Discussion: Freedom Fridays on Facebook!
By
Another_Fan,
Posted on: 2011-06-23 18:09 in News, Events and Announcement Discussion
Unknown_User,
THANK YOU for reposting the info here. You are a hero's hero!
Statesmonkey Sez: Lighten up! It's a game, for Lincoln's sake!
Also: Six years of casual play begins to look an awful lot like one year of hardcore play.
If Freedom goes live in time for the Halloween event, I wonder if there'll be some special costume parts in the Market for it?
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
Quote:
You heard it here second! Towel Cape and Panhandle Helmet will be available for $500!!!! |
Originally Posted by Unknown_User
For example, if we wanted to release a Towel Cape or a Panhandle helmet (NOTE: WE ARENT!! THIS IS JUST AN EXAMPLE!), Paragon would not have to create an accompanying thematic power to justify the release of a Towel Cape or Panhandle helmet.
|
Seriously though...
Quote:
| ...also allows Paragon the Freedom to release items, powers and costume by themselves without having to create a thematic bundle. |
I also hope that this plan works and that they are able to kick out more stuff for us VIPs without charging us for it, as they hope to be able to do.
And thanks a bunch for re-posting all of this, Unknown_User!
@Zethustra
"Now at midnight all the agents and the superhuman crew come out
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan
Quote:
Please, please let a sash be one of those included in one of the costume items for the market and maybe a porcelain mask.
| ...also allows Paragon the Freedom to release items, powers and costume by themselves without having to create a thematic bundle. |
Paragon Unleashed Forums
Twitter: @Alpha_Ryvius
Quote:
Agreed.|
Originally Posted by Obscure Blade
I call it fortunate, not unfortunate. They make much more money by someone staying subbed than they would by any lifetime subscription price people are likely to pay. Offering lifetime subs for a mature game like this one would reek of trying to con people out of a bit more of their money just before it shuts down. You could probably accurately predict when the shutdown would come just by calculating how many months it would take for the amount of money made by a subscription to pass that of a "lifetime" subscriber.
|
I've never understood the desire, on the part of players, for a lifetime subscription. It's bad for the game you're playing, and therefore, possibly a very bad investment. Sure, in hindsight, I could have saved money if CoH had offered a lifetime sub up front, and I had taken advantage of it, instead of maintaining my sub for the last 7+ years. However, if they HAD, chances are good the game would have died by now - or several years ago, would have been forced into a micro-transaction business model, so that I'd be paying for stuff, even though I'd bought a lifetime sub.
Look at it this way - a bunch of people buy lifetime subs when the game launches. Two years go by. The majority of players left playing the game are lifetime subs. So, the publisher has very little regular income from the game anymore, and they've used up the giant influx of cash they got at the beginning (chances are, this was all spent to pay off development debts, anyway). How do they keep paying staff to work on continued development of the game? Either, 1) they don't, and new content slows to a trickle, or 2) they go free-to-play, to get new players, with a micro-transaction model that gets more money out of their lifetime subs.
Look at it another way - it provides a financial disincentive for the developer to continue quality development. They get a giant paycheck at launch, and less revenue coming in over time. If I'm the executives of that company, looking at the bottom line, it tells me, "drop development staff to a minimum after a game launches, and move staff over to "New Game X" - in other words, do more launches, but don't support the games as well after launch. Sound like another developer you've heard of?
Like a Runaway Train!
SS's Crey Profile
SS's Virtue Handbook Page
Liberty League: Leave the Justice to Us!
Good <insert time of day in your region here>, everyone! Freedom Friday's about to start up. Today's topic will be player tiers: Free, Premium, and VIP. We'll be taking questions until 11 a.m. Pacific for this first Q&A session, followed by another at 1 p.m. Pacific to 3 p.m. Pacific. So come and ask your questions on Facebook!
Part 2 of today's Freedom Friday will begin in just a sec! Keep your eyes on Facebook!
Quote:
I know I'm a week late commenting, but the answer quoted above is a bunch of baloney. |
Originally Posted by Unknown_User
City of Heroes Freedom not only allows players the “Freedom” to pick and choose items, powers and costumes that *they* want, but it also allows Paragon the Freedom to release items, powers and costume by themselves without having to create a “thematic” bundle.
For example, if we wanted to release a Towel Cape or a Panhandle helmet (NOTE: WE AREN’T!! THIS IS JUST AN EXAMPLE!), Paragon would not have to create an accompanying thematic power to “justify” the release of a Towel Cape or Panhandle helmet. |
If you wanted to release a Towel Cape or Panhandle helmet, or whatever other costume pieces you can think up, you could just throw them in one of the issues and release them. I don't think anyone playing the game would complain if we got a bunch of random new costume pieces in an issue without a "theme" tying them together.
You're saying this because, as many predicted two years ago, you've moved further and further away from providing new costume pieces for free and in order to charge us for them, you have to "package" them.
So let's all be honest here - the last sentence of the above quote should read, "...Paragon would not have to create an accompanying thematic power to 'justify' [charging our customers for] a Towel Cape or Panhadle helmet."
(Sometimes, I wish there could be a Dev thumbs up button for quality posts, because you pretty much nailed it.) -- Ghost Falcon
Quote:
you do know they have to pay people to make the stuff right? You do know ad well that given tissue economy your 15 dollars doesn't cover all that anymore right?
|
Originally Posted by mousedroid
I know I'm a week late commenting, but the answer quoted above is a bunch of baloney.
If you wanted to release a Towel Cape or Panhandle helmet, or whatever other costume pieces you can think up, you could just throw them in one of the issues and release them. I don't think anyone playing the game would complain if we got a bunch of random new costume pieces in an issue without a "theme" tying them together. You're saying this because, as many predicted two years ago, you've moved further and further away from providing new costume pieces for free and in order to charge us for them, you have to "package" them. So let's all be honest here - the last sentence of the above quote should read, "...Paragon would not have to create an accompanying thematic power to 'justify' [charging our customers for] a Towel Cape or Panhadle helmet." |
Here’s the transcript for part 1 of today’s CoH Freedom Friday Facebook Q and A. The topic is player tiers (Free, Premium, VIP). Again these are only the questions answered by the CoH Team not by other Facebook members.
Q. Will old unactive accounts be automatically playable when Freedom comes out?
A. Yes!
Q. Is the only way to become Premium to have been a previous VIP subscribe?
A. You can become a Premium player by either having been a subscriber OR if you’re a Free player who chooses to purchase content through the Paragon Market
Q. Why are there no steamponys?! They look amazing and now the steam punk pack is out it would be even better. Please!!! I’m begging and I known Beastly would agree!!
A. No steamponies is a Nemesis plot.
Q. If someone already owns Going Rogue and their account goes into “Premium” status, will they still be able to play on Incarnate trial and GR content?
A. Incarnate content will be VIP only
Q. What is the VIP server going to be called? Or is it just “VIP server”?
A. We haven’t announced the name yet. We can confirm that it will not be “FREEEM”
Q. If we refer friends through the referral program, will they start off as Free or Premium?
A. It depends if your friends were former players or not 
Q. You’ve mentioned that VIP Players can go through special story arcs every week as part of their VIP Experience. Will the special story arcs involve just the canon superheroes (Statesman, Etc), or will other story arcs be available?
A. VIP subscriptions will receive signature story arcs as part of their subscription every month, not every week . As much as we’d like to do that, stories take time to write and we can’t chain Doc Aeon to his desk for much longer. Sig Story Arcs will allow you to play alongside signature characters.
Q. As a free account holder when you buy something from the Paragon Market and become a premium account holder do you remain as the premium or after a time period resort back to the free
A. Let’s clarify something really quickly Free = Completely new, never played before. Premium is most likely going to be folks that are not paying subscription (Playing for FREE) but who are returning, or players who chose ala carte services. VIP is what you would consider a traditional subscriber.
If you had those slots as part of GR, or purchased some previously, or earned them through vet rewards, you’ll still have them.
Q. For those of us with lots of chars already, will we get to choose two existing chars to play OR will we have to make two new chars?
A. If you’re currently a subscriber and you decide to let your VIP subscription lapse, you’ll become a Premium Player. As a Premium player you may have more than just two global slots depending on any rewards or slots you’ve purchased; you will be able to assign characters to these slots so long as they’re valid. (For example, depending on how long you were a VIP you may or may not have access to controllers, masterminds, HEATS or VEATS)
Q. With Galaxy City turning into the tutorial zone, what will happen to the current exploration badges earned in that zone. In other words, will they still be able to be collected in the tutorial?
A. Exploration badges will be available in an Echo of Galaxy City which will be accessible through Oroborous (which we’re also lower the level requirement for).
Q. I would assume that the Premium Players would be those that continue paying the current monthly fee, correct? Also, I do believe those premium players should still have access to all of their current characters, yes? They would also have access to all areas of Paragon world as well as those new extras…
A. Premium players are former subscribers who have chosen to not pay a monthly fee. Those who do pay a monthly subscription are VIP players. As a VIP player you will have access to all the content you currently have in the game, and more!
Q. As a VIP subscriber, can monthly server transfers be stacked? i.e. say I don’t do any transfers for 6 months, will I have 6 free server transfers?
A. Server transfer tokens will stack. You can save them up and use them when you see fit.
Q. Will I continue to get the paid player every third month veteran rewards even if I no longer pay?
A. You’ll find out about that when we release more information on the Paragon Rewards Program .
Q. How come when I fly my character doesn’t fly in Arcs just straight lines? And why can I not ever use any weapons I find in the streets. If a hellion hits me with a bat, I want to use it and hit him with it, but I can’t pick it up.
A. Go.Hunt.Kill Skuls.
Q. 400 paragon points for being a vip, is that a 1 time 400 points or is it retroactive for every month we have previously paid?
A. Beginning this month, subscribers will receive a stipend of 400 paragon points. This way when City of Heroes Freedom launches, VIP players will have a good starting amount of Paragon Points! VIP players will continue to receive 400 Paragon Points each month as long as they’re subscribed. These points will stack and never expire.
Q. As a free account holder when you buy something from the Paragon Market and become a premium account holder do you remain as the premium or after a time period resort back to the free
A. If you are a Free Player and purchase something in the Paragon Market to become a Premium player, you will always remain a Premium player.
Q. Will free players still top out at level 50, or will they be constrained to something lower? (I ask because CoH/CoV both capped at 40 when they were initially released)
A. Free players will indeed be able to play up to 50 and will have access to around 80% of the games content!
Q. Given the fact that Incarnate content is VIP only, if someone had a VIP account with a character that had Incarnate abilities unlocked and slotted, and their account happens to lapse, does said character lose their incarnate abilities?
A. You won’t lose the powers, however you won’t be able to use them (they’ll be greyed out).
Q. Only questions I have are this, what is the nature of time manipulation, what kind of damage does it do (if any), and is it a controlling set or buff/debuff set.
A. We’ll be talking about other topics like powersets another day. For now let’s stick to the topic of Free vs. Premium vs. VIP. Thanks!
Q. So for a Free player to become a Premium they have to buy the Premium membership from the Paragon Market, as I understand it?
A. Nope, Free players will become premium based on a number of factors, only one of which is making any purchase through the Paragon Market.
Q. For Premium players I recognize we will start with2 character slots. For those of us with many characters how will we know which characters we will be given?
A. Premium Players get two character slots *starting*. As a Premium player, you may be entitled to other character slots:
- One additional character slot for each year you were subscribed to City of Heroes
- If you purchased Going Rogue before Freedom’s launch, you will get 2 additional character slots
- Plus any character slots you have purchased
You’ll receive what are called Global Character Slot Tokens, which you can then assign characters to, with some restrictions. So you will choose which characters to put on those tokens.
Q. I played the game before loved it but I don’t want to pay for it or buy it could u make the game free except when u have to buy the dvd?
A. http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/fre..._overview.html Enjoy
Q. Will Galaxy City replace Outbreak (i.e instanced tutorial and not a “real” zone during the “real” game) and is there/have you announced a villain equivalent?
A. The new Galaxy City tutorial will replace both Outbreak AND Breakout. During the new tutorial, you will make the choice between being a hero or a villain
Q. When will Freedom launch?
A. Later this year.
Q. Why are you answering questions here that you have already answered elsewhere? It leaves those of us who can read with no incentive to keep participating in this.
A. Because a large number of players who don’t currently play CoH don’t read the forums but check Facebook regularly. This is a great way for them to get answers they otherwise wouldn’t have access to.
Q. It was said that there’d be a 400pp fee for Free/Premium players to access them. Is this a one-time fee or a per-month fee?
A. Each Signature Story arc will be 400 Paragon Points – you will purchase them by arc. Once you’ve purchased an arc as a premium player you will always have access to it, however if you want to access NEW arcs you would have to purchase those for 400 paragon points each.
Q. From what I can make out from the overview. Free, Premium players can purchase items that are normally free for VIPs. Will there be things that will be exclusive to VIP players, and not made available to free and premium players through the Paragon Market?
A. We haven’t determined if there’s going to be VIP exclusive content, however the value of what will actually be included with the VIP subscription is pretty darned exclusive .
Q. Will those of us that have been playing for a long time be grandfathered into premium accounts? (may have been answered before)
A. Yes! If you were ever a subscriber and you choose not to subscribe, you will be a premium player!
Q. Will Free/Premium players have forum access?
A. Free and Premium players will have read-only access to the forums.
Q. There is already confirmed to be VIP-only content, and that is Incarnate Content, Right?
A. Whoops! That completely slipped our mind! So yes, you are correct. As of right now, all Incarnate content is VIP only! Good catch and thanks!
Q. What about any unclaimed vet reward powers/costume changes/respecs. With us going to a new reward system will any old “unclaimed rewards” be affected? Or will there still be a pull down window with the vet reward list to claim them when we want them
A. There will be more information about that when we talk more about the Paragon Rewards Program .
Q. for us old players that have lots and lots of characters but stopped paying to play, will we be able to gain access to our characters, or purchase more character slots?
A. Premium players will have Global Character Slot Tokens to assign characters to, with some restrictions. The number of Global Character Slot tokens you have to assign depends: as a premium player you’ll have two starting Tokens, plus one for every year you subscribed to City of Heores,plus two if you purchased Going Rogue before COHF launches. If you have ever purchased character slots, these will become Global Character Slot Tokens.
Q. @Beastly – I know that’s you!!! Lets stage a revolt. NO MORE COH UNTIL WE GET OUR DAMN STEAMPONEHS.
A. it could be either Zwillinger or Beastyle answering right now! And nice mustache .
Q. What about like buying coh/cov and we got character slots for that also. Will we be able to keep those also?
A. Global Character Slot Tokens will be given for any veteran rewards, 2 character slots if you’ve purchased Going Rogue, and any character slot purchases.
Q. Will you be able to buy the “premium” powersets as well? Or are those VIP only?
A. Powersets will be purchasable in the Paragon Market for Free and Premium Players.
Q. @Zwil/Beast Why Thank you. I we got them out for Super Ready’s birthday. Nuts huh. 
(don’t think this is over young man!!)
A. How sweet! You called me young! –Z
Q. I read the “free” services description, and I feel it’s pretty limited in it’s nature. Wouldn’t a more accurate description be “unlimited trial version”. because honestly it’s not the whole experience of COH. I have many many characters sitting on an inactive account, and I don’t see my incentive to come back (even for free), if I don’t have access to most of them, or their rewards. The only way to have full access is to continue paying the sub fee correct?
A. Free Players will receive more than just a “trial” experience. They’ll be able to reach level 50, and have access to 80% of City of Heroes content: that’s seven years--thousands of hours—of content!
Q. From the overview VIP players will get premium in-game support. Let’s say that a VIP player joins a friend, that is on a free to play account, in a mission. They encounter a mission bug. Can the VIP use his premium in-game support for that mission, or because the mission belongs to a player on a free account it would have to go through whatever channels that a free/premium has to go through?
A. Generally speaking we can’t speak to very specific Customer Service related questions, as this is the Community Team that answers these questions. As a rule of thumb though, VIP players should have access to VIP in-game support in almost every situation.
Q. I collected various character slots over the years. Should I downgrade from paid to not paid. How many characters do I get to keep, and how do I select which ones I want to use?
A. As a Premium player, you’ll start with 2 Global Character Slot Tokens, and receive one for every year you’ve subscribed to City of Heroes, plus 2 if you’ve purchased Going Rogue, plus any character slots you’ve purchased. You’ll be able to assign characters to these slots, with some AT restrictions (that you can unlock)
Q. Will free player accounts be held from entering certain zones in the game?
A. Free players will have access to all zones in City of Heroes/City of Villains. Areas like Praetoria, however, which were a part of Going Rogue, will not be accessible to Free players.
Q. It seems silly that previous players with lots of alts won’t be able to use all those alts on free/premium. Will there be any way for free/premium users to buy or earn more slots besides vet rewards, buying Going Rogue, or previous slot purchase. Ex, you can still buy more slots just like you can now?
A. Yes you will still be able to purchase more character slots from the Paragon Market.
Q. Can we mount Free players?
A. There will be no “Ride Free Player” travel power for VIPs
Q. Since free players will have limited communication channels (local & team), rather than clogging up the Help Channel, will there be a new Global Auto-Join channel (similar to the Help channel) that will be used that *all* players can chat in?
A. There are no current plans for the implementation of a global channel to be used by Free players aside from the /help channel
Q. Then can we VIP’s be allowed to let free players ride us?
A. There will be no “Ride VIP player” travel power for Free players, either
Q. This may have already been covered. If so please just provide me with the link. But what is the price difference for the various levels? And if you have a paid account what level will it translate to?
A. The three price levels are as follows:
-Free players: These are players who have never subscribed, and have never purchased anything from the Paragon Market.
-Premium players: Players who are either former subscribers, or Free players who have purchased something from the Paragon Market. The lowest amount you can spend to become a Premium player is $5 USD, for 400 Paragon Points
-VIP players: Players who pay a monthly subscription. This will be the exact same price as
the current monthly subscription. If you are currently subscribing to City of Heroes, you will become a VIP.
Paragon Unleashed Forums
Twitter: @Alpha_Ryvius
Here's part 2
Q. Is there any reason any player who has ever paid any amount of real-money for anything on their account would be moved back down to "Free"? As a related question, for clarity's sake - Every player who has ever paid for a month or more of City of Heroes to date would be considered a "Premium" player, going forward, correct?
A. If you have ever paid for anything in City of Heroes, whether it's a subscription, a booster pack, character slots, etc., you will be a Premium player. You will never be moved down to "Free." Free players are brand new players to the game who have never subscribed and have not purchased anything from the Paragon Market.
Q. Whats the diff between premium and VIP? I haven't had much time to research because I work alot.
A. VIP players get the same benefits that current subscribers do, plus more with City of Heroes Freedom. VIP subscription will cost the same price as current subscription. Premium players are players who were either previous subscribers OR Free players who've purchased something in the Paragon Market. Premium players will get many of the features VIP players enjoy, with some limitations. For a full look at the differences, see the side-by-side comparison here: http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/fr...#8203;ces.html
Q. if my account is inactive when freedom launches and it moves to free do i lose my booster pack costumes and vet rewards? and would i lose any toons.
A. You will never LOSE anything you've purchased. If you become a Premium player (you stop subscribing), you will still have access to things you purchased, such as booster pack costume pieces. You will also never 'lose' your toons; however, depending on the number of Global Character Slot Tokens you have you will only be able to play a few of them. The toons you do not use Global Character Select Tokens on will not be deleted, but you will not be able to access them.
Q. Where's the paragon points? On ncsoft or in the game its self?
A. Paragon Points discussion was last Friday, but just as a refresher you cannot yet see your Paragon Points. You will be able to see them in the Paragon Market once Freedom launches.
Let's try to keep this discussion to player tiers, please. Thanks!
Q. What happens to the characters of players who let their accounts lapse who exceed the maximum character count of Premium accounts? Will they get to choose who to keep? I have friends who are considering returning, but won't if they can't -- or worse, if their characters are deleted for exceeding a maximum.
A. If you let your account lapse and become a Premium player, you will have access to a number of character slots based on veteran rewards and things you've purchased. (If you purchased Going Rogue before Freedom launches that's two slots, if you have purchased any character slots you keep them) You can assign characters up to the number of these slots. Any characters that exceed this number will be 'dormant'; they will never be deleted.
Q. haven't played in a while and..i'm just asking atm..there is a way for playing coh for free?
with or without the monthly fee? thank you.
A. Yes, that's one of the biggest aspects of City of Heroes Freedom! If you choose, you will not have to pay a monthly fee when City of Heroes Freedom launches later this year. You can play 80% of City of Heroes' seven years of content without paying a subscription if you choose. Since you've played before, you'd become a Premium player, with some rewards and benefits.
Q. Of the things you keep when you switch from my current subscription to the premium member will i get to keep going rogue AND the expansions I already have AND the incarnate content?
A. As a Premium player who owns Going Rogue, you will have access to Going Rogue. Incarnate content is VIP only.
Q. Any date set for it yet?
A. City of Heroes Freedom will launch later this year!
Q. What happens if you're a lapsed player but have far more than just 2 characters? Are those considered "Unlocked"?
A. As a Premium player you'll likely have more than the 2 starting slots, however any characters you have above the total number of character slots you have (let's say you've got 12 characters, but only 5 slots as a Premium player), then you can assign 5 characters to those slots and the other 7 would be inactive.
Q. What's your favorite benefit of being a VIP?
A. Not only will you have access to all the great content City of Heroes has to offer currently, but you'll get even MORE value as a VIP! That's the best part.
CoH - To those of you asking about level pacts, we'll talk about that more in the future.
Q. Would a non-VIP player be able to purchase the right to access SGs or Incarnate content?
A. Incarnate content will be VIP only; you will not be able to purchase Incarnate content as a Premium player.
Q. Also, what does the "Limited" mean under Premium for Architect content?
A. For Premium players, depending on your Paragon Rewards Program status, you may be able to earn rewards and XP while playing Mission Architect arcs. You might also be able to publish your own MA arcs. (Again, based on Paragon Rewards)
Q. Here is a question I haven't really seen adressed completely. If I have a MM or Contoller as a VIP and it drops to premium will I lose access to this character? If so what if I purchased the coning rogue expansion, since a common statement is we dont lose anything we paid for?
A. It depends on your Paragon Rewards status. If you have enough Paragon Rewards Tokens (about 3 years of veteran status), you will have enough points to automatically unlock access to Controllers and Masterminds as a Premium player. You also have the option of unlocking Controllers and Masterminds through the Paragon Market.
Q. If you go from VIP to Premium do the incarnate abilities become inactive on your characters or is it just inaccessable?
A. If you have a toon with Incarnate abilities and you become a Premium player, those abilities will be greyed out. (You will not be able to use them)
Q. Will players who pay to play with game cards be able to be Premium and VIP member?
A. We're still ironing out the details for Game Time Cards. We'll be talking about them more at a later date.
Q. According to the feature table, only VIP players can post to the forum. Why is that? The official forum is the best place to get peer support and to offer feedback. It makes not sense to me that free and premium players will be denied that.
A. Free players will not have the capability to post on the forums. If they'd like to read, they're able to do so, as all players will have read access, however when it comes to protecting our existing Community, we will always err on the side of caution.
CoH - We're not interested in exposing our VIP/Current Community to elements who would use unfettered forum access to grief other players.
Q. Why not a separate forum then? It seems to work for Everquest II.
A. we'll certainly take that suggestion under consideration, however at this time this is not something we are plan on offering.
Q, Ok, so I want to go the ViP Server with my scrapper, however, I know that the moment I move him over with our "1 Free Transfer a Month" (ViP) It will be like stepping into a desert town with the tumbleweed >.> From what I can see it may turn out to be like the Justice server where half the population is in the crowded servers like Freedom and Virtue.
***My question is, will there be an incentive for those who move to this new server? And if not, maybe you should bring it up to someone.***
A. While there are no 'incentives' per se in joining the VIP server, if you're inclined to play on the VIP server you will be joining a brand new server, which means that character and SG names will be up for grabs, and you'll be able to have a hand in shaping the server's 'identity.'
Q. Correct me if wrong, but arent non-VIPs limited in their Invention system access?
A. Yes, non-VIP players will have limited access to the invention system.
Q. What about HEAT's and VEAT's? Any word on how they are unlocked or if they can only be purchased?
A. HEATs and VEATs will be purchasable for Premium and Free players. They are not associated with Paragon Rewards Tokens.
Q. Can you describe the exact limitations for premium players on auctions, mission architect and inventions?
A. For Mission Architect, VIP players will have the exact same experience. Premium players, depending on their Paragon Reward status, may be able to earn rewards and XP while playing through Mission Architect arcs, and might also be able to publish their own arcs. Free players will have access to Mission Architect, but will not earn rewards or XP.
Q. Can you describe the exact limitations for premium players on auctions, mission architect and inventions?
A. We'll be discussing the specifics of the Invention system at a later time.
CoH - Just a clarification, Free players will have access to Mission Architect arcs, but will not earn rewards or XP. They will not be able to publish their own arcs.
Q. I played City of Heroes for a long time, maybe 6 years or so, but had to stop playing due to financial issues. Can I play again free on my old account, or would I have to make a new account? If I understand this correctly, since I've bought things on my old account, that would make it Premium, right? Thanks!
A. You will be able to play without a subscription on your old account, and yes, you would be a Premium player!
Q. Do you know when the exact release date may be?
A. City of Heroes Freedom will launch later this year.
Q. Will there be a limit to the number of costume slots that players can have for Frees and Premiums?
A. Free players will have two Global Character Slot Tokens. This means that they will have two character slots *total*. Premium Players will start with two Global Character Slot Tokens, but will also have additional tokens for rewards and purchases. For each year you have subscribed to City of Heroes, you will have one additional GCS Token. If you purchased Going Rogue before City of Heroes Freedom launches, you will receive the 2 slots from Going Rogue. You will also keep any character slots you have purchased; these will become Global Character Slot Tokens. Of course, you can always purchase more character slots through the Paragon Market--there is no limit.
Q. What happens if I reactivate my 4-+month vet acct as a free?
A. As Chad mentioned, you will be a Premium player. Anyone who has ever been a subscriber, or who spends money in the Paragon Market, will become a Premium player.
Q. How will the premium in-game support system for VIPs be compared to the current in-game support we have?
A. VIP players will have a direct line to customer support. This will be LIVE support to assist you with your issues.
Q. Psst, Beast/Z... Edgar's question was about COSTUME slots, not character slots.
Q. I was asking about Costume slots, as in outfits. This other superhero mmorpg sells costume slots, and I was concerned that the same thing would happen with City of Heroes Freedom.
A.Whoops, thanks for catching that! With regard to COSTUME slots, all players will be able to earn the current number of costume slots in-game.
Q. Howdy! What will i have access to in the mission architect with a premium account?
A. As a Premium player you will have access to Mission Architect arcs, and depending on your Paragon Rewards status you may be able to earn rewards/XP while playing them, and even publish your own arcs.
Q. A question I asked the last time, but got no answer (maybe the devs don't know and it's NCsoft): if I have a game time key will I be able to use it after Freedom launches to get VIP status, or will the billing system change and I need to use it before Freedom launch?
A. We'll be discussing more about game time keys in the future.
CoH - And that wraps it up for today's Freedom Friday on Facebook! Thanks to everyone for the questions, and to those of you in the community who also posted answers along with us here at Paragon Studios! We'll see you next Friday for more Freedom Fridays!
Paragon Unleashed Forums
Twitter: @Alpha_Ryvius
You are the man, U_U.
Main Hero: Chad Gulzow-Man (Victory) 50, 1396 Badges
Main Villain: Evil Gulzow-Man (Victory) 50, 1193 Badges
Mission Architect arcs: Doctor Brainstorm's An Experiment Gone Awry, Arc ID 2093
-----
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Nethergoat
it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!
|
Quote:
By rewards I'm assuming it's meant tickets/insps, and in the case of playing a Dev Choice arc on the normal loot setting, standard drops.| A. For Premium players, depending on your Paragon Rewards Program status, you may be able to earn rewards and XP while playing Mission Architect arcs. You might also be able to publish your own MA arcs. (Again, based on Paragon Rewards) |
Or is the standard drop option going to be allowed for all MA arcs?
I don't expect this to be the case, I'd just like to clear up confusion.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by reiella
Until I see something that states to the contrary, going to assume VK is right
. |
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Unknown_User
Q. When will Freedom launch?
|
Quote:
| Q. Any date set for it yet? |
Quote:
| Q. Do you know when the exact release date may be? |
Paragon City Search And Rescue
The Mentor Project
Quote:
Later this year |
Originally Posted by Ironblade
I have a bold, new question. When will this launch?
|
, but seriously I like how they're stating what topics they are willing to answer on the Q&As but maybe posting a list of the common multiple questions that were asked over and over might probably curb some of the repeat questions. Something like "Welcome to another Freedom Friday Folks! Today's topic of discussion is [insert name of topic]. Also we have a list of a questions that we see frequently here on Freedom Fridays Q&As, and along with them our current answers for them."
Paragon Unleashed Forums
Twitter: @Alpha_Ryvius
the thing that stuck out to me was that they are lowering the min lvl to get into ouro, which will be a godsend
It's Friday once again, and to kick off the weekend it's another Freedom Friday on Facebook! Today we're going to be talking about: Power Set Proliferation 3.0! Do you have any questions about this new round of proliferation? Or, in something completely new for a Freedom Friday, how about toon concepts you're looking forward to making? You can post those too!
Facebook post will be up in just a second, so keep your finger on that F5 button!
Can everyone please pester them with questions about the lack of dom proliferation? I have a feeling a fair number of people would appreciate some sort of straight answer on that, rather than a vague 'Soon(tm)'.
@MuonNeutrino
Student, Gamer, Altaholic, and future Astronomer.
This is what it means to be a tank!
Quote:
It's attitudes like these that cause Devs to shy away from a playerbase and not interact with them at all.|
Originally Posted by Muon_Neutrino
Can everyone please pester them with questions about the lack of dom proliferation? I have a feeling a fair number of people would appreciate some sort of straight answer on that, rather than a vague 'Soon(tm)'.
|
'Pester'? Not accepting 'soon' as an answer especially when the 'soon' we got was a 'definitely in the pipeline' soon?
Petulant.
Speeding Through New DA Repeatables || Spreadsheet o' Enhancements || Zombie Skins: better skins for these forums || Guide to Guides
Quote:
Perhaps. But the simple fact is that, until things are close enough to finished that the devs can reliably set dates, all you're going to get is "soon".
|
Originally Posted by Muon_Neutrino
I have a feeling a fair number of people would appreciate some sort of straight answer on that, rather than a vague 'Soon(tm)'.
|
Paragon City Search And Rescue
The Mentor Project
I am concerned that the negativity of a fair number of people during these Facebook events is actually making these events less than helpful as a marketing tool. This makes me sad. 
Why Blasters? Empathy Sucks.
So, you want to be Mental?
What the hell? Let's buff defenders.
Tactics are for those who do not have a big enough hammer. Wisdom is knowing how big your hammer is.
I dunno. I didn't see a lot of negativity in this one. There were quite a few repeats/variations of "why no Dom love?" which were answered with the standard "we've got plans for Doms that will come after the launch of i21."
Mostly it was people wishing that Brutes and Scrappers got Ice/Ice or Scrappers got Super Strength. I'd kind of hoped there would be more people talking about builds they'd like to make using the proliferated sets, as per the suggestion in the thread title, but it is what it is.
I DO think that proliferation might have been too narrow a field for questions this week, though... especially since next week, the majority of the team (that can post, anyway) will be busy with Comic Con.
Main Hero: Chad Gulzow-Man (Victory) 50, 1396 Badges
Main Villain: Evil Gulzow-Man (Victory) 50, 1193 Badges
Mission Architect arcs: Doctor Brainstorm's An Experiment Gone Awry, Arc ID 2093
-----
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Nethergoat
it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!
|
One cool thing that did get posted... the current incarnation of Blaster's Dark Manipulation contains the following powers:
Penumbral Grasp, Smite, Death Shroud, Shadow Maul, Soul Drain, Touch of Fear, Dark Consumption, Dark Pit and Midnight Grasp.
(Of course, the order or even the powers themselves may be changed prior to open beta.)
Main Hero: Chad Gulzow-Man (Victory) 50, 1396 Badges
Main Villain: Evil Gulzow-Man (Victory) 50, 1193 Badges
Mission Architect arcs: Doctor Brainstorm's An Experiment Gone Awry, Arc ID 2093
-----
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Nethergoat
it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!
|
Quote:
I know they have to be vague about dates, but I'd like a hint or two about exactly what they've got planned for Doms. Even if it's nothing more than a powerset name or screenshot we can speculate madly about. |
Originally Posted by Ironblade
Perhaps. But the simple fact is that, until things are close enough to finished that the devs can reliably set dates, all you're going to get is "soon".
|
Arc #40529 : The Furies of the Earth
No problem it was something to do while I was at work, and here's part 2 of today's CoH Freedom Q&A. This was better than the 1st one. Telling people what the topic of today's discussion was, The Paragon Points system, and trying to keep things on track as best as they could.
Q. VIPs will start earning points in July, what will we have to buy with them that won't already be included with being a VIP?
A. We haven't announced everything that will be in the Paragon Market at Freedom's launch, but you can get a good idea of some of the things to look forward to in Ghost Falcon's forum thread: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=264018 Also, players will be able to check out the Paragon Market later this year with the I21 beta!
Q. how will purchasing veteran rewards work? price wise, what's the increment you can buy them in, etc?
A. We'll be discussing more specifics about things you can purchase in the Paragon Market in the future.
Q. Will all purchases be solid unlocks or are you going the consumable route?
A. There will be both unlocks, as well as items that have a one-time use.
Q. Will unlocks be account wide, or will some be per character?
A. Certain items in the Paragon Market, such as costume pieces, will be account-wide. Other items will be single-character use.
Q. Is there a tread for what WILL be included for VIPs?
A. There is a side-by-side comparison that shows some of the things VIPs will get here: http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/fre...r_choices.html As the topic of this Freedom Friday is about Paragon Points, please note that starting this month, all VIP players (subscribers) will begin receiving a stipend of 400 Paragon Points per month!
Q. How much will say 100 paragon points buy? A costume piece? An emote? And what will say 1000 paragon points buy? A new power set or something really big and cool like such?
A. Currently, the target prices for something like a costume piece might be between 20-100 points. A bundle of costume pieces, such as the Magic Costume Set, might cost you 400 Paragon Points. The target price for an emote might be 40 Paragon Points. These are just examples, and prices are subject to change.
Q. do the 400 Paragon Points per month for VIPs expire at the end of the month or do they stack?
A. The points will stack, and you will never lose points--even if you switch to being a Premium player instead of a VIP player. Beginning this month subscribers can build up their Paragon Points before City of Heroes Freedom launches!
Q. How will the transition to F2P and tiered membership affect level pacting? E.G. I assume that VIP will be able to create and maintain with other VIP members, but what about Premium or Regular players. Will they be able to pact, and if not, will level pacts be broken if one account drops from a VIP status? (as in the way it works now) Also, will the max level for creating a pact be raised above 5?
A. Certain questions we can't answer right now because we're still rolling out information. We'll try and let you know what things we can and can not answer. For today's Freedom Friday, please try and keep all questions limited to Paragon Points.
Q. As there is quite a bit to read, did I read that paragon points start accumulating sometime this month? I know I saw a July date for something, I just cant remember what it was =)
A. That's right! Starting this month, subscribers will begin receiving their stipend of 400 Paragon Points per month. This way, when the Paragon Market goes live, you'll already have points built up!
CoH - Regarding the gifting suggestion, there are currently no plans for it, however we are aware that it's being requested.
Q. Will new Base Items be available for purchase with Paragon Points? Can we spend points to extend our VIP time? If we spend the points, could a character have all four Veteran Attack Powers? (Sands of Mu, Ghost Slaying Axe, Nemesis Staff, and Blackwand?)
A. At this time we are not planning on allowing customers to purchase VIP Subscription time with Paragon Points.
Q. Anything crazy planned? Like buying levels or in-game item packs (like a full IO set) ?
A. There are no plans at this time to allow customers to purchase levels, i.e. There are no plans to create an Instant Level 50 or Instant Level 25 character Microtransaction service.
Q.Is there plans to convert Paragon Points into something else? For example use saved up points to use for additional play time?
A.There are no plans to allow players to use Paragon Points to purchase VIP subsciption time.
Q. My concern is this will spell the end of free updates to the game for things like costumes, and emotes, as they will all get funneled into this new system. Is there anything you can do the waylay my concerns on this?
Q. my concern is that the trend will hit where most of the content released in an issue will be a couple adventures for each tier, the VIP Content (new trial or adventure) and then store content. They will panacea us with "well you got all this cool stuff already" or "use your paragon points from your VIP subscription!" but it will be in the end us purchasing the items from microtransaction. I dislike that idea for City whose primary attraction has always been the costume editor, and the ability to make your hero look as you please, but the pattern has been in place for awhile with booster packs, and unlockable content. I just want to know that we will still get costume updates, without having to microtransaction or grind our brains out...
A. With future Issues, Paragon plans to always support the introduction of free updates for VIP customers, because our VIP customers will always continue to be the cornerstone of our business. VIP Customers will receive a lot of various content at no additional cost including, but not limited to, Signature Story Arcs, Incarnate Content, new costume pieces and power sets.
City of Heroes Freedom not only allows players the Freedom to pick and choose items, powers and costumes that *they* want, but it also allows Paragon the Freedom to release items, powers and costume by themselves without having to create a thematic bundle.
For example, if we wanted to release a Towel Cape or a Panhandle helmet (NOTE: WE ARENT!! THIS IS JUST AN EXAMPLE!), Paragon would not have to create an accompanying thematic power to justify the release of a Towel Cape or Panhandle helmet.
Q. So aside from subscribing and having a credit card on file. What other ways can players purchase additional points? Can additional Paragon Points be purchased via PayPal transaction, check or money order purchase, or is it a straight up credit/debit card transaction for Paragon Point purchases?
A.We will be offering various ways to purchase Paragon Points, including credit/debit cards and PayPal.
Q. where will thes points accumulate,, in other words,, where can I see them?
A. You'll be able to see your point balance in the Paragon Market once Freedom launches. You'll have a chance to acquaint yourself with the Paragon Market layout during the I21 beta later this year!
Q. You all mentioned that we start earning points as of today. I understand that we cannot use them yet, but like this person's question, will be be able to see them once earned?
A. You will not be able to see your Paragon Points just yet. When the Paragon Market opens, you'll be able to see your balance.
Q. Is there a cap on how many Paragon Points an account can have?
A. No, there is no cap on how many Paragon Points you can have.
Paragon Unleashed Forums
Twitter: @Alpha_Ryvius