Episode 41: Week 1

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by Panderus, Sep 2, 2021.

  1. Eve YouTuber

    I haven't brought my full opinion on stat clamping to the forums yet, but I understand the frustration players have from feeling nerfed and not powerful:

    - Personally, I find it enjoyable and fresh that I can't one shot everything. I have some challenge and my league mates said the same.
    - But, I think raising the clamping celling higher, might be abit more relaxing on this issue.
    - I think that walk ins should not be clamped. Maybe the downside to that would be putting a loot lock if you run it from Walk Ins.
    - Three recent episodes getting source marks back is great. Less force on running clamped content.
    - Downside, people will less want to run the clamped content.
    - Open worlds clamps are abit harsh. Central City shouldn't be as it is now in my opinion.
    - Open worlds should have loot locks, but not be clamped.

    Overall, the clamping is not horrible, but could use some work. There are some bosses and instances that didn't even get clamped (I reported them in Arkham Asylum bug section). So this could be taken advantage of until It's getting fixed.
    • Like x 4
  2. Dead13 Well-Known Player

    Change allies, i dont need another button to do more damage
    • Like x 1
  3. RTX Well-Known Player

    I´m fully with you there.

    Edit:
    Might having a differenct currency (marks) for open world content.

    Or in general having instances which take much longer rewarding with a different currency for gear in higher item level steps and different items beeing bought with them (Some specific materials/auras/uplink devices etc. that way we having a mixed group of what will be run. Otherwise i wouldnt know how to avoid people from searching the fastest farming instances, besides from what i´ve mentioned before with having instances mathematicly exactly the same in combined stats (all boss, add waves HP/Def).

    Actually there would be still the method left of giving instances a 12 hour loot lock for example, that way we also would keep variation, by not having to adjust instances that much or adding new marks which could cause more confusion.
    • Like x 1
  4. Eve YouTuber

    Oh I didn't say anything about different currency, lol sorry if it came across this way!

    I totally agree with the rest though.
    • Like x 1
  5. RTX Well-Known Player

    Yeah, didnt meant to write the sentence that way...dunno how that happend:D
    • Like x 1
  6. Panderus Senior Producer

    We did consolidate the TYPES of Nth metal you get so there arent 6 different kinds in your inventory but the amount that dropped stayed the same or increased if you are a member. It could look like less if you just scan your inventory space though.
    • Like x 2
  7. Darth_Andrea Well-Known Player

    Stat Clamping is honestly crap. It's a Super Hero Game, you should be able to walk through some encounters. I mean SUPER POWERS. Am I the only one who is thinking this? Case in point, Flashpoint Gotham, There are Street Thugs you have to clean up for Penguin .. and it takes more than 1 hit. I'm sorry .. WHAT .. these are street thugs. And I have a Earth Tank 320+Cr with a Kryptonian Build. I shouldn't have to do more than flex at them to knock them out let alone have to worry about actually being knocked out. In short some of the encounters, even end game, make little to no sense for the theme or genre of the game.
    • Like x 2
  8. Reinheld Devil's Advocate

    I'm going to have to get my rubber bands so I can run around in circles in the lobby of FOS3 for a few hours now. See you there!
  9. Reinheld Devil's Advocate

    So just to verify...and this is not exact...and I can't go back to 2 weeks ago and check. Rough numbers, but I think I have the timings right. Premium/F2P numbers...obviously not counting the 3x multiplier for members which didn't exist before.

    Previous to the update I believe we got a drop at 5 min, which was 'small' and was normally a 10 Nth, along with a 50 or 20. So let's say 'small=50' and we got bigger drop at 10 min which was normally a 50, 100 and 200, or sometimes a 500 would show up. So "large=300 (rough avg)" So over an hour you'd get 12 'small' and 6 'large' for around 2400 Nth an hour only getting the timed drops from adds or collections or whatever.

    So assuming the timers are the same, you are saying that we'd expect to see around the same drop...or every 5 min timer hit we'd get 5x10Nth +/- a few and at 10 min we'd get 3x100Nth +/- a few? It feels like less...I'd have to clear my inventory and test that.

    From my experience it feels like I'm getting a bit less. Over normal periods of time, I know I'd be hitting a stack of 99 on the 50s quickly. Every other day at least. I don't know that I've stacked up 50 100s or 500 10s in that same timeframe. And that's not counting the 'larger' Nths even. Do 1000's even drop from the timed drops or are they just rewarded in the daily grant or from beating a boss like DD in Flashpoint...or even there (I think he drops a few 100s really).

    This all assumes 'activity' that whole time...no Nth drops (or dropped) when you are decorating, playing dress up or arguing with people in the WT shout chat (I mean really...."Goku V Superman"...of course we all know who would lose....it's us, the ones reading it)
  10. OnlyNomad The One Above All



    My only concern is that Omnibus content will turn into something like Grand Theft Auto Online or Red Dead Online where players who run thinks quickly or faster will have to sit idle at the end of a run in order to get the maximum amount of rewards.

    Maybe I'm wrong but let's say you guys decide that Throne of the Dead is expected to take 20 minutes but my group can finish it in 10, in theory we would be penalized (Receive less Source Marks) for running it faster than the expected time? Or would it be that if we take longer to run Omnibus content, we receive less rewards?
    • Like x 1
  11. ClowninAround Well-Known Player

    It may also feel like you're getting less because they stack to 999 instead of 99 now so it saves space and you don't have to reorganize as often. Just a thought I had.
    • Like x 3
  12. MasterCold New Player

    I can't buy the $5 daybreak cash. It always says error. I'm on PC server
  13. Panderus Senior Producer


    What? No. There will not be some terrible system that sees how long you play and adjusts the rewards based on time spent. We will look at average completion time and remove trash encounters to reduce sloggy boss health on longer content to being them closer to the average for that content and/or change the rewards for the bosses if its way off base, though my preference would be to keep all content types give the same amount of rewards while keeping them in the same ballpark of average time to completion.
    • Like x 3
  14. OnlyNomad The One Above All

    Thanks for the clarification, glad to hear it won't be like that terrible system, LOL. Honestly I would also prefer if the content type dictated the amount of rewards it gives.
  15. TeflontheIcon Well-Known Player

    Before Ep41 it was fairly easy to play cross faction with a coordinated Que up via chat. Now it doesn't work and you can't invite other factions in content. Why did this change?
  16. xxHELLSTROKExx Loyal Player

    I'll continue to suggest reimplementing loot locks. I know full well I'll be hated and a social outcast because of it but please everyone hear me out and think about it with as little bias as possible.

    If you do not loot lock, path of least resistance will always be a thing. It will be even with loot locks in place but to a much lesser degree. We will continue to run fos3 then dd even if you drop the amount of source. Which also sounds like a true pita for you (the devs) to implement. Let alone the angry repercussions from us the players. We have always had them, we are used to them. Bringing them back doesn't even affect the ability to get source now, just how we would do it. Just like we always qued dox for the last 5yrs weekly to get the 5 source and dd just to have that currency we didnt really need. So reinstated loot lock just means we would cycle thru all or at least most or the very least, some other content. That also makes completing the weekly omnibus for source more attractive.

    Maybe this gets me banned but plain and simple: source is comparable to a drug. We will take all you have and you're passing it out like candy. You've got us hooked, it's time to start making us work for it. We will still have so many more avenues to accrue it than we did prior to this release. Plus, we all know what happens to druggies if they go overboard. That is what will happen to the player base once they can't take anymore
    • Like x 1
  17. Mepps Sr. Community Manager

    There may be a couple bugs here. The intent wasn't to change either of these.
  18. TheDrone Well-Known Player

    1) "Fixing" FoS3 is a good decision. The real problem is that its' popularity proved what the anti-clamping people have said all along. Stat clamping is a bad idea. The fact that one raid was getting replayed so much that they have to boost the difficulty demonstrates the issue. A LARGE chunk of the end-game players who need Source Marks will take the absolute easiest path to getting those Source Marks. They're willing to put up with the tedium of doing the exact same raid over and over, dozens of times. And why? Because it's quick and easy. That's what people want when they are farming Source Marks. The idea that they could be told to re-run old raids that will take almost as long as they did at-level for 10 Source Marks is a joke. By all means, rebalance FoS3. But, realize that will just cause people to look for the next "easiest/fastest" raid which does nothing to help the Omnibus system. Personally, I did FoS3 once this week. It was clearly "too easy" by the current standards, but not ultra-easy like it was a month ago.

    2) Source Marks return to end-game. Well, that's a good decision, kinda. It absolutely kills the Omnibus system for anyone in the end-game. There's just no reason to run anything outside end-game content with this change. For me, with stat-clamping, I'm good with this change. But, I don't want to be. Here's why.

    3) I like the concept of Omnibus (To be clear, I'm referring not to the existence of stat-clamping, but to the "here's a random raid" part of the update). The problem is, there was very little incentive to use it. Sure, you could have some Weekly missions that require clicking the Omnibus randomizer. Those get you some extra Source Marks. But, the better option was to ignore the Omnibus randomizer button and "find the fastest and easiest old content and run it 100 times". Omnibus Missions should have rewarded Grain of Time or end-game Catalysts. That's the only incentive I can think of that would have convinced people to choose the Omnibus randomizer over specific queues.

    4) Stat-clamping. I hated it before the update. I hate it now. I understand the logic behind it and why it may make the experience better for new players. If I was a new player, I'd probably appreciate the consideration. But, i'm not. I've been playing for a long time. I've earned feats and upgraded Artifacts for an expected result. Now, those results are dramatically cut. It just feels bad. Like many people, I have alts. Well, I did. Not so sure anymore. Stat-clamping is going to make alts much more difficult and time-consuming than in the past. So time-consuming that I can't really imagine playing any of them. In fact, with the exception of logging in to check their inventory/mail/bank, I haven't logged onto an alt in a week. I don't see that changing. You could have convinced me to put up with it. You really could have. But, you clamped it too far down. Example: Let's say a T1 boss took 4 minutes at-level. That same boss took 2 seconds when confronted by CR340 players. Stat-clamping now results in that boss taking 3 1/2 minutes. That's not a good balance. 2 minutes would have been a good spot. Max level players playing old content shouldn't feel like the content is "a little easier" than at-level. It should feel significantly easier. If not, it just feels bad and saps away any motivation to play old content. A 2 minute boss still gives those new players the "real content" feeling that you were going for.

    5) The amount of Grain of Time per week is too low. I know I can run SS/PZ daily, but that's just not gonna happen. A couple times per week, sure. But daily? No. Without any other sources, it's going to take me far longer than "normal" to get just one gear set. This is a bad departure from standard DLCs.

    6) I love the old loot options I'm getting now. It's really helping to get some old styles I didn't have. Though it's mostly the styles that simply weren't available as I'm not a villain. In the future, please name the unopened box the same as the style inside or put the "Collected vs Uncollected" warning on the box. It's incredibly stupid to require us to keep spreadsheets and/or google every loot drop just to figure out what gear set name matches which style name. I've never seen anyone defend this practice, but yet it continues.

    7) Less types of Nth metal is great. Please keep that in mind the next time you add some crafting monstrosity. I don't want to have to keep a dozen or more stacks of generator mods at all times. Or just add a new tab for crafting materials.

    TLDR: Putting Source Marks into end-game content kills Omnibus System. I like Omnibus concept. I hate stat-clamping as it is currently implemented.
    • Like x 1
  19. DrDogg New Player

    2. I can definitely find a league or use Discord to hit up players to run Elite Raids, but my point is that I shouldn't have to if I'm trying to run an Elite Raid from four Episodes ago. Again, my main issue with the Elite Raids is the lack of restrictions on queuing for them. If they made it more difficult to queue, then more players would feel confident they can get a decent group from the queue. As it stands, you basically can't finish an Elite Raid from the last ~4 episodes unless you're in a solid League or shout for good players (which doesn't work half the time).

    As an example (and this is JUST an example), if you required a series of feats to be completed before you could queue for an Elite Raid, it would set a bar for who would queue. Maybe you need to earn a feat for completing the normal raid, then another one for either hitting a specific DPS check (for a dps player) or getting through the raid with a limited number of overall deaths (for heals/tank). I could come up with better feats that more accurately represent skill, but you get the idea. Right now anyone can queue for an Elite Raid, and that's one of the reasons you can't get a remotely decent run with a PUG.

    The issue with this resolution is that you'd probably end up with longer queue times, or never being able to get into an Elite Raid (which seems to be the case with the Ep41 Elite Raid anyway), but there are ways around that as well (increased rewards, etc.). There's a balance there that hasn't been found in DCUO.

    3. First off, you can't walk into most Elite Raids, so you'd have to put in a lot of extra effort to clear out half your group, and doing it with only 4 people (instead of 8 people where 4 are novice players) actually makes it easier in many of the cases you linked to. Secondly, many of those Raids are the easier Elites in recent content. That Titans one is especially easy. I'd like to see them 4-man either of the BoP Elite Raids. And third, the CR on some of those is way higher than the original content. But the fact that a couple of groups can 4-man still doesn't change my original point of you carrying me through a Raid (which isn't what I asked for), or restricting the Elite Raids so novice/intermediate players can't queue for it.

    While I've created multiple spreadsheets to track things in DCUO, I don't have exact numbers for Nth Metal XP before Ep41 so I can't provide stats that disproves what you're saying. What I can say is that leveling an artifact from 0 and from 160 seems slower now compared to before. In the before times I would get a new artifact to 20 after one alert. Now it takes 2-3 runs at best.

    If you say the amount if Nth Metal XP hasn't changed, then I can't argue that further, but it absolutely does not feel that way. Nth Metal seems to crawl right now, and getting a stack of 30 that only gives me 300 XP isn't great. I know we're getting more drops at lower XP, but it really doesn't seem to add up to the same as before.
  20. Jacob Dragonhunter Steadfast Player

    So now they'll be adjusting rewards based on time and completition.

    So to anyone else who was saying"Oh we'll just spam FOS 3.. Because it's easy."

    [IMG]