JollyRoger

I find Villain content to be much more enjoyable, not just because the Devs obviously learned lessons since CoH launch (and its associated original-content), but also because the contacts and zones are more colorful, and have their own "personalities".

I don't see why the Devs are overly concerned with "preserving" old content. Items like the Calvin Scott Task Force is understandable, as it was a limited-time, story-driven piece of content. But revamped content like Positron's Task Force are clearly superior in terms of gameplay, storytelling and "flow". I think those kinds of revamps are bringing content more in-line with the original vision & idea behind it.

Anyway, I'm 100% for the revamping of existing content! I think there's a lot that could be done to bring more character to existing content, rather than just letting them fall by the wayside in the wake of "new" content. I'd like to see lower-level contacts revisited as you level; there's no reason you shouldn't have a career-long interaction with some of your contacts!

Farewell, Castle! May ye not lack of booty or grog!

As another old-timer, I know that a good number of welcome changes were made under your watch, and I thank you for your dedication and communication! It's always heartening to me when another has pride in their work, and I think it's obvious that was the case. Thank you for contributing to the first and greatest supers MMO!

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I've always felt it is too difficult to IO out toons. I play a lot, and I never bother with IO's until the toon is lvl 35 or higher. It would be nice if IO's were more viable at the lower levels

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I agree - most people seem to aim for 25 (where IOs are "break-even" in strength with SOs), or else load up with 40+ range.

From a crafting standpoint, you lose Inf on the vast majority of common IOs, if you're working on the Invention badges. Some IOs simply don't have a demand (eg, Intangibility), while the oversupply of others forces sales below the crafting price (Hold, Immob, Knockback, etc).

Worse still, there are particular pieces of Salvage that are more heavily used that others, which leads to a further imbalance, as prices are driven upward for those pieces (Alchemical Silver comes immediately to mind, though there are others).

It'd be nice if there was some way of "substituting" Salvage for other Salvage types. Maybe a 2-to-1 ratio of Salvage of the same rarity (for example, take 2 of any Common Salvage, and turn it into 1 of a particular Salvage). That would help stabilize the market, and make pieces like Regenerating Flesh actually worth something...

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well, I think Empath's change to a still-too-high number is proof that they don't tend to listen to numeric arguments about achievability. we have no idea how many hours they expect one to play to reach Fabricator, we only have one for Master Craftsman, as part of the statement that Field Crafter should be reachable before level 40.

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That's really disappointing, too. Especially given the huge amount of resources (in Inf, Recipes, and Salvage) that crafting requires, and the fact that it's hard to even break-even on a lot of the IOs when sold on the market (at least redside Virtue, where my experience has been).

Not only that, but you're looking at just one character. Forget trying to get it with multiple of them!

It'd be nice if they assigned a Dev to revise badges. Why are some Defeat badges a 50-count, while others are 100- or 200-count? Why X number of some IOs and Y number of others for the Invention badges? Why the truly insane numbers for the so-called "epic" Achievement badges?

I understand that badges are an ongoing (and optional) goal, but it's just poor judgment to dangle a carrot that's unreachable except by work-arounds (eg, Brainstorming for Invention badges), farming, or the like.

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Thank you for the response regarding the Reformed Badge, Ex. Though it's not much to go on, it is appreciated that our concerns have at least been heard. Here's hoping that the decision to remove the Reformed Badge is rescinded.

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Aye, seconded. If we're asked to voice our issues & complaints, it's nice to know they're at least being heard, if not responded to.

Mind you, I well understand the Devs' right to be mum on any issue. Just sayin', it's nice to know that they know we have grievances.

That said... woo, fixed chat colors!

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VRs are the FAIREST reward in the game.
You can't buy them;
You can't PL to get them.
You can't cheat to get them.
and EVERYone gets them at the same milestones in their CoX playing life.

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Well said, mate.

I do admit that I was wondering if they'd ever "cap" the Veteran Rewards program. I believe EQ2 has a finite number, for example (not sure about other games.

Personally, I think the VRs are a nice perk for loyal players, and it's especially nice that they apply to all characters. It gives veterans something new to look forward to. No, players starting just now may not ever get to the multi-year VRs... but so what? They're neat perks, not must-have bonuses. "Bonus"... as in "extra"!

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When you say you "look and the temporary power is gone", are you talking about the power icon on your display or the power itself? Day Job powers have their own section in the Powers window and you have to drag the power from the window to your tray.

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I believe once the power expires (eg, Black Market Teleporter), it disappears from your Powers list. Which means you have to drag it back to your power tray every time. That's kind of annoying; can't it just "grey out" once you've earned it, but the charge is used up?

Also, I second the "direct reward" suggestion above. The only issue I can see with this is running out of room in your inventory (be it Inspirations, Enhancements, Salvage, or Recipes). If there's some kind of "overflow" space, this would be a great solution.

The problem I have with the timers, is that the Day Job system only gives you a chance at a bonus reward. As many have mentioned, often you've run out of time before you could take advantage of whatever benefit the Day Job was supposed to provide.

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5: Giant Monsters: We need more and we need more incentive to fight them.

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Being able to spawn two of them is nice (although Deathsurge gets annoying), and the fact that 1 of them is needed for an accolade helps (then again, it's the Immob...).

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The biggest problem with the Giant Monsters is when they run. Are you effin' kidding me? Giant Monster. Run from a fight?! Giant Monsters should aggro easily and keep attacking until they or their target(s) are dead!

The introduction of Merits has made Giant Monsters a more worthwhile... except when you have to chase them across the rooftops (which is especially bad if you have Lackeys or other low-level characters that are having to avoid street-spawns while still trying to contribute to the fight).

Bwahaha! These things are great! Kudos to whoever's behind them!

I think one of the strengths of CoV is the flavor of its zones. While it has fewer than CoH, each zone has several different areas to make it interesting. Compare that to most of the hero zones (Atlas, Steel, Kings Row, etc) and I think you'll see what I'm saying.

CoV does leverage that to some extent (having you return to previous zones), but I'd like to see that trend continue. Having higher-level characters return to Cap au Diable and Port Oakes (when appropriate!) is 1) consistent with the setting and 2) a nice break from the "level-appropriate" zone.

Personally, I like the "grunge" look of most of the zones, but I do agree that "cleaning it up" where appropriate would give a nice contrast. In particular, the gambling strip in St. Martial, Crimson Cove in Nerva, and Aeon City in Cap au Diable should be relatively sparkling (though they generally look better than surrounding areas as-is).

I agree that moving the Black Helicopter closer to Primeva would be a good idea. For one thing, where it currently is looks haphazard - who lands one of those things on a flimsy wooden dock?! Also, as there are several Arachnos troops in the southern areas of Primeva (and even a couple of contacts), it seems reasonable that they would have Fliers going to that area.

Also, I'd like to see some kind of "Master Plan" system, whereby random Paper Missions could be strung together for a larger reward. Say you start by stealing plans, then proceed to gather materials, and finally follow up with a "create device" mission where a random hero (or villain!) group tries to stop you.

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1. As others have stated the bonus timer is very frustrating and makes the day job rewards too difficult to get. I would much prefer a charge system where you get the bonus for a certain number of missions instead of a timer. As it stands, most people will never get any of the rewards unless you run to complete a mission as fast as possible after logging in.

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Having spent time with a few Day Jobs rewards, I definitely prefer the "charge" implementation over the "timer" implementation. For example, the Tailor discount coupons from the Tailor Day Job are great - they give the player a reward which they have complete control over when & how it's used.

The timer-oriented ones (particularly focusing on mission-completion) are hard to get use out of, unless you're specifically "rushing" missions to complete them.

Would it be possible to change the mission-completion rewards to function as more of a "For every Y minutes (to some maximum), you get a bonus for the next X missions you complete" instead?

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People are actually complaining about the recharge time on the mission teleporter? Seriously?

Travel time in this game is already ridiculously easy. Between travel powers, O Portals, Pocket D TP etc. A 2 hour recharge time is appropriate. I admit surprise that it's more than an hour, but anyone who thought this was going to be less than 30 minutes was deluding themselves.

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Well said. If the Mission Teleporter had a shorter duration, it would essentially be an available-at-lvl-1 Travel Power for every character the player has.

The fact is you don't really need such a power, between Ouroboros, Pocket D, base teleporters, and the tram/ferry/Black Helicopter options. Hell, just keeping all those options straight is a mini-game of itself.

I wouldn't mind if they bumped up the recharge rate since it's a trans-zonal teleport directly to your mission. But I think a 2-hour unenhanceable recharge is more than reasonable for such a strong power. I'd say we're fortunate to get the power in any form!

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* All spawned Winter Horde should have a chance to drop Candy Cane salvage, and not regular invention salvage. This gives player a reason to fight the Winter Horde and not simply just run away to open the next present, especially those who have already obtained the Defeat X Winter Horde badges.

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Very nice idea! Especially coupled with the "Invasion" code (Rikti/Zombie auto-scaling).

I think the ski times are pretty good. Bronze is tough-but-doable with any character, I think, which is just where it should be. Takes effort, you have to make a few runs to learn the course, but you don't need any special powers. Gold is an absolute pain-in-the-butt, and you really need skill and certain powers to get it. Yeah, it kinda sucks for badgers like me, but at least it makes sense, so I'm not bitter about it.

Also, giving out "lesser" medals with the one you qualified for doesn't make sense. Someone in the Olympics doesn't get the Silver & Bronze medals if they take the Gold, after all...

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Thanks for everything and good luck Lighthouse. You were a great CM.

If you ever feel you need for more abuse and name calling, you'll always been welcome back here. :-)

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Hehehe - I don't know how anyone has the stamina to be a forum moderator, much less a Community Manager.

Ye did fine work, Lighthouse! Have a round on me, matey!

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Truthfully though, the only real marker you need is number of people who know what they're doing. Most of the team knows what they're doing, and it's Easymode.

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True, that!

Also, a team of villains who know what they're doing put hero teams to shame. While it seems harder to find villains who really know the ins-and-outs of their character, those who do are a terror to behold and can blast through content I'd think twice about with a hero team. I love it!

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You're right, you don't NEED full teaming/communication abilities to see if you like the game, and I'm not asking for full communication abilities, just the ability to respond to tells, and I do think trial players should be able to invite people, I can't see the rationale behind disallowing it, honestly.

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I agree on both points here. Being able to respond to /tells, but not initiate them, seems like a good decision. That still allows legitimate trial-players to respond to requests to team, etc, but still gives the RMTs the neutering they so rightly deserve.

Similarly, I can't say the lack of team-invite privileges makes sense. The only thing that might reduce would be blind-invites, but I don't think those come from exclusively from RMTs or Trial-players. Besides, we already have the "Do not accept invites" option, if you absolutely don't want to be bothered, right?

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The change goes through immediately on your friends list, I had a Gfriend use his token just a week or so ago.

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If you're on at the time, you'll even see a note to the effect of "@Somebody has changed their global handle to @SomebodyElse" or something like that.

A well-written and laid-out guide, indeed! I especially like the pointing out that the new SoAs don't translate into existing AT! I hate it when people try to cram stuff into boxes that don't fit!

I'm happily enjoying my Wolf Spider far more than I ever enjoyed the Kheldians. I'm so glad we didn't just get redside equivalents of Peacebringers and Warshades!

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No to new zones for CoV.

Yes to new content for CoV (trials, SFs, Arcs).

New zones =/ New Content

I hate all the useless zones in CoH and find CoV much more attractive in streamlining their content. We just need more of it to choose from.

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The zones in CoV are actually pretty good size, and there are areas that get less use than they could. For example, how often do people go to Fort Hades in Port Oakes, or Villa Requin in Sharkhead? Sure, you might have an occasional mission out there, but there's not much "draw" to them.

I'd like to see more content in the CoV zones, so that they seem "busier". Most of them have an interesting setup, and multiple factions for the Devs to work with. For example, Sharkhead has the Scrapyarders, the Consortium, Arachnos, the Sky Raiders, the Council, the Circle of Thorns and the Banished Pantheon. There's a lot of potential for extra content with all that going on (and the existing story arcs/missions take advantage of it quite often, we just need more of that kind of content!).

Sweet! Free Slots! Veteran Slots! Purchasable Slots!

Now I don't have to mingle with the filthy players on those other servers... j/k

Kudos to the Dev team for making this happen! Add this to the list we show people when they fuss that the "Devs never listen to the playerbase"!

Keep in mind that CoH has quite a few redundant contacts - there are several different ones that offer the same story arcs, as I recall (and you randomly get one of them with any given character). They could just be thinning the herd, so to speak.

I'm curious about the TF-related ones, though (Katie Hannon, Ernesto Hess, and Sara Moore). They have taken out TF contacts before, so there is some precedent for it...

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I believe photo #3 is a sneak peak at SexyJay's promotion to instanced map designer for Issue 12: Orenbegans Invade Candyland.

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Great, the Circle of Thorns couldn't get Faathim the Kind, so they're going after Lord Licorice?

I never played Mordheim, but Necromunda is definitely FTW. Oh, and Reaper Miniatures are the best.