City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

Discussion: City of Heroes' Future is Groovy

Alannon

By Alannon,
Posted on: 2008-02-15 18:36 in News, Events and Announcement Discussion

 

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ORRRR......

The statement from the EU head honcho was spawning wild rumors on the EU boards that was starting to infect the US boards and so the US head honcho is basically saying, "We got plans but we're not confirming anything, so, anything you hear is a rumor."

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That is a decidedly unfun way to state what happened. I don't care that you're right. Besides, I'm getting an underwater moon base. So there.

"Mastermind Pets operate...differently, and aren't as easily fixed. Especially the Bruiser. I want to take him out behind the woodshed and pull an "old yeller" on him at times." - Castle

 

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1) NCSoft is optimistic about Tabula Rasa? Then they're smoking crack. There is no way to put enough lipstick on that pig to cover up the fact that the gameplay is terrible. That they sold $5M the first month merely tells you how many people there are who wish there was a strong SF MMO out there. Tell me what the third month numbers look like. And, for that matter, tell me how much of a ghost town TaRa turns into the month after Stargate Worlds comes out this year, unless I miss my guess.

2) That they're very good at retaining customers in City of Heroes is good. But that the average amount of time a subscriber has had the game is 17 months is not something to be cheerful about. It lends credence to my suspicion that we're getting a lot fewer new people, these days, that the low level zones are almost entirely filled with alts of 30 month veterans. It would really be a good thing for this game if NCsoft's marketing department found some way to expand the audience they were marketing to.

If Lineage continues to hemorrhage subscribers to WoW and TaRa tanks, NCsoft is going to need to double or triple the subscriber base for this game if they want to stay relevant in the pay-per-month MMO market. That's going to take more than adding incremental content, that's going to take finding customers in places NCsoft has never bothered to look and marketing the game in whole new ways.

3) I'm having a very hard time reconciling "we're going to knock your socks off this year" with prior warnings not to get our expectations up too high for the next issue, or maybe for the one after that, either. After the disappointment I felt over the last issue, if nothing truly spectacular comes out prior to December, that's not going to be a "knock my socks off" year.

 

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Oldeb's link needs to be removed. On my PC clicking it once results in a neverending stream of new windows being opened up showing the post by Castle. Whether this was his intention or not I don't know.

 

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But the Rikti Portal XP and the task force changes impact people playing the game as designed.


New content is great, I'm looking forward to seeing what's coming in I12 and beyond. But if the current problems are just allowed to fester, that's not a good thing.

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I could say so many things coming in this late in the thread, but, I guess I'll limit it.

First, much agreed to your first point: Honestly I think that the devs need to entirely ignore the 'powerplayer' set and the problems they introduce and make the game built for a typical gamer. CoH is designed, it seems to me, to be MMO lite, you don't need a spreadsheet and a graphing calculator to design a proper toon. So why punish casual players because something was abused by a narrow set of the population. This happens a LOT.

To the second point: sometimes bugs are rooted nastily deep in the code and may not be fixable without breaking a dozen other things. It's a sad fact of modern programming. I played an MMO once where a simple elevator was broken for the better part of a year, the back door to a major city zone. Turns out fixing it required a total rewrite of the entire lift code in the engine itself. I'd rather the devs work on new content than spend inordinate effort to fix a comparatively minor bug.


All in all, I feel CoX has always given me an excellent value for my money, new content is continual and engaging, new zones and TFs and contacts are released on a basically quarterly basis. What other MMO does that for you? AND doesn't require you to pay for it? NCSoft's service has also always been top notch and that means a lot of my friends that won't play other MMOs for the harassment and general inter-player ill will play City Of... It serves its market well and provides a lot of bang for the buck.

Whatever new content they decide to come out with, be it a moon base, space station, another city zone or the Toledo bus station, I'm sure I'll enjoy it completely.

 

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Oldeb's link needs to be removed. On my PC clicking it once results in a neverending stream of new windows being opened up showing the post by Castle. Whether this was his intention or not I don't know.

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Working just fine for me in IE.

 

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Damage Resistance Debuff Enhancement?

Villain Epic Archetype?

Dual Pistol Blaster/Corruptor?

/IceArmor Brutes?

Customizable Mastermind Pets?

Customizable Arachnos Mace?

New Unique Travel Power Animations/Customized Travel Power Costume Pieces?

Villain Trial Zones?

 

Posted

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ORRRR......

The statement from the EU head honcho was spawning wild rumors on the EU boards that was starting to infect the US boards and so the US head honcho is basically saying, "We got plans but we're not confirming anything, so, anything you hear is a rumor."

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I just ROFL'd

...taking on rumors about Very specific things, with a fluff statement that avoids ALL specific is like tryin to put a fire out with Confetti

 

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Disclaimer: This is my first attempt at forum so bear in my and suspend your respect for proper ettiquette. And unable to figure out how to start a new forum string, my post winds up here.

I've sent several ideas/suggestions to Admin via in-game suggestion petitions. I've come to the conclusion that that's--well, for lack of a better term--useless.

Here are several ideas that I think would refine some things. Althought I am virgin to forum, I am however a seasoned veteran. I've thrown a few of these out as jokes, others legit:

1) Install a "Team merge" capability allowing team leaders to send other team leaders merger invites. No more of this "you quit yours, i'll quit mine" nonsense. Two teams consisting of a total less than 8 combined would then be able to invite, leader to leader and form a new squad altogether. Inviting leader would than recieve "star-power" and Receiving leader would then be successive in command if Chain of Command were to break.

2) Fix Trick Arrow. Oil slick for controllers at current status is STUPID. For those that do not know, Oil slick, once lit on fire does two things: 1. Damage inflicted does not count as yours, the damage is contributed to the oil slick itself and displays on-screen as greyed out and 2. A lit oil slick will REPEL and often PARALYZE pets, they will stop fighting to run, stop moving entirely and wait to die by the hands of your newly agro'd adversaries. It is my conclusion, unfortunately, that this is by INTENTIONAL design. This power is particularilly why I chose Trick Arrow and it's broken? Am I to discard my 50 now? Fix the powers design or include a warning in the power description.

3) Non-combat oriented XP. In many cases, by circumstance or by choice, people end up alone. I, in particular, feel the sting of "no-one's on" in the late evening/early morning hours where I often find my free-time, ESPECIALLY on new toons. A remedy for that is to impliment a "Hero Training Program" where simlulated achievements can be traded for XP. My original thought was to open an "arcade" of sorts where players can go and purchase gaming tokens and try their hand at "A game within a game" where even lvl 1 tankers can experience momentarily what it's like to be a lvl 50 blaster. These "mini-games" could get very creative, having enemies reach into the "Level 100's" and beyond if your successive streak were so impressive. Mini-games designed to actually teach new players Speed, platform jumping, combination kills, flight skills, teleportation, taunting, HEALING and other skills that make a true blue hero.

4) Character Level Taxing. This is one that I am a firm believer in. Ran it passed several in-game friends and they didn't stop for a second when they emphatically said YES! You're a lvl 50 Regen Scrapper, a nerf comes that removes MoG from the set. Some would love it, some would hate it. Not to worry, for a price, you can can give up your old life of healing for a new one of focused strength from the netherworld. What's the price? Well now you're a lvl 40 Dark Armor scrapper. Get it? Many would give up more not to restart the character and take a different name, they would rather go back to gaining XP and bite the bullet in aim for a better result. If you think about it, if I've been a professional Martial artist for years and decide to pick up a blade, my defensive skills will not be any more lacking just because i want a new weapon. This system would allow "Change of Primary" "Change of Secondary" "Change of Power Set" and for a VERY heavy tax, say 25 lvls, you could even "Change Archetype"

5) IO's for the fun of it! I would love to see an Empathy Defender running around with ONE Fire Imp behind him because his IO on his damage had a 5% chance to spawn a Fire Monkey. Things like that would add so much fun to the game. What can one fire monkey do? Nothing really. But it would crack up the user almost every time it happened. Spawn Rubble, Spawn Swarm, Spawn Random. Fun fun fun.

6) Hummina-Wha??? You wanna do what? Add ANOTHER Veteran earned archetype? He's a crazy man. Yes...Yes, I am. With the successful completion of your FIRST VETERAN TOON, meaning a lvl 50 Warshade or Peacebringer, you are granted something a little bit "more flashy." The "Create-Your-Own Arch" that allows you ANY Primary paired with ANY Secondary regardless of weight, class, arch, gender, tax, title and/or license. Builds like Gravity Control and Psychic Blast, Ice Blast and Energy Melee, Empathy/Trick Arrow, Spines/Kinetics! Totally sick toons that would make for rediculous and FUN situations. After all, it is a GAME. If 2 50's aren't enough, make it 5. Some players have made The City Of Universe a lot of money and would enjoy perks of that magnitude.

I have more but I fear this post is getting WAY TOO LONG. I'll save my other suggestions for another time

 

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You want the suggestions forum, several floors down. But wear an abestos suit when you go.

Quick rundown of your hijack:

1. Meh on the merger, and it might be more trouble than it's worth for ranking people remaining to hav the star

2. Yeah, it has issues. Tell it to get in line behind other things though.

3. No way in hell.

4. See #3, but stronger.

5. And how will you account for "buzzsaw" builds with all of these procs?

6. They already said tying Khelds to 50 was a mistake. I doubt they are going to repeat it.

/e end hijack

"Mastermind Pets operate...differently, and aren't as easily fixed. Especially the Bruiser. I want to take him out behind the woodshed and pull an "old yeller" on him at times." - Castle

 

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Does this mean that you will develop a Mac client?

 

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You want the suggestions forum, several floors down. But wear an abestos suit when you go.

Quick rundown of your hijack:

1. Meh on the merger, and it might be more trouble than it's worth for ranking people remaining to hav the star

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Actually, players often bring up a "Looking for more" tag which is more likely to be implemented and help two half-teams find each other.



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6. They already said tying Khelds to 50 was a mistake.

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By 'they,' do you mean the Devs? Because then that's the first time I heard that.

Speeding Through New DA Repeatables || Spreadsheet o' Enhancements || Zombie Skins: better skins for these forums || Guide to Guides

 

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By 'they,' do you mean the Devs? Because then that's the first time I heard that.

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Yes. It's way too old for me to pull anything out of the Dev Digest though. I don't mean not unlocking "evil Khelds," that seems to be tied to level 50 if they should ever come out to keep parity with CoH. But any new Epic Archetype is unlikely to be tied to reaching level 50.

Since the last forum purge it's harder to pull up discussions where people have talked about this.

Discussed by Memphis Bill here.

Here is a discussion following Posi's W00t Radio interview in 2006. The same comments of "I thought it was a mistake to unlock at 50?" crop up several times in that discussion.

"Mastermind Pets operate...differently, and aren't as easily fixed. Especially the Bruiser. I want to take him out behind the woodshed and pull an "old yeller" on him at times." - Castle

 

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By 'they,' do you mean the Devs? Because then that's the first time I heard that.


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It's not the first time I've heard it. They've repeatedly said that any subsiquent "E-ATs" would be tied to some form of unlocking other than simply leveling up. This would not only dissuade people from powerleveling in order to unlock the "E-AT" but also allow lower level people the opportunity to use an "E-AT" without spending 100+ hours in game just to get it.

Probably a long story arc or something akin to a TF/SF...

 

Posted

Wish something could be done for rad defenders primary (radiation blast). The offensive powers are so weak, with the first level rad blast power, it still takes me at least 6 blasts at lvl 50 to kill a lvl 38 minion..thats pretty sad

Arc: 378122 "Tales of the Terran Space Marines -The Apocalypse Initiative" 5stars!
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Arc: 481545 "Twilight of the Gods - The Praetorian conflict"8000+ hits!
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Damage Resistance Debuff Enhancement?

Villain Epic Archetype?

Dual Pistol Blaster/Corruptor?

/IceArmor Brutes?

Customizable Mastermind Pets?

Customizable Arachnos Mace?

New Unique Travel Power Animations/Customized Travel Power Costume Pieces?

Villain Trial Zones?



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Here are several ideas that I think would refine some things. Althought I am virgin to forum, I am however a seasoned veteran. I've thrown a few of these out as jokes, others legit:

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1) Install a "Team merge" capability

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Good Idea [/b]

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2) Fix Trick Arrow.

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Also a good idea! And with the same idea behind the issue of Brute Primary: Electric Melee: Chain Induction, they should look to a way to resolve the Environment Damage tag on this that saps your Experience Points gained. You shouln't really have a "net gain" when it comes to any damage dealed that is caused by your own Primary/Secondary power inflicted damage

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3) Non-combat oriented XP.

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Awk-ward... You're very creative though, I'll give you that!

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4) Character Level Taxing.

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I firmly believe this has already been established on another thread in this forum that this is a very, very, very (ect.) bad idea. For other games it works maybe. But look how long those games last. I would hate that people would get bored of every single AT because they played them out with one single character. Also, theres a certain "handling" experience that you gain from the long journey of growing up that you would totally lose if something like this would happen. While its a good idea on the first impressions, would you trust your life to some level 50 healer or debuffer or controller or even a tanker on a Lady Grey Task/Strike force that only has half the experience? I wouldn't. If you say you would, you're just in denial or dont know what they are incapable of. These arent just priveleges that we are given. They are [u]earned[u]!

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5) IO's for the fun of it!

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Cute!

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6) Hummina-Wha???

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Yes! Another Archetype of balance would be totally awesome!
No!... no I dont think so. I give you credit, but did you not see what it was like in Beta when there were intermixing power sets like that. Total chaos... and I mean chaos! Order is good. I like order. Everything serves a function. Everyone has a particular part, and thats very definative too! There shouldnt be one particular Do-it-all archetype or anything like that. What would become of the team environment?

 

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I believe we have one of the most experienced, creative, and impassioned development teams in the industry working diligently to take your game experience to places you've been wanting to go, but thought not possible.

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Best line in the whole thing. Now let the PC hope live again!

Types of Swords
My Portfolio

 

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I believe we have one of the most experienced, creative, and impassioned development teams in the industry working diligently to take your game experience to places you've been wanting to go, but thought not possible.

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Its too bad we don't have the most COMMUNICATIVE dev team. ::still waiting for response from a dev in the TF/SF thread over there ---->::

Thanks, NC Soft, for closing my favorite game ever without warning and with plenty of life still left in it, and thus relieving me of the burden of EVER wanting to buy, try or even hear about another game from your company. Will my decision make a dent, or persuade them in anyway, shape or form? Nope, obviously not. Don't care. NC Soft is dead to me. ~ PsyFox

 

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Hmmmmm, lemme guess, you have a marketing background and you really have no idea what changes are coming but you have been assured they will be great by some techy person or maybe not, doesn't matter you still believe they will still be great (see any one of many Dilbert cartoons). The real question is, great for whom? The Techy person , the acct., or (gasp) maybe the players?

Dancingbear

At certain times the forest serenades the stars and draws them nearer but they won't mind if we dance.

 

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I believe we have one of the most experienced, creative, and impassioned development teams in the industry working diligently to take your game experience to places you've been wanting to go, but thought not possible.

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Its too bad we don't have the most COMMUNICATIVE dev team. ::still waiting for response from a dev in the TF/SF thread over there ---->::

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Castle, BaB, and LH are very consistent about addressing issues that are actually their Departments.
...Reward changes however and Quality Assurance... I think we all know who's department that is, and that he won't discuss the big issues with us b/c we all con "Grey 2 him"

 

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Erk.... <.< be careful what you say. He gave us so much already. Do you want him to super stealth in and nuke us to death?

Maybe we should just wait for a hard copy of changes to come before we start to doubt them. Our prebrooding on things could lead them to try too hard. Maybe if we just give suggestion, and with in reason give our stand on certain issues as they are made know, they wont accidently over do it. Over doing it aint doing it with quality, you know?

 

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I started playing Gary Gygax's Dungeons and Dragons pencil, paper, and dice game back in '74 when it reall STARTED coming out.....I'm now online in an RPG with so much "realism" that we used to talk about at 02:00 am in the morning drinking warm pop and eating stale chips to keep us going for an all nighter (which was dependant on the DM wheather he could endure our antics or not). COH is such a wonderful game I wish I had a SG with my friends from 25 years ago....I tell you we would have kicked a## and given Lord Recluse a run for his money!! Thank you so much NCSoft for such a fantasy reality!!

Emrald Ghost

 

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/IceArmor Brutes?


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Haven't read the whole thread, but Ice Brutes are most likely not going to happen. They had them in CoV beta iirc, but due to the inherent slowing nature of Ice, it worked counter to the whole concept of Brutes. More time between incoming attacks from mobs lead to a decrease in Fury build up, or something along those lines. The idea of Ice for Brutes was scrapped.

Though it is a good concept in theory, but in practice, not so much.