Statesman Interview Transcript!
By
2Negative,
Posted on: 2006-08-18 10:31 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
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Everyone is dead on about bases not being anything special for most players.
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...which s why one of the selling points I see in most SG recruiting broadcasts is "working base"?
Virtue Server
Avatar art by Daggerpoint
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You're both being rude, snarky, and subjective.
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*Points* He started it! 
Virtue Server
Avatar art by Daggerpoint
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You're both being rude, snarky, and subjective.
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*Points* He started it!
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That's it!
Both of you! Time out!
After five minutes, hug each other.
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Everyone is dead on about bases not being anything special for most players.
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...which s why one of the selling points I see in most SG recruiting broadcasts is "working base"?
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I often suspect the reason for that is the SG in question doesn't have much else going for it 
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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 know this is going to be pretty moot at this point in the thread...
But I think you're missing the boat here. People aren't missing out on this stuff because it's too expensive. They're missing out on it for entirely different reasons, and prices won't change that.
First of all, only one or two people in a supergroup have access to see all the stuff (the people who build the base) and frankly... only one or two people are even interested anyway.
Secondly, in ANY game this isn't the sort of content that is ever used a whole lot. I remember houses in DarkAge... people would go through tons of trouble to GET the house... then build it... then almost never go there again. It was something that was done, to say you've done it, maybe to fill some hidden roleplaying niche and then just kind of be glad you have it around, even if you never use it. People LIKE the idea of bases, we're all glad they're available, we just don't really have much use for them. No one really does.
Honestly... the art department DID do a great job with bases... too good in my opinion, a little too much time is going into that. And has gone into that. At this point, it's very clear that the devs are FAR more interested in bases than the players ever have been.
If people are only interested in bases (generally of course) to say they have them and to fill a small roleplaying niche, then maybe they never needed all the features you packed them with... people generally just don't care. Maybe all you needed to do was to make a general customizable base... something that looked good, and allow the person to put the entrance wherever they wanted to (depending on the supergroup) and allow small groups (one man) to have one and you'd have seen all the use you'd ever see out of them. That way... someone who wants an apartment can put their entrance near a doorway... I heard of some hero who wanted to live ina dumpster, that's fine... but all this teleporting and power items stuff and what not... it's just not what people go for.
Methinks you need to hire a psychologist to seek out what people want... and more importantly.. WHY they want some things so the development goes a little closer to mark. 
If it helps, I happen to know one who's available.
Zeus - god of research
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You're both being rude, snarky, and subjective.
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*Points* He started it!
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That's it!
Both of you! Time out!
After five minutes, hug each other.
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Listen to your mother!
Thanks, hunny.
lol :P
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I think the problem is that most players don't have much to do with designing the bases. Supergroup leaders or officers do the designing and get to see all the options. It is possible for people to go onto the test server and make their own base, but do many do that?
Maybe you should re-think allowing players to have personal lairs. That would get all your hard work into a lot more hands.
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QFE
I would love a personal lair.
Sure my SG has a base--but I can't customize it to fit my characters.
Sure, I can make my own SG and base--but if that keeps up, we'll end up with personal lairs anyway, and 150,000 one-person SGs.
I vote that we pronounce the PvP raids dead in the water and move forward from that. What could have been accomplished with all the dev time spent on IoP and raiding so far? Cars? Origin-specific travel power animations? Or at least justify it--what percentage of accounts spend time in the PvP zones? If it's a majority, then raids are probably wanted. If it's not, then raids will probably go unused--like most of the PvP zones, and the arenas...
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Everyone is dead on about bases not being anything special for most players.
[/ QUOTE ]
...which s why one of the selling points I see in most SG recruiting broadcasts is "working base"?
[/ QUOTE ]
I often suspect the reason for that is the SG in question doesn't have much else going for it
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But to have a functional base would require having active members...
Virtue Server
Avatar art by Daggerpoint
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[ QUOTE ]
Everyone is dead on about bases not being anything special for most players.
[/ QUOTE ]
...which s why one of the selling points I see in most SG recruiting broadcasts is "working base"?
[/ QUOTE ]
I often suspect the reason for that is the SG in question doesn't have much else going for it
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But to have a functional base would require having active members...
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Oh sure, *now* you're open to talking about the functionality of base items beyond roleplay?
There is a God. 
Seriously though, there are tons of SG's with plenty of members that don't even *have* a base.
Why?
Gaining enough prestige is one issue, having the vision to build a base is another (gurl, you can't even clean your room, how you gonna build one in-game??). Not everyone wants to play to that lvl of detail, and some folks are extremely possessive that they're the only ones allowed to decide that lvl of detail in the SG. The first immediate fix here is having several pre-established "show rooms" packages folks can preview/buy/rearrange for a "quick base" fix in addition to the manual option of building completely from scratch (yes, call me a hypocrite, I'm talking The Sims again).
Salvage components are great but they do nothing for the game outside of the base - which is why most folks don't pay attention to salvage (or think twice to give it to the person who CAN use it to build something).
The base (unlike player apartments) needs to be "operative" for resolving *MYSTERIES* elsewhere in the game - which is why I used the Bat Cave example a few pages back. If I know I can set up a crime lab/computer to piece together various clues collected in missions to open up a hidden contact/mission/TF, sweet! But don't do it as a qualification (ie 5 badges get you an accolade, 5 clues get you a mission contact), put some interactive puzzles into the game for players. Take it to a new level - a non-combat level. 5 clues should enable an interactive puzzle, player solves it, and opens up a hidden contact/mish.
Another way to ensure a more "community" type base atmosphere, require certain puzzles to have clues retrieved simultaneously by more than one player! Want access to that secret Underwater City TF for the SG? Get 3-4 people to chase down certain clues then plug in together to the Base supercomputer and get the coordinates or "TP'ed" to the secret mission site! That's functionality beyond decorative purposes - and we can all roleplay being detectives to our hearts content.
Bases aren't functional - but they should be. And without question, the art is very pretty to look at. As for player apartments, as long as their *within* a base and can accomodate personal design touches, then they'll be *very popular*. Maybe there is something to earning collectable "trophies" that you can display/store in your room and later sell for cash. The more trophies in your apartment, the better your end-game power buff values (if/whenever that sees the light of day).
And I also agree to an earlier post: get rid of the portal columns and put those secret bases around buildings in the actual zones. The programming might be hellacious at first but the gratification for players zooming around the zones to reach their secret lair would be immeasurable from a roleplaying experience.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to hit the base and roleplay that I've become a chair.
Yes folks, I'm that cushy!
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Everyone is dead on about bases not being anything special for most players.
[/ QUOTE ]
...which s why one of the selling points I see in most SG recruiting broadcasts is "working base"?
[/ QUOTE ]
I often suspect the reason for that is the SG in question doesn't have much else going for it
[/ QUOTE ]
But to have a functional base would require having active members...
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Usually it probably does, but with no guarantee of the quality of community within the SG - does it have teaming, events, an actual sense of camaraderie.. or is it just a prestige farm - which is really what I meant by not much else going for it (though I admit that's purely cynical speculation on my part, being as I've not joined one of the "working base" broadcasters).
But it's no guarantee of active members either: I'm an example of this. My VG currently has a working base. It also currently has one member: me. At its peak it had two members: me and a friend. We duoed and took a char each to 40. We joined up 3-5 alts each for the bonus prestige (and levelled two or three to 10-15). He then quit the game and I levelled a 2nd char to 40. That much was enough to build a working base (about 1.2mil prestige from the three 40s, then add the bonuses for the alts). And that's before the recent bonus prestige payout or the new bare minimum rooms. But I doubt one active member and one ex-active member is what people'd have in mind on hearing "active members"
[ QUOTE ]
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 know I have fun with it, but one thing I'd like to suggest:
Can we have an official sticky similar to Jay's Costume Suggestion thread for base items? While the utility stuffis great, I have a number of suggestions for decorations and such.
Thrythlind's Deviant Art Page
"Notice at the end, there: Arcanaville did the math and KICKED IT INTO EXISTENCE." - Ironik on the power of Arcanaville's math
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I know I have fun with it, but one thing I'd like to suggest:
Can we have an official sticky similar to Jay's Costume Suggestion thread for base items? While the utility stuffis great, I have a number of suggestions for decorations and such.
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For that, I'd ask Cricket. Send her a pm asking if you start a thread can she sticky it or if she'll start a sticky thread for base suggestions.
As far as the whole villain-to-hero or hero-to-villain fall from grace bit goes, while they may see it as "missing content," I see it thusly:
I own COV. I dont own COH. I dont WANT to own COH.
But if you could cross over, Id BUY COH for the extra ATs.....and simply switch them over to COV instantly.
Thats extra money in their pockets they won't get otherwise.
Just my input.
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I remember the recent Boomtown interview with Positron, and reading his comments on player apartments. Him saying that player apartments offered no real gameplay opportunities, and therefore weren't of real importance.
I was so disappointed reading that, being that for one I would love to have a personal base, and two because personal bases are only as important as the game designers decide to make them.
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I too would like apartments. They can be linked to secret Identities, contacts. Maybe heroes can get extra missions by reading there daily paper. Maybe they can get extra missions by checking there answer machine every once in a while. Maybe heroes that you play with can leave text messages on your answer machine that you can get when you get home. Maybe we can here about big events coming on the AM. Maybe we can have undercover contacts come to us at our apartments, maybe we can have a costume design option in our room where we can save possible future outfits for our hero. Maybe these apartments can be somewhat big and that all our heroes/villians on a server share one large apartment with many rooms...with one entrance. Maybe we can pick where are apartment is and we have to be careful entering it so that mobs don't find where it is, maybe we create passwords for allowing others into our apartments, maybe if mobs/enemies find out where we are we have to reclaim it.
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I am curious as to why people feel that including more features, such as "loot" and crafting, would somehow detract from the experience that they already are getting.
If these things could be included to where they do not affect the way that you currently play, why would you be so up in arms about it being included for the people who would like those features?
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Some people are blindly obsessed with the notion that if they're added, the instantlybecome "must haves"...
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Look at enhancements, Inspirations. When loot is added, if you don't go get the loot, you make yourself less than what all your teammates are....why would anyone want to make all there heroes the weak link?
No, it has to do with doubling the amount of padding that each blow of the Nerf bat lays DOWN on the players.
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Also, does 'Give the player[s] what they want' have to do with doubling the padding on the Nerf-bat? 
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I have an idea. It starts with 's' and ends with 'litting their throats.'"
-Belkar Bitterleaf, Order of the Stick
Order of the Stick
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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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And yet... we still have no Coffee makers for our bases.
What's a hardworking hero got to do around here to get a simple cup of mud at the end of a long day?? I ask you.
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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?
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/signed.
I have Neverwinter Nights on a shelf somewhere in my room...and though I love the wide-spanning nature of CoH, that game had a lot of intricate quests and things you could do....even outside of combat.
I love love love the City of franchise, but adding some non-combat depth would be greatly appreciated guys.
Questions about the game, either side? /t @Neuronia or @Neuronium, with your queries!
168760: A Death in the Gish. 3 missions, 1-14. Easy to solo.
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