Liz Bathory

Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha

You can take Union away when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow

That's what I wanted to ask, too - where are those numbers coming from? Last I heard, NCsoft don't publish subscription numbers, and haven't done so since 2009. And it wouldn't even be relevant if they did, considering they're moving to a hybrid model.

Originally Posted by Stardanno

Just getting back into CoH after being gone for a bit. All my toons are on Pinnacle, and the server is dead, dead, dead. Several times I have been the only one of my toons level on!

I play mostly during EST daytime hours, so it's not peak time by any means, but the Incarnate stuff REQUIRES you to have a team of AT LEAST 8, and oftentimes there aren't even 8 players that level even on.

My question is: Are they going to do server mergers? Most servers are ghost towns now, with only 2 actually showing any life.....

Originally Posted by Rabid_M

I hate to ask the obvious, but are you in SG mode?

Originally Posted by Giant2005

I have played a lot of mmos that require the perfect team to be able to compete.
I absolutely love the fact that CoH has changed that formula and made it so we are all capable of soloing everything in the game.
If I want strategy I'll play something else, if I want to feel like a God I'll play City of Heroes. CoH offers something no other mmo does, why would they want to ditch their niche and become another generic mmo?

As a side note, if your characters are too powerful for the content of the game, take them to a PVP zone. I assure you fighting other characters that are too powerful for the content of the game will always be challenging, choosing to ignore the most difficult content of the game seems to be a flaw in most of the CoH playerbase.

Originally Posted by Berzerker_NA

You realize how annoying it would be if all the powers from all the packs immediately entered your tray at the appropriate levels? For someone like me that owns most of the packs, that would be a lot of tedium every time I make a character. First off, the powers will appear wherever they fit, and I have to move them. Second, I may not want to use them all.

Self Destruct always appears on my power bar the moment my new character enters tutorial, right where I usually put my primary attack. You know how many times I have accidentally blown myself up?



Actually they're not missing. They're not actually shirt options. They're chest detail options that fit over the top of your shirt.

For example, the Bustier. If you're making a female toon, just choose the "Eden" skin top option and then choose Bustier in Chest details, and it will be visible. Or you can mix and match it with whatever shirt you want.

Originally Posted by Biscuits_EU

Coming from Union, where this didn't happen, I was shocked by Freedom's Atlas broadcasting of people charging inf to PL. Whenever I've farmed/PL'ed friends, *anyone* was free to tag along, as the way I saw it, I'd be in the mission anyhow and having a team chatting made it less monotonous. If they could stay alive and help clobber things, great. If they couldn't, they were just as welcome to door sit and chat. (I'd encourage newer folks to avoid farms when they were around, though. Just so they got to enjoy the levelling more, but I wouldn't refuse them).

It's pretty much the main reason I've avoided making a toon on Freedom, aside from the level 1 used for the stress test a while back. I, personally, much prefer the way things are done over on Union. (Not condemning the Freedom/NA way, just saying it's not for me).

Originally Posted by Golden Girl

There's also the problem that villains want to change the world into something bad, but heroes want to keep the world as it is - which makes the more static game world of an MMO way more suitable for heroes than villains - Paragon City is always being threatened by Villains, but it's still always there - so the default setting is that the Heroes have succeeded and the Villains have lost.

Originally Posted by Bunny

Much of Tom Orrow's article I kept text as provided by you ingame as I would always do with such things assuming they were purposeful based on accent or lingo the character would use.



I'm afraid I won't be doing that, I want to move forward and work on new content instead. Besides as remarked on in the editors letter this revamp is an IC improvement. Kapow! put out its first issues on a low budget and now have the resources for a better format from now on

Originally Posted by Judgement_Dave

Established premium/VIP players rolling corruptors and MMs don't need to go to Mercy - sure some will, but just because players may want to roll traditionally-villainous ATs doesn't mean that they'll be in the rogue isles.

Originally Posted by Bubbawheat

And the trailer for Rise of the Blood Countess is finished. Check it out here

Originally Posted by Wrong_Number

I have to remind myself sometimes that sarcasm often gets missed on the net. I spent a long time promoting MA (Founded MA Arc Finder channel, MA Super Team, to name a couple) and have long advocated the change of the rating system and Hall of Fame. I was annoyed that day to see eight of the ten arcs on page 3 (The first player rated arcs after DC/HoF/Guest) werel farms.


WN

Originally Posted by Noble Savage

Animation is indeed an art issue, and the way characters move (or don't) interact with each other profoundly affects gameplay.

Just for fun, let me run some hypothetical update ideas past you and see what you think. As a thought experiment only, let's say we were going to update the primal Hamidon model. Again, absolutely no plans for this, but it's an interesting topic to think about. You've expressed a desire to maintain the character's "amoeba-ness," and I whole-heartedly agree with you. That said, there are ways we could potentially make him more visually interesting while staying completely faithful to the character concept.

Off the top of my head, some examples:
--ANIMATED CILIA. What if, for decoration, Hamidon grew the occasional wriggling tendril? Or had several spread across his surface, constantly wriggling? For me, that would make the monster feel more alive, more like a microscopic organism, and a heck of a lot creepier too. (You'll notice 4 wriggling cilia poking through the Seed of Hamidon's shell incidently).

--CELL DIVISION. In keeping with the giant cell theme, what if the creature split into two smaller pieces at some point during the battle? For me, that would make the raid experience a lot more interesting-- maybe players would have to coordinate efforts between the two halves. Also, it would be great to see this guy move in a major way.

--SCROLLING SUB-SURFACE TEXTURES. This is something Jay hooked up on the Fallen Seers recently, and it would give the impression that liquid is flowing across/through the cell wall.

--DETAILED ORGANIC TEXTURES. I'm imagining semi-transparent capillary networks (perhaps with a slight glow, maybe even pulsing) across the creature's "skin." The more organic and alive it gets, the closer I think we'd be to the original idea for this character.

--FLOATING DEBRIS/BODIES. Again, to enhance the sense of realism and dread, wouldn't it be neat to have defeated heroes and/or rubble floating in the cell fluid? Just the illusion of things floating within the creature would help to sell the notion that it's composed of liquid.

--ADDITIONAL ORGANELLES. If I was in a giant single-celled organism, I'd expect to see more naturalistic and a greater variety of organelles within the creature. Maybe you can target it, maybe it's just decoration.

--CYTOPLASM BURSTS. We could rig up an effect where the creature sprays fluid after you hit it. You'd have the feeling that you'd punctured the cell membrane and that you were actually damaging it. Anything to make the the fight more visceral would feel like a win for me.

So there you have it. From an art standpoint, we want to do everything in our power to bring these experiences to life in the most engaging, breathtaking, and super-heroic ways possible. Again, a Primal Hamidon update is NOT on the docket at the moment, but if it were, these are some of the things I'd be thinking about.

For me, changes like these would simply be polish on the core experience, deepening the encounter's sense of immersion and realism and keeping the art fresh and modern. This is a living game after all, and ideally we want the graphics to impress both new players that decide to try us out for the first time while simultaneously keeping things fresh for the veterans. I don't think any of the hypothetical updates listed above would harm the Hamidon experience. In fact, I think they could take what's already cool and make it way, way cooler. What do you think?