RemusShepherd

I have one character of each race. I agree, the starter zones are not equal. The human zone is uneven in level progression, although it has the most convenient trade outposts. Norn is the worst; I hate the Norn zones, they're like Skyrim without level scaling. Asura is a little uneven. The Charr is good and there seems to be more to do there, although there's a high level spot in the newbie zone that's instant death (level 16 ghosts next to a waypoint in a level 8 zone!) I like the look of the Sylvari zones best, but it's easy to get lost. I haven't had too much trouble there, but I think that's mostly because my Sylvari is a guardian and very tough to kill.

Also, I think some of my money troubles are due to abusing the fast travel system. I didn't realize it cost money to teleport 100 meters down the road. Probably wasted a lot of coins there.

I'm focused on the storyline, but I am doing all the heart missions I can find. There aren't enough, and they aren't spaced well. One heart is level 9, an adjacent one is level 14.

But tonight I did get my characters up to level 10 and made some progress. Some of them still have hard walls, where the only missions or hearts I can find are 14+. I scraped together enough silvers to get two characters their trait kits. Died a lot in a few events where everyone was zerging.

The trading house was open early in the evening -- it crashed sometime around 8 EST and didn't come back. I sold some stuff but the prices aren't a big improvement over vendors.

Like I said it's a fine game, but it has flaws. Leveling's too slow, content is unevenly distributed, money is way too hard to come by, and combat is twitchy and unfun. All in my opinion, of course.

I play single-player FPS, which I can switch to easy mode if I get stuck.

I agree that the thief gameplay is fun in an arcade kind of way, although she's a little too squishy for my tastes.

Maybe the problem is age? I'm 44 years old, and my reflexes and eyesight aren't what they used to be. I can't make split-second twitches in response to small/faint/quick animation cues anymore. I understand how to dodge in GW2, I just don't have the reflexes to do it competently. If there was a class where dodging was not required that would be okay, but there isn't -- everyone has to have hyped-up twitch reflexes. That's fine for the young and hardcore, but the old and casual players are being driven away.

This has always been a red herring. The game developers balance the NPCs against the strongest PC class. If one class is weak, they have a harder time against the NPCs. Class balance matters, even in a PvE-only game.

Couldn't access it last night, nor at any time last weekend. Maybe the outages are by server? I'm on Ehmry Bay.

I started crafting for two reasons; one, to get upgraded bags, and two, to get some of my characters over the level 8 hump. I got both those things, but I threw away so much money that I can't afford basics anymore.

I can only totally disagree with you there. I mean, it might be intended, but that's a cop-out; the developers are allowing an exploit instead of enabling actual combat strategy. That an exploit is the intended method of play is a sad statement.

We're using different words, here. GW2 is exciting and dynamic, I grant you. But I want *strategic*. The more dynamic and quick combat is, the less strategy is involved. CoH is not strategic enough for my liking, but it has more than GW2. That's not to say either system is bad, they're just for different people.

I've done all the hearts in all areas where the monsters are up to +3 my level. (That's level 11, since most of my characters are stuck at 8.) I've done a little exploration with my mesmer because I thought teleportation would help in jumping puzzles. (It doesn't; they don't allow you to teleport to anywhere you can't jump, which begs the question of what's the point in teleporting?) I've done events when they've appeared near me and it looked like I could contribute. I'm just playing the game, not min/maxing and not dawdling...and I've hit a wall.

At a minimum, I'd expect the storyline quests to provide a smooth leveling path for those who just want to see the story. GW1 did it that way. But no. I'm forced to do heart tasks, craft, and now maybe farm also.

The trait purchase at level 10 is a basic necessity, and I can't afford it. Hopefully I'll be able to access the AH soon and my money woes will be over. I've been able to afford all other basic equipment except on my guardian, who has lots of cooked food but who can't afford a salvage kit.

I'll be playing GW2 at least until next week, when Borderlands 2 comes out and reignites my single-player FPS obsessions. It's what I'm going to play after I tire of BL2 that worries me. I always used to come back to CoH; this time I won't be able to.

I'm not having a hard time of it, I'm just not having a fun time of it. I can go out and farm Moas if I really want to level, but I don't want to do that.

Psychotic misanthrope here; I seldom team. I'll join PUGs for task forces in CoH, and I'll work with people for events in GW2, but I'm not a team kinda guy.

Griefing is rare in GW2 only because it's difficult, but I've seen it happen where ever it's possible. People run up and kill the enemies you've been beating on. (That doesn't lose you any xp, which is good, but sometimes I'm just fighting to test a weapon loadout.) In heart quests where you're supposed to capture an animal alive, people will run up and kill the animal to screw with you.

Then there are the skill tests, some of which trigger the appearance of an aggressive boss-level enemy you're supposed to kill. Griefers wait until a lower level player walks by then they trigger the boss ambush, who lays waste to everyone around him while the griefer escapes. I'm surprised Arenanet overlooked these; I'm hopeful they'll be fixed to aggro only on the triggering player.

You're right, the gear you craft is good to use. The problem is that it's useless to sell and a ridiculous money sink that ruins immersion.

To make an earring -- the easiest jewelry to create in the game -- requires a gemstone and 8 copper ores. Every ore sells for 2cp, but you have to buy a tool to dig them out so that it costs you about 1cp just to dig out each ore. So you're putting in about 24cp (and about 80 pounds!) of copper plus a gemstone, to make a single earring that will sell for around 10cp.

I don't blame the Tyrians for valuing earrings at 1/3rd their material costs -- who would want to buy or wear an 80 pound earring anyway? Other craft skills are worse. Cooking is insane. The game is just plain stingy.

I have an Elementalist, Guardian, Engineer, Mesmer, and Thief, all from 8-11th level. I'm getting most of my information about class balance from the forums; it's universally acknowledged that in PvE, Warriors rule, Eles and Necros drool, the rest fall in between. There's a different unbalanced ranking in PvP.

(The Necro is another rant. I love pet classes. I loved, LOVED my GW1 necromancer. But I check out the guides for GW2 and they all say pet AI is so terrible that minion strategies are unplayable. Necros are all using condition builds. I wept, then decided not to play a pet class.)

I can't access the AH; it's a blank screen every time I try. They've had a lot of downtime.

I'm okay with low-level equipment, but my characters are either underleveled or dirt poor. My mesmer is level 8, unable to do his next storyline quest at level 11, and he's completed all the hearts in his area. My engineer got to level 11 by crafting bags and armor for all my other characters; although he got xp from crafting, because of the money he lost he cannot afford his level 11 traits. Let's not talk about my poor guardian, who I chose to explore cooking.

Sorry, I got the levels wrong. I can't afford the level 10 trait book. (It's 11, actually, as far as I can tell.) I have no confidence that I'll be able to afford the others, unless I studiously avoid crafting or find and sell a lucky drop. Maybe things will get better for me once the AH decides to work again.

Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad game as these games go. It's just not very good for casual players.

Casual players *want* games with clear roles, so they can jump in and have fun. Every character I have in GW2 must be able to tank, heal, *and* deal damage, and I'm sick of figuring out how to do those best, or even if it's possible to do them well enough to matter. The forums agree that the best strategies available are kiting and zerging. That's a sign that the game design has failed; kiting is exploiting AI, while zerging is exploiting a death recovery system.

I also don't want to pinch every penny in order to buy things that are basic and necessary. And casual players want a game with smooth leveling all the way through -- you say GW2 has no ramp, but most of my characters have hit a hard wall at level 8.

I've played about 40 hours so far, spread between 5 characters. That might not seem like a lot to you, but it's a lot for me. In that amount of time I could easily have all those characters over level 20 in CoH, and probably close to 20 (max level) in GW1.

It's a fine game, it's just not meant for casual players and so probably not for me. (In contrast, CO *is* meant for casual players but is not for me because it's not a good game. )

There's nothing wrong with brainstorming as long as you bounce the ideas off of other people *before* you put them into action.

So I'm hearing this was a bad idea. Oh, well, not a problem. I'll just keep thinking, and I hope everyone else does as well.

Well, flipping out and killing **** is how some legends are made.

It was NOT useless. It IS not useless.

You created stories, you made myths. Even if no one outside of your circle hears them, those myths color your lives. Be proud, because you kindled that light that shines inside of you.

That's true for all of us on City of Heroes. I didn't play this game to get shinies. I was here to create legends, and I will carry those legends with me until my dying day.

Oh, yeah, and I'm totally a furry. My previous avatar was Krypto, some might recall.

Again, I am not a lawyer, but I see two holes in that clause. One, it is a sweeping rights grab that has never been tested. It is basically saying that if you were a blogger, the blogging service owns everything you write. If pushed hard enough in court I don't think that clause would stand up. The second hole is the word 'delete' -- it isn't in there. I suppose that 'all rights of any kind or nature' probably encompasses the right to erase your IP, but it's another point of argument.

I am wondering if a court order could be obtained preventing the shutdown of the City of Heroes servers on the ground that they contain intellectual property owned by the players, and NCSoft does not have the right to destroy that property.

This argument would not work with any other MMO; I don't know of any MMO that allows creation of anything like the detailed Architect missions. The closest one I can think of is Second Life, which explicitly grants full IP to its users for everything they create. (Shutting Second Life down would create a Zombie Lawyer Apocalypse, I'm sure.)

I'm just bored at work and brainstorming, but I thought I'd bring this possibility up in case someone with a legal background hasn't though of it yet.

CO is less complicated than it was at launch, but it's still needlessly complex.

I'm a character builder -- most of the joy of these games, to me, comes in designing a unique character and seeing it develop to its ultimate potential. I've made two characters that I deleted at level 6, and two more that I've continued with (a level 10 Mind and a level 8 Glacier). I've also been researching the freeform method, thinking that I might buy one of those slots. As far as I can tell so far, the CO character system is loaded with cruft and unnecessary complications while the game itself is childishly arcade-like.

You pick one to three Super Stats (SS), but you have to keep some of your other stats up, because they affect your combat and recovery. Some of the powers you choose are linked to stats so those stats must be kept high. You select powers, preferably aligned with your SS. Then you select training, specialization, and equipment; all of which just adds to your stats, and you're almost always going to want it to add to your SS.

After doing all of that, you mash one button until you get enough energy to mash your spike damage power. Repeat. Sometimes, you must block.

Champions Online has a character system that is much more complex than CoX, for gameplay that is barely one step above Donkey Kong.

Maybe gameplay changes at high level; my Mind is specced as a healer, but she can't get a healing power before level 11. Similarly, 'tanks' are useless as tanks until they get access to roles (which I believe is level 20?). I suspect that the core gameplay of CO characters does not exist until higher level. In the early levels all characters play and act the same. Even in the high levels, all characters can assume any role and are self-sufficient, so team-based tactics appears to be completely absent.

The complexity of that character building appeals to me, but I want choices that matter and I need gameplay to require some strategy. In a multi-player game I want team play to require some tactical choices. I raged about the incarnate system in CoX because it removed team tactics and character roles; CO doesn't have them at all, from level 1 up.

I don't think CO is for me. But it's an interesting system that might appeal to character crafters who exclusively solo.

The artistic design is another discussion. Let's just say that ADHD poodles should not be given access to 3D design tools. I could overlook the look, however, if the game underneath appealed to me.

Are you sure? A week ago, I think we both would have said that CoH would still be running in a year.

I made an obviously flippant remark and punctuated it with a smiley. Come on, don't take it so seriously. I meant no disrespect to players or Elder Gods. I've stopped trying to introduce levity into this discussion, please forgive my earlier attempts.

But you do bring up one interesting point.

Have you considered the possibility that you only see long-time players who agree with the system because all the others left? An observation made with extreme sampling bias is no datum at all.

I understand the system, I just don't agree with how it is set up. I subscribed because I liked the game and I wanted to reward the developers. If I unsubscribe because I no longer enjoy the game, why would I continue playing?

I'm sure the concept of playing for free works for some psychologies, but not for me. I have money, I don't mind spending it. My time is much more valuable and I'm much stingier with that.

You've posted that three times, yet it isn't anything anyone's suggesting. My only concrete suggestion was to *increase* the number of powersets that need to be paid for.

If anything, making all the powersets for-pay, while giving VIPs the equivalent PP, would be revenue-neutral. It would just allow VIPs to skip paying for powersets they don't want, and apply those points to something they do.

I'm done with this discussion, but let's not end it with ridiculous strawmen in bold and underline. If you need to misrepresent reality to make your point then you're not doing your own side any favors.

Yes. Obviously. Believe me, I have heard the entire thread screaming at me to unsubscribe. (The apparent fact that I have no friends left in this game, or on these forums, is a separate discussion.)

The *point* is that the system should be set up to encourage everyone to become a subscriber and then remain subscribed. That *is* the goal, isn't it?

That is not happening. Maybe only a minority is being lost this way, but they are being lost.

I want this game to survive and do well, and I want to enjoy playing it. Those are two separate desires, but they are not incompatible. I'm not enjoying it much and do not feel valued as a VIP. They could change that by making VIP status better, and I feel that would also help the game survive.

But if they feel that indulging fringe casual players like myself would break their bank, then obviously they shouldn't do it. And then obviously I should go.

Whether that slow bleed of disaffected VIPs spells dooom or not is something we'll just have to wait and see. I think the bleed and the doooom can be easily avoided, and that's why I'm speaking up.

This isn't about *me*. This is about a system that isn't doing what it was intended to do -- maximize subscribers. There's a leak in the system, and I was offering suggestions to plug it.

What happens to me...well, obviously nobody here cares, and nobody in Paragon Studio cares, and I'm losing the ability to care also, so it's just not important.

No.

My argument is, "I used to love this game, and I subscribed for seven years because of it. I want to continue subscribing, but I feel I am no longer getting my money's worth. Please make the game better, or at least give me the same rewards as those players who have not been so loyal."

This is my semi-annual rant in an attempt to change the direction the game is taking. That's all. I want to help them improve, so I'm giving feedback about how I feel I'm being treated as a subscriber.

I have no indication that anyone listens, but a man's gotta try. Especially when I've sunk my heart into a game for so long -- it would be wrong to walk away without at least trying to explain why and under what conditions I would have stayed.

Try to keep up, Nethergoat. For the same amount of money, Premium players get 13560 points compared to VIPs 6600 points per year. Premium effectively pays 50% of what VIPs do for things available on the store.

What balances VIP is the stuff that isn't available on the store -- incarnates, bases, some other things I don't use and have forgotten. But if the VIP is not interested in that free stuff, they are getting screwed compared to Premium players. We've already established that earlier in the thread.

Well, I spoke up on a thread that someone else started about how they do not feel VIPs are getting a good deal. I'm willing to believe that only a small minority of players feel as I do. But I know I'm not completely alone.