Olantern

Exactly this happened to at least one U.S. server player, too (me). I only clicked once, I swear!

Bolded (and quoted) for reemphasis. This will make the first day the Magic Pack was available look like nothing. I will, if possible, be waiting until the second day it's available to purchase for just this reason.

Speaking of "accidental" side switches, that's something I've been wondering about for a while. The first mention of making a moral choice in a mission by a dev (since the NCSoft takeover, anyway) was something along the lines of "(a) kill the evil dictator and cause society to collapse or (b) let him live and continue hurting everyone." Neither of those choices seems like an obvious right or wrong to me; both seem fairly bad. Certainly, neither seems patently heroic or villainous. Maybe, since this is a comic-themed game, we're supposed to apply Batman Morality and assume that Killing Is Always Evil, And Anyone Who Does It Is A Horrible Monster, No Matter The Circumstances. If so, I'd like to know in advance so that I don't have a heroic character make the wrong Impossible Choice.

Basically, I'm hoping that when one is doing a side-switching mission, the moral choices are obvious. Yes, this runs against the "shades of grey" concept that's being pushed with Going Rogue, but as long as the concept of "sides" exists, so does some form of absolute, in-game code of right and wrong. It would be disingenuous to create a story about a choice of evils and then, when the character returns to the contact, be told, "The evil you decided NOT to choose? That one was actually a good."

If the end-game is WoW-like mega-raids, as I suspect is likely, they could easily begin with one and add more over time. Indeed, this seems like a good reason for having a dedicated end-game team in the first place.

Yeah, this was exactly my thinking. I am working on this arc now . . .

Couldn't she have done that, though? I admit that there's no explanation as to why; at least, there isn't any that I know of.

Penelope Nemmers, ghost boss. She's presumably a relative (sister?) of ghost contact Kelly Nemmers, although this is never mentioned anywhere in the story that I can find.

Indigo (slightly) and Crimson (definitely!) have always given me the impression that they really, really dislike (1) my characters and (2) heroes in general. The standoffish, close-mouthed, and moralistic way they're written almost makes me think that they're bickering with Malta not out of any high-minded opposition to the group's goals, but as part of a bureaucratic power struggle in the super-powered intelligence community.

Plus, I just dislike Indigo for being a "former" Knife of Artemis. (Forget what some prominent AE critics have said about Malta; if there's one faction I consider utterly irredeemable, it's the Knives.)

I meant by name.

The clues are also kind of amusing and include the only in-game reference to the oft-bruited-about Space Station and Moon Base.

I sure didn't. And yes, even on my "heroic" heroes, I mean alive, not unarrested. Torque off an emotional character like Kid Eros or a forthright one like the Knight of Gears, and you get a terrifying whirlwind of destruction.

Capt. Dietrich's speech in that mission, along with Wretch's at the end of "Oh, Wretched Man," had me tearing up a little . . . yeah, I'm like that . . . :P Anyway, it's that speech that makes me not hate Dietrich as much as most people seem to.

This, a million times this. Sefu is probably my favorite supporting character (he's a great character, not such a great in-game foe).

I don't have the all-out hatred for Longbow that so many players, especially villain specialists, seem to have, either, so that helps. Instead, I tend to feel sorry for characters written as antagonists; I feel like the author is pushing them around.

Ah, but did you solo it?

N.B. This post may be less funny than it ought to be, given that boasting about soloing things is more a 2008 thing.

Well, technically, probably not move around, since the power apparently doesn't give you stealth when you're moving.

I can't think of any other powers that take effect based on whether a character is in motion or not. Can anyone else?

Sorry, the sarcasm didn't come through in the post. What I meant to imply was that a complete graphics overhaul and something-to-do-with-content were a fair amount of work and that people were being silly for expecting more.

As a former bureaucrat, I can also tell you that this is also the motto of every part of any government.

***

I must be one of the few people who isn't irritated by the lack of Going Rogue information. My attitude is that I want to play the expansion, not read about one of its features that I won't be able to experience until it's released in another four to eight months. And I really don't understand all the hatred of the marketing department.

I am, however, alternately surprised and mystified by the approaching taken to marketing the game in general. For at least the past two years, the main marketing targets for the game seem to be (1) current, long-term subscribers and (2) MMO fans.

The focus on the first group is surprising to me, but after much thought, I've come to understand it a bit better. The idea seems to be that because City of Heroes is an old dog in the MMO world, it's better to focus on retaining customer loyalty than to try to gather new customers. Put another way, it's more realistic to try to keep the player base from shrinking than to try to grow it. Yes, this does make sense for an older game. It's also extremely flattering to me as a longterm customer for the game and makes me feel even more invested in the product.

However, with a boxed expansion coming out, I wonder if it might be worthwhile to consider potential customer segments other than those who are already loyal to the product, as well as those loyal customers. If it is worthwhile to do so, the game's positive features (visuals, setting, casual-friendly nature, flexibility) need to be presented in ways other than announcements on this website.

Now, of course, most additions to the game are presented on MMO news websites, which brings me to the second group of marketing targets. I question whether this is the ideal target audience of new players for this particular game for two reasons. First, as a previous poster pointed out, while it's fine to market to MMO fans, City of Heroes has potential appeal well beyond the traditional MMO fan base. This is especially true with a boxed expansion coming out, which will create shelf presence and make it easier for those with a casual interest in the game to learn more about it through the simple expedient of picking up a copy.

Second, City of Heroes succeeds in providing quality entertainment by being different from other MMO's, not by copying them, as most of the industry does. The game is forgiving to casual players, emphasizes customizability and uniqueness, and has relatively little "grind" or "uber-loot." This is the polar opposite of many MMO's out there. Fans of those MMO's, the same people who are being treated as this game's potential new audience, often criticize City of Heroes precisely because it flouts these MMO conventions. It is counterintituitive to expect, for example, hardcore World of Warcraft players to switch their entertainment dollars to City of Heroes simply because City announces the ability to recolor one's powers on an MMO news site. Indeed, such gamers are likely to laugh at City of Heroes for spending the time on such a feature.

I argue that instead of (or at least in addition to) marketing to these individuals, City of Heroes should market itself to non-MMO fans who form communities similar to MMO fans. These would include players of single-player games, comic book fans, and even movie enthusiasts. These are the segments of the population that are most likely to be impressed by a game with the general features I described above. Non-MMO communities are an untapped resource for the game that I believe its marketing should strive to reach. Of course, reaching these groups may be so costly or otherwise difficult that the marketing department has elected to forego trying.

To put things in simpler terms, we're pushing the game to the wrong group of geeks. It's easier to gain the loyalty of someone who isn't committed to any MMO at all than to fight another game for that loyalty.

At least, those are my theories. If you read this far, I hope you enjoyed them!