Andora

We get to write our own missions and story arcs? Holy freaking awesome, Batman. That is ten kinds of win! Thank you!!!

That is ten kinds of awesome and twenty kinds of WIN. You guys rock! Thank you!!!!

<3

Thanks for those answers! Nice to get more information.

Re: Empathy. I don't understand how it's not a "villainous" enough set. Darkity dark powers don't scream "heroic" to me, but those are given to scrappers, defenders, and now tanks. I just can't believe that no villain would ever want to buff his allies. Even if it's in his own interests. And what about those villains who actually think they're doing the right thing? THEY wouldn't want to help their friends? Sorry, I just don't get that argument!

Re: Blasters. Holy merciful secondary, Batman. No decisions yet because I want to test it before I say "Hoorah!" or "WTF?!?!" Definitely watching this in beta.

Thanks again for those answers!

Great article. Seeing that NC wanted to make sure optional was part of the deal makes me pretty confident this will be handled smoothly. Unless they're planning on going nuts with the advertising.

Having said that, I'd like to see at least some of the current billboards remain in place (since I'll be opting in unless it becomes obnoxious). Some of them are just funny. And please don't get rid of things like the Dirty Duck! I love our restuarants!

I've been had!!

This is so awesome! Really love the slider so we can see how powers perform as we level. Nice job!

I'd like to have the maps greyed instead of blacked in (heroside too for hazard zones). Trying to get exploration badges in CoV is kind of a pain, especially now that leveling is so fast. I blew right through Port Oakes on my brute and only revealed half the map. And holy tomatoes, Nerva is soooooo long!

Granted, that's a very minor QoL thing, but I have this obsession with being able to see everything on the map. All that black stuff makes me nuts!

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well at least it's obivous that you guys hate the villains now.

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You know after reading this entire thread, and several others, I have to say something:

Villains-only players are the biggest bunch of crybabies I have seen in ANY game forum. If the developers truly hated villains, they would not make sure that the issues had stuff that both "sides" could use. They don't need to.

They could stop all development of everything red side and devote 100% of their resources blue side, but they do not.

Worse, all these calls of "Devs hate CoV" come before a single player has seen Issue 12 as the game is still not even to the closed beta stage.

Whine moar.

The developers might not hate self proclaimed "CoV-Only" players, but after putting up with all the whining in the last 3-4 free issues, I would not blame them one bit.

[/ QUOTE ]Well said!!

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Please don't make generalizations about a community which is only minimally represented by those who post on the forums. Also, please don't lose the forest while focusing on a few trees. In any group, there is bound to be some jerk who runs around and yells for immediate gratification or demands things to be tailored to his specifc needs. Just because he's an idiot doesn't mean the whole group is. And it doesn't mean that the group lacks legitimate concerns.

Hysterical speculation is counterproductive, but thinking out loud and trying to look at how things *might* work is part of the reason we have forums. I've read plenty of well reasoned posts about the possible implications regarding this first wave of proliferation. SOME players may threaten to leave without seeing Day One of Beta. MANY want to test this out before making any solid conclusions. So please don't lump every player with concerns about proliferation into the category of "crybabies." Just because they don't share your opinion doesn't mean they're whining. Anymore than someone who doesn't think the same way I do is an idiot.

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How is opening up new sets "going backwards"? I guess some in the small minority PvP community perhaps might think that way (surprise 95% of the whines here are about PvP). PvP'ers are usually the only ones that complain about others getting improvements to their characters I've noticed (really focused for me when people actually complained about ring of fire getting -fly). Which is part of why I hate PvP, but for PvE, more choices can not=going backward.

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Only a small percentage of players actually come to the boards and post. The "whining" pvp'ers here who may scream doom and cry foul are not necessarily wholly representative of the pvp community in game. No more than the pve players who do the same thing.

There are plenty of players (like me) who engage in pvp casually. Should people be flipping out before anything's been tested? Of course not. Attacking the developers is never acceptable. Accusing them of hating villains or pvp'ers or stalkers is silly. But expressing legitimate concern over how these power ports will affect one area of the game isn't "whining."

To be fair, many of us who have said we're disappointed with the proliferation for villains have not cried "OMG Doooo0000m!!!111!eleventy!!" There are valid NON-PVP reasons to be concerned about some of these choices (Stalkers getting a resistance set for example). My opinion is still very much subject to change, depending on testing. I'm thrilled we're getting new power choices, and I understand this is just the first wave. However, I still think some of the concerns being raised aren't "whining" but legitimate issues.

Kay. Little disappointed about villains. I want to see numbers and any tweaking, as well as test thoroughly before I make any decisions...but um...yeah.

Looking forward to hearing about the VEATS!

These revamps sound awesome! I'm very excited to see the addtion of the Legacy Chain to the zone. I think they're a neat group villain side, and I'd love to learn more about them. I may actually play in the Hollows now instead of running to King's Row!

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Here is your big opertunity to fix all the worthless POS Vet Rewards from 45 months to 3 months.

What are ya gonna give out? Cuz except for Respecs, Nem Rod/Black Wand and Sands of Mu.. The rest were pretty much worthless..

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In your opinion. The base teleporter, team teleport, and most of the costume pieces have served one or more of my characters multiple times.

The sushi bar is total brilliance.

Holy power trays, Batman! This is awesome.

This looks awesome! Very excited.

Adding my request for more slots per server. I don't want to move because all my friends are there, etc., etc. I will *happily* pay more for extra spots so I can keep my vet rewards. Tons of things I want to try now. Storm corruptor? Plant controller? Yes, please!

WOW, ArachnosElite. That's a supremely COOL base. I love the warroom and the weapon's corridor.

Also, what song is playing on the video?

I have no problems with something to be done to correct exploitation. Since I don't know how many people actually do softloading to farm recipes, I can't comment on how widespread the behavior is. In my 42+ months of playing CoX, I have never had anyone suggest that we softload missions. Before or after the Invention system. Not even when we ran the MSTF badge. That isn't to say that it doesn't happen a lot. You guys have access to numbers and information we don't.

However, while I support your decision to remedy the exploitation issue (since it obviously seems to be a pretty big concern), I'm not sure that this particular solution really addresses the problem in a way that's most fair for a large portion, if not a majority, of players who run tf's. Sometimes, things happen that we just can't control and for whatever reason, we're unable to finish or help our team complete the tf. Or we miss three or four missions. Sometimes, we may not have the chance to quit before we log or get disconnected. Why punish players who are legitimately running content that was designed to be done by teams but for reasons they can't control, lose one or more team members? Gathering groups of people you trust and assuring that they all have stellar internet connections isn't always feasible.

I think the "You must complete X number of missions to get a recipe drop" is probably the best solution you'll be able to find for this problem. Implementing that remedy quickly seems to be an issue, but I'm not really sure that going with THIS change is that much better. I feel that it too broadly punishes people who are not exploiting the system.

To me, the more fundamental problem seems to be why people are exploiting softloading in the first place. The Black Market is much slower redside. Some of the recipes in Pool C aren't globally useful or lack value on the market. The people who are farming or exploiting TF's are filling a need. Getting a Miracle: End Recovery or Luck of the Gambler: +Recharge is almost unobtainable for casual players. Heck, I have six level 50's and a goodly amount of influence/infamy, and even I'm not willing to shell out 30+ million influence for a Numina's Regen/Recovery. I rarely run tf's for recipes because there's a good chance I'll get something that doesn't sell for very much or I just don't need. Perhaps instead of applying a band-aid to the problem, the game and community would be better served by addressing the inequalities in the market.

So...if the current fix is to be the solution for the time being, I hope that the more friendly "You must complete X number of missions" is implemented as quickly as possible.