Creole Ned

Welcome, Arctic_Sun.

Try the fish!

I realized I did not address the points made in the original post, which is something that irks me when others do it in favor of discussing whatever sub-argument has started in the thread. That said, regarding the OP:

costumes - Yes, there are some *horrible* clipping issues and nasty pop-up with a lot of the new costume pieces. The re-organization of costume pieces has also taken away options from players. All of these are bad things. But we have been told that fixes are coming, so I am not too concerned here, apart from timeframe (I suspect Issue 6 at the earliest for any fixes to this stuff).

sonic powers - this one bothers me a bit more. The artists who work on CoH are very talented people. Some of the audio and visual effects are truly dazzling, clever and amusing. But when they muck up, they do it in a way that is utterly baffling. How could *anyone* on the dev team think the looping sound on Fortitude was a good idea? Why does super speed need a looping sound at all when it has a huge and obvious visual effect, even when the player is standing still? These are QoL issues, but they are ones that aren't tucked away in a part of the interface you only see occasionally, they are front and center.

The devs have done some good work here to fix problems and are doing more. I give them full credit for that. But some of these issues should never have happened in the first place.

repetitive content - New maps and missions (not just reworking the occasional existing one) should be top priority, in my opinion, above new zones, new powersets, graphics improvements or anything else. There is a small group of "tilesets" we play through and it doesn't take long for even a new player to start seeing the repetition. Getting more variety into the game's environments is critical to its longevity.

I don't know how difficult it is to create new maps (with attendant new art, sound, critter placement, etc.) and I've no doubt it's time-consuming. Still, the base game shipped with a small number and we've only seen a handful added since to the regular missions. We need more. Please.

On the PvP vs. PvE issue, I think some changes - like the alteration of phase shift - were done primarily with PvP in mind and then some PvE reasons were tossed in (the PvE reasons for the PS change are, in my opinion, laughable). Overall, I do think the global defense reduction in Issue 5 was about the PvE game, with the object to make it more challenging, since it was too easy before. I have no problem with that, having played I5 for over a month now.

I am still satisfied with the game and have a lot of fun with it, despite all that I've said here. That is a testament to its overall design and the talent of those who made it.

Oh, brother. I give up. Think what you like.

I'd also like to apologize to everyone for actually having fun while playing the game after Issue 5 was released. Obviously I am doing something wrong!

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As for the supposed "emphasis" on PvP - I think you'll see that it's just ONE part of City of Villains. It has PvE content levels 1 to 50.

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... 1 to 50? At launch?

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PWNED

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Er, no, not "pwned". Where in the quote does Statesman say the game will have level 40+ content when it ships? The devs have already confirmed CoV will ship with level 1-40 content. They'll add 40-50 in the first issue, much as they did with CoH. That content simply won't be finished at the time CoV gets released.

Having Turner disappear was a nice bit of foreshadowing. Clever writer, you.

Sad to see you go, Gil. I never commented in the story threads but I always appreciated both your effort in writing and the tremendous good humor you took criticism with, even when it was unkind to say the least. Everyone should aspire to be so even-keeled.

Good luck in your new (and currently mysterious) venture!

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"Boom" effect when zoning.
I feel the Boom effect should only be when I change forms. When I am changing zones, I am not changing forms. It sure is neat, but it seems incorrect to me. It does get a bit old to me. I know I can change to human form and not have it, but some times I'm in a hurry.

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The way the game is designed, all player-based effects play when you zone, so there wouldn't appear to be a way of stopping the boom specifically when zoning other than changing the effect itself.

The boom is a neat effect but it gets annoying when you shift forms a lot - which I do. I'd at least like the effect toned down a bit. If switching forms was only done occasionally, I'd be fine with the way it is but when the form is part of an attack chain - well, imagine if every fourth attack you used caused the screen to shake, a bright flash to completely fill your view, topped off with a loud boom. It's a bit much - for me.

On the general topic, it's nice to see geko is looking into the issues raised here.

I'll try testing it again tonight. I don't currently have Conserve Energy with my PB.

If Q-fly is bugged, it is inconsistent. I tested and after the -END started (at the 45 second mark) I was able to use both Essence Boost and Reform Essence. After using both my endurance had dropped too low to use anything else.

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The END crash is a benefit IMO. Unlike every other Phase power, we actually get a warning when ours is about to fail. No other Phase power (or clicky for that matter) gives you a chance to get out of danger if you're pushing the timer, nor does any other Phase timer let you push the timer to its limits, staying Phased longer by consuming END. There's no crash if you bother to just shut the power off when you're out of time.

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I'd prefer to have an actual timer displayed than an endurance crash at the end. Regardless, why is the crash even necessary? Why not just have the power toggle off if you run it too long? I'm not sure I see the benefit of the current implementation, although I admire your "make lemonade from lemons" mindset.

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I'd be happy with any of those... However, I'd prefer the 'Phase' options (I think you meant your last option to be Flight/Stealth).

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Ugh, I messed up most of the titles for the alternatives. I've fixed them now. Thanks for catching the errors.

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PS> Shouldn't these posts be in a different thread on say, QFly, rather than in an overall issue thread??? Just asking....

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Indeed, my comments would be better suited to a different thread. There are several on Q-fly, pick one and I'll copy and paste my spiel.

Good posts, Viscount Gareth.

Let me give my laundry list of possible fixes to Q-fly. I'm not putting them in order of preference, but rather in order of how much concealment/protection they provide.

I think most of us will agree that the current Q-fly needs more refinement to be a good level 28 power.

• FLIGHT/PHASE
- phase drops after 45 seconds
- max flight speed maintained
- 60 second recharge
- current END usage reduced to reflect non-permanent phasing
- no END crash, flight can be maintained permanently if slotted

• FLIGHT/SUPERIOR INVISIBILITY
- phase replaced by superior invisibility
- can attack while invisible but still be seen by high-preception enemies
- max flight speed maintained
- 45 second recharge
- current END usage lowered to match flight/invis requirements
- no END crash, flight can be maintained permanently

• FLIGHT/INVISIBILITY
- phase replaced by invisibility
- can only use powers on self while invisible; can still be seen by high-preception enemies
- max flight speed maintained
- 45 second recharge
- current END usage lowered to match flight/invis requirements
- no END crash, flight can be maintained permanently

• FLIGHT/STEALTH
- phase replaced by stealth
- stealth works the same as the pool power but without any movement penalties
- max flight speed maintained
- 30 second recharge
- current END usage lowered to match flight/stealth requirements
- no END crash, flight can be maintained permanently

Any of these would be better than what we have now and all would still be balanced, I think. The two universals among all suggested alternatives is to maintain permanent flight if slotted and to remove the END crash at the end. It's punitive and unnecessary to making the power balanced.

EDIT: There are two things that are consistent in each alternative, not one.

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My response to Issue 5 was initially extremely negative.
Now that I5 has gone live, my view is tempered somewhat.

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My vote for I5 The Update - 45% (Should never have been necessary).
My vote for City of Heroes The Game With I5 - 70%

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This is a very detailed and well-written summary. I agree with much of what you say and like you, I still find the game fun to play. I think the devs inadvertantly saved themselves by having so much "breathing room" with regard to player defenses.

The sweeping changes in Issue 5, as you said, should never have been needed because the developers, simply put, bungled the initial design of the game. Not with malice or because they are inept, more likely because this is simply Cryptic's first game. As such, I think it's pretty impressive just how much they got right. For a debut effort, it's pretty spiffy.

I also have come around to agreeing that all the numbers should be out in plain view. Having them easily available will not hurt the game, it will reduce confusion and allow people to truly understand how things work instead of having to guess. One might argue that the guesswork is part of the game but the fact that the devs have occasionally released detailed numbers (see geko's post on Vigilance, for example) shows that if this is policy, it is applied inconsistently at best.

I certainly don't agree with everything the devs do, but I give full credit to Positron for being informative, honest and upfront about this. Very classy. As Homer would say, eight thumbs up!

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Second, we’re still scouring the boards for bugs and other issues, but we’ve finished making large changes to the power sets.

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Can you clarify this a little States? Done for I5, done period? I understand that as an MMO the game will be constantly changing, but are we gonna see more huge upheavals like we saw this past issue?

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I *think* what he's saying is that Issue 5 should be the only time they make a huge set of power changes that affect all archetypes. From here out they should only have to tweak individual powers or AT's. The global changes are done.

Or maybe I'm just projecting, filled with naive hope.

Anyway, it's nice to know issues are still being looked into and not getting pushed aside.

You can also view the tag info by using the freeware IrfanView image viewer. Go to the Image menu, select Information and click on the IPTC info button.

Way late on this but here's my take on Defiance. I am replying to the original post.

I have blasters ranging from levels 8 through 36. I have tested Defiance on all of them. After having done so, my conclusion is that the ability is essentially worthless. Now, there's no harm in it as you can easily ignore it and play as usual, but I honestly think the programming time and effort that went into coding it was a waste, it is just too situational for the minor payoff it gives.

A blaster than can stay alive will almost always outdamage a blaster that is defeated shortly after Defiance has kicked in and started buffing their damage.

I do not have any suggestions on how to improve Defiance, save to abandon the concept as one that doesn't work and to start over. Controllers get Containment, an excellent ability that allows for double damage and makes their solo life much easier, scrappers get criticals, which, while random, provide a significant damage boost without any special effort on their part and tankers get Gauntlet (punchvoke), the ability to keep the enemies on them and away from their teammates, perfectly dovetailing with their role on a team.

In comparision, Defiance is little more than a gimmick. I don't know what sort of inherent ability a blaster should get but for me Defiance is a non-starter.

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I'll pop in here so you guys have a new target.

The original Task Force Datamine took 3 months to finish. That was to go over 2 months worth of data.

We now have 18 months worth of data. We looked for a more effecient solution, but our estimates still come out at 2 years to datamine and get you your badges.

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You make a lousy target when you offer a reasonable explanation.

If it takes too long to datamine at this point, your efforts are better spent on other things. Thanks for the response.

My one request to you would be to go over the existing task forces in the Shadow Shard (as time permits) and if nothing else, just shorten them. This will make it more appealing for people to run them again to get the badges and it will make them more appealing in general. A few of the SS TF's have a reputation for being grindy, so cutting them back a bit will still keep them "epic" but not brutally so.

EDIT: Also want to throw my support to those suggesting the badges for TF's be reworked somehow to include the story text. A better way of presenting the story to all the players while the TF is happening would be welcome, too.

An excellent and thorough guide. It answered several questions for me concerning flight and super jump.

One very minor error: the kinetic power is called Increase Density, not Increase Gravity.

Congrats on the promotion and thanks for all you've done here.

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Uhm.. CoH and CoV will be completely different games. CoV will not be a patch on CoH. It'll be completely seperate.

So if you have CoH installed, then you'll also have to install CoV into it's own dir. They won't share any files on your computer. A patch for CoH will not work on CoV and vice versa.

2 Completely seperate games.

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How exactly would heroes be able to raid villains' bases if they were completely separate games? This is an established feature and I've seen nothing to suggest that you could create heroes in CoV. Maybe you can, I dunno.

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I know you're trying to make a power that's both fun and balanced. Chasing down mobs is not fun though, ever.

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I just wanted to put in that not everyone feels this way. In fact, if it was as easy to clump up mobs consistently in every fight, the combat would be kind of a snoozefest. I have a storm/energy blast defender and both powersets have inherent (and often unpredictable) knockback. I regularly duo with a fire tanker. If you go with conventional wisdom, the fire tanker should be driven insane anytime I fire off a power and there's some knockback or scatter. But he doesn't because knockback and scatter is part of the game. I don't want the villains lined up like ducks in a shooting gallery. If some flee, I chase them down. It's part of the challenge. Chasing an errant bad guy blindly around a corner and into a previously unseen group of villains is one of the things that can make a mission exciting. Then again, having Steamy Mist prevents a few "Oops" moments, too.

Now, excessive and deliberate scatter can be a bit much, but what Geko is describing for spectral terror sounds reasonable to me. On the other hand, watching mobs run/skate and superjump after being disoriented is too much, in my view.

In the end, it's different strokes for different folks, I guess. You really can't please everyone.

These are excellent solutions that nicely address the concerns of casual/hardcore and team/solo players. Well done!

There are a ton of ideas I can come up with (as we all can, looking at this thread ) so I'll just post three of them:

• A new non-hazard zone. Most of the zones added since launch have been hazard zones. I'd like to see a section of the city reclaimed by the citizens. Whether it would be another district like Steel Canyon or Atlas Park or something entirely new (water zone, etc.) I'd leave to the devs.
• New tilesets. I appreciate how some existing mission sets have been tweaked to give them a more distinct look (the ice in Frostfire's mission, the Skulls' superadine warehouse) but what I'd really like are some entirely new tilesets. Variety is good. Heck, even just reworking the layout of existing sets would be a good first step.
• Ragdoll animations for player/villain defeats. I don't want nor expect a full-on physics system but I would love to see ragdolls for people (good or bad) when they are beaten. Who wouldn't want to watch a defeated tank smasher crumble at the top of a ramp and then roll down to the heroes standing at the bottom doing the "victory" emote?

Where is the evidence that this or any other inspiration will be available in PvP or would work the same way in PvP?

A retail expansion is paid for at time of purchase. Tacking on an additional monthly fee is a plain bad idea and would definitely hurt the success of CoV and by extension, CoH. I certainly wouldn't consider getting CoV if they were going to add to the already industry-high monthly fee.