Psyte
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Posts
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Joined
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Very quick (my goodness there's a lot of posts already!):
Co-op advertising
I remember seeing a co-op between AMD and the Exteel guys before, and would certainly like to see more. Certainly, focusing on COH's relatively low system requirements compared to some other titles might be useful - consult with engineering to find an acceptable level of price/performance and get together with some of the OEM's out there.
Likewise, doing the same for companies that sell upgrade parts might be worthwhile.
I say this because one of your competitors has the reputation of being able to run on pretty much anything (even though, like all games, its put on some "weight" over the years). Dispelling the notion that you need a nice or super-nice machine to run COH playable would be good.
Inclusion on OEM computers
A commission program for them. They include a copy of the game and a trial, and should that turn into a subscription they get a commission on that (instead of free game time).
"Spawnable" copies
This would require some help from engineering, but one of the things I loved about Starcraft (back in the day) is that I could get friends to play very easily via "spawning" copies. COH is not a small game, and many of us have out-dated installers (if we even have them at all). Not everyone has high-speed broadband or (in some areas) even have metered internet. Being able to take a current version of the game and easily "spawn" a copy/installer would be very helpful in terms of getting the community involved.
This coupled with the normal referral programs would be synergetic, I think.
PR "relaunch" or a re-education program
One of the forums I regular tends to have certain questions come up on a consistent basis. One of those questions is, "I stopped playing back during iX, what's new?" There are a lot of people who have a lot of old assumptions about the game as it was, or simply don't know about it at all. A PR relaunch would be quite help, advertising the game as it stands today, with its strengths/features. Educate customers about what can be done and enjoyed in COH today; breadth of content, maturity of features, friendly community, doesn't require an uber-computer, etc.
If you want to be particularly aggressive, see if you can get advertising on websites dedicated to competitors and such.
Community
A game's community helps sell the game for many people. The more avenues the positive aspects of COH's community can be announced, the better. Likewise, the more tools we have to facilitate community events, the better. There are many tools possible in this regard - not the least of which being a community calendar that is not tied to the forums. Player profiles of some of the really nice folks here might be good, as well as of families that play together. Help bring the human side of the game out. "Hi, we're normal folks, just like you!"
Or, hey, if there are any celebrities who don't mind speaking up, great
Promotions with other companies
This is related to enabling the community. Maybe getting together with various companies to offer bundles? COH/gametime, FRAPs and a video editor might be such a combination. Or have the bundle but enter CityOfHeroes as the coupon/offer at the checkout/rebate. Basically, help us to help you.
Just a few ideas, really.
More mainstream coverage/advertorial
Many publications (online and print) should have a schedule of what they're planning to focus on within the next year. Grab those, see where you can get COH mentioned, and offer interviews, articles, soundbites, etc. Content, basically. They need content to for their audience. They need the audience to sell advertising. It doesn't have to be a big, in-depth thing, necessarily, but enough to let folks know you're out there and how to find you.
Group advertising
Advertising for NCSoft's games in general. Pool the marketing budget/muscle together, work out better deals, lower the costs for everyone while increasing the value for your money. NCSoft has a LOT to offer, has some very successful games, but I don't think it has as much awareness as it deserves.
Note: I work for a newspaper, and have been in the publishing industry for 9 years about. So, I'm coming from the slant our sales reps can use for some of these. -
Quote:I would disagree - its not server-less like CO, STO, EVE. You'd pretty much just visiting the other server. I think that would be helpful for the community as a whole.Originally Posted by PeerlessGirl
All I can say is, I certainly HOPE it isn't cross-server teaming in the strictest sense, otherwise any sembalance of an RP server (read: Virtue) is pretty much destroyed.
That's really all I have to say about that.
Let's just hope it's a bug, or done in some other way.
And for the RP groups I play with, we'd like it since they're scattered about Freedom, Triumph and one other (can't recall). Plus we had wanted to do a "cross-over" event on Test, but this would be far better, methinks
I'm sure it could be a boon for the remaining PVPers, too. -
Quote:Could be under the hood stuff.Originally Posted by DumpleBerry
So are all these posts about cross-server teaming legitimate, or spurious? It would have been great if we were told what to test. Since we weren't, I guess speculation is all we are left with.
I do SO want it to be true, though. -
I'm beginning to wonder if I'm the only person who doesn't necessarily care how much XP my arcs provide?
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Hrm...
Christine Morgan.
Evan Dorkan.
Steven Colbert.
Phil Foglio.
J. Michael Straczynski
Chris Claremont
Arthur Adams
Melissa Bianco (something non-cannon, obviously)
Brad Wardell
edit: And how could I forget - Stan Sakai! -
Quote:"Sorry, but player Villains are so unpopular we're scrapping them altogether. MWAHAHAHAHAHA. ~the devs"Originally Posted by The_Coming_Storm
Also, VILLAINS AT RELEASE, please.
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Quote:Sadly, that would kill the ability of some of my friends to play itOriginally Posted by Zimmy_Zim
CoH2 + The AION / Crytek engine = a lot of awesomeness. If this came to pass I'd be all over it.
I could see them, should enough major, game-changing things happen, relaunching the game and calling it COH 2 (darn marketing folks). I'm talking the war walls come down and the game engine is completely redone (ie, the under-the-hood stuff) to release the devs from the current system's short-comings.
The thing with MMO sequels is you run the risk of splitting the game base and having two weaker games as a result. I'm pretty darn attached to my characters and my friends, many of whom are only-sorta playing this game at a technical level (ie, higher system requirements would prevent them from changing to a higher-end game). -
Quote:I like having another visual style. Just because we've got a "Fury" bar doesn't mean I necessarily want a rampaging lunatic frothing at the mouth,* you know? And, honestly, more folks would complain about not having it, so yeah, good moveOriginally Posted by Castle
That said, people are creative. I'm sure they can come up with rationals to make it fit.
*For one of my characters is more like the higher the fury bar is, the more openings he's finding in someone's defenses, making better placed strikes, etc. -
Quote:How is that different than normal?Originally Posted by Dark_Respite
You know, the more people go on and on and on about the Cathedral of Pain trial, all I can say is, if and when that sucker does come back, it had better be "all that and a bag of chips," because otherwise the devs are going to get crucified by the playerbase.
Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite
That being said - jeez - I wish i17 would go open so I can see the patchnotes already. This week, I hope! -
Quote:So going with a 512m Radeon 5770 instead of a 1g one should be "okay"? I'm peering at one that's $119 with rebate, so...Originally Posted by Father Xmas
Memory helps when a game has lots of large highly detailed, uncompressed textures. The more memory a card has, the more textures it can store on card which reduces the need to transfer the texture from main memory.
In the case of Ultra Mode with this game, more memory doesn't help, it's shader power that's needed. The only talk about improved textures is "marking" some as reflective. -
Quote:Bit of both, maybe? I'm just wondering if there'll be any sort of SSK-type system for the Incarnate levels as well or not. Will they only be effective in certain situations? Possible drawbacks to go with them? Will bonuses be ED compliant (which could seriously free up slots)? I could be wrong but it seems like the devs put a lot of work into getting things about at the power-levels they're generally at now, so I don't see them wanting throw a big wrench into that.Originally Posted by Zamuel
My...concern...over the Incarnates system is what the actual worth of it be. Will it just be global boosts to damage/resistance/etc and thus simply be APP Part 2 or will it actually do something unique with the character allowing you to open up the playstyle?
I'm personally hoping for more IO's to come out at the same time that give Procs, Chance to's, power perks, etc. That's be pretty darn awesome, methinks
The sooner I can cover my "basics" the sooner I can get to playing, y'know? -
Quote:Aren't they able to somewhat separate PVP and PVE values since i13?Originally Posted by Captain_Freak
so another set thats 1/4 effective at end drain because you gotta maintain pvp balance?
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Quote:Not to mention there's no need to give the competition any more advanced warning than necessary. CO's out there and DCUO is still under development (which, honestly, is in the better position to take good ideas and respin them).Originally Posted by Sharker_Quint
because it makes no sense to give out all the info on something if it isn't going to work correctly and have to pull it last minuet.
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Quote:I suspect it got backburnered for quite a while - the devs had some really lean times for a while there. Chances are the upcoming side-switching and what was originally planned don't have that much in common. Likewise, I think the Incarnates were going to be an EAT, not something for all characters (whose players buy GROriginally Posted by Evilanna
Q: When was Going Rogue born as a concept?
Jesse: It was originally going to launch with "Issue 6"
Wooooaaaahhhhh... I expect the side switching system to be amazing if they've been working on it for years and years.).
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I find it functionally appealing, myself. Given the relative same-ness of urban environments, it can help a lot, especially for new players. I remember playing MxO and walking into the "bad" part of town (ie, everything was level "I keeel you") more often than I'd like to admit.
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Quote:I figure they're unrealistically optimistic about us players at times. Plus bigger fish to fry.Originally Posted by mercykilling
Why wait -this- long to make a change in it? Hasn't BoTZ been around for at least two issues? Plenty of time to see that "oops. Silly overpowered bonuses. Let's fix that." Instead of waiting all this time to "fix" it.
edit: Oh, and it seems no matter what the devs do someone gets mad. Talk about a "no win scenario" type job. You're dumbing down the game, you're making it too complicated, why haven't you done this yet, why did you do that first, we needed attention first, etc. I think someone's sig has something about if the devs gave out free money there'd even be complaints to that @_@ -
Quote:I'm hoping its going over the end game system - not everything but at least a preview.Originally Posted by Golden Girl
Positron has mentioned a presentation they've been working hard on
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Quote:I like the sounds of it. We'll see. I was going off of Positron's statements about videocards, though. Right now my 4670 is backed up by a Q6600 at stock speeds, and is running most all my games quite nicely (much MUCH better than when I had an e6300 @ 1.8ghz).Originally Posted by ZanderCross
*speculation
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A grand 6.3meg patch, no less. Anyhow, the full message says:
Quote:With any luck, Quality is the same level of demand that current Quality has. Not betting on it (in fact, I'd bet against it), but that's my hope.This computer has a video card capable of using the new Ultra Mode settings like reflections and shadows. You can now change your settings or choose cancel to keep your current settings. All graphics options are always available from the in-game options menu.
Quality - Enables Ultra Mode features at low settings.
Ultra - Enables Ultra Mode features at high settings, there is a risk of lower performance at these settings.
Warning! Choosing either preset will override any custom graphics settings you have currently chosen.
Note: I did not log in to get this message - it was automatically displayed upon the game client (not the launcher) starting. So far as I know I'm not violating anything.
And no, I'm not in the CB
edit: And for the record - Radeon 4670. Given that its noticeably wimpier than a GeForce 9800 GT, I'm not putting much faith into it running Ultra mode at settings I would find desirable. -
Quote:Well, its not projecting expected performance... Of course, I've no idea how a 3650 stacks up to anything - darn numbering schemesOriginally Posted by Big_Lunk_NA
Saying it can use ultramode on a ATI 3650, here.
Actualy a little suprised at that.
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Quote:Understood. Still exciting, though.Originally Posted by je_saist
I'm not sure how much I can say without Empulse and Castle hunting me down and gutting me like a trout...
but I can tell you that the system just seems to check to see whether or not your drivers support OpenGL 3.0.
Even if you get the pop-up, it may, or may not, mean that you can actually use ultra-mode features.
I figure if you can get that far without being in the CB, then its fair game. Could be wrong. -
Could folks say what their video cards are, by chance?
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Quote:Really? That's interesting!Originally Posted by Yogi_Bare
Would suggest that people try to log into the Test Server. Although you won't be able to actually log in, it seems that CoX auto-detects your graphics card and notifies you if it can use Ultra-Mode and at what setting (at the login screen).
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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131330
$139 after rebate sound like a good deal for a 5770? It would be coupled with a Q6600, replacing a Radeon 4670.
Guess I need to find a suitable PSU to go with it...
erg... Open Beta can't hit soon enough. -
Any news in areas that could affect video card pricing? I'm sort of not expecting Fermri to do much at all (sadly), so I'm hoping something else might be happening to help bring prices down. ATI/AMD might do a refresh of the lineup later on, right? Do those, traditionally, help much?
I suppose, if nothing else, I should just look at getting a new PSU soon anyhow... just to be ready.