Rubberlad

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A PvE only game runs the risk of growing stale. Players will always be able to burn through content at a rate many times faster than a development team can create, and this creates situations of player burnout and constant cries for 'new content!' A great example: A WoW developer said at one point that it would take players as long to go from level 60 to level 70 as it took to get from level 1 to 60. And yet, within 48 hours of the expansion going live, there was already a level 70 player. While it is certain that he did not experience all of the content of that expansion pack in that time, it should be apparent that the rate of consumption is far greater than can be met by a development team working with realistic resources and budgets.

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Amen.

That industry-critical observation alone is worth a promotion and a speaking engagement.

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Other than that, I hope everyone enjoys the article. I had a lot of fun writing it.

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Definitely. Extremely informative and I appreciate the logic behind the changes. I'm certainly more eager than before to experience the new Hamidon - that's for sure.

More like this in future, please.

Thanks!

*thumbs up*

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Player A1 puts up a Level 12 TO for 5,000,000 inf.

Player B1 puts up the same Level 12 TO for 1,000 inf.

Player A2 (trying to transfer funds) offers to buy that level 12 TO for 5,000,000 inf.

Since player B1 wants less, and is obviously trying to move his items faster, his "for sale" is processed first, so he ends up with 5,000,000 inf (minus fees).

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And the question all enquiring minds want answered:

Does this cross-server transaction potentially make way for cross-server character swaps?

BTW - thank you for asking for post-event feedback. It's appreciated!

Three things:

1) Entirely New Map for Snaptooth (maybe some Roman ruins?)
2) Provide an alternative means by which Heroes or Villains can fight Snaptooth for lack of a supporting teammate from "the other side"

I entered the event about a week late and it was next to near impossible on a week night to find someone willing/able to help finish the joint hero/villain mission (most folks had already finished within the first three nights of release). I had better luck finding someone on the weekend but still took a bit of time.

And....

3) For those who "earned" DJ Zero the first (and now second) year, can we keep him as a contact when this event goes up next year? Still scratching my head wondering why I had to run it again when I'd already earned him as a contact.


Otherwise, definitely a lot of fun.

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I am listening to your ideas, but a Flashback system is simply not something we can implement in a timeframe you would all be happy with.

Instead we are looking into other options to get you the Pool B choice so level 50s don't feel gimped.

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Can badges be a help here? Assuming most story arcs have some kind of badge reward (not all to be sure), if a player has the qualifying badge, can there be a npc toon in the auction houses that will "reward" the recipes as a result?

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And it's easy to feel jilted when things don't come along as quickly or robustly as you'd like.

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It's definitely not about that. I've been a fair proponent of players having patience with the Devs in taking their time to get a good product out there. My concern is purely ethical with regard to not keeping the client base informed and getting a better PR model - but as you point out, the EULA makes this concern completely irrelevant: the Devs aren't obligated to tell their customers anything.

And so we move on.

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Don't let the 'online equity' of your game account and character salvage inventories fool you.

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Trust me, I don't. But that's a fair distinction between "customer" and "investor." Worth further research - thank you.

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But, as far as what Cryptic owes you: beyond your immediate satisfaction and reasonable uninterrupted server access according to the terms in the EULA, they owe you (and me and every other player here) nothing. Again, this is just the way the world--the real day to day world--works.

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Understood - time to go back and read the EULA again before I make any hasty decisions. Thanks again.

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But my point is this: we're going to keep getting content at a rate of 2-3 issues per year for several years to come.

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With all due respect:

1) You're speculating.
2) I hope you're right, but hope doesn't prove facts - in this closed environment, only the Devs can do that.


Without baiting the Devs to respond, a public acknowledgment of what's happening next would help. Positron got off to a great start, he's made it clear that there's faith in the overall COX product, but hasn't really delved into specifics. We've all argued this before and we'll argue this again - it really does help to know what requests have been shelved (whether indefinitely or held over for MUO, I honestly don't care). It's ok (but a tad tiresome) to get all the bad news in these associated PR articles that announce how priorities changed but never hear it straight from the Horse's mouth.

Talk to us - that's all there is to it.


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BUT, once you've gotten this far into any major project, given a chance to start it over from the ground level with an experienced and integrated team, more manpower and a higher budget, you have a lot of opportunities to really capitalize on any major mistakes and misteps you made on your first go round. So don't take it personally. This is just how the world works.

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Again, with all due respect, nobody's paying a monthly service fee for *any* MMO game just to help the Developers realize they've made some mistakes and should start from scratch. That's the equivalent to a sideshow attraction quitting town when the jig's up and starting anew in the next town over, and cater the new improved "shell game" to a new bunch of unsuspecting suckers.

Personally, I don't think Cryptic Studios is running any kind of con game. I just think they really shoot themselves in the foot sometimes with very poor PR. If poor assumptions come of long silences and bad press interviews like this one, they've really got no one else to blame but themselves.

And I say that knowing I've rooted for this game for a *long* time and just today, upon seeing the last paragraph of this interview, I feel stupid for having blind faith.

That's why I'm angry and utterly disappointed - both as a long-time fan of COX and as an everyday retail customer. Sure, my wallet can't compare to the investment dollars of Microsoft and Marvel Enterprises, but what everyday, working hard joe wants to be reminded that they're low man on the "client priority" totem pole? Especially when its by their favorite MMO game of all things?

Whatever else I've done as a casual, faithful player/small-time investor of COX, I didn't deserve this particular interview's bottom line smack in the face as a thank you.

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"City of Heroes was very tightly focused on moment to moment combat," Rogers says. "The Marvel game will have more big components to it. It's going to be all the stuff we wanted to put into City of Heroes, and you'll get to run around in Marvel costumes. We've got more money now and more people. We'll add more depth. We want to take it to the next level."

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Thats a bit disheartening for CoH players. We're the reason Cryptic has more money. The quote makes it sounds like the plan is, put all the awesome ideas we wanted to have in the old game into the new game.

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I whole-heartedly agree 100%. Given how many consistent bugs there've been and how much slow turnaround there's been for new content in COX, reading this comment in the last paragraph just sounds like an absolute to the dedicated player - never mind what that "working hard" pic suggests. Geez, wish I could put my feet up on the desk at work!

Essentially what this says to me is that I've been strung along for three years with the promises of new content which will never actually see the light of day in COX but MUO?

If that's the case, what are you guys working on in COX that keeps you so busy that you can't give content updates? And why am I paying for COX? I should just cancel my COX account now and wait for MUO to show up two years down the road right?

Seriously? As a dedicated player, could you kick me in the teeth any harder?

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Have you written, or thought about writing, a Game Play Guide? If so, now is the time to revisit it and spiff it up! Or, get writing and put your game play wisdom down in black and white!

One of the initiatives the Community Team will be tackling is to update the many guide posts on our forums. These guides are an excellent resource for our community and we want to keep them current and up to date.

So, make it your new year's resolution! Forget the gym and write or update your guide today!

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Huh?

Let me repeat... Huh?


Who is this "Community Team"? And how is it *you* are going to update *our* guides? Are you going to correct them, change them, update them yourselves?

Or... just hound us to do it?

NCSoft/Cryptic can't even put out a competent game manual. As much as we (mostly I) begged for you to put the text up on the web ahead of time so we can proofread and correct it. You didn't. What comes in the game box is incomplete and often wrong. Your game manuals are a 3 on a scale of 10.

Other information, like how demorecord works, how macros/binds are parsed, the hard numbers of powers... you won't release. At least not at once and comprehensively. We have to hound the devs in PMs for information you should have made available all along. It was the hard work of players who figured most of this out and published it.

Now that Statesman is no longer micromanaging things (and completely reversed his philosophy of keeping us in the dark with the numbers by taking a paycheck to put together Prima's I7 guide), the devs are more forthcoming with real numbers and info... but it's not enough.

Because NCSoft gives us so little resources on their own game websites, it is the players who've put together the best sources of information on the game. I go to vidiotmaps, badge-hound, nofuture, paragonwiki for information on the game. NCSoft's CoH and CoV website is a joke for information. Let's take an example: On the CoH website was an attempt to list all the emotes for us. Compare that to what Mantid did. Mantid gets a 9. NCSoft employee gets a 3.


If you really, really are serious about organizing guides and information, Lighthouse. Then NCSoft needs to have their own version of Paragonwiki that will serve as the online game manual. And you need to get the Cryptic people to look over the info and correct it and fill in the blanks so we know it's the real deal and not a player's best guess.


Otherwise, just organize the Guide to Guides for us and let it go.

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Sheesh man..youre gonna get an ulcer...

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Agreed. I don't think Lighthouse deserves that much vitriol (especially as the new kid on the block) - much as he, and we, can sympathize with your long-standing concerns.

That said, being able to edit age-old posts is a nice moderation fix but it's a danger to put in place universally for every forum section. If there's a way to have just *this* section allow all guide posters open-ended editing permissions to update, then by all means.

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Hey guys, our plan is to get you new Issues three times a year. Issue 7 was bigger than originally planned (Mayhem Missions got thrown into the issue at the last possible second) and that, coupled with other delays, screwed up the schedule for 2006, thus only 2 free content expansions on the Live servers this year.

2007 has three Issues planned for it, one near Q1/Q2, one for the summer, and one for the end of the year. I can't give more exact dates than that because everything is subject to change.

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That's awesome - I'm very happy with this arrangment. I8 definitely shows the TLC that you guys have for your product, and so do we.

We love it - thank you so much!

I voted for the mobs. The storylines are good when I'm working through my own toons - but most times I'm getting bits and pieces by teaming with other folks. I get a better impression of the game by the foes I fight. I want more foes though - not less or status quo. And that's what got my vote.

I want more foes.

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Admittedly, there's not quite the same amount of textures, colors, etc., but there's still a lot of versatility. And the layout possibilities are endless.

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And they're hidden away, effectively in their own dimension. Other people can see my costume and go 'wow' simply by my flying past. To see my base, they have to be in a coalition with me, or on my team while we go there (and for that to happen, we need to have a reason for them to go, other than me saying 'come check out the base'). They can't simply happen across it and go 'wow!'

When something has substantial show value, you have to be able to show it off!

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Agreed. Our SG has nine coalition links but we rarely ever journey into those other bases. No point other than to see what they're up to - and most times bases are empty because players are elsewhere in the game.

That said, they're supposed to be "secret" so not sure how you can make them visible without upsetting the roleplaying aspect. Hate to say it, but player apartments probably would have been more valued than community space inside a base - because we already have community space in the public zones.

Very much looking forward to the future of COH/COV and the new Marvel MMO. Thanks to Positron, Statesman and all the good folks behind the scenes (past and present) who've made it all possible.

Glad to see a bright horizon for the game's future.

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Everyone is dead on about bases not being anything special for most players.

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...which s why one of the selling points I see in most SG recruiting broadcasts is "working base"?

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I often suspect the reason for that is the SG in question doesn't have much else going for it

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But to have a functional base would require having active members...

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Oh sure, *now* you're open to talking about the functionality of base items beyond roleplay?
There is a God.



Seriously though, there are tons of SG's with plenty of members that don't even *have* a base.

Why?

Gaining enough prestige is one issue, having the vision to build a base is another (gurl, you can't even clean your room, how you gonna build one in-game??). Not everyone wants to play to that lvl of detail, and some folks are extremely possessive that they're the only ones allowed to decide that lvl of detail in the SG. The first immediate fix here is having several pre-established "show rooms" packages folks can preview/buy/rearrange for a "quick base" fix in addition to the manual option of building completely from scratch (yes, call me a hypocrite, I'm talking The Sims again).


Salvage components are great but they do nothing for the game outside of the base - which is why most folks don't pay attention to salvage (or think twice to give it to the person who CAN use it to build something).

The base (unlike player apartments) needs to be "operative" for resolving *MYSTERIES* elsewhere in the game - which is why I used the Bat Cave example a few pages back. If I know I can set up a crime lab/computer to piece together various clues collected in missions to open up a hidden contact/mission/TF, sweet! But don't do it as a qualification (ie 5 badges get you an accolade, 5 clues get you a mission contact), put some interactive puzzles into the game for players. Take it to a new level - a non-combat level. 5 clues should enable an interactive puzzle, player solves it, and opens up a hidden contact/mish.

Another way to ensure a more "community" type base atmosphere, require certain puzzles to have clues retrieved simultaneously by more than one player! Want access to that secret Underwater City TF for the SG? Get 3-4 people to chase down certain clues then plug in together to the Base supercomputer and get the coordinates or "TP'ed" to the secret mission site! That's functionality beyond decorative purposes - and we can all roleplay being detectives to our hearts content.

Bases aren't functional - but they should be. And without question, the art is very pretty to look at. As for player apartments, as long as their *within* a base and can accomodate personal design touches, then they'll be *very popular*. Maybe there is something to earning collectable "trophies" that you can display/store in your room and later sell for cash. The more trophies in your apartment, the better your end-game power buff values (if/whenever that sees the light of day).

And I also agree to an earlier post: get rid of the portal columns and put those secret bases around buildings in the actual zones. The programming might be hellacious at first but the gratification for players zooming around the zones to reach their secret lair would be immeasurable from a roleplaying experience.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to hit the base and roleplay that I've become a chair.
Yes folks, I'm that cushy!

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Rather than having to leap around and position myself, yes, that will help my RP. But that's not -all- I want to log in and do, and if you truly believe that's the case, you're tragically ignorant or just plain narrow-minded. I get the impression you're one of the heavily anti-RPer types from the posts you've made on the topic of such "RP toys"... All I can say is get the frell over it.

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Let's take this argument offline to PM's - it's wasting chat space and nobody is interested in reading it.
This thread doesn't need to be derailed with our bickering.

Sorry folks.

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What it comes down to is the definition of "interactive". Just being able to click a chair to sit in it (as you can in WoW) would be a wonderful thing for a lot of us. Most RPers, I assure you. You, on the other hand, seem to only be interested in functional interactiveness.

Now, I haven't said they should ignore functional to add the RP toys. Just don't ignore the RP toys simply because they're not functional...that's what you seem to be gunning for and that is what I say is selfish.

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So what you're saying is: you want to sit down in a chair, log into COH, buy an in-game chair, and watch your superhero sit down in it?


... and this helps your roleplay? Ok then. Suit yourself. I'm easy.

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You've just confirmed exactly what I was talking about.. Your play style doesn't seem to have room for non-fucntional interactive items (Read: DECORATIVE! Duh.)

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Ok, so tirade aside what this comes down to is:

You want decorative items.
I want decorative items that are also interactive.
Why can't they be both? I'll interact, and you just look at it.

It's a win/win and I think we're agreed (and btw, I roleplay on Victory).




Oh, and here's your shield. Needs more polish.

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Gee, and here I though the "point of the game" was to have fun... I don't see how interactable items makes the game into The Sims, anyway. That statement was just sweepingly closed-minded, really.

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Was it?

Sure, the point of *any* game is to have fun, but each game has its own rules, signature style, method of play and focus.

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Your mistake is trying to apply -YOUR- play style to everyone. There are RPers. A lot of them. Interactive items would be a huge boon to them. Just because -YOU- play the game as a utility-function only action game doesn't mean everyone should nor does it mean any feature that doesn't fall into that style should be ignored by the devs.

This is, after all, an MMO***RP***G. You don't -have- to RP, but RP is part of the game for those who chose to do so.

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Excuse me? I'd love more interactive items in the game. I wasn't thinking of them as being purely decorative though (read further down to my "Bat Cave" example in that same post).

Trust me, I wasn't projecting *my* personal gameplay style on others. Mine doesn't exclude more "interactive" items - I just want to see them do more than appear decorative. I'm not paying $14.95/month to play the superhero version of The Sims - THAT'S MY POINT.

Please don't second-guess "my" play style - talk about rude.

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...At the end of the day, why would the Devs want players to spend all their time in their personal apartments when they should be motivated to head outside and explore the zones?

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Not all their time ... but there comes a point in time in an MMO where enough of the playerbase is tired of re-rolling alts and experiencing the same content over and over and over again. Kudos for you if you aren't among this portion of the community, but it exists and is quite large ... for now.

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I agree with you actually. However I know plenty of SG mates who never got their first toon ever past lvl 30 or fell just short of their first lvl 50 toon, and they all gave up trying because of "the grind" and skipped out on higher level content to “re-roll” some alts (which gave them a faster, more gratifying pay-off for playing and seeing new powers at work). It’s *these* types of folks I was thinking of - and they *are* a large part of the player base.

Which leads to….

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In my view, there is insufficient incentive to keep these folks from jumping ship to other games where fluff like personal housing can be fun and a diversion to the same ole same ole.

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True, and that's why I'm saying folks *could* just as well jump to The Sims and play to their heart’s content w/o a monthly subscriber’s fee.

Hey, don’t get me wrong, if the Devs can make money just by letting folks buy into an mmorpg for whole hours a day just to build apartments and never see the game itself, then they’re fools not to go for it. Easy money!

That said, Statesman has made it clear in his interview that he wants folks to experience the content - particularly regarding hero/villain conversions. What he doesn’t consider is that a large ratio of the current community has already *played* the content which makes his concern a moot point.

If it were me? I’d say make player apartments AND hero/villain conversions an unlockable benefit AFTER each account has a toon that hits lvl 50. The first time round establishes the community base content which creates the opportunity for players to use future alts to explore new content and gaming incentives (ie Kheldians, player apartments and hero/villain conversions) *and* justifies public storage for alts to access later (which can only happen with hard-earned base upgrades).

Again, if the idea is to keep people playing *and* to make money, then the Devs need to dangle more carrots before the horses after they've run their first lap. The first go-round to 50 is fun (except for the grind) but the incentives should be used to encourage the cyclical nature of the game's "replay value" - right now, it's not as strong as it could be.


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...If a request for player apartments outweighs the priority of new zone material, then there's a problem with players feeling *motivated* to go explore the outside world.

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The absence of any "new zone material" and a flashback system in this game demonstrates the fallacy in your argument.

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Again, was thinking of this for players going the first time round who give up before ever hitting lvl 30, 40 or 50. The Grind kills the “casual player’s” motivation to keep playing. Hardcore gamers thrive on WoW *because* it’s a grind – and they’re the type of players that are determined to “beat the house” at all odds, no matter how much time it takes.

Besides, a flashback system says you're not gonna play again. I can see its value for times when players inadvertently "outlevel" content, but hey, go play an alt and see what you missed. More encouragement for "replay value" and "replay value" is what the Devs need to improve upon if they want to see the quarterly subscription numbers improve.

Replay value will also improve the longevity of time-sink values because there's always something new for players to discover in the game *after* hitting lvl 50. First things first though, ease "the xp grind" from lvls 30-50 (cause its really offputting to the casual mmorpg player). To be honest, it's not so bad on the COV side, but for COH? It's *awful.*

Ok, so player apartments are supposed to serve what need exactly: having an in-game "MySpace" 3D account?

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It would be a nice compromise since player apartments were scrapped.

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They've been scrapped?

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Yes, Positron mentioned it in a previous interview. He wanted to put the time/energy/resources into other aspects for improving the game.

And in a lot of ways, he's right. This is what I meant by the game losing itself to aspects of The Sims. At some point it stops becoming a community environment and starts becoming a solo game. To reserve a personal room inside the base is still very much asking for a "player's apartment."

At the end of the day, why would the Devs want players to spend all their time in their personal apartments when they should be motivated to head outside and explore the zones?

If a request for player apartments outweighs the priority of new zone material, then there's a problem with players feeling *motivated* to go explore the outside world.

Again, just my two cents, and I'm sure I'm totally wrong.

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All this interview did was further confirm that Statesman isn't the least bit technically inclined like Castle, Positron, or Geko are ... and so he was "bumped upstairs" where he "doesn't have time" to Micro-Manage and studiously datamine the Game & forums like he used to.

...

But no... Posi's the Rewards/Badge guy and they're just "done" with base stats now? Wheres their numbers to support that claim?

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Ok, at risk of the pot calling the kettle black, you're accusing Statesman of micromanaging on the inside, but then you're micromanaging from the outside...?

Wait: did I just defend Statesman? Nurse, a glass of water please! I feel faint!

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Gee, and here I though the "point of the game" was to have fun... I don't see how interactable items makes the game into The Sims, anyway. That statement was just sweepingly closed-minded, really.

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Was it?

Sure, the point of *any* game is to have fun, but each game has its own rules, signature style, method of play and focus. If there was a way to interact with base features a la the Bat Cave and piece together clues found on various missions to open up a new TF, then sure I'm all for that but it'd have to be an interactive walk-up puzzle a la Shivers that can challenge the player on a different level of gameplay and still feel rewarded. Right now, the SG computer and teleporters are the only reason to go into the base, and the SG computer really shouldn't be one-click interactive like just another contact. The new storage units are great functionally speaking but still an absolute no-brainer.

I'm not going down to the base though to watch my heroes make out on the sofa a la The Sims though (fun as that would be to watch).

Plus I'd rather have the Devs work on other priorities than making an interactive chair to sit on. Make it worthwhile to have *a reason* to sit in the chair, then I'm all for it.