Fire_Away

Go old school (input from a RL old man). Pie in the face, squirting flower, whoopie cushion, etc.

I thought so too. I asked at the summit if these changes were applicable to both PvE and PvP and got an affirmative reply (but that the actual numbers etc were not yet set in concrete).

I'd love to see the data on the number of solo bases that are out there. My (safe) bet would be that they are sharply on the rise... especially since there isn't much, if anything, that requires supergroup membership these days (given global channels, glee mail, etc.).

Interestingly, at the recent player summit Positron commented on solo bases as a rationale against offline SG invites. His words were to the effect that: This is not what we envisioned for supergroups. We don't want everyone to go off and make their own base with just all their alts (server impacts).

I thought the comment was very strange because (a) the devs have not really done much to promote or encourage the supergroup concept in the first place. (b) people will make solo bases (and get someone to join temporarily to invite alts) regardless if there is offline sg invite capability or not.

Just another example where I scratch my head at dev thinking on SGs and bases.

Yay, fluff comes easier for a minority of the player base... that's something at least after years of not much.

Meanwhile, base bugs are pretty much at an all time high and the rank and file SG member gets zero benefit from this.

I'm not ungrateful for at least some result but pass on the dev suck up in this particular area (bases).

I

Am

Still

Waiting

For a better shake for all.

Classy move Fulmens (and company). I still say you have done more for the base building community these past couple of years than anybody (to include the devs). Best of luck with this latest effort.

Wow! I remember wandering around HeroCon alone planning to skip the live event when a couple of friendly people I did not know (Liquid & Iris) said to me: "You are more than welcome to join us". It turned out our entire PUG was awesome... and you talk about fun! I kind of wish we had let Ghost Falcon take that picture of us with the cube in pieces too but it doesn't matter; because the memory is etched in my mind. Congratulations to both of you very nice folks.

Take your pick; the above or this:

I'm trying to figure out how the base claimable item bug and the sg banner bug were not fixed in beta... unless of course it's still another indication of the lower priority bases hold in the devs' eyes.

So... we took two steps backward in the last issue (which were pointed out early in beta) with sg banners and multi-claimed base items and now it looks like we may soon get back to even. Sorry but, I'm not ready to declare victory on base development based on that.

It's a shame that the Paragon Store won't be accessible from bases (though I can certainly understand the rationale for this move since bases and instance missions were causing problems). That'll make crafting and storage of Paragon Store purchased items slightly more inconvenient.

Also, I've given up trying to "read the tea leaves" for the rationale for what winds up making it through the development process for bases. At least this time I don't think there will be much of a backlash (for those of you that remember the beakers on beaker rack "improvement"). So, I'm celebrating a good thing here with alphabetical sorting.

I speculate that things like this will continue to trickle out from time to time much as they have in the past (and this is the reason no dev has gone on record saying "nothing" is happening with base development).

I'd like to add my congratulations on a job very well done. These look fantastic... and thanks for taking player feedback into consideration. Wow!

For every dev base "no comment" that might inspire "hope" there is a real comment that led to Nowhereville (and the years passed by).

Positron said: "All your base are belong to us".

Sunstorm said: "I'm still working on content for bases, and we have very big plans waiting in the wings."

War Witch said (which triggered the last player frenzy on this topic): "... new textures... Suggestions?"

I cannot list the number of players (including, unfortunately, yours truly) that claimed they had the inside scoop on what the devs were doing and when... who were wrong!

Are these bad people (except for me)? Were they saying bad things on purpose? Of course not!

IMHO the devs are doing the right thing by not saying anything and we players would be well served to expect nothing until it actually appears in game. Development can be a very involved process (gauntlet). It takes resources and perseverance to see things through and many efforts fall short. So far bases have failed to make the cut almost every single time (I know, I know... here's where others will say "we need to keep up the pressure". That's fine... to a point... but the ball is not in the player's court on this issue).

The opposite of hope is dooom. Believe it or not, I'm not preaching doom. Bases are not dead; nor is there any reasonable expectation that they will be wiped from the game without replacement anytime soon. People universally acknowledge great decorating things have been done with what we have and many functional items have at least some utility...despite many obvious limitations.

That said, we need to acknowledge that bases are not critical to the game, the code has "issues", and there is a constant battle for resources that bases have very rarely "won". All I'm asking is that people consider the very real possibility that what we have is what there is for quite a long time (like what we have already endured). We are far (in terms of both time and effort) from seeing results. Hope? Ok. Expect? Nope.

I agree completely with the OP; especally with regard to how it applies to in game teaming and especially with incarnate trials. I'm working on getting my fourth toon on the server "t4'ed across the board" with available incarnate powers. I mention this, not looking for some sort of pat on the back, but to suggest that I have made quite a few trial runs in the process (most very successful and a few, particularly early, that were not). Throughout, I've been very impressed with the knowledge, patience, friendly spirit and willingness to team on Pinnacle. I am not in a large SG and do not have a well known reputation to most in game. That does not seem to matter and is a credit to my fellow players.

Like many, I have some rather strong opinions on the entire end game and its implementation. And I know for certain from reading the forum that not everyone on Pinnacle agrees with my point of view. But I would like to thank the people on Pinnacle, especially league leaders, for making my end game playing experience so pleasurable.

I'm for anything that produces results. That includes being personally branded as a three year indignant whiner while the BBC champions the just and noble cause by igniting a revolution by throwing the figurative brick through the window (and to think it all started with a logo contest!). If you ever need a bad guy poster boy for the way to not get anything done, feel free to point a finger in this direction. Good luck (and I mean it).

It's clear to me that CoH has been on an "SG unfriendly" track now for quite a long time. This pretty much started with the removal of SG specific activities and rewards (raids and redside SF) and continues with no real steps to accomodate SGs in the latest CoH gameplay advances (Praetoria, side switching and incarnates). I got a real chuckle when Paragon Studios went as far as to advertise "you don't have to belong to an elite guild" as a selling point for the queue feature. If that doesn't say something about how the devs want you feel about SGs nothing will.

None of the above shortcomings is an "oversight". Believe me when I say the OP's issues (and more) were raised during the closed beta process (when changes could have been made). However, when it comes down to the hard development resource choices, SGs (bases too for that matter) haven't made the cut for quite some time. In fact, the latest trend in development is an attempt to point people away from SGs (bases) by offering a host of alternatives for the individual player (for SGs it's things like global channels, leagues, and the queue).

I really cannot see the value of debating specific "solutions" suggested by the OP and others until or unless this entire development mindset changes. I'm with Ad Astra; I've pretty much come to grips with the situation as it is instead.