that_darn_lurker

Take the man, as he is, with no super powers. Drop him off into an underground labyrinth controlled by the COT (or the carnies) and give him perma speed boost.

I just logged in and checked. They have 3 rare IO sets in the market right now, going from 712 to 800 points, which roughly translates into $10 a set. That sounds about right.

Here's my theory on how all this relates to COH (in my best Matlock voice): Nexon/NCSoft realized COH itemization was too convoluted for the type of cash shop Nexon likes to operate. And besides, what are the most valuable items that ever go up for sale: Luck of the Gambler, new power sets, new story arcs? Are they worth $60 to $120? No way. The only thing worth that much in COH is a new expansion, like Going Rogue, but that is expensive content to make compared to some uber powerful gear that just requires a few art assets and data points.

Yep. Just noticed that she's been working there since March and the NCSoft stock purchase didn't occur until May/June-ish.

As far as the Nexon-style cash shop goes, regarding buying gear, gambling boxes, etc., I think NCSoft wants to go that route (and why not, it makes a ton of money), but it will probably turn into a battle of wills between the vocal anti-pay2win crowd and NCSoft management. Even if they loose a lot of players it might still be worth it to force those changes. Or they could implement small changes here and there, that by themselves look innocuous, until one day you realize you might as well be playing a Nexon game.

I'm speculating, of course. After all this is the internet and this is what we do, but at least not baseless speculation.


EDIT: I also have GW2 but I haven't played it in over a month. I just got bored of it. I liked the original GW better.

Is anyone paying attention to that? It seems they are trying to turn that game into a gear grinder, and setting the stage for a Nexon-style cash shop. Also, they hired a new cash shop manager that used to work for Nexon, and was somewhat famous for revamping Maple Story's cash shop.

Go check out things over on their forums if you get bored. Its another clue as to why COH was shut down, as to the "new direction" NCSoft is going into.

Some of the streamlining attempts within the past few years just made the game feel a little too bland:

1. The new sewer trial. Sewer runs were the time honored tradition way to level up a new toon, and then to be dumped in KR to get your radio so you can get your first bank mission and get your first temp travel power, which leads to...
2. Getting travel powers too early vs. at level 14, like it used to be. I'm probably in the minority on this sentiment.

Paragon pretty much made their KR and Hollows worthless with those 2 changes, and I used to love grouping up in Hollows.

Also, the stamina and health mechanics before they made them automatic powers. It was nice that they fixed this, but it shouldn't have taken them so long.

And now that I think about it, they waited way to long to give us an MA secondary for blasters. We should have had that years ago.

Paragon could have made some changes to SG mechanics to make them easier to stay together/active. Maybe have an option to allow new alts to automatically join SGs if you already have a toon in one. That could have helped with community building especially since alts were an important part of the game.

Not unless it was accompanied by some serious butt kissing on the order of how CCP dealt with the incarna debacle. I doubt that we'll get anything like that from the clowns in Korea. So I'm done with mmorpgs. The genre is dead to me.

I was tempted to post here originally before I started my own similar thread, but this OP implies assumptions about Matt Miller's game design philosophy that we don't have any way of knowing right now. Just because COH game mechanics worked a certain way doesn't mean Matt Miller would bring them all over as is.

For all we know, if given a chance, he might design a game closer to CO or TSW than to COH. Maybe his philosophy can be inferred by bits and pieces of information over the years, but we all know that minds change over time and until I see a comprehensive treatise by Matt Miller, I'll reserve judgement (my many sincere apologies and crow eating if this exists somewhere, my google-fu is weak/lazy). We know they were working on a new game that was supposed to deal with some of the limitations of the current COH engine, but because of the secretive nature of the project we don't know what those perceived limitations are, much less what their perceived remedies are. Nor am I certain how much influence he had over the project, though some might reasonably guess he had a lot.

EDIT: Odd that he has a website purporting to talk about his thoughts on MMO Game Design, yet there is very little of that type of discourse.

3 key things about COH that made the game immensely more accessible, replayable, and fun, and could be carried over into another game:

1) The inspiration system. Other games have consumables too, but COH was unique in that none of them had cool-down timers and they take up their own type of inventory that scales with level. This enhanced the versatility of your character unlike any other game I played*. If you wanted to play content that your build wasn't quite up to the challenge for, you could stock up on inspirations that could help you get through that challenge, and if your build was up for the challenge you could stock up on inspirations that enhanced what you already do well or shore up weak points.

Don't have a tank but need to take the alpha? Take a few purples and oranges. Health bar going down too fast? Start spamming greens. And because there was no cool down, your only limiting factor is quantity and quality. Plus, these inspirations were easy to come by and teammates frequently helped each other out if someone needed a particular type.

2) Class/Powerset Progression. I preferred this form of progression vs most other games. This is one of the reasons why the game never felt like a gear treadmill. Also, this game design feature allow you to combine different powersets, creating a huge number of power possibilities that really enhanced the replayability of the game, leading to what was known as "altitis". The only other games I can think of with rampant altitis like this are Eve Online and WOW. Funny how those games are wildly popular. Maybe the secret to a successful MMO is to have game design features that lead to altitis? Just a thought. (also, Champions Online seems to have its fair amount of altitis, but it has other weaknesses which I won't discuss here).

3) Enhancement System: Enhancements, IO or otherwise, were our equivalent of gear. The great thing about COH is they always balanced the game around the most easily attainable enhancements, so you never had to grind those IOs just to feel like you could compete with the content. And if you wanted to slot IOs it really made your character feel awesomely powerful.

Taken altogether, they really made COH special. From a software development point of view, they're probably more complicated to design/code and balance vs other more streamlined game designs. But so what, I say! There's this trend of games coming out trying to streamline their design (i.e. unified inventory, gear based progression, simplified class/role systems) and those games just aren't as fun to play. Granted, they're probably easier to design, code, and balance, but the end result feels like a soul-less, bland game.

Honorable game design feature mentions:
a) Loot dropping: it was random (I think), so you didn't have to worry about need or greed, which IMO drives a wedge between you and your teammates.

b) Controllers: was a cool class concept, and added versatility to team composition and play.

c) Tanks: felt real tanky, for lack of a better term, but at the same time you didn't always need one depending on the team composition.

Over the years I would go through spurts where I'd make some friends for a while, then just drift off and do my own thing, never to talk with them again. I wish I had kept up on the social aspects of this game a little better. I started out on Infinity server and ran with a few people, but I up and moved over to Freedom, for the higher pop, never to come back to infinity again. And then on Freedom I met some cool people and formed a SG with them, but lost interest and drifted away again.

I also wish had managed to convince my RL friends to play this game with me.

2chars

GreatRock- the game you should be moving on to is Eve Online. If you have the stomach for it, join the something awful forums first (costs 10 bux, but you may find it worth it). Spend 4 months posting and making friends, then make a move to join goonfleet in eve online. If you get in, you'll live out all your villainy d
esires you can possibly imagine. Word of caution: during your first 4 months don't let on that you want to join goons or you will be blackballed as a j4g (joined for goons). If that happens you're screwed.

Vanguard has a HUGE wilderness.

@Thunder Knight. I hear what you are saying. I had (in some cases still have) similar concerns but I've managed to enjoy the game all the same.

I played Freedom Force when it came out. That was really fun. I had always been meaning to try out its sequel, but I'm too busy playing The Secret World right now.

It looks like a good game. I might have to try it out when my rage subsides.

I've just been checking out different game companies on that site: EA, PWE, Cryptic, FunCom, Blizzard, Activision, and NCSoft. The reviews for each company, in their totality, paint a unique picture for each company. You can't just hand wave it away as people ******** for bitchings sake, or ******** about the same types of things. What does this all mean for COH? Not sure, but snowballs and hot places come to mind. Anyway, it was a fun read.

Hey there Mister Buzz Kill Brillig.

There's a glowing review last week from Mountain View CA, aka Paragon Studios. It must have been before last Friday. lol <-- yeah I know its not really funny, but it kind of is.

Paragon Studios must have been an oasis in an otherwise disaster of a company. Whoever had to handle their Korean overlords to protect the rest of the team must have been saints. Whoever you are, sirs or madams, I applaud you. You should get a special reward for keeping the wheels from falling off the bus as long as you did.

*slow clap building up to a crescendo*

Well it is kind of interesting to read those reviews. The selected quotes from the OP don't tell the whole story.