Discussion: I10 Developer Diary
By
AmazingMOO,
Posted on: 2007-07-06 13:50 in News, Events and Announcement Discussion
To find out we could've had the 5th back makes me go: ;_;
But I10 is still awesome, so all is well. 
Oh, and woot, first!
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"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
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Damn the 5th would have been nice....but the new Rikti War Zone is all kinds of fantastic. Lots to do and even more to see!
The issues are become more dynamic instead of the old mision rote and this too is a credit to the Devs...and hey, didn't the beloved Arcanaville suggest something akin to a plane rescue mission (Saucer raid) in her suggestions to Crytpic awhile back?
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is that red glow around the villain an aura or something else?
Yeah...
sorry, im easily excited.
It's just an aura... lol
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To find out we could've had the 5th back makes me go: ;_;
But I10 is still awesome, so all is well.
Oh, and woot, first!
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The the "Council War" is next!
I've seen the future!!
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To find out we could've had the 5th back makes me go: ;_;
But I10 is still awesome, so all is well.
Oh, and woot, first!
[/ QUOTE ]
The the "Council War" is next!
I've seen the future!!
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you know... i can think of a plot twist with that comment...
:the 5th have alwasy been here, many of those that integrated with the council have been plotting to get revenge. the Rikti returning is the perfect distraction for the Council. the 5th try to anex from the inside, just as the Council did in issue 3. :
just my rough scetch
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To find out we could've had the 5th back makes me go: ;_;
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May I call your attention to the fact that the launch pads in Steel Canyon and Port Oakes still aren't done? Obviously they decided to save the 5th Column for an outer space or moon zone, just like we suspected all along. Issue 12, maybe?
I've said it before, it would seem totally acceptable and in-character for the 5th to quietly assert themselves in positions of power for a major coup while the heroes are all tied up with the Rikti threat.
And if that happens, I will faint.
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Our first thought for Issue 10 was to bring back the 5th Column, a villain group that disappeared when the Council was introduced in Issue 3.
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I wonder how far back they had that first thought?
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The issues are become more dynamic instead of the old mision rote and this too is a credit to the Devs...and hey, didn't the beloved Arcanaville suggest something akin to a plane rescue mission (Saucer raid) in her suggestions to Crytpic awhile back?
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I did, but I wasn't thinking of what the devs implemented in I10. One thing I *did* challenge the devs on subsequent to that, though, is the notion that players should be able to permanently alter the shared MMO landscape, particularly the PvE environment, something that isn't ordinarily done in "traditional" MMOs for the most part. They aren't there yet, but the "invasion trigger" intrinsic in the RWZ task force is a step in that direction.
Ordinarily, there is a fear that if you allow players to alter the shared PvE landscape, they could do so in ways that other players don't necessarily approve of, and losing that control is not a comforting thought. And right now, there are people that think the zone invasions are too powerful, too disruptive, too difficult to opt out of. However, I think that is the future of MMO evolution. Player X will do something that will temporarily, or down the road permanently, change the game for Player Y. And Player Y will just have to deal with it, as part of the price of living in a shared environment. Some players will prefer stability over dynamics, and there will be games for them. But I think in the long run, the draw that is intrinsic in being able to affect your world in a permanent way will slowly ratchet games in the direction of placing more power into player hands to shape the world they are in.
It'll have to be done slowly, carefully, and incrementally, but one day a group of players are doing to do Positron's task force, and when the second group comes along, Positron is going to say someone already did it. There will be always be another thing they can do, another task that Positron can give out, but the previous one will get done once, or failed once, and that's it. If someone fails to save the war walls, the war walls will come down. And with the right game design and infrastructure, that will be a much better game. Not everyone will want to play a game like that, but I suspect that in the long run, most will end up playing a game like that regardless.
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There will be always be another thing they can do, another task that Positron can give out, but the previous one will get done once, or failed once, and that's it. If someone fails to save the war walls, the war walls will come down. And with the right game design and infrastructure, that will be a much better game.
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I would love this, but it necessitates having randomly or procedurally generated content. No number of developers could churn out enough content to keep up with the demand this would generate. We would therefore need program capable of generating way better content.
A system that facilitates quality player-created content would probably be useful in addition to this as well.
I think we'll get there, but I don't think we're even in the ballpark yet.
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Hopefully the return of the 5th (and hopefully the Reichsman as well) is still in the cards.
Regardless, Issue 10 is a winner!
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To find out we could've had the 5th back makes me go: ;_;
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May I call your attention to the fact that the launch pads in Steel Canyon and Port Oakes still aren't done? Obviously they decided to save the 5th Column for an outer space or moon zone, just like we suspected all along. Issue 12, maybe?
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Yes, I remember those, and my first thought also was they might be for the moon zone. I'll be curious though to see if it actually is Column there. I wouldn't think they were able to manipulate the moon and damage Faultline like that but then again...
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
How big a pain in the butt it must be to be Manticore... having all these lingering plot-threads in your notebook and dozens of people asking for teasers all the time.
Good Job, guys. I10 is a *win* expansion.
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Hopefully the return of the 5th (and hopefully the Reichsman as well) is still in the cards.
Regardless, Issue 10 is a winner!
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Oh I exepect that their return is but I'm glad they made I10 the Rikti not the 5th. The rikti make a more belivable group to co-operatively fight than does the 5th. I can see both sides fighting them but I can't see them unifying Heroes and Villains to fight together against them.
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when are the stinken villain epic archtypes going to show? thats what is going to make CoV complete for me, heroes got theirs in issue 3, issue 10 is the 3rd issue for villains so yeah im hoping villain's show up soon and if you get any research on the epic archtypes email me at mastermock555@yahoo.com
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To find out we could've had the 5th back makes me go: ;_;
But I10 is still awesome, so all is well.
Oh, and woot, first!
[/ QUOTE ]
The the "Council War" is next!
I've seen the future!!
[/ QUOTE ]
you know... i can think of a plot twist with that comment...
:the 5th have alwasy been here, many of those that integrated with the council have been plotting to get revenge. the Rikti returning is the perfect distraction for the Council. the 5th try to anex from the inside, just as the Council did in issue 3. :
just my rough scetch
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I think you may be on to something AG; Happy Birthday btw. But yeah, I could definitely see the 5th taking advantage of the Invasion and popping up in i11 or i12.
And as a side note, mwahahahahahahahahaha I'm fricking psychic! Look at my sig, posted that up months before the Invasion was announced. *wonder if I had anything to do with their decision making process*
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when are the stinken villain epic archtypes going to show? thats what is going to make CoV complete for me, heroes got theirs in issue 3, issue 10 is the 3rd issue for villains so yeah im hoping villain's show up soon and if you get any research on the epic archtypes email me at mastermock555@yahoo.com
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A few threads down from this one is a discussion thread for this interview. Researching for yourself really isn't that hard.
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I'm betting the 5th got pushed back because the Center...really hasn't done all that much. You see him once in an endgame villain arc. (I still haven't been able to find a screencap of the old man.) So if they were planning on replacing the Council with the 5th again, well, what was the point of the switchover in the first place? All buildup, no resolution.
Personally, the fact that the Center is basicly an evil Professor X is kind of cool. I'd lay my buck down on the idea of the 5th becoming the classic "Cobra/Armored fascists" group, and the Council becoming more focused on Mutation superiority, perfecting the human species, and so on. That way, you can have both groups without them both doing the same thing in similar pairs of long johns, and the Mutation origins get bad guys a little more ambitious than the Outcasts.
My personal belief, and this is only speculation for me;
I don't thinkt he 5th are ont eh moon, the rikti blurb about i10, said one of the signs of the Rikti return was the siesmic activity ont eh moon, which leads me to believe there is another Restructurist Rikti outpost on the moon.
Anyways that's my take.
Now, onto what I feel about the 5th Column.
i12, the earliest this will happen, IMO, which means next year. Some of the remaining 5th have been snooping around Baumtown (aka Boomtown). They knew where to dig, but didn't know where exactly to dig. They have been digging under the Freedom Phalanx old HQ for a while, looking for the capsule of Reichsman. They find him, and awaken him, and Reichsman secretly has the old Phalanx HQ rebuilt into his base of operations in Boomtown, while the rebuilding was being done everywhere else.
The result? Reichsman, having been recruiting and rebuilding his flock, possibly from Council, as well as some of the workers in Boomtown, and possibly other sources, finally feels ready to strike. His troops are stationed everywhere throughout Paragon and the Rogue Isles, not only ready to strike against the Council, for their coup they played 3 years ago, but also against heroes and villains alike to subvert them all under the rule of the 5th Column.
In this return, the Council, wanting protection, seek out some possible Arachnos help, and as a result, villains finally gain access to their epic archetypes, the Nictus, and whatever the name of the evil peacebringer will be. New story arcs will open up for villains describing the 5th for villain khelds.
Boomtown will possibly become a joint co-op zone, with a special Arachnos flier and contacts for both heroes and villains as Reichsman and the 5th present a global threat to not only Heroes but Arachnos as well. Recluse's stand point would be that one Statesman is enough, but another one hell bent on world domination he doesn't want anything with, so he adopts the enemy of my enemy is my friend policy for the time being until Reichsman as a threat is removed.
Several new contacts appear, a new Strike Force striking against Reichsman himself, Boomtown itself is retro-fitted, opening up new explorations as well as a new GM for villains.
Or, in another twist, one fo the Rogue Isles is disocovered to be the 5th's new base. The result, the heroes will be able to come into the isles, as this threat is too big even for Recluse to contain.
In either event, I believe Boomtown will be retrofitted during this, and villain EATs will make their appearance.
Silverspar: I like that, but I feel like it overstates the threat of the 5th Column. They are hobbled and rebuilding, working with limited resources. Set new Boomtown as a mid-level coop zone, say 20-35, with Reichsman being the end of a level 35 coop TF. Even if he is Evil Statesman, he has been on ice for a while and is not back to full power. Both sides are trying to nip the threat in the bud, containing the 5th Column before they can become a significant threat.
I like the view from Lord Recluse: one Statesman is bad enough, to say nothing of one hell-bent on world domination. 1. eliminate potential rival 2. test for potential Destined Ones.
It would be nice to have a threat that is explicitly not (yet) a threat to the whole planet There are dozens of "one wrong step and the world will be destroyed/conquered" stories going at once. For the mid-levels, at least, we can have more moderate threats, rather than trying to escalate the Threat Meter each time.
Though you have a point, we aren't talking about some small threat, even if he has been on ice for a while. According to canon that I have read, Statesman himself was only able to beat him, and just barely, before they could put him on ice, so in the end this can't be a moderate threat, otherwise it would realyl downplay the return of the 5th Column, and Positron has said when the 5th return he wants it ina very big way.
Please use this thread to discuss the below announcement:
Matt Miller, aka Positron, the lead designer of City of Heroes and City of Villains takes some time to discuss the planning that went into the upcoming free expansion, Issue 10: Invasion. Issue 10 advances the story of Paragon City and the Rogue Isles by throwing a combined threat at the heroes and villains a second invasion by the dreaded Rikti.
From the Dev Diary:
With Issue 10 we decided to advance the storyline. Like any ongoing game we have many unresolved plot threads and each is a great opportunity for introducing new game content. Our first thought for Issue 10 was to bring back the 5th Column, a villain group that disappeared when the Council was introduced in Issue 3. But in the end we decided to focus on one of the greatest threats to Paragon City and the Rogue Isles, the aliens known as the Rikti.
Read the Developer Diary Invasion Building the Story here.
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