TonyV

More accurately, you referred to the work I do as "copy/pasting information to a website," which is not only a completely inaccurate description of my involvement in the Paragon Wiki, but also a misguided attack on the work that the awesome writers and editors that actually do maintain the Paragon Wiki.

Okay, let's talk ignorance. What I said, and I directly quote, is this:

Please note that I did not say 1) that no one ever experiences lag, or that 2) the devs aren't working on optimizing things on the back end to reduce lag for those who are experiencing it. Nevertheless, then what you said was:

No, Spanky, not everybody lags, but this is just the kind of melodramatic alarmist hyperbole that is typical of a Bill Z post.

Do other people lag? Maybe, hard to say. I haven't been to everyone else's houses to see. What I'm damn sure of is that in my house, on my computer, with my Internet connection, I don't.

Completely aside from that, if people are lagging, it sure as hell isn't stopping them from running those trials, because every night I play, there are at least a dozen or two people standing around the Rikti War Zone looking for trial teams. It also doesn't seem to be a major problem, because while I do sometimes see someone saying, "Wow, lag..." it's not like people are saying, "This is f*****g unplayable, I quit!!!"

Also completely aside from that, it doesn't change what I was responding to, which was a misguided comment referring to "the lack of development/content," when in fact we've been getting a LOT of both. What's happened is that a small contingent of people, people who have been vocal about wanting solo-only content is latching desperately onto anything they can to try to turn really exciting stuff into "woe is me" rants. "Oh, hey! Lag! Everyone hates lag, let's complain about that!" It's kind of funny to me that the user posted the complaint about the lack of development on the day immediately before a massive test of back-end optimizations that, according to Second Measure, one of the smartest engineers he knows has been working on diligently for quite some time. You can't get more gnarly low-level into development than that, and it's pretty much the opposite of the "flashy effects" and "sence [sic] of grandeur" he was complaining about.

Heh, need I point out that TonyV isn't in any particular need of help? I'm the one who's , even . It seems to me that the people who are and are the ones who need to be worried about helping themselves.

Oh, snap. Do you really want to compare day job responsibilities? I'm pretty sure I have you beaten. $2 million is maybe one day's production at one of our smaller plants. My team is directly responsible for the vast majority of all of that equipment. I'm not exaggerating when I say that as I sit here typing this, there are literally over 2,700 Windows, AIX, Linux, Sun, Mainframe, and AS/400 servers within 200 feet of me in production service, and that I am watching monitoring tools that watch over literally billions--that's with a b--of software, services, and production activities. I don't particularly want you to know where I work, but if we can agree on a trustworthy objective third party, I'd be thrilled to compare résumés. Personally, I think it's kind of silly, but hey, you're the one who brought it up by taking pot shots at the wiki.

It's hard to find anything meaningful to respond to among the personal attacks and the "woe is me, life sucks, everyone's miserable" attitude, especially when some people play with blinders on that block out all the coolness. I'm a happy CoH player, not a therapist.

Actually, the saddest part is that you and a few other people can't seem to get past something that 99% of the player base loves, and that whenever the devs post, "Hey, here's some cool new stuff!" and everyone else is getting excited, you can't help but wallow in the misery of some misperceived slight, as if they are trying to very deliberately and personally screw you over.

Actually, I don't do much copying and/or pasting these days. I do more of the managing the back-end server, software, security, and hosting processes that handles traffic as high as 3.5 million page loads from over 40,000 unique visitors every month with zero advertising, while periodically herding the cats who develop, release, and improve a handful of massively popular Titan Network applications. Edit: But yeah, to be fair, if you want to compare what I do to what, say, Guy Perfect, Keen, Diellan, and DeProgrammer are doing, I'd probably be towards or at the tail end of that list in terms of hours spent working on the Titan Network.

But I have to admit that for the people who are doing the copying and pasting, as well as so faithfully monitoring minute-by-minute game news and information, designing templates, formatting layouts, and scrambling for days after every game release; apparently unlike your computer's hardware and/or configuration, I'm proud that it seems to be working pretty well.

Yes. I'll throw a question back to you. Do you have your settings and screen resolution cranked all the way down? Because if you don't, if you bump so much as one slider up past "looks-like-crap-but-technically-playable," then you're deliberately taxing your minimum recommended system resources unnecessarily.

Any more strawmen we need to address?

Seriously. This is why I would hate to be in the gave development industry. Aside from the really long hours, grueling work, impossible release schedules, and low pay relative to other industries, no matter how cool your stuff is, there will always be the people who 1) demand more, more more! and 2) constantly whine about insignificant little crap because it's the MOST IMPORTANT THING EVAR!!!

That's why, even when I don't agree with a decision they make, I try to make sure they know that I'm very happy with the game as a whole and really appreciate their efforts.

I suppose so. It's funny that someone who is considered a hardware guru would be having such a problem. Maybe you have too many services running in the background or something.

Any lag I've ever experienced has been totally inconsequential to the point where I don't even notice it. I've never failed any of these trials, not one single time, so even if there is some minor lag it's not even close enough to make any difference on the outcome.

If you want, I can send you my system specs when I get home. I don't remember them all offhand, but maybe they'd be helpful in building something you can play with.

Your words, dude, not mine. You can retract your statement if you want because we all say dumb things sometimes in the heat of an argument, but don't insult us by pretend that you never said it.

Add "community management" to the list of stuff you're not familiar with, or else you'd know that they actually can't, especially not as vigorously as they should be defended when someone comments on their "lack of development/content" when they're releasing a major game update just a month and a half after the previous major game update.

Off-topic, but that's coming. In fact, before long, it's widely thought that most large software packages will be sold on a subscription basis. Some already are.

"Actively being developed in such as way as to alienate them" != "lack of development/content." The former is saying that they're trying and failing to please Player X. The latter is saying that they're not even trying, and that's insulting and uncalled for, especially given how many hours every day I'm certain the developers are working on this game.

I'm totally dumbfounded that this surprises you. They have repeatedly said that this is a team-oriented system. This genre is predicated on people wanting to play the game together. No matter how much you or anyone else tries to twist this into a single-player game, it's not. It never has been, it never will be. Since day one, task forces have required multiple people to start. Some, with simul-clickie missions, require multiple people to finish. Since day one there have been rewards (souvenirs) attached to completing team-only content. Since September 16, 2004, less than five months after launch, there have been rewards (badges) that you could "wear" gated behind team-only content. Since day one, a very small contingent of people have complained out it. Seven years later, I guess they still just don't get it.

Now, that's not to say that there's not solo-friendly content in the game. The devs understand that even the most team-oriented players will be spending a lot of time on their own doing stuff. Nevertheless, I hate to beat a dead horse, but people still seem to be confusing solo-friendly with solo-only. The former means that you'll still have to team up sometimes to get all of the shiny stuff you want. The latter is an unreasonable expectation for any MMORPG, including City of Heroes.

What the devs are doing is throwing solo-only players a bone. I agree with that. Personally, I think that's kind of generous, considering that this stuff was developed with teaming in mind. Why don't they make an easier solo-only path to all of the Incarnate stuff? Because they don't want people taking that path! It's there for people who neurotically insist on not teaming. It's there for people who want to only run a few trials and get the rest on their own. It's not there to be just as easy or just marginally harder than the team-oriented content, because then people wouldn't be teaming up as much and that would degrade the game experience for most people. Incarnate stuff is supposed to be hard and take a long time to complete. I'm not surprised, and I actually heartily support, making getting Incarnate stuff solo very hard and taking a very long time to complete.

Now, at some point, we'll have even newer and even shinier stuff that will probably be gated behind team-oriented content. At that point, they might circle back and make some of this stuff easier to get for solo players, since it will be kind of old hat by then. But I just don't see the point in continuing to insist, after seven years, that solo-only players must be treated equally. You're more than welcome to, and we can continue having this conversation for the next ten or twenty or fifty years, but it's just not going to happen. You'll always have new fun stuff to do as a solo player, but you will never be able to finish literally everything in the game without teaming.

Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that this isn't a bad thing. There are things I don't care for about the game, too, such as PvP. There are a bunch of badges that can only be obtained in the arena and PvP zones. There are rewards (nukes, Shivans, Longbow heavies) that gated behind those zones. I love 97% of the game, but that falls into the 3% I don't particularly care for. However, I don't come here and complain constantly about it. If I want some Shivans, I go there and get them. I have some of the PvP badges on some of my characters because I sucked it up and tolerated the content I don't particularly like. Just because I don't care for it doesn't mean that I'm writhing in agony when I do it ("Woe, how those mean devs are to Tony!"), and I recognize that some people do like PvP. Hell, sometimes I'm even in just a funky enough mood that I participate in PvP contests and such just to do something different!

Never have I felt entitled to PvP content-gated stuff just because I don't like it. I do it to get what I want, then I play the other 97% of the game that I like. If they released two or three PvP-oriented issues (actually, they did release one), hey, all the better! I don't want a game full of people who are just like me playing--and a game full of solo-only players would be mighty boring indeed.

You need to chill out. You don't like it, I get that. But thousands of people do, including me, and we really appreciate the hard, grueling work that the devs are putting into the game, even when we're not 100% happy with everything they're churning out.

When I run the BAF or Lambda Sector, I do not have these "lag-fest filled mish" problems you are referring to. Have you considered that maybe it's not a problem with the developers but with your own machine? Or (god forbid) that you might need to crank down a graphic setting or two during taxing things?

Have you ever been in the field of software development? Obviously not, if you look at everything that is being churned out of Paragon Studios and the timetable they keep. How often do you get major feature upgrades to, say, Microsoft Office? Every few months? Last time I checked, it was years between releases, and they have a team of dozens, maybe hundreds, of developers probably being paid a lot more than our devs are.

If you don't like something, fine. I don't even mind you exercising your First Amendment right to let everyone know about it, even though I strongly disagree and might argue with you over it. But whatever you think of the end result, they're working their ***** off to entertain you, and that deserves at least enough respect and civility to not be downright insulting to them like this.

I talked to Serge about this earlier tonight, and he assured me that it is quite impossible to replicate on a non-Incarnate. I think that his exact words were, "I do not dress zee heroes in teen foil and steerofoam."

Seriously though, what is your beef? That there exists such a thing as an "Incarnate costume" at all, or that this particular costume is locked behind the trials? If it's the latter, well, work for it; that will make it all the sweeter! If it's the former, then I respectfully disagree; I think it's cool, and is an effective way at generating more excitement at dinging 50 and doing Incarnate content.

Yes sir, I like it. I like it a lot. I like the fact that not every level 1 schmo will be running around with this stuff on, that the devs understand that it's cool to have stuff in the game worth getting excited and putting in time and effort to achieve. I give it three thumbs up. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to call the police and report finding an inexplicably dismembered thumb. Gross, where did this thing come from?

Rockin'! Thanks!

Oh, for crying out loud. You mean like how capes are restricted to level 20 characters and above and auras to level 30 and above? Like how a bunch of costume sets and pieces are locked behind Veteran Rewards? Or maybe how a bunch are locked behind missions you can only run during the winter and Valentine's Day holidays? Or how Vanguard pieces are locked behind doing the Rikti ship raid a bunch of times? Or maybe the ones that are locked behind $5 or $10 "booster packs"? Or maybe the slot that's locked behind collecting trick-or-treat salvage (or dropping a few million at the market) during Halloween? Or is it more like the emote that's locked behind completing Ernesto Hess's task force? Or the one that's locked behind completing the Neutropolis zone event? Or the ones that required you to keep your account active for several consecutive months?

I mean, you're acting like this is totally without precedent, as if all of a sudden, there's this weird new thing coming down the pipeline. Why is it that some folks have such a huge problem with there being cool little rewards for accomplishing things in the game? Why is it that those rewards always must be limited to influence and experience, ho hum?

Devs, don't let the naysayers get you down. I rarely say this, but everything I read in that announcement struck me as awesome. Everything. And not just a little. I've gotta admit, like a lot of other folks have posted, I'm genuinely surprised that this isn't being considered its own issue. Sure, it's a little lighter than most full-fledged issues, but it's also an extremely short turnaround time from the previous issue release. Shoot, I'd be ecstatic if this turns into a habit, releasing half-updates twice as often, although just even having it be a one-off is pretty durn exciting.

Oh, fine, I'll do it.

You seem to be confusing "solo-friendly" with "solo-only." Yes, "solo-friendly" means that you might still have to team up sometimes. If you literally never want to interact with another human being in this game, then you really need to re-evaluate your decision to play an MMORPG, but hey, whatever floats your boat, but don't expect everyone to bend over backwards for your weird play style.

Anyhoo, the way that I understand this to work is that currently, if you have 30 characters and you want to unlock the Alpha slot on all 30 of them, you have to run 30 trials. Under the new system, you only have to run one trial. After that, you can trade Incarnate Shards that you earn in solo missions into Incarnate Threads, then Incarnate Threads into Astral Merits, Astral Merits into account-wide Alpha Slot vouchers, which can be used to unlock your alpha slots on your other 29 characters.

Is it easy? Nope. But hey, you're the one who never wants to interact with another human being in a game whose genre's raison d'être is being a social experience. No one promised you a walk in the park.

Enjoy that solo experience!

I'd go further and make it export an image of a "hero card," with your character's name, essential stats, and biography. Also, it should be able to import and export .costume files for you to be able to actually use the costumes you design in the game.

Just for the record, that was funnier than you all gave it credit for.

You, sir, are awesome. If all new players could be like you, this game would be ten times more fun.

I didn't mean this as ominously as you took it. I only meant that it sounds like you're trying to say, "Don't make City of Heroes free-to-play," that is, pushing the agenda of trying to make it not happen, instead of answering the question that the OP posted of, "Assuming Paragon Studios makes City of Heroes free-to-play, how could they do it best?"

I want you to speak your opinions. You don't want City of Heroes to go to a free-to-play model and you don't think it will. Noted, and I'm not even disagreeing with you. That wasn't the question, though. What I think the OP was asking is why? What is it about the free-to-play model that you don't like? I know that other games have screwed up aspects of it. The question is, how could Paragon Studios hypothetically avoid those pitfalls and pull it off more successfully than they did?

When you mentioned that you are worried about how existing lag would be compounded with free accounts on the servers, that was informative. Those are the opinions that are interesting to read.

In case you missed it (and I'm not being accusatory or facetious; I don't keep up with all dev/rep posts myself), they are addressing this very problem in a very non-hypothetical way as we speak. I'll let Second Measure chime in from another thread...

This is the kind of constructive concern that I like seeing posted, something tangible that NCsoft/Paragon Studios could actually address. Unfortunately, with the "I'm leaving the game..." comment on a hypothetical change, you're coming off as pushing an agenda instead of having a good faith discussion. If the lag issue was solved even with higher populations of F2Pers, do you still maintain that you'd leave? If so, why?

At any rate, since this is hypothetical, I'm probably going to stop posting in this thread. As interesting as it is, I do have a bunch of other stuff I need to work on.