Talked to Statesman on Sunday about the future

MMZ_Torak · 06-10-2005 05:55 AM

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In fact, it was my birthday that week...

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So it's 100 and what? That's an awful lot of candles, better get a Stormy to help blow them out.

Happy Birthday!

Revolver_Law · 06-10-2005 06:28 AM

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To be honest, this is the second time someone has mentioned that I seemed like in a bad mood. Sorry about that - I really wasn't. In fact, it was my birthday that week and Philly is my hometown. My only stress was family related!

The worse thing about the show (if there was anything to call "worse") was that people were more interested in the NCSoft bag than City of Heroes!

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So that's what it was...

I was talking to you and it seemed you were very annoyed, so after I asked about 3-4 questions I just went and played with the COV character creator so more.

Halorin · 06-10-2005 07:05 AM

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Question 4: *Idea I thought of* Doubling up AT's so that you can have a MA scrapper with a few Katana powers or a Fire blaster with a few Ice powers, hence doubling up into dual powersets. It's an idea they hadn't thought up of so whether they will think about it remains to be seen.

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This sounds a LOT better than having to reroll or thinking changing into a squid is a cool reward for getting to level 50. I'd love to be able to have Power Burst on my MA/Regen Scrapper. Hadouken!

MaWeiTao · 06-10-2005 07:08 AM

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Question 3: COV or COH having weather patterns like snow, rain, etc. - NO

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In the greater scheme of things I suppose this is fairly minor... But still, I was really hoping we'd get weather effects at some point.

MMZ_Torak · 06-10-2005 07:11 AM

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Question 3: COV or COH having weather patterns like snow, rain, etc. - NO

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In the greater scheme of things I suppose this is fairly minor... But still, I was really hoping we'd get weather effects at some point.

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With all the power effects in this game I think weather would be an unnecessary resource hog. It might be pretty for a short time, but certain things in this game get laggy enough with snow, rain, falling leaves...

The_Shryke · 06-10-2005 07:23 AM

I don't envy Statesman at all. He's gotta go out and meet the customers. They're either kissing his butt or asking annoying questions. And there are so many of them, especially at a convention. You don't actually need to say anything, States. Just answer questions by asking "you think that would be a good idea" then all you have to do is listen (sort of) and the time will pass quickly enough without you actually having to answer the questions because people just want to be heard by you. Not that you asked for my advice he he.

[b]Virtue[/b]
Lady Mantis, Dark/empathy defender
Woman in Purdah, DM/regen scrapper
Gravity Monkey, Grav/kin controller
Stone Woman, Stone/stone tanker
Freyja Incarnate, Fire/invuln. tanker
Head Shrinker, Ill/FF controller
Blowup Doll, AR/dev blaster
Geek of Darkness, Dark/dark defender

Psypunk · 06-10-2005 07:35 AM

First off, let me say happy birthday to Statesman!

Secondly, I've met Statesman on a few occassions at conventions and he's always been a relatively nice guy. Like I said in my original post, I'm not going to say he was Mr. Charisma but he was a nice enough guy. Listened to fans, did the comic book trivia which was fun, handed out stuff, talked a little (and I do mean little) about upcoming events in COH, etc.

My statement was ONLY based on recent comments of people on the board, not really based on personal experience. My whole point was, if the whole convention thing is starting to be a grind for him, it may be better to take some time off then to consistently be in a bad mood at these PR functions.

Just a comment or a suggestion, no need for flames.....

Protonic_Flux · 06-10-2005 09:05 AM

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And to be honest, he never "really" answers a friggin' question anyway!

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And what the hell do you expect? *EVERY* time he says something, people treat it as if Jesus Christ himself suddendly descended from heaven and start treating it as gospel. So the *second* anything changes or is different from what he said (No matter how vague or non-promise it is) then people start calling him a liar and acting like he just rammed a knife in their back and started kicking their pregnant sister.

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HAHA!

Now I can take him ramming a knife in my back, and even kicking my pregnant sister. But did he have to punch that baby in the face?

All kidding aside. I agree whole heartedly, Statesman and the other devs as well take alot of crap. I know, I was one of the A-holes who was dishing it out to the point that it was just plain getting silly.

People need to take a few steps back for awhile. I know I did and it's helped a ton. I think I went thru my burnout phase of CoH and now I'm over it and ready to love the game again.

'If Champions Online is what "CoH was supposed to be", I'm glad that I have what I have rather than "what it was supposed to be".' - The Alt oholic
"I solo'd Hamidon...but I also totally cheated." - Back Alley Brawler
"It is still early. Someone is going to get stabbed tonight I can feel it." - Ishmael (said in Jello Shooters chat)

MasterTheHero · 06-10-2005 10:29 PM

By the way, though I'm sad to see vehicles not make it for quite a while, I am very relieved to have finally gotten those burning questions out of the closet.

Attache · 06-11-2005 01:10 AM

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Question 9: Jetpacks made available in general for everyday use? - (Please stop asking him this question as he rolled his eyes when I asked that) NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Well, at the risk of causing States to roll his eyes, I'd be perfectly satisfied (at least for the moment) if they came up with some kind of back item that just kind of looked like a jet pack...even if there were no visual effects involved. I'd just like to imagine that there's something substantial providing the lift to a flying tech hero.

Alternately, some boots that look like they have some thrusters or vents on them would work. I know we kind of have a couple options that might pass for rocket boots...but something a little more obvious would be cool. Add that to power customization where you can change the color of the effect when you fly and they'd be perfect.

D.

Attache @ deviantART

Attache's Anti-401k Art Collection

MasterTheHero · 06-11-2005 03:56 AM

Well the reason I recall for him not wanting jetpacks is because he doesn't want it to become City of Jetpacks. It's clear that the technology and models are there to use jetpacks hence the ones in the arena, except for a few cape clipping issues they can put in those skyraider jetpacks any time they want.

Jetpacks are currently not "wanted" at the moment.

Attache · 06-11-2005 04:10 AM

I'd amend that to say:

Jetpacks are currently not wanted by the Devs at the moment. The people who play are another matter.

Maybe they could work out something where once a hero took fly as a power, you could chose to have it manifest via jetpack. Since not every hero takes fly, then not every hero would have a jetpack. No City of Jetpacks.

Or is the whole desire for jetpacks to have them as some temporary power anyone can pick up for some influence? That I would be against...I only want jetpacks to give my flying tech heroes visible means of support, not so I can get my whole gang of heroes airborne.

D.

Attache @ deviantART

Attache's Anti-401k Art Collection

Clintonian · 06-11-2005 04:35 AM

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Jetpacks are currently not wanted by the Devs at the moment.

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/sign

A certain dev has had no desire to implement all sorts of little things: cutscenes, destructible terrain (though I'm partially in agreement on this), mini-games, puzzles... and jetpacks. This is starting to change as other things this dev does like fall through the cracks.

Xanatos · 06-11-2005 06:53 AM

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A lot of focus on tweaking things so they are a bit more balanced.

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The archetypes aren't horribly unbalanced. I'm sure the fanbase would prefer new content over completely balanced archetypes. And to be honest i'd rather it was that direction that the "focus" was aimed.

aqshy2004 · 06-11-2005 07:16 AM

Can someone PM statesman and ask him about jetpacks?

LiquidX · 06-11-2005 09:26 AM

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Can someone PM statesman and ask him about jetpacks?

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I would, but I'm still trying to unlodge the knife stuck in my back.

Warchicken · 06-11-2005 01:15 PM

That's a good point, but the question still remains . . . 'Why do birds, suddenly appear, each time that you are near me?' That's something I would REALLY like to know!

CaptainMight · 06-11-2005 01:45 PM

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Of COH and COV of course. This was Sunday at the Wizard World Convention and I had pre prepped a few questions to ask him as I went there.

Unfortunately, I seemed to have caught him in a very pissy mood as he wasn't as much enthusiastic as he was last year. I was originally going to post this on Sunday the day I got back from Wizard World but my internet went down so I'm posting it now.

Question 1: Customizable Weapons - Possibly after COV

Question 2: Vehicles - Separate Expansion as in no Issue 5-10

Question 3: COV or COH having weather patterns like snow, rain, etc. - NO

Question 4: *Idea I thought of* Doubling up AT's so that you can have a MA scrapper with a few Katana powers or a Fire blaster with a few Ice powers, hence doubling up into dual powersets. It's an idea they hadn't thought up of so whether they will think about it remains to be seen.

Question 5: Sound Effects like voices or monologues - No due to localization issues when games go to Germany, Korea, etc.

Question 6: Possible AT to turn into a supernatural being I.E. Hulk, Werewolf, etc. - No, at least until certain powersets are fixed or added.

Question 7: Missions sort of like in Spider-man 2 where you rescue people off of buildings? - Yes in that there will be more dynamic missions, maybe not exactly as described but at least more diverse.

Question 8: Destroyable buildings? - Instanced Missions so Yes!

Question 9: Jetpacks made available in general for everyday use? - (Please stop asking him this question as he rolled his eyes when I asked that) NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Question 10: What cool things can we expect from skills? - Not designed yet, having a lot of trouble making skills fun. (Recommend getting suggestions from the fans.)

Question 11: A chance to enter a hero hall of fame? - Yes, not soon but someday.

Question 12: Website feature to finally be incorporated into the game? -Not anytime in the near future.

Question 13: (Asked this one by accident) Plans to shrink down task forces and make cooler ones like Ernesto Hess? - Yes

So there you have it folks! My own personal conclusion from all this?

- Issue 5 will be our last big patch before COV

- COV is the main entree for the day and a lot of design is being focused on COV at the moment.

- More focus on adding other powersets like the much vaunted Scrapper street fighting etc.

- A lot of focus on tweaking things so they are a bit more balanced.

- Expect to see the cool features AFTER COV is released.

Chew on that and enjoy! (P.S. Sorry States if you were having a bad day or something, thanks for answering my questions though.)

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Sweet info! Thanks!

Khaira · 06-12-2005 04:47 PM

if it's anything like the stress I get from family around my birthday... I sometimes feel sorry for anybody who has either a birthday or a family (especially sometimes for those with both)
I know I'd probably have gone out of my mind already if people told me how to fix my game or asked me what plans I had in store to surprise people with.
As for people being more interested in a bag... sad to say it, but welcome to modern culture. There are a lot of players who only care about being uber, having something nobody else has, being the highest level allowed, and bragging rights. Maybe when I become a Dev I'll make people sign a Non-Disclosure before entering the panel so I can give some juicy teasers instead of just cookie-cutter info they've already read somewhere (though that would be impossible to enforce even with some hardcore lawyer staff)
Some of the people out there I could even see finding The Arcanist guilty JUST so there would be fewer heroes out there to rival their personal glory.

But, there's also really awesome people out there that will still go to conventions because it is part of their game, and they love their game that much

Deatheven13 · 06-12-2005 05:17 PM

to be fair .... I wouldnt trust a developer that wasnt a little grumpy .... even though its not related in this case ...

shows he cares ... its not just lip service ...anyone can do that with a warm disposition and a smile .... heck a lot of us do it every day ...

"oh yes ..wonderful to see you again Mr/Mrs...... um ... soandso .... Everything set? allrighty you have a fantasticly superduper day and we ll be looking forward to seeing you again soon "

*stabs self in face*

Hannibal_Kane · 06-13-2005 09:53 AM

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And what the hell do you expect? *EVERY* time he says something, people treat it as if Jesus Christ himself suddendly descended from heaven and start treating it as gospel

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What Statesman needs to realize is that, to a lot of us, for this game he IS Jesus Christ.

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that is a sad and blasphemous thing you said....