LadyGrimrose

Wow, the discussion keeps right on going even though Zwill affirmed "Hybrid Business Model" not Free-to-Play. This is why the devs gave out the Facepalm emote.

Yay! This thread, again. (More than one up now.)

The Free version of CoH is meant to be an introductory, and that's it. It will be replacing the original 14 day Trial. They gave those players a few perks, but it's still meant only as a way to showcase the basics of the game.

No, Freebies should not have access to those chat channels, especially tells. I do not want to go back to the days of Farmers sending me tell after tell and I don't want to see it in broadcast where I look for teams and gather members. Ditto with Request.

Someone spends $5 they become Premium and have access to a little more, but it is a dollar amount and most farmers are not going to risk have an account banned they spent actual money on. That being said Premium is a way to pick around and look at the various features of the game without fully commiting.

VIP is what it all comes to in the end. You pay the subscription, you reap the benefits. This Hybird system (not free-to-play) was never designed for existing subscribers to step down, but if they have to they still have the ability to play, albeit in a limited fashion.

That beings said: Option #4 is nice, buuuut I would say this Elite status is temporary. The returning player receives X amount of time at Elite status based on prior play history with a mandatory Paid period of 1 year + (Maybe one month of Elite per year or six month period.) After which the player drops to Premium status with access to whatever Tier perks they currently have. It's like an olive branch luring them back to VIP.

The Reward for walking the "tightrope" between heroism and villainy is access to both locales and a nice pile of standard merits.

Being a Purist (Hero/Villain) and not walking that fine line needs to be rewarded, thus the Hero and Villain merits. But at the same time, once set in these directions, you have truly only one progress path.

I, personally, play only heroes and have never used my hero merits. However, as it stands, my characters have meaning because of the current way things are. Rewarding for walking the line (in the same fashion) is not ok with me unless both locations are opened up to both factions. This brings about the whole silly argument about World PvP introduction when a substantial portion of the player base is used to how the game is now (again /unsigned.)

However, if the developers were to revisit both Paragon and the Rogue Isles and insert contacts and missions for said factions into said zones then the point becomes moot. Again, though, this would take a huge amount of resources and me, I'd rather have Praetoria fleshed out to be a full 1-50 content before revisiting and insert content into the older zones.

No, the system is fine, as it stands. If you choose to not be a hero/villain then you are already reaping the benefits.

This whole thread boils down to people thinking CoH is moving to free to play. Paragon never stated they were. They stated they are moving to a Hybrid business model. They never, for one second, designed this for their current subscriber base to step down from their subscriptions. Again, they always stated this is a hybrid business model, not free to play.

Wow. Aracnaville hit it right on the head. The whole point of City of Heroes going into a hybrid business model (again, the never said free to play) was to give potential new VIPs a broader feel of the game. They built into the system a Premium plan to reach those that like what they see and want a bit more. They never designed this for their current subscriber base to stop paying the monthly, but their are options for those that have financial troubles, etc. Meaning, you no longer lose complete access to the game if you have to stop you sub for a while.

Yes, VIPs may have to pay for a power set here and there, but retaining points may keep that little nitpick at bay. Costumes sets? We've already been doing that. QoL adds? These are not game breaking if you don't buy them. Heck my main tank is my sugar character and she made all her influence playing the game as it is now. And, again, NcSoft has stated they intend to still keep giving to the VIP community. The IDF costumes are very nice and actually blend well with other sets, the time manipulation power set is going to be very popular, and we are getting expanded incarnate and mission content.

The argument shouldn't be, "Why should I be forced to keep paying my subscription?" It should be, "Why aren't you willing to continue supporting this game?" Me, I fully intend to remain a VIP and reap the benefits theren.

Decided to make some of this for my best friend, who is a Ghostbusters fanatic, and he... took the... HEY! *rapid dialing* Bring my pitcher back!

One thing I like. i21 = new Temporal Character redesign for me, thank goodness she only ever leveled to 21. But after that I have to wait for two remakes because one will use Street Justice and the other, the one I really want to remake, must wait, impatiently, for Titan Weapons. <----So not a Final Fantasy Nod, but overcharged Zelda.... maaaaaaybe. Just kidding.

Thanx for the great advice. And loved your AE review.

I'm looking to start a vid series with CoH. No character manipulation or anything like that, just straight gameplay footage. I was wondering if I could get some recommends on getting started.

I read that FRAPs is the way to go at recording footage, but I also want to add in my own voice track and a few edit overlays. (Again, completely new to this.)

Also, what type of hardrive space am I looking at needing and since I will be using Youtube I am a little unclear on what it takes to upload larger than 10minutes worth of footage.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I can't remember the name of the episode, but there was one where a guy is driving home and gets into a pseudo-road rage mentality about others on the road and their habits. Along comes this car and the guy has had enough so he basically cuts him off and then realizes, to his horror, it's the Joker.

The Joker chases him down and states he owes him a favor down the road.

Well the end of the episode has the little guy threatening Joker with his own bomb while the perverbial trickster is howling for Batman to come save him. I won't ruin the final punchline, but it was one I will never forget.

Thanks Zwill, I was trying to use that money on Lunch....

Oooo! Good idea Mix mine with yours.

The mayhem/protect maps are the same, but filled with whatever you are meant to face at your current level! I think we have a winner!

What about this:

Instead of repeating the same Mayhem/Protect mission why not have the detective state the following: "We've received a tip that one of the banks in Paragon will be a potential target for a robbery today. However, we're not quite sure which it will be..."

At this point you are able to do any Mayhem/Protect mission equal or lower to your security clearance level. However, if say you elected King's Row, but your cleared for Pergrine you are lowered to a level of effectiveness in line with the level range for that Mayhem/Protect. This, I think, is a much better solution and would require very minimal coding/dialogue tweaks.

My supergroup (the All Stars) influenced me heavily. They Helped my love of roleplaying grow to this date. Here on the forums I have been influenced by a plethora of the regulars; Arancnaville, Snow Globe, Golden Girl, Bass Ackwards, etc. Thank you one and all for the friendship and knowledge to date and into the future.

This is actually a very good idea. Kudos!

Yes, but it is their right to try and increase revenue for the product they are providing us to play. It is a business and VIP get a points stipend per month to use however they please. The cost of the items is still not set in stone, but as it stands to get a power set you need only wait at least a mont (providing you withhold the current month's stipend) to get the set. They "could" have gone the Everquest route and charge for new content via expansion packs, but they opted to give us (VIP members) a way to obtain these items without purchasing them with real world money. They were already doing this with costume packs.

Note: Nowhere did they state we will stop getting free content. Or was the IDF costume set and Time Manipulation+ new round of proliferation missed? Thus, bringing it back to we will be getting more. If you don't wish to pay you need only be patient and that has been the status quo for some time now.

Your subscription does not get you less unless you stop paying monthly. You retain everything you have if you stay subbed VIP. If you decide to go premium you will have to buyin to those features and may lose Incarnate privileges.

Hi. I'm a 7 year veteran and in no way do I feel entitled to get everything for free if I stop paying my subscription and step down to premium. Paragon has been very straight forward that this is a "hybrid" model not a free to play. The real change is what they listed on the main page today. Trial accounts are coming to and end with the Free model be the new trial version of the game. WoW recently went to something similar, but you can't levelast 20 and have zero access to the auction house, mail, and personal tells (sound familiar).

I intend to remain a veteran and "support" the game I have come to enjoy. I feel good that my continual fee will support the product and I will be paying for the items on the market if I don't have enough paragon points at the time. Why? Because Paragon never hid what the differences would be. They presented it openly and honestly. If you don't like the new model simply unsubscribe and leave the game or play it for free. Complaining about material after you fully grasp what was presented is not a way to go. The business model is sound and, again as a 7 year veteran, I fully support it.

I have to say this show really is impressing me. This episode was exceedingly well written all the way to the surprise at the end.

I'm all for giving them more Freedom (without giving them the option to send me a tell, I want VIPs and Premiums to be able to do such without resorting to an option that only allows my friends/SG mates to send me commentary), just give the players that do Pay the ability to continue playing unhindered. I'm sorry, my experience in this very game before said limitations were put in was half my time was spent reporting RMT abuse. I even unsubbed for a short period and left because of it and I will do so again if I have no control over it.

Oh, and this won't be the death knell of RMTers. I can see the advertisements for character accounts with Vet Points or Premium adds now. Yes, this means they paid a little, but they will use a free account to solicit.

How about this? Give the VIPs a way to deny Free Players from sending an invite their way. Sorry, but my past experience with Trial players and Free players, on others game, puts the RMTers in the majority, at least the majority as nuisance instigators. Is this me discriminating against said players, no, but trust is a two way street. I rely heavily on PuGs to level and I do not want to be (as my previous example showcased) inundated with invites by "Snoxbry123" over and over along with his or her fellow RMTers waiting for me to deny one so the other can invite.

This advents were put into place to give us peace from the RMTers and I do not want to give them Freedom to begin all over again. Yes, I can report them, and report them, and report them... See where I'm going. I don't want to spend half my time reporting RMTers. I'm all for giving Free players a measure, but give the VIP and Premium members a way to lock it off if it gets horrid.

And before some other things are brought up for Free Players. No, they should not be able to send me mail unless they are on my friends or SG lists. No, they should not be able to send me tells. I'm sorry, I log in to play not avoid the telemarketers (RMTers) like I do in my day to day routine. Am I being hypercritical and blanketing blame before it happens, yes. Why? Because I have left other games because of lack of contol over RMTers. Here, I finally have control and I will not surrender it.

Here is what happened to me quite a bit before said limitation was put into the game:

*Random Invite by RMT Player*
Me not knowing its an RMTer *Accept*
Me: Hya, what do you need help with?
RMTer: Blatant advertising for their website.
I quit and report said player.
Moments Later another random invite from the same RMTer not banned yet.
I deny the invite.
And then another random invite.

It can go on and on and on and in any zone. Sorry, I put up with this in WoW for ages before they began insisting trial acounts have the same limitations we do.

A great solution I heard for this is a chat channel everyone can see that acts like a Help/Broadcast for these players. The thing about it is, if it does seem to be abused by RMTers VIPers, and even other Free Players, can simply remove the chat channel via an edit to the window. No harm no foul and it gives the Free players a voice. Not to mention an avenue for Paragon Studios to monitor RMTer abuse.

*Preps post to be removed* My guess is Ms. Liberty will be passing on and we will have a new hero greeting us in Atlas as a result. It fits with the whole moving forward theme.

I love the concept, at its core, but I am used to how things are and do not want to Redo every single one of my characters. This would be akin to the changes made to SWG and we know what's happening to that game come December. The player base is used to how things are and this sweeping change would upset quite a few players. The vocal majority here on the forums represent a small portion of the game's populace. Most don't even read the patch notes for an update and dive right in at launch.

No, what is suggested here would be great for a new game not the current. We're at the 7 year plus mark and to shock the player base now would be catastrophic to the brand name with new MMOs on the horizon. Keeping the loyal base content with new powers, defined within the current setup, is a safer step. I like the idea for something new, but I would prefer this game as it is.

Just went through the books for August and saw Red Hood and the Outlaws. I have a personal attachment to Starfire and dislike the possibility she is now on a team with a different former Robin. If they "get together" the jokes will never end. "So which Robin haven't you been with?" Oh, and let's not forget she's being labled an outlaw. Has she suddenly become more like Blackfire? Uhg! And please don't get me started on the new Birds of Prey *cries*. Put Gail Simmone back on the book! Put that team back in the book! *shakes head* Sadly, this will not be my DCU. Someone said this is a business decision and I agree, but it will alienate a lot of older readers. My brother was a staunch DC comics fan. Today he brought home his last books. He did have one grand comment, "They should put Bruce Tim in charge."