Basic archetypes video for recruiting friends

Just slapped a simple vid together, nothing special, to show a peek at the basic 5 archetypes.

Not much of a video maker myself, but if it's decent enough people could use it to introduce it to others via email so they can get an idea of how COH/V relates to other MMOs:

COH Intro video

Nice start but... uhh... do you have to have the map up? And the chat windows? And the nav bar? It would be nice if you took down a bunch of the windows that aren't needed so you don't have the interface taking up so much screen space.

It would sure be nice if we could show each primary and secondary in action but... jeez... that'd be a half hour video at least.

(BTW, also in the "CoH advertisement to friends" style, I did a quick vid showing off the character creator. Plug plug. )

10:55 of the character creator? I wonder how long that might have been if you had messed with the color pallette .

I understand, but I see tons of other MMO videos that don't shut the entire UI down. I understand that it may be intimidating to see the UI initially for those who have never played such a game, but as you may have noticed, this was geared for players of other MMOs, and that's why I categorize the archetypes as I do.

I agree with Relentless - no one is going to watch 11 minutes of someone playing around with the character creator. It would be better if you showed the build size section, then after picking a size, just hit the random button several times rapidly to show the depth to give the impression you can look like anything.

Hmm... Some thoughts:

Yeah, get rid of some of the UI, if just for some visibility. I thought the Blaster portion said "But no arm" =)

Seriously, i was wondering wtf you were going on about. Then i barely saw the "or" superimposed over the map. "Armor"... yeah.

Controller portion: All the controller primaries except Mind have a combat pet. You should have shown this, as pets are a Controller's main damage and agro mitigation tool when mez fails.

Defenders: Should have shown him in a combat situation with a team. Right now, he's just standing around making people glow.

Your powers list: Very disorganized. Small text, big text, huge space, next; with no mention of what's a primary or secondary (inter AT overlap notwithstanding). Next time, try playing with the credits options in the movie maker program, I'm sure you can figure out something with a bit more time and effort =)

Overall, a pretty decent vid. The quality of the visuals pretty much "makes" the video. Despite the points i brought up, it should accomplish your goal of being a suitable advertisement to show off the how varied the game is =)

I know ALL of that. Would you like me to redo the video explaining all the pets and getting into fights where heads glow for defender powers the same way they do when standing around? I think that's silly.

I didn't ask for a critique, as I already stated I am not much of a videographer, it's intended to be simplistic for a new viewer who has played other MMOs, so they can relate to the archetypes. That's it.

Actually by posting anything you are asking for critique.

1) The UI is cluttering. Demorecord and playback.
2) The game sound conflicts with the music at points.
3) Not including the Epics? Thats just lazy.
4) Listing the powersets was really pointless. Especially with the canned small/large text. Could have done more there.

Good idea, poor execution. I wouldnt use this to introduce someone to CoX.

Hmmm, you've got a point. If you are trying to show the game off then you should show the UI. It's part of the game. In fact, it's something I very much want to see when evaluating a game. (It's pretty enlightening to look at some of those new console MMO's and count all the things you don't see in the interface, for instance.)

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I agree with Relentless - no one is going to watch 11 minutes of someone playing around with the character creator.

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Actually, quite a few will, I think. Plus, even if they stop after just a quarter of it, they are still going to get my intended message: we have a HUGE selection of costume options!!

The random option really doesn't do it for me. I did hit it a few times right at the end but not until after I had established that you can make good looking characters. That button doesn't really show the debth at all, IMHO. It just shows the viewer a bunch of really horrible costumes. Showing how powerful a tool is by demonstrating what a horrible mess you can make with it doesn't strike me as effective. I like my method of actually showing them just how huge our costume menus are much better, even if the viewers don't watch the whole thing.

Another way to do it would be to make two or three videos of somebody building a very nice costume. Maybe even with voice narration explaining the choices. Preferably a voice with a strong French and/or Italian accent. I do *not* have the fashion sense to pull that off so I just burried the viewers in quantity. Though, if somebody else does, there's still plenty of room on the Internet for you!

A happy medium on the UI might be (if you have something like Vegas or Premiere that allows 'selective' zooming) would be to have as little of the UI as possible up when actually in combat, but then take a moment to show the various parts of the UI in a non-combat situation. (Like, "You've got a map, a chat window, your powers toolbars, targeting, etc", and then zoom in on that part of your footage to show said mentioned UI feature.)

I might have to take a crack at my own "Intro to CoX" video - at least then I'll be putting my money where my mouth is.

I do want to say, though (for what it's worth), that it's good that folks are taking shots at making videos to get their friends into the game. Anything that draws positive attention to CoX is a help.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

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I know ALL of that. Would you like me to redo the video explaining all the pets and getting into fights where heads glow for defender powers the same way they do when standing around? I think that's silly.

I didn't ask for a critique, as I already stated I am not much of a videographer, it's intended to be simplistic for a new viewer who has played other MMOs, so they can relate to the archetypes. That's it.

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Hey, all beginners need tips to help improve. Even intermediates and sometimes pros. Otherwise creative growth stagnates.

As for me, I think I'll make like D_R and try my hand at this sort of thing, too. After all, this is like the second or third time i've put in my 2 inf about a video like this, so... yeah /=)

Netminder - can't wait to see your version.

I'm working on a series for just this, going AT by AT. Almost done recording the demos of brutes (Zloth, I never see you on btw).