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Originally Posted by Clave_Dark_5
That's your opinion. "A farm will never be as nice as a decently conceived and written mission." That's my opinion. Some of us play for something other than just DPS or XPpS or whatever. I'm not saying the system is perfect or doesn't need work to balance out both styles of play however.
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That's not an opinion its an observation about the rate at which things happen in the game. Its no different than if I said lower latitudes tend to have warmer climates and you came back with that you like winters
Just thought I would chime in as "middle of the road/causal" player. I don't farm or powerlevel. But I don't care about well crafted stories for their own sake either. Well I do, but then that's what books are for.
I played AE a little bit to mix it up from newspaper (I mostly play redside) and contact missions. Some of them were nice, some of them were awful. I have never created an AE arc, though I would like to at some point.
Now I won't play them. Not just the reduced experience ones, any of them. I don't want to figure out what the ones are that will cost me 25% an experience just to play against (in many cases) tougher mobs. Add in the risk that this might be an horrible plot. I might be willing to risk one but not both.
Now I am sure people will come back with "if you just looked at X, Y and Z; you could avoid or minimize the risk." I'm sure that's true and would appreciate that advice. However, the misses some of the point.
I don't want to invest a lot of time figuring stuff out. Well that's not exactly true, I will invest some time in figuring things out if there is a reward at the end (like the figuring out the market). In this case the reward is to be able to play other peoples stuff without a penalty. Not worth it imho.
At a minimum, make a nice clear label for lazy (albeit rationally lazy) people such as myself to figure out if I am going to lose experience. Really, I would prefer removing the penalty altogether.
I notice that the Samurai are gone now, as of last night 
AE is a carcass, and its being picked cleaner every day. Only the bones remain, theres absoluteley no meat left.
I have two story arcs, one published and one in progress. I plan on working on one when the filesize is upped. And maybe when the custom options are unlocked more. Right now I have more things than can fit in one story. The other one that's published I currently dislike due to the random ranged attacks added in. I'm not messing with either one until some upgrades appear. But I do have some stories I want to tell.
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Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU
Dispari has more than enough credability, and certainly doesn't need to borrow any from you.
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In response to the initial post: I still use the AE, but not as much as I used to.
Every few days or so I'll run a few AE missions to get tickets and buy stuff I'm missing; whether that be recipes or salvage. Every few weeks I'll run one of the Dev's Choice or Player's picks and take my time to enjoy the story, just because I get bored of the same ol' content I've run dozens of times.
Same thing with Ouroborus: Every so often I'll fire up an Ouro TF or story arc for a few merits and a change of pace.
50s: Inv/SS PB Emp/Dark Grav/FF DM/Regen TA/A Sonic/Elec MA/Regen Fire/Kin Sonic/Rad Ice/Kin Crab Fire/Cold NW Merc/Dark Emp/Sonic Rad/Psy Emp/Ice WP/DB FA/SM
Overlord of Dream Team and Nightmare Squad
I rarely ever use it anymore.
I'm not a farmer or PLer and never was.
AE in it's current state is just not that interesting. I'm not slighting people's ability to tell stories. Some of the AE stories are fine.
I'm just not that enthusiastic about a tool that took so many resources to create and still basically delivers the same old mission formulas and gameplay we have had for 5 years. No branching story arcs, no true custom maps or environments, no true custom powers(just mix and match sets), no ability to create puzzle elements, no environmental interaction.
Maybe, just maybe, custom content in an MMO isn't that great an idea because it can never truly be custom content. It can only ever be stuff that the devs give us and nothing more.
AE is limited, IMO, by the same things that limit the current scope of the game. No new and interesting game elements or mechanics in the main game means that there are none in AE. We can't truly create our own stuff, just rehash maps and environments that we've seen an ungodly number of times already.
And so, when you stripped away the big exploits and brought AE farming back to an acceptable threshold, what did we find?
Surprise! Surprise! Not that many people are interested in something that truly doesn't offer them any gameplay more fun than standard dev content.
We also found that a LOT of people are lazy and like quick, no-effort leveling. I mean, we could have just done a survey or something...
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Originally Posted by Slashman
I rarely ever use it anymore.
I'm not a farmer or PLer and never was. AE in it's current state is just not that interesting. I'm not slighting people's ability to tell stories. Some of the AE stories are fine. I'm just not that enthusiastic about a tool that took so many resources to create and still basically delivers the same old mission formulas and gameplay we have had for 5 years. No branching story arcs, no true custom maps or environments, no true custom powers(just mix and match sets), no ability to create puzzle elements, no environmental interaction. Maybe, just maybe, custom content in an MMO isn't that great an idea because it can never truly be custom content. It can only ever be stuff that the devs give us and nothing more. AE is limited, IMO, by the same things that limit the current scope of the game. No new and interesting game elements or mechanics in the main game means that there are none in AE. We can't truly create our own stuff, just rehash maps and environments that we've seen an ungodly number of times already. And so, when you stripped away the big exploits and brought AE farming back to an acceptable threshold, what did we find? Surprise! Surprise! Not that many people are interested in something that truly doesn't offer them any gameplay more fun than standard dev content. We also found that a LOT of people are lazy and like quick, no-effort leveling. I mean, we could have just done a survey or something... |
THIS.
I think base editing tools would have been a better investment.
Ignoring anyone is a mistake. You might miss something viral to your cause.
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Me too.
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Originally Posted by MrHassenpheffer
THIS.
I think base editing tools would have been a better investment. |
One man's terrorist is another man's freedom (or freem?) fighter; just as one man's exploit is another man's feature.
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To advocate, I'd love to see more control over the map environment for item placement and base-edit-like changes (like dropping in crashed Rikti ships on a cityscape, fires, NPC paths, etc). That would be the "next step" evolution for me in AE to really make the default maps "zip" to what's in your imagination.|
Originally Posted by Slashman
AE is limited, IMO, by the same things that limit the current scope of the game. No new and interesting game elements or mechanics in the main game means that there are none in AE. We can't truly create our own stuff, just rehash maps and environments that we've seen an ungodly number of times already.
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To point something out: "AE is limited by the engine of the game." Well, yeah. But you can do a heck of a lot with the existing tools already. "We can't truly create our own stuff?" Have you played at all with the custom character editor for powersets and costuming? You can whip up entire RACES in that if you wanted to. And with hundreds of maps available (and I'm in the school of thought that they need to bring back a bunch that were removed), you can pretty much set up a story arc that meets, if not your exacting vision, then something intensely similar to that vision.
The editor's not perfect, but it's unique in the MMO biz. AE exploiting was a huge problem, and that was their focus for a good long time before they got it to acceptable levels. Now that the firestorm's doused, I'm hoping we can look forward to further expansions of ability and resources. Recognize the capabilities, and give it a chance to mature a bit where it might lack, before you cry dooooooom.
@TURGENEV - Freedom Server / IRON / B.A.N.E / HORDE
Turg Fiction: Ghost in the Machine Acts III & IV coming 2012!
Turg Fiction: IX is now LIVE on Architect Entertainment!
before you cry dooooooom. ........
not crying dooooom.
im crying "Stop wasting time and money on bad ventures"
since I'm a paying customer <for now> its my right.
Ignoring anyone is a mistake. You might miss something viral to your cause.
Then you should not ask for more stuff for bases. They stopped wasting time and money on that bad venture.
Winner of Players' Choice Best Villainous Arc 2010: Fear and Loathing on Striga; ID #350522
if a dev comes out and says that, then I will stop.
if a troll comes out and says that, then i will do this...
>.>
<.<
+.+
Ignoring anyone is a mistake. You might miss something viral to your cause.
>.>
<.<
+.+
:d
Ignoring anyone is a mistake. You might miss something viral to your cause.
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I agree that stuff like that would help to make the AE a better tool. I'm still not sure how close we are to that or the other stuff I'd like to see go in. Which is part of my issue. We just don't know what they're going to do.|
Originally Posted by Turgenev
To advocate, I'd love to see more control over the map environment for item placement and base-edit-like changes (like dropping in crashed Rikti ships on a cityscape, fires, NPC paths, etc). That would be the "next step" evolution for me in AE to really make the default maps "zip" to what's in your imagination.
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| To point something out: "AE is limited by the engine of the game." Well, yeah. But you can do a heck of a lot with the existing tools already. "We can't truly create our own stuff?" Have you played at all with the custom character editor for powersets and costuming? You can whip up entire RACES in that if you wanted to. |
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| And with hundreds of maps available (and I'm in the school of thought that they need to bring back a bunch that were removed), you can pretty much set up a story arc that meets, if not your exacting vision, then something intensely similar to that vision. |
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| The editor's not perfect, but it's unique in the MMO biz. |
Also, I'm a gamer period. Not simply an MMO player. And I've seen lots of games where custom tools were used to do incredible things far and above what the dev teams have even dreamed of. Great mods get released all the time.
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| AE exploiting was a huge problem, and that was their focus for a good long time before they got it to acceptable levels. Now that the firestorm's doused, I'm hoping we can look forward to further expansions of ability and resources. Recognize the capabilities, and give it a chance to mature a bit where it might lack, before you cry dooooooom. |
There are some very nice story arcs in AE. And yet somehow, people don't seem to be flocking to play them. People are/were interested in the easiest way to gain levels with the least effort.
AE, to me, is cart before horse right now. Make the core game better and expand it before you attempt to give tools to the community to showcase your game. In the end, they can only showcase what's there. And what is there right now is a game that's badly in need of expansion. That's where GR comes in. It just seems to make sense to wait til after GR to try to push something like that out to the community when there will be a lot of new stuff for AE users to work with and explore.
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You got some figures there to base your cost argument on? I could pull figures out of my bottom to match up with your sweeping generalisation of the 'players' of the game.|
Originally Posted by Bright Shadow
You have to specify failure from a perspective. From a cost/benefit analysis and point of view, AE was a failure. Ourboros did take 100% of an issue, and even delay it. SG bases came along with City of Villains, and they did not cost as much as AE did. AE took up an entire Issue. AE delayed an Issue. AE gave birth to Issue 15, which was a very controversial Issue. Then we got the "AE Crisis" once it was released. And then it was obliterated by almost completely making its rewards worthless to many players (when compared to risks involved), and now it's one of the unpopular features of the game, to say the least. Did Ouroboros cause that much mess? Did SG bases cause that much mess? No. So no. The success of a feature is not a popularity contest, unless you consider it from a business stand point, and consider the costs. I apologize if I did not make my perspective clear in my earlier post. |
AE is fun. When the farms were prevalent (i.e. 2 minutes after i14 launched, disregarding beta) I didn't find it fun. I'd still like it if someone who can would clear up the defunct arcs (i.e. blatant exploits).
I do now however, despite the nerf to custom xp.
Recently, Dr Aeon ran a competition. To me that was the essence of the AE - writers coming up with arcs based around a theme and/or set of guidelines to see where people could go with content. It's how I imagined it could be fun.
I'm also wary of people who use arguments which boil down to: You're entitled to your opinion but you're in a minority, clearly, so I have free reign to deride everything you say.
People who use the AE and people who create for the AE are a minority, RPers are a minority, Farmers are a minority, PvPers are a minority, Badge Hunters are a minority, People who organise TFs are a minority - the list goes on.
There is not, in my experience, anything like a 'Regular' gamer and the term 'Regular' is pretty general anyway, without any description of what it is constituted from. Actually there is - 'Regular' gamers are those decent, salt-of-the-Earth, regular joes who are the target of lowest common denominator marketing and advertising executives across the World. In essence, they're as 'real' as the Nuclear Family and Traditional Values.
So to answer the original question: I use the AE and will continue to use it until the servers are shut down in the very distant future, thankyouverymuch.
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No, it would be more like if you told me that lower latitudes are nicer because they tend to have warmer climates and I came back with how I like winters (which is off the topic of latitudes in the first place). My response was specifically aimed at when you said|
Originally Posted by Another_Fan
That's not an opinion its an observation about the rate at which things happen in the game. Its no different than if I said lower latitudes tend to have warmer climates and you came back with that you like winters
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Originally Posted by Another_Fan
That said it is nowhere near as nice, as logging onto a level 50 farm is now and even less so than it used to be with the right bridge.
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Besides, yeesh, I agree with you that they need to balance out the XP issue anyways.
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All nicely said.
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Originally Posted by Arctic_Princess
I'm also wary of people who use arguments which boil down to: You're entitled to your opinion but you're in a minority, clearly, so I have free reign to deride everything you say.
People who use the AE and people who create for the AE are a minority, RPers are a minority, Farmers are a minority, PvPers are a minority, Badge Hunters are a minority, People who organise TFs are a minority - the list goes on. |
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Everything you said is all nice and dandy. But you need to consider my post in the context of my general argument. I'm not stating an opinion. I'm stating an observation, and then using facts (feel free to argue these facts) to draw out my conclusion on the whole thing.
Originally Posted by Arctic_Princess
You got some figures there to base your cost argument on? I could pull figures out of my bottom to match up with your sweeping generalisation of the 'players' of the game.
AE is fun. When the farms were prevalent (i.e. 2 minutes after i14 launched, disregarding beta) I didn't find it fun. I'd still like it if someone who can would clear up the defunct arcs (i.e. blatant exploits).
I do now however, despite the nerf to custom xp.
Recently, Dr Aeon ran a competition. To me that was the essence of the AE - writers coming up with arcs based around a theme and/or set of guidelines to see where people could go with content. It's how I imagined it could be fun.
I'm also wary of people who use arguments which boil down to: You're entitled to your opinion but you're in a minority, clearly, so I have free reign to deride everything you say.
People who use the AE and people who create for the AE are a minority, RPers are a minority, Farmers are a minority, PvPers are a minority, Badge Hunters are a minority, People who organise TFs are a minority - the list goes on.
There is not, in my experience, anything like a 'Regular' gamer and the term 'Regular' is pretty general anyway, without any description of what it is constituted from. Actually there is - 'Regular' gamers are those decent, salt-of-the-Earth, regular joes who are the target of lowest common denominator marketing and advertising executives across the World. In essence, they're as 'real' as the Nuclear Family and Traditional Values.
So to answer the original question: I use the AE and will continue to use it until the servers are shut down in the very distant future, thankyouverymuch.
Here's my observation:
AE, 2 minutes after release, was far, far away from what was advertised, and still is. AE was advertised as a tool to allow players to give their fellow players an alternate way of leveling in contrast to the boring, repetitive regular content. At the release, AE gave too much rewards to satisfy that, nullifying one major feature of AE: Storytelling. Even AE writers were constantly complaining that AE was not being used as intended.
Then, a few months pass, and AE goes from an exploitive (I don't call it exploitive, but everyone here seems to do just that, so I'll stop arguing that point for now) tool for farming, to what it is right now.
As it stands, people cannot use AE to BOTH level and enjoy content (which is what AE was advertised as) like they did with regular content. People are either farming regular enemy groups, or enjoying stories with custom enemy groups. Some writers have decided to stick to regular enemy groups for just that: To motivate players into playing their arcs. AE was supposed to promote creativity, not discourage it.
Here are some general facts in the industry, that I have not pulled out of my bottom. I can put a bibliography at the end of my post, but I'm too lazy at the moment. Feel free to argue them, if you wish. It's simply a cost vs. benefit analysis.
1. If the majority of the intended audience of a game enjoy and make use of a new feature X, then X would be considered a successful implementation of X from an economical, business, and player satisfaction standpoint.
2. If the majority of the intended audience of a game do not enjoy and do not make use of a new feature Y, then Y would be considered a failed implementation of Y from an economical, business, and player satisfaction standpoint.
From these facts, I've drawn the following conclusion:
AE is a failed implementation of a feature with much more potential from an economical, business, and player satisfaction standpoint, given the above observations and facts.
If you are curious, yes, I also consider the badge collection system, PvP system, SG Base Editing system to be failed features of the game using the same train of thought.
What's funny is that I love collecting badges from time to time. I love base editing. And I think the current PvP is better than the previous one. So yes. The features I enjoy are also considered to be failures from different perspectives. That is because I don't consider my opinion (or anyone else's) to have any value in a debate.
I use the AE all the time, every time I log in. I freely admit that I am the exact opposite of a PL'er though. I have had an account for almost three years and don't have a single level 50 character. A lot of that has to do with the fact that I consider making and playing new characters to be one of the most fun parts of the game. To be honest, I don't understand PL'ers at all. Once you get to level 50, there is no pot of gold or 100 virgins there. Playing the game should be fun, not a race to the top.
I do think that there is a better way to handle AE, though. I know it would be a lot of work with all the different combinations available, but I do think there could be an algorithm written to figure out proper experience based on the powers chosen rather than cutting it across the board. I don't really have access to the data, but somebody at Paragon Studios probably has a pretty good idea what the risk vs. reward ratio should be, how much damage vs. resistance a bad guy should have for the amount of XP he gives, what the ratios of minions, lieutenants, and bosses should be in a mission etc. All they have to do is enforce it in code. Allow all boss missions, but cut down on the experience gotten from bosses in those missions to equal exactly what one would have gotten from a mission that was not all bosses. That takes away the incentive to make silly and uninteresting farm missions, but still allows options for people who are doing things like that for story purposes.
The first thing they would need to do is come up with categories for different attributes of powers (based on the type of damage the power does, its secondary effects, etc). Then they should come up with experience ratings for each of the powers for each of these categories. Then you calculate the experience based on the powers chosen and the values given in each of these categories. Higher values from the same category would trump each other. Values from different categories would be additive.
For example, If Baddy McBad has Power A and Power B and Power A has a smashing damage modifier of 5 and power B has a smashing damage modifier of 8, the value for Mr. McBad would be 8. If Power A has a smashing damage modifier of 5 and Power B has a fire damage modifier of 8, his value would be 13. This gives more experience for diversified bad guys and cuts out the possibility of making bad guys who are weak to your own strengths. If the bad guy spawns in a group with others, the calculation is done on the group rather than the individual. Some final calculation would be done with the resulting numbers to bring the experience in line with the experience expected from the challenge represented by them.
This would make it entirely possible to make an AE arc that gave experience on par with the rest of the game as long as you took the time to make sure you arc was actually as challenging as the rest of the game. It would completely eliminate the ability to make exploitative farms.
It would, however, retain the ability to make arcs that gave far less experience, and people who are just trying to make a good story and don't care about the experience given can still make them. It should give at least some warning to the developer that their arc gives less experience than is standard in the game. It should also give a similar warning in the description and an ability to filter those arcs out in search. This would eliminate people docking story-tellers two stars for 'low rewards' like some idiot above says he does.
I realize this is not as easy as the basic sketch in this post, but putting the time into doing, would really make AE one of the draws of the game as it should be. It is really an amazingly cool feature.
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I think you'd have to be slightly out of phase with reality to not feel that the initial state of MA was exploitative...|
Originally Posted by Bright Shadow
Then, a few months pass, and AE goes from an exploitive (I don't call it exploitive, but everyone here seems to do just that, so I'll stop arguing that point for now) tool for farming, to what it is right now.
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Meow missions anyone?
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| As it stands, people cannot use AE to BOTH level and enjoy content (which is what AE was advertised as) like they did with regular content. People are either farming regular enemy groups, or enjoying stories with custom enemy groups. Some writers have decided to stick to regular enemy groups for just that: To motivate players into playing their arcs. AE was supposed to promote creativity, not discourage it. |
And even then, it will mean there is a whole lot more dev-created content to keep people interested. Which ironically is what we needed in the first place. Putting that in the hands of players in the limited environment of an MMO is just a bad idea.
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| AE is a failed implementation of a feature with much more potential from an economical, business, and player satisfaction standpoint, given the above observations and facts. |
From what I observed, it looks like it attracted new players and caught the eye of older players who had departed, bringing both in for a while. I don't know how many of those have subsequently departed and are therefore no longer playing the game. I suspect that the overall player increase due to AE is not that significant.
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| If you are curious, yes, I also consider the badge collection system, PvP system, SG Base Editing system to be failed features of the game using the same train of thought. |
The badge system is the same thing. I don't think it was ever meant to be a major selling point for the game that would attract and retain thousands of players. It was just something extra for players to pursue if they were interested. Heck...you just have to play the game normally and you get badges. Accolades you have to work at.
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| That is because I don't consider my opinion (or anyone else's) to have any value in a debate. |
What's funny is that I love collecting badges from time to time. I love base editing. And I think the current PvP is better than the previous one. So yes. The features I enjoy are also considered to be failures from different perspectives. That is because I don't consider my opinion (or anyone else's) to have any value in a debate.
If my opinions are shoved aside, ridiculed and forgotten, if the devs arent listening to player feedback because they simply dont care...I consider all of the above <which I am paying for via active acct> to be a failure simply because my opinion has no value.
If I care about this product or service, they dont, and the communication stops... then we are done.
communication breakdown: it's the kiss of death.
Ignoring anyone is a mistake. You might miss something viral to your cause.
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Well, from what I saw, a lot of people also quit the game due to AE. And when I'm talking about economical and business standpoint, I mean the same time and resources could be spent making something more appealing to a larger portion of the player base. What I mean, is that AE, as it stands, is not worth the resources and time that was put into it (an augmented issue, incredible advertising, partial elimination of an entire issue, etc.)
Originally Posted by Slashman
I think that the real problem is that AE just isn't that interesting to the average player. I think that it will continue to hold interest to those who really want to play other people's stories in the hopes of finding those few rare gems and probably to ticket and xp farmers to a lesser extent. Between the nerfs, super SKing and the fact that AE is still the same old COX when you get right down to it, I don't expect very much from it until the core game is expanded on and those additions make it into AE.
And even then, it will mean there is a whole lot more dev-created content to keep people interested. Which ironically is what we needed in the first place. Putting that in the hands of players in the limited environment of an MMO is just a bad idea.
I'm inclined to agree with you here. But only from the standpoint of player satisfaction. I don't know the economic impact that AE had on the game. I don't know if it was beneficial or detrimental.
From what I observed, it looks like it attracted new players and caught the eye of older players who had departed, bringing both in for a while. I don't know how many of those have subsequently departed and are therefore no longer playing the game. I suspect that the overall player increase due to AE is not that significant.
True. Then again, both badge system and SG Base Editor weren't as costly as AE. But yes. You'd be right. I (and the person I was mostly responding to) should've not put them in the same category as something as grand as AE.Quote:
Originally Posted by Slashman
Here is where I begin to doubt your clear thinking. PVP can be written off as a failure, I agree. However, SG Base Editing isn't something that I think was ever intended to be a major financial earner by itself. It came as part of COV as a natural extension of giving bases to both heroes and villains so they could do base raids and have a place for SGs and VGs to call 'home'. If you're in a SG with dozens of other people, how feasible is it for everyone to have clearance to edit the base? From that alone, it obviously wasn't some feature that every player was supposed to jump into and do.
The badge system is the same thing. I don't think it was ever meant to be a major selling point for the game that would attract and retain thousands of players. It was just something extra for players to pursue if they were interested. Heck...you just have to play the game normally and you get badges. Accolades you have to work at.
I guess you could say that. Quote:
Originally Posted by Slashman
I'd have to question why the heck you'd ever debate anything then. Everyone's opinion has value, it's just that you'd tend to take opinions backed up by some evidence more seriously.
There is no set standard for how to judge stories, and low rewards is a valid reason to knock score. Just because you dont value rewards doesnt mean the same applies to everyone.
Yes, if there was a reduced reward filter, I would stop knocking arcs for low rewards because I wouldnt see them.
But as of now, there is NO way for me or any other player to distinguish between a high reward with custom groups made up of dev mobs and low reward custom group with custom mobs. Besides the fact they show up in one big search mosh.
And to the other point yes its a failure not because of how many people play it, but of how many people play compared to the 9 or so months of dev time it took to get this thing out the door.
PS. Yes I somewhat do the low scoring on purpose, I figure if I can get a few other reward minded people to do the same. All the people who write arcs will complain that they are getting score reductions and the devs will have twice as many people complaining for a fix of custom mobs or at least a filter.
Boycott Ncsoft if they close down Coh.
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Hmmm...I didn't factor in the advertising costs. The Rooster Teeth video campaign couldn't have been free either. Although when you consider how little marketing has been done for this game over the years, maybe they had a huge wad of cash stored up for advertising 'emergencies'.|
Originally Posted by Bright Shadow
Well, from what I saw, a lot of people also quit the game due to AE. And when I'm talking about economical and business standpoint, I mean the same time and resources could be spent making something more appealing to a larger portion of the player base. What I mean, is that AE, as it stands, is not worth the resources and time that was put into it (an augmented issue, incredible advertising, partial elimination of an entire issue, etc.) |
I can say that AE gave us some bad press. For a while, on almost every game forum you'd go to with news about COX, someone would jump in and post that it's the game where you can level from 1 - 50 without ever leaving the noob area and call it lame. Even after the exploits got fixed it was bad for a while. It's hard to take back bad press. And with COX being out of the limelight for so long, I don't think its something we could really afford.
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| True. Then again, both badge system and SG Base Editor weren't as costly as AE. But yes. You'd be right. I (and the person I was mostly responding to) should've not put them in the same category as something as grand as AE. |
Most people will say that AE was necessary because players will blow through content faster than the devs can put it out. I contend that the problem isn't simply content volume, its the nature of the content. The more worthwhile content is to replay, the greater its longevity. Of course there are limits to that, but after 5 years we are only now, through GR, getting a new player experience for the early levels.
If we had content with branching storylines and multiple endings and more fun things to do in missions besides just beating up bad guys, I think people might have less to complain about. Faultline is great stuff, but Faultline plays out the exact same way each time you run it.
Now what might happen if you didn't successfully rescue Yin's dad? Or maybe you find the psychochronometron(is that how it's spelled?) before Sands and he tries to take it from YOU? Maybe Doc Delilah actually starts digging Captain Costello's advances?
A little imagination and suddenly we have different avenues to explore using the same starting story arcs and missions. Content with some dynamic elements to the storyline would be a heck of a lot more interesting to me to play than MA arcs, which all manage to feel firmly detached from the COX world for some reason I can't put my finger on. Maybe it's the tickets and large green column of light for a mission door...I dunno.
Instead of brand new dev content, we got the 'unlimited content' of MA which still all manages to feel...not that compelling. Well that's my opinion at least.
Now that the Christmas chaos is over, I'll get on to fixing it.