Biggest Problems with the Game Today

Hoi-hi-hoi-hi-ho!

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

Yes. lol nonAmericans. You can't have a server list merger for the same reason as CoV can't have consignment houses: If that happened, you might have fun on your own and not look longingly at Americans/CoH. You need to be reminded of your place in the devs' world!

Now stop posting on our forums and get back to your ghetto!

(For the record: I very nearly transferred my characters to the EU servers when they came out because I wanted Passport on my badge toon. I wonder if that option is still open...)

Nope, that was discontinued a long, long time ago.

And thanks for sticking to it. Have had a great time playing (and conversing) with you on a US server.

--NT

The EU version of CoH/V was set up at a time when NCsoft still was looking to have a development and operations presence in Europe. Having CS staff on more appropriate local times, together with specific language servers, was likely considered a good option at the time.

Similarly for the Korean City of Hero decisions, I'd expect.

Thanks, NT I love the US community, even if we have our fair share of arguments here, and the forum merge has only served to show our community can benefit from adding the EU players to it.

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

You know, I'm inclined to agree with you. Further, if the older content is removed from the game, new players will miss the content that connects the over-arching storyline to any new content that may come along. That would be a travesty.

Paragon is rife with advanced and mystical technology. We have the Menders, for instance. It's conceivable that heroes and villains alike could be sent to the future to prevent villains from coming to the past to wreak havoc or to work with future versions of their allies. This is a staple of comic book lore. This would give the devs a chance to create new versions of existing zones without replacing them, per se, and do it in a mission-based format.

I fail to see how implementing features for solo play could possibly be construed as something wrong with the game.

The game is rife with casual players who have jobs, go to school, and manage families. They don't have tons of time to get involved in teams for a variety of reasons. Or, they simply prefer solo play. It has always been a design goal for the City of games that teaming was entirely optional.

However, over time, solo play became less appealing, leading many people to feel that they were being forced to team. This idea ran contrary to the stated design goals of the game. It was therefore corrected.

How could you possibly get the impression that that is wrong?

I don't like purples idea, discussing if they're few or not or the "time to invest" is no use to me: I'm against that fantasy-like-MMO feature in a superhero MMO.

PvP? already told you it is broken, I'm not interested and I won't go for PvP sets either.
I'm complaining because it would require centuries, but again I'm against purples.

A normal 50 with SO has so much greater chance to win a lv 15, just because of five more powers and SO over DO/TO, put purples over this and you've annihilated the poor 15 and.. pvp.

Thanks for confirming what is the current CoX-EU situation.

I'm not a casual player and I don't want to pay my money for solo playing in a multiplayer game.

I can soloplay if I'm in that mood, but why it is so much encouraged in a massively multiplayer online game?

I've returned to CoX because I knew how good was the teaming compared to other MMOs I've played; what I see is soloplay and PL(=farm) to 50 then farm again to get those "purples": it is not my idea of superhero MMO.

So then, the alternative is to simply ignore those players who do enjoy solo play, with the occasional team play sprinkled in.

Comic books are rife with examples of loner heroes: Batman, Punisher, Spider-man, and so on. By and large, they worked alone. The team-based play we see here is an abberation forced on us simply because this is an MMO. Don't overlook the RPG part: lots of us want to role-play loners. We shouldn't be penalized for that, or left in the dust in favor of teamers, who enoy end-of-mission bonuses, teaming benefits, and so on.

What makes you think solo players were penalized? I've soloed a lot without any problem and with several AT, even without setting the "not looking for a group" flag.

About aberrations I can counter with some more if you like..

Let's say we look for a compromise, the best for everyone to have fun.

The problem is the devs KNOW all this but getting them to ACT on it is the never ending battle we've had with them for YEARSSSSSS. I remember the last time I actually had a physical conversation with a dev in regards to the Cathedral of Pain and the Calvin Scott TF (*see below for brief description) was way back when Ouroboros was being put in the game. I just happened to log in one morning before the servers were going to go down on the TEST server and went to the O zone. Standing there next to the pool was none other than Positron.

He explained he had gotten into the office early and was taking care of a few things before his 'day' started. We talked for a good 20 minutes and while I explained that Ouroboros was interesting and a good idea what the game really needed was more 'hard' content. That is content which actually mattered in canon and was part of the game and you were rewarded tangible benefits like an IO recipe (this was before horrible merit system), or a TF badge. I told him he had two such pieces of content just sitting and collecting dust that could have been tweaked up and put out already to add to the game in the form of the COP and the Calvin Scott TF. The Calvin Scott TF came up because back when Ouroboros first came out there was a bug that actually let you access the TF and start it. The problem was after the first mission you had to go back and 'talk' to the contact to get the next mission and Calvin had been taken out of the game by then so there was no way to continue.

I told him with just a few tweaks to the details of the Task Force all he had to do was place the Calvin Scott avatar back in the game perhaps in IP inside the hospital or something and boom. He instantly had another Task Force to add to the player content and a good TF was once again restored to active life. The same thing went for the COP. I told him that like unlike the villain SG computer the ONLY thing the blue SG computer offered was a still defunct COP trial that didn't look like it was EVER going to be fixed since base PVP was something that seemed like it was NEVER (and it still hasn't) been fixed. So I told him why not just take the COP and revamp it a little and release it (and here was the kicker) as a joint trial or TF just like the Lady Grey. This way you were adding both content to blue side and the starved red side and resurrecting dead hard work the programmer's had put into making the bloody thing.

Positron conceited that my ideas had a great deal of merit and that he would certainly consider them and see 'what he could do about it'. Whelpppppp. That was back in Issue 11 I had that conversation and here we are now on the cusp of Issue 17 and where are we..... nowhere. Both Calvin Scott and the COP sit collecting dust which is the most frustrating thing because it's content that is already DONE. It it needs is some spit and polish and it could EASILY be slipped back into the game with little fuss and bingo you've got instant player content which is finally back into the game after a long hiatus and the player base is happy 'new' content is back in the game to help fill the 'something to do that was generated by the devs' list.

Will though we ever see this happen? I HIGHLY doubt it. It's been six issues since that conversation with Posi and what I suggested could have easily been implemented since then. Why though nothing has been done about this simple fix? Now that is a question I can't answer but considering I asked for about a YEAR afterward in PM's and board queries and was never acknowledged indicates to me that those pieces of content are considered dead issues for reasons unknown or that an answer is not forthcoming because they don't wish to discuss it for some reason. Why? Who knows. But it would sure be interesting to find out why at this point.












Calvin Scott Task Force

A Mind in Danger
Summary

* CategoryTask Force
* NoteCalvin Scott is Aurora Borealis' Husband, convinced that Sister Psyche's presence in his wife's mind was going to kill her, he turned up in Independence Port during Issue 3: A Coucil of War asking willing heroes to investigate a way to seperate their two consciousness'. Sister Psyche was returned to her own body in Issue 4: Colosseum. An unexpected consequence of this was that Sister Psyche's hold over Malaise was broken, allowing him to slip back into insanity, and turn evil once again.
* IntroducedIssue 3
* RemovedIssue 4
* Team Size6 team members required
* ContactsCalvin Scott (Independence Port)
* SouvenirSoul orb
* Level Range30 - 36

Mission Index

1. Defeat all agents in base (Circle of Thorns,Nemesis,Rikti,Council,Malaise)
2. Defeat all Rikti in base
3. Take file to Rebecca Brinell
4. Interrogate Crey agents
5. Interrogate Nemesis soldiers
6. Interrogate Circle of Thorns
7. Take tome to Azuria
8. Defeat Tyrkis & his covern
9. Take books to Azuria
10. Defeat Punkadelic & his cronies
11. Interrogate Freakshow
12. Defeat Malaise & his men

Notable Foes

* Mission #12: Malaise, Arch-Villain (Malaise)

If Sister Psyche's mind is now not in ABs body anymore, why would Calvin want Heroes to do his TF?

Eco.

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow [The Incarnate System is] Jack Emmert all over again, only this time it's not "1 hero = 3 white minions" it's "1 hero = 3 white rocks."

If someone roleplays in a forest and there's no one there to hear it...does anyone care?

MMOs are utterly dependent upon social ties for player retention. Developers can't rely on content to retain subscribers because it takes months to produce maybe a week's worth of content. People stay in MMOs they've played out primarily because of the people they know there, whether those people are guildmates or regular teammates or even just folks they chat with every night. The best way to foster those connections is to steer players towards multi-player content. While there should always be something for soloists to do, it is perfectly proper and almost certainly necessary that there be powerful incentives for players to team up.

Obviously you didn't bother to read my entire post or you would have seen my answer to that question. I REALIZE that certain aspects of the TF is outdated and not in line with established canon. That's why I said the devs would only have to make a few tweaks to the TF in regards to story and dialogue and BAM. You have a new TF. For instance. While it's true Sister Psyche no longer inhabits the body of Aurora Borealis they could rewrite it thus:

Though they no longer share the same physical form there remains a strong psychic connection between Sister and Aurora since they spent so many decades together. The Circle of Thorns are well aware of this and have discovered a secret artifact the Soul orb which they can use to create a bridgehead between the demonic realm and our world. With this orb they can fuse together Aurora and Sister together again and use their superior vessel to carry the essence of the demon Ba'al. The only person who could successfully perform this ceremony is someone who's mind has both been touched and controlled by Aurora and Sister and that is the insane AV Malaise.

That way you still have essentially kept the same principle characters in the TF along with the mission souvenir of the Soul orb and the final AV of Malaise. It's the job of your TF to capture or destroy the Soul orb and defeat Malaise so that the ceremony can't be completed and you have saved both Sister Psyche and Aurora Borealis. You could also keep Calvin Scott as the TF contact since it was he who brought this calamity to your attention and is requesting your help since say the Freedom Phalanx is currently engaged in combat off world and only you and your team are available.

There you go. With just a few minutes I managed to not only maintain the mission integrity of the TF but also explained why the TF is relevant again. Maybe Paragon Studios should put me on the payroll

Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU Dispari has more than enough credability, and certainly doesn't need to borrow any from you.

They were, but apparently there were issues with implementing the contact.

Exactly how I feel and why I let my sub lapse longer and longer each time I take a break. I resubscribed for the month but don't expect to extend it beyond that. Good QoL features but for me personally, really nothing new to do. Same here in hoping GR brings more to the game than I've read so far.

(But when I do log in for a session, it is for a longer duration here than I do in CO. Been enjoying DDO more than anything right now.)

Yup. This, more than any other of the little things I wish were different in this game, is the biggest reason why I rarely play these days.

Although, I gotta agree with you on travel suppression as well.

Exactly. I think we have enough zones and they all have pretty unique themes, even though I don't think the themes are always utilized as well as they could be.

I also think we need new buildings to go along with those new maps. There should be museums and banks and sport arenas. Why isn't there a building for the world HQ of the Crey Corporation?

How cool would it be to see that building standing in Steel Canyon (Paragon City's financial/corporate hub according to the backstory), maybe with a lobby that anyone could go into? Of course, Crey Security would stop you from going any further inside, but later when you're the appropriate level for the Crey missions, you would enter an instanced version of the building for your missions.

Why isn't there an actual building for Lou's Garage in King's Row? I loved it when they gave the mission interior some custom textures, in spite of the nonsensical layout, but Lou needs a persistent exterior as well.

Why is Tony Kord just standing on a random rooftop? Talos Island is supposed to be home to some of Paragon's high-tech industries, so shouldn't his company have a building there? A new building could serve as an additional setting for more missions and stories.

Paragon City has never really felt like a proper city to me when it comes to the details. The scale is right, but it always ends up feeling like a random collection of generic buildings connected by really weirdly designed streets.

New buildings and new interiors would, I think, do so much good for both immersion and gameplay.

Agreed.