The Theory of Updates and the Casual Player
By
Ariel_NA,
Posted on: 2004-11-29 14:59 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
That's my problem. New update, and I want to create a new hero to see all the stuff they stuck in the game.
"Oh look, there's a new mission at 5th level!"
"Hey, this storyarc now has a new map tileset!"
"Yay! The new zone has new missions for it!"
Dungeoncleaners! (ID#125715): Slay the Adventurers! Rescue the Monsters! Return the Treasure!
Peppermint Cat-- Lv50 Mewtant Ice/Eng Bls
Now THAT is a refreshing way of looking at it .
. . . Chiyo-chan wa kawaii desu ne...
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That's my problem. New update, and I want to create a new hero to see all the stuff they stuck in the game.
"Oh look, there's a new mission at 5th level!"
"Hey, this storyarc now has a new map tileset!"
"Yay! The new zone has new missions for it!"
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Exactly. You will stay (I don't mean Pep_Cat specifically, just any player with this same feeling) and make a new hero instead of quitting.
In the business world, that's called:
Keep giving them a reason to continue to purchase your product (or in this case pay the monthly fee).
Oh, I'll stay alright! Gotta get me some EPIC POOL POWERS!
However, as I have a hero that's already 18, I'll use her to try out Striga Island (as soon as I level her a bit).
Buuuut... I still need to check earlier levels for new stuff, since States said each update will alter some earlier missions in some way.
Gad, I need more hours in the day!
Dungeoncleaners! (ID#125715): Slay the Adventurers! Rescue the Monsters! Return the Treasure!
Peppermint Cat-- Lv50 Mewtant Ice/Eng Bls
Well, I'm afraid new hazard zones, task forces and monsters don't really thrill me as a casual player. But then I'm a casual mainly solo player.
I'm sure these things have much to offer team-oriented casual players though.
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. . . Chiyo-chan wa kawaii desu ne...
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Combining the very informal "chan" suffix with the formal "desu"? 
Sikyanakotik has corrected your japanese grammar for 646.23 points of pedagogical damage.
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Combining the very informal "chan" suffix with the formal "desu"?
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It's quite common. "Desu" is better thought of as a polite form. There are also more formal versions of verbs, along with polite and informal (and others...).
Heeeyyy.... wait just one second!
I though Sik was ignoring "casual threads". 
Dungeoncleaners! (ID#125715): Slay the Adventurers! Rescue the Monsters! Return the Treasure!
Peppermint Cat-- Lv50 Mewtant Ice/Eng Bls
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I though Sik was ignoring "casual threads".
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Nice catch, Sik you have a stalker you must be famious now!
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. . . Chiyo-chan wa kawaii desu ne...
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Combining the very informal "chan" suffix with the formal "desu"?
Sikyanakotik has corrected your japanese grammar for 646.23 points of pedagogical damage.
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You DO mean pedagoguical, right ? Pedagogue - pedagoguish - pedagoguical.
Kamaitachi has corrected your spelling for 867.45 points of very satisfying damage.
The correct spelling is "pedagogical", pedagogically speaking.
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The correct spelling is "pedagogical", pedagogically speaking.
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You know, upon further examination, it would seem that you're right and I'm an idiot.
Kamaitachi hits Kamaitachi for 10,000,000 points of shameful damage.
But that's not the point! My OP was well written and made sense dammit! You're all ignoring the point!
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But that's not the point! My OP was well written and made sense dammit! You're all ignoring the point!
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No, we're ignoring you, since you're quite content to argue with yourself 
[image]You CAN'T post images in sigs like they say you can in the forum FAQ.jpg[/image]
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I though Sik was ignoring "casual threads".
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Nice catch, Sik you have a stalker you must be famious now!
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That's my job! ^_^
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No, we're ignoring you, since you're quite content to argue with yourself
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You make it sound like I'm craaaaaaaaazy or something...
Yep, your crazy. You also don't speak for all casual players.
Nice thread but it does not address any of the underlying threats to casual gaming. One aspect of casual gameing is the ability to solo and progress through content. Slowly with each update the solo part of the game is being overshadowed by the team part of the game. Casual players do team. Casual players also solo and due to the nature of casual playing many casual players will find themselve soloing with the LFG flag up. Depending on when they play and what AT they play that flag may be up for a long time. Thats fine for some players. Other players view it as something that will cause them to stop playing this game.
If you are wondering about what new content that was added that is geared to teamplay and not solo play here is a small list:
1. New Hazard Zones. Not intended to be solo friendly despite scrapper claims.
2. Release of an Epic AT that is greatly influenced by teamplay. In fact its centered around teamplay. I am not saying that it is bad for a new archetype to be based on teamplay I am just saying that it supports my point.
3. HP increase. This may or may not be in the release of issue 3. While some classes have no problem with the HP increase in some level or all level ranges, some ATs that were already to a degree group dependant now find themselves more group dependant.
These are just the major changes coming in Issue 3 that are geared toward making solo not just less attractive but a pain for some classes that already find it a pain.
This is not to say that it is not possible to solo, it is just pointing out that as the boring factor increases the fun factor decreases. You could say that none of the previous solo material has been removed from the game but then as I pointed out they could be making game changes that will be eliminating some of the solo material from all the classes.
I can also say that after a character has played through the solo content about 20 times a person gets rather familiar with even if it is given window dressing and some new fancy duds. So some new solo content, besides window dressing on old missions, may not be a bad thing.
From the way I look at the update the new updates are geared exclusivly for the gamers who spend more than five hours a week playing this game.
Heck I can look at it another way. Why do so many people make alts? If it was a problem with their character they could just respec right? Wrong. If they are really a casual gamer the most likely will not have 2 or 3 consecutive hours to do the respec TF. What option is open to the character? Re-roll and re-grind back to where he was. Yep the low level missions start to look really boring after you have done them over 20 times. Just something else in the game that is not casual friendly.
Certain builds are not as conducive to soloing, certainly, but those are the builds that are specifically designed for team play. It would be rather silly to expect an empathy defender who actually puts focus on his empathy skills to be able to solo very well.
Also, most people I know who have multiple alts create them because they want to, not because there was a problem with a character.
What I see is not that the game is becoming LESS friendly towards solo'ers, it's becoming MORE friendly towards people who team.
If this post sucked and I did a poor job of saying what I was trying to say, that's cause I woke up ten minutes ago. Sorry.
Actually, our updates are intended to cover ALL levels (as much as possible).
Auxiliary Power Pools - levels 40 up
Kheldians - level 50
Council - all levels
Striga Isle - levels 20 - 30
Mission Customization - all levels
Global Chat - all levels
Auxiliary Power Pools - levels 40 up -------cool
Kheldians - level 50--------------------------kinda cool
Council - all levels----------------------------so sad
Striga Isle - levels 20 - 30-------------------eh
Mission Customization - all levels-----------yawn
Global Chat - all levels----------------------worthless
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Auxiliary Power Pools - levels 40 up -------cool
Kheldians - level 50--------------------------kinda cool
Council - all levels----------------------------so sad
Striga Isle - levels 20 - 30-------------------eh
Mission Customization - all levels-----------yawn
Global Chat - all levels----------------------worthless
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Oh okay. Thanks for letting us know, champ. Always good to know there's only One True Opinion around here.
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Actually, our updates are intended to cover ALL levels (as much as possible).
Auxiliary Power Pools - levels 40 up
Kheldians - level 50
Council - all levels ?????
Striga Isle - levels 20 - 30
Mission Customization - all levels
Global Chat - all levels
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What does Statesman mean by "Council"?
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Auxiliary Power Pools - levels 40 up -------cool
Kheldians - level 50--------------------------kinda cool
Council - all levels----------------------------so sad
Striga Isle - levels 20 - 30-------------------eh
Mission Customization - all levels-----------yawn
Global Chat - all levels----------------------worthless
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How about giving some constructive critiques instead of just blasting away?
Time and time again I see people just shrug and put down all the hard (and I am VERY sure it is hard) work that the dev team puts together to make the players gaming experience different or balanced, or even dare I say it.. FUN.
Yes, there have been problems, and most likely WILL be more in the future (no one is perfect, no matter what rumours States has started to the contrary) but by simply stating things "suck" or using other types of non-informative negatives you simply cause grief and do not add to the game in any way.
States, keep up the hard work....
I love Statesman, but I think we need to be fair here:
Global chat is not content-related under any circumstance whatsover. If anything, the clunkiness is more aimed toward powergamers than casual gamers. Also, if you're soloing, why would you need global chat? (Ie., a team-oriented feature.)
Mission customization: Choosing between "regular" mobs and +2 level mobs is not really what I would call a customized mission. The mission is exactly the same in all respects except that the mobs will say 41 next to their name instead of 39. It is a good feature--I'm not disputing that. I'm just saying that a choice of how long/hard you want to grind is not the same as customizing your mission. Now, the costume creator: there's customization!
Want to benefit everyone (all levels and all types of players) with regards to missions? Allow us to abandon missions permanently. Make us go to the contact in person. Make us pay influence or maybe even a small XP penalty.
(And, technically, Kheldian is Level 1 content, not Level 50, it's just a reward for achieving level 50. The reward being you get to start over and do level 1 content, again. Still a cool feature. If I got to level 50 and could play a villain, that would be nice, too, but it wouldn't be level 50 content.)
The rest of the stuff is all right on, and does more or less cover all levels of play.
Of course, he doesn't list all features, such as the increased HP/Dam of mobs. Those aren't level dependent, of course, but do drastically impact soloing, particularly for support classes.
(Then again, if you're a support class, shouldn't you be supporting someone? )
A lot of people are claiming that the game is becoming less aimed towards the casual gamer. I tend to disagree completely. The updates are geared exclusively towards them. The power gamers and the uber levelers and the what-have-you's are the people who were level 50 within a few months of the game being released, and then began clamoring for new updates to the end-game. The casual gamers, however, which includes me, are the people who get a little bit of play time a day, and, should they continue pursuing a single character, can get to high level after a longer period of time. I've been playing my current character since the summer, and he's currently level 33. If I do missions and play pretty casually, I can get a level in maybe a week or so. Sometimes less, sometimes more. If I put my mind to it, do some street sweeping, I can get a level in two or three days given the same amount of play time per day.
The casual players, then, are the ones who, had they stuck with a single character, could be high level by now. The people who just come into the game might complain, but they have no standing to complain because they want the new stuff without ever going through the old stuff. The people who were here since earlier on and play twenty different characters to level 18 and nothing past also have no standing to complain, because once again, why do they need to access the new stuff before they've gone through the old stuff?
The stuff is already there for all the people who play casually. Hell, if you want to have your characters perpetually in the 20's, there's now Striga Isle and the monsters you can fight in lower level zones. Epic Power Pools and Epic Archetypes are there for higher level characters because your average gamer will be getting to those levels around this time.