It is indeed quite noticeable how there were no events at all in Issue 18. I'd been hoping for something cool, such as the discovery of a parallel universe, but sadly, all we got was... oh waiiiiiiit.
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Look how long it took for us to get to Praeotoria. I wouldn't expect anything for another year or so, and that's me being optimistic.
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Originally Posted by concreteshift
So the Menders of Ouroboros were introduced way back in Issue 11. Are we ever going to experience the Coming Storm that's been hinted and hinted at sometime soon? Issues used to push the CoH storyline and now it seems the overall storyline is taking a back seat.
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Well, before you say the highlighted section, you have to look at the history of each issue.|
Originally Posted by concreteshift
So the Menders of Ouroboros were introduced way back in Issue 11. Are we ever going to experience the Coming Storm that's been hinted and hinted at sometime soon? Issues used to push the CoH storyline and now it seems the overall storyline is taking a back seat.
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A "Lot" of things started going screwy largely due to two events:
- Event Number One: NCSoft purchasing City of Heroes from Cryptic
- Event Number Two: Developers being more flexible under new ownership.
The developers decided, quite close to the intended launch of Issue 13, to push the Player Created Content feature back. The delay was based on player demand for custom enemies. This threw the time-table of both Issue 13, and what was to be the anniversary Issue, Issue #14 off. Issue 13 became a mix of engine features originally intended for Issue #14, while Issue 14 became dedicated to the release of Architecture Entertainment.
This meant the additional task force content that was supposed to be in Issue 14 was semi-pushed back, creating the content lite anniversary Issue, #15. Had Mission Architecture launched as intended with Issue 13, Issue 14 would have been a combination of the UI updates, day jobs, and Issue 15 content.
Issue 14 also put the squeeze on the coders. The Power Customization work that they would have been doing if not for custom enemies, had to be put off. This meant that Issue 16 was knocked off schedule, and power customization was launched in a semi-completed state. The engine and UI developers just ran out of time for power-pool, epic / patron pool, and costume overlay's in place of all of the other changes that were Issue 16 features.
That is about when we start hitting the Going Rogue hold-ups.
For starters, we, as the player-base, knew about Going Rogue around 6months before we were supposed to know about Going Rogue. If the third party responsible for email marketing hadn't screwed up, the player-base would have known about Going Rogue sometime around the 2009 Hero-Con gathering. The marketing screw-up caused a large percentage of the player-base to mentally accelerate the status of the Going Rogue expansion, placing the development several months ahead of it's actual state.
Matters were not helped at the 2009 Hero-Con as Going Rogue was scheduled for an early 2010 launch. As 2010 approach, and passed, it became clear that Going Rogue was not going to meet an early launch schedule, so the launch got pushed back to July, then August. Sometime during these delays it was decided that the markets needed to be merged, yet another time-sink for the engine coders.
The delays in Going Rogue's development needed to be addressed, hence the Issue 17 release. Issue 17 contained features originally scheduled to launch as the Free-Expansion to Going Rogue.
So, for the player keeping track of everything, this meant that at least two of the Issue updates released were forced fillers: Issue 14 caused by the Mission Architecture delay, and Issue 17 caused by the Going Rogue delay.
* * *
In all fairness, under Cryptic, or another publisher for that matter, we probably wouldn't have seen these shifts in scheduling. AE would have been launched in Issue 13 without the custom creature ability. Issue 14 would have been the day jobs, the chat ui updates, and Khan / 'Cuda Task Forces. Issue 15 would have had the power customizations, and Issue 16 would have been a Going Rogue release. We wouldn't have the market-merge, we wouldn't have a new user-interface for creating characters, and I hesitate to think of what would be missing from Going Rogue... well. In all likely-hood we'd only have just one mission-chain to work through like City of Villains did, instead of the 4 mission chains and their betrayal modifications.
In the light of the actual development cycle, it's exceedingly unfair, if not outright nasty, to fault the development team for not pushing the main storylines forward when they've been breaking their collective backs delivering on lots of long-requested, and thanks to Cryptic, long-overdue updates.
So yes, Issues are still about pushing the storyline forward.
The Shivan Storm will eventually happen. Something we have to keep in mind that is that no date has ever been set on the Shivan Storm. No Issue release has been tied to the Shivan Storm.
The common theory is that if Going Rogue meets NCSoft's sales and subscribers expectations, we'll see more work done on the interactions between the Praetorian realm and the Primal Earth realm. If Going Rogue does not meet NCSoft's sales and subscribers expectations, NCSoft will push Paragon Studios to focus on a Sequel Title, tentatively named City of Heroes 2. If the Paragon Studios does start to work on a sequel title, events in a sequel title will likely take place after the Shivan Storm has already occurred.
And yes, I call it the Shivan Storm for two reasons. A: a player on the forums has ruined the original name by deliberate association. B: Play through Hero Ouroborus again and tell me Lord Nemesis doesn't say the Storm involves Shivans.
The Incarnate endgame system is tied into the Coming Storm 
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
One of the Oro arc missions, the one where you save Lazarus from the shivans, involves you destroying a meteor that apparently plays a factor in TCS.
Also, this tidbit of info from P-wiki:
- Theory: Since the Ouroboros zone has features of both the Shadow Shard and Primal Earth, it is possible the "Coming Storm" is a successful Rularuu invasion. Perhaps part of Rularuu's escape from the Shadow Shard involves "bleeding" the two worlds together. Though this doesn't necessarily explain the Shivans, which are supposedly heralds of the invasion. This could mean that the Shivan meteors are from the Shadow Shard, but a point that Portal Corp hasn't gotten to yet (thus is not yet known).
- Theory: If the above theory is true, it is possible that Earth's oceans rose to a point where the entire planet's surface was covered with water, with the Rularuu invasion having the effect of creating the asteroids around Ouroboros. Thus, the moon would still be affected by the Earth's gravitational pull, and the elements that appear to belong to the Shadow Shard would still be explained.
(sorry bout the blue on blue, straight copypasta....)
From whats been hinted at (ITF has some hints, as does the two new arcs that became available, i think it was i17, with the doppleganger missions) the coming storm is tied to not just shivans, but also praetoria. Look around, there hints everything, and be sure to read all the clues/mission dialog that you can.
I'm thinking it'll be something that causes Praetoria and Primal to put aside their differences (as is the classic comic book hero/villain/even worse than villain plot), and fight a bigger threat to both their worlds. They find that when it comes down to it, all they both want is peace, Cole wedgies statesman, the end.
It's coming in issue 20 and it will be Cole invading with giant robots.
Chicks dig giant robots.
Don't count your weasels before they pop dink!
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Nice.|
Originally Posted by Mandu
Chicks dig giant robots.
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I hope we get to eventually fight those giant 5th column/council mekmen they keep teasing us with.
"My inner mind has become a reality-cracking overgod. He torments me! Help!"
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The giant mek-men most recently exposed were a targeting test, I think by Synapse, might have been Castle. One of the power guys / UI guys pet projects is getting the "mass targeting" working so things like Rularuu the Ravager can be made playable: http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/File:CoH_Size_Chart.jpg|
Originally Posted by The Grim Heaper
Nice.
I hope we get to eventually fight those giant 5th column/council mekmen they keep teasing us with. |
I don't think, from an official viewpoint, that we've ever been "teased" with fighting a gigantic Council / Column critter outside of Hess's Task Force in Striga.
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oh baby, I've been waiting to fight that guy!
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Originally Posted by je_saist
The giant mek-men most recently exposed were a targeting test, I think by Synapse, might have been Castle. One of the power guys / UI guys pet projects is getting the "mass targeting" working so things like Rularuu the Ravager can be made playable: http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/File:CoH_Size_Chart.jpg
I don't think, from an official viewpoint, that we've ever been "teased" with fighting a gigantic Council / Column critter outside of Hess's Task Force in Striga. |
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I just want for the Hess TF to fail one of these days and that Giant Robot to suddenly start marching on Striga Port...
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Originally Posted by beyeajus
oh baby, I've been waiting to fight that guy!
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that would be hilarious. no zone event message or anything, just a rampaging bot.
Rularuu though, I've seen pics of him for a while now. He was never put in game to be fought before? If there's a TF that pits your team against him I've never seen it.
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well, there's that one, the two in the ITF, and then the several scattered about in the background of (one of?) the future-devastated-atlaspark mission maps.|
Originally Posted by je_saist
The giant mek-men most recently exposed were a targeting test, I think by Synapse, might have been Castle. One of the power guys / UI guys pet projects is getting the "mass targeting" working so things like Rularuu the Ravager can be made playable: http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/File:CoH_Size_Chart.jpg
I don't think, from an official viewpoint, that we've ever been "teased" with fighting a gigantic Council / Column critter outside of Hess's Task Force in Striga. |
(many of my villains on the ITF have wanted to say; "Screw the future, I'm taking one of THOSE for a joy-ride")
And while, yes, there was that one slip-up in the AE. It was giant, and it was a mekman. but wasn't it the wrong mekman? one of the minions made not-so-small?
"My inner mind has become a reality-cracking overgod. He torments me! Help!"
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yeah. It was the micro-mekman, I think the same model as the veteran pet.
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Originally Posted by The Grim Heaper
well, there's that one, the two in the ITF, and then the several scattered about in the background of (one of?) the future-devastated-atlaspark mission maps.
(many of my villains on the ITF have wanted to say; "Screw the future, I'm taking one of THOSE for a joy-ride") And while, yes, there was that one slip-up in the AE. It was giant, and it was a mekman. but wasn't it the wrong mekman? one of the minions made not-so-small? |
Honestly, I don't think we'll really be seeing "The Coming Storm" any time soon.
To me it has always read as more of the super-plot-macguffin device.
Apocalyptic in proportion (from the clues we've gotten), it would be really difficult to do
the hype it's gotten justice at this point with just a "normal" issue release.
Although I do like this theory/speculation:
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NOTE: Stolen from Chase_Arcanum in one of his posts Whoever sets things in motion (a nemesis plot?) he may be inspired by Recluse's Victory and/or Project Destiny. In those, Recluse isn't satisfied with knowing that he wins on some other dimension, he want to bind that dimension to this one, bringing his victory here... colliding those dimensions and all their occupants together. The difference here, though, is this is a "storm" of dimensions colliding into themselves... coalescing with primal earth. It will set off wars and struggles of epic proportion as reality itself twists and cracks to make room for conflicting histories and the myriad possibilities whittling down to one true reality. Some of our doppleganger encounters are from the earliest incidences... the worlds closet to our own starting to merge over... we're not "merged" with them due to our experineces in sidestepping outside the timestream / dimension hopping. Things will only grow more dangerous as the storm proceeds. Incarnates... spread across all these issues... will deal with these cosmic metaspace collisions. We're talking Issues 20, 21, 22+ After the multiverse crashes, one world will emerge. Mender Silos is trying to set things in motion to guarantee his desired outcome. Our mystery letter-writer (Tyrant?) has his own objectives. Their goal is to influence what this world will be- perhaps to be the gods that make the next world, whether benevolent or in malice. We fight for or against these parties to save what we hold dear or grasp at the power we want for ourselves... battling to the very last moment of existence... when all goes white. At that point, a new city will emerge. Its past and present will be crafted from the remnants of the once-divided universes, and people will remember it as if it had always been that way... because it has. Parts will resemble Praetoria, Paragon, and even the Rogue Isles (all ultramoded) and its inhabitants will be us... and not. This begins CoH's equivalent of DC's "One Year Later" and Marvel's "Heroes Reborn"-- a reimagining of our world and the heroes within it. A universe that's not quite like the one we see as afterimages as we dream of battles that we don't really remember participating in. It'll be a new city... and world... that's in desperate need of heroes, again. The City of Heroes will be over. Welcome to City of Heroes 2.0. |
6000+ levels gained and 8 level 50's
Hello, my name is Soulwind and I have Alt-Itis.
When is the Coming Storm?
SOONER THAN YOU THINK...!
(Sometimes, I wish there could be a Dev thumbs up button for quality posts, because you pretty much nailed it.) -- Ghost Falcon
Used to love the weather report in the comic...
Dark Astoria....... Foggy ... 72
The final line of a post by Sweet_Sarah on Liberty
"Together we entered a city of strangers, we made it a city of friends, and we leave it a City of Heroes."
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We got nothing. Praetoria has been part of the game's storyline for a long time now. We simply got it fleshed out.|
Originally Posted by seebs
It is indeed quite noticeable how there were no events at all in Issue 18. I'd been hoping for something cool, such as the discovery of a parallel universe, but sadly, all we got was... oh waiiiiiiit.
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On the topic of the OP, I've been wondering this myself a lot. It often annoys me how long it takes between the devs announcing/hinting at something and when it actually happens. This is pretty bad even for them though.
my suspicion was that the coming storm was a plot direction that the 15 were going to go with before the ncsoft thing happened, possibly using the aliens that altered the rikti or some other external group. it was originally supposed to be a three issue long thing, starting with the oroboros one, my guess is that it would have been something like the rwz, a new co-op zone, some new enemies,a tr, maybe a gimmick or 2 and a mothership like raid. largely existing stuff. maybe the last one would have some major gimmick (an endgamish type raid that was harder), but stuff doable with their existing size.
when nc came in with bags o cash and they started staffing up, that disrupted things, new guys needed brought up to speed, the business modle had to be changed, and coming storm was pushed back. we got some tech stuff that broadened the game, but didnt bring in new story stuff because they were on a different course now, with radically more employees. there is one thing that i disagree with saist about, i doubt that under cryptic we would have seen ma or customization, those were money and manpower intensive things that i dont see the 15 pulling off, babs pretty much told us as much, that pc, while not impossible, was a significant investment of time and resources.
so the coming storm was delayed, it might be back, hints are that it will be back, mayeb incarnate related. but praetoria, incarnates and gr was what we got instead, so form my guess, we made out a bit better with it.
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Well im pretty sure its been longer then that since they added those zones of construction in steel canyon and port oaks and never did anything with them.
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Originally Posted by concreteshift
So the Menders of Ouroboros were introduced way back in Issue 11. Are we ever going to experience the Coming Storm that's been hinted and hinted at sometime soon? Issues used to push the CoH storyline and now it seems the overall storyline is taking a back seat.
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I think we'll fly to the moon eventually |
Originally Posted by QuiJon
Well im pretty sure its been longer then that since they added those zones of construction in steel canyon and port oaks and never did anything with them.
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@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
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Awwww. I love you too <3! *Vomits* No... couldn't do it.
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Originally Posted by je_saist
And yes, I call it the Shivan Storm for two reasons. A: a player on the forums has ruined the original name by deliberate association. B: Play through Hero Ouroborus again and tell me Lord Nemesis doesn't say the Storm involves Shivans.
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So the Menders of Ouroboros were introduced way back in Issue 11. Are we ever going to experience the Coming Storm that's been hinted and hinted at sometime soon? Issues used to push the CoH storyline and now it seems the overall storyline is taking a back seat.