Ask A Dev: Re-introducing Melissa Bianco!

I know there has been a lot of discussions about the visual improvements in Going Rogue's Ultra Mode. Has there been any thought to making any sound engine updates? With the advent of Windows Vista and now Windows 7 Direct Sound 3D is no longer supported and these operating systems now rely on OpenAL. Are there any plans to migrate to or add additional support for OpenAL? It would be nice to use my 5.1 speaker set up again with CoH. :-)

Congrats on dinging 51!

I really have just one question. In your MMORGP interview, you said:

"Sorry bucko, but CoH and CoV are the same game." -BackAlleyBrawler
"Silly villain, CoX is for Heroes!" -Saicho

Major congratulations on the new job, War Witch! I have great respect for the work you've done on the game so far, so I'm excited to see what happens next.

To that end, my question is about your "overall direction" for the game. The game has a new helmswoman, so I'd like to know how you think that change will be felt. Which of Positron's initiatives do you most want to continue, and what new directions do you most want to explore?

Thanks for your upcoming answers, and best of luck!

-D

P.S. While I have you here, how about adding "Mighty" to the list of titles Heroes can choose from? You know you want to! 8-)

Congrats on the new position. Have you embraced your contractually mandated dev-hate of villains yet?

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

What kind of motorcycle do you drive? How long have you been riding? Are you in a MC?

Congrats!

My questions are in no particular order:

• After college did you take any continuing education courses that were job related? If so, what sort of courses were they?
• Were you really born in Vancouver proper, or was it West Vancouver, North Vancouver, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Burnaby, New Westminster, Richmond, or (shudders) Surrey? Those of us who live around the area do know the difference.
• What do you most look forward to doing in your new role?
• Who is _your_ role model? Why?

Congrats on the promotion, War Witch!

My question is about NPC costumes in Going Rogue. Are the costumes for the new NPC factions in GR being designed so players can use their costume parts? I think at HeroCon it was mentioned that players will have access to Praetorian Clockwork costume bits. We'll also be running missions from the Resistance and Praetorians, so it would be cool if we could get some of those factions' costume parts. Will the be possible in Going Rogue?

I mainly ask because, in the past, NPC factions were not designed with a way for players to get access to some of their costume bits. That's understandable, but I'm curious to see if that will remain the status quo going forward.

Thanks for your time!

Congrats, War Witch!

I hope you remembered to visit a trainer when you got promoted

Hi WW! Gratz on your new position - from one Vancouverite to another! So, I was hoping if you could answer some or all of the following:

- What direction are you planning on taking the game? Lately we have been getting a lot of issues/additions but little to do. Some players feel a game of this vintage has to keep evolving to keep it's players. I notice the player numbers are very low lately and maybe this is a partial explanation? So, what will be your focus in the upcoming year? More missions, game mechanics, innovations?

- Will you be looking at older content? Some of it is not enjoyable and just plain work. For example: Synapse TF and the Posi TF among others. There is numerous content that can be fine tuned but changing up the TFs might be a good start. A lot of the missions and TFs/SFs tend to have a lot of pointless running around. I am hoping this is done away with as well for future content - make the story streamlined and relevant.

- Will you be using new maps and environments for future content? The same old mission maps have been done to beyond death. Hoping they don't get used much in any future content additions.

- Will you be merging the markets?

Thanks!

Many players suffer from frequent crashes associated with base-development and Consignment House usage. Will the expansion, City of Heroes: Going Rogue, address any of the stability issues with the the game?

Melissa, I have essentially 4 questions for you. Three concern SG Bases and one concerning the Shadow Shard.



1. We need a "flooring" item for Bases.

3D base design needs to have some purpose built "floor" items added to the game. I'm talking 8 corners, 6 sides, rectalinear "blocks" that can be laid out in horizontal arrays with repeatable exterior textures that match up with already existing elements in the base editor. Right now, if I want to have a wooden floor, I need to use either desks or cabinets (which can have "underside issues" with appearances, or have texture tearing due to overlaps along edges when laid out in arrays as "floors") or tech crates or bookshelves or arcane stone blocks. If I'm using 1x4x4 Small Bookcases for upper floors, I need to use 256 of them (at 100 prestige a pop) to fill a 32ft x 32ft block of floor space ... which is highly inefficient, but also the only way to achieve this particular "look" at this time. This can quickly run into the multiple thousands of these items per room, simply because I need to use a *small* item to create a large "floor" space up in the air. Furthermore, those bookcases have extra polygons and textures that I "don't need" in any way, which dramatically increase the overhead and processing demand of the render engine when moving around inside my base.

What would make a truly dramatic improvement in decorative item counts for 3D bases would be to add dirt simple straight line rectangle "blocks" with no beveled edges or "fancy" beyond their exterior (only) textures, which could include dark wood, light wood, rustic wood, plastic, metal, etc.
4 ft long x 4 ft wide x 2 ft high
8 ft long x 8 ft wide x 2 ft high
16 ft long x 16 ft wide x 2 ft high
32 ft long x 32 ft wide x 2 ft high
If I (and all other 3D base designers) had such simple items to use in creating above ground level flooring in 3D Bases, I'd be able to cut my total item count from over 7000 to less than 2000 (no, I'm not kidding). Such a change/addition to the current system would be simply HUGE in its impact on the Base Builders community, and go a LONG way towards answering the perennial question ... "Where's the Base Love we were promised?" I also have a hard time believing that implementing such objects into the current base editor would strain the resources you (now) have at your command.

Such a change would also clear the way for question #2...



2. Salvage Rack storage limit is set too low.

The current item limit for Salvage Racks in bases is set to 30. This is, for all intents and purposes, almost punishingly low. It would be far better for everyone if the storage limit per salvage rack were set to 60 per rack. Here's why.

Origin : Grade : Tier : Type

There are two salvage origins (arcane and tech), three grades (common, uncommon, rare), and three tiers (10-25, 30-40, 45-50) ... and each tier contains 6 types of salvage. By having a storage limit of 60 per rack, you could put 10 pieces of each common tier 1 arcane salvage into a single salvage rack. You could also likewise put 5 pieces of each uncommon tier 1 arcane salvage AND 5 pieces of rare tier 1 arcane salvage into a second rack. Wash/rinse/repeat for all three tiers and both origins of all grades and you've got 12 salvage racks holding 720 combined maximum salvage (360 commons, 180 uncommons, 180 rares, mix'n'match to your pleasure).

Such a change would give SGs (and by extension, their members) a large enough "strategic reserve" of salvage to actually start using it on a regular basis for all sorts of things such as memorizing invention badges, to creating Set IOs "on demand" without being held hostage by the whims of the market. I think it would be quite fair to say that any market disruptions caused by such a change would be limited in scope (1-2 weeks? if that?) and might actually work long term as a stabilizing force for market prices of salvage simply due to a greater facility of an alternate supply method.

So ... any chance you'd consider raising the storage limit on Salvage Racks in bases from 30 to 60?



3. Cross-polinating Mission Architect and SG Base Editing

We know that Paragon Studios has already tried to come up with a new Base Editor but that things "didn't work out" with it. We also know that a lot of players would like to be able to create their own mission maps for use in AE mission. We've also seen plenty of past cases where a particular feature couldn't be done until there was a need for it elsewhere in the game ... such as ledgesit and wall leaning emote for players, which only came about because you (War Witch) needed them for NPCs in the Rogue Isles.

Do you see any "opportunity" in creating a dual-use game tech which allows players to not only create fully 3D environments for SG Bases, but also for creating Mission Maps for use in AE missions?



4. The Shadow Shard NEEDS VILLAINS!

Have you (and your team) seen AVATAR yet? I know ... trick question. BUT ... there are visuals in that film that ought to seriously inspire the Art Department with regards to any revamping of the Shadow Shard. And let's face it ... the Shadow Shard zone are among the most beautiful in the game, while also being among the least visited. There's a large segment of players who have simply never been out there, and a subset of those players who don't even know the place exists at all!

At the same time, Villains need more zones. I know you're bringing Praetorian Earth in Going Rogue, but Positron is talking about End Game Content ... and nothing quite says "Final Frontier" like the Shadow Shard does in this game. Plus the Shadow Shard zones have simply incredible untapped potential in them! The sheer number of stories waiting to be told out there is huge ... and they've received almost no development AT ALL since Issue 1.

What would be excessively cool though is if you created duplicate PvE co-op and PvP hostile zones of any revamped Shadow Shard(s). Essentially, you would decide when zoning in from Portal Corps or the Villain-side equivalent (the Crey Portal Lab in this Isles?) whether you're entering the PvE co-op or PvP hostile zone shard(s). Everything would be simply duplicated between the "copies" of the zones ... same missions, same contacts, same everything ... except that you get to choose upon entry whether or not you're playing co-op or hostile. This then lends itself very well to a World PvP type environment, for those who desire such, which could also result in a Lord Recluse's Victory sort of struggle for control of the PvP zones. The environment itself even lends itself to this sort of contested struggle for PvP control, up to and including the Mole Point storyline(s) for outposts in other zones beyond Firebase Zulu.

So it's my opinion that the Shadow Shard contains the greatest well of untapped potential for endgame content ... both for PvE and for PvP. What is your view on such a possibility?

It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...

Actually, just thought of another question ...



The Terra Volta Respec Trials

Far back in the mists of the ancient past (*cough* 2005 *cough*) the Terra Volta trials for respecs were HARD. And by hard, I mean honestly challenging. Actually successfully protecting the reactor core actually felt like you had seriously accomplished something. It played like a Mothership Raid does today, where you're simply swamped with enemy.

Today ... well ... let's just say that the only way to fail these trials today is for the entire team to go AFK while protecting the reactor core. The timing on the waves in the reactor core is just simply beyond laughable! We spend more time *waiting* for enemies to show up in the core now than we actually do *fighting* them. There's a tremendously long wait time between ambush waves ... like 5 minutes or so.

But worst of all ... IT'S BORING!!!
I mean, seriously ... it's boring to be "trapped" in the reactor core where you spend pretty much half an hour just waiting for enemies to appear so you can beat them all down in under a minute ... 2 minutes if you get three ambushes simultaneously.

War Witch, would you be so kind as to review the Terra Volta trials so as to make a Cool vs Lame judgement on how they're currently implemented with regards to protecting the reactor core at the end?

It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...

Here's my question...and it's a hard one!

On the Red Fortune Defense Set, what the heck is that supposed to be a picture of? It looks like a red ghost to me but I can't be sure.....

Also, is there any way you can edit the Naming system so that inactive toons get deleted, or at least have to forfeit their names? Naming my characters is getting almost impossible!

I have a couple of questions for you, War Witch. Some game-related, others professional.

As for the professional, business-related questions:

First, what is it like to be a Canadian living and working in the United States? Was there a significant amount of culture shift? I know that professionally speaking, Canadian culture is generally more collectivist in contrast to the American culture's individualism. How long did it take to get used to the different professional culture, and how did you manage the shift?

Second, how large is the Marketing Department for the CoX IP? I've heard several complaints from many other players that the largest competitive flaw of CoX is that it is not being suitably marketed.

Now, in regards to the game related questions:

1. I'm curious as to which programming language is primarily used for the coding, and why that language was chosen over other options.

2. What is the background of War Witch (the character)? Where does she come from?

3. If you could add anything in particular to the CoX universe, where would you start?

4. During the First Rikti War, how did Canada fair, and roughly how large is the population of super-powered beings there?

(Okay, I admit it, I'm Canadian myself, from the Toronto area, and have always had a bit of a sore spot for how little we're mentioned in pretty much any form of media. I mean, watching Independence Day, you'd think Canada escaped unscathed.)

Many grats, WW =]

So, simply put;
Can we see less of 'New shinies!' and more revamping all the old hat, mostly blue side, from back when He (Hint, it begins with J) ran the show? Some of it, play and graphics wise, is really, really dated.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

Hi, Melissa! Congratulations on the job title ... and condolences on all the headaches that are probably going to come up with it.



1. Is there any chance that we might see some retooling done on the earlier contacts in the game? Since the Hollows Revamp, I tend to do Hollows (after getting jetpack), Faultline, Strigia, Croatia, RWZ for my blueside toons.

The earlier content, is, on the whole, not so good. You've got Contacts with differeing backgrounds giving out the same Arcs-- some of which have nothing to do with their background. (I'm thinking in particular of the Reporter with a huge lab complex who gives out one of the Clockwork Arcs in Skyway and a mysterious immortal amoral lady in IP giving out a Sky Raider arc.)

COX has a hugely loyal fanbase-- which is apparently atypical of MMOs-- but if we're hoping to get new players from the the Going Rogue Expansion, shouldn't the earlier content get a revamp as well as the Praetorian Zone?

Personally, I'd like to see some of the NPCs-- especially the earlier ones-- get a revamped look. Have a statue or poster of Rick Davies as Horatio in his office and give him some obvious cybernetics to indicate why he had to retire from heroing. Give the Magi Contact in Galaxy a trenchcoat and Constantine him up a little ...

Someone hit Angus McQueen with the Lost cure, already!


2. I really like how we see Jim Tremblor assume the mantle of Faultline in RWZ and we meet Fusionette there again as well. (Oh, and the mistelled dialogue between them in one arc is GOLD!) Is there any chance we might see a followup on other characters as well? Flower Knight appears chatting to a Mender so she obviously hits 25 at some point! ... any chance we might see her again in another arc or maybe get a followup to the Clockwork King/Penelope Yin storyline?

Hey Warwitch!
I don't suppose there are any plans to update the canon character bios on the CoH site? I love how the Going Rogue ones are being done, and would froth at the mouth to see that sort of treatment given to Synapse, Positron, Ghost Widow, et al.
Congratulations on the promotion!
-Sam Andrews

Congratulations!

Questions:
1) "Or even better yet, just expand our vault options to hold EVERYTHING, salvage, recipes and enhancements, up the limit to 2 or 3 times what it holds now, and add a few "universal" slots to it that will hold items for alts on the same server, so any alt on that server has access to those couple of items (and a spot for influence/infamy). "
I agree absolutly!
And about the "universal" slots, if that's not possible, what about creating post offices where we could send salvage/recipes/enhancements to other alt? (and obtaining "The Postman", another Day Job Badge! )

2) More about Vault options. What about to see (only see, not touch) the content's Vault in every place (not only in Vault place)?

3) Content. In some missions, the final boss could be our own hero, but in a villain version (o our villain alts). Is it possible? (Imagine a team fighting against their villains alts!)

4) More content. I'd like more team job in missions, not only to be a large group for fighting more enemies. The idea is that the team has to do different actions at the same time or in different places, so it is necessary divide the group in sub-teams. For exemple: one door closed connects zone A and zone B, another door closed connects zone B with C, another door connects zone C with D, etc. All the switchs to open doors are in zone A, but in differents rooms, and each switch open one specific door but close all the others, so it's necessary a sub-team opening doors (and fighting again enemies defending the switchs) and another sub-team defeating the final boss/finding the stolen object/etc.

Thanks!

PS: Sorry about my english!

Congratulations on the new promotion War Witch! I've been playing this game for years but have yet to be able to find all of the supposedly endless easter eggs in the invention tutorial (besides the one about that 80's song reference on the note pad). Any chance you can please, please, for the love of all that's holy, pretty please with sugar and ice cream on top, please drop us some hints as to where to look for those who are as clueless as me? Sorry, but it's quite maddening! Also can you tell us if there were any new easter eggs in the Hollows after you revamped it (which was awesome, by the way!).

Congratulations on your new responsibilities to WW and all the newly promoted devs!

Quote:

Originally Posted by biomechanic My question: will we be seeing more zone revamps as we did with Faultline and the Hollows? There's a lot of "dead space" IMO, especially blue side. While brand new content is nice, giving me to a reason to actually go and explore ( as opposed to 'run to the door and Ouro out now that I've gotten that out of the way' ) a zone is good too.

This is basically my question.

Listening to the "Wouldn't it be great if..." Podcast, the devs seemed surprised that so many folks wanted to see zone revamps instead of new content. I look at it like this: If the old Faultline had a "fun factor" of say, -3 or something, then it's negative content and a drag on the game, where the new content might have a fun factor of +5. So if you replace Faultline, you actually get more bang for the buck because you get rid of the bad as well as getting something new.

Keep old Faultline, add other new content = total +2.

Remove old Faultline and revamp it = total +5.

Does that make sense? I do feel there's "negative content" in the game. Boomtown and Brickstown are good example. You go there and say "Bleck! I want the last 10 minutes of my life back." Deleting these zones just so no one goes there accidentally would actually improve the game. That's why zone revamps are such a big deal for players. We actually gain more than just adding new content.

So any zone revamps that might be sorta-semi-planned, can we hear about them? Oh, and do you agree that there's such a thing as "negative content" in a MMOG?



Also (second question), the players also said in that same "Wouldn't it be great if..." podcast that players wanted BOTH revamps and new content. (Gee, really? ). I think something simple like alternate zone revamp, new content, zone revamp, new content, etc. would be a good predicable schedule. Since these are big updates, I envision about one per year, with smaller issues in between. Is this a viable expectation in the least? Or are the players totally off base here with wanting both?

Congratulations!

I first bought the game with an interest in building my secret headquarters, an orbiting space station of course!

On a more serious note though, COX still doesn't support PVP bases (item of power) as was advertised on the box when I bought it all those years ago.

What are your plans to enhance bases (and maybe also AE map design) allowing far more custom room designs and the concept of training or mission ‘danger rooms’ (and outside maps etc) within our super bases.

Although Superbase designers are a small percentage of the user community, many are long serving heroes of large supergroups. Having a revamped base design (perhaps in line with a new AE map design feature) would please the neglected base designers and lead to an improved SuperGroup community.

How about personal storage racks for enhancements, or perhaps being a member of multiple supergroups? (I’m thinking a solo-group/room to store precious things and supergroup for social interaction).

Cheers

SuperTim

First and foremost, Conratulations, Melissa. Your personal investment into improving this game has finally paid off. You've been roped in for good, I'm afraid... for better or worse (richer or poorer, sickness or health...).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redlynne 1. We need a "flooring" item for Bases.... (followed by some excellent reasoning)... 2. Salvage Rack storage limit is set too low.... (followed by more excellent reasoning)... So ... any chance you'd consider raising the storage limit on Salvage Racks in bases from 30 to 60?

I'm going to chime in with Redlynne on these two points. Especially the point about salvage rack limits. Although I personally would ask if the limit could be raised to 100 items. In Nov of '08, we were promised a re-evaluation of this issue, it seems a bit overdue.

I've mentioned before that at the current limit of 30 items, 6 racks are barely enough to sustain a 2-3 person SG. Considering that the enhancement bins can hold 100 items, I have a really hard time understanding why salvage racks cannot be on par. A level 50 character can hold a minimum of 50 pieces (not including vault), but we should not have to use our high level toons to mule salvage for our SG's. That, to me, is truly NOT FUN.

And we all know you are all about FUN. So, can we please put the FUN back into SG's and base editing?

Just a quick re-reading of the whole thread shows me that most of my possible questions have already been made, so simply put, congratulations WW on your new position and good luck with it!

Got a quick question: I recently re-read all the old City of Heroes comics, available on the website. Since War Witch is in game, and has been for awhile, is there a chance we can see Apex or Horus make an appearence? Apex would be easy to do, I believe his costume is entirely recreatable in the game currently, and he would also be a nod to those of us who collected all of the old comics. Even if he's just a random NPC in a building like Architect Entertainment or at City Hall, it would be nice to see an ingame representation.

Thanks!