__lurk__

[ QUOTE ]
I'm well aware of how wrap-around works. There were several arcade games back in the '80s I had problems with this in as far as score went.

As for 'Streaks' any true random number generator exhibits streaks. A good write up with some helpful visual info can be found at http://bcs.whfreeman.com/ips4e/suppl...cel/04_IPS.pdf

[/ QUOTE ]

Which is why some random song players take steps to make themselves actually less random. People don't like long streaks in their random numbers. It's not fun.

[ QUOTE ]
Sadly, I have never gotten to the fury cap...and I'm level 27 :<

[/ QUOTE ]

You're not playing stupid enough. Stop thinking so much about whether or not the next battle is good for you and start rushing things. You'll get there in time.

I too like brutes, and I hate melee characters usually.

[ QUOTE ]
My guess is because Altlas Park is the first choice and Galaxy City is the second. A lot of people seem to just roll with the default, especially if they don't know the difference.

[/ QUOTE ]


I think that there are other factors. Like if you start that conversation and then try to back out of it, doesn't it automatically throw you in atlas park? I also seem to remember that the letters of Galaxy City's words were shrunk down to fit into the button? It's like you're subliminally telling us to go to Atlas Park.

It's just a good thing tha Back Alley Brawler is so hot or nobody'd ever go there.

[ QUOTE ]
One of the first rules of game design is that when realism conflicts with fun, fun wins.

The goal of base raiding is to make it an event, something both sides can look forward to, strategize for, and participate in. Unannounced raids might be "realistic" (and I use quotes here because we are talking about a comic book) but they sure aren't much fun for the defenders. If I have to be on line all the time, am forced to bail missions because I have to go defend my base, or find someone trashed our base at 11 AM just because my SG has to deal with real-life things like jobs and work, well that is not fun.

To be fun, a base raid has to feel exciting -- and fair. That means fair to both sides. That means giving both SG's notice so both groups can organize their members, make arrangements to be online and develop plans. Scheduling will actually strengthen SG's -- it gives them more purpose, more "We need to be online at this time."

We are also looking at some other options for "instant raids" for pick up play, but again finding ways to keep things from being a no-fun grief fest.

[/ QUOTE ]


I'm beginning to doubt your qualifications as a villain. First your staff was extremely nice and helpful at E3 and now this...compassion for the players. It's disgusting.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
This is why MMORPG PvP is stupid.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's no more stupid than l33T l00T. Isn't it all just a matter of taste, and everyone's opinion is just as good as everyone else's? If l33T l00T is a good idea in this game, then PvP is a good idea.

[ QUOTE ]
I really don't care what they do. The Base raids are a silly idea to begin with.

[/ QUOTE ]

No more silly than what has happened with Hamidon enhancements.

[ QUOTE ]
They sound really cool on paper but what will happen is that a few hardcore PvP guilds will dominate

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, just like Hamidon enhancements are essentially "dominated" by a few hardcore farmers. If l33T l00T like Hamidon enhancements is good for CoH, then so is base raiding on a schedule.

[/ QUOTE ]

so you're arguing that PvP base raids are a good thing or that Hamidon enhancers are a bad thing?

There are way too many things that break immersion in the game already to really say that an appointment system is any better or worse than what we've got.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
What about the group holds that do no damage whatsoever.

[/ QUOTE ]

Currently - stay within 300 ft.

[/ QUOTE ]


As if he didn't think of that sollution. Gee, you're being so helpful to your community.

What about situations where, as a controller you run in and do your hold that causes no damage but does cause aggro. You don't have a tanker to taunt it off of you, but you do have teammates. You also have super speed, so you run as fast as you can to get away while your teammates pull the aggro off of you.

Or, the extremely common situation that happens to me on almost every team I've ever been on. What about those of us who have to stop playing for a few moments to do stuff in real life like make dinner, etc? In the new system you can't put yourself in a safe place and let your teammates hunt, because they will be getting a significant cut to the total XP unless they hunt in an extremely narrow range. What you'll now see is that any casual player on a pick-up team is going to get kicked off the team if they need to go do anything other than play.

And the power levelers are just going to pl in missions.


This change is nonsense. It does nothing but hurt the average player. It doesn't even inconvenience the plers anymore, since you're letting all XP happen in missions. What're you guys thinking?

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I've never heard anybody say that there is a lack of story in this game or that "story" content needs to be upped.



[/ QUOTE ]

After release I made a total of ten posts asking for more content and better content.

Those are just the posts I have made. I posted on more than a hundred similar posts before there was a suggestions forum.

[/ QUOTE ]


Do you mean you made ten posts asking for more story? What were you calling content in those posts? Idioteraser is telling me that the word content refers only to in-game story and that other things are unimportant. I don't think he's right.

[ QUOTE ]
Ah certain freakshow and crey missions in the 30-40 range have new maps.

You would know this if you did the content.

And maps are apperance not the content. Funny how many people when asking for content don't claim maps to be content.

Flashback has not been said to give xp or influence or anything for that matter. So if people do powerlevel and flashback they won't gain anything. Maybe debt removal will be only thing you get.

[/ QUOTE ]


What do those maps look like? You certainly don't go to them between 30 and 36, as I have two characters in that level range that do missions with friends also in that level range.

I also have a tanker that I like to level up with as fast as possible. I don't pl anybody that I don't know in person, and I only PL them so that I can play with them (i.e. do their missions and get something out of it).

Now, your statement at the end there shows that you're not understanding what I'm saying. Let's recap:

Statesman says that he doesn't like people power leveling and then missing the fun content. When the flashback system is put into place you will be able to go back and play content that you have missed. This means that if you power level past the "fun" content, you can go back and do it all you'd like. This means that his point of not liking people "missing" content will be made moot by a system that will be put into place in the future. It has nothing to do with gaining xp or influence or whatever. It just doesn't make sense for the devs to spend time on things that people are using now when they could be spending that time on developing the larger systems of the game that will ultimately solve the problem they're seeing.

Also, you should pay more attention to the boards. It's funny that you seem to think people out there are asking for new stories when they say new content. I have specifically heard people ask for new costume options, tilesets (maps), power sets, zones and ATs. I've never heard anybody say that there is a lack of story in this game or that "story" content needs to be upped.

It's fantastic that the devs put a lot of time and energy into making the story of the game, but it's not the only aspect of "content" that goes into this game or any game for that matter. When the devs added badges, that was new content. When the devs added capes and auras, that was new content. When the devs changed the freakshow tf in the 20s to have outdoor missions, that was new content. The content needs to fit the story, and that's the point.

[ QUOTE ]
You mean flashback? Nothing on what the flashback system really allows you to do has been mentioned or what you would expierence.

Stories are content according to the game developers. They have a story Bible that is 500 pages long. Obviously the info on mobs, clues, spoken text by mobs, civilans is all part of the backstory of the game.

Sorry at 30 a boss doesn't give 3k xp solo even con.

It's three times a boss. And all the portals give two to three bars of xp in one hour whearas the old farming took hours to just get one bar.

I farmed portals because I ran out of missions with four levels before new ones and a tf only gave one bar at the most. This was preissue 2 btw.

[/ QUOTE ]

What are you talking about? The flashback system has been mentioned as a system that will allow you to go back and take missions that you missed. In fact that is the ONLY thing that we know about the system. That makes these changes completely moot.

Also, in a group I gained about 700 xp for defeating a portal in the CoT portal spawns, whereas I gained 200ish xp for the bosses in the same mission. Maybe the xp has been tweaked since either one of us has last been in that level range? Also, when you were farming them, were you in a team? If so, your time comparison of soloing a portal vs farming before isn't valid.

By the way, story is PART of the content. It isn't the content, though. That should be very obvious to anybody who's played a video game before. If you want the only content in your game to be story, you shouldn't be writing a game as books are a much better delivery system for just stories. The devs know this, which is one reason why they revamp old missions with new content, such as the wonderful treatment of Dr. Vahzilok's lair and the Tsoo Tatoo parlor to name a couple. The game content has to reflect the story for it to be at all interesting in a game setting. The Portal Missions are a really decent example of that, but there's pretty much nothing new between 30-40 in terms of mission maps.

[ QUOTE ]
It's not the maps that are the content. It's the stories represented by the mission info and clues.

Also the portal rooms give major xp for the portals when defeated.

Like three or four bosses worth each portal and they are easy to destroy.

[/ QUOTE ]

The portals don't give "major" xp. It's a little more than a boss, but nowhere near the xp you'd get from getting xp from the hoarde that comes out at you.

As for "stories" being content. That's your point of view, and it's moot. The point of my post was that once the system is put in place where you can revisit old missions and story archs all of this "game balancing" will no longer have a valid, Statesman seal-of-approval signed reason for happening. If States doesn't want people outleveling content, spend time working on that system instead of changing the content that's currently being enjoyed by a lot of the player base.

Now that I've belabored my point, I'd like to disagree that "content = story." This is a video game. They have a novelization coming out (if it's not out already) and in the novel, content = story. That's not the case in a video game. Content is the sum of all parts. In this game the sound is content, the story is content, the mobs are content, and the mission zones are content. Anyone can write a decent story (and a lot of us have for the background of our characters) but how many of us can design and implement a zone like Crey's Folly?

[ QUOTE ]
I think people misunderstand why developers interfere and make changes. I could care less how fast someone earns influence. But I am concerned when someone is doing somethingg "unfun" in order to gain levels quickly and thereby bypassing other, more interesting content. Admittedly, "fun" and "unfun" are completely subjective, so people can disagree.

[/ QUOTE ]


I don't see that as a valid excuse for taking time out of your and/or your dev staff's busy schedule to make changes to various missions. It causes more harm than it does good.

In the case of the CoT portal spawns, that content is ruined, and very few groups that I'm in actually go into that room unless they have to. It's just not rewarding to do once anymore, let alone farm the area.

The wolf mission timer won't have such a negative effect, but it is all moot. If you're still planning on a system where we can go back and do missions/archs even after we've outleveled them, then your whole point about why you don't like pling is going to be solved in the long run. Nobody will have any problem of "missing" the "fun" content that you have deamed worthy of your player base, and you can let us choose how we spend our time enjoying this game.

I personally never find progressing slowly in a repetetive manner (i.e. doing missions that take me to the same office, lab, or cave) to be fun. I'd rather street hunt and level faster. In either case I'm doing something repetetive by nature, it's just that one is more rewarding than the other.

I remember devil's advocating Innovation's ideas.

I remember talking the oldbies down from their ledges over the new AT system.

I remember the joy of having more than one of my questions answered in the IRC chat post E3.

I remember Statesman's E3 videos.

I remember when contacts didn't exist in our minds.

I remember the first time we heard that there would be random crimes to stop on the street.

I remember when the Freakshow TF had no outdoor missions.

I remember when I could control an AV without having to strain my eyes for a nearly invisible purple thing.

Special missions for super groups is a good one.

I'd like to see some reason to form a super group and keep active in it other than the future PvP aspects. Right now it's a fine friend's list.

If there were story arcs that you could only access through a special super group terminal, it would be fantastic. These could be missions that require a group to complete, and it could make each SG more unique. Perhaps they might even culminate in a final battle royale of an instanced mission that requires multiple teams to even be able to participate? Something like a PvE base raid (not every SG will want to do PvP).

If said feature is put into the game, then some sort of document that tracks the history of the SG would be nice. SG souvenirs that can be put on display at the base, for instance.

It would also work well if there was some sort of log on each member of the super group. It might show badges, powers, souvenirs and their bio, for instance? This could be something you access back at the base. Maybe it would even be a good place to have a second bio, one that relates to the SG and how your character ended up as a member.

An information center would also be a great thing to have for your SG. You could keep logs on PvP players/SGs as well as PvE mobs that you've fought, with possible strategies against them. This could be something of a wiki-pedia-style board that can be accessed through a computer terminal in your base. When you've defeated something, you should get them added into the wiki-pedia and then your SG could comment on it. So, for the case of a PvE battle, if you fight EnemyX, then a picture of EnemyX is added to your tomes of knowledge with his known powers and bio. Then when you search on EnemyX before a battle with him, you'd see that info, as well as any comments people who have defeated him in the past have made. The same could be true about any of the PvE creature types as well as AVs.

So yeah, more use for an SG than just a good place to find a team.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
So in short, could you do us a favor and differentiate between things that are guesses and things that are not when you're posting? I think that most of us like to know what you're working on, even without dates. Just let us know what is set and what isn't.


[/ QUOTE ]

No problem. From here on every single thing I mention is just a rough guess. My discussion of features and their potential release are, at best, internal goals.

[/ QUOTE ]

Fair enough. I appreciate the time you take to respond to us on here, and I know that you don't even have to do this. It must be hard having thousands of people hanging on your every word all the time.

[ QUOTE ]
It's a "damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario"...

Some people would like to know what we're working on, even without dates.

Thus, I try to give general guestimates (though never exact dates). I like to communicate as much as I can with the forums about the status of different issues. Sometimes I do well, sometimes I don't - but I do try.

I NEVER give specific dates on anything because game development is a fickle thing. I do try to give at least an Issue #, because that provides a ballpark estimate for you guys.

Naturally, there are some who will criticize when we don't adhere to even that rough guess.



[/ QUOTE ]

You can't place all of the blame on those people who get upset when you don't follow your "rough guesses." It's not always clear how much is a rough guess and what is set in stone. It would help to prevent disappointment if you maybe stressed a little more when you are updating us on things (especially through interviews) that these aren't set.

For instance, the post in question was (paraphrased) that arenas are in issue 4 and skills are in issue 5. Is that a rough estimate again or is it set in stone? How are we supposed to take those posts in comparison to the ones you made back in september about issue 3?

Like some people have said in this thread, we all have our priorities. I personally didn't care for issue 3, and issue 4 sounds like it's not for me either. The thing in the works that I'm waiting for is the skills system. So obviously I'll be disappointed when your rough estimates become further and further away.

So in short, could you do us a favor and differentiate between things that are guesses and things that are not when you're posting? I think that most of us like to know what you're working on, even without dates. Just let us know what is set and what isn't.

That is true. It could be that they're pushing out the arenas because CoV is not too far off.

I am, however, still disappointed. Arenas and pvp in general are for a niche market. They are for a much smaller segment of players than the skills system would be. Many MMOs choose to limit pvp to just a single server or two, and those servers tend to not be the most popular. I'm all for adding it, and I most likely will play in it once or twice, but for the long haul, it's definitely not that important to me. It doesn't change the game, and so far nothing has.

I guess I'll be spending my time on homework for the next six months. I highly doubt that Arenas could fill the void of stuff that this game is currently missing. What a let down.

no, see, he said he wouldn't want to get our hopes up. It's all about crushing our hopes and dreams.