Kamaitachi

Alright, so now that we've got five pages, who's gonna go e-mail the Warcry people with the message "Five pages, [insert expletive of choice here]!"

Thanks for making the best MMO the market has ever seen, and for having the best interaction with the fan community in ANY game.

They never said a date when they'd release it, ever. It's all just speculation. They said they'd probably start beta early 2k5 somewhere.

Pie.


...I had to do it. You know I had to.

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Not everyone likes aliens. Stop assuming everyone wants dinosaurs or aliens or whatever in game. This is not AVP or Joe and Mac, it's city of heroes tyvm

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I agree there. The biggest problem I have with CoH is that the villain groups don't feel that much like comic book villains. About the only group that is all that "super villain like" are the Outcasts and that's because even their minnions have powers. BUt they don't wear costumes so even they don't feel like villains. So when new groups are brought in I would like to see some that are actually comic book villain like (as in powers, costumes and so on. Not characters that are more appopriate for a Fantasy, or SF game).

Hellions and Skulls are fine they are nice thug level (or street level to use a Champions term) early group. Trolls are a natural progression from Hellions and Skulls.

The Vaz and Banished Pantheon are cool but are not really in keeping with the comic book theme and feel more appropriate for a first person Doom style shooter than a super hero game. Also two different types of zombie/undead groups is pushing it (one would have been plenty). The OUtcasts are nice in that they have powers but they are dressed in street clothes.

The 5th, while not super powered, fit the genre i the agent organization subset of Super hero comics (ie. Hydra agents, VIPER, etc). At least up until you reach their werewolves and vampires then it starts feeling like i'm playing a fantasy game again. And their Steel Valkryes don't help either. Too bad they are going away since they are the most super hero genre appropriate group in the game and have the best backstory.

The clockworks are neat, and would fit the super hero genre fine if they stood out (as in nearly every other group were costume based powered villains). But with so many other groups fitting the genre poorl, the Clocks just add to the lack of comic book feel.

The Circle of Thorn. They really, feel like a group more suitable for a fantasy game than a super hero game. However if they were one of the few non-genre appropriate groups then they would be fine as a nice change of pace but since there are so few (any?) groups that wear super villain costumes and feel like comic book villains they feel more appropriate for a fantasy game than a super hero game.

The Devouring Earth. Blah, another group more approriate for a Fantasy genre than a super hero genre. I like their background/story but fighting fantasy style monsters doesn't make me feel like a comic book hero.

Freakshow are ok in that they work as a sort of super powered biker group but much like the Clocks if they were the exception to the villians wear costumes style they would be fine for a change of pace but since none of the other groups feel much like a standard comic book group then they just add to the feeling of playing a fantasy/SF game instead of a super hero game.

The Sky Raiders are a nice group for a high tech villain organization type of deal (just ignore their Sky Skiffs as those ruin the comic book genre feel and turn them into more like SF in the future theme than modern day supers) but they seem to come and go so quick that they are a blip in my character's career.

The Crey are ok, but really guys in lab coats, swat uniforms, mini skirts or suits don't scream comic books to me.

The Family are nice for that street level, Dark champions feel and ganster/mob type of organization is pretty much standard hero fare. Although guys with tommy guns and fight in suits feels less like standard super hero comics and more like 30's era pulp or modern day guns and swords gritty dark supers (ie. Spawn, Whitchblade, etc) than the main stream 4 colour style.

Hydra, the lava based guys in The Hollows, the Kraken, etc They are monsters that feel just as suited if not better suited for a fantasy game than a super hero game.

That's about all i've seen so far (i'm progressing slowly, I play way too many Alts). But the glimpses i've seen of the groups i haven't made it to don't seem that much better. (The Carnivale are women wearing garters belts and fishnet stockings and other things straight from a Victoria's Secret catalog not all that comic book like unless you read only Image comcis). Where are the adversaries that wear costumes similar to us heroes? The typical super villain in the typcial comic book. So far the only thing that makes me feel like this is a super hero comic book game is the fact that the heroes wear costumes and have powers. The people i'm fighting give me very little genre appropriate atmosphere.

If I end up grouping with someone who dresses in medeivel armor and uses a sword (broad or Katana) it feels more like a fantasy game. Or if my teammate is an Assault Rifle character wearing body armor or street clothes or a martial artist in street clothes for al lintents and purposes I'm playing a Halo or Max Payne MMORPG and not a super hero game.

Really the group the most representative of the super hero Genre are the 5th Collumn and they are being removed in favour of the less comic book like Council. Granted they look similar, wear similar uniforms and so on. BUt their names, their background doens't feel like they are leaping from the pages of a super hero comic book more like a Doom or Halo style first person shooter. The thing that made the 5th feel like super villains was their nazi like flavour which makes them an agent level group similar to Hydra, AIM or the Intergang with a Nazi-like refrence). Removing that from their style strips them of their super villain comic book flavour.

It's sad as the game is set up so well to be a super hero game but there are times when it feels very little like a super hero game. Give us some villains that wear costumes! Don't make us wait until City of Villains comes out before we get comic book style villain groups.

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You know, a fair chunk of the comic books out there HAVE enemies like the ones you see in CoH. You're only looking at the most common ones like X-Men, Superman, and Batman. But even Batman and Superman fight thugs, encounter magic and the like. There are people like Dr. Strange, a magician. People like Daredevil and The Punisher who seem to spend most of their time beating up baddies not in costume.

I admit that there are some uber builds, but this is a regrettable necessity of variety; I have yet to see any game with any semblance of variety that did not have at least one character type being head and shoulders above the others. But the difficulty of the game is not such that the non-uber builds are getting screwed by it. A purely mediocre character can solo; admittedly not as well as some character types, but then not all character types are designed to be able to solo.

And as for characters being not needed, I play something of an uber-build I guess, my DM/Regen scrapper (I started that guy before I started reading the forums, by the way, so I didn't know it was the flavor of the month, I just liked the idea). I LOVE teaming compared to soloing. It's much more fun for me. And yet, I can NEVER find a team. People don't invite me and ignore me when I invite them. Makes me feel kinda useless, you know?

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Mission customization: Choosing between "regular" mobs and +2 level mobs is not really what I would call a customized mission.

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Sigh. That isn't at all what I meant. Mission Customization means, well, a mission has been customized. It's where we go back over old missions and add new art & functionality.

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I don't suppose there's any chance of that happening for higher level missions anytime soon, is there?

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It is already happening. Tyrant's mission is now in a Lair type thing. Mother Mayhem's mission (on the praetorian arc I believe) is in a Hospital like setting. In Update 2, they redid the carnie outdoor mission and put a tent.

You obviously don't group with other people otherwise you would know of these changes and upcoming changes.

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I'm not talking about the 40+ missions, I'm not in my 40's yet. I mean, the missions in the 30's really need some help. After a couple dozen straight Oranbega missions followed by a crapload of generic caves and office buildings, it's getting kinda old.

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I think there are "casual team players" and "casual soloers" So claims that team based content is screwing the "casual gamer" aren't accurate. they're screwing SOME casual gamers. And some more then others, at that. The problem is, when someone feels they're getting screwed, they're rarely calm enough to make such distinctions.

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I don't really agree that team-based content is screwing anyone at all. The people getting "screwed" as you say, were the soloing casual gamers anyway. More teaming does not mean less soloing.

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What I've read in the Dev's Digest and what I see in the game are completely different. They've BEEN customizing the missions, I've already seen the stuff on the low level missions, but I swear, if I see another damn office building or cave...

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Heh! I like office buildings! It's those caves I'm sick of...too many!!! More warehoues, outdoor instances pls.

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I've lost so much time trying to find the last glowie in a cave...

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Mission customization: Choosing between "regular" mobs and +2 level mobs is not really what I would call a customized mission.

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Sigh. That isn't at all what I meant. Mission Customization means, well, a mission has been customized. It's where we go back over old missions and add new art & functionality.

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I don't suppose there's any chance of that happening for higher level missions anytime soon, is there?

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If you've been reading the Dev Digest at all you'd know that Statesman has said many times they are going thru all missions/zones/etc and customizing all the time for all levels.

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What I've read in the Dev's Digest and what I see in the game are completely different. They've BEEN customizing the missions, I've already seen the stuff on the low level missions, but I swear, if I see another damn office building or cave...

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Mission customization: Choosing between "regular" mobs and +2 level mobs is not really what I would call a customized mission.

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Sigh. That isn't at all what I meant. Mission Customization means, well, a mission has been customized. It's where we go back over old missions and add new art & functionality.

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I don't suppose there's any chance of that happening for higher level missions anytime soon, is there?

I admit how they're going about it seems a bit wrong, but the purple energy shooting guys are so much cooler than the guys with guns.

If anything, the 5th Column was the group that MOST needed to have it's storyline advanced. I must say, the Nazi theme, while a decent theme for a villain group, does not provide for terribly interesting themed storylines...alien posessed nazis now, THAT is something to get excited about.

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*cough*
Just thought I'd chip in my 2 inf. here...
"Mission Customization" doesn't refer to the mission difficulty slider, but rather to the new mission art\graphics\etc. in certain missions.

Example: Lous Garage, mission in a low level clockwork arc, now *looks* like a garage.

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*cough cough*
Just though I'd refund you your 2 inf. here...
Yeah that Lou's garage thing was a nice change in Issue 2, only problem is I think we are refering to Issue 3 here not issue 2. And sorry but if they add additional design elements to existing missions (which is a great thing btw), but players have outleveled that content already (for instance the new art for Dr. V's lair) well that hardly makes it available for all does it?

Have fun !

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You know, this is basically taking the "Issue 3 is for higher level players" argument and running the other way. On the one hand...new low level stuff that the high levels can't see. On the other hand...new high level stuff that the low levels can't see. What's the problem anyway? It's not the SAME stuff available for everyone, but there *is* new stuff available for everyone.

Hey, come on now, lets all stop getting snippy at each other before CuppaJo or someone comes and tells us not to get snippy . Let's all air our opinions in a civilized manner.

Now, my *personal opinion* is that the bug and balance fixes are not something to base one's opinion of an update on. These, I feel, are essential changes to the game and are thefore inevitable; they should happen regardless of the feature updates. The new zones, I feel, is a particularly nice touch in every update; how many other games do that? Give you a new area to play in every couple of months? Sure, they may be hazard/trial zones, but they also come with new missions and contacts, and just provide more room for exploration.

What bothers me most are people who want the game to be changed because they don't have enough time to play; that's like saying that the game Risk should be changed because you don't have enough time to play through the whole thing (a good game can take 7+ hours). Why should City of Heroes, which is accesible to people with all playstyles and time scales, be made completely accesible to people who can't put much time into it? Name one hobby that actually benefits from having less time to engage in it.

Certain builds are not as conducive to soloing, certainly, but those are the builds that are specifically designed for team play. It would be rather silly to expect an empathy defender who actually puts focus on his empathy skills to be able to solo very well.

Also, most people I know who have multiple alts create them because they want to, not because there was a problem with a character.

What I see is not that the game is becoming LESS friendly towards solo'ers, it's becoming MORE friendly towards people who team.

If this post sucked and I did a poor job of saying what I was trying to say, that's cause I woke up ten minutes ago. Sorry.

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No, we're ignoring you, since you're quite content to argue with yourself

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You make it sound like I'm craaaaaaaaazy or something...

But that's not the point! My OP was well written and made sense dammit! You're all ignoring the point!

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The correct spelling is "pedagogical", pedagogically speaking.

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You know, upon further examination, it would seem that you're right and I'm an idiot.

Kamaitachi hits Kamaitachi for 10,000,000 points of shameful damage.

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. . . Chiyo-chan wa kawaii desu ne...

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Combining the very informal "chan" suffix with the formal "desu"?

Sikyanakotik has corrected your japanese grammar for 646.23 points of pedagogical damage.

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You DO mean pedagoguical, right ? Pedagogue - pedagoguish - pedagoguical.

Kamaitachi has corrected your spelling for 867.45 points of very satisfying damage.

Now THAT is a refreshing way of looking at it .

. . . Chiyo-chan wa kawaii desu ne...

A lot of people are claiming that the game is becoming less aimed towards the casual gamer. I tend to disagree completely. The updates are geared exclusively towards them. The power gamers and the uber levelers and the what-have-you's are the people who were level 50 within a few months of the game being released, and then began clamoring for new updates to the end-game. The casual gamers, however, which includes me, are the people who get a little bit of play time a day, and, should they continue pursuing a single character, can get to high level after a longer period of time. I've been playing my current character since the summer, and he's currently level 33. If I do missions and play pretty casually, I can get a level in maybe a week or so. Sometimes less, sometimes more. If I put my mind to it, do some street sweeping, I can get a level in two or three days given the same amount of play time per day.

The casual players, then, are the ones who, had they stuck with a single character, could be high level by now. The people who just come into the game might complain, but they have no standing to complain because they want the new stuff without ever going through the old stuff. The people who were here since earlier on and play twenty different characters to level 18 and nothing past also have no standing to complain, because once again, why do they need to access the new stuff before they've gone through the old stuff?

The stuff is already there for all the people who play casually. Hell, if you want to have your characters perpetually in the 20's, there's now Striga Isle and the monsters you can fight in lower level zones. Epic Power Pools and Epic Archetypes are there for higher level characters because your average gamer will be getting to those levels around this time.

It's actually a really bad idea for a company to give release dates for updates. You should've seen what happened to Blizzard when they were making their biggest (1.10) patches for Diablo 2 and Warcraft III. Everytime they gave a date for something and were off by a little, the people on the forums went nuts on them.

It's not "someone" who died playing games, it's a bunch of people. That guy in the internet cafe was just one. There were about two or three people who played Diablo 2 till they died, and a bunch of people in Korea playing Korean MMORPG's till they died. Not the kind of this that appears in your everyday newspaper, but if you keep up with gaming news and visit forums, you can find these things out...