Today's Patch (6/3)

[stray]

Out of curiosity, what makes it all that "non-casual"?  I just logged in, rant two level 25 missions from a contact, gained a bub and a half, and logged out (i am now preparing to leave for work).  Total time spent, 2 hours.

I guess if "casual" only means how much time you have to invest, I'm not a casual gamer. Because in addition to that, I like to think of it as how much my time is worth. 2 hours of my life for a bulb and a half? No thanks. Most of the time, I only have so many "2 hour slots" to give, and there's better things to do than a bulb and a half. Now, if those missions were actually interesting, on par with a console game or something, I wouldn't measure the value of the game just by lvling and character progression.

I like the new changes, but I think they need to loosen up the level spread restrictions on enemies to something more like +/- 5 levels. Then it wouldn't seem so harsh. But I've been saying that since beta, eh.

Having the possibility of killing a mob relative to the numbers of members in a team..Could that work somehow? I think a group of 8 lvl 20's should be able to take out a lvl 28 mob at least (maybe that can still work, I haven't tried). I'll agree that it might have been a little fucked before, but only powergamers were taking it too far. Who always gets the shit end of the stick when powergamers are "supposedly" punished? Besides, people were only killing high lvl mobs to compensate for the shit xp in large groups...Maybe that's what needs to be fixed.

[boley]

The cap is indeed subject only to the actual numerical level of the villan; not at all the creature's con level.

For example, last night at level 32 I was able to take on anything that had a numerical level of 35 or less.  At that level the con system looked like this:
Level 35 Underlings:  Orange
Level 35 Minions: Red
Level 35 Lt's: Purple
Level 35 Bosses: Purple
Level 36 Underlings: Red (and unkillable)

This change made things rather confusing, since the group was able to take on and kill very purple Bosses, but a red con underling was essentially unkillable.  It did seem fairly absurd to be able to kill a deep purple boss with up to 2000 hitpoints (around 16000xp), and have a red con underling with 130 hit points (around 250 xp) stand there and laugh at you.

The end is that now the colored con system is somewhat useless.  The color no longer determines what can or cannot be fought with success, numerical level is king.

[Mesozoic]

Now that is fucked up.

[ClydeJr]

They really really should have left the color for levels rather than a combination of level and rank. That way, even level minions, lts, and bosses should all be white color. That way, you don't have the purple boss is easier than a red minion issue.

Maybe do something different when you mouse over the bad guy to let you easily tell if its a lt. or boss. For example, when you mouseover a hero, it show an icon for origin and archetype. Maybe when you mouseover a lt., it would have white crossbone/jolly roger icons. A boss would have red icons.

[Murgos]

In my experience level +4 underlings are purple.  Does this change?

[ClydeJr]

In my experience level +4 underlings are purple.  Does this change?

No, although now you will have only a 25% change to hit and your powers are only 32% effective.

[kaid]

My only real complaint about the change is it makes grouping requirements very strict and will force alot of previously un needed sidekicking for people who are not even that far apart.

Purples before were to easy some combos could kill mobs 8+ levels higher than them with wild abandon.  But there is a differance between being a challange and being completly ineffective vs the opponent especially in groups.

Kaid

[boley]

In my experience level +4 underlings are purple.  Does this change?

Level + 4 Underlings are Red.

Keep in mind that underlings con 1 level less than Minions.   So an underling of your level will con blue.  Underlings are actually fairly rare, I do not recall seeing many of them until level 30ish.

The con rankings go Underlings < Minion < Lt < Boss

I am unsure where Snipers fit in the toughness rankings, as I have only seen a few in Founders Fall.

[Murgos]

My mistake I confused underling with minion.

[WayAbvPar]

My mistake I confused underling with minion.

You will never make it as a super-villain! =P

[shiznitz]

In their defense, they did finish task force missions.  Good for them. Now they need to get back to work and finish the rest of the shit they promised. Maybe I'm overreacting, but the initial impressions of this patch with regards to mob difficulty just makes me stabby.

Actually they screwed them over. Now, TF always propagate based on the highest level version, so the first TFs will propagate as a level 15 TF = mobs 15-18. Good luck playing through that motherfucker with your level 12 buddies. If your TF team isn't all 14s and 15s, you are screwed.

If the 15s happen to level during the 6 hour mission, are they locked out of progressing?  I read this but didn't immediately believe it because it is RETARDED!

Lastly, if you fight level 15 mobs, you get level 13-15 enhancements. Basically, people are now fucked in earning enhancement above their level.

[Murgos]

Actually they screwed them over. Now, TF always propagate based on the highest level version, so the first TFs will propagate as a level 15 TF = mobs 15-18. Good luck playing through that motherfucker with your level 12 buddies. If your TF team isn't all 14s and 15s, you are screwed.

If the 15s happen to level during the 6 hour mission, are they locked out of progressing?  I read this but didn't immediately believe it because it is RETARDED!

Lastly, if you fight level 15 mobs, you get level 13-15 enhancements. Basically, people are now fucked in earning enhancement above their level.

Are your reading comprehension skills really that bad?  Seriously, what part of for a level 15 TF all mobs will be level 15 did you not understand?  Or you will recieve rewards as though you are 15th level while on a 15h level TF even if you are not?  And how does fighting blue mobs mean you can no longer progress?

We have adjusted the levels of these arcs so that they will spawn villains at the highest level possible to receive the mission. Positron's Story Arc will now always spawn 15th level villains, for example. The rewards will match the greater risk however. Continuing the Positron example, if your group wants a challenge, they may try the Story Arc starting at 10th level. You will receive rewards as if you were a 15th level character.

I think you are posting to the wrong place the Vault Boards are over here:
http://vnboards.ign.com/

[shiznitz]

My comment about enhancements was not related to the TFs. That was unclear on my part. I meant that before this change, one could get higher level enhancements with some regularity by fighting higher level mobs anywhere, be it regular missions or the streets. That option is not as available now.

My complaint about the TFs is that players have a much shorter level window in which to participate since the difficulty is always the highest now.

[geldonyetich]

A new Geko post shows that they're scaling back the changes they made to higher level villian difficulty somewhat.

Foes your level have not changed. You have a 75% chance to hit and you powers are 100% effective.
Foes 1 level about you have not changed. You have a 68% chance to hit and you powers are 90% effective.
Foes 2 levels about you got 1% harder. You have a 60% chance to hit and you powers are 80% effective.
Does 3 levels about you, difficulty went up about 12%. You have a 49% chance to hit and you powers are 65% effective.
Foes 4 levels about you got about twice as difficult. You have a 25% chance to hit and you powers are 32% effective.
Foes 5 levels higher than you are now 5 times harder. You have a 8% chance to hit and you powers are 11% effective.
Foes 6 levels higher than you - You have a 8% chance to hit and you powers are 3% effective.
Foes 7 levels higher than you - You have a 8% chance to hit and you powers are 2% effective.
Foes 8+ levels higher than you are out of the ballpark. You have a 8% chance to hit and you powers are 1% effective.

Foes your level have not changed. You have a 75% chance to hit and you powers are 100% effective.
Foes 1 level above you - No Change. You have a 68% chance to hit and you powers are 90% effective.
Foes 2 levels above you - No Change. You have a 61% chance to hit and you powers are 80% effective.
Does 3 levels above you - You have a 55% chance to hit and you powers are 65% effective.
Foes 4 levels above you - You have a 48% chance to hit and you powers are 48% effective.
Foes 5 levels above you - You have a 41% chance to hit and you powers are 30% effective.
Foes 6 levels above you - You have a 34% chance to hit and you powers are 15% effective.
Foes 7 levels above you - You have a 25% chance to hit and you powers are 8% effective.
Foes 8 levels above you - You have an 11% chance to hit and you powers are 5% effective.
Foes 9 levels above you - You have a 6% chance to hit and you powers are 4% effective.
Foes 10 levels above you - You have a 5% chance to hit and you powers are 3% effective.
Foes 11 levels above you - You have a 5% chance to hit and you powers are 2% effective.
Foes 12+ levels above you - You have a 5% chance to hit and you powers are 1% effective.

That's still somewhat of an adjustment in favor of the villians, but not nearly as steep.

Power potency versus villians
3 levels above you - x.73
4 levels above you - x.66
5 levels above you - x.60
6 levels above you - x.55
7 levels above you - x.51

[Phred]

Some people have mentioned there's an experience penalty for being sidekicked. If someone 3 levels below the highest in a group was sidekicked, would they get less experience than if they kept their normal level in the same group?

[WayAbvPar]

That sounds like a pretty good compromise from Cryptic.

[eldaec]

Some people have mentioned there's an experience penalty for being sidekicked. If someone 3 levels below the highest in a group was sidekicked, would they get less experience than if they kept their normal level in the same group?

Yes. In most cases.

This isn't new though.

It boils down to modifying xp for your level.

Example....

You : lvl 6
Mentor : lvl 10
Sidekicked you fight at level 9
Mob : lvl 10
Unsidekicked you get xp for a lvl 9 kill (your level +3 = cap)
Sidekicked you get xp for a lvl 7 kill (the mob is your effective level +1, so xp is translated back to your actual level +1)

When grouped in a sidekicking arrangement (as you normally would be) this is complicated by higher effective level ppl taking a greater share of the xp, and by the cap applying (afaik) after xp bonus for the group and xp division for the number of members.

But in most cases, espeicially when the original level difference between you and your mentor is small, yes. Being sidekicked = less xp for joo.