Discussion: The City Scoop July 6th 2007

This is the eighth weekly edition of "The City Scoop" a publication for Supers by Supers. Just looking back at the first publication here! I have to say "you've come a long way baby!"

Thank you for helping to make City of Heroes/City of Villains one of the best player communities out there.

If you would like to do a feature article, or join "The City Scoop" team please PM Hertz or Marcian_Tobay

If you or someone you know should be considered for Behind The Mask please contact Teldon

For a printable version of "The City Scoop" please send an email to the following
CityScoop8@the-swarm.org


Discussion on the latest edition of "The City Scoop" is located here.

Please remember to keep the feedback of a constructive nature.

Ex

I really don't like that an event on Test is the lead story on the Scoop.

1. People will be confused: When did a Rikti drop shop come to my server?

2. It's not canonical. Who knows what the *real* drops ships will be like on Live? Their difficulty could get ramped up, and then we'll have mega-raids on Live complaining that drops ships weren't dropping as fast as *they were supposed to* based on this article. Heck, for all we know there is a major bug in the drop ships on Test allowing for such a ridiculously easy defeat. (And to all the people who will say "But a foe that takes 70 people is *not* easy" My response is, "Did you test if 30 people could do it? Perhaps forty of the people that were there were overkill.")

3. Test is Test. It's not Live. the Test server exists to see if things are bugged, not as a alternative server. An article like this will only draw people who want to preview new content and not actually *test* it. And when their 'preview' is bugged or doesn't act the same way on Live, we'll hear all sorts of whining and complaining.

4. I'm sure there are people at Cyrptic and NCSoft that would like better control over such a blatant advertisement for I10. "No, no no! A drop ship raid is *not* part of Issue 10. That's *not* supposed to be part of the content. Now we have to support it!"

Well, it got out of hand long ago. I dont think there is much to stop it now.

Anyhow, why condemn it? This is a roleplaying game as well as an action game. Roll with it. Its fun. We dont have to take it so seriously all the time. So a little got out about test. I think this is a tribute to this community. They are showing an uncanny nack for actually wanting to be apart of the universe, and the devs are actually LETTING the players interact in such a profound way. How many MMO's are doing things like this? (I dont play any others) It's fun to be apart of the issue in this way.

I think the devs are having fun as well with it. That can be nothing but a good thing. Both developers and players interacting to make their worlds more "alive". It feels more tangible to the players, they feel like they are changing the landscape with their actions. The feeling of persistant world is actually becoming more of a reality. Cameos in their comic publication, and the scoop are really allowing for players to be engaged in the CoX universe, not just play in it.

Especially with Issue 10, I feel that alot has been learned. Slyph Knights attack on the ships was very cool, and sort of like a huge bug find. Now not only can the devs talior the content (either make it harder or easier) to adapt the universe to what the inhabitants have done.

Just think, now they can say, the Rikti sent the first wave with weaker ships, or to better acertain the hero forces before the real attack. It goes on and on. This IMO is nothing but a boon to both players and developers alike.

"Ridiculously easy?"

Point by point -
1. You're right. It is on test. It has also been discussed for a while now. People don't seem to be confused.

2. How canonical was the end-of-beta Rikti invasion? It's talked about as "ooh, cool," and at most it could be seen as the "most of the world's heroes were dead afterward" touched on in the world story. I don't see this as a problem. "The Rikti invasion was challenged" is about as much of a line as it would get.

3. If they take the time to download the test client and run it, and come here saying something didn't work - they're still reporting a bug, problem, or at the very least something that's hard to understand.

4. Drop Ship Raids are already described as "not giving anything but bragging rights." Heck, Paladin, which doesn't give a badge, gives XP - which is more than can be said for anyone wanting to get a bunch of heroes together to take down a drop ship.

I don't see a problem. *shrug*

See my Guides and Tutorials

I have to agree with Zombie-Man. These events aren't even live, and they are being discussed as they are happening. I am glad for the accomplishment of Sylph-Knight, but discussing test events like they were live server events is a confusing thing to do to the players. Otherwise they are very enjoyable to read.

This link was omitted by own stupidity from Lohr's interview.

Well, you can look at them as "They'll be confusing, that's bad," or you can view them like the preview movie and bits and pieces on the site already - "Whetting the appetite."

(And yay to a friend's interview I got to have an "Ooh, I know her!" moment!)

See my Guides and Tutorials

Wow, it looks so professional! Great job!

I am kind of scratching my head too regarding leading with a cover story that essentially hasn't happened yet.

It sort of goes directly in the face of the verisimilitude the editors of the "paper" are trying to create.

Don't get me wrong. It's a great story, but the paper has now broken the fourth wall in a big, big way. Much as it has before with it's "Behind the Mask" series of interviews.

It's precident setting, and I hope we'll see more discussion of test server events, testings and out of game details.


/edit Oh and also, the paper really looks much better and is way easier to follow and read! good job all.

Cool job City Scoop! I like how the lead story was about what was happening on the test server and letting us see how the mechanics of making changes works. I like that "Yo, found a bug dudes!" kinda brings abit of humanity to the game. I'd also enjoy seeing the replies like "aw crud! No one was suppose to go through that hole and find the moon turned into a spacestation that'll be used in I14, OOPS!"

It's just the kind of levity we need every now and then. We start getting all worked up about technical stuff and we'll start sounding like a bunch of trekkies.

I liked alot of the heroscopes and other articles. TA, liked the art section. Good job getting a good mix in there.

Maybe we're dumbing down the general populous a bit much...perhaps it not going to be so confusing. If there is an uproar after this I'm sure the devs will rectifiy the situation then.

I think you have the right idea Dursagon. I think we all tend to get a bit caught up in "keeping it real" sometimes. Just let it sink in...test/live...whatever. As long as it stays fun. This is like the alternate story lines in comics, prelude to, or maybe even a "What if" aside.