Clintonian

Be Aware: This type of snafu is a NCSoft responsibility and NOT a Cryptic responsibility. Even then, it's still not a Cricket responsibilty.

We may never know why it happened because: A) It's not important for us to know, and B) no one will care much in a couple of weeks. Things happen. Never make your schedule around a software release date.

hahaha...

Half an hour later, and *snip*!

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I have to agree with Lady Sadako that there will be 2 seperate teams working on CoX and MUO. Tabula Rasa hasn't brought CoX to a screaching halt development wise, neither has Guildwars or Auto Assault. Just because CoX and MUO are the same genre does not mean that they are going to be sharing development teams or stealing from one another. I am sure that some folks may get shuffled, but they are not going to downsize the CoX dev team to bolster the MUO one.

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Well, if you educated yourself with 5 minutes of Search-Fu, you'd know that Tabula Rasa, Guild Wars, and Auto Assault were all done by different development studios, while MUO and CoX are being done by the same development studio.

Please don't compare apples to eggplants.

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Are you taking resources away from CoH/CoV?

Cryptic has a team of programmers, artists, designers, and producers dedicated solely to creating and maintaining both products. The studio will continue to update both titles with new content, including a multi-year storyline, a new gameplay system that allows characters to craft Enhancements and Costume pieces, brand new missions, and much, much more.


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"...dedicated solely to creating and maintaining both products"

In other words, "Yes, we are".

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DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!

Nope, they're not hiring any new people. Nothing to see here.

I literally L'MAO. Thanks for the humor

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Well, to be fair, Cryptic talked about how they doubled their staff when CoV's developement started in earnest back in Fall 2004. It didn't seem to allow Cryptic to avoid a content pipeline slowdown that lingers to today. Any isolated plot point can tell "A" story. Connnecting the plot points tells something closer to "THE" story.

I'm not going to tell you not to be optimistic, Obsidius. There's a track record that exists in reality, though, that undermines the zazz of your sarcasm.

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So what is I8 about? Getting heros equal to villains. Heros have tons of missions and zones to explore compared to villains. So lets take the only thing villains had that heros didn't away from them, newpaper missions and mayhem missions.

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Most of us 'old-timers' assume that certain CoH zones over time will be turned over or opened up to CoV. Almost half the zone count that you're a little jealous over consists of zones rarely ever used - especially the Hazard zones which is a vestigial concept that the game grew out of during CoV development. CoH is chuck full of vestigial concepts and artifacts that were interesting at first, but are outdated and less than interesting now. CoV is chock full of features and QoL that CoH players have been asking for since CoV was just a glimmer in someone's eye. I agree that CoV could use some more elbow room, but I'm not sure waiting 18 months to port gameplay options over to CoH so that CoV can get another zone or two is an un-awkward solution. Though truthfully, I don't know that there's anythng but awkward solutions at this point as far as content additions. The long gap between Issue 6 and 7 strained most everyone's patience going forward.

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That wouldn't bother me as much if they at least threw the villains a bone. But it doesn't sound like they really plan on balancing villains much, instead all they talk about is adding more to heros or to both. i.e. the Stateman taskforce and inventions.

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Well, CoH isn't getting any new zones. They're getting tweaked ports of CoV gameplay modules and some small amount of tweaked zone assets, with some vague refurbishment of the Boomtown and Faultline zones (one of which may be becoming a PvP zone, but maybe not). Both games share the new costumes, new Veteran Awards, increased base functionality, and QoL stuff. I8's less CoH-centric in my eyes than I7 was CoV-centric, and there's been assurances that there won't be another 8-month gap between Issues. You're looking at February-ish (give or take a few weeks) for the next major installment of content that'll likely be more CoV-centric, with a Halloween and possible Winter Holiday event in the meantime.

I mean really, folks, this split-focus for content was a concern before CoV came out. It wasn't CoH players just worrying about whether CoH would get its due. It was about the dev team being a servant to two needy masters. I shake my head when I read vague assurances that work on the Marvel MMOG won't drain resources away from CoX. That tune has been sung before. Gird yourself for the inevitable.

By the by, there's a cotton candy interview with Statesman and a suit each from Marvel and Microsoft here.

I think I lost a a few ounces from the negative caloric value while reading it. Banal corporate interviews are heart-wise and slimming!

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Great idea. Comdemn a game before you've seen anything about it other than Marvel and Cryptic are working together to make it.

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I'm not sure why someone should be all that optimistic or pessimistic about the Marvel/Microsoft deal. While the potential is there for 'blue skies' results for MUO and CoX, there are several concerns as well. I'm not sure why discussion of that should stop now, considering that people have been discussing just this scenario since MUO was first announced many moons ago.

Microsoft's track record is mixed at best, there's been many long-winded discussions over the last couple of years about how there are more pitfalls to creating a superhero MMOG using pre-existing corporate IP as opposed to studio owned IP, and most people remember how well having "two separate dev teams" worked with CoV. This deal has obvious benefits for Cryptic Studios, but I'd have to agree that for current subscribers all this deal does is create this big unknown factor for the next couple years. Cryptic doesn't have a sterling track record of developing two properties with similar code bases and engines, let alone a track record of managing two dev teams working on completely different code bases and engines. In fact, few studios have a good track record of developing multiple MMOGs - this isn't just a concern because Cryptic is doing it.

I wish Cryptic the best, honestly. I just don't think anyone should get too excited or depressed at this news. How can anybody outside of Cryptic and Marvel and Microsoft feel anything about this, really? There are far too many unproven, unknown factors involved as far as the consumer is concerned.

It's interesting, and that's about it, as far anyone outside the company can judge at this point.

It was supposed to be in the CoH/CoV Mondo Turbo Doubly Fantastic Combo pack until that got backburnered, but it's now a 'Veteran Reward' do to tremendous demand. No, really.

What?

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<ul type="square">[*] Trench Coats will be part of the Veteran Rewards System. You will earn this Prestige item after ~3 months of having an active account.[/list]
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Shouldn't that be 3 years? 3 months is still relatively a new player. I don't understand how a player is considered to be a Veteran after only 3 years.

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Veteran rewards system scale. Some rewards come early, others late. So you might get silly stuff (like the trench coats) after three months, but something with more prestige (and possibly some small, in-game effect) after, say, three years.

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2-year veterans get the Great Golden Codpiece of Glory (with a Fear toggle) unlocked. It all evens out.

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You all will get emails on it monday. It is happening.

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Silly question, as I haven'thad a chance on tet to see:

Does debt double?

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Only if you get on a team with me as the healer.

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Zing!

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There's no pleasing some people.

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Some people like to "act" outraged to get attention, too.

So they can never be pleased.

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I'm amused why people resort to calling me a "fanboi".

Thought of you, Taser.

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I do recall that I was not playing much for the first part of the event, which is probably WHY my perception is skewed. Not sure if it was work, or I got wrapped up with an NWN mod, or what.

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If not for the Paragon Times article at the time, you wouldn't have know it was going on for over a week, outside of the occasional ice patch. 'CoH needs weather!' threads made a big comeback around then.

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Was the "X levels from median party level" change one of these? I don't actually remember that going into patch notes, but there have been stretches where I didn't play for a month or two.

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Me too. Because of the WL event, rewards for monsters in general were overhauled, and I believe it was at this time that the first limit for the max % of level xp you can get from a single mob was introduced. Thinking more about it, I may have mistakenly lumped in the 'level range in a team' limiter that occurred around that time but was directed at pre-existing powerlevelling strategies. My nigh-useless head for meta-game history has its limits.

For much of 2005, it didn't matter about the median team level, but whether you were within a certain range of the highest teammates' level - "lvl 42 bridge plz?". The median thing is a fairly recent development.

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As a player, I'm disgusted by it.

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You've been disgusted by a lot of things lately - some of them in crackpot fashion. How are we to keep up with you?

&lt;insert 'thatismystapler MMOG-complaint fatigue sets in' sound effect&gt;

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Wait, does double XP also mean double Influence and Prestige?

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I believe CuppaJo has mentioned that, yes, it does.

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I'd like to echo remarks from others that it is [/b]rude[/b] to be doing this on the same weekend as the San Diego Comic Con.

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Rude? Really?

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But I remember how crowded the servers were, every night, night after night.

[/ QUOTE ] Well, it did come right after I3 which introduced Striga Isle and the new Kheldian AT. I'm sure that had nothing to do with it.

[/ QUOTE ] Maybe. But I3 was came out in late '04, right? And I don't think the WLs made their appearance until just into '05?

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No. I3 premiered on the Live servers at the beginning of January. We had the 5th/Council Streetwar for the first few days afterward, then WL event started with frozen water and WL spottings in the high-level zones a week or so later with people scratching their heads, going "Huh? That's it?". Finally, towards the end of the month, it degenerated over the course of a few days into a nasty free-for-all once the monsters started popping up in the low-level zones and the news of the exploitative nature of the monster spawns got out. Like I said before, there are two or three xp-limiting functions that came directly out of the WL event.

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But I remember for a month straight, there were swarms of heroes buzzing around the WL spots, ...

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That's a little bit of an exaggeration, but close. You can double-check the announcements to see that it ran January 12, 2005 to February 9, 2006, with several server outages the first week of February. The monster spawns built over time and gradually filtered down into the low-level zones - which meant the first week or so there were only occasional WL sightings in Peregrine Island. The period where people were able to freely powerlevel new characters lasted maybe the last couple of weeks before the monsters were prematurely removed leaving only frozen patches here and there. Even then, there were a load of level 50's unnecessarily hunting monster spawns in low-level zones aggressively for the presents or for powerlevelling their SG members and second accounts.

Not to be a total wet blanket, but there really was only about 4-6 good days when the event wasn't anti-climatic or dominated by nasty spawn-camping. At the end, it was a huge distraction from actually playing, with half the playerbase pretending to be a mediocre Chinese powerlevelling service. It's telling that subsequent events have never come close to reproducing the haphazard design of it. The past Holiday event was much closer in intent to what the devs wanted and much less disruptive with lasting after-effects.

I'm not going to say that the WL event 'ruined' the game for any amount of time, but it very definitely a mixed bag experience overall. Individual experiences may vary. I was playing almost every day for a couple of hours back then when I wasn't updating my semi-official CoV factoid thread during my designated gaming time. It was cool that an event could grab the throat of the city, but the grip was a little tight. Many who around earlier enough to compare the Halloween '04 event and the WL event would say the Halloween one worked better in that it emphasized an experience rather the accumulation of xp.

Now get off my lawn, ya damn whipper-snappers! Arrrr!

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You all will get emails on it monday. It is happening.

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Cuppa, why of alll weekends, would this happen on an event as HUGE as Comic Con, and not this weekend? or the weekend after Comic Con?

I love the free XP (double xp) event, but many of us won't be able to enjoy it

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Perhaps it's part of their marketing push in San Diego? Or perhaps it's a consolation prize for the 98% of CoX subscribers who won't be in San Diego?

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Yeah. And frankly, the WL event was hugely popular.

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Frankly, the WL event got a hugely mixed reaction, especially towards the beginning and the end of the two week event. You're having a nostagia fever.

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I didn't like all the cluebies with no idea how to use their powers, but frankly, that's just the most accessible of 20 different exploits you could PL someone with.

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WL levelling put every other powerleveling trick or tactic to shame. You can't even put it into the same country as old Dreck farming or classic bridging. There's been two or three xp-earning restrictions put into place due solely because of the WL event, making it a situation that could never be recreated, barring a bug.

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But I remember how crowded the servers were, every night, night after night.

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Well, it did come right after I3 which introduced Striga Isle and the new Kheldian AT. I'm sure that had nothing to do with it.

Respectfully, I just think you're overselling the whole WL event, in the same way people tend to oversell the end-of-beta events.

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You know, I have the reputation of a fanboi here, but even I can see this in a cynical light.

Look at the way this was announced. NC Soft told video game newsites before they told us here at the forums.

So perhaps this is just a way to get some good PR in the video game media to try to band-aid the wound caused by news of the recent NC Soft layoffs.

I think this weekend has very little to do with Cryptic or City of Heroes in particular. This seems to be a strictly NC Soft PR move.

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When is it not? When somebody asks for a link to information about I8 or next year's box expansion, do you (the metaphorical "you") shoot a link for anywhere here or on the main game page? NO. You shoot em a link to to a third party site.

If this game had an ad budget, this site would be the only stop for CoX info we'd need. However, they don't, so they make almost everything a 'scoop' on a third-party site. It's a bit savvy, but a bit cheap too. Ya do what ya gotta do, though.

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I wonder if this is why Dev's don't post as much as they used to.

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One would think that they would avoid a thread like this reflexively. Self-loathing streak? Too much flattery around the office?

It's only been a frickin day since his last post...

Your work is appreciated. Whenever you can get it done is more than good.

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There are about a million questions that are already listed for tonights show - and some of the ones asked here may not appeal to SI radio's more general audience. So I'll answer some here...

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... and it was good - like, better than a lot of the fluffy promo pieces featuring devs on gaming sites good. Thanks!

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Staple, that's not the topic.
Make your own thread if you guys want to talk about other stuff.

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Oop. Missed this afternoon's shotgun.

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Posi, in contrast, has rarely given a substantive position on anything,

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Actually: no. He never went into long monologues about design decisions like Statesman did (on less than a dozen times in two years to my recollection), but then again it wasn't his job to articulate at length about company policies and design goals. That was Statesman's job. Positron, frankly, would have playing hazardously outside of his job description if he had waxed poetic about this or that design issue.

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while it's ridiculous to expect a response to every PM sent his way about any given subject, it's just as ridiculous that he's said so little with so much going on, above and beyond this one issue.

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Doesn't sound like a critique levelled at Statesman regularly at all. Nope. Totally unique to that dastardly Positron. Not.

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If he doesn't address salient questions about his policies in a timely manner, then yeah, I'll throw out the word "aloof". It seems to fit here, in my opinion.

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You've made the same mistake many people do and personalized some things that, based on my experiences, is likely due to company policy and decided on by committee. Positron likely has very few policies that he has very much control over.