Starting over fresh (An informal poll)

Just to clarify, I am personally not opposed to starting from scratch.

I was just surprised (not necessarily disappointed) a how many other folks felt the same. I think I expected more resistance to the idea, due to some of the questions I outlined above.

I'd be interested in what kind of responses we'd get in some of the other forums.... Or, y'know, we could start pointing more folks this way.

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You could also poll your own SG mates.

Most of mine would be like, "Hey, you're the one that built all this carp. If we even knew how to put a lamp on a cabinet then maybe we'd be concerned..."

Honestly, I don't know that bases are irrelevant, they're just not super-important. I much rather that the developers spend time offering us more content that feels like progress towards goals (in relation to individual characters) than more fluff.

Personally I have thousands of hours in my various bases. Have spent hundreds of hours in lots of your bases taking pics and getting interviews and writing them up for the scoop. I've written guides and developed personal relationships with several devs over the years trying very very hard to get some love for bases.

Even after all that, if the best we can hope for is a complete revamp, so that bases are relevant to the game, character and group development again, I am 100% behind it.

I would start over in a second and dump every bit of salvage, every last IO, every tier 3 insp, every badge if need be, just so that bases were *something* again.

This is not to say that I hope this is what happens. I doubt very seriously that this worst case scenario would be something the devs would consider approaching, but if they know we, the community most effected by any major change, would accept even the kinds of changes that would require a great deal of re-work on our part, it might free them up to think a little bit more outside the box and approach the system from an entirely fresha nd new angle that will result in a much better final product.

Thats my hope, anyway. I'll do what I have to if they do what they can.

With a fully developed base, close to 15k-17k items, and a maxed out plot, I still have over 200 million prestige with which to build. That prestige is just sitting there since I can't add anything more to my base without risking corruption. That being said, assuming we get to keep current prestige amounts with an overhaul to the system, it would take quite some time for me to rebuild.

In order for me to support an overhaul, I'd like there to be something unique for the larger plots or bigger SGs. That might seem elitist to some, but I think it would be one more of those things that encourages people to seek out the larger SGs as someone mentioned earlier with the item buffs. I'd like to be able to spend this prestige on something really kick *** instead of just having it sitting in the bank collecting dust. If I could donate it, I would. If I could convert it to infuence, I might. If I could use it to open a subplot under the same SG name and build another base, I would. But currently, it's not doing me any good and there's no incentive anymore for members to play in SG mode to earn prestige because we're not saving up for anything. It's like having a fully purpled out lvl 50 with all the badges; there's nothing more to work towards unless you roll a new toon, but I'm not an altaholic and I am a monogamist when it comes to my base.

I like to be working towards a goal, an objective, a mission, a purpose. Some would say the purpose is just to have fun, but I'm a completionist and my idea of fun is collecting all the badges, unlocking all the items, etc. I want to max out my base's potentional and I feel that having an extra 200 million prestige in the bank makes my base feel like it's not living up to its full potential. And the exact amount of prestige is not important so much as the fact that once you have a completed base, there it sits. At least with the main toons, there's something more to do with that completed toon every new issue because new badges/content/powers/enhancements/etc are always rolling out. Sometimes you have to respec your main but at least it's still seeing action.

To sum up, I'm OK with respec'ing my base, so long as it feels bigger and better than ever when I'm finished.

I'm not proposing that benefits be applied based on roster size, I'd rather the qualifications for buffs be based on activity

Assuming that the system avoids people losing stuff (i.e. stored items, prestige etc.) I have no problem with bases being nuked. But then I'm not really a base builder, I have done a bit of building but it's been almost entirely utilitarian.

Personally I think if the current code for bases is making it impossible for the devs to update then they should nuke it and start from scratch. The problem is that this would require a huge amount of effort on their part at which point it comes down to how "valuable" (in terms of subscriptions retained/gained) is it for the devs to devote that amount of resources to a new base system?

This is partly why I think adding personal "mini-bases" is such a good idea. The costume creator has long been one of the major draws for CoX and, to me, adding "mini-bases" is a good way to expand upon that aspect of the game. They don't necessarily need to add much in the way of functionality (although limited functionality would be nice) the point it to allow the player to make a small area that is, essentially, an extension of the character's costume. At that point base building becomes open to everyone and I think a revamp would be justified (although I doubt it'll happen).

I would not be cool with forcing people to lose stuff that may have taken a lot of work, and that they may be happy with.

However, given the option, I would tear down my own bases IF:

I could get back all the prestige. Being able to keep all crafted items would be a bonus.

I could keep stored items, and it wouldn't require storing all the enhancements stored in the base elsewhere. Moving stuff from old storage to new: doable, although a pain. Finding places to store 300 enhancements: requires ten characters, and three trips to the base each.

Tearing down and rebuilding would take significantly less time than it took to build in the first place. This means floors and walls that I don't have to build piece by piece, and a way to easily float things among other requirements.

It results in something better than blocky rooms full of stuff that doesn't quite match, with walls and floors that don't quite match any of the stuff, and empty single-square doorways between them. Significantly better. Otherwise, I'll make do with what I have.

Bring the apocalyse to the old age and rejoice the dawning of a new age.

I'd be cool with virtually ANY base-building love at this point - even incremental improvements would be better than the most recent (non-existent) ones.

However, I'm sure I speak for a great many who would NOT support any changes that would require scrapping what (for me) has been years of devoted tweaking to one or more large bases. If that happens... *shrugs* the system will be dead to me. I don't have the time, energy or will anymore to start over, rebuilding bases that (in some cases) have over 1000 objects in a single room. Further, even in cases where that number might be reduced (for example, by the addition of floating "floor" sections), I simply don't want to re-create entire layouts again from memory.

Being a solo player for the most part, my bases are just for storage. I would rather level another toon to 50 then waste the time needed to make a cool looking base. Though I would like to create an interesting base and have some ideas. I think moving all that stuff and hanging other items to make yet another item hang is a pain in the backside and to time consuming for me. I start and 3 hours in I give up seeing how much more time it will take to create my vision.

I don't think that the Devs will come out and clearly say that the base implementation they have today is borked, as other games do monitor this game. I can see them use it against the CoX franchise. I recall having another competitor say that the characters created will have moving fingers unlike the mittens that CoX has going on. They will just use or say that they have bases that truly work.

I'm pretty darn positive that the Devs will reimburse any and all prestige, if not even give you more just to make everyone happy if they had any issues calculating or concerns with prestige. I would imagine they would just give you a new empty base with your items in new storage bins. If they did something like this the only issues would be keeping track of the salvage and IOs. I am sure they keep track of that stuff already.

It would make sense that to entice someone to accept the change they would have to make base creation much easier so those wanting to reproduce what they had could do so in much less time. Otherwise what would be the point of making these changes.

Part of me feels that the Devs seeing the issues with bases and what not also implemented the changes they did with Traveling. I can recall "Back in the days" when having a base teleporter really came in handy trying to get to odd places like Dark Astoria and such. Today other then that odd spot between OB portal short cuts, Vet mission teleport and now full routes now open on ferry and train, base teleporters have less value. I think the Devs just have there hands tied and would rather work on something that everyone will benefit from.

I mean really only a few people are going to be able to modify and design a base in a VG or SG so the average rank and file player really does not have a say. Designer spends 8 hours making a garden room and 3 or 4 members think its dumb, they would rather have a lava room or something other then a Garden room. This is also one of the reasons why I have my own SG and VG. Why should I spend my time and prestige for something that really isn't mine. At the end of the day if some leader(s) quit unexpectedly it ends up in someones hands that really does not want the leadership of SG/VG but wants the base and all that prestige and sadly I am one of the new guys that might have contributed more prestige then the new leader. I am sure there are players here that can mention horror stories regarding those issues. If I quit today and come back 6 months from now, my bases that I owned for the last 2 years still belong to me and not some guy that never logged in but decided to come back 3 months before me.

I do not think that the Devs will make something that is only SG or VG specific. You did have some benefit of being in a SG/VG that had base teleporters compared to non SG/VG Players, but as I mentioned that benefit has been decreased today. I do not think it would be fair to give a SG or a VG an ADVANTAGE though.

So with all that said I am for a fresh start with the following things to be added.

1. More storage space.

2. Some sort of personal space for every player. Something they can use that is not part of the group. Every kid wants their own room, Heck just about everyone wants their own space sometimes.

3. Storage specific for each player in the SG or VG. Same storage bin for everyone just that you can only see your stuff. This way you can hold your things for some new build or to transfer to another character for there build without having to log on and off a dozen times juggling trying to make room. Otherwise you have no control or repercussion over that person that decided to take your IOs for themselves. Have a radio button that will allow you to see personal or global. So if you want to be the nice guy/gal and give some IOs away you can place them in Global storage for everyone to see and take.

4. Of course this goes without saying redesigning the tools that allow you to place items. You should be able to place 2nd story floors similar to how you adjust the height of the base. You pick your floor design and then click one button to say place this across the room. Then you can go and pick out individual tiles to remove to place a stairs.

5. The ability for players to create templates that can be uploaded by other players. I would like to make a sewers themed base, but I'm not sharp enough. Player SoandSo is though or has one already they are willing to share. Assuming I have enough prestige I should able to just click install template or copy template and BAM I have a sewer base created by SoandSo. Give Designers the ability to get credit for those using there templates similar to AE concept. I can then go in if I like and then modify some items to make the base my own unique style. Depending on the amount of changes I make if I decide I want to be a weasel and repost the design as my own. The base should have a tag that says Player SoandSo created a 100k prestige base and I modified 10k of it. So in a pyramid scheme concept the Original template creator will get more tickets then I would or make it a rule where the 2nd player would have to modify at least 50% of the original base template to get any credit. Of course with this you can give away special badges and allow those with the badge maybe a discount on items required to create a base design.

Oooh, someone mentioned AE, and you know what would be awesome? The ability to save bases, or even better, individual rooms to a local file while you work on them, then "publish" them when they're done. So your SG doesn't have to deal with a base full of floating floor tiles while you work and you can make major changes that temporarily make parts of your base inaccessible whenever you want, without affecting your SG members at all. It would also let you save and reload if you screw up instead of having to tear down and start over.

Probably never going to happen, but I can dream.

I'm also all in favor of reinstituting base raids as long as they don't limit options for people who don't wish to raid.