Chad Gulzow-Man
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Posts
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Joined
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I usually start with a name or a costume idea (either can lead to the other), then develop the power selections from there.
I do try to create a background for every character I make, and even if there's nothing typed in the window, I guarantee there's something in my head--like my Dual Pistols/Radiation Corruptor, The Polonium Kid; he's an 1800s cowboy who got cancer from smoking too much, heard about a shaman that could heal people with a "magic glowing rock" and decided to steal it... and now he's accidentally immortal. None of that's in the text box, because I've had trouble phrasing it... actually, that's the best way I've ever put it. I should try to revist that box tonight. >_>
I tend to make "throwaway characters" with really goofy names every time a new Booster pack comes out. With the Animal Pack, it was Falcon Paunch, the overweight man-bird boxer. With the Steampunk Pack, it was Pot O' Brass, the steampunk leprechaun (complete with shillelagh!). I actually came up with another one today... a werewolf security guard--The Maul Cop.
When it inevitably comes time for me to delete these throw-away characters, I always save their costume files and copy their backgrounds to a text file, just in case I ever want to use them in an AE arc in the future.
I tend to focus my play time on just a few characters. Though I obviously like to make more, I generally don't play them beyond level 15 or so. I've been in the game for well over seven years, and I only have 5 level 50s between my two accounts.
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Random Aside: Right now, the only Tanker I've got is The Depressable Sulk; Seuss Sanders was a clinically depressed middle-aged office worker who had an experimental gamma radiation therapy treatment, which reacted poorly with the holistic medication he was treating himself with and transformed him into a giant blue juggernaut! "Don't make him sad... NOBODY likes him when he's sad!"
I had a Stone/Stone Tanker at one time named The Incontinent Bulk, a former sanitation engineer named Goose Ganders who had an accident in the sewage of Crey's Folly, but my friends threatened to disown me if I didn't delete him. (I still saved the costume file and background text, though!
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Quote:It was on the Freedom Friday thing on Facebook the week before last.Originally Posted by Irish Fury
This is interesting. I must have missed that announcement. Do you have a link? Not that I doubt you, I am just curious if there is other info on free/premium access I missed.
Quote:Originally Posted by Unknown_User
Q. Can you describe the exact limitations for premium players on auctions, mission architect and inventions?
A. For Mission Architect, VIP players will have the exact same experience. Premium players, depending on their Paragon Reward status, may be able to earn rewards and XP while playing through Mission Architect arcs, and might also be able to publish their own arcs. Free players will have access to Mission Architect, but will not earn rewards or XP. -
Current patch notes on Test:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showt...74#post3749174
Quote:I had kind of hoped to get the badge prior to this going live just as a personal goal, but I won't be playing again until Monday at the earliest...Incarnate Trial : Keyes Island Reactor
- Pets will no longer count against earning the Avoids the Green Stuff badge.
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Quote:Free accounts can join AE teams and run missions, but they get no XP or other rewards.Originally Posted by Irish Fury
Not to mention that if I understand the free player access correctly, free players can not join AE teams.
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Quote:You can get it by logging into your NCSoft account and specifically selecting your City of Heroes account.Originally Posted by Jawbreaker
Does CoH have an install page?
Or, someone else (like me) could do that and paste the link here for you.
http://download.cityofheroes.com/cli..._Installer.exe
I HIGHLY recommend installing the game somewhere other than the default location (C:\Program Files\City of Heroes). Personally, I installed to a different physical hard drive, but you could just as easily reinstall to "C:\Games\City of Heroes" or wherever else you'd prefer. -
You can probably go forward assuming that:
- Free (brand new empty account) players will NOT be able to participate in levelling pacts.
- Premium (returning former subscribers, or Free players who have purchased an upgrade) players can buy (or earn through past veteran status) the ability to join and maintain levelling pacts, despite the lack of a subscription.
- VIP (subscribing) players will continue to have the same level of access that subscribers do now.
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Quote:The difference is, you can turn off Cloak of Fear, or skip it entirely. You can't turn off the slows from Ice Melee or Spines.Originally Posted by Carnifax_NA
It'll slow those incoming ToHit checks, but nowhere near how many as everything being stunned and on the ground thanks to Fault or cowering in fear due to Cloak of Fear does.
And you can still get and maintain decent Fury even when they are mezzed thanks to your own attacks, my Stone/Fire Brute has no Fury issues whatsoever despite enemies spending a lot of their time staggering around or picking themselves off the ground.
Ice Armor would be fine, mechanically--as you mentioned, you get plenty of Fury using your damage aura from /Fire, and Icicles would enable outgoing Fury to build at about the same rate. Even if it didn't, you could still detoggle it and suffer no other penalties (there's nothing else in the set that debuffs enemies, right?).
But they're unlikely to give us that since it would be thematically need to be paired with Ice Melee, which of course causes unavoidable issues with the way Fury is built up.
(Personally, I'd just give Ice Melee attacks a 10% bonus to Fury build up over the standard formula and call it a day.) -
Quote:Not to nitpick, but none of these are proliferations per the definition the developers use... they're new sets entirely.Originally Posted by Dodgey
TOXIC AURA; Giant Form; Warshade/Peacebringer [as Power Pools]; Dirty Tricks; Space Aliens; Puppets; Animation Diversification
I'm also not saying they're bad ideas--some of them are quite good. I believe it was ultimately determined that "Giant Form" isn't possible under the game engine, though, and you are correct that caves were specifically mentioned as one of many strikes against it. And the developers have also said that any new sets created will go to any AT that can reasonably use them... so your proposed "Toxic Aura" would be made available for Stalkers at launch and "Dirty Tricks" would go to Tankers, too.
(Also, the Green Hornet movie was awesome, shut up!
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Based on the developers' definition of Powerset Proliferation, I really want to see Energy Melee on Scrappers (and hopefully see it get some love, returning it to the status of single target damage king). I've been hoping for it since the first round of proliferation was announced prior to Issue 12.
The other proliferation I'd been waiting for, we'll actually be getting this round--Poison for Controllers. I want to make a Plant/Poison Troller soooo baaaaad.
Any other proliferations are just gravy.
A greater desire would be a new AT that uses Assault/Defense... Energy Assault/Willpower would be the perfect in-game representation of my main character. -
Quote:Citation needed.Originally Posted by Bloodwynd
As far as the moonbase...that was talked about and never ever ever developed because the devs couldn't pull it off.
I think it's more that there was a lack of ways to tie it in to the "story bible" (there's apparently a gigantic book or file or something that tells all the back story to CoH, so any changes to the storyline need to fit within that framework). It's a lot more likely now as we're starting to get actual extraterrestrial threats with the onset of the Coming Storm (the new tutorial experience deals with meteors carrying an alien threat that crash down and destroy Galaxy City), rather than just the extra-dimensional threats we've been dealing with previously.
But no, I've never seen a developer comment on a moon zone other than a simple, "huh, neat idea."
There have also been several references made to Antimatter's space station recently, between the Praetorian Surge event for the anniversary and the Obliteration Beam power used in the new Keyes Trial--perhaps we'll be going to space to deal with that in the near future?
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You may instead be thinking of the undersea zone idea that had some popularity behind it a few years back. The only developer who ever commented on it was BABs, who was the lead animator at the time, who simply said that he personally did not ever want to see such a thing, because it would mean that a) he would have to do new animations for a new travel mode (underwater swimming), which would include retouching every player attack animation in the game, and b) it would take a long, long time, during which there could be no further powerset development and other severe content limitations.
It was never said that they couldn't do it, just that one man (who wasn't in charge) thought that they could be doing better things with their time.
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On yet another note... you don't sleep much, do you? We should hang out some time.
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Quote:I dunno, I think that the opportunity cost of taking these powers over alternatives might be enough of a counter balance. I'd suggest a bit of reworking on the individual powers to make them worth putting slots in to further raise their opportunity cost--as it stands, the powers in this suggestion will all be perfectly serviceable with only the base slot.Originally Posted by Lothic
Basically your pet powerpool idea removes some of the built-in disadvantages that exist in the game mechanics to balance ATs like Masterminds. While your idea is not strictly a bad one I see little hope that the Devs would ever allow such a powerpool to exist without new pet disadvantages in place to counter-balance it.
I like the idea, though.
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Quote:Basically the same, but I think I've got 6 or 7 failed attempts at Green Stuff.Originally Posted by Necrotech_Master
on victory so far ive gotten anti antimatter and bunker buster, have made 4 failed attempts at avoids the green stuff and not have had any attempts at loves a challenge
From what I understand, though, Loves a Challenge is actually easier to get once you've got Green Stuff under your belt... just team with the same people who gained the experience getting Green Stuff with you, and make sure you've got plenty of heals on hand to counteract Disintegration. -
Again, there's a lot wrong with what you said there.
You argue that people are refusing to see things from your point of view; you're just as obstinate, if not more so, about seeing it from ours.
You say that "part of the reason to go to F2P" is for a new revenue stream. That's the only reason they're doing it. But that doesn't mean that the F2P system is meant to supplant the existing revenue streams. The two are meant to go hand-in-hand, with an emphasis on getting F2Pers to subscribe for the end-game content and new development while providing value for those who are already subscribed to keep them there.
New players in CoH Freedom will get 6 of the last 7 years worth of content (basically, everything prior to Issue 18/Going Rogue) for free--yes, the developers are basically writing that off, however negatively you may feel about it. Anything that released with or specifically as a follow-up to Going Rogue will still require that the expansion be purchased (starting in or going to Praetoria, switching sides, Hero/Villain Merits, etc.), and that may or may not include the two level 20-40 TFs that released in Issue 20 dealing with the Praetorian War.
Additionally, they're updating the content of the early game with better graphics and more engaging missions. You accuse the developers of being obstinate? The fact that the level 1-20 game was so showing its age is one of the biggest reasons that former players left--you see complaints all the time about it on these forums from new players and long-term veterans alike. This is something that the new players just joining and the existing players who will be taking advantage of the new sets we're gaining through Powerset Proliferation can all enjoy.
Now, let's skip straight to the end of your post... Why would you want to resub?
Well, for one, it's obvious that you're quite content to play the free version on your Premium account, and since you mention rolling a new MM, I'm inferring (perhaps incorrectly) that you have no terribly strong attachments to your existing character(s). You have no interest in the end game (Incarnates). You don't seem to care about any of the new content being released.
Basically, I can't tell you why you want to come back as a subscriber. You don't care the least bit about the stuff that you're not getting, and you're more or less content to never pay a dime to City of Heroes ever again.
I can tell you why other new and former players will want to subscribe, though. The abilities you can earn in the end game are very attractive--they're basically using VIPs as walking commercials, saying "Look what you could do if you subscribed!" VIPs get regular content updates for their $15/mo, whereas new content for Free/Premium players will be limited more or less to revamps of existing zones and missions; sure, it's new content, but how interested are free players going to be in playing in the same zones when the VIP players are all off fighting space ninjas on the moon? (That was just an example. I have seen nothing that would imply that we'll be fighting space ninjas on the moon.)
That stuff isn't going to be attractive to everyone; obviously, it doesn't interest you in the least. But the developers are willing to take a chance on letting you and others like you be happy with exactly what you have now and bet that thousands more will be much more interested in the areas that hold none for you.
Basically, Paragon Studios is betting that you are a part of a minority, and I'm inclined to put my chips in with theirs. -
Quote:Ah, NOW I get you. You're saying that the purely Free accounts aren't limited enough.Originally Posted by Bloodwynd
Free NEW players shouldn't be given access to not even CoV content as that should be a purchasable area that might make money. Dangle the carrot....
The problem with the above is that when NCSoft acquired the City of Heroes franchise in 2008, they physically merged the systems--everyone who only had access to City of Heroes gained access to City of Villains, and vice versa. There is no longer any differentiation between City of Heroes and City of Villains as far as the game code is concerned. The Going Rogue expansion solidified this bond between both pre-existing games, and now it would almost certainly take more man hours to separate the two products than they'd probably recoup in microtransactions for purchasing them.
I think you're under-assuming, or at the very least under-valuing, the amount of new content that will be going live with Issue 21/CoH Freedom's release. There's a new zone, which anyone can enter, but only VIPs or people who have paid a fee can do the missions there. I know I've also already mentioned the Signature Story Arcs--there will be two coming out every month, and they must be purchased individually by non-subscribers. There is also a brand new powerset, Time Manipulation, being released with the launch, which will be free to subscribers but require non-subscribers to pay... and another new set, Titan Weapons, will be following fairly shortly thereafter. (The Going Rogue expansion and all included content will also be automatically added to all VIP accounts for the duration of their subscription.)
On top of the included content above that VIP subscribers get access to, they also get the following every month: 400 Paragon Points (equal to $5 real cash), 1 Paragon Reward Token (usable in the new Paragon Rewards system, which will offer a much greater range of rewards than the current Veteran Rewards system) and 1 free Server Transfer (which costs $10 real cash). These are all banked and never expire, by the way. The points can be used on whatever you wish; you can spend it all on new costume pieces, new temp powers, consumeable items... you can even save it all up, drop to Premium status and use your funds to purchase permanent access to the new content if you want to.
The content I mentioned in the paragraph above the last is there to entice Free/Premium players to purchase it, or preferably to subscribe and get full access. The paragraph directly above this one is the system that's in place to keep players subscribing once they start. There's plenty of "dangled carrot" in City of Heroes Freedom.
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Quote:Pfft. Intelligent donkey.Originally Posted by Vanden
/signed, because the OP's eloquent and logical argument has convinced me.
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Seriously, Blood... you just said you can play most of the content for free, but it's severely limited, all in the same post.
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Hrm, I personally figure the next two slots will be in Issue 22. I think they want us to get a bit more powerful (+5) for the Tyrant finale.
We'll probably get a Numina/Infernal (maybe with Black Swan?) Tower and Mother Mayhem/Malaise Hospital trial in 21.5, then finish off with a Chimera TF and Dominatrix and Tyrant in Issue 22. No idea how or if they plan to fit the Woodsman in there, but that covers everybody else, right?
Nothing to base any of the above on, mind you. They're just my guesses. But it's either the next two slots, or a LOT more options for Judgement, Destiny, and maybe Interface. Possibly even Alpha (though I'm not sure where else they'd really go with that). -
I just picked up this issue so I'd have something light to flip through on the plane to San Diego later this week...
I gotta say, while the concept art for the new stuff is really, REALLY cool, don't waste your $9 if that's all you'd be purchasing it for. There are only 4 pics, and they're relegated to the bottom margin of the page.
Looking forward to the CoT and Gunslinger sets more than ever now, though. The CoT costume concept art would make for a good Belmont character with some color tweaking.
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Quote:You're speaking entirely in absolutes and only from your own limited perspective.Originally Posted by Bloodwynd
Now, I am only speaking for the premium players. I could care less about the New players. The current model seeks to alienate former and returning players and gives no incentive for resubscribing at all.
There are going to be hundreds, if not thousands, of players who will come back to check out their old Blasters, Scrappers, Tanks, Defenders, Brutes, Dominators, Corruptors and Stal--okay, maybe not Stalkers... But you see where I'm going with this. Not everyone will be as hung up as you are about not getting their Controllers and Masterminds back in the free version.
I'm not particularly happy that my ex-girlfriend will be coming back specifically to play her Blaster (and to further ruin my life, of course)... but she won't give a rat's patoot about not being able to play Controllers or Masterminds. Back when she was a subscriber, she played her Blaster easily 90% of the time she spent in game, probably more.
If YOU have no incentive to come back because you don't get Controllers and/or Masterminds, then that's fine--just say it. But don't assume that everyone else is going to charge in with pitchforks and torches; most of them will have other characters that they'd much rather play than their old Controllers and MMs. -
Quote:Actually, it's not that it will cause server issues... just that they want to limit the ability of Free or disgruntled Premium players to troll the server by massing a populated zone and dumping pets with the intent of causing server slowdown. It won't (or rather, it shouldn't) actually break anything, but it can make life hell for those who are just trying to get from one mission to the other.Originally Posted by Bloodwynd
The other problem I have with this is that Positron states that this is going to cause server issues.
I would assume that organizing and possibly even participating in such a thing would be an offense worthy of account banning. This would obviously mean nothing to a completely Free player, but someone who had earned the ATs in question would be invested in that account by some dollar amount.
You've mentioned this, or at least similar sentiments, several times now. I think you're giving Posi especially too much flak, though. The developers aren't infallable, and they don't always get everything right... and sometimes they take a long, long time to fix the things that they got wrong. But they have a view that very few of the players actually get--the long view of what's coming next; the stuff coming out six months from now will balance the changes made today, etc.Quote:Positron has never been known for listening to the community.
And it's not like they don't listen to the playerbase at all about these things, either... sometimes we're split into dozens of different groups over tiny things. When we can get our own acts together, though, the developers are surprisingly quick to respond.
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Supposedly, the "new server" will actually be the old European Training Room server, reformatted. They've already invested in the hardware, and right now it's just sitting there doing nothing... might as well use it for something!Quote:Originally Posted by Bloodwynd
Either that or the Devs are creating a new server that won't fully be utilized just creating more financial stress.
I've always seen those points. I don't feel as strongly about either of them as you do, but I acknowledge that they're weak points in the plan that should have some further measure of attention paid to them prior to CoH Freedom's launch.Quote:Finally you are seeing my point. I have few issues outside of this that really tweaks me about Freedom. I could care less about the new Free players but a bigger bone must be thrown to the Premium players if they are going to be won back.
A big part of this rebranding is the promise that they won't stand by while the existing subscribers get trolled. This is a pro-active solution that may be too strict, but it certainly solves the problem on the forum end.Quote:I just really feel that by excluding the premium players from the ability of writing to the forums is a bad idea. How can you tell them that you should come back when you are giving them not much more than a free trial of the game itself? You alienate those that simply want to hear a reason to come back by not allowing them the one part of all this that is the bigger selling point which is the community.
But it's also why existing players have suggested creating a free section of the forums that would have lessened moderation. People do want to see some of the old faces come back to the boards, and they're willing to put up with some level of inconvenience (trolling, spamming, etc) to get it.
Nah, PVP is one of the big draws for certain F2Pers. It doesn't have to be good PVP, but there's definitely a breed of player that floats from one online game to another with the express purpose of beating up other players. I doubt anyone is going to come to CoH and stay because of PVP, but if it gets them in the door and something else makes them want to stay, then it has done its purpose.Quote:I know nothing has been said about PvP or the Arena but I would have if I were a Dev added that to the list.
Conversely, I'm sure there are members of the existing PVP community who are cackling over their keyboards at the idea of "fresh meat" in the PVP zones. *shrug* -
Holy crap, stop staring at the camera like that Rebecca. You're creeping me out.
(In before Z.) >_> -
... Issue 19, last year. That's the last time any new animations were specifically mentioned by the developers.
Quote:No new (or old, as you seem to be requesting) melee animations were released at the time.Animation Customization options were added to Dark Blast, Electric Blast, Electricity Manipulation, Energy Blast, Fiery Assault, Fire Blast, Ice Blast, Icy Assault, Mental Manipulation, Mind Control, Psionic Assault, Mind Blast, Radiation Blast, Regeneration, Sonic Attack, and Sonic Resonance in Issue 19. -
Yep.
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=263740
I went back to 11.5 and haven't had any significant problems since. -
Quote:Spirit Bomb.Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
Genki Dama (no idea what it's called in the dub)
So I've heard. >_> -
Hydration isn't even something I'd thought about. Guess I'm buying some water bottles Thursday morning.
I was just coming in here to suggest Emergen-C or Airborne, much the same way BackFire just did, even before I realized the thread was specifically about health.
Question: Does Comic Con frown upon bringing food in, if it's in a backpack? I was thinking of packing a few snacks in my bag, just in case. -
Undecided with my second account.
I've given occassional thought to outright cancelling it at times in the past anyway, but now that it'll still be accessible to me in CoH Freedom, there is no longer any personal harm in letting it drop for a few months at a time here and there. And since it's already got over 5 years of veteran status and is currently paid through April 2012, I don't think I'll be losing much in the transition from VIP to Premium.
(I'm not dropping my primary account unless it becomes financially necessary.)