Statesman speaks at serious games summit
By
2Negative,
Posted on: 2006-10-31 18:17 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
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As for my quoted post above; the main SG I'm in was nearly full of unique players. Only a few had alts in the SG, and they'd drop those if someone new wanted in and there was no room. Personally, I wouldn't want the prestige burden of being in an SG with only 8 players and their alts.
Also, if the average SG is down to 12-20 players, that says a lot right there about the state of the game. Bases certainly didn't draw players together as the devs had hoped.
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Actually for most SGs I know, this has nothing to do with a reflection on bases, their draw, or SG draw, its a status of whats most broken with SGs and thats limiting SG size by alts rather than by globals - most people who have been here since early days have a huge list of friends that go way back, and most have a full stable of alts - desire to group/play those together is what limits it to 12-20, not ability to recruit - and the 2nd SG coalitioned is a kludgey horrible workaround.
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There will always be people that like what others dislike, or like things as they are and see no need for change. But 28/29 pages in this thread, with most posts listing things they dislike about bases tells me there's a real problem, even if you don't see it that way.
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? eh ?
I see 10 pages - certainly some people don't like bases, and to say they need improving is certainly accurate, but I am confidant many many people find their bases extremely useful and enjoyable - its pretty standard stuff that unhappy people complain/post 10:1 over happy people....(self included)
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I rarely enter any base in any SG I belong to. I really have very little reason to. If you enjoy them, and spend a lot of time there, I'm happy for you. That still doesn't change my perception of not needing, or liking them, and my continuing to not use them.
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no one said you had to lol, again the point is maybe you and 10 pages of people don't but many do - ask all the people on Victory forum how they felt
Actually, States, this comment here shows me that you have never been part of a true Super Group in the game. An SG is much more than just a chat chain; it's one of the keys to the game's long term survival. (I am writing from my experiences on the Champion server. For those of you on other servers, YMMV. 
)
A Super Group is much, much more than just a bunch of people that are connected by a window. SGs draw people of similar goals and outlooks and allow them to form social bonds within the game. Yes, there are many that form and collapse over time, but the ones that remain are due to the bonds created by the SGs members. Anyone that has been exposed to this type of environment will know what I am talking about. The social bonds formed in a quality SG are strong and are often times the primary thing that keeps many players in this game. And heres the point I am going to hit you right across the forehead with, States. Whether people are logging in just to chat a few minutes with friends or to finish a 17+ hour Insane Shard-a-Thon Task Force event, they ARE logging in. 
My Super Group is one of the older ones on Champion, having been around for over two years as of this writing. It has gone from a near dead SG of only 5 members to being a family of players that enjoy the game together and with others on Champion. In this time period, I have used a single philosophy to maintain it: This is a game. Games are meant to be enjoyed. How can I make this game more enjoyable for my SG? That is my obligation as an SG leader to my members. As the game designer, you are our leader, in a sense. It should your obligation to us. Bases arent unpopular because players hate them; they are unpopular because you have failed to make them worth having. Make them appeal more to what people want and youll have a winner. People have posted plenty of ideas for making bases worth having, such as:
James_Joyce and Xoxman
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- make them cheaper
- let us place NPCs, scriptable bosses, and a scripted win condition in them
- let us open them up to other players to run as missions
- get raids working
- make them available to coh players
and see if that makes them more popular.
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I see threads with these types of requests over and over in the forums. You guys say your new mantra is Give the players what they want, within reason. Something along the lines of the requests in the quote above seem pretty reasonable to us. Dont forget your obligation to us and well support you 100%. I think you already know the final outcome if you do forget.
"I never said thank you." - Lt. Gordon
"And you'll never have to." - the Dark Knight
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Intestingly, costumes have no gameplay value. They don't boost damage. They don't boost resistance. They don't boost defense. They're only for show.
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Yes, and everyone can see them. You look at my character, you see my costume.
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Admittedly, there's not quite the same amount of textures, colors, etc., but there's still a lot of versatility. And the layout possibilities are endless.
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And they're hidden away, effectively in their own dimension. Other people can see my costume and go 'wow' simply by my flying past. To see my base, they have to be in a coalition with me, or on my team while we go there (and for that to happen, we need to have a reason for them to go, other than me saying 'come check out the base'). They can't simply happen across it and go 'wow!'
When something has substantial show value, you have to be able to show it off!
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Read the above post. Learn it, love it. It's part of the key element we discussed way back when bases were first mentioned as going in to the game: some sort of "visitor's area" is needed, as well as a private area.
Customization has to go up, as does the ability for every player to try it out... and as Lady Sadako says, the ability to show off our talents, as well.
The Alt Alphabet ~ OPC: Other People's Characters ~ Terrific Screenshots of Cool ~ Superhero Fiction
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I don't see a lot of personal criticisms of Emmert. I see critiques of gameplay and functionality in CoX, along with commentary on the company's ability and expertise in managing subscriber expectations.
Most of the people here have spent a lot of time, historically, recognizing Cryptic's achievements and complimenting the devs on the many things they've 'gotten right'. This thread is primarily about Bases, and Bases are not one of the things that Cryptic 'got right'. They 'got close' in several respects, but have yet to 'get it right' yet.
Trust me, the devs have thicker skin than you likely have in the face of criticism. This thread is 10 times more useful to them as-is, than it would be if people just formed a daisy ring of praises and excuses.
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True that.
I wouldn't have come back to this game -- and I certainly wouldn't keep commenting about it -- if I didn't genuinely like it.
Cryptic made some missteps that cost them my business this year, so they've only made $30 off me instead of $300, but if they start implementing the things I'd like to see, next year they might get that $300.
The Alt Alphabet ~ OPC: Other People's Characters ~ Terrific Screenshots of Cool ~ Superhero Fiction
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I don't buy this Concept one bit that "Costume" and "Badges" are really a Big Hit... Maybe they're still a big deal for everyone's who's still here, but look on the damn Servers, all but 2 Servers in this game are consistantly referred to as "Ghost Towns"...
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By those who cosntantly forget they upped the capacity quite a while back, and the 'idiot lights' mean that things are going to be a bit slower on those servers.
I think I may have found the problem with people's perception of bases though, they aren't a big enough part of it. Though I don't think that's the dev's fault, if you join some big SG expect to be a faceless loser unless you've been there a LONG time, if the SG is run by idiots who try to make people into pretige machines, I doubt they have interest in helping you out. My solution(which has worked wonderfully for me) get a core group of friends, I mean real friends, people who you really should know their real names, and build the base you guys want. Not the base some guy no one really knows wants, not the base the leader wants, the base everybody wants. I say should know their names, because it recently occured to me I forgot the names of about half my SG(Sorry, wg, meth, and cereb, I swear I knew at one point).
If your base isn't personal enough, neither is you SG. At least, that's the way it's seeming to me. The other "Why doesn't it do this?" stuff doesn't really strike me as what should be factored into a base. A danger room in every basement? I think not, take that to the arena. A database that you have to keep up in every building, get a teleporter to the library before the IT guy starts trying to smother you in your sleep. Missions I could see, but this is a city where you walk out of the base and someone's robbing a bank, blowing something up, or up to general no good, I don't see the huge need for that one.
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I'm in a friggin bubble and can't ask other people what they want. Hell I can't even see tells. ...And even if could, there's no way to SHOW anyone else all the options that are available.
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If it's enabled in your Keymap, hit "C" to bring up your chat window while in the base editor.
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Interesting. But is this documented anywhere where most players can find it? If not, how did you discover this cool feature?
Blazara Aura LVL 50 Fire/Psi Dom (with 125% recharge)
Flameboxer Aura LVL 50 SS/Fire Brute
Ice 'Em Aura LVL 50 Ice Tank
Darq Widow Fortune LVL 50 Fortunata (200% rech/Night Widow 192.5% rech)--thanks issue 19!
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I'm in a friggin bubble and can't ask other people what they want. Hell I can't even see tells. ...And even if could, there's no way to SHOW anyone else all the options that are available.
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If it's enabled in your Keymap, hit "C" to bring up your chat window while in the base editor.
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Interesting. But is this documented anywhere where most players can find it? If not, how did you discover this cool feature?
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I'm rather sure it works that way at all times, kinda like hitting N will toggle your Nav. It's not like they disable the chat, they just toggle it off since it'd get in the way.
A look at bases:
Decorative items that do nothing cost 100+ prestige and can take up space needed, needed, for functional items.
Influence cannot be traded for Prestige at a rate better than 500:1 reducing this by 100+ would be excellent for base constructors.
Bases are controled by the minority in an SG. If you want your own corner you either have to treat the game like a job so you can rise in the ranks of said SG (assuming they allow leaders personal space) OR quit your SG then start back with 0 Prestige and create a very small functionless base. Aka no customization for 99% of players.
What can bases do:
Require you to zone into an entirely seperate "zone" from where you died in order to resurrect with almost no HP or endurance.
You can buy 2 types of Tier 1 inspirations after spending tens of thousands of Prestige on a room and the inspiration dispenser. In order to gain access to MORE tier 1 inspirations you must heal millions of points of damage...or you could just fly to one of the half dozen contacts you have in almost every zone and get them much sooner and cheaper...
Telepads depend on the Architect to actually place those lil monitors above/below/next to them so we get atleast a hint of where they go w/o clicking on each one...
Ways to improve these things:
Increase the conversion rate of Inf to Prestige.
Have one telepad that takes up more than a standard Telepad but less than a Raid Teleporter and allow it to goto more places. Instead of 6+ Telepads in a hero base we only have to check two or three... Or even better make a Teleporter that is Raid size or larger and capable of teleporting to any zone you have a beacon for...then you can just click on that single pad...
Give all Tier 1 inspirations as the default starting for the Inspiration Dispenser. Make 2 upgrades one to upgrade to add tier 2's to the list and one to add tier 3s. Have the dispenser convert all influence used on it into Prestige and put at least 50% of that into the SG fund.
Remove or drastically reduce base rent...as said before why are we paying rent on something we bought? Perhaps a yearly "tax" on the property that can be paid all at once but also still less than the current Rent would be...
Make the base Hospital heal us at 50% End an health or atleast have it buff our Regen/Recovery for a couple minutes after being sent to it say 5 minutes...
Make a teleporter that is cheap that allows us to TP to our active mission door.
Make decorative items free. However, to prevent someone from surrounding anchors or vital equipment with massive amounts of free decorative items to block invaders, you simply add a radius around functional items within which non-functional items cannot be placed. At least certain sized non-functional items...
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Actually, States, this comment here shows me that you have never been part of a true Super Group in the game. An SG is much more than just a chat chain; it's one of the keys to the game's long term survival. (I am writing from my experiences on the Champion server. For those of you on other servers, YMMV. )
A Super Group is much, much more than just a bunch of people that are connected by a window. SGs draw people of similar goals and outlooks and allow them to form social bonds within the game. Yes, there are many that form and collapse over time, but the ones that remain are due to the bonds created by the SGs members. Anyone that has been exposed to this type of environment will know what I am talking about. The social bonds formed in a quality SG are strong and are often times the primary thing that keeps many players in this game. And heres the point I am going to hit you right across the forehead with, States. Whether people are logging in just to chat a few minutes with friends or to finish a 17+ hour Insane Shard-a-Thon Task Force event, they ARE logging in.
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BOSS (Myrmydon's and my SG) is one of the reasons I renew after letting my subscription lapse every so often. Having social ties is a pretty strong thing, and SGs should reinforce that.
Elsegame: Champions Online: @BellaStrega ||| Battle.net: Ashleigh#1834 ||| Bioware Social Network: BellaStrega ||| EA Origin: Bella_Strega ||| Steam: BellaStrega ||| The first Guild Wars: Kali Magdalene ||| The Secret World: BelleStarr (Arcadia)
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One solution is that SGs should have a BASE and then doors/portal which lead to a single players room. Something which is a plot for that one person and they have complete freedom to do with that personal plot as they see fit. Bases become a hub for access to personal housing rather than being the end of it. You see this in many comics, each member of the Fantastic Four having their own room, Reed has his lab for example. Or the Xavier institute being a campus where members of the team have their own little corner to themselves.
What would be nice is that the SG as a whole can contribute to the base itself and the base can be expanded as a seperate entity to each members induvidual 'room'. If players are then given their own plots which they can expand and develop seperate from the SG base but linked through it so any member of the SG can wander in and have a look then it creates a fictionally consistant equivilent of personal housing which you see in many MMOs.
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/signed, Tal. The Justice League satellite HQ also had some living quarters as well. It's very "comic-booky" to have quarters in a base. I'm all for it.
- Green Lantern
"Say, Jim...woo! That's a bad out-FIT!" - Superman: The Movie
Me 'n my posse: http://www.citygametracker.com/site/....php?user=5608
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I don't buy this Concept one bit that "Costume" and "Badges" are really a Big Hit... Maybe they're still a big deal for everyone's who's still here, but look on the damn Servers, all but 2 Servers in this game are consistantly referred to as "Ghost Towns"...
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By those who cosntantly forget they upped the capacity quite a while back, and the 'idiot lights' mean that things are going to be a bit slower on those servers.
I think I may have found the problem with people's perception of bases though, they aren't a big enough part of it. Though I don't think that's the dev's fault, if you join some big SG expect to be a faceless loser unless you've been there a LONG time, if the SG is run by idiots who try to make people into pretige machines, I doubt they have interest in helping you out. My solution(which has worked wonderfully for me) get a core group of friends, I mean real friends, people who you really should know their real names, and build the base you guys want. Not the base some guy no one really knows wants, not the base the leader wants, the base everybody wants. I say should know their names, because it recently occured to me I forgot the names of about half my SG(Sorry, wg, meth, and cereb, I swear I knew at one point).
If your base isn't personal enough, neither is you SG. At least, that's the way it's seeming to me. The other "Why doesn't it do this?" stuff doesn't really strike me as what should be factored into a base. A danger room in every basement? I think not, take that to the arena. A database that you have to keep up in every building, get a teleporter to the library before the IT guy starts trying to smother you in your sleep. Missions I could see, but this is a city where you walk out of the base and someone's robbing a bank, blowing something up, or up to general no good, I don't see the huge need for that one.
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That's a pretty idealistic view of how to form supergroups you have. The problem is that view is how supergroups probably fuctioned BEFORE bases came into coh/cov. Once bases and the -I believe-disasterous arrival of another "monetary" system arrived for bases, it changed what sgs were in coh/cov.
Even for most sgs that are close knit, I would argue that not eveyone knows everyone else's name. More realistically its maybe 6-8 people who know each other and then the rest are recruits who the leaders try to get to know. Unfortunately there is no penalty for leaving an sg, so getting to know someone really is dependant on if that person wants YOU to get to know THEM.
In a faceless sg (which I argue are what most sgs in the game started leaning towards once prestige and bases invaded) grinding prestige is no different than in an sg of people that know each other. How many ways can you get to expand the base. Only one: getting prestige. Wether you all know each other or not has no bearing on the fact that:
a. its easier to have 1 or 2 people assigned as base editor.
b. the influence/presitge ratio and how it penalizes anyone who is lvl 30+.
c. rent--I wouldn't say it needs to go away, but it needs to be adjusted somehow
d. bases are not something which most people see as individual.
In your statement you say "My solution(which has worked wonderfully for me) get a core group of friends, I mean real friends, people who you really should know their real names, and build the base you guys want. Not the base some guy no one really knows wants, not the base the leader wants, the base everybody wants." Again, unlike costumes its about what the group wants. Which means even if you are a close group of friends (which I agree works better than the faceless sgs) you are not going to identify with that base as much as you are you own individual costume, in which there is no say in what it looks like other than your own.
COH/V truly is a game where the individual can shine outside of the group and even when teamed, each individual plays a part that is visible. Bases run counterintiutitve to that.
Blazara Aura LVL 50 Fire/Psi Dom (with 125% recharge)
Flameboxer Aura LVL 50 SS/Fire Brute
Ice 'Em Aura LVL 50 Ice Tank
Darq Widow Fortune LVL 50 Fortunata (200% rech/Night Widow 192.5% rech)--thanks issue 19!
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I'm in a friggin bubble and can't ask other people what they want. Hell I can't even see tells. ...And even if could, there's no way to SHOW anyone else all the options that are available.
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If it's enabled in your Keymap, hit "C" to bring up your chat window while in the base editor.
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Interesting. But is this documented anywhere where most players can find it? If not, how did you discover this cool feature?
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I'm rather sure it works that way at all times, kinda like hitting N will toggle your Nav. It's not like they disable the chat, they just toggle it off since it'd get in the way.
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Right but how many people would think that it could be toggled on again in the base editor. Hell, how many people know that "C" is the chat toggle. In addition, what if that "c" is assigned to something else?
Blazara Aura LVL 50 Fire/Psi Dom (with 125% recharge)
Flameboxer Aura LVL 50 SS/Fire Brute
Ice 'Em Aura LVL 50 Ice Tank
Darq Widow Fortune LVL 50 Fortunata (200% rech/Night Widow 192.5% rech)--thanks issue 19!
Starsman mentioned this a few pages back but I'll re-mention it...
One other aspect of Bases we hoped for/expected/requested was the ability to teleport to them from anywhere in any zone...
This shouldn't be a Vet reward this should be an inherent when you join an SG.
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Right but how many people would think that it could be toggled on again in the base editor. Hell, how many people know that "C" is the chat toggle. In addition, what if that "c" is assigned to something else?
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I think this is just a case of RTFM. Hard to complain that the fact that someone doesn't know that C brings up the chat window is the Devs fault. Rather, it would seem a kindness to point this out to Ilr and at least give him one more small tool to aid in the design process. Could things be done better? Yes. But let's not take points away for problems that actaully are just a result of being uninformed.
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I'm in a friggin bubble and can't ask other people what they want. Hell I can't even see tells. ...And even if could, there's no way to SHOW anyone else all the options that are available.
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If it's enabled in your Keymap, hit "C" to bring up your chat window while in the base editor.
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Interesting. But is this documented anywhere where most players can find it? If not, how did you discover this cool feature?
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Being a little bit of a butterfinger, it's not uncommon for me to accidentally toggle off components of my UI. It's how I learned T is for Target, N is for Navigation and C is for Chat in the Keymap.
Once inside the base editor, it just seemed reasonable to give it a try. If I'm not mistaken there's a Keymap guide in the manual (granted, one of those bits perhaps many people gloss over), as well as explicitly viewable in-game in the Kemapping options.
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Let's turn to the idea of an architect. We foresaw that some people would feel alienated if they weren't the architect. That's why some things (Personal Items) can be "crafted" by individuals and placed in the base. But even if there's an architect: many super groups have a member who designed a single costume which all then use. In other words, they're more than willing to accept someone else's opinion in the group identity for their avatar appearance. Again, the primary difference is cost (I think).
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A player has several costume slots to express themselves and many have no problem dedicating ONE of them to an SG uniform.
This doesn't translate to bases. You have 1 base. The architect in many cases is the same person who will craft items and place them. Why would the architect want to stop half way through, hope someone is on to build a teleporter, wait for them to do so, then move it themselves anyway to where he wanted it in the first place?
This parallel would make much more sense if players already had "apartments" where they could do their own thing and then had the SG base where it was an expression of teamwork.
Then you would have personal and team creative expression in costumes and bases. Right now, you have it in costumes only. The base system is highly exclusionary in that you have up to 75 people earning points (to the detriment of their characters influence totals) so one person can go play with them.
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The single most requested item in CoH is to make the costume creator standalone...
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I find this shocking. I thought the single most requested item would be new content followed by, specifically, post-50 content.
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Right but how many people would think that it could be toggled on again in the base editor. Hell, how many people know that "C" is the chat toggle. In addition, what if that "c" is assigned to something else?
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I think this is just a case of RTFM. Hard to complain that the fact that someone doesn't know that C brings up the chat window is the Devs fault. Rather, it would seem a kindness to point this out to Ilr and at least give him one more small tool to aid in the design process. Could things be done better? Yes. But let's not take points away for problems that actaully are just a result of being uninformed.
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I think for me the problem is the Base designer needs better documentation. I had often heard the comment (from various sgs/vgs I've been in since bases came out0 that when someone is desgning a base they can't hear you (see your chat), thus being able to open the chat window while designing DOES appear to be a very little documented feature--and thus goes back to idea that the base builder is counter intuitive in most things and needs better documentation. I'm not the first to make this point if you look back in this thread.
Blazara Aura LVL 50 Fire/Psi Dom (with 125% recharge)
Flameboxer Aura LVL 50 SS/Fire Brute
Ice 'Em Aura LVL 50 Ice Tank
Darq Widow Fortune LVL 50 Fortunata (200% rech/Night Widow 192.5% rech)--thanks issue 19!
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I'm in a friggin bubble and can't ask other people what they want. Hell I can't even see tells. ...And even if could, there's no way to SHOW anyone else all the options that are available.
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If it's enabled in your Keymap, hit "C" to bring up your chat window while in the base editor.
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Interesting. But is this documented anywhere where most players can find it? If not, how did you discover this cool feature?
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Being a little bit of a butterfinger, it's not uncommon for me to accidentally toggle off components of my UI. It's how I learned T is for Target, N is for Navigation and C is for Chat in the Keymap.
Once inside the base editor, it just seemed reasonable to give it a try. If I'm not mistaken there's a Keymap guide in the manual (granted, one of those bits perhaps many people gloss over), as well as explicitly viewable in-game in the Kemapping options.
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Here is a reposne I posted to someone else:
I think for me the problem is the Base designer needs better documentation. I had often heard the comment (from various sgs/vgs I've been in since bases came out0 that when someone is desgning a base they can't hear you (see your chat), thus being able to open the chat window while designing DOES appear to be a very little documented feature--and thus goes back to idea that the base builder is counter intuitive in most things and needs better documentation. I'm not the first to make this point if you look back in this thread.
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With that said I agree, most people don't read the manual. they should. But I get from tallking to most people that it's not really intiutive that this should work with the base designer.
And just to be clear, so you and others are saying that as you design the base (are moving things around and rotating thngs) you can hit "C" and the chat window will overlay the base builder screen, so you can see chat as you design? If that's the case then, it REALLY isn't intiuitive to think that would work.
Does this mean that other windows as well would work? You could overlay the map to see it while base building for instance? Don't meant to thread jack, but it seems there are A LOT of base builders who DON'T know this. If this works as you say its valuable info that I can take to my base builder.
Also it doesn't change the fact that just because you can talk to others in your sg as you design doesn't mean they can see what you are desinging as you do. Which I think was one of the main points, in terms of this entire thread.
Blazara Aura LVL 50 Fire/Psi Dom (with 125% recharge)
Flameboxer Aura LVL 50 SS/Fire Brute
Ice 'Em Aura LVL 50 Ice Tank
Darq Widow Fortune LVL 50 Fortunata (200% rech/Night Widow 192.5% rech)--thanks issue 19!
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The single most requested item in CoH is to make the costume creator standalone...
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I find this shocking. I thought the single most requested item would be new content followed by, specifically, post-50 content.
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You'd be surprised how many people haven't hit 50.
You probably wouldn't be surprised at how many people have rolled alts and had to come up with costumes for them.
--GF
Up with the overworld! Up with exploration! | Want a review of your arc?
My arcs: Dream Paper (ID: 1874) | Bricked Electronics (ID: 2180) | The Bravuran Jobs (ID: 5073) | Backwards Day (ID: 329000) | Operation Fair Trade (ID: 391172)
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And they're hidden away, effectively in their own dimension. Other people can see my costume and go 'wow' simply by my flying past. To see my base, they have to be in a coalition with me, or on my team while we go there (and for that to happen, we need to have a reason for them to go, other than me saying 'come check out the base'). They can't simply happen across it and go 'wow!'
When something has substantial show value, you have to be able to show it off!
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Not only is it (relatively) hard to get access to someone's supergroup base, but you ALSO have to go out of your way to go and visit it. Unlike a costume , which you can just notice while doing something else, to see someone's base you have to take time out of your regular play to go and look at it. I've done some base creation myself, and worked to make it look nice, but at least I had my other supergroup members I could show it off to (and they had a reason to go there )
Also, because bases are tied to PVP as well, often PVP considerations outweigh aesthetics.
I don't know what a good solution to these is. :/
DS
That's a good point I suppose...
For the real PvP enthusiasts, bases are broken because REAL raids aren't posssible yet and haven't been all frikkin year despite all the work they put into theirs...Result: Dread and Dispair. For PvE-Only people who WANTED to do the CoP Raid, it's a lingering spectre, a precariously dangling piano over their heads waiting to crush everything they've worked for...Result: Dread and Dispair.
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I don't know what a good solution to these is. :/
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1. Enable 'open to all' bases. The more people can wander through, the more fun they become. You never know who you'll meet, and the playerbase effectively gets to expand the game world.
2. Introduce plaques with player-provided text. Seriously. This is of MAJOR importance. (Imagine if you couldn't write a bio for your character!) The player-provided text allows us to personalise the whole base in a way regular items don't, because the text is unique to us and to our SG. I can even envision people setting up treasure hunts, dungeon runs and 'mazes of doom' with the help of such items. Most importantly, if a player who isn't the base architect wants something put on a plaque, they can get it inscribed word for word, and thus add something of themselves and their individuality to the base, which they can't do now.
I want to be able to put a plaque down that says 'General Blue hauled this crystal out of Oranbega himself as a trophy, following the Cold Front expedition to defeat the Envoy of Shadows' or 'This voltaic station has been known to cause adverse reactions in Technology-based characters. STAND WELL BACK!' You know, flavour text.
And I honestly can't imagine it would be that hard to do. I may not be a coder, but really, an object that you click on to read, or click on to input text in base edit mode?
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As just a resource for expressing something unique, base creation is on par tech wise with costume creation.
But what's clear from this thread - and from many, many posts - is that bases are "too expensive". To me, that's interesting (as it is to the Serious Games crowd). Costume changes come with a minimal cost that no one really complains about, but we complain about the costs of bases.
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Ahem.
You don't pay "RENT" on costumes, in order to keep using them. ("Warning! You haven't paid rent on your costume.....if we have to repossess your costume for non-payment, you might be arrested for being nude in a public place!")
Enough said?
If there was NO rent on bases, then I would say that the prices are just fine, because anyone could eventually earn enough prestige to get whatever they wanted.
But small SGs can't cover the rental bill. Especially if the members are altaholics. And/or mature players, who have less time to devote to grinding prestige.
I want off the treadmill! I don't buy my RL appliances from Rent-a-City, and I don't like doing it in game, either! I don't plug nickels into my stove before I use it....why do I have to do the same for my container?
I'll [i]almost certainly[/i] be happy with I7....."SOON(tm)"
Too bad "Maturity" isn't an Enhanceable power.
Anybody with a bow is okay in my book. ;-)
@Linuial
Starfire/Hellfire
Liberty, Infinity & Protector
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That's a pretty idealistic view of how to form supergroups you have.
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I get things along those lines a lot, what tends to amaze people is it also tends to work.
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In a faceless sg (which I argue are what most sgs in the game started leaning towards once prestige and bases invaded)
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That's no question really, it's a major reason I've drifted through VGs so much, me and the guys never got together on CoV.
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Which means even if you are a close group of friends (which I agree works better than the faceless sgs) you are not going to identify with that base as much as you are you own individual costume, in which there is no say in what it looks like other than your own.
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That's another one there really isn't much question to that one, unless you have a few people who actually respect eachother who tweak the base as it grows. I still maintain that our entry way which has been an evolution by the lot of us, is one of the nicest I've seen. It has a nice atmosphere, almost serene, a large comfortable couch, and a huge LCD monitor in a nicely leveled area. Doesn't sound like much, but if you were part of it, you can still see part of what you did.
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COH/V truly is a game where the individual can shine outside of the group and even when teamed, each individual plays a part that is visible. Bases run counterintiutitve to that.
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So long as you don't have any part in the base, yea, it is.
Since it's been labeled as "Idealistic" I think I'll throw it out here, if anyone villain side is looking for a community of friends rather than a prestige grind, drop me a global tell at my handle, The legion of Cireno is wide open. I'll have to talk to the guys before I say anything heroside, but if you're interested and on champ's hero side, drop me a word or two and I'll see what I can do.
I'll probably make a post on champ's forums once I get word one way or another from the rest of the guys.
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Intestingly, costumes have no gameplay value. They don't boost damage. They don't boost resistance. They don't boost defense. They're only for show.
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Yes, and everyone can see them. You look at my character, you see my costume.
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Admittedly, there's not quite the same amount of textures, colors, etc., but there's still a lot of versatility. And the layout possibilities are endless.
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And they're hidden away, effectively in their own dimension. Other people can see my costume and go 'wow' simply by my flying past. To see my base, they have to be in a coalition with me, or on my team while we go there (and for that to happen, we need to have a reason for them to go, other than me saying 'come check out the base'). They can't simply happen across it and go 'wow!'
When something has substantial show value, you have to be able to show it off!
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QFT