The REAL Statesman and Company

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Hiya..

I had a great time at the Con in Arlington. It is the first one I have worked at as part of the computer game industry. I'm pretty sure I met the author of this thread...

Next one is GenCon in Anaheim, I believe. I'll be there, too. I love talking directly to the players of any of our games.

As for the boards, let me just take a moment to say that we watch these forums very carefully and consider them an extremely valuable resource in improving the game and gauging player reaction. We have gone to great lengths to provide the CoH communiity a constructive forum to voice concerns, interact with other players and even, on occasion, tell us what we may be doing right.

So, anyone who feels that we just threw the forums up and ignore the content posted here is greviously mistaken.

See ya in Anaheim!

Tisirin

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OMG!! Tisirin is alive!!!

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Ahh, Sweet, Sweet Irony.

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I love this game. Been playing it for a number of months now. I really don't see the balance issues that everyone else seems to claim exist. I think the Devs have done a great job.

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Other than a comment along these lines, I wanted to say GJ to everyone for keeping this thread constructive. The Proof is pretty clear now.

But back to the Balance issues. The Designers see them! ...So there's no reason you shouldn't either. A major part of Issue#3 here since even before issue#2 released was to deal with AT balance. ...Obviously Issue#2 moved the goal posts a little, but Statesman and Geko have talked a lot about major balance renovations in Issue#3 and some of them we got early. I'm saying Balance is not the real bone I'm picking at either because they seem to spontaneously address it fairly often.

So again. I must insist that they're doing just about everything as well as we could hope for. But the one thing they aren't doing is asking us the questions and including US where balance is concerened. I think this thread alone proves that this is really a very good community, especially if you've come from other boards/forums where flaming is the norm. But the issues, solutions, and testing provided by the players here just isn't seeing results and the Devs have not up to this point been giving these opinions the gravity they're worthy of. ...Which is the most unfortunate thing of all because this community CAN be trustworthy enough to work out its differences and help decide what's most fair for everyone who plays. But again, it appears the Devs strive to avoid such inclusion.

Proof is in the Issues:
<ul type="square">[*]Electric was lameish since day one and still is. Many reports even show that AI will ignore Endurance levels, or always cast the most dangerous power FIRST making Endurance drain worthless.[*]Controllers were to "get some loving" but a huge number of posters said the changes were too little, and in one case with PA's was too drastic. As a result their Secondary often times is still the only thing other players look at when considering them for a team...especially if it's ForceFields.[*]Invuln Scrappers can hit the same exact 90% Resist Cap that Tankers can, it just takes more slotting, and in end-game, slotting is basically all you get since new powers only come every 3rd level.[*]The imbalance between Damage and Endurance-Reducers has been a consistant matter-of-fact in all the AT boards and brought up very often but no acknowledgement about it from the Devs was ever posted directly here.[*]Stamina may not be required, IE: I've built a very successful hero without it(even in the Reactor trial I can keep up with everyone and rarely pop CaBs) but any census you take on the live servers will show more than 95% of players over 20 took stamina as if it's a quality of life issue and it DEFINITELY makes the game a lot less challenging for just about any build.[*]The Purple Patch killed the need for Tankers. IE: if you wanted to hunt Purples, you needed a great tanker or two/three mediocre ones. Even though the Devs intend to fix this, people are saying Tanks are not as fun anymore and need to do things better that contribute to the Group's progress, things like higher EXP rates and more damage...But Stateman has basically cancelled the plans he initially adopted from these boards that would have achieved that.[*]Super Reflexes has been buffed some but in comparison to Regen and Invuln, it pales along with DA which is the new "worst secondary". This means that either 2 of the secondaries have always been overpowered or the other two are still underpowered. Meanwhile If you read the Manual that comes with this game on Mob Color coding, and then watch any Reg/Inv scrapper at Mid/Late game it should help you decide which is the case [*] Blaster Secondaries and the playstyle needed to make them succussful is still as common as hen's teeth. Either the vast majority of Blasters are n00bs or the Devs haven't done enough to make MORE of their secondaries play a larger part in how Blasters group and stay alive in a group. Infact it's been a constant complaint on multiple forums here.[*]Being kicked from a TF on the Exemplar system was a horribly planned disaster in the quality of life dept. for anyone who has less than perfect connection or gets saddled to someone else who does, ...which pretty much means ever one of us, but the outpour during it's testing phase and now after has not been addressed by any Devs and no alternatives towards ficing has seen a sliver of light on the Testing room.[*]Chain Mezzing and Alpha Strikes are grossly unfair for any number of reasons and while changes may come for these issues, we're totally in the dark about them and the Devs haven't shown any willingness head in a different direction and they're definitely not asking us for our opinions on them even though it affects us more than anything else at upper levels.

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IlrHulbert,

Thank you for taking the time to bring the thread back under control. The issues you've listed are real sore spots for a lot of paying customers. Many have been outstanding for far to long.

It's nice to know that creative, intelligent, and friendly people are behind the scenes. However, I want action now on a number of issues where I feel heels are being dragged. Not an update from now, but as in the very real meaning of the word now. I have been personally affected and dissatisfied with the following:

- DA
- Ice Armor
- Controller DMG pre 32 - sweet mericiful lord this sux.
- Teleport
- Tornado...[censored]?


Please devote some effort to timely fixes. I DO NOT want to jump ship to a different game.

OK, after the previous posters' well worded comments about how we've shown we can play nice, I hesitate to comment, but...

No matter how well-worded and fact-based, these balance issues have been brought up in other threads that were specifically started for that type of issue. With every respect due the posters, and in hopes of being crystal clear that I'm not trying to flame, the intent of this thread was obviously not to discuss balance issues.

While I've admitted to possibly being a little confusing as to what my original intent really was (depending on one's perspective), I'm fairly certain a divergence into balance issues wasn't my thing.

Again, don't get me wrong, the arguments and points are well-spoken, and possibly valid. Another thread would have probably been a more appropriate forum.

Unless, that is, our new happy family makes you feel safe.

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I love this game. Been playing it for a number of months now. I really don't see the balance issues that everyone else seems to claim exist. I think the Devs have done a great job.

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But back to the Balance issues. The Designers see them! ...So there's no reason you shouldn't either.

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Sorry OP, didn't mean to get your thread off topic.

Hulbert, some of what you listed is not directly related to balance. Exemplaring on TF's for instance. There's is a counter for almost everything you see as being out of balance in this game. Getting chain held, try some inspirations that protect against this or combat jumping/acrobatics works for me. I do feel this could be better adjusted and it's been beat to death on the forums, but I picked up CJ/Acro and no longer have a problem with this issue.

My main is a blaster. A weak, defensively inadequate blaster. A red boss likely means debt for me. I combat this by teaming (dang I said the "T" word) with other heroes of various AT's (heaven forbid). Almost all AT's compliment each other in some way or another. It sucks I know... an MMORPG that encourages teaming. What will they think of next?

And yep I even solo quite often. I'm just more careful about what I take on.

Again, sorry OP for jacking your thread.

I have been playing COH for a few months and while my highest character is only level 25, I have to say I have enjoyed my time here. I am very heartened by the behavior of this development team and their attention to fixing a problem without necessarily swinging a nerf bat at it.

Regarding the number of balance issues in the game, or those things which players perceive as imbalance ("im not ub3r, i shuold never die in this gam!!!"), yes, I'm sure the devs are aware of them. I just disagree on how they should advise us of this.

I don't want them to tell us. Not precisely, not address every issue personally, not drop hints or anything. The way Statesman handles this now is exemplary: "We're looking into a number of balance issues, with the top priority being how tankers handle aggro, and the effectiveness of AOEs." It tells me that the team is on it, and doing other things, and working on a solution.

You see, I came here from SWG, and spent agonizing months watching their boards. The rednames would occasionally drop into a thread with a non-informative comment such as "we're looking into it. This is a known issue."

Instantly, I say instantly, the thread metastasized into a raging mutant rancor beast:
- The thread now shows up on the Dev Tracker.
- Half the posters on the original thread said, "Yeah, we've heard that for two months, and where's the fix? Tell us WHEN you're going to fix it! I'm holding my breath! Tell me now now now now now now now now now now now gasssssssp now now now now now now now now now! Okay, I'm canceling my account."
- The other half of the posters on that thread said "Yay! I can die now! Our prayers have been answered! On the fifth day a dev stepped down from heaven and nodded at my thread!"
- Other players saw the thread on dev tracker and began hopping in to say "What? You're looking into Smugglers? Where's the love for Carbineers? We've been broken for months and you haven't once ever looked at a four thousand page thread of whining! Waaaahh! Read our four thousand page thread and talk to US or I'm quitting right now!"

The results of this constant affirmation:
* If the devs actually responded with their plans and studies and statistics, the players wanted to know WHEN, right NOW, don't give me an ESTIMATE, hotpatch it TOMORROW.
* If the devs ignored them, there would be endless threads and petitions begging for a redname to nod their way. Begging for the response of a redname became a board pastime.
* If the devs proposed ANY solution, any at all, thousands of people would threaten to quit because it wasn't the solution they wanted, or it was too little too late.

In other words, I do not think that rednames responding to posts with specificity is the model of good community management. The SWG team gave its players too much information. Too many stats, too many charts, too much analysis. The players used the charts against the devs as a bludgeon: "There are more Rifleman than Smugglers, you have to fix Riflemen first!" "No way, there aren't any Smugglers because we are BROKEN! Fix US first!"

It is a very hard line to walk, to serve a multi-headed beast community like MMO players. Always, always remember that we aren't "the players" but we are "the blasters" and "the tankers" and "the veterans" and each one of our groups has different demands. That's what I do. I think they're handling the boards just right.

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Again, sorry OP for jacking your thread.

[/ QUOTE ]Not a problem at all. Much like your point about using inspirations for your blaster (skittles are your friend) there are so many issues that mix and mingle, which is what lends me toward having a very forgiving view of the developers.

My blaster could never survive without the combination of powers, enhancements, inspirations, strategy, and what teaming I can find time for. It seems to me that was the plan or they wouldn't have created all these things in the first place. When looking at the big picture, it's my humble opinion that many (though not all) of the perceived problems may lay in the fact that some people simply don't take advantage of all options the way the options were intended. When that's the case, then there really isn't a game-play issue, or an issue of the devs dropping any balls. It's perception.

Which brings me back to the thread in a very circular way. Even when there is an issue that has nothing to do with utilizing all the resources, slamming the devs just seems to me to be short-sighted.

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It is a very hard line to walk, to serve a multi-headed beast community like MMO players. Always, always remember that we aren't "the players" but we are "the blasters" and "the tankers" and "the veterans" and each one of our groups has different demands. That's what I do. I think they're handling the boards just right.

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Maybe I should have just recruited people like this to make my original point for me. It would have saved much pain.

But then again, Karon and I never would have bonded.

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But then again, Karon and I never would have bonded.

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&lt;grin&gt; I'm real busy with a product release next Monday, or I would have responded to everyone here earlier: hopefully I'll get time tomorrow.

But for now, if you ever make it over to Justice server Dal (surely, that'd be more appropriate for you? :-) we gotta team up :-)

Karon

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But for now, if you ever make it over to Justice server Dal (surely, that'd be more appropriate for you? :-) we gotta team up :-)...

[/ QUOTE ] Well, as soon as they get around to implementing some kind of server transfer I may just do that. I've already had dibs put on my main for Victory, though, so I'd best get cracking on my primary alt, huh?

Well, as fate would have it, Statesman has at least added support to some of the more positive aspects of this thread by starting one of his own in the "Yes, we're working on it" thread.

Unfortunately, after having slogged through all 23 pages (as of this writing) it seems that some other of the points discussed in "The REAL Statesman..." have also been proven.

In my humble opinion, it's no wonder why States and company are oftentimes quiet.

Geesh, and I thought I caught hell when I started this thread. Talk about opening the floodgates.

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Hiya..

I had a great time at the Con in Arlington. It is the first one I have worked at as part of the computer game industry. I'm pretty sure I met the author of this thread...

Next one is GenCon in Anaheim, I believe. I'll be there, too. I love talking directly to the players of any of our games.

As for the boards, let me just take a moment to say that we watch these forums very carefully and consider them an extremely valuable resource in improving the game and gauging player reaction. We have gone to great lengths to provide the CoH communiity a constructive forum to voice concerns, interact with other players and even, on occasion, tell us what we may be doing right.

So, anyone who feels that we just threw the forums up and ignore the content posted here is greviously mistaken.

See ya in Anaheim!

Tisirin

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OMG!! Tisirin is alive!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Ahh, Sweet, Sweet Irony.

[/ QUOTE ] How sweet it is