MaWeiTao

I think Stalkers are unbalanced, although, I realize there are challenges in balancing them without turning them into scrappers.

It is frustrating, however, fighting higher level scrappers. Even with enhanced perception there's no way of spotting a stalker. They're capable of landing an assassins strike which can nearly one-shot a scrapper. Then they turn and run, which I expect since they don't really have a chance of holding up in a straight fight. But this also means I have no chance of taking them down.

Then what do I do? I could sit around and lure them, risking death. I certainly cant engage anything else while waiting for them because without my health bar pretty much full they will one-shot my hero.

The only way I've been able to deal with stalkers is to have someone like a controller around who can hold them in place, otherwise it's pretty much guaranteed they're going to get away.

I really feel like stalkers were designed with PvP in mind, because they seem to really excel in that environment. But I suppose since things aren't balanced for 1-on-1 encounters this argument is irrelevant.

I don't think reducing damage output, however, is the solution. What I recommend is that stalkers are just barely visible when they're standing right next to you, and if perception is enhance they're visible from a greater distance. However, when they are hidden you can't target them.

This gives a player just enough warning to have a chance of avoiding the initial strike but the stalkers abilities otherwise remain unchanged.

This is the experience I had fighting a lower level stalker and it was a lot of fun. She was occassionally able to land an assassins strike but I could also play with her when I saw her coming. It's not much fun dealing with higher level stalkers who are completely invisible.

I guess you were asking what stalkers thought, but I had to put in my two cents anyway.

People here tend to argue that crafting would be boring. I suppose that CoH/CoV has lured exactly the kind of players who would find that boring.

However, how different is it running to a mission, defeating everyone inside and returning to your contact from tracking down certain foes looking for specific drops, gathering those resources and building something out of them? In the first case you come away with little more than XP, in the second not only do you get some XP for the hunting, but you also get experience for the craft skill and you come away with an item. And most importantly, it gives you variety. You can log in and have a choice of activities.

Whether we get skills or crafting, it's time CoH/CoV an alternative to fighting. What I don't want to see, and it's a concern I have with skills, is something heavily tied to missions. I'd like something with substance that I can do independently of missions, but which may certainly help with them too. I'd like it to be something immersive that I can partake in for a good portion of my hero's career.

I wouldn't want the skills acquired within a couple of hours of gameplay and I certainly wouldn't want to have to do yet another series of the same old defeat missions just to acquire these skills.

Personally, I think the single largest problem facing CoH/CoV is that there is virtually no alternative to the grind. When it comes down to it a RPG is all about building a character but we're stuck with one way to do so. PvP has changed helped to some extent, but the activities our characters engage in are unchanged.

Tied to this is loot. Unfortunately, many people here seem to have an aversion to loot. While I was intially lured by the concept, having seen the problems involved with loot, I've come to believe that it can also be positive. It offers a way to improve your character without having to wait two to three levels to see any kind of improvement.

All we really have to define our characters is our powers. So, even though we have one of the quickest rates of levelling out there progress seems slow because we have to wait a significant amount of time before anything really changes. We don't see stats, so we're automatically cut off from any numerical improvement beyond the character's level.

We do have enhancements. It's a neat system, and I hate to say it, but those things don't really have any personality. To me they dont feel like the physical objects the text describes, they look like the little graphical discs that they are.

Do I lack the imagination to visualize something more grand? I suppose so. However, I'm not playing a text game. I have a graphical representation of my hero so I have the expectation that everything he interacts with also has a physical presence. I'd like to see enhancements that physically change my hero. And along with that comes the desire to craft items as well.

There is an unexplored world outside of fighting in the superhero/supervillain genre. Heroes and villains often have alter egos which figure prominently in defining who that character is. Thats perfect for skills and crafting, among other things. The most obvious example is Spider Man/Peter Parker and his job as a photographer.

I believe any way of improving and growing your character is a fulfilling one. Obviously, the system needs to have substance and be enjoyable. We really need an alternative to the endless stream of missions and street hunting.

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Would like to see it as a permanent feature, with a few rules. Once a single or group latches on others won't and they are no more than +2s.

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I'd like to see this implemented as an actual feature myself, but I think they've avoided doing so because it would make it a lot easier to train mobs onto unsuspecting players. Imagine someone getting the attention of a giant monster, or a couple of them, and having them follow that character accross the zone.

Although, I could see it working with a limited set of mobs, maybe only a single group at a time, and only minions or LTs perhaps.

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Yet. City of Villains caused (is still causing) a lot of people to stick around despite the changes - first for the beta after I5, and now for the live game after ED. Once the newness of CoV wears off, that's when you'll really see what effect ED and I5 had.

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I highly doubt that. Even if as many people as you claim were upset about these changes, by the time this so-called newness of CoV wears off most players will have adapted and will have grown to, in the very least, accept the changes. It's not different than anything that has come before.

While I'm not particularly crazy about ED I have to admit it has made me consider slotting in ways I hadn't tried before. So I suppose it's done it's job, whether I like it or not.

CoH/CoV has a key advantage in being a niche genre in the MMORPG market. While it makes it difficult for this game achieve the numbers of games like WoW because of the popularity of the fantasy genre, it also ensures that CoH/CoV will maintain a loyal fanbase.

If CoH/CoV had been perceived to be the failure some claim it to be we wouldn't have Marvel and DC actively looking to develop their own MMOs. I'm sure they studied this game quite closely and are convinced there's a market for the genre. Of course it also helps that the market is over-saturated with fantasy RPGs.

WoW has the advantage that Blizzard has a lot of experience. They know how to take an existing genre and refine and streamline it into something enjoyable. They also have a very distinct style of art which has also drawn countless fans. I'm sure the game has countless flaws, but many fans are willing to overlook those because of their love for the Blizzard brand. It's not all that different from people who are still committed to SWG.

As for Lineage and Lineage 2, having been produced in Asia there's that association with anime, even if these games aren't Japanese. Many anime fans adore anything coming from Asia, regardless of what it is. I think this is why FFIX has maintained it's popularity.

That said, I don't particularly trust subscription numbers in Asia. I tend to think they use a bit of creative accounting out there. Also, it's hard to know how many of these numbers are from real subscribers and not internet cafes. If it's anything like what I've seen in Taiwan, the vast majority of these gamers are playing in at those gaming centers.

Asia certainly has the potential for huge subscription numbers, mainly thanks to China. However, I think that's still a long way off. Contrary to the overly positive news we see in the US regarding China they're a long way from having the lifestyle of Japanese, Taiwanese or Koreans.

There's also the fact that a lot of young people out there are willing to spend their time and money even more frivolously than their American counterparts, for a variety of reasons. Although, I guess that is a good thing for business. The ultimate consumers live in Asia; it's one of the big reasons the Japanese economy has remained afloat despite a weak economy these past 10 or 15 years. However, that's a completely different discussion.

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my dark dark scrapper is crying in the corner

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So is mine...

The more things change the more they stay the same.

Beta_Nightfall,

First of all, I don't think I conveyed any sort of bad attitude in my post, which was quite the contrary in your post I replied to. However, it's pointless to discuss that matter considering that arguments tend to get heated on these boards when controversial matters are concerned.

I'm not going to bother replying to every one of your comments. Just because you've had experience doesn't necessarily mean you have any insight into the process. You are making too few assumptions. It's also pointless to get into what you meant by the post I replied to initially when you were quite strong in your observations, and didn't propose any of it as merely a possibility.

Regardless, to further buttress my argument I quote this post from Geko:

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The fact that you did the Task Force is NOT stored on your character anywhere. There is (well, there WAS) no reason to store this, since you could do them over and over again.

Suggestions like "just datamine ME" or "just datamine the level 44+ characters" don't narrow down the database query at all. We still need to look at ALL the data for the specific bits of Task Force related goodness that says "yes, this guy did the Task Force".

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Given a reasonable server, the time to read the entire database should be somewhere near 200 Mb/s (megabytes per second) assuming they have a half way decent FC 2G front end on their hardware. I'd expect them to have more than one. A snapshot could be taken of the data "instantly" if they have any reasonable server system. Then that snap could be read over the course of a few days while it remained unchanging. (snapshots don't show recent updates)

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So that settles everything... Pull some arbitrary figure out of the air and the problem is solved! Have you ever done anything like you're proposing? You don't have the first clue as to how these servers work and you're making these guesses about how easy it is to determine if people have completed these missions or not.

I find it hard to believe that the developers wouldn't just award the badges if things were so simple. We've gotten numerous other badges just by logging in once the badge has gone live.

I guess it's hard to get your mind around this, but it's entirely possible there just isn't a switch in the game that turns over once a player has completed a task force. I'm guessing the developers have to manually sift through all the missions players have done, looking for the right conditions that prove a player went every mission on a team for the task force in question. That doesn't seem like an easy task to me and it certainly seems like it's open for error if a few details are over-looked. This is probably why some players haven't gotten their badges in the past.

Searching through the records for a hero near level 50, assuming every mission has been tracked, must be a monumental task. Have you ever tried that command that logs data or recorded no of those demo files? Within a short amount of time those files grow to massive proportions. Imagine keeping records of those files for 150,000 players and their multiple heroes.

It's easy to sit there as a consumer and demand the world without having an inkling of what it's like to be on the other end. Being able to use a desktop computer doesn't inherently provide some sort of profound insight into what the developers do.

I never had that much trouble with the Thorn Casters. I liked that they were a bit troublesome. However, I might have just been luckier than others. I don't have a problem them being adjusted, as long as it's not overdone to the point where they're just minions with more hit points.

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I wouldn't mind seeing the stores go away at all, especially if they were replaced by something like the 'Mission Stores' in Brickstown and Founders.

Mutant-girl Penny, Time Travelling Mad Scientist guy, Robot Guy, Serafina the Genie, and Agent Six all want you to do missions for them before opening their stores.

EXTEND THIS! This is a wonderful concept! I enjoyed those missions so much! Go ahead and scrap the stores and replace them all with missions like this!

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I think that's a good idea... My main problem is that these guys are standing around all day. Put them indoors. It would certainly enhance immersion if we had to visit them in their lab, apartment or shop.

As for increasing the "challenge" above 30, I'm willing to give it a try. I can accept that villains get tougher to counter the threat of a stronger hero. However, I also expect to feel that my hero is getting stronger. I like the fact that my 40+ hero can jump into a decent sized group of villains and take them out. My hero in the early levels couldn't handle anything anywhere near that. A lone boss back then was a serious challenge. I see that as growth. It feels like my hero has made progress.

If difficulty is going to be increased it shouldn't be by reducing the effectiveness of heroes. Nor should it necessarily be by simply making existing villains inordinately stronger. Perhaps certain villains can have more resources at their disposal and introduce more elite bosses.

I also recommend new techniques for defeating bosses be introduced. Use the technique used in so many games of old. You have to observe what the villain does and find his weak spot, like a giant robot which leaves some vital component exposed as he's charging up for a big attack. Perhaps there's a villain that can only be hurt from behind, or only when he's knocked down. Simultaneously deactivating devices is one step, but it isn't dynamic enough, and this shouldn't necessarily require a group of heroes. Either that, or villain AI is improved so that they're more responsive to what heroes are doing.

This is the kind of challenge I'd like to see. Simply giving villains more HPs and having the do more damage doesn't seem to be the right solution. At least it isn't the most enjoyable one.

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Hold on to your seats folks, he HATES the stores in Talos and IP.

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I actually preferred purchasing enhancements from stores as opposed to getting them from some contact. As a reward for a successful mission I can understand, but it strikes me as a little odd to have some guy on a street corner peddling this stuff. That's not to mention that I liked being able to enter some buildings. At least have the contacts selling this stuff be located indoors.

I suppose, if this game were faithful to comic books we wouldnt have shops selling goods for superheroes. Batman or Ironman wouldn't go to the corner shop for supplies. So I can understand that. However, the universe of Paragon City is a bit different. There are thousands of heroes in the city. And they're fairly overt in their activity. So, it only stands to reason that businesses would open up catering to the needs of the superhero community.

I think it's a bit limiting to try to adhere too closely to the themes established by traditional comic books.

I've started nearly all of my heroes in Galaxy City. I started my main there for no particular reason, not knowing anything about either I choose a zone at random. Maybe I liked the name.

As I came to learn that Atlas Park was always teeming with heroes it was even more of an incentive for me to stay with Galaxy City. Both are good zones, I don't see one necessarily being more difficult than the other. However, Atlas Park does have access to the Hollows, which is a popular zone. Also, it has a larger open space under the statue, ideal for the crowds that gather there. Also, it's where city hall is located, what makes it a more important zone I suppose. Galaxy City has the Arena, but considering how that has turned out it's no surprise the zone is still relatively quiet.

I suppose the crime rate should go up drastically in Galaxy City, and drop in Atlas Park in response to superhero activity.

Guardian...


Xiao Ru Mace/Invul Tanker
Xiao Ru with her pet kitty

Hahahaha.... Good one.

The old comic was enjoyable, but there was something a bit corny about it which sometimes turned me off. The comic book felt like something I'd expect to get for free. Nevertheless, it certainly wasn't terrible although some stories were certainly much better than others. And it was interesting to see how villains were introduced.

The new version seems to reflect higher level of production. It does start a bit abruptly. It feels like I picked up a comic book off the rack in the middle of an on-going series. I'd feel more lost if I wasn't already familiar with the characters, at least somewhat. It seems that the intention of the writers might have been to start off with impact, but they may have overdone it. I found that a lot of story was presented within very few pages. It was more like I was reading a synopsis than a fully developed story.

The other problem is that these epic heroes are brought down to earth too quickly. In fact, it's worse than that. In the very first issue we're told these heroes have some fairly large character flaws, and that they don't seem to get along particularly well. Everyone seems to be bitter. That sort of thing is better woven into the story over time, so that readers are able to connect with the characters and really understand their point of view. As it stands they seem to be upset over nothing. It's certainly an interesting approach, but it came on too quickly.

I actually found the ending to be a bit unexpected, even thought the eventual outcome is going to be fairly obvious. Although, again, it seems to be a bit out of character for the heroes as I've come to know them. I didn't picture them as the dark brooding types, especially in those outfits.

But anyway, this is my impression. All in all, the new book is enjoyable, and I tend to say a little more so than the previous version. It's not like I expected either to be of the caliber of some of the great comic books out there. I do think it's fairly consistent in quality with a lot of the stuff found in stores, which isn't bad considering it's essentially free.

What the? Why has this thread been revived?

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Question 3: COV or COH having weather patterns like snow, rain, etc. - NO

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In the greater scheme of things I suppose this is fairly minor... But still, I was really hoping we'd get weather effects at some point.

As far as MMORPG official forums go, the City of Heroes forum is the best out there. Even with the doom posts things have for the most part been mature and sensible.

I'm just trying to get as many posts as possible, it's like earning XP. I'm just not doing as good a job of it as I could.

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I guess I'm in the minority here, but I didn't much care for it. Manticore's narration sounded too melodramatic. I also found it really hard to like the characters. Statesman was condescending in the fight scene, Manticore seemed only too eager to jump into States' shoes as leader, Sister Psycho wasn't too bad considering what she went through, but Synapse just seemed like a whiney bum. I did like Positron, as he seemed to be the only one of the 'heroes' that actually thought of the others.

I dunno, I hope they back off of the character flaws in following issues and focus more on the Surviving 8 doing daring acts of daring do.

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I tend to agree. It's the first time seeing these icons on the page and already we see the character flaws. I think it's a bit jarring mainly because they've all been regarded so highly up until now. Although, in some ways I like it because they're more human but it's something I would have worked in more slowly.

I do like how the heroes had grown comfortable. It mirrors what we have in the game. We have heroes constantly making short work of villains to the point that they're no real threat. So everyone grows complacent. It would be neat if the release of CoV depicts some of the things we see in that comic book.

The interesting thing about the old books was that we were reading about heroes just like our characters. It was easy to imagine the War Witch and the rest of them running around somewhere in the city with us. However, the stories were all so specific to the characters that we never really got any sense that the city itself was in danger. There seems to be more at stake in the new book.

The writing in the new one is better, more like something you'd actually find in stores. The old one wasn't bad for somthing we get with our monthly subscription, but it didn't offer much substance.

As for the artwork, I think there's an improvement with the new book. However, it isn't dramatic. The old book was descent and consistent with this style of comic book.

I'm definitely happy with the direction the comic book is taking and I'm looking forward to seeing were the story will go..

Wei Tao: "I haven't thought about such things in a long time, but it would have to be blue."

Hanshiro: "I have have no need for a favorite color. Black keeps me obscured in the darkness and the color of flashing steel is the last thing my foes see, I hope they like it."

Neutron Electro: "Blue and yellow are the colors of my people. Those are my colors."

Eleni: "In a fight all I see is the redness of fury. I've come to adore the color."

The developers must have gleaned tons of information on PvP since the arena has been in operation. I'm curious to see what sort of changes are coming. It's possible they will have some big implications for some builds.

I enjoy PvP but I'm not going to sit here and say there aren't any problems. However, I do have faith that Cryptic will work most things out and we'll end up with a more enjoyable and somewhat balanced experience.

Obvious bugs I've come to disregard because I expect those to be resolved quickly enough. My concern are the balance issues I've been seeing. There are certain skill sets which are overpowered and others which need help. Just because someone has had a different experience doesn't negate that.

For example, I've encountered SR scrappers which I've been able to defeat; in a team setting anyway. But then I fought one solo and I got him down to 50% HP using accuracy inspirations before he went on to wipe the floor with me. 10 to 0 was the outcome. There was absolutely nothing I could do to touch him once I was out of inspirations. That doesn't strike me as balanced.

I personally don't like a system which strictly adheres paper/scissors/rock concept. While it can make tactics important I think strategy and skill should be the overriding decider in any match. That kind of system renders certain skill sets more effective than others. And what happens in 1 on 1 matches? Under this system certain sets are doomed to lose. I can't say with certainty that this is how the arena is working right now but some skill sets certainly have an overwhelming advantage.

Well, I hope that developers balance things out to the point that most players feel reasonably satisfied with their PvP experience.

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OK, this is rediculous now. All you people quivering and quaking over HOs And why? Ooooo, they're not fair.....I don't wanna farm for extra stuff.......I do not think it evens out things when a lower lvl person or same lvl player goes up against someone when they do not have it. Well guess what? TOUGH SH#*!

Why are some people rich and others poor? What you don't wanna work and do some things like we have to in life to get ahead? Then settle for what you got or do something about it like say......Work for it. What you don't want to? Fine! But do not go and take it away from those willing to go the extra mile to be better. Do we put wieghted bands and Anklets on the better fighter in the ring to even things up when he has trained to be better than others? Do we shorten the bats on superior baseball players? Do we krack the knees of fast running backs? No we do not. So those of you who do not want to push and do the things you need to be superior for PvP when others are willing to? Man-up and accept your fate or do something about.

Goddamned communists!

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Interesting point... It's the kind of thing I've considered every time this kind of debate comes up. I tend to agree, that in the United States, nearly anyone can be a success if they're willing to work at it.

Of course there are those who hit a streak of great luck and are a success without putting any effort into it. And there are those who constantly hit bad luck and never go anywhere in live.

Despite that, all in all, there really is no excuse not to do well. However, that's in America. There are parts of the world where people have no hope whatsoever of getting out of poverty, and I think it's something that most people can't even imagine without experiencing it first hand.

CoH, and any MMORPG for that matter, while not reflecting anything on that scale, really are a simplified mirror of society. The first obstacle is time investment. Some people just don't have the time to put into an MMORPG that others do. You can't really fault those players for having more important things to do with their time especially considering that they're paying the same $15 a month.

That said, I do agree that those players that invest more time in the game should be rewarded for their efforts. However, there is a point at which things get excessive.

Also, unlike real life, where resources exist to ensure most people's success, MMORPG worlds eventually stifle player's progress. Eventually a few elite guilds control the high-end content making it a lot harder for other players to get involved and get their fair share of the rewards.

Human nature is human nature, regardless of whether its real life or in a game. I think there's a tendency to abuse more in games because there is nothing real at stake, and its much more impersonal an environment. Also there are no laws beyond the EULA and there is no real police force so it's much tougher to enforce laws.

I don't think everyone should get free access to Hamidon enhancements. If you've worked for them then you deserve the reward. However, farming them is an abuse of the system. In the strictest sense of roleplay, this is a role-playing game, heroes wouldn't be going back over and over again to Hamidon strictly to get some enhancements.

I guess we'll have to wait and see what kind of advantage those enhancements provide. If a good player without them can defeat a player with them, then I'll be satisfied. If players with those enhancements dominate the arena regardless of skill level then we have a problem.

I always through the architecture of Paragon City had a pulp feel to it...

Villains would be a perfect way to introduce crafting. Villains are always trying to concoct some sort of scheme, and building some kind of device to enable them to defeat heroes and take over the world.

They could have an archetype based on a crafter. His skills are all based on devices he can build. He can run around with a 50ft robot as a pet.

Beyond that, there's plenty to add. They can expand the world in all kinds of ways. They're as limited as writers are in comic books. And its fairly obvious that there really are no limitations. Just look at all the kinds of archetypes they can introduce. I'd say fantasy based RPGs are a bit more constrained than City of Heroes will ever be.

Eden is another wasteland. Its a neat-looking zone. However, I almost never see anyone in there.

There are countless groups of 34-35 devouring earth minions and leutenants, a boss or two, and on top of it all a level 41 in their midst. They also spawn in extremely dense concentrations, its often hard to determine how many villains are in a group. It looks like someone with crazy with a map editor when they populated the zone with villains.

Faultline is a cool zone just to explore, beyond that there isn't much in there and its hard to get around. I hope they finally do something with the dam at the other end.

The Hollows is a great zone. I like that its a large zone, although I realize that we've been spoiled by our travel powers. I like the scenery change from one end of the zone to the other. There are always a good number of heroes in there regardless. It is a bit tough compared to King's Row. Especially for players new to the game to be sent there after the relative security of Atlas Park and Galaxy City.