Ask A Dev Question Thread #1 Featuring Manticore
By
13th_Stranger,
Posted on: 2005-08-05 08:35 in Developers' Corner
also just for the feeder fish in me, is there any hints or info you can give about the implementation and background of any of the long since mentioned Epic ATs that are supposed to be coming? (IE- Corolax, Avian, Blood, Incarnates, etc)
I know it's tough with such a heavily instanced game and the number of shards you have to manage. But are there any plans for any sort of live content or events that could strengthen the sense that there are things HAPPENING in the gameworld? The fiction your team has created is good -- but it's not unique to individual players, and it can be powerleveled past. I'm eager for a story I can PARTICIPATE in, not just play.
Great work so far Manticore.
Can we have some sort of central "quest log" or something to keep track of the story arcs and Paragon City History that we learn?? Or some library where we can just sit down and read all this information in-game from clickable books? So if I want to read the history of the Hellions or CoT, or a specific villian or hero, I can just go there and read it?
If this is already in game through the help menu (which just occured to me and I'm at work) just ignore my question.
Thanks!
Manticore, great job with continuity (except for Sister Psyche appearing in the City of Villains trailer and newspaper article)! Are you going to expand the interests of the lower gangs to possibly include presence in upper level content perhaps reflecting international activity, and also to expand the interests of higher level criminal organizations to include trainee and close affiliate activity (say, lower level cultists of the Banished Pantheon who have minute spiritual powers?)
When a new area is introduced is the storyline static or does it change slowly over time?
Under what conditions do storylines advance? Do you track the number of missions done or do things happen after a RL date has passed? ? Are there any plans to advanced existing storylines or are they more or less static once they are in place?
I really love the new zones. Which of the zones added since release are you most proud of and which are you most disappointed with? If you could go back and change one zone's storyarc which would it be and what would you change about it storywise also why would you change it?
Manticore, I would like to hug you because you are a defender *and* shot statesman in the chest with an arrow (in the comic), which I find cathartic and inspiring.
A) Will we ever be able to shoot statesman in-game with our blast powers to work off hostility?
B) Will there ever be an /em hug emote so that we can shower your in-game representation with adoration?
C) Do you plan on hosting an event wherein you pretend you are going to shoot an apple off statesman's head and then miss horribly? Requiring the immediate intervention of someone with an awaken?
D) I want your hat.
1) I'm curious about Axis America and The Council Empire... first off, why did Portal stop sending heroes to Axis America and to the Council Empire? Does that world still exist? Do we still dread the day Reichsman escapes?
2) Are there any plans to adress some of the aspects of CoH's story that have recieved complaints? Two examples that spring to mind are "The Rule of Three -- which some players feel is not a significant enough storyline to be a Task Force -- and various villain groups (the Tsoo, the Family) that lack closure?
3) If CoV players will be able to fight Minx, will we see cross-overs between the two games with CoV contacts showing up in Paragon City?
4) IMO, there's just not enough Carnies in the game, any chance they may get a hazard zone of their own?
5) Any chance of more multi-dimensional content, hopefully giving some depth to the discovered worlds?
First off, thanks for taking the time to read player questions.
Great work overall with the missions and arcs. Some of them are really entertaining, i can tell lots of thought has been put into them. Ever since they upped the mission reward, i do missions almost exclusively.
For the website:
1. Can we please get at least one other color scheme for the website or a change to the current scheme? After 1+ years, this layout is getting kind of annoying to look at all the time and some font colors just do violence to one's eyes on a blue background. (Plus, it's hard to read at work and look legit 
).
2. Please have someone look over and rework OR remove some of the really outdated information on the CoH website. like Geography, Villain groups, Archetypes, and the Powers section links! It's embarassing that the powers hasn't been updated in over 16 months. The lack of a link for the character copy tool. The Account interface for this is awkward. Just some reviewing and updating of the website would be real nice.
For the story arcs/missions
1. Some of the TFs and arcs seem to have some redundant missions (e.g. find 1st sonic bomb, find 2nd, go to 1st Crey facility, go to 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th!). Perhaps these can be consolidated, they don't make me feel any more involved in the story, it feels like filler and on a TF it's a painful time-consuming filler that just makes me stealth the missions when possible.
2. Not sure if this is the place but Can you please remove Defeat All criteria from all missions please? At least make it defeat 95% :P
3. Lots of people want souvenirs for the TFs/Story Arcs, can you please give them to all members of a TF and for every story arc (and mini arc would be nice too...)?
4. Can you please make reading mission info and clues an enjoyable experience (resizable windows, no constant refreshing) please?
I understand some of those are more in-game, technical questions, but use your considerable influence at Cryptic to lobby for these please
Thanks!
Hiya Manticore! My question has probably been asked many times, but I'd like it answered anyway: After City of Villains is released, will we see some more Events besides the Winter Lord, and Pumpkin King? I like these events, but for the most part there isn't much story attached, just kill them and get badges.
What I'm asking is will there ever be some huge events going on that involve story arcs, missions, or task forces that explain the story better than newspaper clippings on the CoH main page, and messages to us on the launcher. Whenever I see those messages it makes me want to go in the game and investigate for M.A.G.I. or some other contacts, instead of just shooting the Event, for my badge. I'd like to be involved. These events make me feel like I'm on the sidelines, while invisible heroes (not even the Freedom Phalanx, since they are helping fledgling heroes out) do all the work.
Long I know, sorry!
My biggest complaint right now with CoH is how we seem leashed to our contacts. We rarely get a chance to proceed without first checking back in them, or taking some manner of knick-knack to Azuria for the umpteenth time. Can missions be re-written so it feels more that we are the ones making the discovery, instead of being lead by the nose by our contacts?
Second question: The Tsoo. These guys are awesome, they have dozens of boss types and tons of powers. Why do they die off at 29? They are certainly more diverse and challenging than praetorian minions. When do we get to face Tub-Ci?
Last question: Why do Consagliere's have gravity manipulation powers? Are any family story arcs coming?
Great work on the plots! It's something I find lacking in many games these days, and, quite honestly, when I solo, sometimes I get so caught up in the plots that I forget to visit the trainer. :P
First question is: What is the story behind the name? What made him into what he is now? Not sure if this question has been answered elsewhere, but I'm fairly new, and into the story of it.
Second question: I know that the low levels go by quickly, but for the 1-5 region, or maybe for the tutorial, could we have a really small and really short story arc? I think this would help people experience your great plots and stories.
Third question: Can we have a way to identify whether or not we have a story arc from our contacts (be it obvious or discreet)? While not that big a deal, when my main character was in the mid-thirties, I was helping out with other characters, and out-levelled my arcs. And I missed out on the 40+ arcs because I had two arcs already in progress.
Fourth, and last, question: What is the reasoning behind having some Task Forces and Trials on a per-issue basis? I never really got a chance to do the Calvin Scott Task Force (whichever one that may be), and I want to have them all.
Since my PM was never answered 
I'll try here.
1) I'm throwing my hat into the ring with Windstorm, Orochi and Zarkonen1. It would be a great boon to be able to at least have a timeline/history of the current villain groups in game, so that, at the very least, players who base their characters' backgrounds off in-game events/characters can at least all match each other to some extent. And of course just for the information. Will there be some sort of mini-bible that players can look up information about villains' past histories? The current webpage is very non-informative.
2) And throwing my hat to another mentioned ring. It would be nice if actions we took in an arc or mission affected the way it played out. I'm not expecting HalfLife 2, but will there ever be branching endings that aren't static?
That's about it. So far, I've enjoyed the tales. Thanks.
Live arcs: 517377 and 517381
Virtue: Quickshot. Swiftwind. Aliuneidis. Gizmodeus. Dasher. Fiver. Inuit Acer. Daniel Darke. Cerebral Flame. El Halcon.
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Hi Manticore,
Great job so far, getting better with each issue.
My question may be a little deep and have several layers the average forum user may miss, but here goes.
Q: What *exactly* is up with your hair dude ? It's all red and plasticy looking with those mean grooves / section thingies....was your hair in an accident with toxic waste ?
Oh and why arent you on the front loading screen of CoH (when Bridget Jones Lookalikey girl flying in the top left get a spot)?
As we say in the UK, cheers mate.
I'll try and keep this brief.
Will the Lord of Frosts ever return and statr a new Imperial Wind?
Could you give us an idea of place we will see when we start leaving Paragon and helping the rest of the world?
- What are your favorite (Be it COH related or not) :
* comic book (issue or story-arc)
* super hero
* super villain?
- Is there one or more of these that really inspired you and continue to do so?
Thanks again for the excellent work 
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I was originally going to post this as a suggestion, but it seems more appropriate as a question to Manticore, given its story-element connection:
In CoH, story arcs and missions are designed around villain groups; in a sense they are somewhat related to origins (magical arcs, tech arcs etc). Everyone can do them all, but of course, as we know, certain villain groups present higher difficulty to some ATs than others. That's reasonable.
Have you considered adding story arcs based on archetype, with missions calibrated and balanced for certain ATs by default? Lets say, story arcs or missions primarily geared for a blaster, where the average mission was comprised of villains with shorter range, weaker ranged attacks, but heavy duty melee. The tricky missions would have more mez or higher damage at range, perhaps more stealth-busting snipers. Tank missions would tend to have more minions, and more healers and buffers to confound tanker slower attack chains (i.e. sorcerers).
Everyone could theoretically do them, but of course "crossing over" would be in a sense running a mission at a potentially higher difficulty level - or encourage teaming for cross-AT missions. Although the mechanics seem tricky, it also seems to be a way to help soloers (by crafting mission arcs geared for their AT specifically) and teamers (by allowing people to create teams to go after mission arcs outside their strength) simultaneously.
Also, I want to know if there is any thought to expanding the souvenir system, to create a journal or "log" of a hero's experiences in the game. Something like an automatically compiled story of the hero we could read or even share out (via the info panels). Even a rough list of the missions we've done by date and time would be pretty cool:
"9/14/04 21:35: after foiling the Nemesis in mission whatever, Lady Arcana answered Indigo's call and proceeded to Faultline where she defeated a bunch of Knives and spent twenty minutes figuring out how to get back to the gate with superspeed."
I.e., the "script" of our own story as we play the game. If the game autogenerated stuff, and we were allowed to add to it, that would I think be extremely entertaining for some of us: comparable to the time we spend in Icon.
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Hi Manticore Thanks man you have some good arcs.
I have a couple of questions.
A. WE know there are story arc tfs and timed mishes but if a player dont want to do a certain mish or fail a timed mish will there be consequences for a failing a mish for the entire city?
B.Also will there be more AVs like Tub Ci and learn more about the family the Vazs and so on?
C. Can we learn more about the Freedom Phalanx and some of its past members?
Mastoid lvl 50 ss/inv tank Freedom
The Solar Sentinal lvl 2 ss/fire tank Freedom
Steel Bus lvl 34 ss/inv tank Virtue
War Tide lvl 6 axe/inv tank Triumph
Any chance you could develop a single story arc throughout the game based off of your origin from a 1-50 contact that you could always go back to?
ok, maybe this is just too girly of a question from me but here goes: Most of the trainer/taskforce pairups (Manticore and Swan, Positron and Valkyrie, Synapse and Mynx, Numina and Infernal, etc) are one male one female. Even Citadel-formerly-Bastion and Luminary are nominally male and female looking androids. Is there romance going on? And most particularly was there ever any romantic anything going on between Sister Psyche and Malaise? Or is it just a sort of PC "boy girl boy girl" thing like a dinner seating arrangement or a quota system?
I was wondering if the Hollows might get a little progression in any nearly mentionable future.
Will regular heroes ever have a consistant enemy throughout the game? Kheldians have Quantums and Voids throughout the entire game that pop up and give them an ideally hard time. Might there be consideration given to Origin-specific enemies?
Manticore,
One of the things that I find missing from the missions in CoH is the presence of missions that don't involve fighting, but rather choices the player must make. For example, perhaps a mission might require a hero to convince a reclusive scientist to help work on a vaccine for the latest Devouring Earth toxin. The mission would require the hero to speak with the scientist and, through dialogue options, convince him (or fail to convince him!) to help with the effort.
Are there any plans to introduce dialogue options in the game, and more importantly, non-combat-based missions?
I was trying to keep this short to save you a little work, but as it turns out I have three for the story guy. 
1. Positron or Statesman (I forget which) said that, they'd like for there to be so much content that you could never see it all with one character, thus the additions of the Hollows and Striga. In this same vein, are there any plans to add in any new story arcs? It would be kind of neat if each character wound up seeing different story arcs.
2. The Rikti invasion at the end of beta was pretty neat. I'm sure you can't say anything specific, but are there any plans at all to use the Rikti invasion event in the real game? Or were the flying saucers there just to see if you could?
3. Just a storyline confirmation. The Undefeated badge marks the spot where the hero Scirocco died during the Rikti invasion. I remember reading somewhere that Scirocco is always reincarnated, alternately as a hero or a villain. So, the hero Scirocco died, and then was reborn as the villain Scirocco who's in City of Villains?
Arc #41077 - The Men of State
Arc #48845 - Operation: Dirty Snowball
Manticore - you officialy have my dream job - for years now i have wanted to get into story writing for use in video games - how long did it take you to get there and what steps did you have to go through and i am not talking about just with Cryptic.
Manticore - City of Villains is introducing cut scenes. Are you excited about how these can enhance the designer's ability to tell the story? Any other neat features you can share and/or a particularly fun example of a great story-telling cut-scene?
Instead of more boring EQ-style raid content. Can we look forward to more "focused" group events? More like a TF with a single group of heroes vs the story kind of event, but less like just a series of barely connected door missions, and more like an unfolding story? Hamidon is both dull and too EQish (get 72 people and lag the mobs to death!). I would like to see more interesting content at high levels for a single group instead.