought you should know

Same Here.

Is the PTS being closed for the update or something?

caosdash · March 2013

Fix the PTS
Fix the PTS
Fixt the PTS..... You know, please and stuff.

crypticbuxom · March 2013

There's nothing needed to test on PTS right now so no need to have it up during the weekend.

caosdash · March 2013

I was working on something- mostly builds- that way I wont have to waste my rectons in the live server.... I want to get it right.

I don't care about the lemuria event and stuff (Sure, it might be cool to test but I don't want to)

crypticbuxom · March 2013

PTS is there to test new stuff be it powers, content or new mechanics. It being closed down is the price of being dependent on it to make builds. Its not always there to use.

It will at least be there on Monday. Perhaps earlier then the scheduled PTS get together. I'd like to test it without having to wait for the devs to log on.

FC.31.20130110.15 PTS Update

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