So I went to GenCon, and the Devs said....
By
AaronUnicorn,
Posted on: 2005-08-21 13:16 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
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We won't be able to ride in/on vehicles ever, due to the way the map is, but States seemed to like the idea of being able to throw the cars around...
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Wrong. Vehicles are coming in a future expansion and you will upgrade them through influence.
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Hmm...information given as a "maybe" months and months ago versus something Statesman said at GenCon less than a week ago....
You do realize that they might have changed their minds on this, right?
Arc# 92382 -- "The S.P.I.D.E.R. and the Tyrant" -- Ninjas! Robots! Praetorians! It's totally epic! Play it now!
Arc # 316340 -- "Husk" -- Azuria loses something, a young woman harbors a dark secret, and the fate of the world is in your hands.
The unnamed person was Jim Lowder, who is editing the novel line. He's had a lot of experience as both a writer and editor.
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The CCG will intially be all hero-vs-hero.
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Let me be the first to say that I believe all the I6 nerfs are because of CCG balance issues.
Scorus
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Hmm...information given as a "maybe" months and months ago versus something Statesman said at GenCon less than a week ago....
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Given by a third party who apparently confused vehicle riding (as in standing on top of moving vehicles) for player vehicles. Also, there is no "maybe." They were confimed one, two, three times.
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You do realize that they might have changed their minds on this, right?
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You don't change your mind about something that you've confirmed three times in three differen't places.
One.
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(38:08)Interviewer: I heard you mentioned cars. When are vehicles are going to become a part of the game and when or if they do, can you customize them like the batmobile, or wonder woman's invisible plane, or something like that.
Statesman: Well the first question is that it'll certainly be when they get in, because it's a staple part of comic books and there's no way that they won't find their way into city of heroes, so the issue really is when. And of course they'll be customizable there's little point in introducing something like that without allowing characters to stretch their imaginations just like they do when they create their own character. So those a are two considerations now I'm not exactly sure when but rest assured it's on the list of things I'd like to get to and certainly it's been partially designed and speced but it's a long way from implementation.
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Two
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My current thinking is that Vehicles wouldn't be a Power Pool, but rather something that could be leveled up independently and customized via Influence. But nothing is imminent here - I've only sketched out ideas.
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Three
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Question 2: Vehicles - Separate Expansion as in no Issue 5-10
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^ Yeah, that sounds like "maybe" to me! You'll excuse me if I hedge my bets on two direct quotes and a word from somebody who knew what was being said over one person who heard wrong.
Of course, beyond just the size of the zones, there's the problem of terrain. What happens if you're driving in Talos and drive off a cliff into the ocean? Do you die? What about falling into a canyon in Faultine?
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The unnamed person was Jim Lowder, who is editing the novel line. He's had a lot of experience as both a writer and editor.
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As a long time reader of Forgotten Realms novels, I look forward to Jim's work. Glad he's onboard! 
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=books/fr/lowderAP
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The unnamed person was Jim Lowder, who is editing the novel line. He's had a lot of experience as both a writer and editor.
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I thought the name sounded familiar, so I took a little peek, and noticed that he's the author of a Ravenloft book I have--Knight of the Black Rose.
I'm guessing Cryptic must be a regular D&D convention over there.
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[LIST][*]City of Villains will release on October 31, Halloween, barring any major remaining bugs.
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Ok I have a real problem with this part here. My pre-order says that the expected ship date is 11-9-05. That's not going to work for me. If the game is Out on Oct.31 and my game won't even ship till Nov.9th then I'm going to miss the 2 day advanced play; to say nothing of the fact that There would be no reason to pre-order the game. I'm already qualified for the 12+ mo. So I should get a beta slot and ok the bonus item would be kind of neat. But not so much so that I should miss the 2 day advanced play. Anyone have any thought here? I think Someone messed up. I would think I'd have my pre-ordered stuff well before the game goes live. 
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The unnamed person was Jim Lowder, who is editing the novel line. He's had a lot of experience as both a writer and editor.
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I thought the name sounded familiar, so I took a little peek, and noticed that he's the author of a Ravenloft book I have--Knight of the Black Rose.
I'm guessing Cryptic must be a regular D&D convention over there.
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The further they all are from Hasbro, the happier I am.
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Of course, beyond just the size of the zones, there's the problem of terrain. What happens if you're driving in Talos and drive off a cliff into the ocean? Do you die? What about falling into a canyon in Faultine?
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It shows your character diving to safety at the last minute and your vehicle goes flying off the cliff to explode in a giant fireball when it lands at the bottom. 
Gothika (Grav/Kin) Marionette (Ill/Rad) Terra Firma (Earth/Storm) Alana Dale (Arch/Nrg)
Iceblink (Ice/Dark) Fantasia (Mind/Fire) Shadow Minx (Claws/Nin)
--Virtue
Personally, I found myself quite disapointed in the Pen and Paper CoH RPG.
Yes, the data is all there, and it presents itself very accurately.
What bothered me most was that the EDEN Studio's Game Master who ran my session had NEVER played the online game... thus the game became boring for all of the players involved (all who which HAD played the online MMO).
The session was slow, incredibly slow... it took the entire 4 hour session to complete two battle's and some RP'ing. This might have been due to the GM having no experience, but overall I think it was because the system was too slow to mimic the fast paced online play of the MMO.
For novelties sake the game will be a great collection of lore and statistics, but IMO the pen and paper game is too slow to offer me the experience I want.
=^.^=Noir Neko=^.^=
"/e Pounce!"
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[LIST][*]City of Villains will release on October 31, Halloween, barring any major remaining bugs.
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Ok I have a real problem with this part here. My pre-order says that the expected ship date is 11-9-05. That's not going to work for me. If the game is Out on Oct.31 and my game won't even ship till Nov.9th then I'm going to miss the 2 day advanced play; to say nothing of the fact that There would be no reason to pre-order the game. I'm already qualified for the 12+ mo. So I should get a beta slot and ok the bonus item would be kind of neat. But not so much so that I should miss the 2 day advanced play. Anyone have any thought here? I think Someone messed up. I would think I'd have my pre-ordered stuff well before the game goes live.
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the shipping dates given before the actual street dates were announced were nothing more than random guesses made by the gaming stores...in other words, you'll get the game when it comes out, like you expected, and if you don't you take that store to task for it...
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[LIST][*]City of Villains will release on October 31, Halloween, barring any major remaining bugs.
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Ok I have a real problem with this part here. My pre-order says that the expected ship date is 11-9-05. That's not going to work for me. If the game is Out on Oct.31 and my game won't even ship till Nov.9th then I'm going to miss the 2 day advanced play; to say nothing of the fact that There would be no reason to pre-order the game. I'm already qualified for the 12+ mo. So I should get a beta slot and ok the bonus item would be kind of neat. But not so much so that I should miss the 2 day advanced play. Anyone have any thought here? I think Someone messed up. I would think I'd have my pre-ordered stuff well before the game goes live.
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the shipping dates given before the actual street dates were announced were nothing more than random guesses made by the gaming stores...in other words, you'll get the game when it comes out, like you expected, and if you don't you take that store to task for it...
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Yep, don't worry about any dates listed at this point. It is just going to be an estimate. The store was probably smart enough to know from experience to add an extra week or two beyond the date given to them at this point. Games almost never come out on time. 
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Personally, I found myself quite disapointed in the Pen and Paper CoH RPG.
Yes, the data is all there, and it presents itself very accurately.
What bothered me most was that the EDEN Studio's Game Master who ran my session had NEVER played the online game... thus the game became boring for all of the players involved (all who which HAD played the online MMO).
The session was slow, incredibly slow... it took the entire 4 hour session to complete two battle's and some RP'ing. This might have been due to the GM having no experience, but overall I think it was because the system was too slow to mimic the fast paced online play of the MMO.
For novelties sake the game will be a great collection of lore and statistics, but IMO the pen and paper game is too slow to offer me the experience I want.
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I think any pen and paper game will be too slow for what you want. Different mediums.
Rend this space....
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Given by a third party who apparently confused vehicle riding (as in standing on top of moving vehicles) for player vehicles.
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I read it as "neither of these things will happen", not confusion. The riding on top of vehicles was shot down a long time ago (like circa Issue 1), I believe, so the fact that we aren't getting that feature was no big surprise to me. On the other hand, it's also no surprise that it was addressed here, since I've heard it brought up by players fairly recently.
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Also, there is no "maybe." They were confimed one, two, three times.
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Actually, I seem to recall there was some doubt on the matter last time it was brought up by a red name. Couldn't give you a quote though.
I remember that much because it's a feature I want. Not for getting around value (though that'd be handy ... even five minutes getting across a zone is a pain if you do it often enough) More because I dislike having to mentally insert a vehicle or jetpack whenever I employ flight/hover (especially jetpacks, because I know those are already possible)
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You don't change your mind about something that you've confirmed three times in three differen't places.
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What planet are you living on? 
Here on earth, that happens all the bloody time. Maybe it shouldn't, but it does. And in software/features, if it's not already in testing, you ALWAYS treat it as vaporware ... and sometimes even if it is.
To address those quotes, I've added out my own emphasis:
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So those a are two considerations now I'm not exactly sure when but rest assured it's on the list of things I'd like to get to and certainly it's been partially designed and speced but it's a long way from implementation.
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My current thinking is that Vehicles wouldn't be a Power Pool, but rather something that could be leveled up independently and customized via Influence. But nothing is imminent here - I've only sketched out ideas.
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Question 2: Vehicles - Separate Expansion as in no Issue 5-10
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^ Yeah, that sounds like "maybe" to me! You'll excuse me if I hedge my bets on two direct quotes and a word for somebody who knew what was being said over one person who heard wrong.
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You assume they heard it wrong.
It sounds to me as though the plans were still very nebulous at each of those points in time (about every six months, looks like). States did say that it would happen, but that was well over a year ago. In the last quote, it sounds to me as if the entire idea of putting it in CoH via the normal method was scrapped in favor of doing something like CoV. It's not a very big step from there to abandoning the feature entirely.
I wish it weren't so, but your quotes don't seem to be the firm evidence you want.
Edit: I'll also note that it's ironic that the last thread you linked actually talks about people treating everything statesman says as gospel, no matter how nebulous...
What?? No word about when Cryptic plans to cluster or merge servers?
Oh wait a minute ... that's another dying game.
Forgive the ignorance. Which dying game are you talking about?
I think he's talking about Matrix Online.
And yeah, I don't like the idea of purchasing a Pen and paper game just so I can get a cape. That's just a tad ridiculous.
I haven't really been keeping track. how is that working out?
There were something like 9 servers that are being merged to 3 servers. I don't know much more than that but the playerbase of MxO is dwindling noticably. Though it's possibly SoE might straighten things out.
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The CCG will intially be all hero-vs-hero.
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Let me be the first to say that I believe all the I6 nerfs are because of CCG balance issues.
Scorus
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DOH! Beat me to it by 3 hrs! I said as much in my reply in the Phase Shift thread, although I was talking about I5...
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BTW: I think these changes are being made, not only for PvP(CoV), but also to solidify the rules set for the P&P and card games. Kinda hard to nerf those after printing. I'm guessing we are beta testing those as well. 
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[ QUOTE ][*]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.
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Thanks for the report. Call me paraniod, but it sounds to me like them shoving the MMO into the crapper is intentional. With so many other ways to make money, who needs a hokey computer game that'll die out in a year or two anyway?
50 Tankers: Ice/EM, Stone/WM, Fire/Stone, Dark/Ice, Inv/SS, Inv/Dark, Elec/Elec
50 Brutes: ElecMelee/EA, WM/Elec
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The CCG will intially be all hero-vs-hero.
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Let me be the first to say that I believe all the I6 nerfs are because of CCG balance issues.
Scorus
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DOH! Beat me to it by 3 hrs! I said as much in my reply in the Phase Shift thread, although I was talking about I5...
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BTW: I think these changes are being made, not only for PvP(CoV), but also to solidify the rules set for the P&P and card games. Kinda hard to nerf those after printing. I'm guessing we are beta testing those as well.
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You know what, screw that. World of Warcraft is not dependent on the rules of gameplay inherent in the RTS games. And it's damn sure that Starcraft:Ghost is not dependent on Starcraft for its gameplay balance either. Yes both are inspired by their source, but not beholden to it. The medium limitations dictate the decisions that go into fun gameplay.
As for the CCG and the RPG and the upcoming novel they're pushing like it's the new Harry Potter, they can forget it after what's Issue 5 is going to do to my characters. 2 months prior I would have slapped down my credit card without any hesitation. I have a very nice job and it allows me to have the disposable income to support my various hobbies. However, I'm not going to support a system that constantly creates aggravation for me and my friends. Our entertainment dollars can be used on other channels too. Let's face it, if they keep the pattern on nerfing and completely changing gameplay balance on the MMORPG, do you think that the CCG is going to ever be balanced? How many times is your Regen card going to be changed? Do you have to check the publishing date for every deck?
Heck, I'll bet every expansion Card Set with require buying a new accompanying ruleset manual...Oh wait, maybe that's what they want.
Your first link was from 14 months ago.
Your second link was from nearly 7 months ago.
Your third link was from almost 3 months ago (and posted as secondhand information -- how do you know HE didn't hear wrong)?
And they all say different things.
Which one of them is right? And did their minds change in between?
I remember that Skills were coming for Issue 3. You remember Statesman saying that, right?
I also remember Statesman mentioning that customizable powers would be in issue 2 or 3. Still not here.
Point is: things change. People change their minds.
Would vehicles be nice? Yes.
Would vehicles be workable? I don't see it.
Arc# 92382 -- "The S.P.I.D.E.R. and the Tyrant" -- Ninjas! Robots! Praetorians! It's totally epic! Play it now!
Arc # 316340 -- "Husk" -- Azuria loses something, a young woman harbors a dark secret, and the fate of the world is in your hands.
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we don't need to have massive tanks and all (tough that would be fun) how about personal sized vehicles, like jetpacks, hoverboards, sinister looking mopeds...
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GREAT POINT!
I can see Statesman's point about vehicles. I mean come on, everyone will ride in a "batmobile" if they do that. And with all the traffic and civilians and roads that make no sense of direction - it's kinda pointless. You won't even be able to pick up speed before you slam into a civilian - or cut a turn to close and - bam - you hit a stop sign. Unfun.
HOWEVER - personalized 1 man vehicles is a decent solution. Mopeds, skateboards, even as big as a small motorcross bike/motorcycle would WORK in the environment - cause it takes up far less space. Heck, I'd even go with Hero's riding on SEGWAYS. ;-)
How different is it between the purple slide vs a graphic for a SEGWAY? Hmmm. Hero is in stand up position and slides across ground, 2 big wheels and a stick next to his feet and middle of his body respectively.
And all these "vehicles" could come with an extra dimensional "garage". The animation for turning it off is, you step off yer small vehicle, pull out a metal box (think aide other) - open a smal portal, and your vehicle gets sucked in.
HOw hard is that?
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Or just a capsule (ala DragonBall/DBZ).
BOM! *Motorcyle pops out*
Seing origin-specific vehicle options would rock. Jetpacks for tech, maybe a flying carpet for Magic? :P