Poll: What do you like most?
By
0th_Power,
Posted on: 2006-11-16 16:35 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
I cannot stress enough the importance of the storyline in CoX for me. That's why I have been so upset about the lack of advancement in the next CoH book, the Rikti War. Without the history and storyline of CoH and CoV. This is just another static MMO.
Story story story. Pweeze. 
And give us more Statesman. We gotta figure out why he went from the reductant idealist in the book to the jerk we see in the comics now.
'If Champions Online is what "CoH was supposed to be", I'm glad that I have what I have rather than "what it was supposed to be".' - The Alt oholic
"I solo'd Hamidon...but I also totally cheated." - Back Alley Brawler
"It is still early. Someone is going to get stabbed tonight I can feel it." - Ishmael (said in Jello Shooters chat)
The battles are the most interesting to me. Closest to that on the list is MOBs. The more advanced ones with tricky special abilities like Rularuu, Malta, Sky Raiders, and Rikti are my favorites.
OK, I picked my fav from the list but what really keeps me here is that the game is still enjoyable. I can jump in, let off some steam quickly, and feel like I actually accomplished something with my time.
would you mine explaining why anytime someone creates a thread to this in their Server forum, it keeps getting locked? Those threads have been helping voting...isn't that the point?
Me too. Wish I had that feeling. Might have at one point... not sure.
[ QUOTE ]
The storyline for me. I like the feeling that my charecter is part of an epic story.
[/ QUOTE ]
I have an idea. It starts with 's' and ends with 'litting their throats.'"
-Belkar Bitterleaf, Order of the Stick
Order of the Stick
My vote was easy- PvP. Cryptic has really dropped the ball on realizing the scope of customers they could attract if they spent the same amount of time and effort on the PvP aspect of the game. CoH PvP is fast paced, 3D, as highly addictive as any other aspect of the game if people would give it a chance.
But sadly, it is a lost waif in the big bad world of PvE interests. Two things keeps me paying for CoH, my buddies and PvP. If I could wish for just one thing to make PvP better it would be: FIX THE ARENA.
Single entry: Storyline.
More accurate comment: 50% storyline, 25% costume, 25% badges.
It is perhaps worth noting that the update to Faultline rates as a major story event, IMHO. We have Paragon City doing a major cleanup in a zone that was, to put it delicately, a disaster area. I should point out that by "disaster area", I'm not referring to the playability, but the very essence of the zone itself. Faultline had undergone a tremendous upheaval to get it the way it was, what with those crevices, the damage to the buildings and so forth. And now we have it being restored to a workable zone. You know that progress is being made when they build a donut shop just to attract the police officers.
Here's another couple of examples.
There's a high level arc that covers (among other things) the history behind Countess Crey. Hell of a good story there, and quite the eye-opener as to why things are the way they are in Crey Corp.
Or a very short mini arc involving (IIRC) Mrs Boxer, her son Joe, and the Malta. After doing that little bagatelle, Malta are KoS as far as I'm concerned. Not arrest on sight, but KILL.
And what about the story of Sam Wincott that unfolds as you do the Hollows missions?
There are others. These stories are a lot of what make the game for me.
Scrappers are just like chainsaws. Somewhat hard to handle, EXTREMELY dangerous, and by far the most fun when wielded by the slightly insane.
@Alissara - an Angry Angel
The Angry Angels. When it absolutely positively has to be spanked today.
I voted for costumes, though it is really the openness of the game that I like best: costumes, powersets, slotting powers (though *not* having to actually buy and sell enhancements....how many rings of Crowley can I really wear, anyway? Just make it a dropdown for whatever effect I want the slot to have and be done with it), and the really nice immersive movement that I can start enhancing at level 3 if I want to slot Sprint or at level 6 if I want to take Swift, Hover, or Hurdle. It's great seeing a bunch of heroes heading from one mission to the next, each at their own pace in their own way. Reminds me of some of the Avengers comics.
I wonder, if costumes weren't an option, would the villain groups have done better? They're not my very favorite thing about the game, but they are really well done, I think. Tsoo, DE, CoT, Carnies, Freaks...those groups have a lot of flavor.
The missions could use a lot more variety. Just a few variations and a map generator, even a simple one that took, say, one wing of a map...allow a bit of randomness to which rooms are next, and what exact tileset they use, and it would be a lot nicer. Also mixing up the levels more. Missions would be more interesting if, instead of setting our tactics for "ok, they're all yellow with the occasional red boss and a couple orange LTs", we might sometimes find a room full of guys that are a couple levels lower, or higher, or a good mix of all. Just to keep it interesting and less predictable. It would be harder, but a lot more fun. Also, would be nice if sometimes we got some backup. There are never any cops in any of these things, unless they're cowering in fear. Would make sense to me that sometimes we get some allies, not to make it easier but again to make it more lifelike and varied.
Personally, I would trade PVP, bases, vet rewards (except maybe those respecs), and all of CoV for that, though I don't expect many would agree.
That said, if for some reason this game shut down, I would not go to any other MMO I am currently aware of, having tried them and not found them anywhere near as much fun, even two years on.
Virtue
Angel Witch II - Chord of Souls - Storm Witch II - Princess of the Dawn - Standing Horse - Witch of Xymox
Silent Scream - Shadow Witch II - Liquid Serenade - Nebulous Dawn - Ghost Witch II -Xiberia
Angel Witch II - Chord of Souls - Storm Witch II - Princess of the Dawn - Standing Horse - Witch of Xymox
Silent Scream - Shadow Witch II - Liquid Serenade - Nebulous Dawn - Ghost Witch II -Xiberia
Gotta vote for bases, but my favorite isn't on the list.
My fav would be: Creating New chars! Give us more really wild new powersets!
Stories, Pvp, and zones are all great, but the more different kinds of chars we can play in them the more it varies game play.
Really wacky stuff like Illusion trollers, dark blast, Ice assault. How bout some debuff armors like the Rad armor set kicking around, or an attack set that debuffs mob dmg. (IE, my old Light blast and Light melee set). Stuff thats good but gives players new ways to play.
That said, I really like the base editor, and if it gets a bit of TLC it could become a really nice game feature. It really needs to be turned into something that everyone can use though, not just pvp'rs. That means it should probably be turned into a PVE mish designer. Yes, I have a post on that too 
[ QUOTE ]
In CoV, I really felt like I was along for a ride on a railroad doing Lord Recluses story. To me, it didnt feel like my characters were in their own story, it felt like they were a footnote or a foot soldier in the Arachnos and the Lord R. vs the Statesman stories.
[/ QUOTE ]
I feel that's pretty accurate as well. CoV is one big story-arc with Operation: Destiny, and while it's a really awesome story-arc, the problem is that every villain character you make has to go through it (to some degree, if not the complete arc). I haven't tried "skipping" the Patron Arcs, and I'm tempted to with my Robot MM, because his concept has him as disliking Arachnos. I would like to see a more "open ended" side of CoV, much like Burke and Dr. Creed are for beginning characters.
I said costumes. But this is actually 2nd to one that isn't listed. The ATs. For me the amount of ATs and the way they can be defined by 2ndaries and Pool Powers can make for some very diverse characters.
That is if your not in the current FOTM.
Entropy: Not just a fad, it's the future!
To YOU I'm an atheist. To God, I'm the Loyal Opposition.
Photons have mass!? I didn't even know they were Catholic...
The PVP in this game would be phenomenal if you would bother to fix it.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The storyline for me. I like the feeling that my charecter is part of an epic story.
[/ QUOTE ]
I like the story lines but I didnt vote for them.
To me there was a huge difference between the way story lines were implemented in CoH and CoV.
In CoH the stories were there and through missions youd learn about the history, stop the bad guys, etc, but when playing the game I felt like I was in *my* character's story. It was the CoH universe and there were big Hero groups like Freedom Corps or the Freedom Phalanx but I was going though *my* story. Sometimes interacting with them, sometimes not. I enjoyed learning the CoH lore, about the CoH universe, and about all the stories embedded in both the story arcs and the other missions.
In CoV, I really felt like I was along for a ride on a railroad doing Lord Recluses story. To me, it didnt feel like my characters were in their own story, it felt like they were a footnote or a foot soldier in the Arachnos and the Lord R. vs the Statesman stories. That difference in flavor between the two really resulted in me enjoying the style and the stories of CoV a lot less then the style of CoH.
[/ QUOTE ]
That's my reaction as well. CoH is far more open and therefore waaaay more interesting than CoV from a story perspective. The Patron Powers are a perfect example of what's wrong with the design of CoV: once you choose one, you're locked into it forever, with no way to change your mind.
Not only is that counter to everything else in these games, it's counter to the very idea of villainy. Our characters shouldn't be loyal cannon fodder, they should be out there telling their own tales with their own goals in mind, and sometimes that includes megalomania. As players, we should have the freedom to choose our characters' destinies. If they turn out to be toadies, no problem. But there should at least be the option for them to try to carve out their own little fiefdom in the Rogue Isles.
That's why I chose costumes over story, because half the equation of CoH/V falls flat for me. And this coming from a guy who loves story uber alles.
The Alt Alphabet ~ OPC: Other People's Characters ~ Terrific Screenshots of Cool ~ Superhero Fiction
For me, in order:
1. Story lines
2. Costumes
3. Quality of Unique Villian Groups
4. Badges
..
..
18. Bases
..
..
*snip*
...
1,543,690. PvP
-Tsoo
The big thing for me is costumes.... I can actually wear what I want in an MMO!? That's amazing!
Then the combat: It's action packed but not lag inducing!(atleast for me)
That's what I like most about CoH. 
This may have already been said, but I wish there was something for RPing. For instance my favorite part about this game is how you can create any concept for a character. I have a Martian Manhunter concept. One for Blade. One for what I would be able to do if I were in CoH ( MA/SR ). One for what I wish I could do if I were a super hero.
To me that doesn't really go with story line.
Too bad Supergroups wasn't listed as an option.
My pick was costumes as well -- it was the first thing that piqued my interest when watching over my friends' shoulders as they played the earliest versions of the game! The second was having a 3D virtual world to explore and dink around in, but I guess that's kind of a given, huh?
I agree that the storyline(s) is strong, and I'm somewhat partial to the Family (Yeah, see? Yeah, yeah, see? ) Badges are alright, and PVP has grown on me a little. The bases are a nice concept, and I think they have a lot of potential, as well as much room for improvement. Given time, I think their popularity on a poll like this would also improve...
W4E
Storyline, closely followed by costumes. Although its probably the sheer amount of poor designs I've seen that puts costumes in second place.
I like the storylines but I do think they lack alot at the earlier levels, especially in CoH. There needs to be more in the way of storylines that mean something.
We have 'dead' contacts already so why not make them disappear to players once they are done with them? You can easily explain it in the simplest way by just saying that the spirit won't appear to that player any more and barring you from those missions once you've done them, and they must be solo-able.
They have a pretty long range of missions and stories now, so why not put some 'destructible' stories/contacts in?
well, I voted costumes.
Community, followed by storyline, followed by costumes
ATs to 50 - TA/A Def, Nrg/Nrg Blaster, EM/EA Brute, WS,ELM/ELA Stalker
[ QUOTE ]
Hi gang,
I just wanted to comment that this isn't a scientific foray into poll making Cricket and I have been talking more about doing more regular Forum Polls and we put this one together to see how things would go over.
Looks like it started up some good conversation. I'm sure we will be doing more polls in the future!
[/ QUOTE ]
I found I could not answer your poll.
You really need two questions for each topic: 1) How important is X to you? 2) How much do you enjoy X as CoX currently implements it?
Otherwise, I would find myself claiming not to enjoy things that are important to me, just because it's not quite done right yet and needs work, and vice versa.
- Protea
And for a while things were cold,
They were scared down in their holes
The forest that once was green
Was colored black by those killing machines
Interesting conundrum in responding. Do you think the results of this poll will sway the focus of development time or be used to justify certain focus going forward? In that case do you vote for the one you like most or the one that is most in need of dev support?
If there are categories that score low in this poll, is that an indication that the community isn't interested in them or an indication that the mechanics don't work in a way that make them appealing enough (e.g. pvp, bases).
Can we have a poll on What area we would like to see the devs foucs development time on?
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The storyline for me. I like the feeling that my charecter is part of an epic story.
[/ QUOTE ]
See, I'm the opposite. Even as an old-school comics nerd who loved story-driven games like Fallout, I am barely conscious of the fact this game has storylines because of the way they're not integrated into the game. It is amazingly possible to go from 1 to 50 and have no idea at all what the major storylines of the game are.
[/ QUOTE ]
This is so sad...but so true...and I wish it wasn't this way. As another very old school comics nerd, I had to echo this post. The story should be the most important thing about this game...while the costume creator should be the royal crown for it. (My humble opinion...and I voted for the costume creator in this poll.)
~ Jonathan
Seeking more immersion...
Hey Cricket, can we pigeon hole the choices any more then just this? What happened to the choice of just outright PLAYING a diabolical supervillian or redempted troubleshooter, paying his debt to society, while indulging in the favorite pasttime of torture, mayhem and madness, all the while killing inferior devient human strain specimins in a fit of homicidal rage?
