Answering some Freedom Questions
By
A Man In Black,
Posted on: 2011-06-23 16:34 in Developers' Corner
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Wow!!! The famous Arcanaville answering my question!!! I feel so honored! (and yes, i am saying it trully, with an open heart and only with admiration on my mind!)|
Originally Posted by Arcanaville
I can't really properly address all the limitations of the regional stores (because I don't have the problem) nor can I specifically state how points will specifically be purchased (because I don't actually know the specifics), but I can say that the intent of the Freedom in-game store is that you will somehow buy points, and only points, with your money. Once you have points, you spend points in the in-game store and I believe the *intent* is for *everyone* to see the exact same store because its internal to the game itself (that's a colloquial statement, not a technical one).
Given that, I believe the problems with regional stores selling only a limited number of things goes away in Freedom: the only thing your regional store has to sell, assuming you are even using the regional store when Freedom launches, is points. Once you have points, your points are no different than my points and should be able to buy the same things without restriction. I can say I know the devs are aware of this issue and have every intent to address it with the new systems in Freedom. |
Most of I have seen from Freedom got me really happy. Up until now, the ingame store works fine for me, without the regional block. Its the NCSOFT store that is blocked. If the gamestore works on that principle... well... I see a happy future for me and sadness for my credit card and shoes and watches collection. And I know that many brazillians will love it too.
But... and about my second question? *blinks blinks*
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Yes. I can get lost on a straight-line map.
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I only see one question enumerated in your previous post.|
Originally Posted by KayJMM
Wow!!! The famous Arcanaville answering my question!!! I feel so honored! (and yes, i am saying it trully, with an open heart and only with admiration on my mind!)
Most of I have seen from Freedom got me really happy. Up until now, the ingame store works fine for me, without the regional block. Its the NCSOFT store that is blocked. If the gamestore works on that principle... well... I see a happy future for me and sadness for my credit card and shoes and watches collection. And I know that many brazillians will love it too. But... and about my second question? *blinks blinks* |
Nevermind. I tracked it back and found the other question.
*offers a cookie*
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
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I didn't quote the other question because I'm not at liberty to discuss cookie-related questions about the in-game store.
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Originally Posted by Texas Justice
I only see one question enumerated in your previous post.
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qft|
Originally Posted by noyjitat
we currently don't have enough level 50 zones and most of them are 45 - 50 anyway excluding part of the shadow shard and northern rwz.
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I really want a City zone (slightly smaller spawn sizes generally, more solo friendly) with level 50 to 54 mobs.
Wavicle, Energy/Energy Blaster, dinged 50 in Issue 4, summer of 2005.
@Wavicle, mostly on the Justice server.
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Which kinda sucks for me on my US account. I'd prefer being able to select them as Rewards rather than it being hardcoded.|
Originally Posted by Impish Kat
Posi has indicated that the "perma-unlock" for MMs & Trollers occurs automatically IF you have accumulated 3 years (36 months) of Veteran status.
If you do not have the 3 years accumulated Veteran Rewards to auto/perma-unlock the ATs, you may purchase the unlock in the new Paragon Market with Paragon Points. Either way, you do not have to use your Veteran Rewards to unlock the ATs. . |
It does mean they'll be unlocked for my old account though and that's the one which is likely to stay premium, and I do have multiple high level controllers, Masterminds and a Warshade there too.
Hypothetical: I would like to populate the VIP server with my favorite characters. The once-a-month VIP free transfer is very nice, but it's going to take a looooong time (or be very expensive) to transfer every character that I would like to play there. Is there a chance that when the VIP server opens, VIPs could have some free transfers/character copies into that server?
This would also help allay the grousings of those folks that don't want to play with freebie players. (Not me, I wear the HELPER label on most of my toons because I LIKE newbs. They're cute when they ask Miss Liberty questions in broadcast. It's also kinda fun to parade around them in the finery that they can't get unless they subscribe.)
Woah woah woah...
One of my main characters is a VEAT. So I decided to go free, I can't play it? What happened to "you won't lose anything you've already unlocked or payed for"
Seriously, this could keep me from playing at all
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Uh. |
Originally Posted by iPirate
Woah woah woah...
One of my main characters is a VEAT. So I decided to go free, I can't play it? What happened to "you won't lose anything you've already unlocked or payed for" Seriously, this could keep me from playing at all |
I have a brute <my main> that I changed to blueside, its GR content... that I paid for... and it's my understanding that said content -that I paid for- will be locked out should my time lapse and I go f2p.
Um...
not trying to be offensive, I -do- like the direction freedom is going, the devs have my support and I know there is a bit of sacrifice to be made, but this lockout for something I paid for? I dunno. Maybe some kind of compromise can be reached.
Ignoring anyone is a mistake. You might miss something viral to your cause.
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Originally Posted by iPirate
Woah woah woah...
One of my main characters is a VEAT. So I decided to go free, I can't play it? What happened to "you won't lose anything you've already unlocked or payed for" Seriously, this could keep me from playing at all |
First off if you go free now you lose access to your veat and any other character you have plus access to the servers. How is free to play any worse? answer it's not it's way better.
Secondly they said in not so many words that vets that have been active for as long as you( if you forums register date is any indication) will probably be able to unlock the locked ATs free of charge.
edit: found the post about AT unlocks and vet reward
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Originally Posted by Positron
However, the Paragon Rewards program has an “unlock” for Masterminds and Controllers at Tier 5 (which is about a three-year CoH veteran status). So if you have enough veteran status at the launch of City of Heroes Freedom, you will be able to play these restricted archetypes on a Premium account on day one. As always, we'll be chatting more about the Paragon Rewards in the coming weeks.
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Oh yes, Posi,
thank you for the info regarding Supergroup transfers.
I'm so very glad to hear that the team is dedicated to implementing this feature.
I'm very happy to see you mention this feature. I would love to move The Burrow to a more populated server. -VIRTUE- That would help in efforts to actually hold those maze race events; Something Iv'e yet to accomplish due to lack of player population. I would need as many people as I could get, at the very least 20, to hold it the way it should be held.
... that last part didn't sound right.
I'm sure you have seen my posts regarding MMOrgue episode 8, when the host finally did get around to discussing bases or, as it is being identified now in the mmo industry..."Player Housing" things got honest and dismal... but most importantly... honest. Basically player housing is a break from the combat system that allows burned out players to keep an active subscription via creative outlet. In the MMO industry that is life blood. With the proper funding and direction I'd bet my money that updates and improvements to what we have now would ensure the longevity of current subscribers.
back to what was said regarding MMOrgue episode 8
This new feature is a step in the right direction. It's a form of base love, I am all about base love. I wish a warm fuzzy to you. Kudos for finding a way to fit it in the budget!
I have had a few Sg's gen'd before so the /sgrename thing exists, and I'm sure that as with character transfers, a /rename token will be granted as well. /common sense.
Thank you very much Posi.
I greatly appreciate all of your hard work.
I mean that! THANK YOU!
/applaud
Ignoring anyone is a mistake. You might miss something viral to your cause.
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Well, first the catch phrase used was closer to "You keep what you have paid for" than "you won't lose anything (etc.)..."|
Originally Posted by iPirate
Woah woah woah...
One of my main characters is a VEAT. So I decided to go free, I can't play it? What happened to "you won't lose anything you've already unlocked or payed for" Seriously, this could keep me from playing at all |
And neither of those statements are really wrong. You "keep" everything. You don't "lose" anything. But you do lose access to some things. And keeping access, or not losing access, was never promised.
And as mentioned, veteran status can unlock stuff for you. So you may not feel the sting at all.
Actually you don't lose anything you have now at all. At present you pay monthly for access and have no access if you don't. In the future that will still apply to your VEAT character. No change, before you had to pay to play it and after is the same.
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QFT.|
Originally Posted by MrHassenpheffer
This new feature is a step in the right direction. It's a form of base love, I am all about base love. I wish a warm fuzzy to you. Kudos for finding a way to fit it in the budget! |
To be honest, while it -is- a form of base love......and a darn fine feature -should it be implimented-.....I'm of the mind it's a bone that's been tossed our way to shut us up about adding new base items/decorations.
While happy that something has been said by a Dev, I'm still sad that nothing's been done about so many other things that would've pleased a vast majority of current and staying players.
Actually, Hassenfeffer....this is cut and pasted from the webpage that had the MMOrgue interviews.
OK, tell me more about how Cryptic treated Base Builders in COX
City of Heroes was launched in April 2004. Super Group Bases added in the paid expansion, City of Villains in June 2006.
Options: Small, Medium, or Large. Big rooms separated by corridors.
At launch: ~12 walls/ceilings/floors, about a dozen functional items, and ~100 decor items.
5 years later: 8 or so functional items added, removed clipping of placed items.
Once a very active community (chat channels, contests, forum activity)
Cryptic ignored the base building issues until they sold to NCSoft in 2007.
NCSoft continued ignoring it, except to nerf the storage availability. (2500 items, down to 30)
Part of Issue 13 was slated to include lots of base stuff. (DATE?)
When Issue 13 was split into two separate updates, the base features mysteriously vanished from EITHER set of patch notes.
Attempts to get commentary on this were met with silence, or locked threads.
In 2008 a dev named Sunstorm took on the role of Base Building Developer
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=126267
He started a thread asking for some suggestions for additions and improvements to bases, made a few more posts, and then went silent. In October 2009, he posted that hes still working on some stuff for bases. http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?p=2355311
But in December 2009, someone noticed that his forum name was no longer red. That only happens on the forums when a staff member is no longer employed.
- So, what are the primary issues that Bases faced in CoH?
- What role were they supposed to fill, functionality-wise?
- The silence from developers is scary, disappointing, and a lingering dark blotch on their overall PR efforts. Is there anything they could say at this point to make up for these bad decisions?
- Cryptic Studios is now behind Champions Online, which will soon be implementing Hideouts as a form of Player Housing. Do you have any sage words of wisdom for them on the subject, to assist in avoiding the pitfalls of the past?
Overall, that's a very discouraging thing to read. And I did this so that the bolded part would not be taken out of context. Which someone used exclusively. Bad. Do it all, so context can be had, please.
You are absolutely right.
We shouldn't be pulling any punches on this, thing is, I don't want to come across as being hostile, I want to give the team a chance to see what they can or will do before I get all...
Ignoring anyone is a mistake. You might miss something viral to your cause.
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You're kidding, right? Being able to move your base from one server to another is way bigger than anything else they could do for bases right now. Go read the comments in COH: Freedom threads about the VIP server and count how many people mention being able to move their base with them if they transfer. They'd make the majority of people more than happy just by allowing SGs to transfer as well, even if they did nothing else for bases.|
Originally Posted by mercykilling
QFT.
To be honest, while it -is- a form of base love......and a darn fine feature -should it be implimented-.....I'm of the mind it's a bone that's been tossed our way to shut us up about adding new base items/decorations. While happy that something has been said by a Dev, I'm still sad that nothing's been done about so many other things that would've pleased a vast majority of current and staying players. |
Whatever else they may do for bases on top of that either with I21 or in the future would be gravy.
Loose --> not tight.
Lose --> Did not win, misplace, cannot find, subtract.
One extra 'o' makes a big difference.
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I'd say that new items/decorations might well be more likely with COHF if only because they will have a chance to be a revenue stream (or a way to soak up VIP's free points, which is more or less the same thing). I'd be very surprised if they didn't include some in the store at some point. And if they are popular (e.g. profitable), then they will add more.
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Originally Posted by mercykilling
QFT.
I'm of the mind it's a bone that's been tossed our way to shut us up about adding new base items/decorations. |
Always remember, we were Heroes.
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Originally Posted by White Hot Flash
You're kidding, right? Being able to move your base from one server to another is way bigger than anything else they could do for bases right now. Go read the comments in COH: Freedom threads about the VIP server and count how many people mention being able to move their base with them if they transfer. They'd make the majority of people more than happy just by allowing SGs to transfer as well, even if they did nothing else for bases.
Whatever else they may do for bases on top of that either with I21 or in the future would be gravy. |
Don't be daft, they said they are looking into it. That's somewhere below soon in terms of timeliness
Question about teaming for free to play players
Currently, afaik, trial players can not start teams. Will this change with Freedom?
I'd hate to see groups of new players around altas that couldnt form thier own team, while the VIP players were doing lvl 50 trials.
I didnt see mention of teams in the side by side comparsion, so I'm hoping that means no restriction. If it doesn't mean that, then I think you should include making teams in the side by side list.
I don't suffer from altitis, I enjoy every minute of it.
Thank you Devs & Community people for a great game.
So sad to be ending ):
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In the past this team had a reliable record of allowing things to fall into file 13 especially when they would say things like "let me write that down" now we have this little gem...|
Originally Posted by Another_Fan
Don't be daft, they said they are looking into it. That's somewhere below soon in terms of timeliness
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"Supergroup Transfers (Including bases)
This is something we anticipated and are actively working on, but it likely wont be ready for City of Heroes Freedoms launch. We are committing to bringing you this service in the future and it wont be just to the VIP server, it will be between any server. It will likely require the Supergroups Super Leader to actually execute the transfer."
I'm holding onto this: "We are committing to bringing you this service"
That means it's going to happen. Not at first, not up front, but it is going to happen... as in, "not just looking into it" ... a step in the right direction.
"it likely wont be ready for City of Heroes Freedoms launch" Yeah, to be expected, which is going to have people asking "when" and "how long do we wait" which could lead to people saying "its been too long they aren't doing anything!"
If it gets to that point I need to stress how important this is: Don't fall silent.
Don't fall silent after saying "We are committed" don't say "Positron was wrong"
That would be a nightmare and I don't use the word lightly. Keep talking to us, keep those lines of communication open, because the people won't forget.
I can hear the voices now, saying "hey this is Positron, and how are those words going to hold water after all that's happened in the past?"
I seriously doubt that Posi would get peoples hopes up just to dash them to bits. I find it hard to believe he would do something like that deliberately. That's not a move someone that's in the business of making money would make.
I think its viable to link every single failure, or let down to lack of budget.
I want to believe that f2p will provide the funds needed to solve all of this games problems.
All the setbacks, lack of production, all things caused by budget constraints will be a thing of the past.
The leader is only as good as the people under him/her and those people are only as good as their budget, which up to this point, has been anemic.
My stance is to give them some breathing space and let things unfold.
I doubt we will see failure.
I want hope.
Ignoring anyone is a mistake. You might miss something viral to your cause.
Hassen....I HATE to say this since I'm not even a PvP person...but before Issue 13 launched, Positron stated that they were going to have PvP as one of their primary focal points from then on...
NORMALLY I support the devs, but this statement from Positron about being 'committed' to bringing about a NEW feature related to a minority portion of the playerbase when the last time he made a similar statement the followup was a bunch of nothing that the vocal PvP crowd will be all too pleased to remind people of over and over again...in their forum signature sometimes...
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I think he meant it when he said it. Then no one was playing PvP, so it likely stopped making sense to focus on it.
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Originally Posted by Lady_of_Ysgard
Hassen....I HATE to say this since I'm not even a PvP person...but before Issue 13 launched, Positron stated that they were going to have PvP as one of their primary focal points from then on...
NORMALLY I support the devs, but this statement from Positron about being 'committed' to bringing about a NEW feature related to a minority portion of the playerbase when the last time he made a similar statement the followup was a bunch of nothing that the vocal PvP crowd will be all too pleased to remind people of over and over again...in their forum signature sometimes... |
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There was a big stink all around about PVP in the Issue 13 beta. Those in the closed beta broke the NDA and started raising a stink about it on the public forums. They resorted to personal attacks on the devs (making donut jokes about Positron and saying all matter of things about Castle). The community rep, Lighthouse, put his foot in his mouth and lost his job over it.|
Originally Posted by StratoNexus
I think he meant it when he said it. Then no one was playing PvP, so it likely stopped making sense to focus on it.
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I still maintain that Castle had the right idea with virtually every change he made to PVP, but he cranked the dials to 11 when a 3 or 4 would have sufficed. And since the most vocal members of the PVP community were mudslinging the whole time and wouldn't work with the developers, we got the version that rolled out and have only had bugfixes since.
I'm not saying the ENTIRE PVP community was to blame, either--there were several who were calm and polite, if earnest, about their feelings on the new system. But, when you're looking around in the zoo, no one pays attention to the antelopes peacefully eating grass when the monkey cage next door has a poo-flinging fight going on.
Egos were asserted on both sides of the fence, rules were broken on both sides, and feelings were hurt... With that kind of history, are people seriously curious as to why PVP questions get vague dodgey answers?
Of course, I wasn't really participating on either side of the PVP argument in the i13 beta; I was too busy protesting effing Day Jobs. Hate them soooo much...
Main Hero: Chad Gulzow-Man (Victory) 50, 1396 Badges
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Mission Architect arcs: Doctor Brainstorm's An Experiment Gone Awry, Arc ID 2093
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Originally Posted by Nethergoat
it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!
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Originally Posted by Chad Gulzow-Man
There was a big stink all around about PVP in the Issue 13 beta. Those in the closed beta broke the NDA and started raising a stink about it on the public forums. They resorted to personal attacks on the devs (making donut jokes about Positron and saying all matter of things about Castle). The community rep, Lighthouse, put his foot in his mouth and lost his job over it.
I still maintain that Castle had the right idea with virtually every change he made to PVP, but he cranked the dials to 11 when a 3 or 4 would have sufficed. And since the most vocal members of the PVP community were mudslinging the whole time and wouldn't work with the developers, we got the version that rolled out and have only had bugfixes since. |
I agree with a lot of what you said but not the part about PVPer attitudes being the main reason we got what we got. It would take a lot to convince me those changes were not going in no matter what - at least the ones that most people were complaining about, like heal decay, travel suppression, and DR. Hell, the anti-gank code was only pulled because it didn't work.
1) The Latin America IP Block.
Current NCSOFT Store has a regional IP Block on Latin America, to try to force us to buy with the stupid retailer that never updated their store since AE Edition. That problem doesnt happen on the INGAME store, but what you can get there is very limited at moment (no boosters, only slots, server transfers, renames and AE space).
Will the Paragon Points be gated by the NCSOFT STORE (and thus, again discriminating the Latin America and making then not able to pay) or by the INGAME store?
Given that, I believe the problems with regional stores selling only a limited number of things goes away in Freedom: the only thing your regional store has to sell, assuming you are even using the regional store when Freedom launches, is points. Once you have points, your points are no different than my points and should be able to buy the same things without restriction. I can say I know the devs are aware of this issue and have every intent to address it with the new systems in Freedom.
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