"You can't let someone gain enjoyment for a year by playing a character and then take that enjoyment away without reprisal." --earlier post
This is my only issue 5 dev post, so understand my comments below cover my view of the issue 5 changes in total (be it burn, scrappers, regen, invuln, etc.), from a 50,000 foot level.
To summarize, the game just doesn't feel "fun" anymore.
I have actively read these boards daily for the past year, was all over the changes for each issue, loved planning out my characters in advance, etc. When Issue 5 hit test, I could see plainly the nerfs coming from left and right, and about 3 weeks ago just stopped playing the game. Told others I was taking a break 'til issue 5 comes out. It wasn't a matter of simply getting bored with the game, it was the outlook for the future of "how much fun will this game provide me".
I play solo mostly, am a casual "power" gamer, play almost every night after the wife and daughter are asleep, am a financial exec with a large bank so analytical in nature, love planning out my characters, etc.. The game needs to feel fun, and in spite of the levelling curve (not for sake of levelling, but for sake of gaining new powers to play with!) the "fun" factor was being able to play different styles of characters and pull off some amazingly "fun" and HEROIC stuff. Sometimes this was solo, other times with a team.
What I see with the multitude of changes coming with issue 5 is a need for almost exclusive team play, as (almost) everyone has been neutered in a way that requires it. And worse yet, for those of us who have been along for the ride over the past year, with no sighting of core game improvement in sight (i.e. something to do other than kill xx thousand before the next shiny toy), there isn't really much to keep us around. I understand the changes to all powers are in line with Statesman's "balance vision", but realize you are removing pieces of "fun" associated with this game. Burn was powerful, instant healing was powerful, the defense of invulnerability tankers is powerful....at the same time they were fun, and the more pieces of "fun" we have in game the better we all are.
It is apparent you are trying to make this game into a large-scale mmo by levelling the playing field from a group dynamic. From a strategic planning standpoint, CoH will never rival an EQ2 or WOW for playbase. It is a niche player with gameplay that is sought after by a specific market demographic. It's not a crafting/camping/playing 12 hours a day type of crowd. It's a playerbase that likes to feel heroic, face challenges and have fun. All three of these items are in concert with eachother, and that means we play POWERFUL characters that can do truly amazing things.
Two months ago if you told me I would be writing this post, I would have laughed at you, as CoH was "it" for me. As of right now, I'm ready to hang up the tights when the final hammer drops and these changes are pushed to live. Not a threat or anything like that, just a realization that the core game is changing in a fashion to be more of a "traditional" mmo type game, sounding like EQ, and that just doesn't sound very fun to me.
MY SUGGESTION:
This is a super-hero game, not a "we may be a hero at certain times" game. My suggestions are as follows:
1) Take the time to keep the super-hero "feel" and "fun" to the game, buff other ATs/powers instead of nerfing existing ones.
2) At the same time, make the enemies more challenging to compensate, be that through higher hit points, higher accuracy, better AI reaction (like the tsoo sorcs).
3) Speed up the levelling curve, not necessarily by increasing the xp as you have in issue 5, but by reducing the amount required between "shiny new powers". At the very least, change the speed at which we can try new powers.
4) Turn PI into a lvl 40+ hazard zone to reduce the PL spam.
I mentioned "POWERFUL" above in the post, everyone wants to feel this way when they play a game, and that includes defenders/controllers/blasters. Change the direction to buff others up to where you see Issue 4 fire tankers, regen scrappers and invuln tankers are. Keep the game fun. Leave us powerful and heroic. There are others out there that would feel the same way, and if there are truly a small portion of the playerbase that actually views this stuff on the forums, I would expect to see a pretty big exodus when this hits, as it will smack them upside their heads, asking "where did this come from?", and "wow, it used to be "fun" playing this character".
Thanks for the fun over the past year, and good luck with the game and this community going forward.
>>>
I'll check in when CoV comes out, but promise me this - take the changes you're making with issue 5 and bake that "style" into CoV at the start, so there are no ATs we will fall in love with and find them utterly gutted 6-12 months into the game. Nothing worse than falling in love with something in game (i.e. it is "fun") and having it disappear down the road. I'd much rather wake up one day and find that something better than the day before vs. worse.
