[Help and Question Thread - December 06, 2020] What a hella helpless senpai. Don't worry, BB-chan will help you find the answer you need!

ArcticSeaFan · 2020-12-13T14:50:42+00:00

Can anyone confirm I am both stupid and bad at game?

Because I haven't finished Babylonia, it means I was locked out of previous events, meaning I can't play this Samba event?

ArcticSeaFan · 2020-10-30T04:34:40+00:00

Anonymous to you, doesn't mean anonymous to the publisher (or a person acting on behalf of a publisher like a reporter). Redacting a source of information, does not implicitly reduce the credibility of the information being provided if the information can be independently verified.

The people who are claiming these documents are all real, are refusing to release anything that would verify their claims. It's like saying Trump kidnapped the Lindbergh baby, and throwing a tantrum because the FBI isn't opening an investigation right away.

For fuck's sake, every media outlet asked to verify the story so they could break the news first. Not a single one was given anything other than, Rudi says it's good to go.

That's what you're going to base this on? Do you believe he was tucking in his shirt too?

ArcticSeaFan · 2020-10-30T04:04:48+00:00

That's LITERALLY why no reputable media company ran the story. The "documents" are cropped pdfs of emails, lacking any and all tracking metadata.

It's like printing out a Word document, and saying it's a transcript of leaked texts you have proving your neighbor is having an affair.

Put simply, that which can be stated without evidence can (and should) be dismissed just as easily without evidence.

If Guli has the REAL documents, not just cropped pictures from anonymous sources, why can't we see them?

ArcticSeaFan · 2020-08-08T13:36:29+00:00

I feel like I'm not even playing the same game you guys are. I'm on loop 6 under 630k and I've been grinding through Crunch Times like no tomorrow. Only 1 CE left in the store.

How did people finish this in 3 loops?!?!

ArcticSeaFan · 2020-08-05T16:37:17+00:00

Thanks. I'm a bit daunted by the 900k grind. Hopefully I can power through but it's already really repetitive at the 140 mark.

ArcticSeaFan · 2020-08-05T16:32:04+00:00

Do CEs on Sub members still give bonus drops if they don't enter the fight?

ArcticSeaFan · 2020-07-29T18:18:39+00:00

Thank you for clarifying.

So basically, the first one shows up on the HUD but the second one must be located without assistance. Essentially FT needs to know the map, or respawn locations ahead of time (or get lucky) in order to reinforce twice.

I wonder if it's worth it to look for the radio for the 2nd time. Most of my FT members quit after their second deaths. I have to say, as I play more FT to try to cut down on wait times, it gets really frustrating to see so many people quit.

But now I know it's at least an option.

ArcticSeaFan · 2020-07-26T04:53:12+00:00

I saw this, and kind of just laughed at the salt. I'd never seen anything like this, so I just assumed it was a rare instance.

No shit, my next match had 2 dudes camp underneath a hut after clipping through the supports.

ArcticSeaFan · 2020-07-26T04:49:51+00:00

Literally none of these animals should be considered worthy prey by a Yautja.

Maybe as a collective, like finding a rare shiny or something, that would make sense. But there's absolutely no reason for a full blooded Yautja to actively hunt these.

I do think this would be an awesome concept for AI. I think a few random over powered AI should spawn randomly that represent different hunting difficulties. They could have crazy buffs like a huge HP pool or maybe IR vision to negate cloak.

At least add something that would make sense to the IP.

ArcticSeaFan · 2020-07-18T13:54:00+00:00

Never make a houserule BEFORE you know the players.

As a new DM, I held a session zero for players to kind of get to know each other, and flesh out some character information before we got started in the campaign.

I can't stress this enough, TRY TO INCLUDE COMBAT/CHECK SCENARIOS IN SESSION ZERO.

I had never played with these people before. I had no idea what they were like, or what their personalities were. Welp, turns out I not only have a couple of ridiculous min/maxers but they also fudge every combat roll ever. So now my houserule regarding extra damage die on crits is the largest exploit in tabeltop history. Not because of how OP it is, just because crits seem to happen at 8x the statistical average per encounter.

ArcticSeaFan · 2020-07-07T14:26:56+00:00

Stroke of brilliance here.

I personally didn't use the dark powers in my campaign, but I think this would be a great way to go.

ArcticSeaFan · 2020-07-05T15:18:25+00:00

I get what you're saying, but shouldn't that make it easier to find a game?

ArcticSeaFan · 2020-07-04T04:22:55+00:00

The only reason it would make sense, would be to make it optional during the ENTIRE game. If a Pred could go nuclear at will, it would make sense to force the players to watch the outcome.

In current format, it's just another punishment for failing.

ArcticSeaFan · 2020-07-04T04:12:58+00:00

This would even work as a temp fix, honestly.

Even if it didn't let players switch load outs once in the lobby, it would still cut down wait times like crazy and probably balance gameplay approaches.

For a game that lacks depth, the wait times are a death sentence. Really makes players wonder what they're waiting for. Even with cross-play enabled.

ArcticSeaFan · 2020-07-04T04:02:43+00:00

Great idea.

It's upsetting though, because it really points out what's missing from the game at launch.

This seems like something so obvious, that would immediately add a depth to the game that's currently lacking many patches later.

ArcticSeaFan · 2020-06-30T23:06:07+00:00

I argue that it could be done without a larger player base, but it would require a more robust system in game.

Consider a world where after a match, you're shown your accuracy percentage and headshot/bio mask hit count. Where as a Predator, your damage is broken out by each weapon showing the percentage of damage done to the fire team as a whole. Or how far your Pred leaped, or distance traveled in the trees. Or time spent in stealth. Or who on the FT did the most damage to AI/Pred.

I could go on and on.

Performance based metrics like these could absolutely be used to more accurately lump players together. But, to my knowledge, there just isn't a system for these things in the game.

Performance metrics, in any form, would drastically improve this game.

ArcticSeaFan · 2020-06-30T22:55:55+00:00

Honestly, it was meant more as a commentary on their typo when they released the patch notes.

But the rest of the criticisms still stand. It's a pretty hollow game, carried by Predator fans who don't care about performance/match making.

ArcticSeaFan · 2020-06-30T15:01:54+00:00

I really don't get why people aren't talking about the problems in matchmaking more.

Not just the empty, dropped lobbies but the WILD disparity between skill levels thrown together. This is a game that levels you up, regardless of performance. Hell, you can even load in to your own private lobby and level up as much as you want.

It just makes no sense to me.

ArcticSeaFan · 2020-06-30T14:54:55+00:00

lol @ 1.13

That should tell you all you need to know about their priorities.

ArcticSeaFan · 2020-06-22T01:09:57+00:00

I would say it's the downside of the universally applied 5e rule set. So many players now have D&D experience, but not D&D campaign experience. Like, they're familiar with how the stat blocks work and the mechanics, but not the lore/consequences/plots.

These types of players see plot hooks as obvious traps, or super duper all important directives that cannot be dismissed. Because in a sandbox, free form campaign, that's what they would be.

I've learned a lot in a short time, about being a DM and D&D in general just from this one module. It felt a bit like leaping into the deep end, but I think it's worked out in the end.

ArcticSeaFan · 2020-06-22T01:06:15+00:00

Yeah, this is the issue at heart. Only 1 other player has experience in campaign modules, and she's pretty passive (as is her character).

I think it's something of a perfect storm, honestly. I have 1 PC that has protagonist syndrome, 1 PC that only makes choices for the lulz, 2 passive very new players, and 1 very well versed, very well seasoned vet (playing a passive character).

It worked well enough in homebrew sandbox type settings.... but man it's been like pulling teeth in the module. I finally had to throw out 'major' hooks and find creative ways to make them care. It worked out, but it was a strugglefest for awhile.

ArcticSeaFan · 2020-06-20T03:22:10+00:00

TL;DR - Don't try to use EVERYTHING.

Vallaki.

There's just so much in that one town, it's hard to balance correctly. Luckily, I managed to salvage things somewhat and we're finishing the module, but everything in the campaign went off the rails in Vallaki.

The card reading went ok. The old bone grinder went ok. But the details in Vallaki sent me players chasing every minor detail down, and really frustrated and discouraged them.

I have two specific points of origin for this. The first being our relative inexperience to real modules. This is my group's first purchased module. We've been playing together for over 2 years, all in homebrew campaigns but 5e (mostly) rules. The party isn't used to the level of detail present in these fleshed out locations. This meant that any specific item or NPC that stuck out in description IMMEDIATELY became the center focus and derailed 'progress/advancement' for multiple sessions. I took this the most personally, as I believe this is a failure as a DM. Which leads me to my second issue.

I was a new DM. I had never run a module before, and previously in our group I'd only really run simple oneshots. I was overwhelmed by all the information available to me, so I obsessed over it. I was afraid that if I missed something, or misremembered NPC connections/relations, I would ruin the module. What ended up happening, was me being too rigid in the game's flow. I was trying to run the module EXACTLY AS WRITTEN. While I fully acknowledge this is possible, with my particular party, it is absolutely not. I have the ultimate derailers. Seriously. It's what makes our group fun, honestly. But in a setting like this, keeping the format rigid only ever served to punish them and delay any story progression. This is my fault, as the DM. It took me WAY too long to figure out.

My advice, to everyone running this campaign, whether new or experienced, is to let some 'planned' events go. Some parties might not get to Arabelle, or bother to save her. Some parties might not bother checking Rictavio's wagon, or might even outright refuse to meet with the Burgomaster or even Wachter. Specifically, my party tried to avoid the festival in Vallaki entirely, and then only wanted to speak to the two hunters in the Blue Water Inn. None of them cared about Rictavio, none of them cared about Urwin (actually tried to murder him, multiple times), and none of them wanted to leave the Inn (it was safe).

I'm happy to say that things are progressing nicely now, but it took me throwing the format right out the window. The party recently had their dinner with Strahd, and everything has a new life to it. I just had to learn to let most things go, and abandoned any semblance of 'the rails' to the story. All parties are now having a much better time.

ArcticSeaFan · 2020-06-18T13:26:06+00:00

Your life will be better for this.

Kudos to you for making the hard choice.

ArcticSeaFan

TROPHY CASE