[ QUOTE ]
My point: none of these changes really improve gameplay much, if at all. But they are nevertheless critical to keeping the game up to date and enjoyable.
[/ QUOTE ]
I disagree. I also disagree with using "OHNOES COMPETITION" as a justification for any change.
Never surrender! Never give up!
Help keep Paragon City alive with the unofficial City of Heroes Tabletop Role Playing Game!
*points to the Goes Rogue announcement*
It appears a graphical update is coming.
@Catwhoorg "Rule of Three - Finale" Arc# 1984
@Mr Falkland Islands"A Nation Goes Rogue" Arc# 2369 "Toasters and Pop Tarts" Arc#116617
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My point: none of these changes really improve gameplay much, if at all. But they are nevertheless critical to keeping the game up to date and enjoyable.
[/ QUOTE ]
I disagree. I also disagree with using "OHNOES COMPETITION" as a justification for any change.
[/ QUOTE ]
Except, that is exactly what is happening. Going Rouge is the change for competition. Letting heroes be villians, and villians be heroes.
I agree with some of the OPs suggestion, but my guess is, since power customization will be in Going Rouge, they already redid the graphical interface and game engine.
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Going Rouge is the change for competition.
[/ QUOTE ]
What.
[ QUOTE ]
since power customization will be in Going Rouge
[/ QUOTE ]
Source?
Also, personally, my heroes rather go rogue. 
And, incidentally, I wouldn't at all mind a graphical update, and I know one's coming in some form or another (as per a recent Posi interview), but I also wouldn't call it critical to the game's survival. Nor do I think it's a key selling point - if people like CoH, they like CoH.
Never surrender! Never give up!
Help keep Paragon City alive with the unofficial City of Heroes Tabletop Role Playing Game!
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
My point: none of these changes really improve gameplay much, if at all. But they are nevertheless critical to keeping the game up to date and enjoyable.
[/ QUOTE ]
I disagree. I also disagree with using "OHNOES COMPETITION" as a justification for any change.
[/ QUOTE ]
Except, that is exactly what is happening. Going Rouge is the change for competition. Letting heroes be villians, and villians be heroes.
I agree with some of the OPs suggestion, but my guess is, since power customization will be in Going Rouge, they already redid the graphical interface and game engine.
[/ QUOTE ]
Nothing has been said about power customisation. That rumor is merely players jumping to conclusions because of a simple bit of symbalism in the Going Rogue trailer.
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Going Rouge is the change for competition.
[/ QUOTE ]
What.
[ QUOTE ]
since power customization will be in Going Rouge
[/ QUOTE ]
Source?
Also, personally, my heroes rather go rogue.
And, incidentally, I wouldn't at all mind a graphical update, and I know one's coming in some form or another (as per a recent Posi interview), but I also wouldn't call it critical to the game's survival. Nor do I think it's a key selling point - if people like CoH, they like CoH.
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Going Rouge
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including one that has gotten a lot of hype lately
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Eh, CO has recieved about as much hype as CoX has, especially thanks to the Architect and now Going Rogue.
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and two others licensed by the two big comic book companies.
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Two others? DC and what else?
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1. Improve the game engine.
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It still surprises me how few people truly understand what the game engine is. It's not the graphical engine; that's a separate monster. The game engine is, in essence, the game. It's all of the combat calculations, all of the input handling, most of the output handling (the game engine tells the graphics engine what to draw)...
Asking for an update to the game engine is basically asking for a new game. It requires just about the same amount of work.
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2. Stances. It's also long overdue that not all heroes stand with chest puffed and fists on their belts. A simple collection of stance emotes (crouched, leaning, hunched, etc...) or something along these lines could go a long way in this direction with relatively minimal effort. You don't need to imitate any other game that's coming out, but you do need to somehow address that posture speaks as much about a character as costume, and that in a game with so many costume options, there are none for stance or posture (even if only while static).
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Err, so more emotes? Sure, I'm all for that.
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(b) Scabbards, holsters and quivers.
[/ QUOTE ]
Okay, but they won't interact with the weapons at all (you won't see your character drawing the weapon from the scabbard/holster/etc.).
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(b) Full shoulder and glove options for characters with sleveless jackets (an oversight, I suppose, but still shameful if this was just a miss in the attention-to-detail department ... if the garment has no sleeves, there will be no iterference with the full panoply of shoulder and glove graphics).
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So, more costume pieces. Again, always good.
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(d) Scour the forums and you will find many many more, some off the wall, but quite a few entirely reasonable and no longer justifiably put off by "well gosh that's a lotta programming hours and extra art assets." Again: 5 years ... it's time.
[/ QUOTE ]
High demand doesn't suddenly reduce art time or make the graphics engine limitations disappear. Sure, some of the suggested pieces would be really nice, but if they're unfeasible, they're not going to suddenly become feasible because we want them and the game's been out for a while.
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4. Voices. It's time to bring the game to life and add some auditory texture. An intro / outro vocalization, actual voiceover for certain contacts / vendors / trainers / missions / task or strikeforces, etc.
[/ QUOTE ]
Voices require voice actors, who tend to cost a good chunk (there's a good bit of dialogue even one contact would have to record) and can often be of dubious quality. Add to that other issues - when the contact talks, everyone in the area is going to hear him and be unable to shut him up. What if contact dialogue is rewritten later (suppose all the old contacts get revamped)?
It's all nice, yes, but what can't be done doesn't become possible just because there's competition now. And even then, that's not a reasonable argument, because there's always competition. New games come out every week, and new MMOs every month. Just because there's one coming in our loosely-defined genre doesn't suddenly mean we've got to remake the game.
We'll always have Paragon.
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Going Rouge is the change for competition.
[/ QUOTE ]
What.
[ QUOTE ]
since power customization will be in Going Rouge
[/ QUOTE ]
Source?
Also, personally, my heroes rather go rogue.
And, incidentally, I wouldn't at all mind a graphical update, and I know one's coming in some form or another (as per a recent Posi interview), but I also wouldn't call it critical to the game's survival. Nor do I think it's a key selling point - if people like CoH, they like CoH.
[/ QUOTE ]
Going Rouge
[/ QUOTE ]
Yes, because Praetoria is secretly on the moon.
Never surrender! Never give up!
Help keep Paragon City alive with the unofficial City of Heroes Tabletop Role Playing Game!
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
My point: none of these changes really improve gameplay much, if at all. But they are nevertheless critical to keeping the game up to date and enjoyable.
[/ QUOTE ]
I disagree. I also disagree with using "OHNOES COMPETITION" as a justification for any change.
[/ QUOTE ] That's dumb. Businesses that ignore competition are destined to fail. Competition is supposed to force change for the better.
edit: To the OP:
While I don't think anything you mentioned is needed, they all seem like good suggestions that would do nothing but help CoX grow and remain the market leaders for years to come.
Also, I wouldn't worry about Champions. IMO, if anything is gonna pull some subscribers away it would be DC online. That's also assuming it's a good game, which at this point nobody knows.
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Improve the game engine.
[/ QUOTE ]This is so vague as to be useless. Improve WHAT? "The game engine" covers quite literally everything except the database/files storing missions, characters, and market inventories. Saying "improve the game engine" is like saying "make the game fun~!"
What the hell does that even mean?
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36641/My-Little-Exalt
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That's dumb. Businesses that ignore competition are destined to fail. Competition is supposed to force change for the better.
[/ QUOTE ]
Ignoring all logic and reason just because someone else is making a competing game is equally dumb.
Could the game use a graphical update? Sure why not. Do I personally think it needs one? Not really. Is the fact that there are two competing games coming change either? Not at all. CoH already stood up to its competitors. It's called I14 and Going Rogue.
Never surrender! Never give up!
Help keep Paragon City alive with the unofficial City of Heroes Tabletop Role Playing Game!
It's spelled "rogue".
OP: some things are worth looking in to, others not so much. None of them "because x or y company is doing it!".
Voices, while it would be interesting, would hog way too much more bandwidth and cause even more lag. No thanks. I'd settle for a wider variety of standard sounds from our toons, selectable at creation, based on gender and size.
Other bits are entirely cosmetic, and are already being done. Power Customization is not among those, and I won't expect much out of GR - perhaps there will be *some* but I seriously doubt there will be any great changes in our powers.
Engine overhaul... meh, it ain't broke. As long as there are enough devs working to make sure that any changes don't bork the rest of the game's systems, I can't see it being necessary to do anything "all at once" - small parts of the engine may already be altered, we don't even need to know about that. So long as the game *works* and *is fun*, ... I see nothing wrong with an engine like we've got already.
Please read my FEAR/Portal/HalfLife Fan Fiction!
Repurposed
Also, I'd like to point out that CoH's current main competitor, WoW, certainly isn't winning people over with graphical superiority.
Never surrender! Never give up!
Help keep Paragon City alive with the unofficial City of Heroes Tabletop Role Playing Game!
[ QUOTE ]
Also, I'd like to point out that CoH's current main competitor, WoW, certainly isn't winning people over with graphical superiority.
[/ QUOTE ]
Seriously.
This game's realistic graphics are why I love just *looking at it* all. I can't even stomach most of the other games out there purely on the basis of first appearances. UI, all over the place? Feh! Brightly garish cartoon colors and balloony characters? No thank you.
Oooh, their mouths move?
Why? So they can make slightly more detailed machinima? *shrug*
Please read my FEAR/Portal/HalfLife Fan Fiction!
Repurposed
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That's dumb. Businesses that ignore competition are destined to fail. Competition is supposed to force change for the better.
[/ QUOTE ]
Ignoring all logic and reason just because someone else is making a competing game is equally dumb.
Could the game use a graphical update? Sure why not. Do I personally think it needs one? Not really. Is the fact that there are two competing games coming change either? Not at all. CoH already stood up to its competitors. It's called I14 and Going Rogue.
[/ QUOTE ] I agree completely.
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an insider's review of going rouge
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I was going to edit that. *pause* In fact, I will.
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Going Moulin Rouge
[/ QUOTE ]
Now for the suggestions:
1. Improving the game engine: I think they're doing that with the rogue thing already.
2. Stances: It would be cool to have stance settings. Standing 'cool' or 'slouched' or whatnot as an actual all time thing for when they're standing still would be nifty.
3. Minor Costume Enhancements: *nods* Cool.
4. Voices: That would take a whole new department I think, plus voice actors, script writing, yadda yadda yadda. I don't think they'd go for that.
Revamp the game using the Unreal 3 Engine
....yeah, yeah. That'd only happen if someone had the power to do so just by snapping their fingers.
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/index-anim.php
Can't come up with a name? Click the link!
Can't come up with a name? Click the link!
CoX is going to be contending with other supers MMO's including one that has gotten a lot of hype lately and two others licensed by the two big comic book companies. CoX has a lot to offer and has been adding wonderful mechanical / gameplay content (note: mission architect and, if anything near what's been promised, the going rogue expansion), but I think it will need to add some "sizzle" to all that "steak" in order to keep up. Thus, no matter what else happens, "It's time for a CoX graphics makeover!" Specifically:
1. Improve the game engine. It's time. The engine and graphics need an overhaul. Everquest did this at least twice, which kept many people playing that game for a long time. And when this happens, they can fix the varoius graphical errors, omissions and haven't-gotten-around-to's that are starting to make the game feel, well, 5 years old ....
2. Stances. It's also long overdue that not all heroes stand with chest puffed and fists on their belts. A simple collection of stance emotes (crouched, leaning, hunched, etc...) or something along these lines could go a long way in this direction with relatively minimal effort. You don't need to imitate any other game that's coming out, but you do need to somehow address that posture speaks as much about a character as costume, and that in a game with so many costume options, there are none for stance or posture (even if only while static).
3. Minor Costume Enhancements. (a) Auras for weapons. (b) Scabbards, holsters and quivers. (b) Full shoulder and glove options for characters with sleveless jackets (an oversight, I suppose, but still shameful if this was just a miss in the attention-to-detail department ... if the garment has no sleeves, there will be no iterference with the full panoply of shoulder and glove graphics). (d) Scour the forums and you will find many many more, some off the wall, but quite a few entirely reasonable and no longer justifiably put off by "well gosh that's a lotta programming hours and extra art assets." Again: 5 years ... it's time.
4. Voices. It's time to bring the game to life and add some auditory texture. An intro / outro vocalization, actual voiceover for certain contacts / vendors / trainers / missions / task or strikeforces, etc.
My point: none of these changes really improve gameplay much, if at all. But they are nevertheless critical to keeping the game up to date and enjoyable. The "sizzle" is an important part of the whole experience and while "sizzle" without steak is a horrible thing (cough, Age of Conan, cough), CoX has some real meat to it. It's just time to season it some more.