The Land CoH Forgot

Whatever happened to story in CoH?

Okay, one thing is that Issue 14 didn't come with any new story content at all. It was always meant as a one-item issue adding a new gameplay mechanism, after all. (Still, not even a short example mission arch to show off the MA? Surely you could have squeezed in that.) But looking back at the other recent issues and the pickings are still slim. The last story-heavy issue was Issue 8 -- two and a half years ago.

Since then we've gotten the invention system, the Rikti Warzone, not one but two distinct time-travelling mechanisms, customiseable weapons, costume booster packs, epic ATs for villains, tons of grindable badges, several new powersets and the whole power proliferation and a ... uh, contentious PvP revamp. In short, a lot of new game mechanisms (how many different reward mechanisms do we have by now? Badges, XP, inf, salvage and receipe drops, Vanguard tokens, merits, MA tickets -- have I left anything out? At least they got rid of base salvage) There's been a bare minimum of story hanging on all this new scaffolding, though -- perhaps even rather less than the bare minimum.

The Oroborous storyline, such as it is, has been left hanging. There's no aftermath or even effect of the Rikti invasion. The Midnight Squad has been left as a cumbersome train-station into a single-story zone.

Where are the new stories? The trickle of new newspaper or police band missions, the fresh new Freakshow archs, the new dimensions discovered at Portal Corp, the new, high-level enemy groups to fight? Where, oh lord where are new low-level villain missions? Not involving snakes.

Yes, the Mission Architect holds a lot of potential for new story content in the next issues, but potential isn't enough. Now that potential has to be fullfilled.

(And, no, player-made content isn't the same. Fan-fic is nice and fun and all that, but it's still just fan-fic.)

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Well, now the devs have a nice shiny new tool to help them build their missions, maybe you'll get your wish.

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Does the Rikti War Zone not count as story? An almost new zone with new story arcs and a task force. Did it also introduce the vanguard? (my knowledge of the minutiae of the lore is hazy at best)

In general I do have to agree with you that there have been a lot of game mechanics added and I have enjoyed them. I feel the game is better for almost all of them (can't comment on PvP as I don't partake) but there has been less new story add-ons than might have been pleasant to see.

All I can say is we have been promised a lot for I15...even if those promises aren't in any detail whatsoever.

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I find it interesting that you don't consider Issue 10 to have been story heavy - Invasion was a pretty damn large chunk of story, to be honest. How many new contacts in the RWZ? A new TF as well. Progression of the Rikti Invasion storyline. All of that, plus a zone revamp of RWZ.

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Yeah, it's been left stagnent for a long time now. The Midnighters & Cimorororia was just a weird addition which made no real sense in terms of where the main story was going.

I would consider the Rikti War Zone a major story addition though, possiblely one of the most significant ever to hit CoH.

But then in the next issue rather than giving some sense of closure to it they came up with Wacky Adventures in Time which made little sense, and then Wacky Adventures in Sparta... I mean ancient Rome, which made even less sense to the ongoing story.

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Not to mention the wacky explanation for Powerset Proliferation... (Of which we've had no more since the initial lot).

I've said it before... Story seems to have gone out the window in this game...

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@FloatingFatMan

Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Some things just don't need a story...like proliferation for example.

I find the backstory of AE to be quite disturbing myself too.

Anyway, I'm awaiting Issue 15, they have to come with something HUGE story and gameplay wise.

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The M.A.D. Files - Me talking about games, films, games, life, games, internet and games

I'm not good at giving advice, can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?

@Lyrik

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Some things just don't need a story...like proliferation for example.

I find the backstory of AE to be quite disturbing myself too.

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I fail to see how letting a mad genius (who has done things like let a madman gain immeasurable power by siphoning it off the worlds heroes) team up with an evil corporation (who are well known for harvesting dead heroes and turning them into slavebots) and allowing them access to every city zone in Paragon and the Rogue Isles could possibly go wrong.

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Didn't you hear? Apparently MMO *RPG*s run on money these days
Story? Whats that? Oh, is that the thing that contacts give out from time to time? Meh, we'll just cobble something up. They think it's all a nemesis plot anyway.

Major fail. I10 I agree was decent, Rikti did need that revamp, and made it a lot more fun.
Cimerora? Well, its nice to see *Them* again, but the actuality itself is....wierd. To say the least.

/Want for decent, believable(ish) story content.

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Wasn't it said that when the Coming Storm arrives we'll all be kicking ourselves at the small clues/teasers that had been staring us in the face for so long but we missed them?

ok - I'm paraphrasing, but they said something like that - about the time of Faultline revamp iirc. It may not have been 'The Coming Storm' they said, but some big development is coming...

So it's still possible that the Rikti war, shenanigans in the ancient Mediterranean and people trying to alter/mess with time are all still threads that will pull together (hopefully in I15).

It's CoH only, but I'd expect the FL revamp could still be tied in to this (re: Moon and gravitational effects).


Even without these threads being pulled together into a steaming, kettle-driven plot of Machievellian cunning there has still been story content:
- Ouroboros brought in 3 mini TFs.
- RWZ brought in an enjoyable series of arcs and a darn fine TF
- Cimerora brought some throwaway repeatable missions and a darn fine TF

Okay, Cimerora/Midnighters brought had less than some might like (myself included) - but, IIRC, this was also used as a learning zone for some of the new hires at NCNC (as was). The sale of CoX IP, creation of NCNC, moving offices, finding/hiring/integrating new staff all takes time away from pure development (of both story and engine).

I15/16 are the telling issues for me. I actually think they've done quite well if I15 is as big as we've been thinking after reading redname comments in interviews... If they get back on track then they had a year of serious disruption and a 3-month hiatus to normal service due to MA.

I15/6 are the new-improved-team big-content issues that were probbaly planned for early and mid 2009 (before MA mucked up the schedule).

btw - don't forget that I14 was I13 part 2... I'd guess that by now if MA hadn't had to be bumped to it's own issue we'd already be on the believed-to-be-story-heavy I15...

And given that, I suspect that I16 is story heavy as well, as the story/developments of I16 would have been looking at being the closest issue to CO launch if the schedule hadn't been bumped by MA. Pretty sure that the devs will have been planning some cracking story developments to arrive around CO...

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I'd like more on the Coming Storm, I'd like the Moonbase zone added with believable reasons, I'd like plot in Dark Astoria and I want more low-ish level stuff to do with The Family, Warriors and Tsoo.

I really hope that they won't rely on the MA (otherwise every plot at the moment will be FARM HERE) to provide this stuff.

I15 is going to be make or break time though. People crying out for new powersets, proliferated powersets (I want my TA Corruptor please!), story, improved graphics, customisation, all up against the first competitor in the same area that COH has ever had.

Champions may turn out to be rubbish or it may simply be COH2. Either way, it's new and shiny, which matters a lot more to Joe Public than story and 5 years worth of game.

Interesting times ahead.

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"Idealism is such a wonderful thing. All you really need is someone rational to put it to proper use." - Kerr Avon

Myopic Aardvark on Twitter

All I know is that I15 is going to be a make or break issue for me. If it doesn't come through with lots of additional content AND modernizing the game to compete with CO & DCUO, then I think I'll be calling it a day, at least for a while.

I'm not really playing at the moment, I'm barely even logging in and my posting in the forums has reduced a LOT in recent weeks. Effectively I'm taking a break as I'm just burned out on CoH and am waiting to see what NC come up with for the 5th anniversary event (if anything) and I15.

If they don't come through, then there's nothing to stay for, really.

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@FloatingFatMan

Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Game devs can only do part of a story, the rest has to be filled in by the player's imagination

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Game devs can only do part of a story, the rest has to be filled in by the player's imagination

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As far as things like the Rikti War and Ourobouros are concerned, utterly utterly wrong. We CAN'T progress the story because the game insists it's still ongoing.

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@FloatingFatMan

Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

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I'd like the Moonbase zone added with believable reasons

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That's how the Rikti got around the portal barrier stopping them getting to Earth. A moonbase would be striking back at the base the Rikti must have set up to run their dropships out of. We've already got the reason, but I guess it'd just be another Rikti smash.

Then again, they probably wouldnt be able to resist having Fifth Column up there as well, what with the 'Nazi Moonbase' meme.

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Chairman of the Charity of Pain; accepting donations of blood and guts.

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I'd like the Moonbase zone added with believable reasons

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That's how the Rikti got around the portal barrier stopping them getting to Earth. A moonbase would be striking back at the base the Rikti must have set up to run their dropships out of. We've already got the reason, but I guess it'd just be another Rikti smash.

Then again, they probably wouldnt be able to resist having Fifth Column up there as well, what with the 'Nazi Moonbase' meme.

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They could start off with the go attack the Rikti thing and when we get up there, we find they've all be slaughtered...

Insert "Dun dun duh!" here

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"Idealism is such a wonderful thing. All you really need is someone rational to put it to proper use." - Kerr Avon

Myopic Aardvark on Twitter

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As far as things like the Rikti War and Ourobouros are concerned, utterly utterly wrong. We CAN'T progress the story because the game insists it's still ongoing.

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Maybe the dev's are setting everything up for something bigger then?

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As far as things like the Rikti War and Ourobouros are concerned, utterly utterly wrong. We CAN'T progress the story because the game insists it's still ongoing.

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Maybe the dev's are setting everything up for something bigger then?

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Which is what we're hoping for in issue 15... If it's not there.. If there's no further story progression... then there's not really any point in hanging around until they DO decide to progress it.

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@FloatingFatMan

Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

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They could start off with the go attack the Rikti thing and when we get up there, we find they've all be slaughtered...

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... by Lobo.

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They could start off with the go attack the Rikti thing and when we get up there, we find they've all be slaughtered...

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... by Lobo.

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Interesting. I take it there's a Defeat All Corporate Lawyer arc after that one?

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"Idealism is such a wonderful thing. All you really need is someone rational to put it to proper use." - Kerr Avon

Myopic Aardvark on Twitter

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Wasn't it said that when the Coming Storm arrives we'll all be kicking ourselves at the small clues/teasers that had been staring us in the face for so long but we missed them?


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I haven't missed them, I reckon I have a pretty good idea what is coming and when.

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shenanigans in the ancient Mediterranean and people trying to alter/mess with time are all still threads that will pull together

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The important stuff in issue 12 is in the Midnighter Archivist badge.



Anyway, the developers are split into two teams. One team works on the next issue, and the other works on the issue after that. this means that in the past, the team that have done most of the plot have worked on the even numbered issues.

However, with MA growing like topsy, issue 14 became issue 13B, and the work of the guys who do the story got pushed back to issue 15.

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I really should do something about this signature.

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Anyway, the developers are split into two teams. this means that in the past, the team that havce done most of the plot have worked on the even numbered issues.


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It's the Star Trek movie curse!

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"Idealism is such a wonderful thing. All you really need is someone rational to put it to proper use." - Kerr Avon

Myopic Aardvark on Twitter

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Interesting. I take it there's a Defeat All Corporate Lawyer arc after that one?

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Actually, considering Lobo's history of crossovers, I wouldn't be too surprised to see him show up in CoH as part of a April 1st event or something of that sort (probably beating Statesman up with Recluse or something.)

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Interesting. I take it there's a Defeat All Corporate Lawyer arc after that one?

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Actually, considering Lobo's history of crossovers, I wouldn't be too surprised to see him show up in CoH as part of a April 1st event or something of that sort (probably beating Statesman up with Recluse or something.)

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This would seriously rock, but I doubt Marvel would go for it.

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@FloatingFatMan

Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

i would love to see more story as well tbh.
for example:
what on the rogue isles has recluse been up 2?
this is where i think the all lvl range villain tfs come in to.(10-15 etc etc)
whats the situtation with statesman (like i care tbh)
the coming storm? sounds like yet another co-op zone- joy.
An invasion from villains into paragon (this can inc power prof)

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