I aint got a clue what will be in it, i just hope it dont turn into another "soon" epic.
[ QUOTE ]
Yes we eventually got our epics
[/ QUOTE ]
Wait, what? You got them in Issue 7 didn't you, with the 40-50 content? Exactly the same as Heroes did with their 40-50s.
I'll agree with you on the content thing, GR better match up in terms of Content to Villains. Given that so far we only know there are 2 new sets though, as oppose to the myriad Villains gave there's a fair bit of catching up to do.
True GR is an expansion rather than a "full game" as Villains was billed but there's still an awful lot expected from me content-wise.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Yes we eventually got our epics
[/ QUOTE ]
Wait, what? You got them in Issue 7 didn't you, with the 40-50 content? Exactly the same as Heroes did with their 40-50s.
I'll agree with you on the content thing, GR better match up in terms of Content to Villains. Given that so far we only know there are 2 new sets though, as oppose to the myriad Villains gave there's a fair bit of catching up to do.
True GR is an expansion rather than a "full game" as Villains was billed but there's still an awful lot expected from me content-wise.
[/ QUOTE ]
Actually villain epics were added in Issue 12.
@True Metal
Co-leader of Callous Crew SG. Based on Union server.
VEATS where not in I7!!!! Only a recent addition.
- The Italian Job: The Godfather Returns #1151
Beginner - Encounter a renewed age for the Mook and the Family when Emile Marcone escapes from the Zig!
- Along Came a... Bug!? #528482
Average - A new race of aliens arrives on Earth. And Vanguard has you investigate them!
- The Court of the Blood Countess: The Rise of the Blood Countess #3805
Advanced - Go back in time and witness the birth of a vampire. Follow her to key moments in her life in order to stop her! A story of intrigue, drama and horror! Blood & Violence... not recommend to solo!
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Yes we eventually got our epics
[/ QUOTE ]
Wait, what? You got them in Issue 7 didn't you, with the 40-50 content? Exactly the same as Heroes did with their 40-50s.
I'll agree with you on the content thing, GR better match up in terms of Content to Villains. Given that so far we only know there are 2 new sets though, as oppose to the myriad Villains gave there's a fair bit of catching up to do.
True GR is an expansion rather than a "full game" as Villains was billed but there's still an awful lot expected from me content-wise.
[/ QUOTE ]
Actually villain epics were added in Issue 12.
[/ QUOTE ]
Ooops, sorry. I read Epics as the APP / PPPs, not the soldier ATs. 
All i do know, it will has way less connection on the current game, as CoV was initialy. It was only after that, people needed both games to acces de SG bases and later on it the co-op zones and the buy 2 for 1 was moved in.
The impact however, if this is a 'standalone' addon, people will have to move there to play. So less people in CoH/CoV, i dont think Europe servers can cope this.
50)Sinergy X/(50)Mika.
(50)MaceX/(50)Encore
Sign the petition, dont let CoH go down! SIGN!
[ QUOTE ]
All i do know, it will has way less connection on the current game, as CoV was initialy. It was only after that, people needed both games to acces de SG bases and later on it the co-op zones and the buy 2 for 1 was moved in.
The impact however, if this is a 'standalone' addon, people will have to move there to play. So less people in CoH/CoV, i dont think Europe servers can cope this.
[/ QUOTE ]
As you say, CoV was sold as a stand alone game, but GR is a true expansion - you need to already own some form of CoX to use/play GR. So I'd expect GR to have more impact (other than emptying them) on the existing game zones than CoV had on CoH zones (even if it's just because of people taking characters to the opposing side).
Of course it's most likely that the Praetorian zones are only accessible to those with GR. In this case there's bound to be some thinning of the population in existing zones, although this may not be longterm once people have played the new zones a few times and return to existing zones/content with rogue characters.
By my mohawk shall ye know me!
my toons
Funny: Ee-Ai-Ee-Ai-Oh! #3662 * The foul-mouthed Handyman! #1076 * City of Norms #132944
Serious: To Save A Single World (#83744) * Marketing Opportunity (#83747)
Nice summary, Sing.
[ QUOTE ]
Zones:
CoV provided us with Mercy, P.O, Cap, Sharks, Nerva and Martial. Six zones. Grandville was added later.
GR will have several zones. I imagine we'll see the more popular CoX zones in a praetorian version. If it ambitious all might bere there, possibly except the themed hero ones. Really cool if Emperor Cole has found a way to "merge" the dimensions and we'd have to fight for one of the sides to win, sort of Recluse's Victory style. That's sort of unlikely since anyone not buying the expansion would... well.. Doubtful, but it would be cool.
Story Content:
With CoV we got completely new lvl 1-40 content with several new SFs new contacts etc, and the introduction of paper missions. (somre arcs where added later, but not much). Villains have since been obsessed with desire for new villain-only (esp high level) content, to no avail...
With GR we'll obviously have a decent amount of content, but will it compare to CoV? It seems we need arcs att all level ranges for us to be able to switch sides regularly, unless the side-switching is as easy as clicking a button. My guess is some sort of good/neutral/evil gage.
[/ QUOTE ]
The actual number of zones may be pretty immaterial - a vast zone can hold multiple level ranges, so 3 or 4 vast zones could be just as good as many smaller zones. Both approaches have pros and cons (e.g. graphics performance, travel times/distances).
Given that it appears likely that we'll see some form of post-50 development (possibly the universal slots) I'd guess that we'll be seeing a great amount of lvl 50 content.
IIRC Universal slots, when mentioned, were touted as providing the equivalent of 10 more levels of progress for 50s. So that was a while ago and plans change, but that sounds fairly reasonable if some sort of post-50 development is introduced.
So we'd hopefully see something like 10+ levels worth of lvl50 content.
The biggest question is what level GR content will start at: Will it allow neutral characters at lvl1? Will lvl 1 characters be able to switch sides?
We may end up seeing the equivalent of content for 60 levels...
IMO GR will be bringing more complex, branching arcs but it's also very possible that GR sees much more complex missions than the existing content - with multiple mutually-exclusive objectives allowing for good/gooder/neutral/bad/baddest outcomes... Maybe the arcs/missions will have great replay value.
BTW: I'd long seen XP smoothing (and possibly the reaction to MA PLing as long as it's not exploiting a bug/quirk) as the devs encouraging a lot more 50s to make EATs and lvl50 content a worthwhile investment of dev time. I guess that GR was a reasaon for encouraging 50s as well.
By my mohawk shall ye know me!
my toons
Funny: Ee-Ai-Ee-Ai-Oh! #3662 * The foul-mouthed Handyman! #1076 * City of Norms #132944
Serious: To Save A Single World (#83744) * Marketing Opportunity (#83747)
I agree with JD, the important thing is NOT the number of new zones, but the content and story arcs written in there, as it happens when we compare CoH vs. CoV: CoV has less maps but much more used and played than CoH has (Boomtown, Dark Astoria, Faultline til it was revamped, Eden, Hive, Shadow Shard, are all useless IMHO).
Proud Coleader of: Fuerza Letal (H), Liga de las Sombras (V), Legion del Fenix (H), Infernal Justice (H), and a happy member of GammaForce (H) and D.O.A. (V).
My alts: http://cit.cohtitan.com/profile/13494
[ QUOTE ]
BTW: I'd long seen XP smoothing (and possibly the reaction to MA PLing as long as it's not exploiting a bug/quirk) as the devs encouraging a lot more 50s to make EATs and lvl50 content a worthwhile investment of dev time. I guess that GR was a reasaon for encouraging 50s as well.
[/ QUOTE ]
I think me, and alot of other players, dont really feel the EAT as being special. Be it only a jack of all trades, specialy kheldians being very very limited in their abilities (aka, you cant have it all) and they dont blink out in anything. (what they do, 'native' AT's can do better).
Added, i'm already stuck with a huge pile of rocks, walking around as squid or dwarf, being totaly non-costumizable (thats what Icon is for right?) is not really motivating.
And the SOUND.. the ongoing annoying totaly over the top fweeeeeewwwww... fweeeeewwwwwww... every freaking power you cast.
In terms, they should have taken an example from WoW, the Deathknight. That is a 'epic' class i love to play.
50)Sinergy X/(50)Mika.
(50)MaceX/(50)Encore
Sign the petition, dont let CoH go down! SIGN!
RE: content, i always thought that they should add more non epic arcs. No more saving the world. No more stopping the most evil person ever.
Just have a few low level arcs which have you just doing some heroic/villainous deeds which doesnt evolve some kind of epic storylines!! Sometimes a humour storyline is just as good as an epic one . . . . . . imo 
@Damz Find me on the global channel Union Chat. One of the best "chat channels" ingame!
[ QUOTE ]
RE: content, i always thought that they should add more non epic arcs. No more saving the world. No more stopping the most evil person ever.
Just have a few low level arcs which have you just doing some heroic/villainous deeds which doesnt evolve some kind of epic storylines!! Sometimes a humour storyline is just as good as an epic one . . . . . . imo
[/ QUOTE ]
QFT
[ QUOTE ]
I agree with JD, the important thing is NOT the number of new zones, but the content and story arcs written in there, as it happens when we compare CoH vs. CoV: CoV has less maps but much more used and played than CoH has (Boomtown, Dark Astoria, Faultline til it was revamped, Eden, Hive, Shadow Shard, are all useless IMHO).
[/ QUOTE ]
All we can go on for the number of zones is the comment that there are "several new zones" - which certainly sounds like more than two, as they'd just say "a couple of new zones" in that case.
As most zones right now cover 10 0r 15 levels, three new zones, which would be the minimum, I think, to count for "several", would cover 30 to 45 levels, and four would cover 40 t0 50 levels.
The devs have also said there'll be "missions, lots of missions", but how many might depend on if they want players to be able to level to 50 just in Praetoria, I think, and also if they want there to be a third "neutral" faction.
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
[ QUOTE ]
RE: content, i always thought that they should add more non epic arcs. No more saving the world. No more stopping the most evil person ever.
Just have a few low level arcs which have you just doing some heroic/villainous deeds which doesnt evolve some kind of epic storylines!! Sometimes a humour storyline is just as good as an epic one . . . . . . imo
[/ QUOTE ]
I think the "Hero's Hero" arc might get remade into a high level Praetorian TF - and there might even be other TFs in Praetoria, like one for each zone.
But I'm sure there'll be some humor too - War Witch is still working there
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
the only thing i'm worried bout is the lvl req.
[ QUOTE ]
the only thing i'm worried bout is the lvl req.
[/ QUOTE ]
The absolute latest it'd be would be 35, I think, as that seems to be the level the devs like to open up the co-up stuff.
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
aye, which is stupid. Everything is after 35.
It's 15-30ish that's the real slog for me, because there's not really a lot of cool stuff. Easy enough to get to 10-early teens, and after 30 it seems to fly in quite quick on the 2 toons that I've got that have made it that far. More interesting things in the middle would be better.
@craggy see me on Union for TFs, SFs (please!) or just some good ol fashioned teaming.
[ QUOTE ]
aye, which is stupid. Everything is after 35.
It's 15-30ish that's the real slog for me, because there's not really a lot of cool stuff. Easy enough to get to 10-early teens, and after 30 it seems to fly in quite quick on the 2 toons that I've got that have made it that far. More interesting things in the middle would be better.
[/ QUOTE ]
See i find 15 - 30 starting to get a bit overcrowded for me personally content wise. 30 - 45 is the content slog for me.
@Damz Find me on the global channel Union Chat. One of the best "chat channels" ingame!
I'm also interested to see how they give us access to Praetoria - I don't think it'll be like the Vanguard office buildings giving access to the RWZ - but more like the Ouroboros portal.
Maybe a mini-arc, where you have to recover a Praetorian portal that Praetorian agents have been using to infiltrate our world, ready for their invasion?
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
damz we're probably doing different things. because I've a lack of regular team-mates (and an SG now-thanks guys) I find that the ITF, LGTF and LRSF/STF (depending on side) give me a lot to do that I can often get teams for. There's other stuff too of course, RWZ missions and plenty of them (which net both the normal rewards and Vanguard Merits, making them doubly appealing to me) and red side, Patron arcs which can be fun to do solo, until you come up against a tough SOB boss/AV that you can't take alone.
I also usually* only get around to doing the other TFs and stuff way after I've outlevelled them. So whilst I might not be progressing in levels, I am having more fun later in the game. There's no worry about moving around the game world, and the recipes that you pick up are for the most part the best in the game (even going by the "use what you can find" methodology I usually subscribe to).
There's Vanguard costume stuff to unlock, the Roman cossie pieces, etc.
In the middle, it's just mishes for me, and that can be fun, but if there's no decent teams (or all you can get is Architect chumps) then it's quite difficult.
*I've only managed to get one hero and one villain to 50 so far. (def and MM) Other highest are a 27 Tank and 20 blaster, so my use of the words "usually", "often" and "always" may be highly frivolous.
@craggy see me on Union for TFs, SFs (please!) or just some good ol fashioned teaming.
I'm guessing those with only one alt won't be able to go to the new zones 
Ok GG I'm joking 
Happy to be on Defiant.
Global name @mereman
Member of P.E.R.C. Representing Defiant
Alts http://cit.cohtitan.com/profile/4488
CoH faces http://faces.cohtitan.com/profile/mereman
Personally I¨'m still hoping for something RV-style. The praetorian Earth fusing/melding with ours and we have to fight to save primal Earth or help to give the praetorian Earth an advantage. It's unlikely, but darn it would be cool!
That way we could have all story arcs, but added praetorian contacts. all zones would be there, but also as praetorian versions and it woudl actually feel like our actions mean something, that we affect the world we live in. Alas... that would be too cool I guess...
...and as for content. I just wanna play my 50s. Levelling up another 1 or 2 alts takes a month if I'm slow and relish the content... then what?
one question, why "Primal" Earth? we r all munky?
@craggy see me on Union for TFs, SFs (please!) or just some good ol fashioned teaming.
I think "Earth-Prime" is copyrighted ;P
Its simply to delineate "our" Earth as the main one, basically. Marvel equivalent would be 616, DC's is... whatever they're using this week, I s'pose.
Cancelled in Three - MA ID #34608. Please play and comment! Top 10 placing in Projectionist's MA contest!
What can we expect from GR really? Let's take a trip down memory lane and "compare" it with CoV. Sure prices etc may differ, but I think it might be interesting anyway, or possibly raise the bar for the devs (yeah, right):
Zones:
CoV provided us with Mercy, P.O, Cap, Sharks, Nerva and Martial. Six zones. Grandville was added later.
GR will have several zones. I imagine we'll see the more popular CoX zones in a praetorian version. If it ambitious all might bere there, possibly except the themed hero ones. Really cool if Emperor Cole has found a way to "merge" the dimensions and we'd have to fight for one of the sides to win, sort of Recluse's Victory style. That's sort of unlikely since anyone not buying the expansion would... well.. Doubtful, but it would be cool.
Story Content:
With CoV we got completely new lvl 1-40 content with several new SFs new contacts etc, and the introduction of paper missions. (somre arcs where added later, but not much). Villains have since been obsessed with desire for new villain-only (esp high level) content, to no avail...
With GR we'll obviously have a decent amount of content, but will it compare to CoV? It seems we need arcs att all level ranges for us to be able to switch sides regularly, unless the side-switching is as easy as clicking a button. My guess is some sort of good/neutral/evil gage.
ATs and Powers:
With CoV we got several new ATs and while many powers where being reused we did see some serious new stuff, mostly the MM AT, but there where several new villain-only powersets. Since then several sets have been added, incuding new MM sets.
GR already promised dual guns and demon MMs. We've heard rumours of a new Spy AT. Seems a bit thin compared to CoV.
Game mechanics:
With CoV we also got 3 pvp zones (+arenas), that initially gave great xp when you did missions on them. RV was added later. With the zones we got some new badges, temp. powers etc.
CoV also gave us updated textures and some new, shiny graphics stuff. Heroes eventually benefitted from it as well, but CoV is still more GFX intense.
There where probably more than that in there that I don't remember. Anyone wanna refresh my memory?
So what will GR have? I for one expect some sort of renewed graphics. I16 promises new power customization, but GR itself will have to deliver something. We should expect some new shiny stuff as well, not just the possibility to change sides even if that's probably a lot of work to implement. (Badges, contacts, accolades, prevent villain from going to atlas unless he really has changed sides etc). With other games on the horizon it's likely they'll look into thoose while trying to be inventive themselves. I fully expect the "multiple choise-dialgoues" to finally make an appearance. Makes sense. ..and why is it only romans that speak (well, scream)? We're all the strong silent types that type? (SW:ToR sets a new standard apparently, with FULL voice-overs - that's something!!!) We've heard there might be unlockable power slots, bonuses for remaining true to your original path etc.
Future:
Since CoV was launched, we've seen some new powersets, lvl 41-50 added, Grandville, RV and power proliferation. Some new contacts and arcs where added, including the latest villain-side 5SF, but basically most of the added content was coop stuff and not villain exclusive. Made sense since most people apparently remained on the blue side, even if they eventually got access for free to the red side.
GR on the other hand might attract most of the player base even if they don't want to change sides. If that's so, adding new GR specific content may very well be a real choise. I most other games, once an expansion is out, the new "free" content usually resides in there while still giving some trinkets to the non-expanded community.
Lessons to be learned:
With villains, us redsiders learned that it was a one-shot expansion barely supported. Yes we eventually got our epics and some new sets and arcs, but any major additions are yet to be seen. It makes sense since most people stayed true to the blue side, but once the red side was opened up for everyone, very little still happened. Much of the expansion was good for the non-expanders as well. Bases etc eventually onened up for everyone. One might ask, why buy the expansion if you eventually get it for free and there's not gonna be much new in there in the future anyway. IMHO villains wasn't quite ready. although not power levelled a lot of us finished of the content quicky and got stuck, grinding at level 40.
GR might be supported more in the future, sinse I feel it's likely more people will buy it, it makes sense to make a new box or maybe even eventually make the "original" free or cheaper (like Anarchy). I guess we'll just have to wait and see.