Discussion: New Interview with City of Heroes Design Lead Melissa Bianco!

I'm having a "Advertising where CoX isn't wanted" moment

Oh yeah, no I know that we have it there and will likely be able to add it to AE. I want a system from CHAMPIONS ONLINE where we run into the arch nemesis randomly - kinda like CO but improve on it a bit. Also eventually have missions based on your doppleganger or arch-enemy. It seems CO took a lot from CoX so we can take the best of that game (which isn't too much ).

It would be nice if the DEVS could give us a month for GR release. July 20 (Amazon notes this as an availability date for GR) doesn't seem possible anymore.

I really hope there is some really new stuff to this game. Side switching is cool but that will become old very quickly if you're doing the same stuff. The mission style has been the same for 6 years - time to really add some big changes. We have a ton of these current missions. Hopefully the new stuff will be new innovations and new maps so the game feels new/different

IIRC, that's something that Jack wanted in CoH at the very beginning, but as is typical with him, had absolutely no idea how to implement.

LEGION OF VALOR - Be a part of the Legend!

They stealth edited out July some time ago to now say "summer". My guess is in the last 1-2 weeks of summer, so September xx (as in double digits).

While technically still summer, it is a pet peeve of mine because it is soooooooo much better from a company standpoint to build good will and leverage marketing to say "fall" and then launch it a bit early. They did the exact same thing with i17. It makes you look like a hero instead of a drag-a**. Which given the frequency and extent of updates we've been getting they could use all the good will they can muster.

I know I'm betting the farm on GR for my account because we've been told it is going to be so great and innovative and we just need to keep holding in there while things fester elsewhere in the game. I'm hopeful they deliver because I want to maintain an interest in this game and for it to do well.

Conversely, if they say "Summer" and everyone expects the end of summer, and then they pop it out in, say, the second week of August, they still look like heroes. It's all perspective.

Expect the worst and hope for the best. It's safer that way.

LEGION OF VALOR - Be a part of the Legend!

Not to beat a dead horse here, BUT July is summer folks. I personally do not think they can release GR in July and make it a good product, but until an official date is named I will still hope for it.

BTW, I have now found two "release dates" for GR from other sources. Amazon.com said somewheres around July 20th (can't remember the exact date) and when I asked a GameStop manager to check it, he said the 1st of September. So either would fit the "stealth edit" theory of Summer 2010, but only July fits what has previously been announced by Paragon Studios.

Basically, we are in that nasty "wait and see" stage until someone from Paragon Studios throws us a bone.

*Edit: Aug 17th. for the release. Not July, but better than September. I can live with that.

This to the 234th power.

A-lot of people think and feel this way. Count me in.

Not trying to sound the doom alarm at all here as again I can only speak for myself.

If DCUO hits their launch date of Nov 2 that pretty much means in no uncertain terms that CoX needs to have i19 drop right before it or I'll have little reason not to expand my horizons. They'll also want i20 to drop 2-3 months after DCUO goes live to pick up any people that just aren't feeling it, but got a taste of superheroes and want more.

Their hard work hasn't even begun yet imo.

That means that if they have pushed GR back to Sept they will need to push out a whole additional issue in less than 2 months...Of course if GR is utterly amazing then they can continue with the trickle rate of releases. But from what we've heard it is mostly going to be the low levels and a tiny piece of the new end game system. Suffice to say, I'm confident that amount of content will be devoured in a very short time period.

Again, not a doom call, just saying what is necessary to retain a customer like me at this stage of the game. For me they already played the loyalty card over the last year and a bit. They need to deliver, which they have said they are going to. So I'll gladly give them a shot.

LEGION OF VALOR - Be a part of the Legend!

No idea, I'm just going by what the lady in the video said during one of the demonstrations.

LEGION OF VALOR - Be a part of the Legend!

I can't answer that either. I don't know any Ex-GameStop employees nor have I heard/read anything from someone claiming to be one.

Personally I hope GR waits until after July to release. I would rather they do as much as possible to "perfect" GR instead of rushing it like Issue 17.

My simple point though was that Paragon Studios has not said the target "date" of July has been changed even when they later said Summer 2010.

Yeyy no war walls... although sonic walls sound very similar lol.

Yes, Place holder dates have been a standard since it was Babbages, when I managed a store the common place holder dates are 1st,15th and the last day of the month depending on the month.

I am still thinking it will be Sept 14th 2010 it gives CoH a short free ride before DCOU release, the new WoW and most likely the Marvel MMO which will give them enough time to release the next free update a week or two after the relase of the other new MMO updates which I can bet is being produced at the same time as CoH:GR.

LEGION OF VALOR - Be a part of the Legend!

Well, seeing that Champions Online was actually released September 1st last year, does that mean that CO was a placeholder game until a better game came out?

When I went to pre-order my GR Complete Collection discs (I have two accounts), I wasn't told September 1st, but rather 1st week of September. I really hope it isn't actually September 1st, since we all saw last year what was rushed out the door to make that date, and we don't want to copy them, now do we?

Ashes to ashes,
Pheonyx

Wish I could get a better time frame so I can schedule time off of work ^_^ (I'm not demanding they tell me, just musing out loud, I know they're working on it).

That sucks! I appreciate you doing this cause I can't get to the links at work (they block them, evil!)

Thanks so much!

eh, I think its better to just plan to try dcou. betting the farm on what your imagination(generally speaking, not just you) can come up as new and innovative will always, regardless of the game, let you down, because your imagination lacks the programming limitations of a game. Furthermore, looking at the competition gives you ideas of what to suggest here, as well as what to appreciate here that the other guys missed (CO made me appreciate lower level mob damage scaling, our toggle defences, and the importance of archetypes, personally) . So rather than getting in idea in your mind that coh will have to package a massive gaming revolution in a 30 dollar gaming expansion, its probably better to just expect something solid and try dcou yourself. The announcement of the subscription model had kind of hobbled dcou for me, myself, but even so, i intend to try it for completeness sake, just maintaining realistic expectations, the dc license means absolutely nothing to me so to me its another shot at getting the superhero mmo formula right, thats all. If recall(and with my memory, this is about a 20%chance of happening) you were interested in co as well, making some similar claims, and then returned after not finding co as good as it was hyped to be, lets see if dcou fares better, that is just how the industry goes.

There will be two, according to an earlier interview - the tunnels of the Underground and Praetorian lab maps.

Are you certain of this? Sorry but I will be extremely dissapointed if we are to briefly travel over four new pretty zones to fight mostly in the same old warehouse, sewer and cave maps. In this game we spend 95% of our time within instanced missions so I would have thought it made more sense to to focus on new mission maps than new zones.

It's what she said in the earlier interview - two new tilesets - one for the tunnels, and the other one for the labs.