So I went to GenCon, and the Devs said....
By
AaronUnicorn,
Posted on: 2005-08-21 13:16 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
I still love the wordplay between Outbreak and Breakout.
Never surrender! Never give up!
Help keep Paragon City alive with the unofficial City of Heroes Tabletop Role Playing Game!
Yes, I like that as well.
It also explains why there are some many prisoners roaming around Bricks. All of the guards are lv 1. 
Thanks for the summary and update.
Ignorance is being untaught. Stupidity is being unwilling to learn.
Cool info. Thanks for sharing. A few stars for you ;]
-LP
So October will be a month filled with CoH bliss. Nice.
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Dave Williams likes Issue 5. That was the extent of our Issue 5 discussion. Another audience member started to talk about I5 a little, but I asked a question on a different topic right after that to avoid degeneration into the same stuff we all read here on the forums. I'll leave Issue 5 discussions from GenCon to other posters that may have talked about it with the NCSoft guys. I avoided the phrase "Issue 5" like the plague, myself.
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I find this disappointing, as some fruitful discussion may have resulted with the ability to get immediate feedback. I mean, I can understand not personally wanting to discuss issue 5, but doing your best to make sure no one else gets to either?
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Aw, no juicy info such as skills being on the horizon or such? =/ Don't get me wrong, good info. But still...
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I find this disappointing, as some fruitful discussion may have resulted with the ability to get immediate feedback. I mean, I can understand not personally wanting to discuss issue 5, but doing your best to make sure no one else gets to either?
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I dunno. I suppose it could be because there was only limited time (I'm guessing) for that seminar thing, and a discussion about I5 would have resulted in the usual "I'm right, you're wrong" shouting match as seen on the forums (again, I'm guessing).
Better to leave it for when the devs return to the forums. Besides, I5 isn't something particularly huge when compared to the marketing and such surrounding the RPG and all that.
I could be wrong.
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This post lists who was there, although we actually had one more person, talking about the novels (sorry I can't remember the name).
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Just a guess, since I wasn't there, but if the other person was talking about the novels, it was probably Sean "Manticore" Fish. (Though I suppose Robert Weinberg would also be a possibility)
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Nice post
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Eh, nothing interesting. I guess they won't have any plans for the -game- until after CoV is out.
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I find this disappointing, as some fruitful discussion may have resulted with the ability to get immediate feedback. I mean, I can understand not personally wanting to discuss issue 5, but doing your best to make sure no one else gets to either?
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I dunno. I suppose it could be because there was only limited time (I'm guessing) for that seminar thing, and a discussion about I5 would have resulted in the usual "I'm right, you're wrong" shouting match as seen on the forums (again, I'm guessing).
Better to leave it for when the devs return to the forums. Besides, I5 isn't something particularly huge when compared to the marketing and such surrounding the RPG and all that.
I could be wrong.
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You're not wrong, Kellis. In fact you nailed it right on the head. We had only an hour to discuss everything related to CoH moving into other formats. Issue 5 is a fine discussion topic - for some other time. I personally didn't discuss it at all with anyone from NCSoft. Someone else may have, which I have no problem with, if they did it outside the seminar that was meant for other things.
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I find this disappointing, as some fruitful discussion may have resulted with the ability to get immediate feedback. I mean, I can understand not personally wanting to discuss issue 5, but doing your best to make sure no one else gets to either?
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I dunno. I suppose it could be because there was only limited time (I'm guessing) for that seminar thing, and a discussion about I5 would have resulted in the usual "I'm right, you're wrong" shouting match as seen on the forums (again, I'm guessing).
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I believe that such shouting matches tend to happen on the forums for several reasons:
* Lack of visual/auditory feedback.
* Lack of the possibility of immediate feedback.
* Dependent entirely upon the other party remaining interested in the thread
People polarize way more easily in online discussions than they do face-to-face. They polarize way more easily in delayed interactions than they do in real time. Yes, face-to-face interactions can get out of hand, but I think the likelihood is much lower.
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You're not wrong, Kellis. In fact you nailed it right on the head. We had only an hour to discuss everything related to CoH moving into other formats. Issue 5 is a fine discussion topic - for some other time. I personally didn't discuss it at all with anyone from NCSoft. Someone else may have, which I have no problem with, if they did it outside the seminar that was meant for other things.
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You had an hour to discuss various issues regarding CoH, and you had five other people who had questions. You took it upon yourself to short circuit discussion you personally weren't interested in, but others were. Given that I5 is where the devs are trying to balance the entire game to their intent, it seems to me that it would be a valid topic.
I would also hope that the devs themselves would be capable of short circuiting the "I hate I5 and demand that you fix it" kind of nonsense, but I suspect that was unlikely to come up.
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Damn, I hope I have enough cash come this October!
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City of Villains will release on October 31, Halloween, barring any major remaining bugs.
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Wow. I know that they have most of the stuff from CoH to work with, but that seems kinda quick to me, seeing how beta just started. I expected a more late November/early December release.
I think I smell the scent of suits pushing for it to be released earlier than it probably should be.
Just to be clear, I appreciate the rest of the information.
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<ul type="square">[*]The RPG base system book, plus some supporting material, will release in October. Again, CoH-only to start. I didn't get a good feel for exactly what all supporting books will be available, but I seem to remember some discussion of the Council.[/list]
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[rant]
I went to Origins with the specific goal of picking up the CoH RPG books, only to find they weren't available. At the con, I pre-ordered the set with the expectation they'd be out by GenCon.
Now, they're saying October. If this is because of printing delays, fine. If it's some marketing scheme to flood the game scene with multiple offerings at the same time, all I have to say is shame on you!
I have absolutely no interest in the CCG. I can't afford and am not really interested in CoV. On the other hand, I've been salivating for the RPG since the announcement came out. And I'm sure I'm not the only one. Why are we forced to wait? If the book is ready for release, put it out!
Holding off the RPG release to have it coincide with other products that have little, or no, relation to it just uses up any goodwill or interest generated by having the dang thing out in the first place.
[/rant]
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<ul type="square">[*]The RPG base system book, plus some supporting material, will release in October. Again, CoH-only to start. I didn't get a good feel for exactly what all supporting books will be available, but I seem to remember some discussion of the Council.[/list]
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[rant]
I went to Origins with the specific goal of picking up the CoH RPG books, only to find they weren't available. At the con, I pre-ordered the set with the expectation they'd be out by GenCon.
Now, they're saying October. If this is because of printing delays, fine. If it's some marketing scheme to flood the game scene with multiple offerings at the same time, all I have to say is shame on you!
I have absolutely no interest in the CCG. I can't afford and am not really interested in CoV. On the other hand, I've been salivating for the RPG since the announcement came out. And I'm sure I'm not the only one. Why are we forced to wait? If the book is ready for release, put it out!
Holding off the RPG release to have it coincide with other products that have little, or no, relation to it just uses up any goodwill or interest generated by having the dang thing out in the first place.
[/rant]
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serious delays in small time rpg companies.. (and anything but WOTC and whitewolf, Steve Jackson are small time) is pretty common, there is after all not enough money in those companies to have full time employees...
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serious delays in small time rpg companies.. (and anything but WOTC and whitewolf, Steve Jackson are small time) is pretty common, there is after all not enough money in those companies to have full time employees...
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Oh, believe me, know all about that. Been tabletop gaming since the late 70's.
I admit, Eden Studios is not one of the companies I follow closely, but I figured they were a cut above the "three guys in a garage" level. Then again, GOO's down to one guy, last time I heard.
Like I said, if it's financial issues or printing delays, I can understand. And the grown-up part of me can also understand about marketing and production.
The rant above was just giving the fanboy geek in me a little air. I want my Coh! 
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City of Villains will release on October 31, Halloween, barring any major remaining bugs.
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Wow. I know that they have most of the stuff from CoH to work with, but that seems kinda quick to me, seeing how beta just started. I expected a more late November/early December release.
I think I smell the scent of suits pushing for it to be released earlier than it probably should be.
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Well, I believe they have been working on CoV since CoH was released. So I don't think it's simply a "quick and dirty" thing.
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Dave Williams likes Issue 5. That was the extent of our Issue 5 discussion. Another audience member started to talk about I5 a little, but I asked a question on a different topic right after that to avoid degeneration into the same stuff we all read here on the forums. I'll leave Issue 5 discussions from GenCon to other posters that may have talked about it with the NCSoft guys. I avoided the phrase "Issue 5" like the plague, myself.
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I find this disappointing, as some fruitful discussion may have resulted with the ability to get immediate feedback. I mean, I can understand not personally wanting to discuss issue 5, but doing your best to make sure no one else gets to either?
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Yeah, I bet the other five people were really upset. 
Buhu, here I was waiting to read up on some juicy gossip regarding I5, I6 and CoV...
You get 5 stars for providing info but the thread get's 1 star because of boring info.
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You're not wrong, Kellis. In fact you nailed it right on the head. We had only an hour to discuss everything related to CoH moving into other formats. Issue 5 is a fine discussion topic - for some other time. I personally didn't discuss it at all with anyone from NCSoft. Someone else may have, which I have no problem with, if they did it outside the seminar that was meant for other things.
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You had an hour to discuss various issues regarding CoH, and you had five other people who had questions. You took it upon yourself to short circuit discussion you personally weren't interested in, but others were. Given that I5 is where the devs are trying to balance the entire game to their intent, it seems to me that it would be a valid topic.
I would also hope that the devs themselves would be capable of short circuiting the "I hate I5 and demand that you fix it" kind of nonsense, but I suspect that was unlikely to come up.
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Just so everyone is clear, the reason for avoiding the Topic of I5 makes perfect sense for several reasons to me. Not the least of which is that GenCon is -NOT- E3. It really has nothing to do with computers at all. It is a RPG/Comic/etc gathering. While some game companies do make a showing at them, it is not the focus on of the event. The seminar which they had only an hours time for, was geared and focused specifically for the point of covering how CoH and eventually CoV would be moving to different gaming formats. In something like that, focusing on things that are unrelated to the topic in general is counter productive.
I spent the last couple of days at GenCon - highly recommended, by the way, if you're into any sort of non-computer games, and there's even some good stuff for the computer-based type. I spent most of my time walking around the dealer room and playing various games that have been out of print for so long that you can only find enough players when 25000+ gamers gather in one spot, but I did make a little time to talk to the folks at the NCSoft booth and hit a seminar with Jack, Shane, Zeb, and various other folks.
Another audience member started to talk about I5 a little, but I asked a question on a different topic right after that to avoid degeneration into the same stuff we all read here on the forums. I'll leave Issue 5 discussions from GenCon to other posters that may have talked about it with the NCSoft guys. I avoided the phrase "Issue 5" like the plague, myself.[*]The CoV initial tutorial is called Breakout, and it's a prison break scenario, out of the Ziggurat. (Since Jack said it in the seminar, I can say it without violating my NDA. 
)[*]At the NCSoft booth, they gave away many and varied things during trivia contests and raffles. I saw a few CoV beta invites and CoV pre-order boxes given away. Personally I answered a trivia question and got a copy of Guild Wars, which I might play a little to keep myself occupied while the CoV beta server is down.[*]They took a lot of sign-ups for the Auto Assault beta, also. I saw a little of the game, certainly looks interesting if you're into that genre. I'm not, personally, so I don't have a lot of detail on it.[/list]I'd like to publically thank Jack, Zeb, Shane, and all the other guys that took time to talk with us at the seminar and throughout the con. We love it when you take time to let us know what you're working on. Thanks!
The seminar only had about 6 audience members, probably because it was poorly advertised - the only reason I knew where to find it was that I asked at the NCSoft booth. Worked out well for those of us attending though, since it ended up being more of an informal discussion than a formal presentation. I didn't take detailed notes or anything, so this is just what I remember from the discussion. Anyone else that was there, please correct any mistakes. This post lists who was there, although we actually had one more person, talking about the novels (sorry I can't remember the name).
<ul type="square">[*]City of Villains will release on October 31, Halloween, barring any major remaining bugs.[*]The first novel will be out in October as well. There are currently two other novels planned, to be released in 2006 (I believe April and August, but I could be remembering that wrong.) George Perez will be doing cover art for all three.[*]The initial CCG release will also be in October. (Sensing a theme here?) The first set is 300+ cards, with 33 pre-generated heroes plus the ability to create your own hero. The initial release is CoH-only (CoV will be sometime later).[*]The RPG base system book, plus some supporting material, will release in October. Again, CoH-only to start. I didn't get a good feel for exactly what all supporting books will be available, but I seem to remember some discussion of the Council.[*]The various games will tie together in terms of story, with the same heroes/villains/organizations/etc. In addition, you may be able to affect one game with what you do in the others. For example, there might be a CCG tournament where you could win the right to design your own online hero as a card for inclusion in a later CCG expansion. Or maybe participating in an RPG event could earn you a badge or special cape online. No solid plans for how all that will work yet, but it has definite potential.[*]It was very apparent to me that all these guys play the online game. That may sound like a no-brainer, and for guys like Jack it is, but for the RPG/CCG/novel folks, that's a big deal for people that like consistency across a genre (I include myself in that number). The fact that these guys could talk about their heroes that they play regularly tells me that they'll have a good understanding of the CoH experience, and I hope that translates well into the other formats.[*]Jack made a special point of saying that moving the CoH world into all these other formats (CCG, RPG, etc.) is to interest the gamer audience. The online CoH game is pretty easy to play, and very accessible to the non-gamer that is trying their first MMORPG. Some of that will carry over to the other formats, but for the most part they'll be focused on the audience that already games. For example, people that love CCGs and play CoH online will be a natural target for the CCG. I like this approach, being a RPG and CCG player myself. This sets a high bar for these new formats, since they're targeting the hard-core gamers that pick everything apart with a fine-toothed comb. I have no doubts about the RPG, I'm sure that will come through with flying colors. The CCG is a little iffier, but Dave W. has some good games under his belt (L5R, for example), so if it can be done I'm sure he'll make it happen.[*]The CCG will intially be all hero-vs-hero. Not ideal, IMHO, but it sounds like they are also thinking about adding more mission-based and story-based aspects in future expansions. And of course there will be villains at some point.[*]Outbreak will be used as the basis for the first adventure that is included in the RPG manual, which I thought was very cool. Everyone who has ever played CoH online can relate to that. The first release will have details on the Hellions, Skulls, Council, and Vazhilok - again, mirroring the early game that most gamers will already know something about. Well designed.[*]It sounds like the RPG will have an extremely detailed view of the CoH world. I'm very much looking forward to getting those books, just to read more of the backstory. As time goes on, we'll get more and more detail on all the heroes, villains, and organizations that show up in the online game.[*]Dave Williams likes Issue 5. That was the extent of our Issue 5 discussion.
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