Nethergoat

I actually like the 'flavor' of the old-time origin stores- Pandora's Box in Talos is my favorite. I'm not against funneling the different origins to different shops, but they need to clarify the naming system. Magic Accuracy, Mutant Damage, something like that.

Obviously junking the whole thing and starting fresh would be ideal, but that tends not to happen in this game. Updating the names with an eye toward clarity and accuracy should be possible though.

There's a balance point with these things- I don't mind a *little* bit of intentional blockading as long as it doesn't go too far.

For example, originally the origin stores weren't marked on the zone map. Jack's idea of "fun" demanded we just DISCOVER them on our own. That was, if I recall, one of the main motivations behind player driven development of a map pack.

That was pointlessly irritating. The deliberately confusing names are pointlessly irritating. I don't really mind having to go to this or that specific store provided it's been clearly marked and its stock is accurately labeled.

Of course, 99.9% of the time I just hit the AH and buy generics, so.....

Yah, the menu only gave me one option to click.
I like the interface, I like the idea- on the rare occasions when my schedule allows teaming I'd like the option to just click a button then go on about my business until the trial/sf/whatever started.

So what?
Again, observe the comic book superhero milieu. People create characters, other people pick them up and write about them and draw them, those characters are irrevocably altered in the process even up to "death", as little as it means in terms of the genre.

Take, for example...oh, Jean Grey.

Originally conceived as 'Marvel Girl' by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby.
Re-invented as Phoenix by Chris Claremont & Dave Cockrum.
Becomes the world-destroying Dark Phoenix under the creative direction of Claremont, Byrne & Austin.
Is killed at the command of Jim Shooter, an editor, who insisted she pay for destroying a planet, a one-panel throwaway in the story.
Brought back several years later by Kurt Busik & Butch Guice, using the conceit that Phoenix was a wholly separate entity from Jean Grey.

Etc etc etc.

Lots of different fingerprints are on that character, as there are on pretty much every character in mainstream superhero comics. Comic universes, and MMOs, are very much a collaborative effort. Personnel change, and how characters are handled change along with that.

Again, so what.
Did he sign a legally binding contract? Swear in a court of law?
No?
Then it doesn't mean much.

The game is vastly improved from where it was when I dropped out a year or so ago. The death of Statesman obviously isn't the driving force behind the flood of new content and structural changes, but as a part of the whole I wouldn't complain even if I didn't find the character to be an entirely derivative, highly objectionable plot contrivance.

So?

Emmert was a lying D-bag. If someone thought knocking off 'his' character would give him a twinge, more power to 'em.

If he wanted a say in the continuing story of the character, he shouldn't have let NC buy him out.
He didn't care what happened to Statesman after that point, so why should any of us?

Also he wasn't a comic book character, if you're going to pick nits.

The fact remains that "death" for fictional characters, especially comic book characters, is a revolving door, not a one way chute to the incinerator.

I've seen people nurse sillier grudges over the years, but that's a really goofy one.

Yah, that was it.

I thought it was Drowning in Blood...but I wasn't high enough.
Level 14 now though, so I'll try it out the next time I gratz.

they ought to go through and disambiguate the whole system- call Accuracy Accuracy, call Confuse Duration Confuse Duration, etc.

I've had occasion to buy DO's and SO's a handful of times over the past couple of years, and it always aggravates me. The game's (mostly) evolved beyond the being deliberately obtuse to slow the players down development style, they ought to make an official break with the past and clean up the legacy enhancements.

so what?

Arthur Conan Doyle declared Sherlock Holmes was dead forever when he published The Final Problem. Years later he rose from the dead in The Adventure of the Empty House.

Fictive death just isn't death, however adamant the creator is about it.

Glad you're enjoying it- I'm liking writing this stuff up because it makes me think beyond "that was cool!" or "that sucked!"

I'll check 'em out.

I'm the guy who doubles the 'last 5' price when buying salvage because I'd rather overpay wildly than have to re-type a bid, so the 5k didn't bother me.

I can see why they abandoned those junky things after inventions (after all, so did I), but they really should fix the tooltip thing. If you're going to have them at all, people should be able to see what they do without knowing a trick.

I like the idea, and if it hadn't kept failing to start I'd have loved the execution. Reminiscent of that other giant fantasy MMO.

I'll give it a try.

Yah even the worst redside mission is pretty good- the problem was lack of diversity, not lack of quality. Nowadays with no factional walls, not much call to beef it up- I'd certainly rather they pour that energy into completing their makeover of the 1-30 game heroside.



Went blue again tonight, looking to get SilverRage one of the new trials.
Pulled up the new LFG menu, clicked a button and waited around. Decided to kill time kitting out with DO's, as he didn't have enough in the kitty to just buy level 15 IOs off the market price be damned.

Forgot how much I HATE, HATE, HATE the moronically intentionally confusing names for those things. Also, in the store window you can't hover to see what they do.

THANK THE LAWD FOR INVENTIONS.

On the plus side, even my comparatively dirt poor level 12 scrapper was wealthy enough to just buy DO's I wasn't sure about just to see if they'd work- a far cry from the terrible old days of hoarding every scrap of inf you earned so you could *maybe* afford to pick up enough Acc's for your main attacks.


So, I'm flailing away in the science store, and every so often a confirmation box would pop up, and I'd close the store window and click it, and someone would fail to join the team and I'd get kicked back into the queue.

This happened four times before I actually got in- if that's typical, it's a problem. Having nothing to compare it to, I'm not sure if it's typical.

So, finally got in and was unhappily surprised to find myself exemplared way down- I thought I'd joined the higher level one, but obviously not. Found myself pelting through what was basically a spruced up old time sewer run, which was actually sort of fun as I hadn't indulged in quite some time. We mowed the assorted baddies as prescribed, not having much trouble except for the usual misery with taking on Eidolons before you get status protection.

The dust-up with the Hydra at the end was a nice touch- I was totally lost as to why people kept getting randomly one-shotted, but we managed to get past it.

Picked up two levels & had fun, tempered by the realization that now those DO's I struggled to figure out are dying on the vine. =P

Not really, since you're talking out your ***.

Striga isn't awful, but is dated (aside from that one awesome TF with the giant robot)- it's the blueprint for CoV and showed the way forward, but it's not terrifically compelling.

If Croatoa predates CoV (I honestly don't remember) it is exempted from my scorn, as it's a fun zone and still holds up well aside from a few tedious missions.

The complaint was that too much attention HAS BEEN paid to 1-30, which is nonsense. Its current state is the result of much effort expended, effort that was desperately needed. Work remains to do.

The people responsible for making the game.

Most everything left over from the pre-CoV era is garbage and reflects badly on CoH. Low level junk is especially odious as it is more likely to be encountered by new players who have no other impressions of the game.

It was okay back in 2004, but there's no excuse for it now.

If endless street sweeping and kill alls float your boat, more power to you.
But there would be no public uprising if every mission in Skyway City was tossed on a bonfire, other than some celebratory dancing in the streets. The old content is by and large absolute garbage, and everyone knows it.

again, if you're super stoked to clear out warehouses and kill 10 ______, more power to you. I'm not sure why you're going so far out of your way to fake outrage here- I don't care what you like, I don't care what you run, your fun isn't any of my business. And I'm not advocating erasing anything, I'm saying there's a lot of crap at the low levels and players should be able to skip past *all* of it on a clean, modern highway of arcs like Twinshot and Hashaby.

I'm not trying to take away your beloved plotless kill alls and fedexes, don't panic.

They announced it on the forums, they announced it on the main page, they announced it on the NC login screen.

Some people doubtless still missed out, but they advertised it through every channel available to them other than MOTD.

yeah, those badge and a respec levels were underwhelming.

free costume change token was another 'favorite'. =P

That sounds like MMO's aren't your cup of tea.

No MMO offers a "well rounded" RPG experience- it isn't structurally possible.

But hopefully you'll enjoy a different set of similar good guys beating up a different set of similar bad guys in a different similar setting.


MMOs are what they are. Other games focus on different aspects of the experience, but fundamentally they all come down to beating on stuff for rewards.

Yes, very new and addressing a serious need.
A need which still exists, as I'm discovering in my play through.

Ideally there would be a 1-30 path of all new stuff for players who didn't jump on the trial PL wagon.

And I'm not saying 1-30 should necessarily be prioritized over the higher levels, I'm just saying it's still a shambles even with the recent (very welcome) improvements.

The whole game needs new content- wherever they put it will be helpful.

The game *desperately* needs new 1-30 content.
Most of the existing content in that range *shipped with the game* and is an absolute embarrassment, even when compared to something like radio missions.

MMOs are bottomless pits that can soak up infinite amounts of content without filling up. Sure, we could use more high level content- but objectively the existing high level stuff is, for the most part, pretty good, while the majority of the low level stuff is absolute swill- just terrible, indigestible garbage.

If you're expecting your new 'free to play' initiative to attract new players, it behooves you to add some good low level stuff so the theoretical hoards checking out your game don't say "OMG GET ME OUT OF HERE" after their first street hunt followed by a fedex to a security chief halfway across the city.

I just started the Graves story, but yes the game could use a lot more content along the lines of the Twinshot arc. Good writing, solid mechanics, nothing outlandishly fancy, just solid, involving arcs to paper over some of that frankly embarrassing older content.

Our tenth day lost in the depths of the cube farm, the drums of the natives have grown deafening. Even with supplies running low & pack beasts on the menu, my dearest wish remains a proper Steampunk headset to complete my ensemble!

Im hoping the system will be random- like you get a Super Pack with one card in it generating some kind of weighted but random reward.

Otherwise, most folk will know what they're getting before they even log in.

I'm not blaming anyone for anything, just pointing out the hidden motives for these kinds of threads.

The OP can do their thing, and consequently I'm free to do mine.