TheJazMan

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Noone knows how many options we will have as far as powers for created enemy NPCs. If we can select powers to build NPCs that would be great, but I suspect it will be more like we choose existing NPCs and just reskin/rename them. That's fine with me, but I do have a suggestion.

[b][i][color=orange]Don't just make AVs/Heroes reskinnable. Make all enemy NPCs from minions on up reskinnable. If possible, even make the pedestrians walking around customizable.

My main suggestion is to allow us to pick and choose minions, Leuitenants, and bosses from different enemy factions, reskin and rename them, and put them together to form our own player created enemy factions. These player created factions can be listed just like the player created missions to be rated and even used by other players. Player created factions that earn the Devs Choice or Hall of Fame could even find there way into radio/paper missions.

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Since we will have only a few slots to make missions I am sure the player will take their time on each mission. That means some unique stories, new NPCs and something a bit twisted, I am sure! I hope we can mix in what we create with the existing NPCs and so on. The MA sounds like it will be VERY cool!

Unfortuantely I think the tile sets will be the same old LOL

I am a fan of the invasions! I will take a break from my 'break' for a bit of this action late tonight. They help break up the boredom of the game.

I hope the DEVS think of more of these types of events. They add a little variety to the game.

I see a number of people don't like them. Too bad. Get into a mish or wait indoors. Easy.

This might be a cool way to introduce a new villain or hero team too. Add some real comic book feel by bringing them in with a splash! Make them super looking and not dull as cardboard like the Midnighters (boooooooooring!).

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I gotta say, I'm not that pleased with finding out that we'll have to buy enhancers for each character build ... especially since most of my often-played characters are red-side, and the black market is insanely out of whack a lot of the time.


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I think that seems like a fair trade. Aren't the IO sets most helpful in PvP? I don't see why people wouldn't make the PvP build the one with the more expensive set pieces and use regular IOs or even SOs in the PvE build. That seems like an efficient and cost-effective way to do it.

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I could care less about the IOs. I think it rocks that we can make our toons far more diverse. Under the current system we are really pigeon holed into powers...its the same old same old. At least now we can expand our toon and add a whole pile of new combinations/powers.

IOs are ok and if I have time I'll add some to a toon. If not I usually manage fine without them. If the DEVS wanted to encourage less farming and more PvP they may want to think about putting a cap on the amount you can sell items for on either market. Just one option

I note in the article they asked about side switching. I really hope that is in the plans and soon. It would be great to actually add things to the game that the players have been wanting so long. Splitting the player base is just a bad idea.

Any idea of how often the booster packs are coming out?

I hope i13 has some more stuff. I am glad the architect was delayed until they get it right because I see NO point in putting out a system where you can create the exact same content as we have - actually, not even the same since the Architect will limit our abilities. Not adding our own toons would have made this feature VERY lame. I hope we can customize every NPC in the mission with ALL of our costume pieces (packes included).

It seems i13 is going to be a bit light so I hope a few more things are going to be added. And, again, for the love of mankind PLEASE have new tilesets. Seeing the same thing over and over has gotten to some of us. How about dedicating the next few issues to adding items on that survey list?

It's great to get an update, though. It should be done on a regular basis. It might help prevent the players from becoming so annoyed.

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My feeling on the mission creator, and why we don't have more information on it, is that the mission creator as it is currently coded probably bears very little to the discussion threads about it. You can read threads all over the forums that are expecting the ability to make things that drip with awesomesauce. If it turns out that the mission creator is released and all you can do is enter:

Enemy Group
Tileset
Boss Says What When Encountered
Enemy Spawns Say What (3 Options):
Ambush Spawns Say What:

Then I think you'll have open revolt on the forums and a serious number of cancellations. In short, I think the hype has far, far surpassed any hope of this feature being accepted on release. There is literally no way that the mission creator could ever meet the expectations of even half the forum.

What should have been a complete win for CoX has become a lose-lose due to poor communication leading to false expectations.

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I completely agree. The poor communications and the DEVS stating i13 will be big has caused many people to have high expectations. Too high? Probably. I have seen posts from people stating they have 20 pages of material they have put together for an arc etc.

I think you really have to look at what we have as far as missions. Then think about the mission architect - will it give us the ability to do anything drastically different from what we have? Unlikely. So, it'll be more of the same tile sets, mob groups and bosses.

I13 should have focused on a new element to the game instead of the same old same old. Maybe it still will but we can only speculate.

Why not go with cross factions and breaking down the barriers that keep us from players. Why do we have co-op zones only after lvl 35? Why not after something like level 10 for another zone?

It seems they can go in so many directions but we kinda just get the same stuff. Anyway, since we have only some details on i13 there is room to add something new and cutting edge.

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Ok look. I'm not sure what people are expecting with this mission editor thing. But what I strongly suspect we are getting is a way to GENERATE missions that are very similar in scope to what we get in-game now. Yes we can edit the text, yes we can probably import major NPCs and determine what type of mission objectives there are. Unfortunately, from the last things we've heard about the editor, major customization is going to be impossible. Has that changed since the last info we got? Who knows...but I'm thinking not.

The other thing I want to say about this missions editor feature is that I'm finding it hard to get excited over players creating the same kinds of missions that the devs have been creating for over 4 years. I don't have any doubts that our community can produce some great story ideas and fiction for their missions. My problem is that those missions will still boil down to: Enter through front door, defeat a truckload of improbably placed enemies, click on glowy(s)/and or escort NPC to door.

If the Devs had first brought out an issue that added new types of things to do in missions like avoid or disable traps, investigative puzzles, security espionage and alternate missions paths and arcs to name a few, and THEN had announced this mission editor with more customizable options along with everything else I mentioned above, I'd be doing backflips.

As it stands now, if I'm going to be doing the same types of things I do in regular missions now but with a lesser reward, what exactly am I getting out of them aside from a potentially well written piece of player fiction?

What I'm trying to get at is that the basic mission system in the game needs to be evolved first before player created missions using that same structure become exciting.

This is an MMO. Its not a game like Neverwinter Nights, for example. You won't be able to import your own art assets, create new tilesets from scratch or change the way powers work even.

I usually try to look at things from all sides, but I'm having a hard time seeing how this feature is the only major thing coming with Issue 13. That's not me crying DOOM! I'm gonna keep on playing because I love this game, I just hope something else big is on the issue 13 list that has yet to be made public.

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Couldn't Agree More.

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What I've been saying for a while now as well. The game is not evolving and it is somewhat frustrating.

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You pay $15 a month for access to the servers. Period. End of statement.

The fact that NC has put out 12, and soon to be 13, entirely free huge chunks of content absolutely for free is completely above and beyond anything your $15 pays for. That's them being really nice, and caring about their fanbase.

They put these completely optional packs out so people that want the extra things, and/or want to support the development team that's been so nice to us, can do so.

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Part of our $15 also goes to the development of issues. They are not 'free'.

Is it fair to assume that i13 still has a ton of material that has not even been announced? The dev team went from 15 to 40+. I hope this means i13 and beyond are going to be HUGE!

Ya know...just some sort of ballpark release date would be kinda cool. Ah well.

They said i13 was going to be big so I assume all of the unreleased info will be significant. The stuff they have announced so far is not overly impressive so I hope we have more big items in i13.

I think the mission creator will be great and add way more variety to the game.

Some posts have expressed concerns over not wanting to missions created by other players. I believe they are concerned these missions may just suck maximum back side. I think concerns will be alleviated by peer reviews and DEV'S choice/picks. I am sure there will be a TON of lame missions but; hopefully people will learn from what they're doing wrong and correct the shortcomings of the mission.

Anyway, I can see where this tool will give us missions better than what the DEVS could offer. The rewards may not be as great as a regular mission but the potential for variety and new looks is HUGE. I CANNOT stand seeing the same looking mission over and over and over and over and over ..... I know we'll have the same tile sets but I am hoping we can customize the boss, mobs etc. Just having the boss LOOK like a boss would be great - I think it's lame when the target of the mission looks just like the rest of the spawn group (maybe once in a while this is ok but it happens far too often).

Anyway, there is great potential here.

The costume is nice but you only get 1 set really. IMO that is not enough. For $10 we should get more. Something looking a bit more cyborg would have been nice. Could care less about the emotes and the power is meh.

The draw was the costume set. Unfortunately there wasn't enough. If the next pack only contains 1 costume set then I will not be buying it, that is for sure. This set is nice but it doesn't look too different than stuff we have.

Ok, this is day 1 of the pack and the discussions have been RAGING! It's obvious the community likes additional stuff like this and only sales will tell. I am assuming this will be a big hit.

What I am wondering is why the CoX team has not made this a regular feature? The anticipation over this stuff has been huge and should get lots of extra revenue in for the franchise. So, is this going to be a regular occurence? One every 4 or 5 months probably would keep it fresh and fun. Devs?

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I would have bought the Mini-Booster if it was a temporary power that lasted for 2 hrs. of in-game use instead of going *poof* after 30 days. Without pulling any punches, it's just retarded to rent a power for a month when free ones that do the same are available.

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I am curious to see the sales for these two packs. The Cyborg pack, I am sure, will sell well. I would be shocked to see the temp power sell much at all. I have the money to buy it but am opposed to it. Seems more like a cash grab than anything.

Anyway, the Cyborg pack is ok. Not much in it but something to tide us over until i13...I guess...

Kits, great of you to do all of that for the community.

The pieces look ok but for the most part seem copies of things we have. Meh. Now I'll have to see if i want to bother. Kinda lacking for costume pieces and originality, IMO.

The auras look sweet though. That is a cool idea.

If i13 comes out in a couple of months it will have been 6 months between issues. I would hope a lot of the bugs have been worked out by release.

Hi Bruce

Just wondering what direction you are planning to take with the missions. It seems they are somewhat reduntant and are becoming less interesting - likely due to the repeated use of similar tile sets and similar enemies. Are you going to continue this trend or will you be working in new tile sets, enemies, arch-enemies and bosses?

It just seems the missions can be very repetitive and similar. Any plans to change this up down the line?

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PONIES! Maybe a kheld buff? Eh? It could happen... lol

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I am working on a Kheld and finding out why they are shunned by the community. Wow. It sucks. I like the powers but so many achillies heel's...ouch. I think I am abandoning mine for a while.

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I dont understand why so many people are complaining, anything new for heroes or villains would be great. I cant wait to have a sheild tank of m own!

And as for the farming issue on the player created missions... people are going to farm no matter what happens, i only wish that those of us who have good ideas and creativity wouldn't have to suffer because of it...

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I tend to agree. It seems the DEVS and the players are both to blame for rampant farming. I don't think the DEVS mind too much but I could be wrong. If anyone thinks this is a problem just ask why people farm and fix the problem that way.

I have to say my main reason is because of the very repetitive content. It's dull to see the same thing over and over. When the only essential difference in a bunch of missions is the text...well...thet's a problem. I am hoping the mission creator will give us the ability to have some different looks for the mobs, bosses and any elite enemies etc. I also really hope we get some VERY different looking tilesets/maps for missions. DEVS say we have 1 000 maps to choose from in the Mish Creator...well when many tile sets are variations of each other....it is a bit misleading.

I wish we could see an end to the costume toggle limited give away scene. It causes a lot of problems and negativity. It is quite distracting and concering.

I could care less about the toggles but you can't ignore the whole debate over them. What's more alarming is the sale of these toggles on ebay for over $200. I am a bit concerned that the CoX team have turned a blind eye to this.


It seems the marketing team for CoX missed the boat here. Since people are willing to pay hundreds for just a toggle imagine how many costume packs could have been sold at $10 a pop?! Imagine how many people would have bought a costume pack for these costume sets. I work with some huge companies and I have to say the CoX marketing, sales, development team makes me scratch my head sometime...some really odd moves on their part. Now, I know a costume pack is going to here in a couple of weeks and that's great but what took so long? Been a while since the wedding pack.

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I'm psyched about this issue, especially the freakin amazing mission making. I never thought they'd come out with that. Speaking of which, I'm wondering about a few questions regarding the setup; just a few quick questions about it: will we be able to place NPCs of any faction in wherver we want doing a variety of emotes, type exactly what we want them to chatter about at certain times like aggro or on defeat and what-not, can we name main named bosses, can we choose any previous mission environment, and can we use like the character creator to make original NPCs? Also, can we make story arcs with actual contacts somewhere or, I'm not sure how that would work but I'm already scripting a story arc so I'm hoping we can make arcs of our own. This is gonna be great! =P

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This is what I'm wondering as well. I am sure we'll get more info soon because there is that convention in Seattle and some of the DEVS should be dropping more news.

Anyway, I don't know why they didn't add more info about the mish creator (namelt the questions asked by the post I quoted). If you get to create your own NPCs via the costume creator then that would truly rock. I am assuming we can use any of the mission tile sets. Anyway, without more details it is impossible to say how good this issue is. I really don't think anyone can pass judgement yet.

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I liked the comic. Mostly because it's true, at least blue side. Have to wade through crap after crap after crap to get to an arc or badge mission.

Still wishing for blue side to get a facelift to match the smooth contact progression of red.

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You mean the smooth contact progression where you need to do 15 generic missions from the newspaper every time you change zones?

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Not quite the case but you have a point. However, how different is it from blue side...really...different contact and different arc but you're still running through the exact same mish tile set/map. The look is the same. Blue side is just way more disorganized with way more pointless running around.

I am going to ASSUME it's the announcement of when i13 goes to test. Apparently the focus of i13 is going to be about the bases so that is why we have a vague architect reference. On the other hand it could absolutely nothing....anyway, it has been ages since new content has been added so this might be an announcement for i13. Long overdue but we'll see on Tues

I will not be there. For those of you that will be there make sure you get some good info from the DEVS. Bribe them if you must but some something!!!

I think the version we'd like to see would be too difficult to implement. It seems side switching is coming but in a different manner. Can't wait.

So what happened to the Scoop? Is is done?