je_saist

Here's the article in question: http://www.boomtown.net/en_uk/articl...w.php?id=18195

Here's what Posi says:

Now, Keep in mind that back in pre-issue 9 there was a task players could go through that would make their avatars more powerful. The Hamidon Raid which awarded Hamidon Enhancements.

Basically, all Posi could be saying is that Going Rogue will have an event that could give a reward choice of a purple recipe. I'd hesitate to read anything else out of the statement until after HeroCon.

This is a difficult question to answer since the answer varies between players.

Yes, in the original vision for the game, Jack Emmert did intend for players to level to 50, slot up, then have players delete their characters and start again. As reported to us players, Mr. Emmert fought against such in-game features as re-specification trials and additional character slots. In all fairness though, the climate that CoH was born into was heavily influenced by Everquest and Ultima Online. I can't find it now, but somebody had a great post about how a lot of early CoH was focused on street grinding and killing mobs for exp, rather than gaining exp as a mission reward.

In the original version of the game you were somewhat locked to your origin's storyline. The origin storyline was determined by following contacts that sold you're origin's enhancements. Thus, if you did want to experience all of the available story-arcs, you would need to roll at least one character for: science, technology, natural, magic, and mutation.

Some time ago the system was modified so that stores sold all of the enhancements a player would need, which meant that players were no longer tied to their origin's storyline. In the time since the game has consistently been modified to open up access to the game's world.

With that in mind, there is a lot of gameplay value in trying out new builds, new avatars, new enhancement paths and so on.

Also with that in mind, there is a chunk of content that can only really be done as you get into the final levels. The Shadow Shard Task Forces, Lady Grey Task Force, Statesman's Task Force, Lord Recluse Strike Force, and the Praetorian War. You'll quickly find that even at level 50, there's a large amount of game that your avatar simply hasn't done.


Yes / no / Not really.

Yes, if you are not in the game for badge hunting or character tweaking, you'll rapidly loose interest in level 50 content.

No: Although this game doesn't have gear as you know from other MMO's, and hopefully never be implemented, it does have enhancements. You can continue tweaking out your character to be outrageously powerful and unique.

Which brings the not really. A lot of players are focused on Going Rogue, the next expansion to the game since it may change up a lot about how characters play. The indicated morality system could be very interesting to work with from an end-game content viewpoint.

There's also other improvements that have been made to the game engine. One of the examples, which again I can't find, involved a developer stating that the game could now do stuff like "Cut the Red or Blue Wire" and change the storyline you are on accordingly. This could have a huge impact on task force's like Lady Grey where the mission line-up could change depending on whether or not you rescue Penelope Yin or the Queens of Yap.

Something else to keep in mind is that the developers have gone back to experimenting with enemy fights that extend beyond the simple debuff / beat the everliving stuffings out of formula. The Dr. Khan TF / Barracuda SF are the first entries since... I think the Sewer and Eden trials, that require additional tactics or temp powers to complete.

With NCSoft pumping more money into Paragon Studios (and Paragon Studio's presumably making more money back if the reports about booster pack sales were correct), the studio does have the resources to create compelling end-game heroic, or dastardly, experiences.

Join a badge channel and start working on accolades, invention origin recipes, and the like. There's still a lot to do even when you hit 50.

hmm.

*steps out of the shadows and picks the origami kitteh up and looks at it*

The Oriental Kitteh...

-I walked down the street, paws in my trenchcoat, pondering the Oriental Kitteh. I came across a bar, a run down sort of place, my kind of place, where the catnip is cheap and the milk is cold. *play it again DJ* I called as I shuffled in, tossing a couple bits of kibble into his collection bowl. I slumped at a table and pulled the Oriental Kitteh. Only one dame could have left this folding... but why'd she have to leave it in my town. I slurped at some milk the bartender had slid my way and I knew then, that the dame was in trouble. Of course, dames is always trouble. That's the first thing they taught us at the Sniff'n'Hiss Detective school. Never trust a dame, much less one that leaves Origami Kittehs in the middle of crime scenes. Yet, as I slurped away at my milk, I couldn't help but think that maybe I should track this dame down. Yeah, that's the ticket. So I finished the milk, tossed some more kibble DJ's way, then slunk out back into the shadows to track down this NekoAli-

*pouts* and I thought trebuchets would fit Noir better than cannons....

The Orbital Anvil Trebuchet to the Rescue!!

*Fires the Orbital Anvil Trebuchet knocking each of the thugs out with a well placed Anvil!*

And now, off to the secret Kitten Space Shuttle Launching Pad to go and reload the Trebuchets!

*tosses a blanket over the light, then sneaky paws around looking for things to pounce in the night*

Crack-Nip!

back on topic, some of mine are:

Loony the Mad
Ruladork the Weak
Lord Excuse
Hamidonk
Cap'n Fish (Mako)
The Queen of Yap (first hostage in LGTF third mish)
The Princess of Yap (second hostage in LGTF third mish)
Magouch / Magoi (Rikti Magus)

Fiery Ball of Debt. (spines / fire scrapper)

And while it hasn't yet actually been called pulling a Sai yet, other than by one person who was with my in Planetside, I've got a rep for aggroing AV's, GM's, and mobs before the team is ready for aggro. Needless to say this results in a lot of "oops" and "sorrys".

***

Speaking of Planetside, the StealthBrick reminded me of the Stealth Bulldozer

Which basically was dropping a Magrider or Sunderer from a Loadstar into a locked CY and running over everything inside.

... ... hate to go off topic... but the second mud-pots hits an enemy... shouldn't the stealth turn off?

Well, the first thing you might notice is the secondary mitigation effects. Power Push, Power Blast, and Power Burst all have knockbacks associated with them. Unless you're packing a domination set with anti-knockback, many of your enemies will be flying away.

Sniper Blast and Total Focus also have high damage... but both have longer recharge times, and one can be interrupted.

Bone Smasher is about the only high damage power with with a quick recharge timer and no other serious mitigations.

Something else you might also notice is that the Energy Assault set only has one AOE power... Whirling Hands. Everything else in the set is single target only.

You'll find that other sets offer a wider range of mob attacks. Electrical, for example, offers a cone and an AOE in Static Discharge and Thunder Strike. Earth Assault offers Tremor, Mud Pots, and Fissure. Fire Assault gets Fire Breath, Combustion, and an end recovery in Consume.

It goes so on down the list. Each set offers something different than high single target damage, be it debuffs, cones, aoe's, end drain, or slows to name a few. Why would anybody pick anything else? Because Single Target Damage isn't the be all / end all of CoH. There is more to the game than simply being able to pound away on one target and one target only.

The PvP mess is gone, period.

If moved to Ouro the reward would simply be merits. Items of Power are gone, and they were what caused the base raids. You earned the Items of Power through CoP. CoP itself did not directly involve any PvP play.

My comment about no PvP strings attached was directed towards the hope that it would simply be established as a merit-based TF, rather than relying on a McGuffin to create opportunities for PvP combat.

That's what I found with my own Spine's / Fire. While you could pull off the sit in the middle of a mob and let quills work down with some scrapper armors, Fire sort of requires killing everything first... and in practice, I was plowing through minions faster than the proc's could activate... and when i was on a lewy or higher, a single proc damage wasn't really making up the loss of another slot for acc, damage, or endurance.