Posts: 711
Threads: 82
Joined: Sep 2006
Reputation:
0
Apologies
12-12-2010, 07:20 PM
I should have said something sooner so I don't have any excuses besides cowardice. Anyways I owe some of you folks an apology for my uncalled for words last week during...err after the failed Apex TF.
It was rude and frankly insulting when I had said some folks were not really contributing as much because they didn't have their alpha slot filled, I was angry and frustrated at our lack of success but it deffinatly wasn't right to say that when ya all were doing the best you could so I am sorry and I'll do my best to keep my foot out of my mouth.
Posts: 27,149
Threads: 2,253
Joined: Sep 2002
Reputation:
21
If that was the one I was on, I honestly didn't notice anything offensive or insulting.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
i sort of am in the same boat as you Terr, Apex really got me pissed off, i may of said some bad things (on both runs, succses and fail) if so, sorry.
Apex...isn't the best designed TF out there. It's two missions that feels likw it was written by two different people. Or one person with some form of bipolar disorder. The first mission is challenging, but fun, and by the end you fell like you've accomplished something. The second mission is pure HELL, Alpha slotted or not.It is not friendly to certain ATs, cetain power sets, and certain playstyles. The "Dodge or DIE" approach reminds me a lot of some of the old NES sidescrollers. And not the good ones.
In short, at the moment Apex is "Nintendo Hard".
Posts: 2,629
Threads: 176
Joined: Apr 2008
Reputation:
3
Your mileage may vary wildly on this point, as I personally found the Battle Maiden fight to be one of the most entertaining missions I've ever played. Racing around the battlefield, attacking whenever possible, Tanks playing an odd game of tag... The swords maybe spam a little too much, but frankly, I didn't have too much trouble aside from the occasional misjump into a blast or one of the sword swarms. Personally, I think it's the best Task Force yet.
EDIT: Oh, and the time Emet died and I got a little too close to the blast while getting ready to rez him. "You're too close!" "No I'm-oh, I was." 
I'll admit I enjoyed it a fair lot more on PD then I did on Nam. Like I said, the TF is geared more to certain ATs and builds than others. PD's regen and super speed was more beneficial than Nam's SR and Super Jump. Her only issue was the mid-air AOEs that hit you on the ground.
Co-incidentially, I found the first mission of Tin Mage to be the polar opposite. Nam's SR and SJ were FAR more useful fighting Director 11 than PD's Regen and SS. Nam rarely got hit by the mines, and moved just at the right rate where he could set them off without being in the area. PD moved TOO fast and would be back in the detonation range when they went off.
Posts: 1,449
Threads: 137
Joined: May 2007
Reputation:
0
The new key factor in both new TF's is one we haven't seen much of in CoX before now, and I suspect it's what causing the frustration -- everyone's used to playing a certain way, and now there's this new mechanic in play. A mechanic that is very much adapt-or-die.
Simply put, situational awareness is a necessity now, where it's never been before. You *have* to be aware of the mines, the AOEs, the sword swarms, the warning glow of nukes from orbit, etc. If you don't stay aware of them at all times, you die.
But if you *do* stay aware of them, it's far more survivable and is, IMO and as someone who's run the other "hardest" TFs in the game multiple times on several different ATs, no more difficult than any other TF in the game. It simply requires more focus and involvement from the player. You can't just tank-and-spank any more; you have to move, you have to be aware of what's going on around you in all three axes. In short, you have to change your playstyle.
Some people dislike that; others enjoy the challenge. But that's the only real difference between what we had before and what we have now.
--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
Posts: 2,072
Threads: 62
Joined: May 2006
Reputation:
0
The question is, where is the line between "an interesting new mechanic" and "not the game I signed up for anymore"?
I'm reminded of a particular mission that was added in FFXI's second expansion, where one has to go up to the top of a certain mountain in a relatively short period of time. This involved a narrow path, doubling back several times, dropping down at certain points but not others, and in general feels like something out of a platform game. The design and controls of the game make it an enormous hassle, and it was the subject of many videos and walkthroughs. Even then, not many people managed the trip the first time around. The idea was not inherently wrong, but it did not really suit the game.
Similarly, I find the camera control in this game spastic enough that just keeping track of an entire spawn can be a hassle at times. Throwing instant-death rays into the mix seems a bit dubious. Not to mention the issues with MMs. The way they no longer respond usefully to movement commands is bad enough in regular missions. But when I read people saying that it's a waste of time to even summon your pets in that mission? That's... an issue. It's one thing for powersets and builds to have advantages and disadvantages; killing the utility of all primaries for an AT is an issue.
-Morgan. For that matter, Controllers miss having their pets be useful too. (Except possibly Illusion. I don't know if this stuff kills Phantom Army or not.)
My biggest anoyance with apex was that my Plant/Thermal troller was reduced to a poor mans deffender.
her holds were good enought to pin Battle Maiden.... which was the last thing we wanted, so i was stuck with jsut buffing, healling and Debuffs, when i wasn't dead or runing away from anything that remotly resembled the swirly blue AoE of death.
Posts: 3,314
Threads: 306
Joined: Feb 2004
Reputation:
0
Yeah. Nogi as "Dead broke" dark defender was a tad underwhelming, I admit.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll
Posts: 1,449
Threads: 137
Joined: May 2007
Reputation:
0
Morganni: I'm never sure how to take statements like yours -- and I've seen a lot of them in-game lately -- because I can't see where the game itself has changed. These new mechanics apply to two new Task Forces, which represents, what, maybe 1/20th of the content? If that? The game itself hasn't changed; it's just those two new things.
DS: your buffs helped a lot, I'll point out. Might not be what you had in mind but you were far from being useless. Dunno if that makes you feel any better or not, but it's the truth.
--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
thanks spud... and sorry at snaping at you for the "Vengance Bait" coment you made, was still a bit pissed form TF, so sorry man.
Posts: 2,072
Threads: 62
Joined: May 2006
Reputation:
0
I suppose it ties back to the concept of "consistency of experience". It's fine to make something that's more difficult, that requires new strategies, or just requires being sharper maybe. But there comes a point where something is no longer just "more difficult" (and may, in fact, be less difficult), but instead feels like someone took a section out of a different game and plopped it into this one, and the two don't fit together very well.
Hearing people say they're making new costumes so the animations from their powers don't make it hard to see the effect is pretty jarring on it's own, really. It feels a bit like Fake Difficulty, especially in a game with such an emphasis on customization and creativity.
-Morgan. Mildred Avalon doesn't jump!
|
