What Do Y'all Think?

http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/fre..._overview.html

My initial reaction to this has been "Oh this sucks." Maybe that's just me.

I have very mixed feelings about it, and MOST of them have to do with my home on Protector.

I don't want to transfer any of my characters to a VIP server... they belong here. I don't want to lose my friends to another server...

As to the rest of it... I'm willing to keep an open mind.

Read my stories!

Interesting...

Things will be fine. No need to jump ship (just yet).

With a paying sub you will get the Paragon Points monthy that you can use to get other goodies. Another Ring based fantasy MMO I play also has the same program. In that game you get points for completing large quests, and deeds (deeds are kind of like our badge system). You can then use these points to buy and unlock, emotes, items for crafting, cometic items or if you are Free to Play use the points to buy more content. The game still offers free content (what we call Issues here) and you can purchase expansions. (Like the one coming in Sept. with some wizard in a tower.)

There seems to be a lot of bone gnashing about "Keep those F2P people away from me!". But as someone pointed out they will be no different than the trial subs we have now.

I also remember reading in this very board about how some Protector Vet players helped a total stranger complete a Task Force one night. It's this willingness to help others, friends or strangers that makes the game stand out amoung others. I hope that this spirit will continue with these new changes.

Oh and Issue 21 looks very "interesting" http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/gam..._overview.html

*jumps off the soap box for the next person*

I am simply over-reacting. Too many changes in RL and this just rubbed wrong.

Y'all are right, of course.

No problem Wolfie. I suppose gamers are not the best demographic to spring changes to a system on. But I think things will be OK. We will just have to wait and see how this all plays out. Good or bad we won't know until we get there.

As long as everyone I've made friends with stays on Protector, I think I will be fine.

I do play that other Ring based game that seems to have a similar model. It's not a bad set-up from what I've seen. I shall at this time remain cautiously optimistic.

Well, I think we've definitely got an infrastructure to handle an influx of new players.

The Helper system, our own Mentor Project, our global channels, various tools we now have at our disposal like the calendar, Twitter and now Ventrilo will ensure we have not only the means to assist new players, should they come over to Protector, but also keep allowing the VIPs (old and new) to keep in touch.

But, perhaps just as importantly, IDF boots!

I want my Galaxy City! I start all my toons there, I use it to tip at all levels (so small, so easy to navigate), I know Derek, Gregor, Pr Kiros, Caitlin & Rebecca well. Not to mention that Brawler is the man. I do not enjoy Atlas. On a good day, the topography is obtuse for my lowbie leveling. On a bad day there are netgirls offering "cake" for inf while holding costume contests where the most skin female costume wins. So I'm annoyed I'm going to loose my starting ground, my tip sanctuary, my home.

The free to play doesn't bug me. The freebies not being able to talk to me is fine with me. Simply because the merits of the game should reel 'em in to being pay customers, not our awesome selves talking to them. I mean, I know we're awesome, but my awesomeness isn't going to get freebie to spend cash if he's pissed that this game doesn't act exactly like his old one. If I'm gold-named and I want to help, I'll seek out freebies and give them a hand, but I don't need my lvl 37 toon slogging through Crey's Folly getting hit up to help someone in Hollows.

I'm not going to a VIP server. I know how to /ignore folks that annoy me. So at the end of the day, I'm not getting big changes to my play other than Galaxy.

I might have missed it but is the VIP only server going to be one of the existing ones or a brand new one?

Time Manipulation
I’m curious about this. My initial guess is that we’ll have plenty of slow effects, probably haste effects, and at least one hold, possibly an immobilize too. As a Defender, I’m not really that excited. Though that may be my Defender ennui. Aside: I have so many stalled Defenders; Sonics, Kinetics, Radiation, Trick Arrow, about the only one that gets attention when I log in is my Empath. I put powers in my search comment so people know what I’m playing, and "moar hlz" seems to win over the other spectacular options. Darn it Protector, love your other Defenders. Ok, aside over. Back on point, imagine Time with something like Gravity on a Controller. Oh my, the fun one could have. Slow, plus anything to stack containment is awesome. I’m just speculating, but will probably be a great Controller set, not sure about Defenders. Second aside, can we get some more secondaries for Blasters already?

Life goes on.

What others have said.

Until/unless they give the F2P'ers access to global channels or sending tells, they might as well not be there. Which is both good and bad, really.

Good, because it lets us avoid the RMT'ers and unsavory trolls, but not so good in that it'll block actual nice people from making connections within the game.

I am tentatively optimistic about the change. If it is like that ring game that I've played for years (not nearly as long as cox but a good chunk of time) there has been nothing but improvement once the initial overload of players was dealt with. They disappeared in less than a month from the ring game. I can wait that long.

The way I see it I'm going to eventually be able to buy the steampunk pack and the beast pack without spending more than my monthly sub fee - It's not a priority in terms of spending even though I drool over them a lot and it gives me choices in my upgrades while taking absolutely nothing away from me.

Really? I think that it's probably best to reserve judgement. I know my gut reaction is that this could go horribly wrong, but it could also have the reverse effect, and end up making this game even greater than WoW. (Odds of that happening are roughly the same as my spontaneously taking my bosses position. If that should happen, *EVIL GRIN*)

The Time Manipulation set has caught most of my attention with this announcement, anyway.

Initially? ****...

Retrospect? Saw it coming.

Presently? I've already been paying for the game for years now, makes no real difference to me. Cept maybe when I go on hiatus I can still pop back in now and again.

Honestly, the one thing that caught my attention is that only eight archetypes will be playable for free/returning players. There's fourteen total, four Epic Archetypes, which leaves our ten regular ATs. That means one AT on each side (Hero/Villain) is going to be restricted to free players.

Who wants to bet Free Heroes don't get Controllers?

Edit: Nevermind, looks like that was already answered.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Positron Masterminds and Controllers (and HEATs and VEATs). They can purchase these separately, or become a VIP Subscriber and get access to all AT's.

I'm a feeling a bit conflicted.

Pros:
This is probably needed so that the game can continue for a few more years.
They are promising new content on a more frequent basis; great news if they can deliver.


Neutral:
Free accounts look a lot like extended trials, no harm/no foul there. I like newbs.

Cons:
It is sad to see the game reach this stage.
it isn't quite clear what will happen to my pre-existing toons when I come back for a peek.

I'll be here til the end! I hope this bring in new players. AND they get some people who decide to go VIP from F2P. I also hope that its somewhat easy for F2P peoples to earn SG privileges. A good SG (Like Mean Girls for example! =P) is really helpful esp starting out.

I'm going to look at this as something positive.

-Kult

also - FAT BABY sighting! +1! Y U NO TEAM?