Cantatus

I've been playing MMOs fairly consistently for over the past decade. This is the first one I've ever played where people complain about getting buffed. Heck, when I played EverQuest, I had people go out of their way to track me down so I could give them a certain buff.

I find the whole complaint over Mystic Fortune to be very odd, to say the least.

Speaking as someone who just came back to the game and has started playing with AE seriously for the first time, I say I find this a little disheartening. To me, it seems one of the biggest roadblocks the developers face over concerns expressed in this thread is the issue of farming. Any change that is considered need to be done so with examining if it would encourage more farming or making it easier.

One suggestion I had was diminishing returns for playing the same arcs repeatedly:

For example, the first two times you play through an arc, you get the normal amount of exp. The third time, it's 80%, then 50%, then 25%. After five times the arc is played, you get 10% exp from then on. This is reset after 24 hours.

To combat people quitting an arc right before it is complete to get around this, quitting after reaching a certain spot would count towards this (it could be number of missions complete in the arc, baddies defeated, time spent in the arc, etc.). This is why you would get two times in the arc before losing exp.

This would (hopefully) encourage people to play a larger variety of storyarcs.

However, there would be a trade-off here. Since farming one particular arc couldn't be accomplished with such ease, the developers could use exp as more of an incentive in other ways.

For instance:
- Similar to how ticket drops increase in longer arcs, exp would as well, maybe making people reconsider overlooking arcs marked "long" or "very long".
- The top ten arcs closest to HoF status give you a 15% exp bonus the first time you complete them.
- Every 25th unique mission you complete in the AE gives you an exp bonus.
etc.

This also ties into something else that I think needs to be done:

Obviously, the developers don't want people using the AE purely to powerlevel characters, so different encouragement needs to be given aside from just exp. Badges seemed to be one of the original ideas for this, but 75% of them were removed and nothing ever really replaced them. One thing I would suggest would be more rewards for Architect Tickets. Aside from just having the normal recipes and enhancements for sale (which you can use merits for), how about some that are unique to the Architect? This could even include a few costume options.

I also think it'd be cool to offer "Items of the Month". These would be four items (one for each week) that would only be available for purchase that month, with the following month having new items rotated in. These items could be anything from costume recipes to unique temp powers to even random fun things (like special costume change options, titles, etc.) (Just to be clear, an item could appear back as an Item of the Month a different month, just in case someone missed something they really wanted.)

Another suggestion would be to have a "Raffle". Every 72 hours, an item is added to the AE. For every 10 tickets you trade-in, you get one entry into the raffle. At the end of the 72 hours, one person is randomly selected from all entrants to win the prize.

I got my 51 month Vet Reward today (no clue why it moved up 15 days, but it did). I can personally confirm that you also get a free costume token with it.

Also, the reward is slightly bugged. Unlike other Vet Reward costume pieces, these do not unlock at character creation.

Edit: And there are actually 5 helms, not 4: Wolf Spider, Wolf Spider Red, Mystic Helm, Crab Spider, and Fortunata (which only females can wear).

[ QUOTE ]
Instead, how about introducing the 57 month reward as "every three months from now on, you'll earn a costume token and vet respec"?

[/ QUOTE ]

That would sort of defeat one of the whole purposes of the Vet Rewards, which is to keep people from canceling, and I'll fully admit that it's kept me from canceling from time to time. The idea that it might delay a nifty reward I might get otherwise has been enough where I might've done it without much thought like I have with other games in the past.

Of course, if they keep putting so little effort into these rewards, they're going to just kill the purpose anyways. Really, when you put a year's worth of rewards next to each other, it paints a clear picture. The only good reward (in my opinion) is the buff pets (which don't even work like they initially said they would and barely useful). Then we have these and nothing at 45 months. Couple that with the fact that some rewards haven't even come out in time, and it makes the system seem like just another thing that the devs don't care about terribly - which is a shame, since one of the other purposes of the Vet Reward system was to give thanks to the people who have stuck around as long as they have, not to make them feel like they're being a burden.

But then I'm not really anticipating this feedback to change anything. The devs don't really seem to take much feedback when it comes to Vet Rewards. Hell, I'm still highly miffed that we never even got an explanation for why the 45 month "reward" was what it was.

[ QUOTE ]
May I suggest *AGAIN* the CoV DVD cape in there somewhere since it no longer seems available?

[/ QUOTE ]

Check your local Big Lots if you have one around. I was just to one today and they had tons of CoH/CoV games - including the CoV special edition for only $10. (Or you can get it for like $13 from Amazon.)

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Id like to finally be able to get the Power Slide !!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

IIRC, that's from the collector's edition, and if so, won't happen.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's included in the Prestige Sprints Vet Reward, I like it for characters that I don't want to see a "running" animation on, if you're zoomed in close it also smooths out the Camera a bit as well.

[/ QUOTE ]

No, it's not. Slide is not in the Veteran Reward program at all, certainly not with the other Prestige Sprints.

You can only have Slide from the City of Heroes Collectors Edition. Originally $80, now at Big Lots for $10.

Comparison of CoH/V Editions and what you get.

[/ QUOTE ]

The CoH Collector's Edition was $50 when it came out.

But yeah, saw a few at Big Lots a couple weeks back. Definitely a good deal for $10 since it comes with a free month.

[ QUOTE ]
Yay for getting the rest of the preorder helms!

I do have a slight concern about about the extra power though. isn't there a balance concern with Natural origin characters? As in, they will be able to have both ranged attacks, both doing bonus damage, which kind of makes them the 'uber' origin in terms of levelling new characters.

Not saying its going to cause any problems, just a thought.

[/ QUOTE ]

Very good point.

The numbers stuff looks really handy. I especially like the level slider thing.

I do have one complaint though: You guys updated character creator, but still haven't added the option to save costumes for later - something that was talked about ages ago? That's what I was really hoping for when I saw that it was improved.

Ask him where my Rikti Monkey plushie is!

Welcome, Blue Steel! Always glad to see more red names posting!

Good point, Geldon. No question, stores could use a revamp.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Part of the next free expansion, Issue 12: Midnight Hour, is the inclusion of new content surrounding the organization known only as the Midnight Squad.

From the Issue 12: Midnight Hour Announcement:

[ QUOTE ]
The Midnight Squad

JOIN THE MIDNIGHT SQUAD (LEVELS 10 - 20)
The clandestine organization of mystics, scholars and mages, known only as the Midnight Squad, seeks to rebuild its numbers since the devastating assault of the Rikti Invasion. The Midnighters hold a secret that could bring the alien assault to an end, but without the help of the Heroes of Paragon City™ it will remain Lost forever.

NEW ROMAN-STYLE ZONE MAPS (LEVELS 35 - 50)
The Midnighters hold many secrets within their walls, including a highly coveted Ouroboros crystal, enabling them to travel to the far reaches of time. There is a familiar threat in an ancient land and the Midnighters need the help of both Heroes and Villains to stop it. Players step foot upon the ancient land of the Roman Cimeroran Peninsula, where they battle deadly creatures, defend an ancient city and ultimately come face to face with the enemy of time itself. Throughout this journey players uncover the mysteries of power and the origins that guide them today.



[/ QUOTE ]

Please use this thread to discuss that aspect of Issue 12: Midnight Hour.

[/ QUOTE ]

Judging from the description, it seems like this is Hero only content? Am I incorrect in this assessment? And not that I'm complaining but adding new content is great, but making it Co-op between villains and heroes, is not so great. Why not some unique content for villains? New zones and story archs for the red side instead of sharing it with the heroes. Cause there's really nothing red side that would make a hero go "Whoa! They got THAT?!? I gotta try a villain out for that new content" or whatever.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds like the 35-50 stuff is for Villains, unknown about the 10-20 stuff.

I'm with you on the co-op stuff. I'm thinking we're going to see a lot more of that (which BaB pretty much confirmed recently). It's a great way to have Issues that give content to both sides of the game rather than one getting next to nothing. It's not such a great way to make villains feel villainous, however.

Heh, I'll be interested to see how it's explained that The Midnight Squad - a premiere Hero supergroup - is willing to work with Villains. With Vanguard, it sort of made sense since they operated in pretty much of a gray area anyways. I hope this doesn't just mean Villains are going to get more "heroic" storyarcs "in the name of defeating a common enemy".

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

So, since there were only two pets originally, there were only 2 powers made. I didn't have time to make 6 more powers to match the new entities.


[/ QUOTE ]

I'm glad you didn't, and hope you won't even if you do get more time. Anything that allows me to choose the way I look without having to sacrifice the way I perform is a win in my book.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed. This gives me some flexibility. The Nemesis Staff/Blackwand option didn't. That one feels more like I'm assigned a power rather than getting to choose which one I want if I want the bonus.

So, are we ever going to get an answer on why the 45 month reward was so skimpy?

[ QUOTE ]
It's not like they're making you pay extra to get access to new powersets or mission content.

I would pay for new content, or new powersets (powersets and ATs are not content -- content is zones, missions, new enemies, etc.) I would happily pay for a new retail box if it delivered new content on the scale of CoV.

[/ QUOTE ]

When you mentioned this, it made me curious. EverQuest 2 has done similar deals to this wedding package from time to time. I was curious how they compared price-wise and was actually pretty surprised. They range in price from $4.99 to $7.99. In addition to some cosmetic changes, they included multiple zones, new quests, and unique items. I think I'd be willing to shell out the extra $4.99-$7.99 much faster for a package like that from CoH than for a few costumes and emotes.

(And before anyone says, "But we get all that stuff for free and SOE charges for it!" - SOE has given a lot of free content as well. They just recently added 2 new zones with a new race at no cost, for instance.)

Perhaps an even better comparison would be against a product from NCSoft's own catalog: Guild Wars. They just released a new "Mission Pack" for the same price as this Wedding Pack. Guild Wars' pack comes with four bonus storylines. It might just be my opinion, but that sounds like more bang for the buck.

Now, I'm not suggesting that NCNC start charging us for Issues. I'm just pointing out that, where NCNC has been better than their competitors on similar things (like server transfer costs, for instance), they can't really compete on this one - not with this offering. If they want to charge us for extras on occasion, they either need to fill it out more or make the price more competitive.

[ QUOTE ]
I agree. There are people who are willing to pay extra for packs.


I would be, provided it was worth the money. GvE was very much worth it. With this I feel like I'd be paying for two emotes I'd jokingly use.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's pretty much where I am with it. I debated about buying it, but then I saw how male characters get next to nothing costume-wise. It made the decision a lot easier for me considering I have yet to have a female character I get attached to. GvE was a lot better because stuff was pretty much universally useful. This was too niche, and probably shouldn't have been priced equally to the GvE set.

But, maybe that's not necessarily a bad thing. If males aren't as inclined to buy this, then it won't sell as well, which might give NCNC the indication that either this was a bad idea or that they'll have to try harder next time.

This is sexist! My male characters want a head-cape too!

[ QUOTE ]
Ok, admit it, who went out and spent the $10 as soon as they got the email?

I know I did... >.>

[/ QUOTE ]

I'll wait until I find out exactly what the costume pieces are. I'm not going to pay $10 if all I end up getting for my male characters is a tuxedo jacket.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
That said, I have no problem doing this if you guys don't. Just let me know what missions you want on Ouroboros and I will do my best to get them there.

[/ QUOTE ]
Safeguards and Mayhem missions please kind sir.

[/ QUOTE ]

That gets my vote as well.

You know, it's really a shame NCSoft canned Auto Assault. I always felt the combat in that game would've worked much better on a console. Of course, Tabula Rasa has very similar combat, so maybe this goal to port games over to the PS3 will really be in that title's favor.

You know, thinking some more about this, I think this promotion would be a lot more effective if, rather than giving you 15 days credit, it just made the initial month 50% off (while still giving the currently playing friend the credit). If a person quit the game and isn't sure if they'll like it coming back, how much of an incentive is it to say, "Well, if you stick around for 30 days, we'll give you an extra 15!" when that person isn't even sure if they'll last a full week.

A discount, on the other hand, is something they get a benefit out of regardless, which might be something a lot more ex-players might be willing to take advantage of. If they don't stick around the whole month, hey, they didn't have to pay full price. It might mean less money for NCSoft depending upon if the person goes past the initial month or not, but if it gets enough people to come back, even temporarily, that'll largely offset the difference. (ie If only 15% of people are interested in the current offer, and 25% are interested in my suggestion, NCSoft makes more money despite the deal giving a slightly bigger discount.)

I've never understood why there's such a strict restriction on how many of these can be handed out at one time. I mean, I know they don't want us to have an endless supply since it'd essentially give people who like to reroll a lot a free account (not to mention the gold spammers), but why does it have to be so few? It's a little frustrating to ask on a forum if anyone is interested in a CoH pass, have more than 4 people interested, and then have no buddy passes to hand out for 2 months unless those 4 people subscribe.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Ex Libris, is Manticore coming too? (Not sure if he's still even working on CoH, to be honest, since he's shy.) And, if not, who's in charge of CoH's lore nowadays?

[/ QUOTE ]

Manticore as in the person behind the sig Sean Fish, left COH and Cryptic after COV launch...ironically he works for NCsoft in Austin on some other project, but I heard rumors that he and Positron have been discussing the COH/COV Bible lately.

The person in charge of COH's lore is Hero One, and speaking of shy... I'm still trying to get this guy to take a step out and introduce himself.

If you have been following the story arcs for Ouroboros this is our guy, his name is Joe Morrissey, and speaking of creative efforts, this guy is expecting his first arrival, un-known gender at this time sometime this week.

We'll get him to pop on the boards and say hello soon.

Ex

[/ QUOTE ]

Cool, thanks for the response, and congrats to him!