Kyriani

Ultimately the market issue from what I see stems from a number of things:

a) influence is just too damn abundant
b) The drop pools are just too damn big. the odds of you getting what you want are low and the odds of getting yet another pacing the turtle is high
c) players have no options to work towards what they want specifically except for reward merits. And frankly the prices to get specific recipes is just ludicrous

If the drop pools could be broken down into smaller selections to roll in that would help make the odds a little more forgiving towards getting what you want.

If reward merit specific choice prices were HALVED that MIGHT help. It would also give folk some incentive to step outside of AE and do some TFs/Story Arcs/Flashbacks.

Its just frustrating when you're WILLING to put in the time and effort to get something but have only 1 avenue to get anything specific (not counting purples of course) and that avenue requires and extraordinary amount of play to get even 1 thing unless you're chaining TFs.

Ultimately prices would go down on things if the odds of getting the stuff people actually want went up. I honestly wouldnt mind the devs taking a pass at the crap that always seems to drop and maybe making this recipes/set bonuses suck less. But thats just me.

there we go avatar fixed for now

yea I used to host my avatar on aol but once they did away with their webspace do went my avatar >.< I'll have to find a new one...

I apologize if this isnt the proper forum to ask but... I recently purchased the magic booster pack and wanted to grab the good vs. evil item pack too but after I got the magic one and tried to buy the GvE I kept getting a message saying:

"We're sorry, but we are unable to accept your order at this time. Please try again later or tomorrow. If you continue to have problems, you may wish to visit one of our retail partners."

Now I did a search through the knowledge database and the only thing I could come up with is there's a purchase limit on those online upgrades.

The only thing is the error message when you hit that limit is different than the one i saw (the one posted above). So I am unsure if that's the reason I wasn't able to get the GvE. If it is just a case of waiting out some timer... how long do you have to wait between booster purchases?

Whats nice on ff/psi/psi is you can one two punch a boss for a near instant hold with TK + Dominate. Hold the tk till dominate recharges and then dom him again to lock the hold and cut tk

Corners are your friend with TK too

It also makes a good "oh crap" button when unexpected adds come along. The fact that its auto hit and lasts as long as you can afford to maintain it coupled with a reasonable cooldown makes it a good power that requires little slot investment.

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Fair enough. I suppose I'm just having trouble with your characterization of the game as 'stagnant' or even 'stagnant for characters at 50'. I've been playing since launch and I still play my 50s. I do TFs, I badge-hunt, I play the market, I badge-hunt and I do a fair amount of socializing (okay, a lot of socializing). Also I badge-hunt.

Pretty much the only things I don't do much of are PvP (which I loathe) and RP (which I'm not particularly good at). As I said above, I'm certainly not opposed to more stuff to do at 50, but neither do I see a clear and present need there. We just got a new 45-50 TF on each side of the game. Neither has been getting what I'd call rave reviews, but nevertheless it's new stuff to do at the endgame.

I'd argue that a far more pressing content hole would be the 30-35 game redside. There really needs to be an SF with that range.

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I agree with you there on the redside business. They could definitely use some more fleshing out. You know what might be cool? More stuff that gets unlocked by doing the high end TFs. Like how you get those costume pieces for doing the ITF. Things like that are what appeal to me... collecting things... fleshing out my character, opening new content.

Maybe in the future they can have other costume parts or maybe even base options open up from doing TFs or Trials etc. They already have some weapon options unlocked in that manner... would be cool for other things too.

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Okay, a couple of things

1) Characterizing the game as "young and growing" is not really erroneous. There's a new box on the shelves and we've got an expansion on the way. This is not EQ. In MMO terms we're still relatively young and we are most certainly growing. Speaking of the game in the past tense or characterizing it as dead/dying/stagnant is a significant overstatement, to the point of hyperbole.

It's not just 'roll an alt'. In addition to Hamidon and Rikti Mothership raids (the two 'classic raid' style content pieces we have), there are a plethora of TFs, there's badgehunting, there's Inventions including the sought-after Purple recipes, there's PvP, there's a number of social events run by players, there's RP and there's a regular infusion of new content to try.

If a player is one of those that simply must be getting 'phat lewt' or leveling up in order to feel a play session is worthwhile then this probably isn't the game to be playing. There's purples, of course, but the game isn't centered on having them the way a raid culture game like WoW is. You don't need the phat lewt to participate in the top-tier content. You don't need it for anything other than bragging rights. The additional power is nice but not necessary. The day the Devs turn away from that fundamental design philosophy is the day they lose a lot of players. And I mean a lot.

2) WoW is an aberration. Comparing this game or any MMO to WoW is not a valid comparison. Arguments that say "this game could be like WoW if it did X..." are usually invalid. WoW is the phenomenon it is because it's made by Blizzard. It's based on the known and popular IP that Blizzard introduced in the RTS Warcraft games and, more importantly, Blizzard has a huge bank to sink into promotion, demo CDs, advertisments, etc to promote the game.

No other MMO has anything close to that and no changes to the gameplay of any MMO is going to give it WoW's numbers unless you can put a bankroll comparable to Blizzard's behind it. This MMO is a success by the standards of the industry. The fact that NCSoft bought the IP and is further developing it supports this.

Some more stuff to do at 50 wouldn't be a bad idea, but we already have a good deal of things to do for those that choose to take advantage of them. Changing the game over to an endgame-centric raid culture like that of WoW would be a serious misstep.

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I agree with you there that making the game like wow (end game centric) WOULD BE A MISTAKE. But that doesn't mean the game couldn't use a little more content at that end of the spectrum.

I wasn't the one who compared CoX to wow initially. I merely pulled from a prior person's post for examples. I fully agree with you that wow is an aberration. It is certainly a phenomenon. But I don't agree that its simply money and promotion that makes it so.

The history of MMOs is filled with innovative ideas. Each mmo taking good elements from those that came before (or are currently still running) and adding their own spin to make it part of their game. WoW did it (just like every other MMO such as WAR, Lineage, LOTRO, etc) and I am merely suggesting that CoX could stand to do some of that too.

An endgame doesn't have to monopolize the entirety of the game like it does in WoW. In fact I wouldn't want CoX to do that. I like the general format for CoX. But I do think there's room for some content at the lvl 50 end of the spectrum. Content that's just as engaging and rewarding in it's own way, but different than the content you level up on.

While I personally can't see CoX as a "young and growing" game since I've been around since its beta (hey its been what? 4 or 5 years now?), I never said it was dead/dying etc. But I do believe there is stagnation at the level 50 end of the spectrum.

You have to understand... I am not against CoX. I want the game to be as successful as possible. That's precisely why I want there to be more things to keep people playing and to encourage new players to join. While I don't have any illusions about reaching WoW level numbers I think CoX could have more of a following than it does currently. And with that following it would lead to more income for the devs and more content for us.

I had little love for some of the devs in the old days. Their ideas and stances on things were very rigid and "unfun" in many ways to me. But today's devs are a much better group. They are the reason I came back after a hiatus. I LIKE the content they've been adding... I am merely saying after all these years maybe it's time to flesh out the end game a bit.

Maybe I don't have the right words to describe it. But I just feel like there's something missing at the level 50 end of the game. The thing that makes you really want to keep playing THAT character.

It's like hypothetically... if you made every character of every spec possible and got them to 50 (far fetched I know but bear with me for the example) what do you do then?

I guess I am looking for that hook that really makes people enthralled with a game. I'd like to see CoX grow in population and for devs to make a bigger profit so they have more resources to expand the game further.

You and I aren't really opposed here. We both play and like the game and want to see it flourish.

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So basically rehashed content is all we can hope for... I'm sorry but thats the thinking that led to CoX being kept as a b-list mmo. This game is awesome and had the potential to be even more grand than what it became.

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No. I think the point here is, making content specifically for only L50 characters is limiting and futile. Making content that is FLEXIBLE has always been the thing that allows CoX to maintain player interest beyond a 'select' few.

More options is not a bad thing. Creating content that excludes other players, and veteran players' alternate characters, IS bad.

Also, speaking of this game in the past tense is foolish. The game is young and growing.

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ok... reality check... I enjoy this game... I've had my ups and downs with it. But its worth my money at this time.

But you're deluding yourself if you think this game is "young and growing"

CoX has it's niche. It is maintaining its status quo. I have yet to see any evidence of it "growing".

It is not a young game. It's been out as long as WoW has. WoW is an old game too. But CoX does have alot of endearing qualities. I am not saying to totally move away from the open to everyone content. But there comes a time when you need to branch out into new ways of keeping your players playing as well as giving incentives to new players to join.

Having SOME (notice I did not say all) new content explicitly for 50s isnt a bad thing. Think about it like this... there's already things you cant do at low levels. You can't go see hamidon, there's certain story arcs not available till certain levels. So the whole game has content that you can't do at level 1.

But purposefully not making content for 50s so they have no other option but to roll an alt to play isnt going to appeal to the majority of potential players of these types of games. If it did then CoX would be alot more populated. And believe me I wish it were.

If you want to keep your head in the sand and just maintain the status quo so things never change thats fine. But I truly and honestly believe its unhealthy for the game and one of the major factors that kept CoX from exploding in popularity like WoW did.

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But what you're basically saying is... we can't have an end game thats fun, engaging and encourages us to play our max level characters cause then people would have something else to do besides level alts... and that would mean less people doing the lower end content...

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Yes, because an endgame that is sufficiently engaging and fun so that you don't need to do anything else but play max-level characters forever is indeed a chimera. You will run out of stuff to do. No company, not even Blizzard, can satisfy the voracious content hunger of gamers. Blizzard spends more money and effort on their endgame content than any other company, and most of what they produce is consumed and spit out a couple of months again later, with players clamoring for more. The initial endgame content in WotLK lasted perhaps three months before players were tired of it.

Given that, and considering that you don't even have close to the same resources that Blizzard has if you aren't Blizzard, throwing away 49 levels worth of content is a waste. Rather, you want to motivate players to play all your content repeatedly, and not just a fraction of it (powerset proliferation is one great motivator, as is the already great variety of existing powerset combinations). That's also why you can find taskforces and trials at all levels from 15 onwards: You don't have to wait until level 50 to do what in other MMORPGs constitutes endgame content.

That's not to say that there aren't taskforces that could use an overhaul (*cough* Positron TF *cough*) or that level 50 content should be neglected. But right now, there's already a preponderance of level 50 taskforce content: The Statesman TF, the Imperious TF, the Dr. Kahn TF, the Lady Grey TF, the Mender Silos TF, the Justin Augustine TF, the Sara Moore TF, and the Faathim the Kind TF. Plus, Hamidon raids, if you're so inclined. It's not like the level 50 game has been neglected. And that's not counting that you CAN do any other TF or trial, too, if you don't mind being exemplared down. Or that there is quite a bit of AE content that is custom-made so that level 50 characters feel challenged.

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So basically rehashed content is all we can hope for... I'm sorry but thats the thinking that led to CoX being kept as a b-list mmo. This game is awesome and had the potential to be even more grand than what it became.

If you think its a good idea to just leave things as is and maintain the status quo I just don't get ya. Games must evolve. Stagnating a game and telling the players the only thing they have to look forward to is the same stuff they've been doing for the past 5 years is the logic that made CoX's population dwindle from its glory days and its the same thing that keeps the population from rising.

I'm not saying they have to spit out content at the rate blizzard does... the dev team here has gone out of their way to add new content and features to the game over these many issues. They have the resources to add lvl 50 content.

Creating that content wont totally throw away the past content either. People will still level alts the content will still be used. I am not saying new lvl 50 content has to be far and away better than anything else in the game. I am saying that there is a flaw in saying "you hit max lvl the game is now over for you. Enjoy playing again as another character doing pretty much what you did for the last 50 levels".

When content is rehashed to such an extreme you lose players due to boredom. The game can be more than it is and in being more than it is it could be better and it might prosper once again like in its glory days.

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Is that really much different than CoX now? I mean most folk are crammed into Atlas Park in the AE building. You don't see every zone actively populated even now.

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Yes. It's not particularly hard to get a group at just about any level, especially if you're willing to do the recruiting yourself. Trying to find a group to do Shadowfang Keep or Blackrock Depths in WoW, on the other hand, can be like pulling teeth, and not just because of the stricter team composition requirements in WoW.

By the way, I don't see anything wrong with doing AE missions, too: they are a great source of new content, mostly level-neutral, and I run them all the time. I just avoid the farms.

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Considering WoW since you brought it up... their low level zones are still fairly populated. The capital cities especially.

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You're missing my point, I think. It's not about how many characters are actually present in a given zone, but about the availability of players for team play at any given level (if you just solo, then it doesn't matter a whit how many other people there are in the zone). The number of people in any given capital city is largely irrelevant for any given player's entertainment, for example.

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But what you're basically saying is... we can't have an end game thats fun, engaging and encourages us to play our max level characters cause then people would have something else to do besides level alts... and that would mean less people doing the lower end content...

somehow... there seems to be something wrong with that logic...

I find telekinesis to be invaluable on my mind/ff controller. Being able to hold a boss (and maybe some of his cronies in the process) right off the bat with a stacked tk/dominate makes bosses very easy for mind.

If you take the time to get creative with corners you can use Tk to herd up a few guys for some aoe dmg action (such as terrify + power pool aoe like psionic tornado or dominator's psychic scream)

Whats nice about the power is that its auto hit... has a relatively short cooldown compared to other aoe holds and it requires little in the way of slotting to be effective (again unlike many aoe holds)

Slap an end reducer or two in it and its prob good to go for what you'll use it for. It's not something you'll leave toggled on for a long time no but it can really make for a great panic button when other controls are recharging and you need something NOW.

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So why can't we have both? Why can't we have exciting dynamic leveling and an endgame that keeps people coming back for more after 50?

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World of Warcraft does have a great leveling game and an endgame that makes people come back for more. Unfortunately, the net result is that the zones outside Northrend (levels prior to 70) are ghost towns where it's near impossible to find groups, so you don't see much of the great leveling game except for the solo parts.

In short, it's a difficult balance to strike so that your great endgame doesn't depopulate the lower level zones.

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Is that really much different than CoX now? I mean most folk are crammed into Atlas Park in the AE building. You don't see every zone actively populated even now.

Having something for the endgame might get people out of Atlas and the AE and actually populate those zones that already ARE ghost towns.

And is it really a good thing to extol making an alt as the "end game" content just to keep lower level zones populated?

Considering WoW since you brought it up... their low level zones are still fairly populated. The capital cities especially. Even if grouping for the low level dungeons isnt as common due to most folk focusing on their high level characters, CoX has the better model in this regard cause you can SOLO your missions (whereas players cant solo dungeons in wow unless they are much higher level than the dungeon in question)

I'd love to see more content at level 50. I'd like there to be more interesting things to do at 50. I'm sorry but I am not a fan of the "go level an alt if you need something to do" answer.

All that time and effort spent getting to 50 (assuming you didnt get PLd) shouldn't mean the game is "over" for that character. Yes yes I know you can still do TFs etc at 50 but there should be something different to do at 50 besides what you've been doing all through the leveling process.

I'd be excited about content that is only available for 50s. Content that was both fun and rewarding in some manner. A carrot at the end of the level 50 stick is a good thing.

Telling players to roll an alt is not an acceptable answer in my book. People invest alot of time and their own personalities into characters they make. They WANT to play that character. There should be significant reasons to play at level 50. If CoX had such an end game I'd wager it would have a bigger following.

In another MMO I play I have a "main" character. That character is the one I devout most of my time and efforts towards. I am sure everyone here has a character like that too. But in other games I have goals to strive towards on my main max level character that really make me excited to play. CoX just doesnt have that sort of endgame and it's likely that if it did there'd be more folk playing. And I'd love to see CoX have more people playing and talking about it.

This is my first attempt at playing with the MA system so if you'd like to give it a review I'd love to get some feedback.

Arc: Starlight, Starbright...

Arc ID: 78666

Number of Missions: 5

Description: Level 30-54 Story Arc involving Crey Industries attempts at acquiring and abusing another company's technology. Customs mobs are sparingly used, 1 defeat all which is story applicable. 1 ally and escort in one of the missions which is story applicable. 1 Elite Boss in one mission (scales down to boss on lowest difficulty and probably to AV on the highest difficulty though I did not test that specifically). Mission was designed to feel much like those you find in the real CoX world with a good story, clues, descriptions and a souvenir.

If you're looking for a non farming arc that's intended to be run in the 30-40s (but doable at 50) feel free to try my first attempt at playing with MA.

The mission is titled: Starlight, Starbright...
and its arc ID is: 78666

I played through it twice. Once on my lvl 34 forcefield/psi defender and another time on my lvl 50 ill/rad controller. I obviously can't be unbiased but I can say I'm proud of my little contribution.

Anyone who does check it out please give feedback cause I'd like to see where I can improve if/when I decide to make something new. I did my best to try to keep it feeling like the missions you get from actual contacts out in the game world and not try "too hard" or too little to make it fun and interesting.

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Now let's say for [censored] and giggles we take all the common baddies in the game and reduce their health, damage, and XP by 80%. And then we increase the spawn sizes by a factor 5. So now, instead of facing spawns of 3-5, you're facing 15-25. Holy Full House Batman! Now you actually have something *worthy* to fight.

The tank/brute/scrapper plows thru them like a bulldozer, foes flying everywhere, constantly surrounding you, trying to overpower you, but they are but flies and you rip thru them like a hot knife thru butter. You're taking some damage here and there, but nothing you can't handle, and you're definitely working up a sweat cause you're just cycling thru powers non-stop. Mmmm quite satisfying.

The defender is momentarily daunted, but with their array of buffs and debuffs they too find it highly satisfying watching 2 dozen baddies bounce up and down on a tar patch, or flee from a chilling freezing rain, all the while being picked off one by one. Yes indeed, so very satisfying.

And can you just IMAGINE the sheer joy a team of 8 would be like this??? I get goose-pimply just thinking about it.

NOW you feel like a super hero.

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I would truely love to have that at times as well. And I think the devs would like to have something like but, but I beleive that design considerations prevent it. A lo of players on the CoV side of the house take a bit hit in framerate if too many MMs are on the team. You hope for the bestest systems to run your game, but you have to design for more modest systems. I think that the 3 minions = 1 Heroes is partially in reponse to that design contraint.

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I think this could be achieved by simply adding another "difficulty setting" where enemy number would be three times more than normal but conning green minions and blue lieutenants. Some of my characters would really enjoy such a setting.

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That sounds like a fun idea

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How could this game be better?

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I said it a few pages back, here and here

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i'll take a page from the same people trying to dismiss people like you and I:

You're wasting your time trying to point out what you percieve as flaws in the game. Some people are just so enamored with what the devs do everything they do is gold and they can never do wrong. They think anyone with a complaint is just a whiner who should get over it or just cancel their account.

See what I did there? I can be dismissive too.

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I have found that when people refuse to debate the merits of the argument at hand and stoop to personal or character attacks, it basically means you've hit the nail on the head and they have nothing that can rebuke your discussion.

So don't see it as being nasty or dismissive, just see it as a childish way of acknowledging they just lost the debate.

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I guess you are right. I just wish people would take the time to see my point of view cause I always take time to see theirs

I wont ever deny there have been many BUFFS and good additions to the game.

I would even go so far as to say the good outweighs the bad in many cases

But it seems the people who cared enough to complain mostly left and those that remain accept most anything they get handed no matter if its good or not.

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How could this game be better?

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I said it a few pages back, here and here

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i'll take a page from the same people trying to dismiss people like you and I:

You're wasting your time trying to point out what you percieve as flaws in the game. Some people are just so enamored with what the devs do everything they do is gold and they can never do wrong. They think anyone with a complaint is just a whiner who should get over it or just cancel their account. They never even consider that maybe some complaints have some validity.

See what I did there? I can be dismissive too.

Willy is right

for aoe controls to have any type of serious usefulness above heroic difficulty the best set up is:

3 acc/mez 3 recharge + hasten with 3-6 recharge (depending on how much that extra 20 sec or so those last 3 enhancers are worth to you)

thats how to make aoe holds somewhat useable reliably above heroic

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I don't have a problem with Hami being more powerful than players. I have a problem with minions, LTs and bosses being more powerful than most players, with similar powers that are many times stronger than ours, with absolutely none of the limitations or restrictions that we players have. It's hard to feel super when the baddies are always more powerful than you are, can do things you can't do, can use your own powers better than you can, and can consistently smack you around with abilities you can't mitigate.

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The big problem w/ computer games in general, IHMO, is the limited ability of game AIs. To be a challenge to a human players foes need to be more power then the players. Or they need to cheat in some way.

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Sadly this is true in a way.

The true problem IMO however is that developers almost never choose to spend time and funds to create a truly good AI. They make a basic AI and build everything else around that. To compensate for crappy AI they let their NPCs break the rules

I once hosted and developed an online gameworld. At one point I actually went to the trouble of upgrading my AI on the npcs. Know what happened? I had to nerf the crap out of a number of my NPCs cause with the improved AI they were so much better at using thier abilities that the "cheats" originally built into them to make them challenging made them unbeatable or ridiculously overpowered for the challenge level they were supposed to have.

Thats a clear example of just how powerful a GOOD AI can be.

Can you imagine how much a good ai would rock the foundations of this game world with all the "cheats" the villains use currently?

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Chew on that in your "limitless" universe

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Let me take this moment to mention that I believe it is a mistake to allow people with temporary reprieves on their accounts to post on the forums. Normally I'm not one to be big on silencing dissenting viewpoints, as I'm a rather frequent dissenter myself; I hardly agree with everything the devs do, and am vocal about it.

However, I've got a big issue with the influx of people who quit the game out of whatever disgust they have with it or the devs popping in and attempting to enlighten the poor mislead playerbase of how crappy this game is.

Here's a hint. We're still here. We still like the game after the changes (or, for some, discovered it after they hit and don't know how it was before). As much? Sometimes yes and more, sometimes no.

If you left because you dislike the game that's fine; sorry to hear that. Do please tell the devs about what would get you to come back. If you don't like it anymore, fine. Say you don't, and even why. Don't try to convince people who still do that they shouldn't, or delcare them wrong for doing so. Or do; I'll happily add you to my ignore bin.

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At no point did I ever try to tell people the game sucks. It doesnt suck. It's just not as great as it used to be for ME. And while my opinions are only one grain of sand on the beach they are mine and I am not trying to impose them on anyone outside of sharing them in this forum.

And for your information I am NOT on a free account reactivation. Ive been back for a couple months now paying my monthly fee because the situation I am in makes CoH perfect for my current needs. I am simply voicing my opinions as I see nothing has changed as far as the development teams mindset. If my opinions bother you I apologize.

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Once upon a time this game was an all consuming great thing (much like WoW). Now its just a passable distraction, a mild entertainment. No wonder it never realized its commercial marketing potential when the dev mindset is always to destroy the fun as opposed to enhancing it.

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I'm sure WoW is a great game, but I can't imagine that mechanics don't regular get changed there. I doubt it's a perfect utopia. Show me a perfect MMO with 100% player satisfaction, and I'll show you a bridge I have for sale in Brooklyn I know plenty of people who left CoH for WoW, and I know others who left WoW for CoH. To each his own, but don't compare apples to pomegranates.

As for the fun, it's relative. I'm still having fun with the game, because I chose to work past the changes, instead of jumping ship at the first cry of doom.

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These are the people running this show. So unless you can give up and be beaten and just accept the constant hot irons that will inevitably get shoved into your nether regions you should close your account. I came back for personal reasons of my own and because I am one of those people who gave up and accepted that they will never let our fun exceed a certain level.

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Wow... just wow (and not the game, except maybe for you ). Mild exaggerations about pubic mutilation aside, IMHO, changes always happen in MMOs. Wait, let me say that again:

Changes always happen in MMOs.

Anyone who expects content to never change from launch is living in a fantasy. Changes happen because players find ways to interact with the environment tha were never intended. Players find exploits in maps, find ways to abuse systems, find ways to grief fellow players, etc., etc. All the "best" aspects of anonymitous "jerk hacking".

Devs are people, without the gift of divination; they don't see everything that can and will happen when they create games and systems. The one thing about MMOs is that change is constant. Things get fixed, to the satisfaction or dismay of players (depending on who's doing what); get used to change.

I5 was in 2005, almost 18 months ago. It's more than so last year. If you're still bent about I5, get over it. Unlearn what you learned, and stop lamenting a lost Carthage. Re-learn2play.

Here's the real question: who's actually tried the new encounter? Who's complaining just to pretend this is actually an issue?

Lately, I noticed a rash of people who return to the game (not all of them, mind you) who waste no time with non-constructive criticism. They complain about things that happened issues ago with little or no feedback on how to make it better.

Nothing against CuppaJo (we miss ya ), but to finalize, I'll quote one of the current community reps, Ex Libris:

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ya'll want to see some change around here well then you better be willing to put in some muscle not just noise.

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No more strawman arguments about I5 and ED, and using the word nerf 7 times in a post. Try the new Hami before you knock it. If you don't like it after you try it, then by all means, give some constructive criticism. Otherwise, read my sig, and move on.

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My post isnt about the new hami. It's about this game's development as a whole.

WoW has its share of changes I never denied this and its only an example.

Do I sound bitter though? You bet I am. Maybe cause I was here in coh beta.... I watched slowly but surely as the fun was sucked out of the game from issue 4 onwards. More powers rendered useless or situational.

Are nerfs a part of pretty much every MMO? Yes

Should they be? Only as an absolute last resort after all other methods of trying to balance things have been exhausted.

I know you cant answer every imbalance with a buff to players. But I think the few attempts to buff the foes were poorly excuted. AI improvements alone could raise the challenge level of this game (and most others I might add) dramatically. Foes who have "inspirations" of their own to pop at critical times would again add to the challenge level in a big way but options like these are either ignored or deemed too much work to implement.

I was one of those people who used to play hours upon hours of every day back then. I was hooked. I told everyone I could about the game and to get on board. And eventually over the course of many issues my experience was reduced in entertainment value to the point where I quit the game.

About 1 year later I found myself in a position of requiring a certain amount of distraction (the reasons are irrelevant) with as little effort or commitment as possible. CoH fits that bill nicely and so I decided to come back especially considering there were a few new things to play with and inventions have the potential to restore some of the "fun" I had back then.

But I didnt come back with any illusions. I know full well nerfs will continue and if I ever hit that point of too much fun again I'll know a nerf is not too long in the coming. You see you missed the entire point of my post. I am telling people to EXPECT nerfs. You should have been agreeing with my instead of trying to make it seem like I am shocked about them which I am clearly not.

Not for nothing though? Some tuning aside here or there WoW does one thing right. They keep their content constant. WoW's content does in fact STAY THE SAME with every new patch. They dont change existing encounter in the hopes of recycling old content, they make NEW content. After 3 years the closest thing to new endgame content for players in CoH is the STF. That level of consistency is a point in WoW's favor not detriment IMO. It allows players to get comfortable in their wolrd. To know they can rely on certain things to always remain consistent for the most part. Thats a good thing... Being able to learn something and practice it enough to the point where it becomes "easy" should be OK. Players should not have to worry that every time a patch comes out the fundamental laws of the game could change.

But ya know what? The same "change how the players powers work" attitude time after time just gets old ya know? Thats why I gave up ever hoping they'd ever test stuff enough to not let imbalances occur in the first place and if one did slip by they'd find some way or dealing with it that didnt involve screwing the player. And now they dont even hide their disdain for the players who arent butt kissing yes men. They openly make jests at those who take umbrage at the things they do to the game. Instead of praising players for creative tactics things get nerfed to counter those tactics to the point of rendering powers used in those tactics utterly useless. (and i am NOT referring to just how hami kills phantasms and phased people now.)

While almost all MMOs nerf things over the course of their existence very few change the fundamentals of how the game is played as much as CoH has. SWG is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of drastic changes to an MMO... CoH is the second.

They win for now. They get to have my money until either my situation changes or I find something else that is "mildly entertaining" and doesnt require much effort or commitment. I have no loyalty to this game or company and as soon as something that suits my needs comes along I'll probably move on again. The thing is thats a very sad way for your customers to feel about your product. This game could have been just as big as WoW if things were handled differently. Unfortunately it is now only "mildly entertaining"

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in order to make a single entity that can be attacked by 50 players at the same time we have to step outside of the bounds of 'normal' rules in order to make it challenging

[/ QUOTE ] I wouldn't even say you are steping out of "normal" rules. To do so acknowledges a limitation that simply does not exist. This is a comic book game. Last I checked anything and everything was possible in the world of comics. Hell, Scarlet Witch created an alternate universe were everybody lived none the wiser....then she undid it all. The people that are getting all bent out of shape that Hami is hitting their precious PA, need to remember context under which this game takes place....limitless.

I emphatically salute the devs for remembering that. I think it is an excellent precedent on their part to make aspects of the game responsive to the players themselves. I think they need to take this a step farther. Make the AI's far more sensitive to what powers are being used against them. Allow them to see that they are constantly being held and let them start recruiting/training/spawning/hiring mob types which can protect them from holds. Hell, give mobs a way to adapt to stone tanks.

Obviously the bad guys should have a limit as to how much they can adapt and they shouldn't be able to cover all their holes at the same time, but it think this is one very immersive way to improve the AI.

Bravo. Compared to other games, I've consistently been impressed with the overall quality of decisions that Cryptic has made. I will gladly invest in any new games you guys come out with.

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too bad the heroes/villains playing this game dont have the option of "limitless" but I'm glad you're happy that that the NPCS have that option.

The players are saddled with more limits with almost every issue. Chew on that in your "limitless" universe

Wow... willy really summed up my experience when I left at i5...

and thats exactly what cox has become for me... mildly entertaining.

Just enough to justify the expense... but not enough that I'd ever encourage other folk to sign up.

Its a distraction for me. Once upon a time it used to be an obesession (i1-i3) and obsession is what you should be striving for to make an MMO a success and this is why cox is not a success. It's not a failure mind you... its just... mildly entertaining.

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We've gotten many PMs with similiar laments about defense, resistance, stealth, etc. All of which are reasonable complaints. However, it's simply not what this particular encounter is. As others have pointed out, in who order to make a single entity that can be attacked by 50 players at the same time we have to step outside of the bounds of 'normal' rules in order to make it challenging.

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So, when are we going to see a particular encounter that renders buff/debuff near pointless to have? Because between both games, we're going 4 for 4 on end game content where armor is fairly worthless beyond 1-2 players on your team.

It's just getting a bit tiresome that any time you guys want to design something challenging or make the game more challenging, the first thing you do is groin kick the Defense/Resist sets.

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Once upon a time I had phase shift

Then the devs nerfed it with a limited time it can run and a long cooldown... I got rid of it

I left the game for a long time cause I was just tired of constant nerfage

I came back recently for some simplistic gameplay during my offtime

More nerfs are not a surprise. This dev team has never learned how to make things fun and challenging without nerfing and they never will. They did however find a nice spokesperson to give snippy quips when people rail about them. Good show.

Once upon a time this game was an all consuming great thing (much like WoW). Now its just a passable distraction, a mild entertainment. No wonder it never realized its commercial marketing potential when the dev mindset is always to destroy the fun as opposed to enhancing it.

I remember when controllers aoe controls were nerfed. People said oh but you have containment now... I said yea and when EPP's get nerfed down the road what then? Low and behold as I predicted the EPP's got nerfed into oblivion but did controllers get anything back for it? Nope

Inventions are nice right now... and set bonuses are a possible way to recover some semblance of fun back... But what about down the road when we are having too much fun again? What happens when inventions get nerfed? Suddenly set bonuses will start to adhere to ED so you can only use them to max out certain effects with less slotting as opposed to breaking the barriers of ED.

Mark my words it WILL happen. These are the same people after 3 years think revising hamidon is still end game content. These are the same people who after 3 years still refuse to update power descriptions with actual numbers so people can make informed decisions about their choices without using outside of the game tools and websites. These are the same people who CENSORED THEIR OWN DEVELOPMENT TEAM MEMBERS when they did the developer interviews because they didnt like some of the questions they were answering.

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Statesman didn't like one of his answers - so he had to go back and pick another one. Monday is what it looks like.

CJ

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Thats a quote from cuppajo regarding the ask geko interview.

These are the people running this show. So unless you can give up and be beaten and just accept the constant hot irons that will inevitably get shoved into your nether regions you should close your account. I came back for personal reasons of my own and because I am one of those people who gave up and accepted that they will never let our fun exceed a certain level.