Quote:
Define "in order to function."|
Originally Posted by dbuter
I call BS. When at least 50% of character concepts require Stamina in order to function, that is a game design flaw. And an easily fixed one that the devs continue to ignore.
|
For that matter, define "require." If you're worried about endurance consumption, and you're not heavily slotting endurance reduction, you've already left my definition of "require" in the dust.
[Guide to Defense] [Scrapper Secondaries Comparison] [Archetype Popularity Analysis]
In one little corner of the universe, there's nothing more irritating than a misfile...
(Please support the best webcomic about a cosmic universal realignment by impaired angelic interference resulting in identity crisis angst. Or I release the pigmy water thieves.)
Quote:
/regens take Stamina because it makes things easier for them. They do not have to have it. But its nice, rather like your car does not NEED air conditioning, but that air conditioning certainly makes things nicer and more comfy for you in July, does it not? Same thing.|
Originally Posted by Ironblade
I call BS. When most players choose to have concepts/builds that require Stamina, it's their decision. The simple fact is, a lot of people like to take the Fitness pool even when they truly don't need it. I can't tell you how many /regen or willpower builds I've seen with the Fitness pool.
|
I've seen these "oh I don't need Stamina, haha!" types on teams. They always run on 2 ticks of Endurance or less; their toggles drop, they're dead every 5 seconds or they're off Resting. Now that's what I call an effective build!
Or maybe not... I can only go by what I see, and I see two ticks of End and toggles gone bye-bye. Its not pretty
In other news, after much thought I stripped everything off of my Praetoria Tanker, emailed it to myself [oh how I love this feature!] and deleted him, in part because my SG has pretty much made the decision to leave Praetoria. A few people have the odd character in there, but those are solo projects and they've said as much.
I rerolled him as a Brute. He picked up his stuff at the post office [so to speak] was was ready to run out the gate. He's tearing through Mercy, having a blast and I am already more pleased with him as level 4 than I was with him as a level 14 in Praetoria.
I will be back to Praetoria when they do some serious adjusting to what goes on in there. .
Quote:
One of these days, I'm going to redo this I7/I8ish pre-invention no-stamina build with cheapo inventions just to see what happens. Anyone actually trying to make a no-stamina build today and making the effort to slot down endurance should be able to do no worse than this by the time they are in their mid to late twenties (and stamina comes no earlier than 20). In the old days, this was a bit more difficult, but I think you could probably make a leveling build that was at least this good, if not better.|
Originally Posted by Bad_Influence
I've seen these "oh I don't need Stamina, haha!" types on teams. They always run on 2 ticks of Endurance or less; their toggles drop, they're dead every 5 seconds or they're off Resting. Now that's what I call an effective build!
Or maybe not... I can only go by what I see, and I see two ticks of End and toggles gone bye-bye. Its not pretty |
(Ah, the good old days, when SR scrappers didn't have inventions and actually used to get hit occasionally).
[Guide to Defense] [Scrapper Secondaries Comparison] [Archetype Popularity Analysis]
In one little corner of the universe, there's nothing more irritating than a misfile...
(Please support the best webcomic about a cosmic universal realignment by impaired angelic interference resulting in identity crisis angst. Or I release the pigmy water thieves.)
Quote:
Then you haven't been looking hard enough.
|
Originally Posted by Bad_Influence
I've seen these "oh I don't need Stamina, haha!" types on teams. They always run on 2 ticks of Endurance or less; their toggles drop, they're dead every 5 seconds or they're off Resting. Now that's what I call an effective build!
Or maybe not... I can only go by what I see, and I see two ticks of End and toggles gone bye-bye. Its not pretty |
Quote:
|
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.
|
Quote:
This.
|
Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
Then you haven't been looking hard enough.
|
Quote:
I can only go by what I see. As I have remarked in other threads, i am sure there are actually the following, somewheres in the game:|
Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
Then you haven't been looking hard enough.
|
*Hard-hitting, effective and in-demand players who completely skip the Fitness pool.
*People who actually use the Storm pool effectively and well, keeping other players on the team in mind. I have actually been known to leave teams if I see a Stormie on the roster, particularly if the Stormie has one star floating over their head and it relates to this set.
*People who use KB to benefit other players on the team, especially melee types who are actually trying to control/group aggro to keep that same KBer alive.
....I am sure there are some of these out there! I have yet to see an example and I've been here since 2006, but they must be there somewheres
Quote:
Been here since 2004, and I see. I have some in fact!
|
Originally Posted by Bad_Influence
I can only go by what I see. As I have remarked in other threads, i am sure there are actually the following, somewheres in the game:
*Hard-hitting, effective and in-demand players who completely skip the Fitness pool. *People who actually use the Storm pool effectively and well, keeping other players on the team in mind. I have actually been known to leave teams if I see a Stormie on the roster, particularly if the Stormie has one star floating over their head and it relates to this set. *People who use KB to benefit other players on the team, especially melee types who are actually trying to control/group aggro to keep that same KBer alive. ....I am sure there are some of these out there! I have yet to see an example and I've been here since 2006, but they must be there somewheres |
Quote:
All I have to say is, I'm really glad I followed that related link with the old Storm Kick and Crane Kick. That was a blast from the past. I had totally forgotten about that "stand on one foot for five seconds" part of Crane Kick. |
Originally Posted by Arcanaville
One of these days, I'm going to redo this I7/I8ish pre-invention no-stamina build
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by EvilGeko
I'll even give you that, but if you hate playing pre-Stamina, pre-Tier 8-9 powers, this is of little comfort. My quarrel with Going Rogue is that it focuses on a time period of the game I absolutely despise. Please note I'm speaking for no one else but myself, so let's please no mutant arguments about how I don't have any statistics.
Had Praetoria provided a leveling experience from 1-50, I think waiting for Issue 19 would be much more palatable because I could exemplar and do the 30+ content. I understand that a lot of folks like the game and love creating alts. I love creating alts, but seriously, I'm on my last row of 12 on my server. I've even given Praetoria a chance and created a few live alts. I don't see why you folks all have to swoop in and shout down anyone who expresses disappointment at Going Rogue. Sure people who were in beta have heard all this before, but the OP hasn't had the opportunity to give his feedback. His feedback was respectfully stated and fair and you all know that others have expressed the same view. |
Wanted to chime in here. I think the dislike people have for the early game is a reflection of the crappy endurance system in this game. It has been the source of much conversation on another CoX community site I use. Stepping away from the pit bull grab the devs have on this (endurance) system, and LISTENING to the players, would make the pre 20 game MUCH more fun. Shoot if all they did was add 1 point of end per level or every even level the game could be more fun. Pre-stamina is not challenging, it is tedious.
The game dosen't need for it to change, and it works fine as is, but it could still decrease a lot of the hate people have for the pre 20 game. I can only speak for myself, but I log in to play the game, not take a knee every few mobs.
Also I do slot -end in all of my attacks before I even slot damage in them. Even with that, my claws/DA sucked wind like there was no tomorrow, and the only thing that finally made it fun was Physical Perfection.
Types of Swords
My Portfolio
Quote:
Not vastly different from my experience, other than I've been in other games for years. |
Originally Posted by NightshadeLegree
I've just returned to CoH after several months on other games (sometimes a change of scene is good) and, having recent experience of how this focus on endgame can poison and warp an MMO and its community it feels great to be back in CoH, where end game is one thing to do, rather than the only thing.
In at least one game I can think of (it'll go unnamed but I'm sure everyone knows which one I mean) the endgame doesn't increase your options. It narrows them. Sure there's so many max level raids you could do, but few people do any of them - except for speed runs to gear up for that one 'end of the end game' raid. |
Something I have noticed in about every game I've played: an expansion is release and the most ravenous consumers of the game are literally crying in a few days that they have finished all the content. Then people ask have you done X? "No, I don't do X part of the game." Have you done Y? "No, I don't do Y part of the game." Have you done Z? "No, I don't do Z part of the game."
I learned over my years of gaming that there are always people that gobble up content faster than anyone could make quality content... they rush through it and they play at a quantity and pace that is far greater than the bulk of the player base. CoH must be doing something right to be here after this many years, having just released new content.
Oh, and sometimes we just play too much and get burnt out... that's not the developer's fault.
Quote:
The problem in this tends to be that MMO developers have sort of let "endgame content" be defined by what MMOs were doing a decade ago, and few are unwilling to explore new ways of doing things. Just about ever MMO I've played has the endgame revolve around gathering a bunch of people and farming loot to beat some boss/dungeon to get that loot to be able to beat the next dungeon and so on and so on.|
Originally Posted by NightshadeLegree
I've just returned to CoH after several months on other games (sometimes a change of scene is good) and, having recent experience of how this focus on endgame can poison and warp an MMO and its community it feels great to be back in CoH, where end game is one thing to do, rather than the only thing.
In at least one game I can think of (it'll go unnamed but I'm sure everyone knows which one I mean) the endgame doesn't increase your options. It narrows them. Sure there's so many max level raids you could do, but few people do any of them - except for speed runs to gear up for that one 'end of the end game' raid. |
CoH really doesn't do much better by ignoring the problem, however. All that does is make it so people hit a wall. I've read countless complaints on various forums over the years where people quit the game when they hit 50, because they more or less felt like they finished the game. It's always been shocking to me how low of a priority the developers see the endgame to be when it is something that could really help to retain (or even recapture) players.
But then, I'm not overly enthused by the Incarnate system either, at least based on what I've heard of it. It's obviously way too early to complain about it, but it doesn't sound to do much to break the trend. Perhaps I'll be wrong.
Personally, I think something that would really fit CoH well would be something I've been playing with in a certain slimy RPG that was recently released. When you hit the level cap, you can choose to start back at level 1, but doing so opens you up to new rewards. Given this game frequently adds content at all levels, people could easily take their character through different paths each time they started over. Of course, a lot of getting this to work would be finding sufficient bonuses and rewards to make something like this worthwhile.
Quote:
The lawsuit on whether or not a game company is to blame for people playing it's games to much hasn't been resolved yet.|
Originally Posted by Bonyfinger
Oh, and sometimes we just play too much and get burnt out... that's not the developer's fault.
|
NCsoft sued for making Lineage II too darned addictive
While common sense says this lawsuit is frivolous a federal judge still allowed the case to proceed instead of dismissing it.
Quote:
I remember when a lot of people made this claim on the CO forums with regard to energy building. Turns out that mechanic is a lot more fun to some players and really boring to others. For me personally it tended to make a mockery of the power activation constraint system, which eventually led to quite honestly much more boring play for me.|
Originally Posted by Zyphoid
Stepping away from the pit bull grab the devs have on this (endurance) system, and LISTENING to the players, would make the pre 20 game MUCH more fun.
|
So yeah, its easy to say that changing it in this way or that way can only be better, but that's easy to say when you don't like it now and assume no one else could possibly like it either, so there's no downside.
Even I think there's room for improvement in the endurance management system, but I would never put it up to a vote. I'd sooner set it by random number generator.
[Guide to Defense] [Scrapper Secondaries Comparison] [Archetype Popularity Analysis]
In one little corner of the universe, there's nothing more irritating than a misfile...
(Please support the best webcomic about a cosmic universal realignment by impaired angelic interference resulting in identity crisis angst. Or I release the pigmy water thieves.)
Quote:
What if we started with 120 endurance which decreases by 1 each level to 100 at level 20?|
Originally Posted by Zyphoid
Wanted to chime in here. I think the dislike people have for the early game is a reflection of the crappy endurance system in this game. It has been the source of much conversation on another CoX community site I use. Stepping away from the pit bull grab the devs have on this (endurance) system, and LISTENING to the players, would make the pre 20 game MUCH more fun. Shoot if all they did was add 1 point of end per level or every even level the game could be more fun. Pre-stamina is not challenging, it is tedious.
The game dosen't need for it to change, and it works fine as is, but it could still decrease a lot of the hate people have for the pre 20 game. I can only speak for myself, but I log in to play the game, not take a knee every few mobs. Also I do slot -end in all of my attacks before I even slot damage in them. Even with that, my claws/DA sucked wind like there was no tomorrow, and the only thing that finally made it fun was Physical Perfection. |
Or if they added a -end component to the powers like beginner's luck?
total kick to the gut
This is like having Ra's Al Ghul show up at your birthday party.
Some sort of diminishing endurance help similar to beginner's luck is a good idea, if one agrees with the notion that the endurance system/numbers we currently have is fine.
The thing is, I find stamina-less builds that require specific types of slotting or enhancements to be of a similar vein to high-end builds: you shouldn't balance around them. The same way you shouldn't nerf or buff a set because of how it performs at 50 with a specialized build and tons of rare IO sets, but rather how it performs throughout a characters career with SOs, you should look at the average player's experiences with endurance and the extreme prevalence of stamina amongst the playerbase at large.
Absolutely, there should be a progression of power in a character's career, but my perception is that the devs have tried to balance it around a progression of increasing fun, as opposed to decreasing unfun, which is what beginner's luck(and many early pvp changes) were all about. People do not like missing. Heck, players have base 75% chance to hit against even con enemies, even at level 1, but that was still not enough, so they added beginner's luck.
Just like missing, people do not like running out of end and being unable to use powers. I am not advocating the abolition of endurance, but the bottom line is that people want to be having some effect on the game as often as possible, and both missing and not being able to act at all make a player feel powerless.
Many non-mmo games have resources as well, such as ammo, but they are usually dealing with predefined levels/maps where an appropriate amount of the resource is available at regular intervals, and it is exceedingly rare or even impossible for a player to be unable to take any action at all(when out of ammo you can still use a melee attack, etc.) Yes, we have brawl, but...it's brawl.
Should the devs take a poll? No. Should they datamine and try and figure out if "too many" players feel the need for a specific power? Yes. Maybe they've already done so and decided they are happy with it, but if it was a long time ago, now(when they have a new expansion and hopefully many new and returning players) might be a good time to revisit it.
What's interesting to me is people keep asking for help with endurance up to level 20, with the assumption that, well, OF COURSE you'll grab Stamina at level 20 and why would you need endurance help then? But unless Stamina becomes an inherent power which pops into existence at level 20 without requiring a power pick, there will always be people like me who don't feel like sinking down three power picks just to get a recovery boost which can be worked around, especially if you solo.
Whenever you try to suggest improvements on the Endurance system, those should only ever be aimed at making the perceived need for Stamina less pronounced, not giving people crutches that fail right as they're "supposed" to take Stamina. Good game design dictates that any one choice should not overshadow all others, and that if it does, steps should be taken to narrow the gap. A beginner's endurance buff is not a way to do this.
---
On the note of people leaving because they feel they "finished" the game, this is precisely why I've STAYED with the game for as long as I have - because I always feel that, sooner or later, I will be able to finish the game and start over clean. I DESPISE traditional MMOs which never end, because they constitute endless toil with no closure at the end. This does not make me want to play them more and longer, it makes me not want to bother in the first place.
Quote:
|
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.
|
Quote:
I go back and forth on it. On the one hand, I don't really have the patience anymore for the typical MMO endgame content. To be honest, I'm not really sure I even enjoyed it back when I did do it in other games. I think I primarily did it because it was the thing to do, and I had a lot of friends. It was how I spent the evening with them.| On the note of people leaving because they feel they "finished" the game, this is precisely why I've STAYED with the game for as long as I have - because I always feel that, sooner or later, I will be able to finish the game and start over clean. I DESPISE traditional MMOs which never end, because they constitute endless toil with no closure at the end. This does not make me want to play them more and longer, it makes me not want to bother in the first place. |
However, I usually get attached to my characters. When I play a MMO, I generally will get invested in one or two characters. Back when playing one of the earlier MMOs, I had one character, and I pretty much played him exclusively for 4 1/2 years. I'm pretty much the opposite of an altoholic. I don't really like the idea of getting to the point where I have nothing to do with one of my favorites anymore. (For some reason, I've also had a really hard time creating new characters that I can be happy with.)
I guess that's why I'm in favor of a MMO testing new grounds when it comes to endgame content. Realistically, Cryptic/Paragon Studios have been one of the more experimental studios when it comes to MMOs. You really can't deny that they've done some stuff which has influenced other MMOs (sidekicking being a fantastic example of this), so I really hope that the endgame content that is being designed is something that approaches the endgame from a different angle rather than just adapting what every other MMO does to the CoH universe.
Quote:
Well, there are two points to make here.|
Originally Posted by Cantatus
However, I usually get attached to my characters. When I play a MMO, I generally will get invested in one or two characters. Back when playing one of the earlier MMOs, I had one character, and I pretty much played him exclusively for 4 1/2 years. I'm pretty much the opposite of an altoholic. I don't really like the idea of getting to the point where I have nothing to do with one of my favorites anymore. (For some reason, I've also had a really hard time creating new characters that I can be happy with.)
|
On a more personal note, I've always preferred games which can be beaten (or "rerolled" as we used to call it with arcades) and started over for another pass at the exact same experience. I've easily put more playtime into Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time than all the Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale games put together, despite Sands of Time having only about four hours' worth of playtime, all told. Truth be told, if it came to that, I'd probably be rerolling my 50s as the exact same characters and running them from level 1 to 50 all over again. The reason I don't do that is because I have OTHER characters I could be doing this with. But make no mistake - if I didn't, I would.
On a less personal note, I prefer games that give you more content, but without necessarily giving you more PROGRESSION. If I had more to do with my 50s, I'd play them more. The first time the War Zone launched, I took both Samuel Tow and Ezikiel Bane, my flagship 50 hero and villain respectively, though the entire storyline from beginning to end, pretty much one right after the other. Come the Incarnate system, and provided it consists of more than grinding missions, I'll probably start by doing that all over again. Designing the game in this way satisfies me in that there is still a point at which my character is "done" AND it provides something for people who enjoy their 50s to do. Granted, it doesn't give anything to those who want endless progress, but there really is no way to both have endless progress and a distinct end to that progress, so you can't really please both sides here.
On that note, I don't really have a problem with playing a game that has no progress. The aforementioned Sands of Time has no progress. At all. The Prince has the same abilities from beginning to end, and outside of a few cosmetic changes here and there, nothing changes. I have no problem playing that nevertheless. In much the same way, I have no problem with playing City of Heroes even when there is no level, Inventions or Incarnate progress to be made, provided it doesn't FEEL like there is progress and I just can't have any. I need to have a point after which I can stop feeling like I'm weak now, and if only I were stronger, this would be so much easier. I want to feel that, OK I have everything I need. Now it's time to go use it. Isn't that why I was earning it for the past 50 levels? Endless progression never gives me the feeling that I've done my work and now I can enjoy the spoils, because the "spoils" are merely tools towards even more work.
Quote:
|
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.
|
Quote:
This is often stated as the reason to increase recovery: because most players take stamina (assuming this is true) there's obviously a problem that needs to be rectified by making stamina less "necessary."|
Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
Good game design dictates that any one choice should not overshadow all others, and that if it does, steps should be taken to narrow the gap.
|
That's false. Suppose tomorrow I were to add a passive power that could be slotted to add +50% damage to all your attacks constantly. I'm sure that would be pretty popular also. Question: if as many players took that power as took Stamina, would that prove that damage was too low and needed to be buffed?
No, actually it would prove that there are some things that most players will always want more of, no matter how much you give. And in the example above, the obvious game design statement is that I was an idiot for adding such a power in the first place, and clearly it shouldn't even exist.
Exclusive options are, for the most part, required to have roughly equal value propositions in a well designed game. Non-exclusive options are not required to have that property, and stamina is not strictly speaking a component of an exclusive option (and engineering a specific example to make it appear to be such doesn't actually make it such). Non-exclusive options obey the laws of synergy which allow for certain options out of a group of non-exclusive options to be far more popular than others simply because their benefit is far more general or generally synergistic.
[Guide to Defense] [Scrapper Secondaries Comparison] [Archetype Popularity Analysis]
In one little corner of the universe, there's nothing more irritating than a misfile...
(Please support the best webcomic about a cosmic universal realignment by impaired angelic interference resulting in identity crisis angst. Or I release the pigmy water thieves.)
What if and stay with me here please, endurance scaled like damage,starts off low then increases to what it is normally.
I always wondered why damage of powers scaled as you lvld but recharge values and end values didn't, anyone know why?
Quote:
Because enemy hp and damage scales up even faster.
|
Originally Posted by BlueClaws
What if and stay with me here please, endurance scaled like damage,starts off low then increases to what it is normally.
I always wondered why damage of powers scaled as you lvld but recharge values and end values didn't, anyone know why? |
Dr. Todt's theme.
i make stuff...
Quote:
Simply put, endurance costs are normalized. Damage isn't because of the big numbers principle: players simply want to see bigger numbers as a sign of progress. So level 30s have to do more damage and take more damage, even if the actual number of shots it takes to kill them is similar to that of level 28s. The numbers are a visual cue that you're getting more powerful, even though the enemies are also getting more powerful.|
Originally Posted by BlueClaws
What if and stay with me here please, endurance scaled like damage,starts off low then increases to what it is normally.
I always wondered why damage of powers scaled as you lvld but recharge values and end values didn't, anyone know why? |
That visual cue isn't necessary for things like endurance. If it were, what would happen is your endurance bar would get bigger, but the endurance costs of your powers would also get bigger as they became more powerful, and we'd be back where we started from.
Its really not that endurance and recharge don't scale, its really that health and damage both are specifically designed to scale upwards, both along similar curves (but with different slopes) to give the illusion of getting stronger. In actual fact, relative to the health increase of enemies, we actually get weaker as we level upward: it takes more shots for a level 50 player to kill a level 50 boss than it does for a level 5 player to kill a level 5 boss.
Its all "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" aspects of game design that it is better for most players not to investigate too deeply, lest it hamper your ability to enjoy any game, much less this one.
[Guide to Defense] [Scrapper Secondaries Comparison] [Archetype Popularity Analysis]
In one little corner of the universe, there's nothing more irritating than a misfile...
(Please support the best webcomic about a cosmic universal realignment by impaired angelic interference resulting in identity crisis angst. Or I release the pigmy water thieves.)
I see makes total sense Thank you!
Quote:
I think that's one of the issues I've had with hitting 50. When I've hit the level cap in other MMOs, it sort of opens up a whole new world to me. Granted, it's not the best world, but it feels like all that leveling had a point and now I can put all those spells and skills I learned to good use. With CoH, you just sort of run into a wall.|
Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
I need to have a point after which I can stop feeling like I'm weak now, and if only I were stronger, this would be so much easier. I want to feel that, OK I have everything I need. Now it's time to go use it. Isn't that why I was earning it for the past 50 levels? Endless progression never gives me the feeling that I've done my work and now I can enjoy the spoils, because the "spoils" are merely tools towards even more work.
|
It's sort of contrary to the genre of the game. You go through all of these missions, repeatedly saving the city, getting to the point where you're even bailing out the premiere supergroup of Paragon City. You get to the epitome of your strength and have proven yourself to be the best, and suddenly you're no longer needed. I'm not sure about CoV side as I've never gotten a villain that high, but it doesn't really feel like there's any conclusion to the story for heroes. It's, "Here's your badge. Now go create a new character!" Heck, at least at previous milestone levels you get things like costume slots and auras.
This is one thing, at least, that it sounds like the Incarnate system will alleviate.
I'm loving the morality missions. Sure, the individual missions are mostly pretty straightforward... but...
1. "mostly". I've had a few that were more interesting one way or another. The rogue morality mission was a blast for me.
2. The choices they make seem to genuinely fit character personalities. The characters I think of as heroes really do prefer the hero choices to the vigilante choices, and vice versa.
3. The more I play Praetoria, the more impressed I am by many aspects of the writing. The story lines are, IMHO, well done. The morality choices, again, strike me as giving some latitude for interesting roleplaying.
4. There's a ton of interesting stuff floating around. The graffiti sometimes says stuff. The plots connect to each other.
5. New power sets! AWESOME power sets! I'm not even using all of them yet, but KM has made stalker fun to me, DP is nice and thematic, and DS is being a blast.
Basically, I'm having a blast. Sure, I've seen larger expansions in the past, but this one's big enough to give me a ton of interesting enjoyment value. I'm overjoyed with the morality changing mechanic. I once spent about five years trying to convince an MMO company that some people might want the ability to opt out of a nonexistent and boring war. I gave up. Now I can opt out when I want to, and my unstoppable robot army can work for the highest bidder without regard to tedious politics.
So I'm really happy. The mechanics and storytelling aren't quite up to, say, a D&D game written by a serious professional writer, but it's a ton of fun, and I'm getting to group with people and run around doing stuff. So I'm happy. Especially given the free month of play included with the box.