JohnRobey
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Posts
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Joined
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Quote:I think that would make an excellent grieving thread: Liking COH but not liking how it evolved. By all means, have your say and let it out. I've seen speculation that Mission Architect in Issue 15 killed CoH or revision to PvP, nerfed powers, introduction of Incarnate, switching to the Freedom business model. Some don't like the look of "Walk" and other avatar features. Please DO include things you liked as well as things you continue(d) to like in City of Heroes when reflecting on your CoH experience.Originally Posted by Another_Fan
For 8 years these people have been shutting down any dissent on the forums. Now they can't. Surprise the people that liked the game but really didn't like how it had evolved are having their say. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Xzero45
CoH was pretty awful when it came to the female model, yo. The lowest you could slide the chest slider for females is a C cup, and you have the ability to make them absolutely enormous. The waist is, by default, unnaturally tiny, and only near the largest setting does it look pretty normal. The female walk animation makes your character look like they're walking down a runway at all times, and the run animation isn't much better. And lets not forget that entire stretch of time where, in every new costume pack we got on the market, the men would get coats, vests, etc. while the women's only option were revealing corsets and collars.
This game was made by horndog men and it shows.
The game was faithful to the genre and reflected it. I concede your observations about the avatars not reflecting standard human proportions by default, unless modified by the user. I thought (and had been told by 7 and 8 year vets) that "Walk" had been specifically created at player request for use in Costume Competitions, red carpets and runways. The first day "Walk" was released my male character was asked by two female characters to walk for them. They wanted to see to compare it to female Walk, which they thought a bit overdone. That was the only complaint I heard about it in-game ever, and knew plenty of women players, teens to 50's who made a pretty and/or sexy character if they felt like it (many did) or not, same as the guys. One friend had a number of female characters: one as tall and thin as possible, another as wide and round as possible, and another as close to realistic adult woman proportions as he could manage. (He also crafted a fairly impressive felonious Finch character, based on the bird.) A 70 year old friend of mine thought all the avatars looked "sexual" but to my mind they look no more sexual than Barbie and Ken, and she didn't see the robots, zombies, reptile, wolf or cow toons, etc . Besides, I'd grown up reading Marvel and DC in the 60's and 70's (as well as comicbook anthologies from the 30's and 40's) so the look of CoH matched my expectations.
If one wishes to assert that the superhero genre was created by horndog men, or more precisely that the comicbooks defining the Golden and Silver Ages were created by men to be read by boys and men and that this artwork reflects a cultural aesthetic from those eras which one can readily recreate in City of Heroes (by default, along with a number of pre-designed costumes), then I would agree. This game is faithful to the genre.
LOL, Another_Fan, ROFL at the cartoon and battlecry of "Eyes Up Here!" -
This should all go in the "Proxy Titan Hate Thread" thread, imo, since it's off topic here.
Quote:I took the line you're quoting from Golden Girl as humor! Perhaps I'm mistaken and/or perhaps she wrote that prior to being offered and accepting an official position while being active in no official capacity at Titan.Originally Posted by Another_Fan
In addition the Titan Crew have already failed the test before they even get going.
Back to the Original Post topic, there's lots about City of Heroes I like and many of those things have been noted in previous posts. "Feeling like a Hero" is one of them. The landscape/background art (I don't know the proper term) is another. -
Quote:ROFL!!!! If you create Tart O'Rama, it would be amusing to see her.Originally Posted by Dark_Respite
Crud, now I want to create a character called "Tart O'Rama." Kind of a cross between Flambeaux and Desdemona.
[As an aside, inspired by your "Avatar - COH style" youtube video, I created Scarlet O'Tera for the House of Tera SG on Justice, tho' she's now living on Exalted (House of Tera VIPs SG, of course.) "Fiddle Dee Dee, $target!"] -
Quote:I agree with everything you've noted. The Game Balance was great. I liked the SideKick/Exemplar system, especially as revised (issue 19?), as well as the auto scaling in Instances; e.g. the time we had a team wipe on a PUG and everyone logged except myself and another (both new players) and we were able to complete the mission. Adjustable difficulty settings thru the Field Analysts/Fate Weavers. While CoH may not be unique in this, the synergy between ATs and powers is superb!Originally Posted by that_darn_lurker
3 key things about COH that made the game immensely more accessible, replayable, and fun, and could be carried over into another game:
1) The inspiration system. Other games have consumables too, but COH was unique in that none of them had cool-down timers and they take up their own type of inventory that scales with level. This enhanced the versatility of your character unlike any other game I played*. If you wanted to play content that your build wasn't quite up to the challenge for, you could stock up on inspirations that could help you get through that challenge, and if your build was up for the challenge you could stock up on inspirations that enhanced what you already do well or shore up weak points.
Don't have a tank but need to take the alpha? Take a few purples and oranges. Health bar going down too fast? Start spamming greens. And because there was no cool down, your only limiting factor is quantity and quality. Plus, these inspirations were easy to come by and teammates frequently helped each other out if someone needed a particular type.
2) Class/Powerset Progression. I preferred this form of progression vs most other games. This is one of the reasons why the game never felt like a gear treadmill. Also, this game design feature allow you to combine different powersets, creating a huge number of power possibilities that really enhanced the replayability of the game, leading to what was known as "altitis". The only other games I can think of with rampant altitis like this are Eve Online and WOW. Funny how those games are wildly popular. Maybe the secret to a successful MMO is to have game design features that lead to altitis? Just a thought. (also, Champions Online seems to have its fair amount of altitis, but it has other weaknesses which I won't discuss here).
3) Enhancement System: Enhancements, IO or otherwise, were our equivalent of gear. The great thing about COH is they always balanced the game around the most easily attainable enhancements, so you never had to grind those IOs just to feel like you could compete with the content. And if you wanted to slot IOs it really made your character feel awesomely powerful.
Taken altogether, they really made COH special. From a software development point of view, they're probably more complicated to design/code and balance vs other more streamlined game designs. But so what, I say! There's this trend of games coming out trying to streamline their design (i.e. unified inventory, gear based progression, simplified class/role systems) and those games just aren't as fun to play. Granted, they're probably easier to design, code, and balance, but the end result feels like a soul-less, bland game.
Honorable game design feature mentions:
a) Loot dropping: it was random (I think), so you didn't have to worry about need or greed, which IMO drives a wedge between you and your teammates.
b) Controllers: was a cool class concept, and added versatility to team composition and play.
c) Tanks: felt real tanky, for lack of a better term, but at the same time you didn't always need one depending on the team composition.
Character costumes that had nothing to do with gear. Scaling for everything from body type to faces, so that no character had to look like another.
Respec! Echoing your second point, the choices and customization of powers is amazing and enhanced my enjoyment quite a bit (pun intended). This made characters as unique as the costumes we could make. I also really liked the various Chance For IO procs.
Content: So many arcs and so many ways to level, including AE Mission Architect. Ouroboros, so one could play arcs one missed. The signature story characters and how lore was imparted and storylines developed around these and other NPCs and how this built and progressed. Showing our characters in cutscenes with the Freedom Phalanx in the second Signature Story Arc was very cool.
If artwork is included in game design, I gotta say I love the look of many of the landscapes in CoH from Cimerora to the Shadow Shards.
Humor! The Clockwork King's plan to "protect" Penelope Yin from various dangers (" ...heroes, boys... "), Mr. G. and Tami Baker, the Radioooooo! are but a few examples.
Heroism! "Through the Looking Glass" by contact Jenny Adair is but one example.
Villany and everything in-between: City of Villains/Rogues Isles and Praetoria. I really liked the "shades of gray" aspect of Praetoria and Praetorian culture, as well as the questions of morality. (Have you brought the ghouls their supper yet, O noble Resistance fighter?)
Co-op Zones and purely elective PvP zones, including friendly duels in the Arena.
Temp powers and travel powers in general. Hello, Raptor pack and Team Transporter! Recovery Serum! WarWolf Whistles and Shivan Shards! Loved flying, superspeeding, and leaping in-game. (I liked Teleport in concept but even with a keybind (CTRL + mouse click) found it cost more Endurance than it was worth, imo.)
Being able to add Power Trays. In addition to the standard three, I usually opted to have Trays 4 and 9 displayed beneath and loaded them with various goodies (temp rez ally, etc.)
Accolades and Badges with Effects.
The wide array of Chat channels and the ability to create one, e.g. a custom SG global channel. -
Quote:Wow! That's some list! I love your youtube videos (and have subscribed to your channel.) Looking forward to more of them.Originally Posted by Dark_Respite
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Quote:The Water/Ice Manip blaster really is nice and has good synergy. I got mine to 50 fairly recently so he's lucky to have Alpha, Judgement and Interface (T4, T3, and T2 respectively) mostly because Incarnate trials were still running regularly on Justice when he got to 50 so the character got to do a couple of BAFs. Without the proposed Issue 24 changes to all blaster powersets, the water blaster would likely be my favorite, not merely for the animations, but for the ease and effectiveness in play (no KB for melee toons to complain about, and self healing Dehydrate. Woot!)Originally Posted by houtex
(quote edited-JR)
I'm currently at 30 with my water/ice blaster, and it's been mainly solo mission running. There's been a couple of teams here and there, and any TF I can get on, I'm in, but it's not even a grind, as I've been going through the FW/NW arcs, and doing them at my own pace. ...Chillsea will be my first ever 50 Blaster, and my 8th 50 overall, all of whom are part of Pinnacle. -
Quote:Heh! I shouldn't doubt it, and expect in time (if it isn't already) that the Save CoH player/fan/customer protest is included in Wikipedia, if not Guinness.Originally Posted by Xenophage
think Coh will get a new record "biggest in game organized protest"?
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Quote:Thanks for posting the link to this article. That was way nifty!Originally Posted by Maressa
That would actually make six then. I wrote about four others in my CoH article earlier in the week. The Guinness World Records site didn't have the two listed that you found in the book otherwise I would have happily included them as well. City of Heroes has done so much for the industry. It is just a shame others can't see that.
http://www.onrpg.com/MMO/City-of-Her...es-Innovations -
I don't know that I regret much of anything, as I had fun with whatever I was doing; however, in hindsight, it likely would have been better had I had fewer alts and focused a bit differently, such as learning melee toons, rather than playing every flavor of blaster. I regret not getting my 1st dom and later 1st Rogue, Mrs Frostfire to 50 (maybe I still will) and properly IO'ed and badged (also costumed.) But I wanted that toon to be "perfect" and so I delayed not realizing time was against me. I wish I'd done more redside content, for it was well written, but the heroic blueside appealed more. (I did get to do all of Praetoria, including recently First Ward and Night Ward - and really liked the new cave maps (or newly dressed maps) and the Eternal Prison map (Black Queen arc).
I guess my biggest regrets at this point is gonna be that I've not done any i24 beta - i was waiting until it was incorporated into the game - but given my attachment to my current characters I don't see myself playing Beta, even tho the new Skulls arcs and powersets and power pools sound so awesome! -
Quote:ROFL!!! Super title for an AE mission!! Too bad it never happened. Maybe if CoH comes back, it can.Originally Posted by Nova Knight
I wish I had taken the time to learn how to use the Mission Architect system. I had an idea for a storyline based on a bad pun. It involved the Tsoo kidnapping a child they believed to be one of their former leaders reincarnated. The title? "A Boy Named Tsoo." (with apologies to the late, great Johnny Cash)
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Quote:Gosh, E_L, didn't "I don't have any official role with the Titan Klan - I just help sew their hoods." strike you as as least facetious humor? I don't think GG's denying being quite active with Titan Network at all, quite the reverse, as your research has ably demonstrated.Originally Posted by Evil_Legacy
http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index....ic,5757.0.html
Executive Committee
•Golden Girl
(and more names)
Well I guess that is may not be you, the Golden Girl over there at Titan, on the Executive Committee?
And according to Sergev, another executive committee member, this committee (quoted)
-Our Executive Committee is formed of those who've already taken lead roles in directing our conversations, building our design and world documents, and keeping us pointed forward.-
Sounds like a pretty important job there. -
Quote:Thank you very much, redtornado! Stay SUPER!Originally Posted by redtornado
Hiya!
Yep, lots of others have had the same problem occur, myself included, several times actually.
Most often the cure is to log out of the game to the desktop, then come back. That usually makes the Beam Rifle Set return to use. Petitioning will eventually work too. Good luck.
Happy Gaming,
Red -
Always nice to see you, Black Peeble. I hope you and the other devs are well. You know our hopes and dreams - perhaps shared by the devs as well (and no, I'm not asking for an explicit reply to that. I think we know.) I haven't been on AP33 in while, my favorite place to do AE missions, btw. Logging in to enjoy City of Heroes. Thank you and the dev team for City of Heroes! You are now and forever shall be my favorite MMORPG!
Hoping there's more TwitchTV or youtube etc. Really glad you guys are keeping in touch. Peace.
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Here's a listing of all the music that makes me think of City of Heroes each and everytime I hear any of these:
http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Music -
Heh! These are all quite funny! Thanks for the humor!
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Hi. I have a beam rifle blaster on redside Exalted, yet for some reason the system says the character is locked because, ahem, I need to buy the Beam Rifle powerset from the Market. Weird! 1. I did buy Beam Rifle. It's how I created the character. 2. I'm still VIP. 3, I've petitioned but rec'd by email notice that no game staff are presently available.
It won't be a huge deal to me since Billy Bad is just a low level alt on a server I rarely play but it seemed worth noting here in case others have similar game glitches these next few days. Thanks and Happy Gaming to you each. Stay SUPER!! -
Quote:Thank you, GG!!Originally Posted by Golden Girl
More from Mercedes Lackey - some facts, some guesswork:
Her source also believes that NCsoft will consider a sale. -
Quote:That's a very good point, Tim. Perhaps those players quietly accepted the closure of their games. After all, they their player numbers were small. Further, NCSoft did, I believe, say the MMO's they closed previously were NOT profitable. NCSoft has not said that CoH wasn't profitable, simply no longer part of their realigned goals.Originally Posted by TimTheEnchanter
Habit? If there's any company that should have PLENTY experience with how players react to having their game closed, it's NCsoft.
BTW, Thanks, TonyV and thanks guys. Sorry I let negativity and hostile tones get to me. (Flame wars are inherently stupid, imo.) Looking forward to what the titans at Titan Network might accomplish and looking forward to assisting if I can. I think you've got the Titan Network forums nicely organized and the people posting there seem very constructive on a wide range of topics. Thanks also for MIDS which made planning character builds so easy and even fun!
To Another_Fan, your pessimism has been heard. If you are right that CoH is dead and that nothing will bring it back after 12/1/12, then you may take whatever comfort there is in that. Now, unless you have something NEW to say, please stop raining on everyone's parade. Plan Z is a long shot, though picking up credibility imo based on the skills of those volunteering to help with it. Whether or not NCSoft will sell the IP and rights such that City of Heroes can continue is presently unknown; we know they won't sell until after the sunset for sure. However, I think the people at Titan Network such as TonyV are as likely as any to have good info on that. At least he's working to Save CoH and unlike most of us has a network of good contacts and even potential investors. Pack up the "doom and gloom", A_F! Stop trying to "save" people from having hope. Fans and customers have at times gotten products restored; sometimes they haven't. Help with efforts to Save CoH or not, as you choose. -
Quote:That's fine. Thanks for cleaning it up, GG!Originally Posted by Golden Girl
Your quote was a little messy, so I fixed it up.
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Quote:I think this is pretty cool and LOL I even like it that you wrote journals for your characters! That along with my own experience demonstrates (imo) that MMORPGaming is just as immersive as traditional tabletop gaming and LARP.Originally Posted by Laufeyjarson
I live in a place with all sorts of people moving in, and you can often tell it from the license plate frame on their car. Any Pittsburgh plate frame on a California plate tells you something.
I thought I'd make license plate frames for the car from a car dealer in Paragon. Few would notice, fewer would get the joke, but for those few, it's all good.
For years, I have had this idea. I finally ordered the parts on August 29th. What happened the next day? Doh!
I decided the joke was just as good even if the game went away, and made some prototypes. I've been slammed at work so haven't gotten in to finish them - I've been playing CoH instead - and only have these to show:
I thought I'd share them while I still could.
Where are the different brands of car dealers located in Paragon?
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Quote:I offer you my sincere apologies, sir. You did of course know exactly what you wanted to convey and how to phrase it. Anyone who's taken the time to see what's on Titan re: Plan Z knows those involved have no intention of breaking laws or stealing anything -- it's even addressed specifically on Titan Network.Originally Posted by TonyV
When someone accuses you of stealing money from the community, "I believe you're in error because..." isn't the kind of response that merits.
The point is that I'm really sick and tired that there are three or four trolls that post in every single thread that has anything remotely to do with keeping City of Heroes alive. They tell people they're foolish for keeping up their "false hope", they post "facts" and "reality" that are 180 degrees apart from what's actually going on, and then when anyone challenges them on their unbridled pessimism, they start just making sh*t up to reinforce their doom and gloom predictions and stances--stuff like Plan Z being a deliberate attempt to steal NCsoft's IP, stuff like the game was on its last leg with one foot in the grave, stuff like us wanting to steal people's money, stuff like taking a quote of me saying that at one point in September, things were looking good on selling the game and turned south, and presenting it out of context as if I were saying that this are going really well now.
I've been civil. In fact, the specific reason I don't post here very often any more is because I don't have a lot of time to waste defending our teams against the same tired old lies and misconceptions over and over and over again. But at this point, the same people are posting them, the same people who ought to know better. It's not just a simple misunderstanding. They are misrepresenting the truth with deliberate malice, which is why I said above that I don't want there to be any mistake about it, I'm calling out anyone who feels like they can justify any ludicrous claim of anything like we want to steal IP or we want to rob the community or we want to break the law. If you want to make such outlandish and offensive claims, then you'd better damn well be willing to back them up and I'm not going to worry too much about civility when I refute them.
I'm also weary of those pessimistic of the chances of Plan Z or sale of the IP/future revival of CoH. I admit fault in only skimming some posts and ignoring some altogether. Just wishing the tone on these boards were other than what they are.
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Quote:LOL, that made me laugh! It was also of one of the things that first caught my eye and made City of Heroes avatars attractive, the way the capes move, that and the quality of artwork and animation generally.Originally Posted by GreatRock
Delayed, but this reminded me of something funny.
In WAR, we had different set classes, each with a set tree and set items. Archmage was the Order (hero) offense/defense ranged mage, featuring DoTs and HoTs. They all had a serious and chronic disease.
SSS, or Static Sleeve Syndrome.
They had huge, billowing sleeves that didn't move in relation to the elbow, regardless of the position of the arms. They literally defied gravity.
When I got to CoH, I was blown away that capes actually obeyed physics.
Belated LOL to Golden Girl for playing because of moving hair. I must have the wrong hairstyles on my characters then, or else was inattentive ;-) -
My two cents: first, Tony, it's very nice to see you back posting here. Second, to A_F, Tony, and anyone posting to this or related threads, gentlemen (or if you prefer, fellow gamers) would it be possible when discussing matters where you disagree, even matters we each care passionately about, to refrain from saying things like "you're lying" (unless that's precisely what you want to say--and are prepared to prove it) and instead say something more along the lines of "I believe you're in error because... ", or "the argument/data you are presenting is invalid or erroneous because... " We've only a couple of weeks left for these forums. I'm appealing to your sense of civility for polite discourse where topics can be discussed passionately and differences of opinion stated without in any way wishing to restrict what is said, or to interfere with your personal style of sayin' it. I'd really like to see the personal attacks stop and if I could I'd order a cease fire. I'm quite possibly as guilty as any in some of my earlier empassioned but perhaps less thought out postings, so this applies to me as well. Thanks, that's all I wanted to say.
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Quote:Thank you, Another_Fan, for clarifying. I doubt I spent even 1/10th the time on these boards that I have since the Sunset Notice.Originally Posted by Another_Fan
Fanboy the way it is used on these boards has taken on it's own baggage. The way I using the term perhaps zealot would be better if less culturally relevant. There are people on these boards who always would agree with the devs no matter how preposterous the action or position. These are the Fanboys/Zealots.
Just being an aficionado does not make you a fanboy in my book.
In that case, I'd better sign myself simply as a Fan of the wonderful MMORPG that was and perhaps in time may be again City of Heroes.
Best Wishes for an excellent day!