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CDP Topic: Rewards & Progression

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  • fluffy6977fluffy6977 Member Posts: 291 Arc User
    edited February 2020
    rjc9000 said:




    c) 'Secret campaign' - something like watcher hunt should be.
    - Challenge mini dungeons - solo or group mini dungeons with predefined levels, boons and equipment for adventurers with different ways to enter (for example talk to hidden character on map, open a chest on correct hour to spawn a portal, jump into well/lake, gather the full party near sign) and different difficult (as you play on predefined stats - only by player skill/skill setup).
    - Mini bosses/hunts for public leveling areas and old campaigns or new rewards it they exist (drops only for players with correct level xor correct ilvl).
    - Mini challenges - like sumo game on big tenser disc using sahha ball 'foul skill animation' to throw enemy (player or mob) outside of flying disc, find the Boo.

    Ad.1.c
    Secret campaign - quest line, without its steps written into journal.
    With steps like:
    [example of secret campaign steps]
    I wrote example of secret campaign but post is a wall of text anyway, so i removed it from here.

    While I was never able to keep up with the crazy alternate reality game/easter egg stuff in other games (Ex: CoD HAMSTER Zombies), I think some hidden dungeons or secret bosses would be a cool way to keep dungeons fresh. And it's not like it's a foreign concept: the game has done it in the form of the Mimicking in remade Spellplague Caverns.

    As for placing the secret easter eggs/secret boss in dungeons: I'd suggest making them only unlockable on hard mode (or whatever difficulty equivalent will be), or add them as an "extra stage" that unlocks after completing the easter egg steps (whether it's as simple as "complete the dungeon with no downs" or "complete some crazy alternate reality game and solve some puzzles").

    I don't know if the engine will allow it, but I'd also suggest not spawning in the easter egg dungeon/boss/etc. until players have completed all the steps. Otherwise, you might get an enterprising data miner that will just find the area and ruin part of the ARG stuff.

    Of course, there's always the concern of implementing the easter egg taking much more development time away from modules/bugfixing/or class "balancing".
    It's been a very long time, but prior to Mod 6 there were at least two "secret" mini dungeons with bonus bosses in different dungeons. I know one was in Cragmire Crypts and I can't remember where the other was, you had to break through a wall into a sewer-style maze. Both have been removed.

    PS also why on earth does this forum filter HAMSTER?!?! Content blockers need to be seriously addressed across this forum and the game, not being able to type in inoffensive words is ridiculous.
  • shrineerune#9386 shrineerune Member Posts: 48 Arc User

    Meanwhile if you all can move onto phase 2 then that would be great. Specifically it is time to drill into the areas and ideas you like, what you want to know more about, collaborate on, challenge (in a valuable way) and evolve.

    At the moment we are interested to know more of your thoughts in regard to Horizontal progression, evolution of vertical progression, what variation of current types of rewards you would like to see? This will do for now and of course this is on top of what you all would like to drill into as well.

    I must admit that I don't think that I understand horizontal vs vertical progression. Is it possible for someone to clarify what these things mean?

    I'm sort of understanding it as the difference between variations in abilities and power of those abilities?

    If that is the case, then I'm greedy and like the idea of both. Vertical progression by way of horizontal mastery, for example. One of the horizontal progressions could be time spent actually engaging mobs within seven levels of your ability in a certain way (like using a particular attack), for example. When you meet a certain time goal, then some vertical options become available.

    It seems like many of us want unbound RP and BTA rather than BTC.

    I'm not sure that I'd challenge anything here, as I'm seeing a lot of interesting ideas that fit various playstyles. It is super useful to hear how other people are playing the game. I hope that whatever we do, it isn't at the cost of enjoyment for anyone else. I have zero interest in getting in the way of a good time for other players.

    I've loved some of the posts on using Masterwork crafting to somehow upgrade/tear apart/rework old gear. I'm still thoroughly in love with the idea one of the developers had about displaying collections, and I'd love to hear more about it. I also loved the idea about making older dungeons more viable by improving drops of dungeon specific companions. I was grinding forever for the Repentant Cultist cage key, and it never dropped. After hundreds of runs, it seemed like I should be able to get a companion that was older and less desirable to many through the experience of the dungeon. I gave up and bought him on the AH though.











  • gabrieldourdengabrieldourden Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 1,212 Arc User
    Taking the list from @thefabricant as a reference, this is what I'd like to see

    Items:
    - scores should be vertical
    - set bonuses should be horizontal and should be selectable from a list like titles. You get a set bonus when you collect all pieces from that set exactly like you get a title when you complete certain tasks. You can only have one set bonus for armor and one for neck/belt/artifact active at any time. In this way grinding a set expands your options even if you don't like the stats.

    Enchantments:
    - fine as they are for offense/defense ones.
    - I'll maybe like a bit more impact of armor and weapon enchantments than they have today due to the investment in making them.

    Companions :
    - fine when it comes to companion bonuses
    - augments are way overpowered at the moment as summoned companions. Rebalancing of augments vs. other types will bring more variety to playstiles and increase horizontal progression.

    Boons:
    - as proposed by @thefabricant make them horizontal. Having 1k power, arpen, crit, def, whatever is so dull and doesn't change your life. I've seen many people avoiding certain boons and even full campaigns due to the reward/time ratio being bad (say last STK boon and all Acquisition Inc.). Boons should be the bread and butter of customization together with feats and powers.

    Mounts:
    - fine as they are

    Insignias:
    - fine as they are

    Player skills and feats:
    - this is more the reign of balance than that of progression as of today. You easily reach level 80 and get the full array.
    - It would be nice to have boons unlocking special skills and feats (maybe with class-related quests). By the way a class/race related module would be awesome.
    - In D&D 4e who's loosely the base for this game (and my favourite edition to date) you had Epic destinies. Where are they? :smile:

    Race:
    - today this is probably the choice with the lowest influence on the game.
    - D&D 4e had racial powers, racial Paragon Paths, racial Epic Destines and racial feats. This would be another great area for horizontal progression.
    Le-Shan: HR level 80 (main)
    Born of Black Wind: SW Level 80
  • redrockls3redrockls3 Member Posts: 36 Arc User
    edited February 2020

    Again let's drill into this idea in Phase 2. I really like it and many CDP members have also shared similar ideas. Let's talk about how this would be implemented and more examples of the types of rewards. Also how this experience could hook into events and other systems in the game. Should you be bale to do this to a mount for example or a companion?

    Thanks

    Chris

    @cwhitesidedev#9752

    Sounds good. But I may have missed where or how Phase 2 will be conducted. Either way I will respond to your direct inquiries as best as I can.

    Whether or not this can be implemented for a mount or a companion will really depend on the goals you guys have for the game. I, for one, would welcome any aspect where the player can advance his or her own progress through equipment, mounts or companions at their own behest but not at the expense of exceedingly rare, cost prohibitive or RNG success.

    Hitting equipment first and considering the wide swath of items the player base is asking for this to be available to, it only makes sense to have the materials and reagents needed available in the zone where the requirement originated. Going back to the original suggestion where a campaign quest giver begins your journey towards ranking items up, if the initial step is in Sharandar (as it should be if the item was introduced during phase of the game), have Sgt Knox initiate a quest that sends you there to a Mysterious Merchant-type character. This merchant will upgrade whatever item you desire (whatever you guys allow to be upgraded) one time and then direct you to Dread Ring for continued upgrading. All of the required items for this upgrade should be reasonably obtainable through quests or mob drops within that campaign. However, if an item was released in say, mod 11, you can only go back to mod 11 to initiate your upgrading process.

    If you guys were to allow mounts and companions to be upgraded in such a fashion, you'd have to take a good hard look at companion upgrade tokens and how they're distributed in the game and how this impacts your vision. Mounts currently do not have the means to be upgraded but, once upon a time, you were able to buy mount training for your mounts. These "upgraded" mounts but, only their running speed. If this is something you're willing to do, then great. I don't think anyone is going to argue with faster mounts. The rest, I can't help you guys with.

    As far as companions are concerned, I think this would be fantastic for all non-meta companions and unfortunately, really imbalancing for meta companions. As I'm sure you guys are aware, power has been the hot commodity for a while now and everything else, so long as it meets the cap requirements, is largely irrelevant. I think the concept of upgrading companions to a + status is alright, so long as you release caps on other areas (make them soft caps instead of hard caps) or allow interactions that you didn't previously allow for. For instance, and admittedly this goes way beyond what I initially brought up but, allowing for certain companion abilities to be triggered in higher frequency, with more effectiveness or a broader spectrum of what can trigger the companion ability in the first place.

    I'll provide a rough example of what I mean--

    Black Death Scorpion:

    Enhancement Power: Chance on hit to increase your accuracy by up to 2,000 and your companion's critical avoidance by up to 4% for 15 seconds when your companion is near. The value of the buff depends on the quality of your summoned pet.

    Player Bonus Power: On attack you have a chance to poison your target for 40% weapon damage.

    I do feel like this particular companion is not only supremely vague in its description, I also feel like it is misleading with the poison as it's just direct damage and not a damage over time. But, there's potential to not only expound upon this description a bit better but also to offer it better abilities. Admittedly, I'm in love with anything that can proc and cause damage. I find that far more interesting and valuable to me than some +stat but, the way the game is designed at the moment, the +stats rule.

    With that in mind, you could offer up a + version of this (with a cleaned up description) with something like this;

    Empowered Black Death Scorpion:

    Enhancement Power: Chance on hit to increase your accuracy and power by up to 2,500 and your companion's critical avoidance by up to 4% for 15 seconds when your companion is near. Chance on hit to reduce your enemies accuracy and power by up to 2,500 for 15 seconds. The value of the buff depends on the quality of your summoned pet.

    Player Bonus Power: At-will, encounter and daily powers have a 50% chance to deal toxic damage to your enemy for 50% weapon damage.

    Oh and while I'm at it, please take a look at how weapon damage is calculated for dual wielding classes and companion effects. I notice a disparity in damage between my rogue and barbarian when weapon damage stuff is being calculated.

    For me, the trigger on this effect should be allowed by any source of damage provided by the player, even if it's a DoT. This, in my opinion, will offer more versatility and variance in builds than all the folks who just want more and more and more power. This is also just an example but, you guys have a bunch of companions you could do this for and many ways to supplement your current companion lineup. It's just a matter of what system you want to put into place for it. Again, if it's the incredibly frustrating and rare to get companion tokens, please consider how they're currently distributed in the game and how that'll impact any further upgrades.

    On a side note, I also think that companions should just simply offer abilities and shouldn't be locked, per class, as to which you can and cannot have. I think this will also allow you guys to offer a much wider variety of companions. Similar to how it was done before but, just simply have five available slots and one summoned companion with the same abilities and sets you have currently but, offer additional +stats to make the choices more interesting.
  • cwhitesidedev#9752 cwhitesidedev Member, Cryptic Developer Posts: 253 Cryptic Developer
    edited February 2020
    Well I am up to date in terms of reading and now I am going to bed. See you all shortly.

    Chris

    P.S: I will continue responses as necessary from page 5 later.
  • onethree13#1845 onethree13 Member Posts: 34 Arc User
    edited February 2020
    Hello everyone, hello to the creators of the game! Sorry for my English, as this is not my native language. I hope that everything that will be written below will be written with minimal errors, and the names of the dungeons will be understandable. :)
    So, I’ll start, perhaps, with the most insane problem, which the “tanks” (Barbarian, Fighter) might not have encountered for every reason that is understandable to everyone. But other players know about it (at least on the Russian server).

    Bored queues

    Feedback Overview:

    Imagine that Netflix offers you only a dozen films to watch and you watch the same films a thousand times, without the possibility (alternative) to watch something else. Have you imagined it? So, this also applies to the queues in the game Neverwinter. This is the first.
    Secondly, these queues you need to wait, for example, a wizard or a warlock for a very long time. Sometimes it feels like you're standing in line at a mall during Black Friday. Is it good? I don’t think so. For example, I, like many others, go into the game to play, and not sit and look at the monitor in anticipation of a miracle, which later turns out to be the monotonous dungeon that has been studied up and down.

    Feedback Goal:

    Prevent it! Rid people of boredom and let them play fully.

    Feedback Functionality:

    How to diversify this boredom? I see only a few ways:

    1. From time to time add new queues (from time to time - this is not 1-2 dungeons per module).
    2. Sometimes add events / trials / tasks or something else like this as an alternative to dungeons, where players can also get in-game currency and other nice prizes. A good example for the above is the rune chests in Undermountain and Juma's Surprise, or examples from other games: skill tests in GTA 5 Online, Mods for Counter-Strike, etc.
    3. To completely review the dependence of the dungeon on some players (we are still talking about "tanks"). This is how you did, for example, battles (Horror Legion, Robbing A Rich Bank, etc.).

    Risks & Concerns:

    1. New queues / events / trials / tasks or something else like this would require some time and effort, as the creators of the game will have to create new locations. But believe me, it's worth it. To save time, as an option, you can return the Workshop for players.
    2. If you see 3 point (from Feedback Functionality), then you may encounter only the indignation of the same tanks that will rise from heaven to earth and become ordinary mortals (will receive in-game currency like other players, without additional encouragement) .
    Otherwise, I do not see any other risks & concerns, but only benefit. Indeed, with new queues / events / trials / tasks, old players can return to the game, and YouTube and video bloggers can constantly stream something new, thereby attracting new players to the game (because with what is now, even the stream turns out to be boring, because there is nothing new, absolutely).

    P.S. I apologize in advance if I was rude somewhere or offended someone. This is simply because I really want the "game to play with new colors." So that new players play the game and old players return.
  • cwhitesidedev#9752 cwhitesidedev Member, Cryptic Developer Posts: 253 Cryptic Developer
    edited February 2020
    > @micky1p00 said:
    > Yet, without vertical progress, after 6 years of playing I do want something to show for, as compared to someone who started last week. (Exaggeration to convey the point)
    >
    > A plethora of choices is nice, but if I end up using the same one as someone who just finished as there isn't a clear advantage then there is no perceptional progress for me, and I'll quit.

    Hi Mickey,

    We are talking about vertical and horizontal. Personally I don’t want to see Vertical removed from the game (put simply it can’t be, it is a core pillar). I do want to see Vertical be more meaningful in regard to ongoing relevance and variety of ways to attain it. Choice is good and as Fabricant and other CDP members have put forward player agency around choice is even better. Ways to diversify your play in regard to different game states is empowering. Horizontal and Vertical can live within this paradigm.

    This said folks are drilling and challenging at the moment as per the goal for Phase 2. It is good to see folks think outside of the box even if it isn’t something you, I or anyone else agree with.

    Thanks Mickey for sharing your opinion,

    Chris
  • lordaeoloslordaeolos Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 167 Arc User


    - Create alternative means to finishing content… Some here remember when you could skip the second boss in Cragmire Crypt if you had a rogue in Party (they could go invisible, walk past the bosses, and open a door for the party), in that same dungeon there was a bug that allowed players to pull the boss through the Door, and then get the boss to fall into the spiked pit death trap. While neither of these were by design, they created alternative methods to completing content that did not require the holy trinity. Now imagine having options on each class that open non-combat, or alternative combat style alternatives to completing parts of content. A rogue could slip past the enemy and open doors, wizards could daze enemies into letting you walk past, warlocks could take control of the enemies souls and turn them on each other.. etc… or like now you could just murder hobo your way through all content.. optionality! As of right now the only optionality that exists is flexing your muscles and getting heals.. so... basically every DPS class is a Barbarian with slightly different encounters.

    To expound on this a little.

    Right now there are a few places were we have "DPS checks" where if your party doesn't have enough DPS you will fail the content, which helps to create a lot of contempt and bickering about class balance.. Lets imagine for a second that classes would never be balanced.. but by adding some feats options you could change the length of time for that DPS check.. but maybe that is to much like control and buffing? FYI I don't think control or buffing are a problem, they just need to be balanced properly

    "Lord Willow"
    Guild Leader: Mistaken Identity (formerly Midnight Express)
    My Twitch Stream
    See my Youtube Channel for guides and more


    "Don't ever become a pessimist... a pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun, and neither can stop the march of events."
  • thefiresidecatthefiresidecat Member Posts: 4,486 Arc User
    OT but I can't find another place in this subforum to put this, is the roadmap still on it's way? it's been nearly 2 weeks since last update?
  • jobelo71#5623 jobelo71 Member Posts: 7 Arc User
    Sorry, English is not my primary language.

    Goal
    Create build diversity
    Unlock new functionality (power slider) for end game players.

    Functionality
    Each power would have one or more slider that allow the players to customize the power by trading one metric to another.

    Ex: a power of 400 magnitude with a cool down of 10 second could by adjust to 200 magnitude but with a cool down of 5.5 second or 750 magnitude for cool down of 20 seconds

    I see a lot of possible generic slider:

    Magnitude vs cool down
    Magnitude damage vs magnitude heal (for healing power...burnadin or kind of DPS healer)
    Number of tick vs magnitude (DOT power)
    Damage block vs damage reflect (Tank mostly, but i see mage shield and other power that could use that)
    Duration vs cool down (CC power)
    ....

    I can see as a progression, a place in time where you unlock a slider for a power until everything is unlocked. Or the slider allow more range as you progress or unlock it.

    This feature only would make possible a lot of build variety just by adjusting current power. No need to to implement more power or complexes feats as pre MOD 16.

    Mostly damage overtime should reward more damage total as a general rules. so trading one metric for another is not necessarily 1 for 1.

    Risk
    Possible balance issues. Tweak using min max. example:
    cool down max 60 seconds...otherwise magnitude is getting to high.
  • cwhitesidedev#9752 cwhitesidedev Member, Cryptic Developer Posts: 253 Cryptic Developer
    edited February 2020

    OT but I can't find another place in this subforum to put this, is the roadmap still on it's way? it's been nearly 2 weeks since last update?

    1st pass is complete in terms of intent. We are still working out logisitics and pipelines but we intend to show it this week. Thanks for the reminder @thefiresidecat .

    Chris
    Post edited by cwhitesidedev#9752 on
  • cwhitesidedev#9752 cwhitesidedev Member, Cryptic Developer Posts: 253 Cryptic Developer

    Feedback Overview

    Some players are saying the BiS gear is too hard to obtain and should be obtainable (or have a lesser counterpart obtainable) from an easier way. Those against them say that BiS gear should only be found in the hardest content available. This is sort of a compromise between the two.

    Feedback Goal

    BiS gear will still be exclusive to those who complete challenge but add a tradable "excellent consumable rewards" box to the "hardest content" chest. This way the BiS crowd get to show off their shineys but still can help others complete the dungeon, even if not by personally carrying anyone, by trading those other consumables on auction. The tradables should also be that good to that even after they complete their BiS set, they would still want to rerun the content.

    Feedback Functionality

    Adding the "excellent consumable rewards box" which should drop 100% of the time will need to be added to the loot table. When opening the box players can pick one item from a list what will help them most (all of which are obviously temporary and all bound to the character that opened them). What actual form these would take would be up to the devs but here are some ideas to get started:

    -30 minutes temporary mainhand / offhand.
    -Hellpit 10 minute shield ability
    -Hellpit 10 minute regeneration
    -Revive scrolls
    -Grenades (Stun/Damage/whatever)
    -Icon of Major Blessing (HPx5000 as temp hp)
    -Icon of Major Curse (debuff where targetted enemy suffers lost HP in addition to damage)
    -Summon Elminster to one shot kill everything
    -Yeah obviously the last three are jokes. Why so serious? :P

    There's just one caveat with the "excellent consumable rewards box": Characters who have finished the dungeon where it drops cannot open them, forcing them to trade it.

    Risks & Concerns

    Nothing guarantees that people won't just burn the boxes out of spite and elitism, but enough should make it through to the market - more and more as people complete the content - and the price will balance out. Obviously, the whole thing needs to start again with a new "even more excellent consumable rewards box" should an "even more hardest content!!1!" zone appear. Yes that was terrible grammar. Sorry.

    Thanks for posting this Joseph. What do folks think about this as a high level idea?

    Chris
  • cwhitesidedev#9752 cwhitesidedev Member, Cryptic Developer Posts: 253 Cryptic Developer

    I have several ideas that I have put in different paragraphs.

    I think masterwork should be the go to for crafter's as the clues in the name. You should be able to craft any bonus onto any gear. You should be able to upgrade old gears stats in tiers a bit like the chains from chult. This could be achieved using the currency from south seas trading after you have achieved a new level 5 workshop a new store opens up allowing you to use south sea credits to purchase materials in which you use to craft in your workshop to add 5% damage or other useful stuff like extra 5% defense to gear or upgrade gear from 10 gear score to above current bis. This would keep masterwork relevant as each new mod can add new mats to the new south seas store to increase the stat levels further to the new levels. Going further on down that line you could even have bonuses being added to mastercraft gear that do not stack that circumvent the caps ie critical strike is 50% cap but you could add a 5% bonus to one piece of gear but once added to your head it can't be added to any other piece of gear in that loadout etc. I think dungeons could drop masterwork resources as it allows non mastercrafters an alternative income source and an easy alternative to end chest rewards than refinement. The method of upgrading also gives normal crafting usefulness as it brings back non mastercrafters making money by being part of the supply chain. Make tier one masterwork materials craftable by everyone as makes professions rewardable.

    Make mounts upgradable like companions using a insignia like system whereby (x green mounts + x blue mounts + x epic mounts = 1 x upgraded legendary mount) these could have stats of 7500 and a mount speed of 125% which is inbetween a epic and legendary so would still keep the value of lockboxes as is just below a legendary but give the auction house a boost as more cannon fodder rewards from dungeon chests ie green and blue mounts would be rewarding as you can upgrade them to increase your stats diversity to help cap the stats on your character.

    Skill nodes should drop potions etc. with a 0.1% chance to give high level potions from mastercraft to make them worthwhile using gold to open them.

    Give the ability to exchange gear or professions mats for guild marks at a special new vendor as level 20 guilds are maxed out in those coffers and will make running dungeons for these rewards actually rewarding.

    The ability rolls on the main hand and offhand should be rolled out to all gear via basic crafting and would utilize the cube of augmentation which could drop in dungeons or be in the new vip store etc.

    Give us better items in the trade bars store as the choice currently is scrolls or health stones.

    Use the dungeon chest rewards system in the low level dungeons to increase guild boon stats or even boons stats with special items that only level 80 characters drop from the chest to encourage endgame players to play with lower level players to help level them up whilst increasing their own stats via RNG drops in end chests which you need a complete set of upgrade materials for each type of boon. ie power boon needs blue stone, red stone and purple stone where as hp boon need pink stone, blue stone and white stone etc. and guild boons need x blue stones, x white stones and so on for one tier upgrade. Or make them drop like a watcher a rare rng enemy that could only spawn at the end of cloak tower or cragmire crypts etc. to encourage rerunning old dungeons and content.

    Have a rewards system for helping new players as a time clock system of grouping with players below level 80. ie once you've played 1 hour with a level x then you get 10 helpers currency that has its own reward store and have legendary mounts / forgehammer of gond in there for 300 hours helping etc. it all helps create a community feel to the game as the old saying goes friends who play together stay together increasing the player base .

    Give zen market 100% off tokens mounts/companions as ultra rare drops in dungeon chests as an incentive to run. Or drop companion tokens / enchanted keys etc.

    Thanks for posting these ideas Statto. What do we think about the high level ideas here folks?

    Chris
  • cwhitesidedev#9752 cwhitesidedev Member, Cryptic Developer Posts: 253 Cryptic Developer


    And this system is not very transparent to a new player.
    I would like to see an easily obtainable ‘base’ power, that incorporates all of the above and is attained and explained throughout your levelling experience. The rest (top percentages) are then subject to the grind. (The fact that a player knows to use an augment or not, should not have been left up to veterans/guildies to explain…) (And yes, I still feel the effect of an augment, and as a result your bonding runestones, and companion gear/runestones is way too powerful. And counterintuitive to ‘you’ being the hero in this story.. and not your bulette pup, polar bear cub or deepcrow hatchling.)
    I’ve only been playing 6 months myself, and truly, without veterans taking me by the hand and explaining all these places to look… I’d still be lost. And tbh I still am sometimes, just so much complexity in the system.

    While the rest of @myrddyn#6504 s post is imo definitly worth a read too, I want to point this out:
    I enjoy the companion system we have now, and I enjoy the importance of it, however: It really is tough to understand for new players. What is an augment? And which companions are? I send them a link to rainers wiki because, how often can you talk about that? Then they are confused by the very extensive wiki ... This is something the game HAS to explain. How companions work, how the new slots work, that you have to pay attention what type the companion is because you only have so many offense slots... This is, I feel, not self-explanatory. How do stats transfer, what are bonding runestones? Sure: read the tooltips, hover over it, yeah, I know. But it is difficult to explain to people that do not have the funds to buy companions and runestones, that this is the first thing they should invest into. I know that there is some sort of bolster-explanation, but I know that I was hella confused on preview the first time. It is great once you get to know it (and have a few options in your comp inventory) but until you get there: Wtf are those vets talking about?? Why do I have to get a metallic sort of dog that looks weird?? Where does that even come from? (Buy the box, not the bulette pup.. Buy it at epic, not green... The upgrading process is a bit less transparent now than in the old system simply because you have to call the comp you want to upgrade, level it specifically, upgrade it, change back to your summoned comp... Also: Some comps you get as active, only few as summoned. If I have to explain the difference in Energon and Bulette as summoned again..

    Good post Jules. We will be ensuring that we properly teach these areas and more as part of the streamlining experience that we are working on this year. Mounts, companions and other fun systems in the game are heavily obfuscated and we will be doing a better job of making learning them part of the journey.

    Thanks

    Chris
  • cwhitesidedev#9752 cwhitesidedev Member, Cryptic Developer Posts: 253 Cryptic Developer



    We've talked about the current status quo in this and the previous cdp, they [ToMM runners] control the markets, and who gains access to group content by setting certain constraints on who they will invite; There are very few people doing "training" runs. It benefits the current status quo to limit the number of people running the latest content so they can further control the market.

    I think what you describe is a side-effect of the rather bad decision, to make a mod with a dungeon that can only be completed by a very small percentage of the playerbase.

    How I would like to see this resolved (already proposed by other players):
    make three tiers of the dungeon: Mortal, Ascending, Immortal (with the pun, that most deaths would occur in the immortal tier)

    This has several advantages:
    - players that love a challenge can have it
    - casual players can run the less challenging version, but will learn the basic mechanics so that they have a path towards the higher difficulty levels (and if they are up to a real challenge, they can have it)

    Rewards will have to be tier'ed as well.
    One can argue about the percentages.
    If we want a comparably large gap between bis and casuals it could be 80% -> 90% ->100%
    If we want more convergence, 90% -> 95% -> 100%
    Having the lowest tier less than 80% probably would not be a good idea, because then the dungeon of the last mod would provide better rewards, which is not really intended for a new mod.

    Moving forward there will be tiered trials and pertinent tiered loot.

    Thanks Motu.

    Chris
  • cwhitesidedev#9752 cwhitesidedev Member, Cryptic Developer Posts: 253 Cryptic Developer

    Feedback Overview: Bring back class feature, encounter and daily bonuses to equipment.

    Feedback Goal: Allow for more variance in builds and enhance gameplay beyond stat chasing.

    Feedback Functionality: Back in mod 5 (I think it stopped in mod 6 if I remember correctly), epic pieces of equipment for classes would drop and they'd contain bonuses to certain feats and abilities, making them that much more versatile or frankly, making them relevant in the first place.

    Let's be honest, someone, somewhere has to be looking at all of the class feats, encounter powers and at-wills knowingly placing them into the game understanding that no one in their right mind would use all of these abilities in the game due to blatantly obvious game design. With that being said, back in that mod, if you got an item that was meant for your class, it could have a range of augments placed on it that would impact class feats, encounters or dailies (maybe it was just class feats and encounters, I don't recall specifically).

    Two and four set piece bonuses for your class could be an outstanding way to bring some variance back to equipment these days. Lets be honest, the gear as far as their stats and what bonuses you're getting, are frankly lazy. The dev's at the time really wanted to get away from these types of bonuses for some reason but, it could allow for build enhancements or it could make a previously useless feat/encounter/daily actually valid.

    Let's use a Rogue for this example under the Assassin paragon. Let's take a quick look at Assassin's Target and Toxic Blades:

    Assassin's Target: Your attacks apply a stack of "targeted" to the first enemy hit. This effect stack up to 10 times and increases the damage of your next Encounter power that strikes the target by 1% per stack.

    Toxic Blades: You coat your weapons with a deadly toxin causing Encounter and Daily attacks to apply a DoT. This DoT deals 30 magnitude weapon damage once every 3 seconds, for 9 seconds, and stacks up to 5 times.

    Now, I've been playing a TR for over six years now and he's been my main for pretty much this entire time. I don't know any self respecting rogue that would choose Assassin's Target over Toxic Blades (this again emphasizes my point earlier about useless abilities).

    You could, for instance, have a 2 or 4 set bonus that impacts either one of these but, lets focus on the one that virtually no one will pick. Let's say the bonus impacts it's viability in a way that makes it remotely competitive with Toxic Blades...

    4 of 4 set: Assassin's Target will now target up to five enemies and reduce their damage resistance by 1% per stack.

    I think this would still make Assassin's Target subpar to Toxic Blades but, without fundamentally changing it's characteristics, it'll never compete in the first place but, this is just to serve as an example.

    Let's look at a couple of feats from the Whisperknife paragon path, another path virtually no one uses.

    Razor Action: When you activate a daily power you fling daggers up to 30' doing 200 magnitude damage and increasing your speed by 2% per target hit to a maximum of 10%.

    With the incredible nerf to action point gain, feats like this are relics of a time long past and even when it was a thing, no one still used it because there were better options. If you really want to make Whisperknife more viable, consider something like this.

    A four piece set bonus for this could have something great loaded into it. Perhaps something along the lines of...

    4 of 4 set: Razor Action will now return 10% of your action points per enemy hit with your daggers, up to a maximum of 50%. (no cooldown).

    Action points still take an eternity to build either way.

    Dagger Threat: Your ranged attacks deal up to 7.5% more damage based on how close you are to your target. You gain the maximum benefit from this class feature when within 15' of your target.

    I think I know what you guys were trying to do with the Whisperknife build but, it just doesn't work and it's gotta be one of the most awkward class paragons in the game.

    4 of 4 set: Dagger Threat will now increase the rate of all ranged at-will's by 50%.

    Before someone freaks out about that idea, consider how worthless the current rogue ranged at-wills are and then come back to me.

    Lastly, let me highlight a poor class that has gotten the short end of the stick for a long, long time, the Warlock. They are riddled with worthless abilities, cumbersome mechanics and supremely lackluster damage.

    Creeping Death: When you deal damage with your At-Will, Encounter, or Daily powers to enemies they are afflicted with Creeping Death. Creeping Death deals 10% additional damage as Necrotic damage over 5 seconds.

    While I get that this unlocks at level 70 and is supposed to do damage (I think?), it does an abysmal amount of dps.

    4 of 4 set: Creeping Death now deals 50/100/150/200 magnitude weapon damage per second for 10 seconds. Stacks 4 times.


    You guys should make them the DoT masters they were meant to be. With this little change, you might not even have to rewrite the entire class. Again, just serving as an example.

    Risks & Concerns: There will be work to be done to make this work and to not have it spiral out of control, sure. But, it'll also offer the ability to toss in small increments of class balancing to the game in a way that doesn't require a fundamental rewrite of the class.

    Thanks Red. Again we will be referencing your examples in meetings.

    Chris
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