In an interview given earlier today, Paragon Studios Senior Designer Matt "Positron" Miller was asked "Why can't we level our characters past level 50?" In a surprise admission, Miller replied "We'd love to but we simply can't allow it. We're running low on Experience Points to hand out and want to make sure that we have enough to cater to lower level Heroes and Villains."
Running out of XP?! Has this ever happened before? Our investigations led us to several examples of companies running out of seemingly unlimited virtual goods, but never anything on the scale of an MMO running out of the basic requirements needed to level up your character. "Everything seemed to be on pace in the early days of City of Heroes", said Brian Clayton, studio manager for Paragon Studios. "We were looking good to last several comic book life-death-resurrection cycles, but along came Going Rogue and threw our projections out of whack."
When asked to comment, Lead Designer Melissa "War Witch" Bianco mentioned other things that have impacted the supply of XP. "All those Task Forces, Trials, Strike Forces, Mayhem and Safeguard missions;. It adds up. We tried alternative forms of rewards, but players still want XP, and our stockpiles have continued to dwindle."
"We even implemented a feature that allowed a player to turn off XP as an austerity measure," said Senior Designer Tim "Black Scorpion" Sweeney. "Unfortunately the major marketing push to raise awareness of the issue was tangled up and shelved, and the whole 'Conserve XP' movement never really took hold. Patrol XP was a possible substitute, but it just whetted the appetite for the real thing. Proposals to raise revenue through increased XP debt penalties were never on the table to begin with."
Nate "Second Measure" Birkholz, Producer for City of Heroes, had this to add: "We've tried to increase supply, but it's difficult. Every point is handcrafted from the finest gems of insight, pearls of wisdom and seasoned with the harsh sweat of overcoming your setbacks. That's a time consuming process, not one you can rush."
When we asked experts outside of Paragon Studios, we got some surprising rebuttals. "Their accounting methods budget a full 50 levels of XP for everyone who steps into the city. How do they know if that character is ever going to actually reach level 50? They could be a simple entrant to a costume contest, or just there to keep tabs on a fellow Super Group, or even try out a new Power Set. Level 50 is an aspiration, not a requirement. We are far from the days of 'Peak XP'."
"Based on current usage and our projections," Destin Bales, Development Director for Paragon Studios said, "we predict we will run out of Experience Points exactly one year from today, April 1st, 2012. And I would like to point out that Influence isn't looking too hot either."
Sean "Dr. Aeon" McCann, one of the masterminds behind the player generated content system Mission Architect was only able to give the following statement: "No Comment."
You can discuss what this means for your characters and the future of CoH here.
In an interview given earlier today, Paragon Studios Senior Designer Matt "Positron" Miller was asked "Why can't we level our characters past level 50?" In a surprise admission, Miller replied "We'd love to but we simply can't allow it. We're running low on Experience Points to hand out and want to make sure that we have enough to cater to lower level Heroes and Villains."
Running out of XP?! Has this ever happened before? Our investigations led us to several examples of companies running out of seemingly unlimited virtual goods, but never anything on the scale of an MMO running out of the basic requirements needed to level up your character. "Everything seemed to be on pace in the early days of City of Heroes", said Brian Clayton, studio manager for Paragon Studios. "We were looking good to last several comic book life-death-resurrection cycles, but along came Going Rogue and threw our projections out of whack."
When asked to comment, Lead Designer Melissa "War Witch" Bianco mentioned other things that have impacted the supply of XP. "All those Task Forces, Trials, Strike Forces, Mayhem and Safeguard missions;. It adds up. We tried alternative forms of rewards, but players still want XP, and our stockpiles have continued to dwindle."
"We even implemented a feature that allowed a player to turn off XP as an austerity measure," said Senior Designer Tim "Black Scorpion" Sweeney. "Unfortunately the major marketing push to raise awareness of the issue was tangled up and shelved, and the whole 'Conserve XP' movement never really took hold. Patrol XP was a possible substitute, but it just whetted the appetite for the real thing. Proposals to raise revenue through increased XP debt penalties were never on the table to begin with."
Nate "Second Measure" Birkholz, Producer for City of Heroes, had this to add: "We've tried to increase supply, but it's difficult. Every point is handcrafted from the finest gems of insight, pearls of wisdom and seasoned with the harsh sweat of overcoming your setbacks. That's a time consuming process, not one you can rush."
When we asked experts outside of Paragon Studios, we got some surprising rebuttals. "Their accounting methods budget a full 50 levels of XP for everyone who steps into the city. How do they know if that character is ever going to actually reach level 50? They could be a simple entrant to a costume contest, or just there to keep tabs on a fellow Super Group, or even try out a new Power Set. Level 50 is an aspiration, not a requirement. We are far from the days of 'Peak XP'."
"Based on current usage and our projections," Destin Bales, Development Director for Paragon Studios said, "we predict we will run out of Experience Points exactly one year from today, April 1st, 2012. And I would like to point out that Influence isn't looking too hot either."
Sean "Dr. Aeon" McCann, one of the masterminds behind the player generated content system Mission Architect was only able to give the following statement: "No Comment."
You can discuss what this means for your characters and the future of CoH here.