Hero2

/signed.

This is a common occurrance in MMOs, where devs keep barfing out mad concepts instead of updating/mending the old/broken stuff.

Do I think they'll stop it with the barfing? No. They have to try and make their game more modern (they're well aware of the competition coming for their customers).

Unless they are new MA versions of the other badges, then...
/unsigned.

I think we all know that the real issue faced by CoH is funding.

I've not noticed them going out of their way to really pump CoH with a totally new system (I know I know, the old engine is really powerful and all) - Paragon Studios need to hire a tonne of artists and get the existing graphics up to date, fast and they need (as MoLo says) to get the audio up to date, fast. This doesn't happen with small budgets.

Even if these hurdles are cleared, I STILL see CoH having problems when other games are coming out with modern concepts such as players throwing existing map objects down the street.

Hero 1 addresses such concerns himself, here:
[ QUOTE ]
...is there a specific plan to keep a game that's five years old competitive in the market? Is Mission Architect a part of that?

First of all, the game's always been competitive. We've always brought these free updates that a lot of other MMOs don't do -- you have to go out and buy a boxed expansion. We do a mini-expansion three times a year. That's one of the things I think has really kept our subscriber numbers as high as they are.

As far as worrying about other competitors in a similar genre, personally, I kind of welcome them. I've never seen great games come out where there's only one in the genre. You need to have competition in order to make your content that much better. City of Heroes has been doing really great stuff being the only guy on the block. The conversations we're having now about what we want to do... does it play into stuff other people are doing? Because we now kind of have to prove ourselves because there's going to be someone else? Hell yeah it does. But now we're gonna bring it. We want to make it that much better.

Some of this is because when we were with our previous owners, we didn't have the money or the team to pull this stuff off. And now that we do we're like the little kid who's just been put in the candy shop. We're excited. I'm a huge comic book nut and I think every game on the shelf should be a super hero game. So I'm not really worried about what that's going to do to our game because it's a great game.

[/ QUOTE ]
http://www.massively.com/2009/04/06/...-depth-part-3/

[ QUOTE ]
I believe the release schedule that has been mentioned is 3 a year. So, we've had April's, next up is August then December.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep.

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We won't see I-15 going live in less then 6 months.

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Hero 1 says;
[ QUOTE ]
We do a mini-expansion three times a year.

[/ QUOTE ]
Massively.com interview with Joe Morrissey (Hero 1)

I'm gutted to see that Cimerora did not get an Architect Entertainment building. Why not?

[ QUOTE ]
Someone did suggest this in another thread,.

[/ QUOTE ]

I did!

My brain hurts.

This is a fun idea. Here are the things I find interesting...

1. It's like that game where each person says one word of a sentence. This gives a lot of creativity to them.

2. You could have an overarching plot, and tell each person what situation you want by the end of their arc, but tell them that what happens in between is up to them. This is (I think) like TV series where people are draughted in for just one episode.

3. You could just let each person make a new arc and leave it at that, with no overarching plot, so it is simply a baton handed from one author to the next (as is done with comic books). This allows authors to put their stamp on it, but also means that things could get derailed, characters killed etc.

I agree. I have this issue and am currently trying to do something about it with Splasher, though I don't think it's capable of doing it.

[ QUOTE ]
I agree with Alpha, the game's becoming City of Heroes & Anti-Heroes with all the co-op zones poping up

[/ QUOTE ]

I had to comment on this.

Lord Recluse isn't evil. There, I said it. He's just got a more militaristic perspective. Where's the villainy in producing a system of government which is a bit more restrictive than normal, where the strong survive (pretty much the capitalist system anyway)? ...but really it's just a bit more harsh. It's hardly hell on earth, and that's as it should be. It's City of Villains, not City of Psychopathic Murderers

Another suggestion:

Allow people to search in the editor for keywords in the descriptions of things like maps, where the sub-categories aren't obvious (e.g. is that map I want unique or what?).

Another suggestion:

Defeat %age rather than defeat all.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Here is a thread for mission architect suggestions. Hopefully someone might one day read it.

My first suggestion is to add
ambushes which must be completed to finish the mission.

[/ QUOTE ]

Erm, aren't these already in? On test I had a "click the glowie" leading to a boss ambush which also needed to be completed to end the mish.

[/ QUOTE ]

No. You can click the glowie then the exit button appears and the ambush pops at the same time. You can avoid the ambush by clicking the exit button.

Here is a thread for mission architect suggestions. Hopefully someone might one day read it.

My first suggestion is to add
ambushes which must be completed to finish the mission.

Rebranding? Who gets all the old merch, then?

Make a boss flee without failing the mission by setting it up as a rescue mission with the boss as the victim.

Also, if you want to make a branching storyline , set it up like a Choose Your Own Adventure - if you kill the boss go to 54161 if you let them live go to 17160.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The only stories possible to tell are simple, silly stories

[/ QUOTE ]

As much as I would like to see the things you're asking for, I'm afraid I cannot possibly agree with this. If you need some well written stories, PM me and i've got a list by my desk (i write them as I go along) of all the fantastic arcs i've played thus far. I empathise with your frustration, but a lot of sneaky authors have found workarounds until MA2.0 is released

[/ QUOTE ]

Mine uses a few workarounds. If you want the boss to flee without failing, make him/her the victum of a rescue mission, for example. Using clever animations you can make it look like they are giving orders, for example. Please try my arc

[ QUOTE ]
Splasher... Change the music of the Boombox emotes and such.
What? It is in a gray area...

[/ QUOTE ]

Nice.

[ QUOTE ]
How about giving them some holographs on the outside changing their appearance so they will actually fit into the various zones they are placed in?


[/ QUOTE ]

While I agree with this, here are my buts;

1. Number of buildings? 10
2. Placement? Random
3. Publish!

They are probably the same building model replicated in the zones, rather than 10 different individual models. Thus it becomes very difficult to make them fit in with their environments.

I'd compare them with WW/BM, but WW/Black Market seem to have had a bit more thought put into them.

[edit]On this subject, this photo album was posted on this US thread.

Firstly I'll add that this is in the FAQ already.

From the FAQ:
[ QUOTE ]
Influence transfer - the ability to move large sums of Influence from one character to another, and/or between alts on a single account.
(Bridger's comment: Not really sure how likely this is.)

[/ QUOTE ]

Now I'll lay down my beef about the FAQ.

1. Bridger's comment is utterly non-committal either way, and hence completely pointless. Clearly he needs many more posts like this one, thereby forcing the weight of player opinion to influence him into getting off the fence and doing something about this issue which the player base have been very concerned with for a very long time.

2. It is stated in the FAQ that the items in the list on the FAQ are there because they want the focus to be on new ideas. If the devs would actually act on player ideas instead of giving us things we don't ask for (Disclaimer: all new content is always appreciated, regardless of whether we asked for it or not: thanks for your continued efforts), maybe we can;

a) not discuss them because we know they're on a "to do" list somewhere and
b) actually have faith that the devs pay any attention to player desires at all.

As it stands the evidence points to the fact being that the suggestions forum is here to vent our frustrations and be completely ignored.

Welcome to the venting forum. /ignore @blazo

/signed.

Why are there so few escort starting animations, when there's a huge list for captives? There seems very little difference between a captive and an escort, so what's up here?

Happy Birthday, Singstar.

Like so many other things in MA, it's not possible the way you want to do it. You (as so many others afore you) will have to bodge it.

Map Samples posted by Damz

[ QUOTE ]
And what makes a good souvenir?

[/ QUOTE ]

A battered video tape from Faultline's Jim Temblor arc is the only souvenir I can remember.

It's my favourite arc, too.