Open Questions

Just for fun, I am going to try to put together a list of questions about CoV which have not been answered. Mostly to help savor the enjoyment of getting the answers once CoV beta starts, but also to give Mr. Recluse an idea of what sort of hints we would like to see dropped when the time for hintdropping arrives. I'm not looking for answers here. There is plenty of speculation on other threads. I'm just looking for questions.

1. When will it be released? (Can't really be answered until it's actually released, but still deserves to be the #1 question.)

2. When will beta start? (see above)

3. What do the new archetypes mean?

4. What are the powersets?

5. Are villain origins the same as hero origins?

6. How will people be able to grief?

7. How will griefers be dealt with?

8. If villains can receive missions, what are they like? What are the different types?

9. Minions: how do you get 'em, what can you do with 'em? What do they look like? How do they act? etc, etc, etc.

10. What does it mean when they say villains are proactive?

11. Bases: how do you get 'em, what can you do with 'em? What do they look like? How do you attack/defend them? Do you need to own CoV to get one? etc, etc, etc.

12. How do you interact with NPC heroes?

13. How do you interact with non-hero NPC's?

14. How does CoV overlap with CoH in terms of geography?

15. PvP: a million questions. When, where, with whom? How do missions and minions enter into it? If you avoid PvP, how much content do you miss out on?

16. Costumes, etc: What kind of body size and shape options do villains get? Costume options?

17. Will villains have enhancements like heroes?

18. Will villains have inspirations like heroes?

19. Will there be loot?

20. How do villains gain xp?

21. Do villains have influence? Or what?

22. What is the the goal for the villains? Besides leveling up, what are they trying to do?

23. Will CoV share CoH servers?

24. What power pools do villains get?

25. Do PC villains ever go do jail?

26. Monthly pricing for CoV, and for CoV+CoH?

Mister Recluse?!?

Man, are you in trouble.....


BTW, they've already said that influence is called infamy.

But the rest of the questions rock...

[ QUOTE ]
BTW, they've already said that influence is called infamy.

[/ QUOTE ]

Huh. I guess I missed that one. Still, I'm curious about how they get it and what they can spend it on.

Okay, you shake the Magic 8-Ball and this is what you get...

[ QUOTE ]

1. When will it be released? (Can't really be answered until it's actually released, but still deserves to be the #1 question.)

[/ QUOTE ]
You're right. Can't really answer this yet.

[ QUOTE ]
2. When will beta start? (see above)

[/ QUOTE ]
See above.

[ QUOTE ]
3. What do the new archetypes mean?

[/ QUOTE ]
Hmmm. They mean you get 5 new archetypes that don't match up exactly to any of the CoH archetypes. We want them to feel different and match the roles of various villian concepts you see in your favorite comics. And we want them to work together as a well-balanced team. Bad guys work in groups too, after all.

[ QUOTE ]
4. What are the powersets?

[/ QUOTE ]
The powersets for villains are a combination of existing powersets, others with a few new powers, and some wholly new powersets. All these are used to create the new archetype concepts we have in mind. So you'll see villains using a combination of powers you know and some entirely new things.

[ QUOTE ]
5. Are villain origins the same as hero origins?

[/ QUOTE ]
Yes. The origins pretty much cover the bases.

[ QUOTE ]
6. How will people be able to grief?

7. How will griefers be dealt with?

[/ QUOTE ]
If I knew all the answers to the first question, I'd be able to come up with all the solutions to the second. While we're doing everything we can to think of possible ways to grief (and using our experience from other MMO's), I have unbounded optimism in the creativity of some players to find new and exciting ways to make life miserable for others.

[ QUOTE ]
8. If villains can receive missions, what are they like? What are the different types?

[/ QUOTE ]
Yes, missions are still a big part of the game. Of course we want them to be more villainous and we are looking at ways to give them more variety. Another non-answer.

[ QUOTE ]
9. Minions: how do you get 'em, what can you do with 'em? What do they look like? How do they act? etc, etc, etc.

[/ QUOTE ]
A lot of this ties in with stuff related to archetypes. That's all I'm saying for now.

[ QUOTE ]
10. What does it mean when they say villains are proactive?

[/ QUOTE ]
We want to give you a little more control over your destiny. Villains should not always feel like they are servants of the people (as a good hero would). You're in this for yourself. However, note that I say "a little" -- for a good deal of your history there are still those more powerful than you who may have demands and tasks for you.

[ QUOTE ]
11. Bases: how do you get 'em, what can you do with 'em? What do they look like? How do you attack/defend them? Do you need to own CoV to get one? etc, etc, etc.

[/ QUOTE ]
You build them, buy them, and pay rent on them. They will look as good as your design sense allows. Supergroups will be able to attack other bases if that base has made itself open to raiding. You can have a base that can't be raided, so long as you avoid collecting certain things.

[ QUOTE ]
12. How do you interact with NPC heroes?
13. How do you interact with non-hero NPC's?

[/ QUOTE ]

About the same way as heroes interact with villains now. As a villain your enemies are not only heroes, but the competition.

[ QUOTE ]
14. How does CoV overlap with CoH in terms of geography?

[/ QUOTE ]
Mostly nearby, although we might have surprise or two up our sleeve.

[ QUOTE ]
15. PvP: a million questions. When, where, with whom? How do missions and minions enter into it? If you avoid PvP, how much content do you miss out on?

[/ QUOTE ]
Less than a million answers -- You'll be able to PvP heroes and villains -- but only those who want to be part of PvP. This is not a "I challenge you to a duel, Black Fang! Okay, Hero Guy, I accept," kind of thing. Consent depends on where you go and the choices you make. You won't get ganked in Galaxy City, no matter what. We're building goals for PvP, so you'll want to play it, so if you are a dedicated PvE player, your friends may have PvP badges, titles, or a temp power you won't earn.

[ QUOTE ]
16. Costumes, etc: What kind of body size and shape options do villains get? Costume options?

[/ QUOTE ]
Of course villains get cool costumes. It's the law. They will get new pieces along with some of the existing pieces to make a villainous fashion statement. Villians are often more physically "interesting" than heros so we're looking at things we can do there, too.

[ QUOTE ]
17. Will villains have enhancements like heroes?

18. Will villains have inspirations like heroes?

[/ QUOTE ]
Yes.

[ QUOTE ]
19. Will there be loot?

[/ QUOTE ]
Maybe.

[ QUOTE ]
20. How do villains gain xp?

21. Do villains have influence? Or what?

[/ QUOTE ]
Villains gain xp in ways similar to heroes -- by accomplishing things and defeating their enemies. They earn Infamy instead of Influence.

[ QUOTE ]
22. What is the the goal for the villains? Besides leveling up, what are they trying to do?

[/ QUOTE ]
That will depend on you. Of course there is leveling, but there are other goals along the way. And in the end, there may be some choices to make.

[ QUOTE ]
23. Will CoV share CoH servers?

[/ QUOTE ]
I'm not answering. Nyah.

[ QUOTE ]
24. What power pools do villains get?

[/ QUOTE ]
No answer at this time.

[ QUOTE ]
25. Do PC villains ever go do jail?

[/ QUOTE ]
Maybe.

[ QUOTE ]
26. Monthly pricing for CoV, and for CoV+CoH?

[/ QUOTE ]
No answer at this time. It's an issue for people who are not me to address.

you missed one. what about:

27. What parts of CoV do you plan to showcase at E3? ie. All of it, just the archetypes, just the costumes, etc.

Will we ever get to look as cool as Recluse? Or have that type of props?

Will heroes ever look as cool as villains?

Thanks for the info! If you've got some more time to spare:

Will features that took months to develop in CoH be included in CoV out of the box? I mean like capes, skills, badges, pvp, zone specefic events, Epic ATs, etc? Or will we be waiting on future CoV Issues for some/all of them?

Thanks for answering, the more I read and hear the more excited I get. Hurry up and release it, but only if its ready.

Obviously one of the most startling revelations is so subtle that most people probably wont notice it:


[ QUOTE ]
14. How does CoV overlap with CoH in terms of geography?


Mostly nearby, although we might have surprise or two up our sleeve.

[/ QUOTE ]

Do you see it?

***SPOILER ALERT***



VILLAINS ONLY HAVE ONE SLEEVE!

[ QUOTE ]
19. Will there be loot?


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Maybe.


[/ QUOTE ]

Let the posting begin!

[ QUOTE ]
14. How does CoV overlap with CoH in terms of geography?


Mostly nearby, although we might have surprise or two up our sleeve.

[/ QUOTE ]

My guess? Underground! (Closer than you think!)

Although a floating air base would be cool too...

[ QUOTE ]
Obviously one of the most startling revelations is so subtle that most people probably wont notice it:


[ QUOTE ]
14. How does CoV overlap with CoH in terms of geography?


Mostly nearby, although we might have surprise or two up our sleeve.

[/ QUOTE ]

Do you see it?

***SPOILER ALERT***



VILLAINS ONLY HAVE ONE SLEEVE!



[/ QUOTE ]
Less clipping issues.

[ QUOTE ]
19. Will there be loot?

---
Maybe

---
Let the posting begin!

[/ QUOTE ]

Oooh baseless speculation - I'd guess that loot wouldn't be like typical MMO loot (ie k.o. the hero get two scraps of spandex, and a hero hanky) but be things you can steal to place in your base, like that big glowing rock in the MAGI room of City Hall that provides instant teleportation back to the base in case of a hero raid, or one of the Medi-com teleporters from a hospital (to allow you to respawn in your base instead of where Villains would normally respawn), etc. And those would be the types of things that enable your base to be raided so heros can attempt to recover the equipment. Which of course necessitates devious traps, like that squad of Jump Bots you purchased at insane markup from the Sky Raiders and programmed to defend it, or of course, the ever popular giant lasers...

[ QUOTE ]
Quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

19. Will there be loot?

---
Maybe

---
Let the posting begin!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Oooh baseless speculation - I'd guess that loot wouldn't be like typical MMO loot (ie k.o. the hero get two scraps of spandex, and a hero hanky) but be things you can steal to place in your base, like that big glowing rock in the MAGI room of City Hall that provides instant teleportation back to the base in case of a hero raid, or one of the Medi-com teleporters from a hospital (to allow you to respawn in your base instead of where Villains would normally respawn), etc. And those would be the types of things that enable your base to be raided so heros can attempt to recover the equipment. Which of course necessitates devious traps, like that squad of Jump Bots you purchased at insane markup from the Sky Raiders and programmed to defend it, or of course, the ever popular giant lasers...

[/ QUOTE ]

Most likely, I'm sure....

But it's fun to instigate sometimes

Or a frozen ice layer in the bottom of the ocean that has gian sea thingies protecting me awww yeah give me a giant ice castle with giant ice monsters and giant ice minions and ill be happy

*SIGH* a kid can dream cant he.

Ive got some puzzling ponderings, answer-man!

1)Will NPC enemies join up with you if you make it into a Hero zone? (i.e. Hellions helping you out in Perez, GC, AP, etc)

2)Still buying stuff at stores or will your EEEEEvil minions pay homage to your diabolical stature by... oh i got sidetracked. How will you buy/obtain enhancements or will they be given to you by minions?

3)Can you choose to be NEUTRAL? A big question which has been boiling in my mind... (be neither a hero or a villain, but a "vigilante")

4)How about schemes to thwart your hero opponents? Set traps in certain door missions that heroes will have to get past. Which leads me to...

5)Mission Designing by the common gamer. Is it possible in CoV to create your own instanced door mission? This is a huge stretch, but sitll a viable question...


I guess thats all for now. More to come, i promise.

[ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
23. Will CoV share CoH servers?

[/ QUOTE ]
I'm not answering. Nyah.


[/ QUOTE ]

Interesting. I assumed all along that they would be on the same servers. Not sharing servers could open up some interesting options.

Will the servers be linked permanently? Ie: evil "Tyranny" server players always square off against heroes from the good guy "Freedom" server.

Or might they be swapped occasionally? "Tyranny" linked with "Freedom" this month, but linked with "Virtue" the next. This would mean heroes don't always face the same villains. Could be good for variety, but would also mean players won't really be able to develop arch-enemies.

I find the possibilities pretty interesting. Especially since the assumptions I had all along have now been blown out of the water. hehe.

Awesome frikkin avatar d00de. Wished I'd thought of that!

I like the "Sister Servers" type idea. IE, Server 1 is called "Virtue" for heroes and "Vice" for Villains. Thus Virtue heroes always fight Vice villains, "Justice" fights "Injustice", "Guardian" fights "Invader" etc.

While I'd love to see shifting, it may be complicated. Like, we know we're going to fight over objects of power. So say on Server A a villain team has possession of the "Crown of the Overlord" but on server B, a hero team has that artifact in their base for protection. Now if B's hero's start fighting the villains from A, there would be TWO "Crowns of the Overlord" because both a villain and a hero group had it before the switch.

[ QUOTE ]
Obviously one of the most startling revelations is so subtle that most people probably wont notice it:


[ QUOTE ]
14. How does CoV overlap with CoH in terms of geography?


Mostly nearby, although we might have surprise or two up our sleeve.

[/ QUOTE ]

Do you see it?

***SPOILER ALERT***



VILLAINS ONLY HAVE ONE SLEEVE!



[/ QUOTE ]

More importantly, all villains share one collective sleeve.

Wow! Thanks for taking the time to answer all that. Nice to see the devs being involved with the community.

Err Hi guys, long time lurker first time poster.

I liked these two answers in particular:


[ QUOTE ]
6. How will people be able to grief?

7. How will griefers be dealt with?


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


If I knew all the answers to the first question, I'd be able to come up with all the solutions to the second. While we're doing everything we can to think of possible ways to grief (and using our experience from other MMO's), I have unbounded optimism in the creativity of some players to find new and exciting ways to make life miserable for others.


Quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

8. If villains can receive missions, what are they like? What are the different types?


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Yes, missions are still a big part of the game. Of course we want them to be more villainous and we are looking at ways to give them more variety. Another non-answer.

[/ QUOTE ]
It almost sounds like you are having a small amount of trouble coming up with different ideas for missions for villians. Which I can understand.

Personally I have a whole bunch of ideas for possible missions for villians. Some will no doubt be unworkable, but maybe we should start a 'Post your evil mission ideas here' thread and you can just pluck out the ones that might work and don't sound completely retarded.

I'm sure people would jump at the chance to have input into the creative process.

Just a thought.

You've done it now Lord Recluse! Ypu've opened the door! Now you're going to need an offical "Ask Lord Recluse a Question" thead!

[ QUOTE ]
like that big glowing rock in the MAGI room of City Hall that provides instant teleportation back to the base in case of a hero raid, or one of the Medi-com teleporters from a hospital (to allow you to respawn in your base instead of where Villains would normally respawn), etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

The question is not whether you will be able to set up to port into your base, it's will you be able to set up a salvaged Council teleport interdiction system to keep people from getting out...

I have a suggestion/question. I had a chance to play PVP on the test server the other night, one of the things that jumped out at me was that you had to find a character around your same level in order to fight or have a meaningful fight. Since CoV will have some PVP aspects, in order for it to be successful I believe that what should truly differentiate a level 11 hero from a level 21 villain should be the number of powers that they have. The level 21 villain would undoubtedly have more powers and thus be more powerful. Having the 2 characters fight CLOSE to the same lvl will ensure that a random encounter between a hero and a villain would be enjoyable instead of the villian saying "Move punk you are too low in level for me". If that is the case the character might go the whole night before facing an opponent even close to his power level. Character opponents should automatically be made ( sidekicked/raised ) wtihin 3 levels of the higher opponent; thus ensuring a truly dynamic and enjoyable experience from random encounters. In this scenario, the lvl 11 hero would automatically be raised to lvl 18 for the fight with the level 21 villain. This is the most critical area that I saw as a major flaw in the current PVP system as it stands right now on the test server. I believe if you developers consider this suggestion it would make PVP and ultimately City of Villains a true force to be reckoned with. Also most of the people/characters I fought that night, just wanted to fight to have fun; so imagine how much fun it would be if each random encounter had the chance to turn into a good brawl as opposed to asking the question: "Excuse me sir or madam, what level or you? I need to know before I try and fight you, otherwise one hit might kill you."

Thanks for listening.

[ QUOTE ]
We're building goals for PvP, so you'll want to play it, so if you are a dedicated PvE player, your friends may have PvP badges, titles, or a temp power you won't earn.

[/ QUOTE ]

2 Accounts for teh win!!11!!!1