Statesman Interview Transcript!

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2) Auto Side-kicked/Exemplar SG Missions.
Give that SG Mission Generator a reason to exist. Please allow it to generate random missions. BUT to separate this content from news paper missions have it so that they auto-sidekick everyone to the same level. That would be a real help to super groups.


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OK, this is freaking brilliant. This alone would have made all the work we have done so far to build a base worth it, just being able to run mishes without playing the 'alt-game':

"OK, you run Kross and I'll SK Dart....no, then Potamus won't have a mentor...OK, you run Mayhem and SK Potamus...that works."

"Hey, guys, I just logged on - got room for my 39 Kin Defender?"

/e Groan

"OK, new plan...."

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Originally Posted by Hyperstrike English does not borrow from other languages. English follows other languages down dark alleys, hits them over the head, and rifles through their pockets for loose grammar.

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I didn't reread the transcript, though I do remember the interview distinctly...but here's my take on bases:

They give players their own property...not exactly new ground for MMP's...however, they do offer an unprecedented level of customization.

Clearly, that customization, as well as the several gameplay benefits that the base provides hasn't been perceived to be worth the cost (i.e. Prestige/time played)...hence, Posi and several others (including myself) have taken a spin at making bases more accessible at an earlier stage.

It isn't the popularity of bases so much as the fact that our programming & art team did a phenomenal job of allowing players to generate their own lairs. Maybe not enough players have experienced this content to comment on it, though hopefully Posi's changes will help.

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I am perplexed by developers constantly being surpised by player behavior. It's not that we can look in hindisght and say, "See, I told you this would happen." Many of the issues that come up seem probabilistically reasonable. The adage "Risk vs. Reward" still drives the game. If players are not using the bases then the reward versus cost isn't high enough.

This is such a fundamental concept. If you want players to be in teams then make the reward worth it that people will be looking for teams. If you want players to use SG bases then make the rewards worth it. See what the players are saying and adjust accordingly. Devs can't predict the right rewards versus risk everytime but be ready to make adjustments quickly to find the right balance.

For me personally, I want more reasons to go to my base. Adding beacons to COH helped (a little). However, I don't want 8 or 9 teleporters. So now there is talk about adding aux items or whatever so teleporters can take more beacons. Forget the aux items. Just add it to the game. If it improves QOL for players and doesn't wreck the game then go for it. In hazard zones put in the SG portal so we don't have to run to another zone to get to our base. This just won't ruin the game. Let the sacred cows die!

For med bays, I understand an aux item to transport us to the mission door, cool. But will it really wreck the game to allow us to revive in our base with 80-100% of our health and endurance? I know that we should be working for perks but honestly, it will take so long to get the healing badge requirement to add like 10% extra to health and end on rezzing in the base that its not fun. The reward is not worth the cost.

Why are items so expensive? So what if large SGs have great bases? With much cheaper items at least medium size bases and smaller groups can have good bases. Lower the costs all the way around.

Build more features of the game into SGs. I have a mission computer sitting in my base doing nothing. I like the idea of TFs but howabout story arcs, or just missions that my SG can enjoy together? Easy and quick to implement. Think of newspaper missions but form the mission computer (bat phone maybe?). It seems that the game can almost create simple TFs off of the mission templates in existence.

Instead of trying to earn badges with enormous requirements (requirments not scaled for the number of players in a SG) allow us to use our mission computers to run story arcs to get the same plans or items.

As for custmization, why not add a second or third level (free or little cost) for personal space? Allow most if not all players to have an investment in the base. I still think personal apartments are doable. We have doors to enter mission why not have doors to enter personal rooms. I guess the question is will you basically have to "zone" to get there? I am not sure I want 40 different apartments all loading at once and bog down my time to get to the base itself.

This is sort of a rant but for devs to be surpised by their players over and over again scratching their heads is amazing.

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I didn't reread the transcript, though I do remember the interview distinctly...but here's my take on bases:

They give players their own property...not exactly new ground for MMP's...however, they do offer an unprecedented level of customization.

Clearly, that customization, as well as the several gameplay benefits that the base provides hasn't been perceived to be worth the cost (i.e. Prestige/time played)...hence, Posi and several others (including myself) have taken a spin at making bases more accessible at an earlier stage.

It isn't the popularity of bases so much as the fact that our programming & art team did a phenomenal job of allowing players to generate their own lairs. Maybe not enough players have experienced this content to comment on it, though hopefully Posi's changes will help.

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My husband and I have created an SG for our characters on Infinity and the changes Posi and others made to the bases allowed us to get a medical bay ring up and a workshop table and we're VERY pleased to have them. Excellent change devs!

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...At the end of the day, why would the Devs want players to spend all their time in their personal apartments when they should be motivated to head outside and explore the zones?

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Not all their time ... but there comes a point in time in an MMO where enough of the playerbase is tired of re-rolling alts and experiencing the same content over and over and over again. Kudos for you if you aren't among this portion of the community, but it exists and is quite large ... for now.

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I agree with you actually. However I know plenty of SG mates who never got their first toon ever past lvl 30 or fell just short of their first lvl 50 toon, and they all gave up trying because of "the grind" and skipped out on higher level content to “re-roll” some alts (which gave them a faster, more gratifying pay-off for playing and seeing new powers at work). It’s *these* types of folks I was thinking of - and they *are* a large part of the player base.

Which leads to….

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In my view, there is insufficient incentive to keep these folks from jumping ship to other games where fluff like personal housing can be fun and a diversion to the same ole same ole.

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True, and that's why I'm saying folks *could* just as well jump to The Sims and play to their heart’s content w/o a monthly subscriber’s fee.

Hey, don’t get me wrong, if the Devs can make money just by letting folks buy into an mmorpg for whole hours a day just to build apartments and never see the game itself, then they’re fools not to go for it. Easy money!

That said, Statesman has made it clear in his interview that he wants folks to experience the content - particularly regarding hero/villain conversions. What he doesn’t consider is that a large ratio of the current community has already *played* the content which makes his concern a moot point.

If it were me? I’d say make player apartments AND hero/villain conversions an unlockable benefit AFTER each account has a toon that hits lvl 50. The first time round establishes the community base content which creates the opportunity for players to use future alts to explore new content and gaming incentives (ie Kheldians, player apartments and hero/villain conversions) *and* justifies public storage for alts to access later (which can only happen with hard-earned base upgrades).

Again, if the idea is to keep people playing *and* to make money, then the Devs need to dangle more carrots before the horses after they've run their first lap. The first go-round to 50 is fun (except for the grind) but the incentives should be used to encourage the cyclical nature of the game's "replay value" - right now, it's not as strong as it could be.


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...If a request for player apartments outweighs the priority of new zone material, then there's a problem with players feeling *motivated* to go explore the outside world.

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The absence of any "new zone material" and a flashback system in this game demonstrates the fallacy in your argument.

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Again, was thinking of this for players going the first time round who give up before ever hitting lvl 30, 40 or 50. The Grind kills the “casual player’s” motivation to keep playing. Hardcore gamers thrive on WoW *because* it’s a grind – and they’re the type of players that are determined to “beat the house” at all odds, no matter how much time it takes.

Besides, a flashback system says you're not gonna play again. I can see its value for times when players inadvertently "outlevel" content, but hey, go play an alt and see what you missed. More encouragement for "replay value" and "replay value" is what the Devs need to improve upon if they want to see the quarterly subscription numbers improve.

Replay value will also improve the longevity of time-sink values because there's always something new for players to discover in the game *after* hitting lvl 50. First things first though, ease "the xp grind" from lvls 30-50 (cause its really offputting to the casual mmorpg player). To be honest, it's not so bad on the COV side, but for COH? It's *awful.*

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Gee, and here I though the "point of the game" was to have fun... I don't see how interactable items makes the game into The Sims, anyway. That statement was just sweepingly closed-minded, really.

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Was it?

Sure, the point of *any* game is to have fun, but each game has its own rules, signature style, method of play and focus.

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Your mistake is trying to apply -YOUR- play style to everyone. There are RPers. A lot of them. Interactive items would be a huge boon to them. Just because -YOU- play the game as a utility-function only action game doesn't mean everyone should nor does it mean any feature that doesn't fall into that style should be ignored by the devs.

This is, after all, an MMO***RP***G. You don't -have- to RP, but RP is part of the game for those who chose to do so.

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It would be a nice compromise since player apartments were scrapped.

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They've been scrapped?

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From what I've read over the past few months, yes. I seem to remember the smaller starter rooms and items for bases that were recently added were a consolation for the scrapping of the player apartment feature. They are a means for smaller groups to get a functional base much sooner. Of course if I'm way off here, someone feel free to chime in.

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To be scrapped, they would have had to be bringing it out to us in the first place. No such announcement was ever made. Not even a vague "maybe". Closest is basically saying "it's just not something we want to focus on"...which equates about to "not a definate no, but far from a yes".

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Gee, and here I though the "point of the game" was to have fun... I don't see how interactable items makes the game into The Sims, anyway. That statement was just sweepingly closed-minded, really.

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Was it?

Sure, the point of *any* game is to have fun, but each game has its own rules, signature style, method of play and focus.

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Your mistake is trying to apply -YOUR- play style to everyone. There are RPers. A lot of them. Interactive items would be a huge boon to them. Just because -YOU- play the game as a utility-function only action game doesn't mean everyone should nor does it mean any feature that doesn't fall into that style should be ignored by the devs.

This is, after all, an MMO***RP***G. You don't -have- to RP, but RP is part of the game for those who chose to do so.

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Excuse me? I'd love more interactive items in the game. I wasn't thinking of them as being purely decorative though (read further down to my "Bat Cave" example in that same post).

Trust me, I wasn't projecting *my* personal gameplay style on others. Mine doesn't exclude more "interactive" items - I just want to see them do more than appear decorative. I'm not paying $14.95/month to play the superhero version of The Sims - THAT'S MY POINT.

Please don't second-guess "my" play style - talk about rude.

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Ok, so player apartments are supposed to serve what need exactly: having an in-game "MySpace" 3D account?

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ROLE PLAY!!!! It may not be your priority, but it is something that does draw and keep a lot of long-term players. I've been in RP Guilds/SGs in various games with LOOOONG time vets who wouldn't have stayed more than a few months without RP. Frankly, I think the devs are being short-sighted and ignorant in not putting more focus on their wants.

And don't tell me "Go play <insert game here> for that!". I don't want to play that game, I want to play CoX. I enjoy it. But I definately would enjoy it a lot more if the devs weren't so blindly focused on only adding functional features... Not everyone plays this as a bloody min/max FPS with levels...

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Gee, and here I though the "point of the game" was to have fun... I don't see how interactable items makes the game into The Sims, anyway. That statement was just sweepingly closed-minded, really.

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Was it?

Sure, the point of *any* game is to have fun, but each game has its own rules, signature style, method of play and focus.

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Your mistake is trying to apply -YOUR- play style to everyone. There are RPers. A lot of them. Interactive items would be a huge boon to them. Just because -YOU- play the game as a utility-function only action game doesn't mean everyone should nor does it mean any feature that doesn't fall into that style should be ignored by the devs.

This is, after all, an MMO***RP***G. You don't -have- to RP, but RP is part of the game for those who chose to do so.

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Excuse me? I'd love more interactive items in the game. I wasn't thinking of them as being purely decorative though (read further down to my "Bat Cave" example in that same post).

Trust me, I wasn't projecting *my* personal gameplay style on others. Mine doesn't exclude more "interactive" items - I just want to see them do more than appear decorative. I'm not paying $14.95/month to play the superhero version of The Sims - THAT'S MY POINT.

Please don't second-guess "my" play style - talk about rude.

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You've just confirmed exactly what I was talking about.. Your play style doesn't seem to have room for non-fucntional interactive items (Read: DECORATIVE! Duh.). You're going on to try to lable your playstle as the style of the game. That's just plain false. It's your playstyle, that's all. Your style, focus, priorities, whatever. They're not everybody's. And they're not necessarily the focus of the game. Don't assume that they are and brush off any idea that doesn't fit as "not belonging" in the game.

You wanna talk about rude, try snarky comments about items that fit someone else's play style turning CoX into The Sims....

Anyway, if you don't want to pay to play a "Superhero version of The SIms"...DON'T! Adding those features doesn't mean you have to use them and, thus, will have zero effect on your gameplay if you choose not to use them. But this "They should only add features that suit my tastes" mindset you've expressed is just plain selfish. And....rude. We're not asking for that much, in the end. It won't take time away from your precious min-maxing boosts.

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Trust me, I wasn't projecting *my* personal gameplay style on others. Mine doesn't exclude more "interactive" items - I just want to see them do more than appear decorative. I'm not paying $14.95/month to play the superhero version of The Sims - THAT'S MY POINT.

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Nerf badges.

Ahh, but accolades make up for it all! The hundreds of useless badges are worthwhile for the few that build toward accolades!

*Ahem* *Dusts off his Shield of Sarcasm*

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You've just confirmed exactly what I was talking about.. Your play style doesn't seem to have room for non-fucntional interactive items (Read: DECORATIVE! Duh.)

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Ok, so tirade aside what this comes down to is:

You want decorative items.
I want decorative items that are also interactive.
Why can't they be both? I'll interact, and you just look at it.

It's a win/win and I think we're agreed (and btw, I roleplay on Victory).




Oh, and here's your shield. Needs more polish.

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the problem is, the Cities have acknowledged that the core of their base is players who DO NOT WANT that stuff in this game.

Making the game more like WoW is going to cause more cancellations than new subscriptions. The SWG effect, if you will.

[/ QUOTE ]Saying players have "acknowledged they DO NOT WANT that stuff in this game" ....Doesn't make it true.

You go ahead and try to speak for 100 thousand other players and type in CAPS, I'm just giving my opinion what I would like .

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I'm going to give my opinion then. I would just up and quit of loot and crafting went beyond the level it's currently at. Almost everyone I team with feels the same way.


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I'll add my voice to Angello's here.

While I do like a game with a well thought out crafting system, I don't want crafting to "take off" in CoX. The game we have works very well as it is now. The last thing I want to see it becoming is a grind for recipes (unlikely, since those appear to come free with tables) or more likely, a grind for materials.

If I were able to provide any input for any "crafting" system for this game, I'd want one thing above all else. It needs to be an "icing on the cake" kinda thing, rather than a major factor of the game.

Crafting is a "major" gameplay item in games like WoW, EvE, etc. etc. etc. For better or for worse, I don't think CoX needs or wants crafting of that sort. IMHO, the game is a breath of fresh air (sewers notwithstanding ) in the current MMO world, by virtue of its delightful simplicity.

I'd see it as simple as you go to some sort of "craft station" in your SG base, dial up what you want, and the game then proceeds to auto collect salvage from you as you're playing. Then one day, you get a note: "Item Built", in much the same way that we currently get "Mission Complete" or "Enhancement Found" messages.

Head back to the SG base, pick up your new shiny, and that's it.

The point being that this does not introduce the horrors of explicitly grinding for craft materials that seems to be so prevalent in games where crafting plays a larger role.

We currently have an excellent mechaninc in place for gettng craft materials: Salvage drops. All we're mssing is a way to turn them into personal items rather than SG items, especially since many SG members do not have the necessary privs and/or resources to build stuff from salvage.

I think its probably a given that the Invention System (which is basically crafting), when it comes, will use salvage as its base.

Also, we've been told in past interviews that the Universities will be used for Inventions, so I suspect we'll be doing our crafting there instead of in SG bases. Which is probably a good thing, since it makes Inventions accessible to those without SGs or without bases.

Edit: I need more caffeine. Using "their" isntead of "there". <facepalm>

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You've just confirmed exactly what I was talking about.. Your play style doesn't seem to have room for non-fucntional interactive items (Read: DECORATIVE! Duh.)

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Ok, so tirade aside what this comes down to is:

You want decorative items.
I want decorative items that are also interactive.
Why can't they be both? I'll interact, and you just look at it.

It's a win/win and I think we're agreed (and btw, I roleplay on Victory).




Oh, and here's your shield. Needs more polish.

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What it comes down to is the definition of "interactive". Just being able to click a chair to sit in it (as you can in WoW) would be a wonderful thing for a lot of us. Most RPers, I assure you. You, on the other hand, seem to only be interested in functional interactiveness.

Now, I haven't said they should ignore functional to add the RP toys. Just don't ignore the RP toys simply because they're not functional...that's what you seem to be gunning for and that is what I say is selfish.

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What it comes down to is the definition of "interactive". Just being able to click a chair to sit in it (as you can in WoW) would be a wonderful thing for a lot of us. Most RPers, I assure you. You, on the other hand, seem to only be interested in functional interactiveness.

Now, I haven't said they should ignore functional to add the RP toys. Just don't ignore the RP toys simply because they're not functional...that's what you seem to be gunning for and that is what I say is selfish.

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So what you're saying is: you want to sit down in a chair, log into COH, buy an in-game chair, and watch your superhero sit down in it?


... and this helps your roleplay? Ok then. Suit yourself. I'm easy.

Rather than having to leap around and position myself, yes, that will help my RP. But that's not -all- I want to log in and do, and if you truly believe that's the case, you're tragically ignorant or just plain narrow-minded. I get the impression you're one of the heavily anti-RPer types from the posts you've made on the topic of such "RP toys"... All I can say is get the frell over it.

I am completely at a loss as to why these folks get a chance to interview someone and then just lob softballs at them.

The entire puzzlement by Statesman that people say they are leaving and we don't see it - is completely negated by the sales reported in the quarterly report. Is Statesman saying that report is either in error or false?

Why is it he never seems to "understand" his audience?

I could give a list that would go on for pages on items they did not "understand" and bases is just one of them. Among the worst EVER ideas they had that showed the disconnect of Devs vs Players:

1) The entire Regen scrappers soloing +8's on the internal server.

2) Boost Boss damage so the players that didn't have a problem before that weren't affected and the ones that did have problems were 2 shotted.

3) Suppression and the fly slowness finally being resolved YEARS LATER

4) No Influence being earned in exchange for extra Prestige. This leads to a game based on Twinking which Statesman flat out said he disliked and set the personal exchange at 9999 max then he reverses himself and says thats how he WANTS the game played.

5) Burn

6) The Sewer Trial

7) Giant Monsters

8) Tankers

I could go on but they NEVER in these interviews actually ENGAGE the Devs they just allow spin to go on and never point out inconsistant answers. Issue 5 being the last MAJOR change to gameplay and powers immediately followed by Issue 6 and ED.

The suggestion in Issue 5 to players that they will need to 6 slot powers for the desired effect and then stopping 6 slotting?

I know people feel honored by being granted an interview but they should have some form of responsibility to the players of said game as well.

Not just be a marketing opportunity.

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Rather than having to leap around and position myself, yes, that will help my RP. But that's not -all- I want to log in and do, and if you truly believe that's the case, you're tragically ignorant or just plain narrow-minded. I get the impression you're one of the heavily anti-RPer types from the posts you've made on the topic of such "RP toys"... All I can say is get the frell over it.

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Let's take this argument offline to PM's - it's wasting chat space and nobody is interested in reading it.
This thread doesn't need to be derailed with our bickering.

Sorry folks.

lol I find it amusing that when myself and others brought these issues up months ago, we were decried as heretics and being negative and here we are now.

Everyone is dead on about bases not being anything special for most players. I knew I wanted to help design the base, and new SG leaders were gonna be stingy about it, so I started by own SG before bases were launched. This in turn lead me to treat the SG like a business like everyone says. And now I've got a mostly inactive SG, though a fully functional base that serves little purpose. I use the TPers and it's convenient to meet with other SG members really quick. The bases are useless and their main purpose was base raiding. Most SGs aen't big enough for that, and here it is nearly a year later and the CoP trial STILL isn't up.

And personal bases were deemed unimportant because of lack of game functionality? Pocket D anyone? What a waste there. Annoyed me that Devs spent their time on that rather than working on real game issues and yet they did. But how does Pocket D contribute any more to gameplay than personal bases?

And I for one welcome loot, crafting, anything that takes away from the repetition now. And loot isn't always about being uber. Sometimes it's just cool. I played EQOA and there was the Mistmoore robe that gave crap stats but everyone wanted because it was purple. There was also a caster sword that was weak, but was one of a kind. Sometimes it's cool to get that kill and experience the joy of finding something rare. CoX lacks that. I totally zone out now when I'm burning through a mission. The game really isn't that fun anymore. Give us something to look forward to on occasion with kills. Even if it's just costume parts like canes, or jetpacks(purely for looks) or something. You don't even need stats, just something that we find. We can then trade them or keep them for our costumes. Something like that wouldn't upset game balance, but would add a new dimension and be fun.

Also to add more to the game and make use of bases, how about adding in game tables where you can play cards. Or how about arcade-looking video games for decoration that when clicked on let you play a mini-game? Give us a reason to stay in our bases and something that breaks the repetition of the game as it is now.

And who cares if we bypass content? Happens all the time when you team. It's our choice. I barely skim the missions I'm given anyway. I think this decision is based off ego more than anything. Statesman helped design this massive world and wants to make us go through everything in his order and how he has set.

I think CoX is lacking alot when it comes to the other mmorpgs out there. It isn't about being WoW with spandex, but having something for everybody. The game can get really boring. I can barely get myself to log on once week these days. I just don't care. Being the only game of it's genre and the costume creator will keep alot of players around for now. But once another half-way decent superhero game with it's own cool costume creator comes along, CoX will suffer a big hit.

And I hope this is coherent since I am writing it off about 2 hours sleep in the past 26 hours.

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But anyway. I'd like combos to be in the game as well (it's even very superheroic), but seeing as how Oil Slick Arrow has caused Castle no end of grief, I think the tech for this is some time away.



[/ QUOTE ]Same here I would love Skills and Combos to be added....This would almost make an entirely different game , and would take the developers a long time to make , but I wanted to give an example of it anyways. This is just basic stuff , more would be added of course.

Dodge

Guard

Counter Attack

Finishing Combo

Air Combo

Aerial spin kick

Upper punch
Combos

Hero/Villain Team Combos




Skills: You learn skills after completing story arches and AV/Bosses in missions.

Boost controller pets damage (boosts the last finishing move , pets only!! )

Combine controller pets to make new forms of pets (3 Forms total )

Full Team Healing

High Super Jump Burst (uses ALOT endurance)


Faster Flight burst (uses ALOT endurance)

Super Speed time warp attack

Combo Boost (combo does more damage)

Super Group Enhancement Skill (enhancements drop rate is increased, only in SG mode) This skill doesn't become available until level 45-50 , skill doesn't work if your exemped

Super Group Salvage skill (salvage drop rate is increased, only in SG mode)This skill doesn't become available until level 45-50 , skill doesn't work if your exemped

Super Group base Items skill ( items drop rate is increased , players could use these for themselves in bases)

Team Experience Boost : When in critical health, amount of EXP gained is increased

Defense skill: When in critical health, Defense is increased

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It would be a nice compromise since player apartments were scrapped.

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They've been scrapped?

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Yes, Positron mentioned it in a previous interview. He wanted to put the time/energy/resources into other aspects for improving the game.

And in a lot of ways, he's right. This is what I meant by the game losing itself to aspects of The Sims. At some point it stops becoming a community environment and starts becoming a solo game. To reserve a personal room inside the base is still very much asking for a "player's apartment."

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EverQuest 2 manages to have personal housing and still maintains a healthy grouping community, as does FFXI. The actual gameplay has more affect on whether people solo or not rather than their housing, especially is aspects of the housing encourage grouping. For example, maybe doing the Sister Psyche TF unlocks a new wall texture and personal base item.

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At the end of the day, why would the Devs want players to spend all their time in their personal apartments when they should be motivated to head outside and explore the zones?

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Because it could add something to do besides fighting? That's seriously one of the things the game is lacking and has been for the past couple of years.

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If a request for player apartments outweighs the priority of new zone material, then there's a problem with players feeling *motivated* to go explore the outside world.

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Well, I'd agree with you on this, but I think that's a whole other issue!

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It would be a nice compromise since player apartments were scrapped.

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They've been scrapped?

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From what I've read over the past few months, yes. I seem to remember the smaller starter rooms and items for bases that were recently added were a consolation for the scrapping of the player apartment feature. They are a means for smaller groups to get a functional base much sooner. Of course if I'm way off here, someone feel free to chime in.

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To be scrapped, they would have had to be bringing it out to us in the first place. No such announcement was ever made. Not even a vague "maybe". Closest is basically saying "it's just not something we want to focus on"...which equates about to "not a definate no, but far from a yes".

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Actually, it was talked about in CoV beta, and we were told (by Loki, if I recall) that it was something we'd see shortly after CoV's release. Unfortuantely, this is nothing I can prove, but I remember it clearly.

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Gee, and here I though the "point of the game" was to have fun... I don't see how interactable items makes the game into The Sims, anyway. That statement was just sweepingly closed-minded, really.

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Was it?

Sure, the point of *any* game is to have fun, but each game has its own rules, signature style, method of play and focus.

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Your mistake is trying to apply -YOUR- play style to everyone. There are RPers. A lot of them. Interactive items would be a huge boon to them. Just because -YOU- play the game as a utility-function only action game doesn't mean everyone should nor does it mean any feature that doesn't fall into that style should be ignored by the devs.

This is, after all, an MMO***RP***G. You don't -have- to RP, but RP is part of the game for those who chose to do so.

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Excuse me? I'd love more interactive items in the game. I wasn't thinking of them as being purely decorative though (read further down to my "Bat Cave" example in that same post).

Trust me, I wasn't projecting *my* personal gameplay style on others. Mine doesn't exclude more "interactive" items - I just want to see them do more than appear decorative. I'm not paying $14.95/month to play the superhero version of The Sims - THAT'S MY POINT.

Please don't second-guess "my" play style - talk about rude.

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You've just confirmed exactly what I was talking about.. Your play style doesn't seem to have room for non-fucntional interactive items (Read: DECORATIVE! Duh.). You're going on to try to lable your playstle as the style of the game. That's just plain false. It's your playstyle, that's all. Your style, focus, priorities, whatever. They're not everybody's. And they're not necessarily the focus of the game. Don't assume that they are and brush off any idea that doesn't fit as "not belonging" in the game.

You wanna talk about rude, try snarky comments about items that fit someone else's play style turning CoX into The Sims....

Anyway, if you don't want to pay to play a "Superhero version of The SIms"...DON'T! Adding those features doesn't mean you have to use them and, thus, will have zero effect on your gameplay if you choose not to use them. But this "They should only add features that suit my tastes" mindset you've expressed is just plain selfish. And....rude. We're not asking for that much, in the end. It won't take time away from your precious min-maxing boosts.

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You're both being rude, snarky, and subjective.

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Anywho, I'm liking some of the ideas you all are coming up with!

It's very coherent, and I agree. I don't even have a level 50 and I'm bored.

I want something more from this game. I want something that makes me think. Sure, we have to think up strategies to take down certain mobs but that's not enough. Once you know how to defeat a certain type of mob there's not much strategy left. I don't know, maybe I'm just playing the wrong game.

I want to have to think. I want to figure out puzzles. I don't want to be told to go to place X and defeat all Y. Over, and over, and over again. I want to have to figure out what a contact wants, or piece together a solution on my own. Like the quests in other games. y'know?

Didn't they 'dumb down' the whole powers/skills system? Wasn't it supposed to be more like the skill branches in other games? Or am I wrong on that, it was so long ago I forget. I'm pretty sure combat was more involved, wasn't there a little body icon where you could attack body parts? Whatever got changed, maybe it wasn't such a good change. Someone posted that CoX is a breath of fresh air by virtue of it's simplicity, and it is. But sometimes I think it's too simple.

I'm rambling here because I can't point to any one thing and say, "There! That's the problem!" I don't have any solution or great suggestions. All I know is that I've been feeling restless here for a long time now. I don't feel there's enough to hold my interest these days. Would an apartment help? Or RP items, or some of the other things that have been suggested here? I don't know.

I've been here from the beginning, and because of that I feel a certain loyalty to the game, but it's getting harder and harder.

Now I'm depressed.