Discussion: Massively.com Interviews
By
Acemace,
Posted on: 2008-09-25 24:06 in News, Events and Announcement Discussion
The leveling pact is what caught my eye. I always start a character with my friend and always get ahead...waaayyy ahead. He "gets tired" of his guys right around the time I dust him. Giving him half is a bummer, but once I get to aboiut 38 everything xp-wise is icing on the cake anyway, so his low guys might as well be getting it. Good job, in advance, on this issue. It looks promising.
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" Issue 14: Architect to be released Winter of 2009. "
Did I read that that right, "Winter" and "09"?
My wife and I met via the game so we're unlikely to go anywhere (she's addicted), but one update for all of next year.
I know it's [u]not[u] what you want to have to tell your sub's, but you guys.. you don't know what your competitions' going to be like . It's not going to be pretty. *shrugs* 
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As has been noted by various others in various other threads, "Winter '09" is actually "Q1 '09", so sometime between next Jan. - March.
Danke!
Overall it sounds like issue 13 will lack any real meat -n- potatoes, but I think this is a great move. The MA can't be put out half@$$, it has to be done right or it will be an epic fail. As excited as I was about it, I'd much rather wait till issue 14 and have it be what it should be.
One question that wasn't mentioned in the interviews. Will we get more proliferation now that the MA has been bumped from this issue?
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Before TonyV get's here... I just wanna say, I love the idea of the Booster Packs. I plan to purchase each and every one of them just to support my favorite game, hoping the funds will continue to make this the best MMO of all time (as it already is)!
I've been itching for more costumes, which is why I bought the Cyborg pack. I'm excited to see what they have to offer and yes, I will be using the "Police Belt"! 
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I will only buy the ones I want, but that may still be quite a few. If I want something enough, I don't mind paying a little more for it if I think it's worth the value. The add-ons I've bought have mostly been worth it. (The wedding pack was a little on the expensive side in terms of cost/value.) The GvE edition pack was worth every penny I spent on it and is, for me, the best add-on pack they've offered.
It may support the game, but if I don't want to be, say, a giant snocone, I'm not going to buy the Snocone Booster Pack.
~Missi
http://tinyurl.com/yhy333s
Miss Informed in 2016! She can't be worse than all those other guys!
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One question that wasn't mentioned in the interviews. Will we get more proliferation now that the MA has been bumped from this issue?
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No.
Castle's confirmed this, citing that the powers folks (him and two other guys) have been really busy between the MA and the rebalancing stuff. Earliest we're likely to see more proliferation is Issue 15.
Positron: "There are no bugs [in City of Heroes], just varying degrees of features."
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Will invention salvage be storeable in the salvage racks in bases?
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This is what I'd like to know. With the current system, people in my SG who have no interest in crafting can drop their Base salvage in storage, and once enough of it piles up, I get my precious credit towards the Fabricator badge by refining the salvage.
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Regardless of the 'storage' question it's good to see that I wasn't the only person to realize that the "removal" of Base Salvage might dramatically change the better strategies for earning the Fabricator badge.
Having earned the Fabricator badge twice using methods that heavily leveraged the way Base Salvage could be used all I'd suggest to people who are still working it this way to hurry up and finish it before I13 potentially makes it much harder and/or costly.
Loth 50 Fire/Rad Controller [1392 Badges] [300 non-AE Souvenirs]
Ryver 50 Ele� Blaster [1392 Badges]
Silandra 50 Peacebringer [1138 Badges] [No Redside Badges]
--{=====> Virtue ♀
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Alternate Builds
Massively: So basically you create the character, and he has the archetype and he has the power selections that he has when you make the character, but then you can switch what powers you have selected over the course of your career at a specific NPC, right?
Matt Miller: Yep!
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Side switching in the future?
Brian Clayton: We're going to be doing more and more in-depth focus groups and research, and things like that, going forward, so eventually I think this is going to become more noise for the community than it is groundbreaking news! But what I can say is that having players go from hero to villain, and villain to hero, would nicely tie together what we've already done to date with City of Heroes and City of Villains. We certainly like the concept and the idea, but we're just not ready to talk about the details yet.
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Am I the only person who looks at these two game resources and thinks ... "Finally, I'll be able to play my character as a Hero *AND* as a Villain!"
As far as programming your way across the Red/Blue Divide ... I'd imagine that would be as easy as storing which Trainer you switched sides at. That way if you tell Ms Liberty you want to switch over to being a villain, you'll appear in the Rogue Isles (as a villain) ... either at the Trainer you told you want to be a Hero previously, or at the default entry point for characters exiting the respective Tutorials (if you've never "crossed over" before). Basically, your "transit point" will get saved for when you "cross back" over.
Alternately, you could just be "dumped out" at the Zone Teleport destination location ... as if you'd been sent there via SG Base Teleporter. In that case, you'd only need to record Last Blue/Red Zone in the database, with a default origin of Galaxy City and Mercy Island (until updated by actually switching sides).
And with the Alternate Builds feature, you could have a Hero Build and a Villain Build ... in theory ...
In which case, all I ask of Positron and his team is to NOT make choices now which could preclude this possibility for Alternate Hero/Villain Builds. 
As for the Alternate Builds concept itself, may I recommend that the Alternate Build also have its own set of costume slots *and* its own Bio and Battle Cry info?
It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...
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Having earned the Fabricator badge twice using methods that heavily leveraged the way Base Salvage could be used all I'd suggest to people who are still working it this way to hurry up and finish it before I13 potentially makes it much harder and/or costly.
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So what we're going to do is we're going to get rid of the Base Salvage, and just make everything that's currently craftable in the bases from salvage, craftable through that Invention Salvage as well.
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Call me crazy, I like the idea of using one set of salvage for bases, IO's, and empowerment stations. Should be easier to get the Fabricator badge.
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Having earned the Fabricator badge twice using methods that heavily leveraged the way Base Salvage could be used all I'd suggest to people who are still working it this way to hurry up and finish it before I13 potentially makes it much harder and/or costly.
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So what we're going to do is we're going to get rid of the Base Salvage, and just make everything that's currently craftable in the bases from salvage, craftable through that Invention Salvage as well.
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Call me crazy, I like the idea of using one set of salvage for bases, IO's, and empowerment stations. Should be easier to get the Fabricator badge.
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I never said I was really -against- the idea of streamlining the game to use only one kind of salvage. That's a completely different topic which I happen to agree with. The game probably should have only had one kind of salvage to begin with.
But like I said I've actually earned 2 Fabricator badges under the current system using combinations of base and invention salvages. Forgive me if I think I have a clue about this situation. 
Currently invention salvage is typically more expensive to buy and tends to be less available than the kinds of base salvage typically involved in the faster methods of Fabricator efforts. By removing an entire class of salvage and making the remaining class of salvage take on "double-duty" it is VERY LIKELY that the people who need huge amounts of salvage for the Fabricator badge will have to pay more for it and have less of it to work with for their purposes.
The point is Fabricator is relatively easy to get right now BECAUSE there are two vast types of salvage and the ways they work together. Reducing the total kinds of salvage available will make doing ANYTHING with it harder, not easier.
Fabricator will of course still be earnable post I13.
But given what I know I can virtually assure you it's easier and cheaper to earn right now than it WILL be.
Thus my suggestion to people to finish it up while they can.
Loth 50 Fire/Rad Controller [1392 Badges] [300 non-AE Souvenirs]
Ryver 50 Ele� Blaster [1392 Badges]
Silandra 50 Peacebringer [1138 Badges] [No Redside Badges]
--{=====> Virtue ♀
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I see the question has been raised already. When the Levelling Pact goes live, I do hope that existing level 50 characters can benefit alts by it.
It's just a further incentive to keep them active, even if they are being played for reasons other than XP. It just means that you won't be forced into a choice between developing an under-50 character versus running task forces for recipes on your 50.
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That would be cool, though the phrasing seemed to be 'new characters' so maybe requires the two to start togehther...
Gaining XP without risk of debt to train up another character.
I don't suffer from altitis, I enjoy every minute of it.
Thank you Devs & Community people for a great game.
So sad to be ending ):
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Leveling Pact: This... sounds pretty interesting. I'm really not sure if I'm excited or wary. Being able to "give" half the XP you earn to another character, be they on- or off-line? Whoa.
I wonder though: If I play a level 50, does my Level Pact partner get zero XP (since 50s don't earn any XP), does my partner get the level 49 XP rates or does my partner get XP according to his own level?
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In a leveling pact, when you start it you're forced to have exactly the same XP as whoever you're in the pact with. So you'll both ding 50 at *exactly* the same time.
Freedom: Blazing Larb, Fiery Fulcrum, Sardan Reborn, Arctic-Frenzy, Wasabi Sam, Mr Smashtastic.
From the PvP interview:
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We are making it so that when you are in a PvP zone, your powers will work differently (for certain powers). They may not behave exactly as they behave in PvE, but hopefully they're going to bring a much more balanced and engaging PvP gameplay to our game.
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I'm very glad to hear this.
Though I doubt it will happen, because they've claimed there were PvE reasons for it (reasons I'm not clear on, because the ones I've heard involve what I believe to be fair tradeoffs like dramatically reduced DPS for increased safety), I'd love to hear that Travel Suppression will be relegated to PvP zones only.
Phase Shift and the Kheldian versions' full toggle duration is also something I'd like to see restored outside of PvP zones, since the claimed PvE reason for those was clicking glowies with no risk (an issue that is irrelevant now, since you can't click glowies while phased). If not, I'd like to hear whatever other reasons there are for not restoring it.
Hibernate is a big one for me (I don't have the power, this is purely a concern I have on principle). Since you can't move with it on, and you can't generate new aggro while in it, I never saw any PvE reason for it to have a limited duration, so unless there's some PvE exploit I missed, I'd like to see it restored to full toggle status.
Please try my custom mission arcs!
Legacy of a Rogue (ID 459586, Entry for Dr. Aeon's Third Challenge)
Death for Dollars! (ID 1050)
Dr. Duplicate's Dastardly Dare (ID 1218)
Win the Past, Own the Future (ID 1429)
Moving MA back to get it right was the right thing to do.
I'm happy that side-switching is nowhere in sight at least for the next 2 issues. I really hate the idea of having a revolving door, where your character wakes up and says, "I feel like being a villain today!" or "Being a villain was so this-morning! I want to be a hero again!" It's immersion breaking, it hurts the variety of game play we currently enjoy, and it's just a plain old bad idea which I am strongly against. And again, fortunately, when asked about it they didn't say "it's coming" they said, "we'll focus group it more and we'll see". Here's hoping it never happens.
Back on topic, multi-builds is a great new feature. I always build with an eye toward PvP, now I don't have to. I can build PvE and PvP specific builds and stop worrying about it. PvP is looking up in this game!
The best comics are still 10�!
My City of Heroes Blog Freedom Feature Article: "Going Rageless?"
If you only read one guide this year, make it this one.
Super Reflexes: the Golden Fox of power sets!
WARNING: I bold names.
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Leveling Pact: This... sounds pretty interesting. I'm really not sure if I'm excited or wary. Being able to "give" half the XP you earn to another character, be they on- or off-line? Whoa.
I wonder though: If I play a level 50, does my Level Pact partner get zero XP (since 50s don't earn any XP), does my partner get the level 49 XP rates or does my partner get XP according to his own level?
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In a leveling pact, when you start it you're forced to have exactly the same XP as whoever you're in the pact with. So you'll both ding 50 at *exactly* the same time.
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This is what they were saying.
Just making sure it was stated somewhere in this thread.
@Mojo-
Proud Member of Fusion Force.
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Side switching in the future?
Brian Clayton: We're going to be doing more and more in-depth focus groups and research, and things like that, going forward, so eventually I think this is going to become more noise for the community than it is groundbreaking news! But what I can say is that having players go from hero to villain, and villain to hero, would nicely tie together what we've already done to date with City of Heroes and City of Villains. We certainly like the concept and the idea, but we're just not ready to talk about the details yet.
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Am I the only person who looks at these two game resources and thinks ... "Finally, I'll be able to play my character as a Hero *AND* as a Villain!"
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He's eluding to COX2. The marketing surveys aren't asking about COX1. Or did everyone forget NCSoft bought the franchise to develop a PC-friendly console game for PS3/X-Box? COX1 can't compete on that front.
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Side switching in the future?
Brian Clayton: We're going to be doing more and more in-depth focus groups and research, and things like that, going forward, so eventually I think this is going to become more noise for the community than it is groundbreaking news! But what I can say is that having players go from hero to villain, and villain to hero, would nicely tie together what we've already done to date with City of Heroes and City of Villains. We certainly like the concept and the idea, but we're just not ready to talk about the details yet.
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Am I the only person who looks at these two game resources and thinks ... "Finally, I'll be able to play my character as a Hero *AND* as a Villain!"
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He's eluding to COX2. The marketing surveys aren't asking about COX1. Or did everyone forget NCSoft bought the franchise to develop a PC-friendly console game for PS3/X-Box? COX1 can't compete on that front.
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... or he could be talking about this game.
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Side switching in the future?
Brian Clayton: We're going to be doing more and more in-depth focus groups and research, and things like that, going forward, so eventually I think this is going to become more noise for the community than it is groundbreaking news! But what I can say is that having players go from hero to villain, and villain to hero, would nicely tie together what we've already done to date with City of Heroes and City of Villains. We certainly like the concept and the idea, but we're just not ready to talk about the details yet.
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Am I the only person who looks at these two game resources and thinks ... "Finally, I'll be able to play my character as a Hero *AND* as a Villain!"
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He's eluding to COX2. The marketing surveys aren't asking about COX1. Or did everyone forget NCSoft bought the franchise to develop a PC-friendly console game for PS3/X-Box? COX1 can't compete on that front.
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... or he could be talking about this game.
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He's not.
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Side switching in the future?
Brian Clayton: We're going to be doing more and more in-depth focus groups and research, and things like that, going forward, so eventually I think this is going to become more noise for the community than it is groundbreaking news! But what I can say is that having players go from hero to villain, and villain to hero, would nicely tie together what we've already done to date with City of Heroes and City of Villains. We certainly like the concept and the idea, but we're just not ready to talk about the details yet.
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Am I the only person who looks at these two game resources and thinks ... "Finally, I'll be able to play my character as a Hero *AND* as a Villain!"
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He's eluding to COX2. The marketing surveys aren't asking about COX1. Or did everyone forget NCSoft bought the franchise to develop a PC-friendly console game for PS3/X-Box? COX1 can't compete on that front.
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... or he could be talking about this game.
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He's not.
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In the interview about this game, you're assuming he's alluding to another game in the future? Hmm, nah.
@Mojo-
Proud Member of Fusion Force.
At first I was really upset about the news of base salvage being dropped because they thought teh n00bs were getting confused that they needed to delete my groups surplus of salvage, but I read on and if Im reading it right it should be a positive change.
If they don't delete the existing base salvage and let you still craft it, let you keep invention salvage in those masive bins already in place, still require you to craft regular salvage into component salvage, and this is the important part, [u] if they INCREASE salvage drop rates to compensate [u] for the lack of base salvage drops and the new demand on invention salvage, then I will appreciate and support this change.
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Side switching in the future?
Brian Clayton: We're going to be doing more and more in-depth focus groups and research, and things like that, going forward, so eventually I think this is going to become more noise for the community than it is groundbreaking news! But what I can say is that having players go from hero to villain, and villain to hero, would nicely tie together what we've already done to date with City of Heroes and City of Villains. We certainly like the concept and the idea, but we're just not ready to talk about the details yet.
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Am I the only person who looks at these two game resources and thinks ... "Finally, I'll be able to play my character as a Hero *AND* as a Villain!"
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He's eluding to COX2. The marketing surveys aren't asking about COX1. Or did everyone forget NCSoft bought the franchise to develop a PC-friendly console game for PS3/X-Box? COX1 can't compete on that front.
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... or he could be talking about this game.
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He's not.
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In the interview about this game, you're assuming he's alluding to another game in the future? Hmm, nah.
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i dont want another game to come out, why would they want to bring a new game into being? They have worked so hard to create balance, and content for a CoX1 why would they go and make another one?
Ill be very disapointed if this is the case tho.
" I don't let me kids play on the Freedom Server" -Oya
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In the interview it says base salvage is going away, but that it can be converted to Invention Salvage.
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That brings up a question that I've been wondering about: Why not just make the conversion process work both ways instead of eliminating the base salvage altogether? I like getting drops from the baddies, and don't mind whether it's something for the base or an invention component. If I could transmute one into the other depending on need it would be even better.
From an in-game perspective, when a Hellion leaves behind a Hex it adds a bit of depth to the npc group. I like the little descriptions that accompany each item. For a hero it's like saying "good thing I confiscated this, who knows what those Hellions were planning!" Or from the villain point of view "ha, now your power is mine!"
MA Arc: School Spirit #89349
Original member of the Dream Team Aeon, Virtue division
"A base here or there is a small price to pay for good mad science."--Arbiter Daos
I note in the article they asked about side switching. I really hope that is in the plans and soon. It would be great to actually add things to the game that the players have been wanting so long. Splitting the player base is just a bad idea.
Any idea of how often the booster packs are coming out?
I hope i13 has some more stuff. I am glad the architect was delayed until they get it right because I see NO point in putting out a system where you can create the exact same content as we have - actually, not even the same since the Architect will limit our abilities. Not adding our own toons would have made this feature VERY lame. I hope we can customize every NPC in the mission with ALL of our costume pieces (packes included).
It seems i13 is going to be a bit light so I hope a few more things are going to be added. And, again, for the love of mankind PLEASE have new tilesets. Seeing the same thing over and over has gotten to some of us. How about dedicating the next few issues to adding items on that survey list?
It's great to get an update, though. It should be done on a regular basis. It might help prevent the players from becoming so annoyed.