AmazingMOO

Does any of that explain Jessica's disappearance? Did I do anything in those missions that made her poof?

So I was exploring Praetoria and found myself in Impeial City. I decided to take a look at my contacts and realized I could chat with a certain Mr. Scott. I called him up and he introduced me to Jessica Flores.

I was not done with Tunnel Rat's arc yet, so I went back and did her last mission before continuing on with Jessica's arc. Tunnel Rat introduced me to Dr. Arvin. I did Dr. Arvin's arc... and then he disappeared from both my contact list and the map for me.

I vaguely remember reading something about NPCs disappearing if they're not logically supposed to be somewhere, depending on your character's progression, so I checked through my contact list to see if I could find him that way.

I noticed in the process that Jessica Flores was now also missing from my list in both the active and inactive lists.

Calvin Scott will give me a mission to talk to Hatchet, but Hatchet is already in my contact list.

Did I do something to eliminate Jessica from my list? Is there any way to get back on the 'Warden' arc route?

...LOOKS FREAKIN' GREAT!

I was away for a bit due to some RL business. I simply didn't have time to log in and play for a few months.

Now that things have settled down for me and the expansion is officially out today, I got logged back in and apologized to my friends for falling off the face of the Earth for an entire issue.

What took me by surprise was that in only a couple months I had forgotten how AWESOME this game looks, even if you hit 'Cancel' on the screen that wants you to play in Ultra Mode.

I made a smart-*** crack to some friends in a global channel that Praetoria was so well designed that it was like their developers had actually lived in a city before. It's not just Praetoria, though. The game is genuinely attractive and I'm quite surprised that everything looks so much prettier than I remember it.

So if you haven't been told, Arts and Crafts team, Kudos. Print this post out and take it with you when it comes time to argue for your raise.

>>Powers not recharging fast enough

1. Claws
2. Archery
3. Dual Blades
4. Recharge Enhancers.
5. Level 6. Hasten.

Seriously, when I first started some time back, it seemed like nothing recharged quickly enough... but at the time I was thinking the game played like one of the slower MMOs and that you had to rest after every encounter. It was the Rest power I was waiting for to recharge.

Get four attacks or so of all but the absolute SLOWEST powersets under your belt and get a few enhancers in 'em and your only downtime will be looking for groups.

Once you get over twenty or so, you'll start wanting to prioritize your powers. You simply won't be able to use them all rapidly enough on every encounter.

Along the way, you'll seriously want to consider playing with the difficulty options to give you more enemies per encounter.

My understanding from beta chatter is that the timeout value is counted from the implementation of the feature... ie, today. However, I haven't seen any redname confirmation on that.

Can anyone with a concrete understanding (I'd love to see a redname) give us confirmation on this?

This is one of the reasons why IP law is generally BAD. It allows patent-trolls like this creep to cause damage to the world around them.

This ended up for the better because NCSoft was large enough that they could afford to squash this guy like the gnat he is, but it doesn't always work that way.

A lot of the time in IP law, it's the other way 'round-- an 800 lb gorilla in the plaintiff's seat and Joe Gnat in the defendant's seat trying to figure out whether or not he has a chance to protect himself legally without blowing his life's savings on legal fees. The record industry's drive-by lawsuits are a VERY good example of how that works. 'Pay us money or get obliterated.' If that message is delivered via an attorney it's a 'legal dispute'. However, it's only extortion when it comes from two large men with bad suits and brass knuckles?

Un-uh. Nope. Extortion and blackmail are extortion and blackmail no matter how you dress 'em up.

NCSoft appears to be a fairly honorable company with honorable people in the drivers' seats. How many companies can you really say that for?

Cross-server teaming, yay or nay?

Do you want the game to be about technique or numbers?

I recently made a character named Goblin Knight. She's a claws/electric scrapper on Victory, whom I've been slotting extremely offensively. Electric isn't terribly durable in and of itself anyway, so it makes sense to me to make a melee character who relies on sheer damage for survivability in rough situations.

As always, I find I like characters that rely on finesse rather than mathmatical superiority. Accordingly, being quick in battle and making the right choices is much more entertaining to me rather than simply hitting '1, 2, 3' and zoning out as I've heard some players say.

As Goblin Knight has grown, I've found myself developing tactics that both fit the character's image and allow her to win fights that she'd otherwise not be able to if she simply waded in and tanked the enemies that came to her. For example, after agroing a group of high-melee damage enemies such as redcaps, she'll leap back and use Shockwave to knock them back and off their feet. This gives her a second or so to do more damage to them without them being able to attack.

It's an extremely effective technique and relies on careful positioning, twitch decision-making, and quick reflexes.

(I also do well at the ski slope event every winter.)

It's also EXACTLY the kind of tactic that pisses off knockback-haters since it requires meleers to move around to attack their enemies. It somewhat reduces the effectiveness of AOE powers in terms of the number of enemies they can hit at once.

It occurs that I'm looking at perhaps the underlying cause of knockback hate. It's a difference between what players think the game should be about-- combat technique or mathematical superiority.

The purest kinds of 'technique games' are fighters and shooters. These games rely almost solely on reflex and twitch decision-making. The purest kinds of 'numbers games' are turn-based resource-management games and RPGs. They rely almost solely on planning. Most games fall somewhere in between the two extremes. Pure turn-based games are pretty rare these days and almost all of them incorporate at least some mechanics that allow for technique to play a winning role. Likewise, modern fighters and shooters have mechanics that allow planning skills and number crunching to come to the fore.

City of Heroes lies right about the middle of the spectrum. A player can approach it from either a technique or numbers direction and be successful.

The opinions I've heard from knockback haters indicate to me that they fall into the latter group. The math works out the best and has the least chance for failure if every player on a team goes by a script. By spending lots of money on their character build, they can ensure a high-rate of survivability with a repetitive strategy. On the extreme end of things, this allows a player to wade into a farm mission and get a certain amount of exp and drops per hour.

I do not fit into that group. I find it boring, numbing, and conducive to agriculture. It is in no way relaxing or entertaining for me to play that way.

I do certainly see myself in the former group, which is entertained by learning against different kinds of enemies and trying and sometimes failing to find new and exciting ways to overcome them. On the extreme end of this side of the spectrum are PVPers, in which tactics are key to victory. It surprised me to realize this since I really don't care for PVP.

I think it's very arguable that the most successful players are those who don't ignore either the planning or technique aspects of the game. That goes no matter how you apply it. Both the pure farmer and hardcore PVPer do better at their chosen activity if they understand the other.

Accordingly, to keep the game fun and entertaining for the widest variety of players, both the game developers AND game players should resist efforts to allow the balance between technique and numbers to shift.

It's easy for ME to say that knockback haters should not make efforts to discourage players from tossing their foes around. However, that goes both ways. I should not make efforts to discourage people from doing the math and choosing effective playstyles and builds ahead of time.

Likewise, players who enjoy the technique and finesse side of the game should resist the temptation to encourage the developers to make the game more about technique and less about numbers. Players who enjoy the numbers and control side of the game should resist the temptation to encourage the developers to make the game less about technique and more about numbers.

.

.

.

Now, all that said, knockback is fun. You haters should try it. You might like it.

Oh look. It's open beta! Finally.

For those who haven't had the privilege of testing i17 yet, yes, it is all that and an order of fries. There are LOTS of new goodies all across the board, from animated tails, to AE, to the consignment house UI, to new arcs, and more.

The graphics engine has undergone some SERIOUS changes. For those who can run it successfully, Ultra Mode looks freakin' great.

There is even a COMPLETELY UNSUPPORTED way to force your video cards to try to do SLI instruction sharing so that if you have more than one video adaptor in your system, you can eke out higher performance. (Check the SLI posts on the beta boards for more details.)

That said, this is one of the most radical changes to the game engine since launch. It NEEDS more feedback from users with a variety of video setups, both high-end and low-end.

Please subject your system to Ultra Mode settings and then /bug your results or post them to the forums, including your system specs like CPU, Video card model, driver versions, and the like.

The game developers have really gone above and beyond for this one. Help them out and provide as wide an array of feedback and testing data as you can.

The 'Warrior' belt that comes with the Martial Arts super booster pack is not available if you don't also select 'Robes'. The other super-booster belts like 'Cyborg' and 'Valkyrie' are available if you choose other top options, but not 'Warrior'.

Interestingly, 'Valkyrie' disappears from the list if you select 'Jackets'.

-- Edit --

If you attempt to hand-edit the costume file, it will display a tight top with the Warrior belt (with no clipping issues) but then refuse to load it.

His big, brass, steam-powered time machine didn't give him away?

Pratchett spends a bit more time on that in 'The Truth':

So the one constant to the multiverse is that Calvin Scott, like the playerbase, is gonna get screwed by that universe's Statesman.

There is a LOT of stuff in the pipeline right now with surprisingly firm dates for release. We're certain to hear a lot about i17 and GR from PAX, but we already have a handful of promised features to which dates have been affixed.

Honestly, it does a lot to keep me excited about the game. The slow trickle of releases is actually pretty nice.

Dual Pistols - Going Rogue/March Prepurchase

I got this with the pre-purchase, and it is GOOD. There are some changes I hope are made before all is said and done with, particularly in the way of more pistol models, but it's a pretty darn good set and great fun to play.


Demon Summoning - Going Rogue/April Prepurchase

I'm fairly Meh on the concept of demon summoning as a mastermind set. I like the idea of a whip as the primary attack power for the mastermind, but I'd frankly like to see an entire whip set instead.


'Dark Mirror' Enemies - Issue 17

I'm moderately interested in these guys, but haven't found out enough to decide if I like them or not. I suspect they tie in to Praetorian Earth, but of course we just don't know enough yet to make any firm judgements.


Revamped Consignment UI - Issue 17

Wow, this has been a long time coming. The Consignment UI SUCKS, and has needed reworked for a long time. I'm very happy that they're taking the time to clean this up.


Ultra Mode Graphics - Issue 17

The videos look sharp, but I'm worried about performance. Nothing gives me a headache quite like choppy video. I have an 2.7Ghz AMD processor and an extremely bastardized video setup including a Gforce 9400. It'll be just on the very edge of what has been mentioned as capable of running Ultra Mode Graphics. If Ultra Mode options cause me to dip much below 24fps, I'll probably have to leave them turned off.

Now if there are options to render characters in Ultra Mode while not rendering so much of the world in Ultra Mode, I might be more interested in that. Likewise, if the graphical engine updates offer any general improvements to game performance, I'll be a pretty happy camper.


Level 20 EATs - Issue 17

This is a non-issue for me since I have heroic and villainous 50s. I've heard some people say that they feel 20 is a bit low, and that the level award should be 30 or something similar.


New Explore Badges - Issue 17

Very yummy! I'm looking forward to this. It's going to be hard not to go visit Vidiot Maps and Paragonwiki to find these guys, but I prefer to actually explore for the explore badges.


AE Improvements - Issue 17

I'm hesitantly looking forward to this. It's currently VERY difficult to make a lowbie mission with custom enemies. Custom enemies are brutal no matter what you do. If you restrict their powers, they lose a lot of their appeal because their exp rewards are decreased. If I could revamp my lowbie missions to make them less difficult without awarding zilch for players, I'd be pretty happy.

However, what I'd MOST like to see for AE is an improved search and recommendation system. It breaks my heart to see farms listed above good story-oriented missions. (I do report them when I see them, yes.)


Side Switching - Going Rogue
We don't know a whole lot about how this is going to work for newbie characters yet, but we've heard quite a bit on how it's going to work for existing characters. I have to say that I'm quite pleased with the details we have so far. I don't have very many truly 'Evil' characters at all, but I do have a number of 'borderline' characters that fit into the 'Vigilante' or the 'Rogue' mold that have been discussed. I'm greatly looking forward to the ability to get them away from the very polar alignments.

I also have a slot reserved for a level 1 heroic stalker, but I'll have to see how the game treats newbie side-switchers.


New Costume Pieces - I17/Going Rogue/Item Pack

The screenies we've seen look pretty awesome, but I feel like we're missing out on more generic costume pieces and textures. For example, you can kinda mix-n-match the Witch costume pieces with the various bridal pieces, but there's not a lot more room there for player creativity. As much as I'm looking forward to the new pieces, what I WANT is more generic costume pieces and tools to help match colors and appearances.


Positron's 'Endgame' System - ???

We really haven't heard a lot discussed on this other than Positron and the other developers working on this are going to do their best to make it 'fun'. I'm not a farmer at all, so I have a very limited number of characters who have no more room in their build for improvement. I do have one or two 'purpled out' characters. While I'd like more opportunity to advance them, I certainly haven't heard anything one way or the other that will let me feel that this system will do that.

It also brings up memories a little about the various comments Statesman made about systems that were 'coming soon' and then never did. Posi, don't put yourself in the same position States did!

I'd been having a pretty rough time on the Dr. K Taskforce. The lag was intolerable and was causing my commands not to. go off. I rebooted my machine, my cable modem, my desktop switch, and made sure nothing unnecessary was running on my PC before logging back in.

The lag is still not great, but I'm at least able to get all my powers to go off. Until the fight with Reichsman, that is. During the Reichs fight itself, the lag became completely crushing again. Powers didn't go off. My character couldn't move around a lot. All the other players, Reichs, and the AVs rubberbanded around. It was miserable.

Then when Reichs was defeated, my dropped-packet-o-graph went back from looking like the toothbrush of a really sick person to looking a hair more normal, if still pretty lousy.

CoH is running pretty much by itself when I took this screenshot. I don't have anything else running soaking up ram or network resources. My router (with the wireless radio shut off) indicates no other devices attached, nor any odd incoming noise like portscans or DOS attempts.

Thoughts?

So I notice that I'm down to my last 3 character slots on my server of choice.

It seems like the 36 character limit is somewhat arbitrary and could be expanded with relatively little difficulty. Is there a chance players might be able to purchase more slots in the near future?

I'd personally be interested in what NCSoft's US marketing budget looks like, but that is probably an eyes-only level trade secret.

From a chat I read, REALLY expensive advertising during primetime on the big networks appears to cost about 200-300k a slot. (I think. I could be misreading)And of course no one wants just one slot. They want to repeat an ad multiple times every day for a few weeks.

It seems like Going Rogue would be worth at least a week or so of ads on Cable on networks or during shows likely to share the demographic-- say Adult Swim shows on Cartoon Network.

There was the usual influx of players during the weekend, magnified by the Reactivation event and double experience weekend. I had TF or leveling groups pretty much the entire weekend and heard some telling things over and over again:


"I'd love to come back, but I can't afford to."

I heard this personally in group chat or tells from three or four different players who'd left the game and came back for reactivation. I saw it repeated a few more times in broadcast or global channels. It hints at something that I've suspected for quite a while; the rough economy is having a very large effect on the number of people who WOULD be playing.

NCSoft financial people: Aren't quite a bit of your Asian sales from people who pay daily or per session in net cafes? If you can get some kind of pay-as-you-go plan in place for CoH, you might be able to catch some revenue you're currently missing because some North American folks simply can't justify or budget $15 a month.

It also means that as the economy is now in a 'starting to recover' phase, it's an ideal time to attract players who suddenly have a bit of disposable income they're not used to. It would seem especially important when there are newer games intent on carving away from CoH's playerbase.


"Yeah, I played [competing game] for a while, but it really sucked. This reactivation weekend makes me realize what I was missing."

I heard this repeated at least once an hour as the inevitable end to the conversation that began, "Well, I switched to [competing game]..." The only time that players were in any way positive about those other games was when they were describing features that were also strong CoH features, such as a certain other superhero game's character creator. Even then, it was usually in the context of "But it was ripped off from CoH."

This illustrates an important facet of the 'City of' franchise's customer loyalty. The game trades heavily on its quality and featureset maturity. This will be an important subject to keep in mind as the game continues to age, especially when integrating new features into it. If the quality of the game degrades significantly for any given reason, it could have a larger effect than you might initially think.


"So what are people doing for exp these days? Are they still farming AE?"
"Only Dev Choice Missions work with DXP this time around."
"Really? Okay, I'll do those."
or
"Really? I'll just do regular missions then."

I heard this quite a few times in the course of the weekend from returnees. Current players griping about the most recent AE exploit plugs were over their tantrums by the time DXP started (or had moved on to another exploit). There was little or no whining or moaning about having to do Dev Choice missions to get DXP. The choice between regular missions and Dev Choice was a non-issue in every chat venue I monitored.

This tells me that the balance of reward-to-effort in Architect missions, especially those Dr. Aeon's been flagging for us, is just about right.

Personally, having been playing my lowbies through AE missions BEFORE the weekend, I think it may be just a hair on the low side, but so close to 'right' that it merits only minor tweaks.

It's been a hard, nasty road for those working to balance AE, but it looks like you're finally at the top of the peak, and have to maintain balance rather than try to create it where none existed. Good Job!

I've been really pleasantly surprised by the creativity of the City of Heroes playerbase this evening. I expected to log in to see dozens of identical-looking gun foo artists in black latex, mirror shades, and trenchcoats made to use the dual pistols set.

There have indeed been quite a few of those, but what I've most noticed have been the cowboys.

That's right. Six-gun totin', quick-drawin', outlaw-pluggin' cowboys. Some of them have been zombified.

I've also seen space captains, pulp-era secret agents, cops, private detectives, silver-age vigilantes, bronze-age assasins, a clown, several gun-wielding robots, the requisite catgirls, Sentai 'Rangers', and a wide array of things that are NOT Neo and Trinity clones.

Nice creativity, Heroes!

A sign of the times overheard in Victory Badges -- I listened in on a couple players tonight who were discussing what dire straits the 'City of' franchise is in. Despite being after 12:00 AM EST in a channel long ago broken by the 'full channel bug', about 10 other players joined the conversation.

Topics brought up:

- AE killed the game.
- PVP changes killed the game.
- Free server transfers killed the game, especially for PVPers (except in RV).
- Hami raids used to happen every week. Now they're non-existant. Ergo, the game is dying.
- Atlas Park is no longer laggy. Ergo, the game is mumble mumble.
- When the game started, everyone was outside street-sweeping. Now they're not. Ergo murmble mumble mumble.
- Too many taskforce teams make it difficult for other people to get teams. (Not quite sure I understand this one.)
- CoH should be free to play, with a cash shop for microtransactions.
- Microtransactions suck and are mumble.
- Dual pistols look great! Maybe the game will revive with Going Rogue.
- Servers should be merged.
- Free server transfers are a prelude to the servers being merged.
- Existing servers should be merged down into just four: Virture, Freedom, Justice, and Victory.
- A new server should be created solely for PVP.
- A certain other superhero game and a space game suck really bad.

So put on yer doom hats, because NCSoft is in mumble DEEP TROUBLE mumble mumble.