Just curious about people's opinions

I like what CO has done with names, I dislike just about everything else about CO, and I am deeply saddened about how that game turned out.

I think CO is going against the grain with naming though. Really, I think the future not only will ensure names are unique, I think server shards will become a thing of the past (except for large regional shards like Europe v. America). Server shards will be virtual in the decade ahead, which will mean many things. Mostly it will mean you will have some control over which ones you wish to join for a session, or even create your own shard and invite others to play in it for a session - eventually holding some shards open like the way a bot holds open a channel in IRC.

I think this means names will likely be global to the game as a whole, not just a server. I also think "premium names" for which you pay a small fee to obtain and reserve are on their way. I say this because the micro-pay, commodity market in ORPGs is looming on the horizon and I think some key names people might actually a buck or two to obtain them. EA in particular is investing a lot in this kind of thing, and we'll see much more of it in the years ahead.

Gamers express outrage at this, but they are so often the ones (like me) who shell out far too much money for something as clumsy and trivial as the Magic booster pack.

It was kind of immersion-breaking for me to see all those global handles tacked on to the end of names. Here, I play 'Snare' and there it would've been, 'Snare@Mrwrk.' It just didn't feel like I was a hero...it kept poking at me telling me I was just playing at one. (Which obviously I was, but I thought it was annoying that it was reminding me all the time.)

Never unsubscribed Gila, just got ridiculously busy this summer at work. I started working long hours, trying to get a new phase of research off the ground. My apologies I appeared to evaporate, for a while I was pretty consumed with work, with little time for much else.

But, I went on vacation last week, afraid I was going to burn out - and now that I'm back I've decided to ease back down to normal work weeks - which means more time to play. The timing is good, work has settled a little - and I have more time for hobbies and play.

As for names, as a roleplayer, using a name I like, even if its being camped by someone else is a huge advantage to me. I really do like what CO did with this. Sadly, so much else about CO was poorly crafted. In particular, I really hate games that are filled with tank mages.

As for this old bird, I never would have guessed it would still be kicking around after all this time. In fact, I think I predicted, in a very old thread, that the game would die by the end of 2009. How wrong I was. I would like to see some new, radical zones. It's about time COH breaks out of the urban boxes, and give us something radically fresh - other dimensions, space, the moon, a space station, an underwater temple - something, anything to bring back exploration to the game.

And dare I say it - yes I will, I think it is time to raise the level cap.

This is rare for me, but I'm going to use an absolute. We will never see a level cap increase in CoX unless the advancement system is completely revamped. Adding levels with the power/slot system would be nearly impossible. I would go so far as to say we will very likely not see one ever because of the design philosophies of the game, that being no endgame and actually encouraging playing all levels instead of WoW and clones where the object is to get to max level as soon as humanly possible so you can get to the 'real game'.

Well said Stryph, it was too hastily constructed, and lacked in too many things to win me over.

Adding levels with the power/slot system would be nearly impossible.

Well, you are right that raising levels is so much work, that we may never see it.

However, you can, with some creative thought and some careful planning, raise the level-cap and have it succeed. Keep in mind, I've played this game for 5 years now. I do not have a single character that has reached level 50 in all that time. Not one. Nobody levels slower than me, and my favorite level range in this game is 15-25, which is where most of my character sit. So I do not make this point from the perspective of a power-game "bored" that wants, more, more, more.

Also, I do not think that raising the level cap does not "doom" COH to WOW's fate. I agree with you 100% that WOW abandoned the casual gamer, and focused almost exclusively on end-game.

I just think raising the power-level is going to bring some gamers who weren't lured back by AE and won't be lured back by Rogue. And I think if you can lure some of these gamers back, some of them will be so impressed with the game's maturity, they will stay.

Any game, can raise their level cap, and maintain reasonable balance. It can take some thought, some care and a lot of work, but it can be done. Now your point is well-taken, in that it might take so much work, that it might not be worth it.

I just see a level-cap raise, as the perfect gateway for new, more challenging content, and I think a move like this, could benefit COH in the long haul. I would say in fact, it would be the perfect counter-argument to DC's release.

I do understand the concerns and worry about such a move, but I think it can be done and done well. Nothing is impossible with careful design and consideration.

I want a further way to develop my main toons. I'd actually like some new powers. In my opinion, a MMO succeeds as long as they continue to add stuff to the gameplay, and I think it's been too long since they added something significant to already "finished" characters.

My main beef with the Name@uniqueglobal that Champions Online has is that they don't allow you to change it. It's a very minor chance that someone with the same name that you chose will also be an RPer and then also be in the same SG as you.. but if that did happen, you can't pay to have your name changed.

Also, there's a griefing SG who are all Goonling@uniqueglobal. While you can check who is who, when you're just looking around Club Caprice, all you see is Goonlings griefing the RPers.

So there's some downsides to the naming thing.

I'm not terribly bothered by the chance encounter with another of my characters, though the @uniqueglobal has caused me some confussion. I often get called Dr. or Doc even when I'm not playing as Jack because a lot of the players don't turn of the @uniqueglobal in chat. Gets right confusin' when I get tells or zone stuff saying "Doc wanna come play?" When I'm wearing EMMA's skin.

I aslo am not in love the game/enviroment so far. I enjoyed the beta testing I did, but now I'm a bit burned out and the ....culture around the game hasn't developed as I'd hoped.

I like the creativity that naming my character inspires here. I recreated one of my characters from a PnP RPG, but her name was not available so I ended up using an alternate spelling. (Typhoon --> Tiphon, for the curious)
Refering to her by Ti as a nick inspired me to create more backstory and a secret identity for her that did not exist before.

The biggest plus to CO naming scheme is that you only have to 'ignore' or 'friend' another player exactly once for the whole account.

I just realised that if CoX had CO's naming policy, I would be playing my level 50 Tanker, Blue Bunny, instead of my level 50 Tanker, Lapin Lazuli.

And that fact alone makes me realise that I don't much care for CO's name policy.

I'd like CO's naming setup better if it using names of items or gear wasnt considered invalid.

IE: My Pistol-Kata character 'Dune Rattler' can't have that name, because theres a piece of crap gear in the desert called 'Rattler'. I can't even have the WORD Rattler in my name. Regardless of the Dune in front.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BackAlleyBrawler you *******!!!!

Didn't they announce (officially or not) that they were working on something for alternate post-50 development of characters outside of adding levels?

Too lazy to go check...I might be totally out to lunch on that.

There's been something mentioned with GR about 'new ways to make level 50 characters more powerful' which could be anything from additional buffs, to temp powers, to a new zone with stuff that works only in it, to more purple IO sets.

I like having a unique name for my characters. Yes it can be sad when you have to compromise a 'pure' name when it is already taken. (For example, I wanted my original 50 to be named "Fara" but it was taken so I put on her last name to make it unique "Fara Carae"