Important Patch Notes: 4/21/04 Build 1.20040420.1

[schild]

Advancement: Reduced XP needed for levels 11 to 14.

These were considered the hell levels for about 6 months of beta test. I'm proud of the devs for this.

Rewards

- Adjusted group xp sharing weighting so that higher level characters could not farm XP for lower level characters.

Good and bad:

1. Enforces sidekicking.
2. Can't powerlevel through 8 anymore - well, this has yet to be seen, but meh.

Reduced XP Debt for levels 28 and higher

Was a big complaint among highbies, good for them for listening to the whines of hundreds.

Powers

Increased damage of Blizzard.

I always thought it was weak when I saw people use it.

Increased attack rate of spines/claws swipes

Awesome.

Tripled super speed defense buff. Also, while on your agro is reduced. Upped End cost.

Sweet mother of monkey horseshit. That skill rocks now. (possibly more than Super Jumping. But both? Together? On one toon? Sweet Jeebus.

Those are the big ones I found. I am beginning to love this dev team more and more.

[Leaddore]

Dont fall in love too much just yet, I dont want to see you (or any of us because we all are in the same boat) getting your heart broken by yet another dev team, we need to take this slow, we can be friends first and we will see if the relationship develops....


ok, I am insane

[eldaec]

Bloody hell.

Who remembers the last time xp requirements went *down* on the last day of beta?

I was assuming that round now we'd be writing annoyed posts about tripled xp requirements at all levels.

[SirBruce]

Xp requirements going down is great, although honestly, I don't thinkt they were too bad.  Yes, those levels were tough, but now everyone will be level 15 within 2 weeks.

However, I don't like the experience debt change... or rather, I don't think it goes nearly far enough.  Twice I had to struggle through high experience debt, level 7 and level 13 I think, and it was not fun at all.  More importantly, experience rewards for missions are fixed.  Thus if you get into high experience debt, you can easily get "behind the curve" where you finish all your missions and yet still haven't levelled enough to unlock the next set of missions or contacts, meaning you have to burn several hours cracking heads on the streets.  Like I said... not fun.

I think more reasonable would be limiting experience debt to 25% down from 50%, for ALL levels.  Higher levels may need additional changes like the ones in this patch.

Bruce

[Alluvian]

Not fun to you.  I find cracking heads on the street just as fun and often more fun than missions.  Instancing is not something I like to do all the time.  Other times I like mixing it up with strangers.  Helping out people getting chased by mobs by peeling some off, then getting in trouble myself and having someone else come over and help me.

I have found very few problems with my fellow players so far.  I have not grouped with many outside of bat country but just on the street I have gotten along with almost all of them.

People have just GOT to hang up this shit about 'killstealing'  You can't really do it in this game.  Everyone gets exp.  I can see it annoying for a controller though for sure.

But someone who kills a few of my mobs is fine with me.  Just means I move more quickly onto the next group.  Especially in danger zones where the mobs are so prevalent and it turns into a huge mosh pit.  I find that quite fun.

[Venkman]

I'm with ya Alluvian, but KSing is the number one bitch in the game atm. I'd so love for people to lighten the fuck up about it, but they won't I'm sure. Some people are just quick to anger. KSing is just this game's primer.

CoH adequately handles KSing, but it's the act itself, not the perceived loss of reward that bothers people. So they ignore the reality that doing instances or fighting on rooftops or maybe not trying to kite in the middle of dozens of other freakin' people. I have no problems with soloing, since I do it so often. But I do have a problem when people cry so loudly about a situation they could so easily avoid.

My way or highway folks have no business playing in games designed to put thousands of people together.

[Alluvian]

Yeah, there was a guy who pretty much attacked a group simultaneous with us in perez one day.  He killed a few, we killed most because we were a group.  He instantly bitched up a storm.  We just mocked him and moved on.  Such a short fucking fuse.

[Aslan]

I frankly don't get the killsteal bitches.  I mean, if you do damage, you get xp based on how much you did.  There are generally about 57 other mobs of the same type and roughly the same level range in about a four square block radius of you.  There are instances you can run to if you can't stand it anymore.  It's not like the mob is going to drop the uber-lewt and someone else is going to get it now.  I don't think KS'ing is right, and I certainly don't do it, but why someone should get their panties in a bunch in THIS game cause someone attacked something they were attacking, I'll never understand.  I guess people just need something to whine about or they don't feel complete.

[HaemishM]

KSing is probably the one kind of griefing you can do in this game, but it really depends on the situation. I have yet to really get that annoyed with KSing, because even in the crowded newbie zones, there is usually something just over the next block that fits the bill.

The random patrol killing aspect can be fun, or it can be boring. Most times I find it fun, especially when I hit the rooftops.

Too much XP debt can make the levels feel a little grindy, and I'm glad to see they did something about this at higher levels. I think the only reason it gets grindy is because you WANT that level to gain a new power or enhancement slot. Running out of missions is also a reason it might get grindy.

I ain't in love with this dev team yet, but they are showing an awful lot of leg. And cleavage. And I loves me some cleavage.

[WayAbvPar]

I ain't in love with this dev team yet, but they are showing an awful lot of leg. And cleavage. And I loves me some cleavage.

Careful. With our luck, it will turn into "The Crying Game" all too soon.

[Venkman]

I think the only reason it gets grindy is because you WANT that level to gain a new power or enhancement slot.

That's pretty much the reason behind all grinds. The two major differences here are the speed at which that debt can be paid and rewards one gets every level. Nothing worth than hitting level 4 only to have to wait until 9 for that next foozle.

[CmdrSlack]

The rewards each level is what may sway a friend of mine from SWG to CoH.

He was part of our city, etc. and has been working on his own with his guild, but I think he's getting very interested in CoH.

This new announcement of city of villains may bring him and his entire guild to CoH.  Which is good, because the majority of them are quality people who are very fun to game with.  The only reason my SWG account is still open is because of these guys.