The gargoyle is perching
By
Adeon Hawkwood,
Posted on: 2010-10-26 11:01 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
sorry to see you go....
but i can't be the only one who wanted to answer this thread with a counter pass phrase like 'the priest leaves at midnight'...... 
all the best Obsidius 
Kittens give Morbo gas.
Pt. 2
Community Reps & Marketing
What I've said on this subject created its own thread altogether, so I'll leave it there. It was the reason I put on my exit survey, but in hindsight, there was a lot more than just this one particular reason (hence these last posts as a sort of "extended feedback').
That being said, I don't feel anything has changed in OCR or Marketing since I created that thread, so I feel my concerns still stand.
"But Obsidius, the amount of players on the forums is only a fraction of those that play the game" some say. Well, if it wasn't nearly as true before, it certainly seems that way now. Empirically speaking, the amount of forum usage has declined a lot since the controversial changes to the CHVC subforums. Whereas I used to notice 3k active forum members before the change (with many more anonymous users), I see perhaps less than half that number in the recent weeks.
Super Boosters
Super Boosters certainly aren't a bad thing in and of themselves. But when I think about it, lately, the main source for high-end costumes is through microtrans and expansions.
Imagine, for a moment, if the Cape system were added as a Super Booster. Unthinkable? I'm not so certain. After all, the only way to use Super Tailor options (changing between Male / Female / Huge body types) is through the Science Super Booster (a decision I personally opposed). And we bought it and set a bad precedent.
Certainly, there are other costume-purchasing precedents, such as buying CoV to get all the "Villain" costume pieces, the Mac version for the Valkyrie set, etc. But inversely, we got the Jester, Enforcer, Roman, Vanguard, "Day Job", and other costume bits for free, which sets a precedent the other way as well.
Personally, I don't care if Super Boosters come with powers, as some players do. However, I feel that they're being overused as a system to introduce costume parts, emotes, and even systems (like the Super Tailor). As I mentioned in another thread though, if there were both in-game and micro-trans options to open up any Super Booster option, I believe that would be a fair compromise. One could either earn items in-game through play or pay for them up front.
As it currently stands, though, IMPO, the amount of items being offered by NCSoft exclusively through micro-trans is starting to look a lot like "that other currently-available superhero MMO".
Besides, although Super Boosters may look nice and give additional funds to the developers, they'll never fix any of the fundamental limits with the game engine, etc. They may make a 6+ year old game look nicer, but can't create separate upper/ lower torso animations, solve the "mitten hand" problem, remove zoning, etc.
Quote:
I love a good story, particularly epic and multifaceted ones. After playing a large MMO (prominently featuring internet spaceships), I came over to City of Heroes after reading an article about Issue 14: Mission Architect. I was excited to experience AND participate in the story-telling process (and still am), but soon found myself just as swept up in the game's pre-existing official story arcs. For this past year and a half, leveling and XP has been a tertiary concern, far less important than investigating my way through story arcs and writing my characters into the universe they inhabit (I submit as evidence my first level 50, just a week ago).|
Originally Posted by Obsidius
Now, when I run with a team, usually they're not interested in the story; in fact, it's usually to run a TF in the fastest time, in order to more quickly finish it, get the reward drop, and move on to another TF to do the same thing. Finding a group that actually wanted to run it a slower pace was the exception, rather than the rule. I found myself catching up on the story on the Paragon Wiki, instead of the TF itself. It seemed counterintuitive to actually playing the game.
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But in order to continue to have fun with the game in this way, I increasingly have to rely on non-intuitive workarounds, such as the Paragon Wiki (for catching up on TFs), and even Notepad (for later perusing character bios, which can't be read from your friend list).
I remember being excited about my first task force, expecting a big event that would take days (or weeks!) to unravel, that would reveal major plot details. Instead, I got a confusing two-hour blur of skirmishes, devoid of any meaningful context, punctuated by badgers and XP-obsessed teammates. I love City of Heroes, but I would be lying if I said that wasn't an experience tarnished by disillusionment.
Just recently, I learned about the concept of "static teams", which are teams of characters who meet and play at agreed-upon times. I learned about this concept on the forums, not in-game where the vast majority of players are. The idea of static teams wasn't invented by the development team. A portion of the community simply needed to address an immersion-breaking hole in the game: there is no feature within Team Search to enable the process of forming and tracking static teams, or even finding players who aren't solely obsessed with Pavlovian rewards. This is a problem.
@Captain-Electric � Detective Marvel � The Sapien Spider � Moravec Man � The Old Norseman
Dark-Eyes � Doctor Serpentine � Stonecaster � Skymaiden � The Blue Jaguar
Guide to Altitis � A Comic for New Players � The Lore Project � Intro to extraterrestrials in CoH
Pt. 3 (Final)
The Market
The market's really killed my view of CoH being a casual-friendly game. Is it optional? Sure. If you want to craft anything, you could wait for certain salvage to drop naturally through gameplay, and never touch the market... but you're going to be very limited on what you can craft that will be beneficial to a character, or what sort of base or costume items you can create.
But if you want that piece of common/ uncommon salvage that you need because it's under / over your natural level, it's easier to get it at the market. Provided, of course, its not being manipulated for an extended duration of time. If it is, well, wish for good luck on getting a good drop to raise enough funds, or have fun spending the next few levels earning enough Inf to buy it at an inflated price, on top of whatever Enhancements you need to purchase.
IMPO, there should be some oversight on the market, at least for the more flagrant market manipultions, especially for common and uncommon commodities, to ensure that new players have a decent experience with the market, and not a toxic one. After all, vendors don't sell common or uncommon salvage, so the only way to obtain those items, besides beating up the correct tech / magic enemies at the correct level range, is through the market.
And don't mistake my argument for an argument to "casually purple out my warshade" - I'm talking about basic commodities for casual IO and market users, as well as base owners or clothes horses - the salvage one needs to just get by. If frozen concentrated orange juice were going for $1000 per tube at the grocery store, there's probably more to blame than just bad weather.
... and that being said, that's a wrap. Although I found out I have a few more days left on my account (probably the GR box time finally getting tacked on, ironically), I plan to make this my last official post.
However, if Issue 20, 21, etc., etc. ends up being the "2nd coming" or something, I do reserve the right to return.
It's been an honor, and a pleasure, to meet so many cool people durning the last six years. I'll always have fond memories of CoH, the devs, and the players of this game.
Thanks for having (and putting up with) me 
Sincerely,
Obsidius
Quote:
Manipulating the price of common/uncommon salvage over a prolonged period of time is extremely difficult and rarely profitable (manipulating it for an hour or so and making a profit is more practical). When the prices of common/uncommon salvage goes up substantially over the norms for more than 24 hours it is almost always caused by a shift in player activities (generally a seasonal event, double XP weekend or a new AE exploit) rather than market manipulation.
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Originally Posted by Obsidius
But if you want that piece of common/ uncommon salvage that you need because it's under / over your natural level, it's easier to get it at the market. Provided, of course, its not being manipulated for an extended duration of time.
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Good luck on your break and I hope to see you back. You made Triumph what is is now: a fun place to play. I await your return with a Grog's speical.
Wha? You can't go! *sniff*
Best of luck to you and maybe we'll run into each other again one day!
P.S. Msg me if you want my FB info.
Arc 185502: Who Killed Snow Globe? a mini mystery Put together the clues to solve the case!
Arc 22832: And Hell Hath No Fury (extreme)
Will you be the key to the Knives of Artemis' survival? or the instrument of their destruction?
Oh man, I'm just getting the whole gist of this now. Real sorry to see you go, Obs. You and Rella were awesome online friends/allies/coalition mates/team mates etc. I could online imagine that you guys would be just as awesome if I had the honor to meet you guys in RL. Take care, and don't ever hesitate to come back if you get that urge! I'll help keep the spirit of Triumph's Resident Gargoyle going until the gates to Paragon City close (or I retire....)
/em salute
Mission Architect arc: The Hive Connection, Arc ID: 96660
Triumph: (@UltraBatz)
UltraBatz, lvl 50 MA/SR Scrapper (1355 badges)
UberBatz, lvl 50 Peacebringer (769 badges)
SG: The Steel Paladins, Fusion Force
Its always sad to see a long time player leave 
Be well, be safe, stay in school, and don't do drugs.
Virtue: @Santorican
Dark/Shield Build Thread
I'm leaving these as constructive criticism, in hopes that my thoughts can be used to for future improvements. They're also more or less rhetorical; although I expect discussion, I'm not planning on debating, just listing reasons as to why I'm leaving and what could be made better.
I'll also be posting these as they come to mind, in no particular order of importance, relevance, etc.
Pt. 1
Bases and the MA
Bases and the Mission Architect are two of the biggest chips that CoH has vs. any competition in the superhero MMO genre. Without being specific (for obvious infraction-avoiding reasons), no competing game in the genre currently has any similar mechanics.
However, although the MA gets consistent updates, bases are not much different than they were when released as part of I6 / CoV. The exception is for PvP raid mechanics such as object collision and pathing, which were removed until base PvP could be brought to such a state where base raid mechaics, and bases in general, could be updated. Thus far, PvP is still a spot of contention with the playerbase, and the base system, with the above exception and some changes in item pricing and rent, remain unchanged. Even the new Cathedral of Pain challenge bypasses the base system entirely in favor of temp powers instead of functional IoPs.
IMPO, this system should be improved and leveraged against newcomers in the market; why this hasn't been done is a bit perplexing to me.
The MA is a different story, but also one with a lot of tarnished promise. The system had too many rewards attached to it for it to be used in the way the developers initially envisioned. Instead of using the system to reward good story arcs, it mostly rewarded those who found exploits the fastest. Even after all of the fixes and adjustments, the system still suffers from a negative stigma of reward farming, so-called "AE babies", rating mafias, and (curtailed) MA badge farming.
The ratings themselves are easy to manipulate if one knows a group who will rate an arc for favors or Inf. Adversely, it's easy for such groups to rate even most well-written arc into oblivion. Although such problems were much worse when there were more badges tied to the system, they still exist today. The two practical reasons for creating an arc currently, IMPO, beyond any Dr. Aeon Challenges, is for reward farming and sharing an arc with a close-knit group.
There have been suggestions to remove Tickets and other rewards from the MA entirely, and I can't say that I agree one way or another. However, I believe that the rating system for arcs could use revision, or an overhaul. For example, I don't think that YouTube uses a 5-star rating system any longer. Even limiting how many votes an account can vote on for any particular day could help curtail unfair voting/ vote griefing (saving one's votes for arcs that matter).
Intrinsic Motivation
Like many, I'm a believer that the journey to level 50 is more important than the destination. Although we've all become used to the mechanics of XP and leveling in an MMO, ultimately, I do missions and arcs because I'm interested in the story. Picking up rewards is just a byproduct of a good yarn.
Currently, however, I don't feel like that. I think it started with Badges. I used to collect badges until I realized that I'd have to collect badges on my alts if I wanted things like power-granting Accolades. Then there was Base Salvage. Then Inventions were introduced, along with Recipe and Invention Salvage drops. Then came TF reward drops when Inventions were introduced. Then came Vanguard Merits. Then TF Merits. Now we have Alignment Merits.
Now, when I run with a team, usually they're not interested in the story; in fact, it's usually to run a TF in the fastest time, in order to more quickly finish it, get the reward drop, and move on to another TF to do the same thing. Finding a group that actually wanted to run it a slower pace was the exception, rather than the rule. I found myself catching up on the story on the Paragon Wiki, instead of the TF itself. It seemed counterintuitive to actually playing the game.
So somewhere between Inventions and the present, my intrinsic motivation was killed. When you reward a person for something they were interested in doing without reward, he / she becomes less enthusiastic about performing that activity. And that's sort of how I feel about the current game. Typically, if I want to enjoy a good story arc, I have to solo it; if I want to read up on a TF, I'll have to do it offline. Because of this, it was just easier for me to play single-player games where I could control how fast the story flowed, and what rewards I want to earn.
In an MMO, there's not an easy way to control the flow of a story without dictating a certain playstyle to someone. And when you add rewards, it's so much harder to take them away - you've opened up Pandora's Box by this point. I'm afraid I don't have a constructive suggestion to the current game more appealing to intrinsic motivation. Even new players will probably be swept up in arc>reward> next arc mentality.