Scarlet Shocker

Originally Posted by Zombie Man

Thanks for proving you don't know what you're talking about.

Originally Posted by TonyV

I remember saying when Going Rogue was first announced that my prediction for release was mid-June 2010, based on how long recent issues were taking, the year lead time between announcement and release of City of Villains, the opinion that they weren't really that far into its development, and the industry's tendency to barely meet or push back releases.

I got called some names and told that there was no way that they would wait that long before release. Some people were even predicting November 2009. Most people were predicting January - February 2010, and I knew that was shooting way too soon.

Am I still sticking with June 2010? Yeah, I really think that sounds about right to me. If it comes earlier, great; that's one thing I wouldn't mind being wrong about. If it comes later, I doubt that my level of discontent will compare to the yelling and screaming going on otherwise around here.

So pegging June 2010 for release, I suspect that the beta will either start very late in the first quarter (like the dwindling days of March) or be pushed back to first part or middle of Q2. Yes, I know that's long for a beta, but I also know that this is bigger than an issue release (ten to twelve weeks instead of four to six weeks), and the beta for City of Villains was quite long. As for news about it, that will start trickling out a la the letters and posts from Ghost Widow pre-CoV late next month or beginning of March.

To be honest, I wouldn't hold my breath for any news until next month. Like everything else, though, I guess we'll see when we see.

Originally Posted by Ironblade

Boring.
When I was working on the O-badges, I decided to complete my collection of souvenirs at the same time and, whenever possible, used arcs for the challenge badges that my badger had not done previously.

Also, in the pursuit of maximum efficiency, I tried *ONCE* to earn every challenge badge for a level range at the same time. Enemies buffed, player debuffed, no enhancements, no inspirations, no temp powers, no travel powers. Not fun.

Originally Posted by Blue Rabbit

For that particular level range Scarlett me boyo, I recommend you do Levantera's arc "The Strange Case of Benjamin A. Decker (35-50)": it's short, it's sweet and it wins. It's the one I used for every Ouroboring badge in the 45-50 range.

Also, and to minimize on reruns, here's the combos I used regarding restrictions:
- no travel powers/no enhancements
- no temp powers with constant debuff
- no pool powers with enemies buffed (and whilst under level 40 no insps too)
- no epic powers with enemies buffed (above level 40)
- and finally just no pool powers for above level 40 (Cut-Off and Marginalized badges).

Originally Posted by enderbean

Mkae sure you aren't trying to earn it on a badge flashback mission. It needs to be a story arc. If you are doing a story arc, that particular arc may be bugged. Try a different one and if still no badge, I would contact support and file a bug.

Originally Posted by MrYukon

What gets me is the devs talking about all the new hiring that was going on when NCsoft took over and yet issue to issue the waiting has gotten longer and longer. From acouple of months to half a year per. Maybe it's just me , I dunno

Originally Posted by Zombie Man

In your opinion. I don't see it that way, so don't say it as if it were fact.


There was a 222 day wait for Issue 7. If Going Rogue comes out in the second quarter on the anniversary of CoH (a likely target date), then it will have been a 225 day wait, just three days longer than the previous longest wait time.

If GR would happen to come out the very first day of the second quarter, it will only have been a 198 day wait.

Originally Posted by cursedsorcerer

Just see my sig. Tired of repeating myself.

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow

Was about to say the same thing. I'm pretty sure there was talk of an I17 before Going Rogue.

Originally Posted by Razoras

Don't forget who you're trying to have a conversation with, Tow. Scarlet is the one who suspects that free server transfers are part of a hidden, insidious plot by the corporate overlords behind the scenes.

Originally Posted by Vega

That saying had pretty much died around here until the board merger. I would like to see it die again, but you say it every chance that you get.

You don't like red side, fine. But every Villain related thread does not need "the devs hate villains "

That saying is like herpes, it spreads.

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow

They're also not all remakes of the same game... Just about. There's no point in having multiple games if they'll all be just different skins over the same thing. I don't want EQ in tights and I don't want WoW in tights, which is why I don't play Champions Online despite multiple tries for completely free. You compare to FPS games, but even then, not every game is Quake 3 Arena. Some shooters are a bunnyhopping mess, with Unreal leading the pack these days. Some shooters are atmospheric and imersive, like the decent titles in the F.E.A.R. series, while others are action-packed and scenic, like the Half-Life series. Some shooters are even team-centric, like the Battlefield series, while still others employ RPG elements and problem-solving puzzles, like the Deus Ex games. Some aren't even shooters, like the Thief series, or even the flop that was Mirror's Edge.

If I want to curb-stomp powerful enemies with my mad skills, I don't look to Mirror's Edge, because there I'm a wimp. If I want tactical, strategic gameplay with an emphasis on team dynamics, I probably won't go for Quake 3 Arena. And if I wanted the classic EQ experience, I wouldn't be playing City of Heroes. In order for a game to have a point, it needs to do something I can't get from other, better games, and a large part of what City of Heroes does right is paint me as the hero. Despite all the "City of Pedestrians" threads over the years, this is the one MMO where I can jump into a fight face-first and still come out victorious, and the only one where I can look the big bad square in the eye, slap my *** and get into it with confidence and bravado. This is what the game is, and this is why I play it. Other games offer the other spectrum of the MMO experience, but I don't spend my days lamenting why we can't be more like them. Because I don't WANT them.



That's not necessarily true as an assertion. I'm not sure if this was intentional when the game was originally designed, but I'm pretty much certain that it's intentionally being kept in now - the game is very much easily suited to a single AT to solo all the way from 1 to 50 without ever getting on a team even once. I know, because I've done exactly this. Furthermore, the notion that the "end game" is unsoloable is far from unrealistic. Only the mandatory team content is unsoloable, but that's hardly all there is to the end game. If your idea of final objective is to do raids and hard Task Forces, then that's there for you to do. Mine isn't. Mine is wrapping up my own business by myself, on my own time, by my own devices. And I can. I have, in fact, yet to see a piece of content that I can take while solo which I have not been able to complete, or at the very least get through, without asking for help. Some things are harder than others, certainly, but I've been consistently soloing these seemingly impossible things, and if I ever face any problems, the tools are there to "cheat" anyway.

The one big thing is that this is, admittedly, not guaranteed to be true for all ATs. Some have an easy time, some have a hard time, some might even be argued to be impossible or at the very least ridiculously impractical. But the option is there for those who wish to avoid teaming, and all one has to do is avoid the ATs that aren't build to go by themselves. Or improvise, either seems to work. The point is that the belief that everything can be soloed, up to and including the end game, is based not just in solid fact, but actually in direct experience of people having done it already. I've done it already. Is it unreasonable for me to expect to be able to do it again with old lessons learned?

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow

This is the key failing of practically every MMO out there - the stronger you get, the weaker you actually become, because the enemies scale more sharply than you. At some point you lose the ability to solo

Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha

Let me stop you there a sec, Scarl.
I agree, it is, mostly a team game. MMO, after all.
However. However, the game is also laid out so as for most of it to be capable solo. Sure, not all of it, and not with certain ATs/Sets. I don't necessarily *like* that, but the logic and balance behind that works out fine.

It's the stuff that *should* be soloable and isnt that is the problem. People say 'Get a team' for missions people find hard when, by all past commentary and precendent, it shouldnt be mandatory.
Im pretty sure one of the hints or tips, or a dev comment somewhere somewhen was one about how you CAN solo the game (bar TFs), and are not forced to get a team.
Logistically and playerbase wise, thats a good thing that makes sense and should be kept.(people with awkward playtimes, people who don;t gell well with teams.)

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As for the 'dumbing down'...
I'll go back to the LRSF, since that left quite a large scar.

The last missions is not a challenge. It is cheap. Its cheaty. It's, for want of a better desciption , 'lolHax'.

This is meant to be the crowning pinnacle of your Villainous career. You take on the Vindicators and a ton of Longbow and Malta.
We beat every mission except the last. It was my first run. It was fun. We tore down the Kronus Titan, we stamped the Alternate Phalanx and the Vindicators into the floor. Sure, it had its tough moments, but it was doable. And we did it.

And then we got to the Phalanx. And we died. Over and over and over. We took time out, went to get Shivans. We used Vengeance on the Shivans. We STILL died.
They were cheaty level (53 to our 50) they had cheap attacks (masses of AoEs and buffs/debuffs, coupled with lvl 53 accuracy)...
Its poor level design. Its like the last mission in Assassins Creed 1. I shall explain.

Throughout the game, combat is fairly similar. You get better at it as you go on. However; the last mission suddenly throws at you a large number of units that are unlike anything you've ever fought before. You can't counter kill them with you regular weapons. They pull all the nasty tricks that the Elite enemies usually pull (grab attacks, guard breaks, quick attacks). THats not the worst part, either. Elite guards do a good chunk of damage. These things do double, if not treble that.
And then the end Boss takes that to a whole new level. It is, essentially, cheating. Its not challenging, its not hard or a test. Its a quick and easy fix and patch job that makes for a gruelling, cheap and cheaty end game experience.

Exact same thing with the last mish of the LRSF. Theres no tactical stuff to it, except how to get around the cheaty mob of 53s. How to try and get them one by one. Theres no immersion to it; they're big sacks of HP with big, powerful attacks that have lots and lots of accuracy that make you look like a little minion.
We trod all over the other AVs, Heroes and Giant Monsters in the SF. And then it cheats.

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Anyway, long rant is long. I guess this is a call for some consistancy and balance, and that, if you want something to be done on a team, then the Balance should be doable by a PuG. You should *not* have to min/max, get Shivans, Nukes and IOs to be able to do ANYTHING in the game. Optional things should be just that, and not mandatory to completing things.