Discussion: 51 Month and 54 Month Veteran Rewards
By
7thCynic,
Posted on: 2008-07-08 17:54 in News, Events and Announcement Discussion
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Well this is a nice plus for all those that didn't pre-order either CoH or CoV however I will now think twice about any pre-ordering incentives given in the future. I mean what is the point of ordering early just to have your bonus taken away at a future date?
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Well, pre-order incentive costume pieces are available when designing the characters starting costume. As a vet reward, the character would have to hike all the way to Icons or Facemaker and burn a costume token to get the costume piece.
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Oh I wouldn't get to cozy with those nice Vet powers either as it seems they are Temporary Powers anyway. I imagine they will go sometime in the future as most TEMPS do.
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They are just listed under the temp powers, they don't go away. They have no expiration time and unlimited charges. Your origin power is also listed in the temp power section as well.
Personally, these rewards don't excite me at all. I have the pre-order helms and never used them. Just couldn't seem to get them to look right with any of the costumes I tried designing. As for the additional vet power, most of my characters don't use them anyway. If the power seemed like a good fit, thematically speaking, I might take it, but in most cases, I don't bother.
Now, I know what I wouldn't mind seeing done for vet rewards. First get sexy Jay to come up with some cool and desirable costume pieces. Then add them in as both a Vet Reward and Invention recipes. Vet's get the pieces for free and can use them during their initial costume creation, while newer players can get the pieces they want either through a lucky drop, or buying the recipe from Wentworths or the Black Market. If you notice, the best VR costume pieces were all given out pretty early in the program. Opening up some of the later ones as invention recipes might be a good way to get some good pieces added as Vet Rewards at the higher end.
Getting all of the preorder helms is a good idea, but then again people said I was strange when I liked the idea of the pre order sprint vet reward
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Instead, how about introducing the 57 month reward as "every three months from now on, you'll earn a costume token and vet respec"?
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That would sort of defeat one of the whole purposes of the Vet Rewards, which is to keep people from canceling, and I'll fully admit that it's kept me from canceling from time to time. The idea that it might delay a nifty reward I might get otherwise has been enough where I might've done it without much thought like I have with other games in the past.
Of course, if they keep putting so little effort into these rewards, they're going to just kill the purpose anyways. Really, when you put a year's worth of rewards next to each other, it paints a clear picture. The only good reward (in my opinion) is the buff pets (which don't even work like they initially said they would and barely useful). Then we have these and nothing at 45 months. Couple that with the fact that some rewards haven't even come out in time, and it makes the system seem like just another thing that the devs don't care about terribly - which is a shame, since one of the other purposes of the Vet Reward system was to give thanks to the people who have stuck around as long as they have, not to make them feel like they're being a burden.
But then I'm not really anticipating this feedback to change anything. The devs don't really seem to take much feedback when it comes to Vet Rewards. Hell, I'm still highly miffed that we never even got an explanation for why the 45 month "reward" was what it was.
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May I suggest *AGAIN* the CoV DVD cape in there somewhere since it no longer seems available?
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Check your local Big Lots if you have one around. I was just to one today and they had tons of CoH/CoV games - including the CoV special edition for only $10. (Or you can get it for like $13 from Amazon.)
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May I suggest *AGAIN* the CoV DVD cape in there somewhere since it no longer seems available?
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Not going to happen. The Devs PROMISED that the CoV special edition stuff would only be available to those who bought the special edition. There would be a lot of upset players if the CoV:SE cape and alternate Aracnos emblem were added as a vet reward.
BTW, the pre-order stuff never received an exclusive promise from the devs, that's only for the CoV:SE stuff.
I've read the announcement and am left wondering something about the 51 month reward. While it does say the helms will be offered as the reward it does not say that you will have access to all of them with the same account. I hope they are since I already have the one from my pre-order but would like a couple of the others for other characters. Thing is, I'm kind of thinking that when you claim the reward you might be given a list to choose from like with the temp powers, and the one you choose will be applied to your account, possibly overwriting any you might already have. Has there been any official word on how this will work?
Will those pre-order helmets only apply to Villains? Because otherwise Hero players essentially get very little on their 51st month. (I know, it's odd to see Villains get favored, or Arachnos running around Paragon, but hey.)
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You fail to point out that you can't slot these powers for accuracy and that Set Bonuses don't apply to them either.
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Set Bonuses most assuredly *do* apply to Vet Reward attacks. Try 'em and see! 
EDIT: Accuracy & Recharge Set Bonuses work, that is... honestly not sure about Damage, but it's not the damage that's lacking on Vet attacks anyway. Powers like Aim and Build Up also boost Vet attack accuracy and Hasten lowers their recharge. And of course, yellow inspirations and any Defense Debuffs will help with their accuracy also. In short, there's lots of things that can help with Vet attack accuracy, so complaining too much about their 75% base is a little silly.
EDIT2: Also, as stated in the post you replied to, the lowbie accuracy bonus ("beginner's luck") definitely applies to Vet attacks as well, and it's those levels where you arguably gain the most from having the extra attacks anyway.
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Their DAM is unbuffable. However, they will do more damage if you debuff the foe with -RESISTANCE.
Their ToHit Roll can be modified by having personal +ToHit Buffs, such as from Tactics or +ToHit from Set Bonuses or popping a yellow inspiration. It can also be modified by debuffing the foe with -DEFENSE.
Their RECHARGE can be sped up with personal recharge such as with Hasten, Luck of the Gambler, Set Bonuses, Geas, Accelerate Metabolism, etc...
I have several 'low damage' toons that use the Vet Reward powers regularly from level 1 to 50. I just make sure I have lots of personal +ToHit or I have -Def debuffs so that I hit regularly.
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Wow, I like the powers and all but you can't do something like use diffent powers or maybe a travel power like a car or a hellicopptor? : ) The the helmets aren't that great.... Well I guess I can put it on a hero lol but I can't turn evil.
I'm actually kind of looking forward to the 54 month, because I habitually take the Sands and so, because I didn't think before clicking, missed out taking the Axe on the one character of mine it really fits (both for concept/looks and because he's magic origin and will be fighting a lot of Spectrals in his career).
Other than that, it's kind of "meh" for me, as is 51... but here's the thing. The way I see it, my reward for playing the game for 48+ months is getting to play it for four years. (Likewise, the benefit of preordering is getting to play with the sprints or the helmet for a couple of years before anyone else.) Anything else is icing. And I'm not always in the mood for icing, even, but that's okay - I can scrape it off and leave it on my plate.
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Why can't you give us more enegry? I mean the ward, axe, mu, and or the staff cost 10 points that is a lot for level 1s lol in fact it a lot until you get Stamina or something, or at least be able to make them cost less enegry.
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Will those pre-order helmets only apply to Villains? Because otherwise Hero players essentially get very little on their 51st month. (I know, it's odd to see Villains get favored, or Arachnos running around Paragon, but hey.)
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Heroes can wear the pre-order helms. I'll post a screenshot here in a bit.
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Way to add new content to long playing Heroes devs!! Really is this what you come up with? just reusing the same stuff... yawn. I am not impressed and vary disappointed. It looks like we don't have much to look forward too.
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Well, in one respect, I'm glad to see the vet rewards continue, but at the same time, I feel a bit underwhelmed that the developers aren't getting at all imaginitive with new rewards. Recycled rewards just isn't getting me excited...Thank you, but meh...
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Couldn't agree more...
helmets.
meh.
So... the hero pre-order items are given at the first year and the villain ones are the 51 month reward?
That seems rather full of fail to me. I'm glad my pre-order bonus for picking up the original game before release is somehow implied to be inferior to picking up what was essentially an expansion to the game before its release. Luckily, for the 54 month reward they recycle two older vet rewards in a new and more combined version!
Oh well, not like vet rewards cost me anything that I'm not already paying *shrug*
I have to wait 51 months to use helmets that could have easily been introduced as a pay-for patch similar to the tuxedo and wedding gown patch?
Stupid. There's no other way to put it. People have been requesting these for a really long time, and I've been around since CoV launch and that's no where near 51 months. Ugh at this.
lol, more ranged damage in zone pvp, lawlz
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I have to wait 51 months to use helmets that could have easily been introduced as a pay-for patch similar to the tuxedo and wedding gown patch?
Stupid. There's no other way to put it. People have been requesting these for a really long time, and I've been around since CoV launch and that's no where near 51 months. Ugh at this.
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Jack Hawksmoor, The Authority.
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Way to add new content to long playing Heroes devs!! Really is this what you come up with? just reusing the same stuff... yawn. I am not impressed and vary disappointed. It looks like we don't have much to look forward too.
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I understand and basically agree with the "Meh" sentiment.
As far as the helmets ago we were told from the beginning that we would eventually have another way to get them. They were never going to be "permanently" exclusive. Since the Prestige Sprints were offered as Vet awards it seemed pretty likely that these helmets would go the same way sooner or later. It was never really a matter of 'if' but only of 'when' it was going to happen. Now was 51 months too long to wait for something we all knew was pretty much inevitable? Maybe. *shrugs*
As for the opportunity to choose another Vet attack power I like the basic idea behind that. It is a little more fair for older and newer players alike because we can choose what power we want when we want it. The only problem with it is that we only have 4 powers to choose from in the first place. The pool of choices for doing this is far too limited to work well. With only 4 possible powers what this means is that it's very likely every kind character out there is going to have the same 3 identical powers whether they're an android, a wizard, a telekinetic alien or a Karate expert. If both the 12 and 33 month Vet awards had given us say 5 choices each instead of only 2 then there would be much more variety for character concepts by the time a character could have 3 of those 10 at the 54th month.
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So... any chance of a redname response to all this? I mean it seems to me that with a few exceptions, the 54 month reward is pretty unpopular amongst players.
I'd like to hear if we've had an impact and maybe a chance to go back to the drawing board before anyone gets to 54 months. Cause technically it wouldn't be that much of a hassle if you just switch the choice to another group of temp powers or something.
Sorry, I know it's kinda rude to ask, but I'm curious what the Dev-Staff think now that there has been a good number of responses. Cause I'll be honest, this is one of the best games I've ever played, I haven't really had cause to complain at all, other than some issues that are beyond you guys. So this is kindof a first for me, you know, saying something is bad about this game.
51 month reward is well worth it. I've been waiting so long for the devs to implement this to vets. However i find the54 month reward more of a cop-out. Considering if you picked nem staff or blackwand, your origin won't benefit getting the other, so you're usually left with the deicsion to either take the ghost axe of sands of mu based on what you previously took. Not as interesting as previous vet rewards.
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My thoughts:
51 Month Reward: Nice to see the CoV pre-order helmets show up. As has been pointed out already, people did not pay extra for any pre-order items, so there's no reason that they shouldn't be made available as a vet reward now (unlike the premiums included in the CE editions).
54 Month Reward: Meh. An extra power is an extra power, I suppose, but I would have been happier with the choice of one that was not previously offered.
It's more than simply being not as "interesting" as previous awards.
It's virtually guaranteeing every character concept imaginable will have many identical powers.
That's fine for Rest, Sprint and Brawl. But do we need potentially up to 6 cookie-cutter powers?
I understand strictly speaking not everyone is going to pick the same 3 Vet powers.
But mathematically speaking there will only be 4 possible combos of 3 picks for anyone.
I just don't like the idea of every character eventually becoming that much more predictably identical. 
Bottomline we need a bigger pool of powers to choose from for the 12, 33 and/or 54 month Vet awards.
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I am only happy with 54 if I can have two Nemisis staffs in my power bar.
Other wise there is a ton of other cool temp powers they could have given us
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How about instead of the old vet powers, how about instead you give us options for the IO temp power attacks, pistol, bat, or hammer?! That would rock my world since I really like all three of those.
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THIS! I dont even bother to take the vet attacks any more, because they dont usually fit my characters themes.
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