Wizard World info roundup

On Sunday, my wife and I went to the Wizard World convention in Dallas, specifically for the panel run by Jack Emmert (Statesman) named "CoH: Past, Present, and Future." Statesman did an excellent job throughout, with a great self-deprecating sense of humor. At one point during the discussion, he got a call from Mrs. Statesman, which was, of course, vastly amusing.

At any rate, he went into some stuff about the designers' vision for the game, stuff that was put in that ended up not working (most of which was excised during beta), the state of the game now, and where it's going. Most of it is stuff that any long-time boardwatcher already knows, but among other fun little tidbits was the fact that no one really expected the badge system to be as big a hit as it was, and that he hadn't wanted it in in the first place. However, he was responsible for the accolades, saying that the badges should at least DO something. Then he opened up the floor for questions. Here's what I remember of the stuff that was said:

<ul type="square">[*]Tankers are still being worked on. The AoE taunt is pretty much decided on and (I think) largely finished, now they're working on the second system, which he wasn't very specific about.[*]Something is going to be done about the self-immobilize on Unyielding Stance and Rooted working in conjunction with Teleport Self. It wasn't absolutely clear, but it sounded like they were looking at doing away with the self-immobilize, although they might just be closing the TP loophole. Like I said, it wasn't clear. Roughly, his statement was, "There's these things that look really good when you're designing that just don't hold up. The 'perfect' tanker right now has to take provoke, hasten, teleport, and fitness. That's messed up."[*]AoE will be addressed. They know it's a problem, and they're looking at solutions.[*]Mobs will eventually be tuned to the point where three whites (or possibly slightly more) remain a challenge even into the high levels. [*]Bows and sonics will not be in Issue 3. The Epic ATs chewed up more time than expected.[*]Bows, sonics, shields, and magnetism were four that he listed as "must go in." When I asked about streetfighting/brawling, he said, "Oh, yeah, that's a given. That's (I believe he said) trivial to do." Someone else brought up pistols, and he added that to the "must-have" list. Pistols are going to be "probably scrapper." Shields are going to be "probably scrapper and tanker." Bows are going to be "probably blaster and defender."[*]No, pistols are not going to be a power pool. "I don't want it to turn into City of Guns."[*]Ultimately he wants to get every powerset up to (I think) 10 powers each.[*]There will be origin-dependent missions, starting with Issue 3. Essentially, if you're a mutant, you'll get some missions that non-mutants can't get. Same with every other origin. The first ones for mutant and science will be in issue 3.[*]When the power pools are expanded (I believe he meant adding more powers to pools, like a 5th power in the existing pool), teleport will probably get a "teleport to point on map" power.[*]Semi-regular zone-specific events are coming. The first 3 or so will be in Issue 3. He wouldn't give details on what they entailed, but his example, which he said was NOT one that was currently implemented, would be a gang war that occasionally erupts between the skulls and hellions in Perez Park. He said (I believe) that this was partially in preparation for giant monster attacks.[*]As mentioned before, web-slinging is very, very hard. Don't hold your breath on it happening anytime soon.[*]The Statesman epic AT won't be coming until after City of Villains.[*]As he's already stated on the boards, 2 epic ATs with 16 primary and 16 secondary powersets between them will be implemented in Issue 3.[*]Epic power pools are also coming in Issue 3. You don't get access to them until level 40. People already past 40 MAY get another respec, but that hasn't been decided yet.[*]The difficulty slider will only affect mob difficulty in missions, not mob spawn sizes. So you'll still have 3 mobs per spawn when solo, but they'll be higher level.[*]They will not be adding super strength to scrappers.[*]Making custom weapons is easier than making custom colors for power, because of how the artwork for powers is done. Those will be further out than custom weapons.[*]Removing the accuracy penalty for melee attacks only from flight is very difficult to do. Since it's either no accuracy penalty or every attack gets an accuracy penalty, flight will be retaining its penalty on all atacks.[/list]That's all I can remember off the top of my head, and I forgot to bring a note pad, so if anyone else remembers anything, please speak up!

Oh, and thanks again to Statesman! What could have been a dull, relatively uninformative panel was quite lively and useful.

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There will be origin-dependent missions, starting with Issue 3. Essentially, if you're a mutant, you'll get some missions that non-mutants can't get. Same with every other origin. The first ones for mutant and science will be in issue 3.



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Hot damn!
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Semi-regular zone-specific events are coming. The first 3 or so will be in Issue 3. He wouldn't give details on what they entailed, but his example, which he said was NOT one that was currently implemented, would be a gang war that occasionally erupts between the skulls and hellions in Perez Park. He said this was partially in preparation for giant monster attacks.



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HOT DAMN! Giant Monsters!

Beuatitful work there laddo...

Nice round-up. Very interesting to hear about the changes coming to tankers...I had planned to respec myself to incorporate perm-Unstoppble as a back up but with these changes coming I'm getting a little worried about big changes. Not to say that they'll be bad, but it may change how I want to build.

And here I thought Statesmen was swingin' single..

monsters are attacking the city!!! woo!!!!!

that would be cool... also origin base mission now origin will have a place

The post gave me goosebumps... THX FOR THE INFO BRO!!!!!

Don't suppose there were any comments on the upcoming fear change...?

Happy fun update info!

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Ultimately he wants to get every powerset up to (I think) 10 powers each.

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Hot hot hot... This sounds fantastular.

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Don't suppose there were any comments on the upcoming fear change...?

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No, not that I recall, and I was paying pretty close attention the whole time.

Thank you for the post!

Shameless *bump*

Because I gave away SO much at the talk...I want everyone to enjoy the info!

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Shameless *bump*

Because I gave away SO much at the talk...I want everyone to enjoy the info!

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He broke the forum rules! BANZOR HIM!

lol... statement bumps!!! woo hoo...... this is official them

Hey no bumping of threads!

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Removing the accuracy penalty for melee attacks only from flight is very difficult to do. Since it's either no accuracy penalty or every attack gets an accuracy penalty, flight will be retaining its penalty on all atacks.

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Ahem.

Super Reflexes Scrappers have powers that only protect against melee attacks, and powers that only protect against ranged attacks. Clearly the engine distinguishes them at some level, why not on the player side?

-c.

Wow, what a list! My jaw says I can't pick it up off the floor for another 30 seconds or so!

(I would nonetheless appreciate a comment on Grav controllers - there's been an awful lot of discussion about the apparent weakness of Grav controllers on the controller forum and no comment from Devs. Even a small fricken' bone would be much appreciated )

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Removing the accuracy penalty for melee attacks only from flight is very difficult to do. Since it's either no accuracy penalty or every attack gets an accuracy penalty, flight will be retaining its penalty on all atacks.

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Ahem.

Super Reflexes Scrappers have powers that only protect against melee attacks, and powers that only protect against ranged attacks. Clearly the engine distinguishes them at some level, why not on the player side?

-c.

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I thought of asking that, but then the discussion moved on. My guess is that's either A) a piece of spaghetti code that they wrote just for the SR scrappers and is therefore not easy to move elsewhere or B) the defense code is separate enough from the attack code that it's easier to apply a modification to defense than attacks. I'd lean towards the second of those.

Gah..I really wanted that "Gun" power pool that they had in Beta.

SMG, Shotgun, Minigun, Rocket Launcher.


eeeeeeeeeee.... If everyone can get fighting...

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Roughly, his statement was, "There's these things that look really good when you're designing that just don't hold up. The 'perfect' tanker right now has to take provoke, hasten, teleport, and fitness. That's messed up."

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I just took my level 11 Inv/Eng tanker off of the shelf, planning to take those exact pools... and now it looks like I'll have to put it back on the shelf to wait for these changes... ah, well, I have enough alts to play as is, and these changes will (hopefully) make my tanker's life easier.

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Bows, sonics, shields, and magnetism were four that he listed as "must go in." When I asked about streetfighting/brawling, he said, "Oh, yeah, that's a given. That's (I believe he said) trivial to do." Someone else brought up pistols, and he added that to the "must-have" list. Pistols are going to be "probably scrapper." Shields are going to be "probably scrapper and tanker." Bows are going to be "probably blaster and defender."

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HOLY SANDWICHES! I *really* hope they stick with this plan, especially pistols, and get the sets out "soon"!

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There will be origin-dependent missions, starting with Issue 3. Essentially, if you're a mutant, you'll get some missions that non-mutants can't get. Same with every other origin. The first ones for mutant and science will be in issue 3.

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Finally, something to distinguish the origins besides enhancements. I'm guessing/hoping there will be missions for all origins, not just mutant and science...

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When the power pools are expanded (I believe he meant adding more powers to pools, like a 5th power in the existing pool), teleport will probably get a "teleport to point on map" power.

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C'mon turbo flight!

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Removing the accuracy penalty for melee attacks only from flight is very difficult to do. Since it's either no accuracy penalty or every attack gets an accuracy penalty, flight will be retaining its penalty on all atacks.

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I'll continue to hope that one day scrappers/tanks can fight enemies with Fly toggled, without the enemy needing to be -3 con or lower...

Thanks for the info!

Excellent. Thanks! I live about 10 minutes away from the Arlington Convention Center, where the event was held, but unfortunately couldn't attend. Well, I could have at the last minute but couldn't bring myself to spend $40 for two tickets to get in to the last two hours of the weekend long event. Yes, that's right, I wouldn't spend $40 even to see the Stateman himself. Actually, if there was a REAL Stateman I probably would spend much more than that to see him, but I wouldn't spend that to see Stateman's puppeteer. But I'm glad that someone attended and posted a fairly comprehensive list.

Five stars for you.

Dwimble

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There will be origin-dependent missions, starting with Issue 3. Essentially, if you're a mutant, you'll get some missions that non-mutants can't get. Same with every other origin. The first ones for mutant and science will be in issue 3.

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Finally, something to distinguish the origins besides enhancements. I'm guessing/hoping there will be missions for all origins, not just mutant and science...


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Yes, there will be, but only for mutant and science in Issue 3. Going forward, they'll add more.

Thanks for the information.

Just a thought States, but just to show some love to those people who are between levels 40-50, you should give them a free respec since they have no way to ever get an epic power pool otherwise.

That'd be pretty weak if you introduced high level content, for which no high level character could use. Well, weak and stupid anyways.

This comes from a guy who's highest level character is 33, but I'm just lookin out for the Fire/Dev blasters, ya know?

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Pistols are going to be "probably scrapper."

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Lame.

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I just took my level 11 Inv/Eng tanker off of the shelf, planning to take those exact pools... and now it looks like I'll have to put it back on the shelf to wait for these changes... ah, well, I have enough alts to play as is, and these changes will (hopefully) make my tanker's life easier.

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I have a 20th level Fire/SS tank in this situation and an 11th level Inv/SS as well. I will definitely leave them parked awhile longer too. I'll just have to play my other 18 characters until then.

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C'mon turbo flight!

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...and C'mon Super Traction (super speed up walls)

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I'll continue to hope that one day scrappers/tanks can fight enemies with Fly toggled, without the enemy needing to be -3 con or lower...

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You could easily do that now by slotting Hover and using a hover/fly bind. Apparantly, fully slotted hover is just a fast as low-level fly with much better control, and a small defense bonus to boot.

Dwimble