Quinnt

You'll be missed, Cuppa. Sure, you were diligent and fair, and nobody can ask for more from a forum mod. But you went way beyond that...you were our friend, and we as a community will always love ya for it. Forum mods on other games would benefit from watching how you handle forum users.

Good luck with TR!

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*sigh*

Let's see if I can lay this thing to rest.

At I5 - and now again with ED - some claim that the game is "dying" and that thousands of players are leaving. This isn't true. We're actually gaining customers. Not hundreds of thousands, but we're gaining nevertheless.

Then all of a sudden I read Armsman's post where he talks about our original launch subscription numbers - which isn't really the point. My entire response on this thread has been focused to I5 and ED reaction - so the more pertinent number to look at would be what our numbers were just previous to I5...not our numbers just after launch. Never did I make a claim that we have more subscribers now than we did last year. My point continues to be: ED and I5 haven't created a ghost town out of City of Heroes.

Unfortunately, I pointed to SirBruce's outdated chart instead of NCSoft's numbers. Frankly, SirBruce's is the one I go to - it lists the competition, so to speak. Or at least to a degree. As SirBruce will tell you, it's really difficult to get numbers out of publishers. NCSoft posts ours.

Why is WoW or Lineage doing so much better? Heck - they're great games. But they're also successful in the Asian market. Will we ever catch up to them. Dunno. The WoW guys have a bit of a track record on us...years of producing amazing games. Who ever heard of Cryptic before City of Heroes? There are LEGIONS of Blizzard fans - of course they'd play WoW! And it's a phenomenal game!

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States, I'd suggest you just either lock or ignore this thread. Don't bother replying to it anymore...it's evolved into another "ED Sucks" thread, and Lord knows we have enough of them. I'm not a proponent of ED, but still, this thread serves no purpose anymore.

CoH/CoV are great games, but it's a niche genre you've created, and it will never draw the same number of players as fantasy-based MMOs. Sad, but true. I think CoH/V is doing pretty well on their own, and if you keep up the good work on both games, the franchise could live on for years to come.

Just an FYI to everyone else, it's very rare for MMO subscribership to stay at its launch levels (maybe except for Lineage in Korea)...it's likely that CoH may never see the numbers it had back during its launch, and you know what? That's OK. It's a constant revolving door. People leave, obviously...but there are always new and returning players too.

Don't focus so much on the numbers, they'll take care of themselves if the game continues to improve.

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It sounds like he is saying you can convert the salvage into some basic component called "raw material" which (maybe?) is actually stored at/ on/ in the workbench??


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Yes, you convert salvage into components...but only if you have the right worktable. Salvage is essentially the "raw material" that we start with to make components, which eventually are combined with other components to make the finished base item.

What we need is the ability to carry alot of salvage in the players' inventory, or a place in the base to store our salvage (regardless of the type).

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For those players who have reached the Salvage Limit with one or more pieces:

Is your SG capable of making a Worktable so you can consume some of that Salvage into the raw material? (Raw material has a limit of 99 currently).

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I'd think it's gonna be a little while until most SGs can afford workbenches...Power and Control take precedence.

Is 20 the limit for each type of salvage in someone's inventory? And are you saying we can deposit salvage in a worktable in our base? I assume that's the only option to "deposit" salvage somewhere?

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EDIT: I know it's not griefing and it's a valid offensive tactic, but there will be groups that do this strictly for greifing purposes. Even legitimate raids may suffer from the "kick him when he's down" factor.

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This was my point exactly. The high prestige costs for these items is why griefing is even a part of the discussion. I agree that conceptually, it should be possible to permanently destroy base components....but the amount of time it takes to build up enough prestige to repurchase these components is just not conducive to encouraging people to take part in the entire IoP base raid feature if said components can be lost.

I like the idea that Prestige does not scale by level, it does really make every SG member feel like they can contribute something, whether they are level 5 or level 50. I think the solution is just to increase prestige awards across the board...even though you get the same result either way, I prefer increasing the rewards rather than just reducing prestige costs of items.

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This could also border on griefing...you can bet that most raiding parties will fully destroy core items and anything else they can find whenever possible. Rest assured there will be alot of griefing complaints from raids if things can be permanently destroyed.

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Its not griefing. Its a valid tactic in a base raid. Thats the nature of PvP.

The prices for everything to replace items is just far to unreasonable and potentially could set the sg back by MONTHS. No one wants a useless base.

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You're technically correct, but this is 6 of one, half dozen of another. The "griefability" factor arises because of the high prices of everything.

I think a far more equitable and immersive solution is to not make anything permanently destroyable, but NOT autorepair any damaged items...instead, you'd have to repair them by crafting replacement components using salvage.

Picture this, immediately following a raid:

SG Leader: "Nice job defending, everyone! Let's assess the damage. Please check your assigned areas and give me a damage report."
SG Member 1: "Power generator at 30%"
SG Member 2: "Control terminal at 20%"
SG Leader: "Blast! What's the estimated time to repair?"

And so on. It will also be more realistic, in that you just can't immediately go raid someone else to get an IoP back (if you lost it in the raid)...there's some downtime, where you need to repair everything.

During this downtime, you'd lose the bonus from your IoP, which is even more incentive to repair the damage.

Perhaps some of this is already built in to the game, but my main point here is that given the prohibitive cost of core items, their permanent destruction is just too much of a risk for many SGs.

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In early raid testing on COV mainframes went down in 6 hits from a stalker.

Having never seen a placed super computer I can not say how many hit points it has, but if it is anywhere close to 6 hits you can bet that it will be destroyed during a raid...

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This could also border on griefing...you can bet that most raiding parties will fully destroy core items and anything else they can find whenever possible. Rest assured there will be alot of griefing complaints from raids if things can be permanently destroyed.

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Taking down an item in a raid does not automatically mean it is permanently destroyed. There is a base chance that any destroyed item is fully restored at the end of the raid (I don't have the stats in front of me so I can't quote the number). This chance is increased by building Robotic Fabricators and the Flames of Hephaestus. Each adds a percentage to the recovery chance.

And, of course, for in instant raids everything is restored to full at the end of the raid.

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So if something is permanently destroyed, you have to re-purchase it at the same prestige price as the original? If so, this is directly contrary to Positron's statement that there are no "prestige sinks", except for rent.

I disagree with losing any base item permanently because of a raid...rather, you should be able to rebuild/repair it with salvage or some other player-created item. But having to repurchase the core item entirely, at current prestige prices, will really turn alot of people off even wanting to have an IoP.

Could you please clarify what happens if a core item (generator, etc) is destroyed?

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I can't think of a reason why the devs would want to "avoid" having level 50's generate extra prestige. It sounds like a perfect reward for maxing out your character, to me.

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Why would you want anything other than level 50's in your SG then?

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Playing Devil's Advocate then, what are we supposed to do with our Level 50s then? Delete them? What about when they exhaust all their missions from contacts?

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Don't level 50 players also earn prestige?

The problem with scaling prestige based on a player's level is just as Positron said...it rewards the higher-level players for no personal reason. What do I mean? Simply, you gain more XP and Inf per each victory as you grow in level because those must scale, since your XP requirements to level and the cost of enhancements are also scaling higher.

Prestige costs for base components are the same for everyone. They don't scale, it doesn't matter what level you are. Any sort of Prestige scaling based on player level would throw the entire balance out of whack.

Now, I do agree that level 50 players need some sort of specific rewards to keep them active...but bonus prestige isn't it.

Someone's probably said this already, but events like this should not be limited to end of beta. These events are so much fun for the players, and they add a piece of content which, frankly, would put this game on a different plane than other MMO games.

Live dev interaction on both the hero and villain side (I assume the characters and powersets of Lord Recluse and his inner circle have been created internally) like this is something that should be more common...not too common, mind you, but it should be a permanent part of the game that players can really get into. PvE, fun as it is, can get a bit dry at times...and while PvP vs. other players is always an option, nothing can substitute for events where we can fight the epic heroes/villains.

Please give this serious consideration...I think players would gladly risk the chance of incurring debt for these types of events.

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An increase in damage doesn't stop you from being disoriented/slept/held/immobilized. It doesn't stop you from being swamped so long as you can't distribute the damage to the individual targets faster than a certain rate (that given the lessons of the past isn't likely to occur).

I fail to see the fascination with damage in terms of fixing Blasters. Damage wasn't decreased on their part on the road to breaking them, why would damage being upped be the fix?

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I say this because giving blasters any significant defenses would be unbalancing...so I see 2 possibilities:

1. Increase blaster base damage at the higher levels on an accelerated scale (i.e. damage scales much higher per level after a certain level). Again, this follows the best defense=good offense argument.

2. Give blasters some defenses (perhaps embedded in their existing secondary powersets, or perhaps new powers altogether), roughly equivalent to 30-50% of scrapper defenses.

I'm a big fan of making blasters attacks really, really powerful. It makes them more comic-booky/hero-ey. I want to see huge explosions and enemies flying everywhere. Remember that this is coming from someone who doesn't play a blaster...I think you guys deserve much better, and I really hope you get it.

I'm setting the over/under on replies to this thread at 2,500...any takers?

I haven't played a blaster for a long time, but I completely agree that their damage needs to be upped significantly, specifically at the higher levels. Operating under the mantra that the best defense for a blaster is more offense, their lvl 20+ damage should scale much differently per each level than everyone else.

Good luck blasters, I'm rootin' for ya!

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Vyvyanne (now with Uber powers!)

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Wow, I thought I was the only one with that build!

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It would also make catching the mono rail a lot more interesting.

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Monorail
Monorail
Monorail
I hear those things are awfully loud
It glides as softly as a cloud!
Is there a chance the track could bend?
Not on your life, my Hindu friend!
What about us breakneck slobs?
You'll be given cushy jobs!
Were you sent here by the devil?
No good sir, I'm on the level!
The ring came off my pudding can
Take my penknife, my good man!
I swear it's Springfield's only choice
Throw up your hands and raise your voice!
Monoraaaaaail
Monoraaaaaaaaaaail
Monoraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaail!!!
But Main Street's still all cracked and broken!
Sorry Mom, the mob has spoken!
Monoraaaaaail
Monoraaaaaaaaaaaail
Monoraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaail!

(Mono....D'OH!)

Sorry, couldn't resist...plus it's getting awfully nasty around here.

This concludes your Simpsons fix. You may now resume your regularly scheduled PL debate.

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If players are on a mission map, they always receive their full shares. There’s no distance limitation. Teams can split up in maps – players can be separated by elevators – everyone receives their XP.

This system does not affect Mission rewards.

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Thank you for listening.

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Well, what about the DO/SO issue:
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Lightweight-(20 to 24)


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A 20 and a 21 aren't going to stand a chance against a 22, 23, or 24.

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Let me rephrase what I said above, (and maybe Positron can answer this if he's still watching)
Statesman said, "the effectiveness of your Enhancements are capped to the level of effectiveness of that weight classes' Enhancements."
What is a Lightweight's enhancement?
If it's a SO, then yes there's probably an imbalance. If a it's a DO, then there's no problem - a 22 only gets is an edge during PvE.

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Maybe I misread how the weight classes work, but I think if you fight someone in your own weight class, your enhancements/powers are unaffected...that is, not exemplared down. So, if a lvl 22 is fighting a lvl 21, the lvl 22 player would not have his powers/enhancements reduced at all, since they are in the same weight class.

Meaning, the lvl 22, whose enhancements are twice the power of the lvl 21, would have a significant advantage (assuming all other things equal).

Or is this incorrect?

Let me make sure I understand the auto-exemp feature correctly in this example:

There are 50 heroes in the arena, 25 on each side. Each team has 5 heroes from each "weight class"...meaning 5 heroes each for levels 1-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31-40, and 41-50.

I, as a level 45, enters combat and targets a level 25. When I attempt to use a power on that lvl 25 player, it auto-exemps me down to lvl 25 (24?). If, right after I use that power, I hit tab and now am targeting a lvl 35, it again auto-exemps me down to lvl 35. This repeats no matter who I attack...the auto-exemp feature always reduces the effectiveness of my power down to the affected players' level.

Is this correct? If so, that's a nifty bit of programming...

I've searched for this answer, and couldn't find it...I'm dying to do this TF, and I have completed all my Striga contacts (including Lars), but I don't recall where Hess actually is. Pretty sure he's near the Council Base, but could never find him again.

Anyone have a location or screenshot showing where he is? Oh, and I think this is for lvls 25-31, is that correct?

Thanks.

Prediction?

Yes, prediction...

PAIN

*points to sig*

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Go. Hunt. Kill Skuls. May work for a lot of people. But sometimes, you want to be able to Go. Hunt. and then later on, when the mood is right...Kill Skuls. Sometimes Go. Hunt. can ruin the moment when I have to do it right before I am about to Kill Skuls. Personally I dont want my Kill Skuls to be planned, i'd rather it be spontaneous. Can anyone offer a version of Go. Hunt. that works for 36 hours before I have to Kill Skuls?

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The new and improved Go. Hunt. Kill Skuls (available today) gives you the...quality of response...you're looking for.

*Disclaimer* Killing Skuls for more than 4 hours, while rare, requires immediate medical attention.

September 31

What? Why is everyone staring at me?