Discussion: The Intrepid Informer: Issue #14

Introduction
by Cord "Think_Tank" Carney

Hi Folks,

My name is Cord "Think_Tank" Carney and if you have never heard of me, it's alright! I've only been a World Designer here at Paragon Studios for the past few months.

I got into the games industry a little over 5 years ago and it was very much a matter of being at the right place at the right time. A friend at a small game company was willing to vouch for my creativity and drive and at the time they were daring enough to take a chance on someone without any experience. I pieced together a portfolio of hand drawn maps and Dungeon and Dragons adventures I had written and pretty soon I was designing levels for cute, anthropomorphic animals. A few years ago, I made the jump to the MMO genre and when the opportunity presented itself to work here as a designer at Paragon Studios, I left my native Seattle behind to come and be a part of something really amazing. I think back to when City of Heroes launched; roaming through Paragon City on my defender, totally unaware that one day I would be designing content for the game.

The multitude of things I've had to work on since arriving here in June has been staggering. I've inherited the new Atlas Park, giving me a particularly volatile playground with which to gain my bearings. Working closely with the art department, I had the daunting task of redressing the new Circle of Thorns after many players took to the forums to voice their opinion about the direction of the villain group (yes, I am responsible for the fuchsia Death Mages). I'm also working on a batch of unannounced content that you will be hearing about in the coming months.

One thing I've had my hands on that I know you'll be happy with is the upcoming Halloween event for this year. While I didn't design it in its entirety, I've had the pleasure of taking over from its initial designer and doing all the cleanup work, fixing bugs and addressing the various issues that have come up in play-testing.

Very few games out there can update and tailor their content the way that an MMO like City of Heroes does. In addition to the Halloween content you may already be familiar with, this year Dr. Kane's Mansion is open for anyone looking for a romp through moldering hallways and musty crypts. I'm a sucker for holiday events so it was a lot of fun to work on this content. Everyone on the team is incredibly pleased with how our art department has really delivered in creating the perfect atmosphere for a haunted house.

A big issue that arose in creating and tuning the Halloween event was the challenge of the encounters contained within. Freedom is bringing a fresh batch of players into our game and because the event is available to players at level 15 we needed to provide an experience that is accessible to new players but isn't a cake-walk to experienced players. The Abomination at the end of the event has been especially emblematic of this issue. Balancing him around the various skill levels present here in the studio has been difficult and required multiple adjustments in his mobility and attack strength. We didn't set out to create an Incarnate level challenge so, ultimately, we decided to err on the side of accessibility. To address these concerns though, we have included a bonus objective for the Abomination and, as well, there is an elite boss hidden in the event as an Easter egg. We included these extras in hopes that people who are looking for that extra challenge will feel incentivized to do so, but those that just want a fun, casual experience will get just that.

One thing I find really enjoyable about this event is the amount of little interactions you can have throughout. There are a variety of NPCs getting into mischief in the front area of the Mansion that you can talk to for some interesting results. As well, you get a few fun choices when dealing with Dr. Kane, allowing you to chat with the madman. Below every tombstone in the graveyard is a zombie waiting to spring up and assault you, and some enemies might not show themselves until special conditions are met. There's a lot of thoughtful articulation throughout the event, deliberately and painstakingly included and all in the hopes of making it feel more dynamic and malleable than the standard MMO fare. Like the aforementioned difficulty, story interactions come down to the proper balance - we don't want to hit the players over the head with drawn-out exposition, but we still want to tell you a story and make the world feel alive. We can work towards accomplishing that balance by providing lots of little details for you to delve into at your own leisure.

This event has a much larger impact than just on our normal Halloween shenanigans though. You may have noticed an increased focus in hand-crafted narratives in City of Heroes and those rely on complex systems that we continue to hone and iterate upon with each event, such as this. The needs of this event have called for the creation of new features for our Event Scripting System and those features, having been implemented for Halloween, are now getting rolled out for successive events that you all will get to play in the months ahead. As a game we've really started to flex our muscle, showing off how ingenuity can combine with 7 years of content to create an infinite array of storytelling options. Halloween 2011 is the continuance of that.

I am looking forward to telling you more about some of the content I am currently working on. It's an exciting and daunting time for me to enter into this project, a period of major transition. Right from my very first day here at Paragon I was astounded by the enthusiasm of City of Heroes' player base as well as their involvement. I'll be honest; it's a little scary knowing how much you all care about this game and the loving scorn I've already experienced on the forums has been beyond easy description. The best thing you all can do is go and play the new content and take to the forums and tell us what you think.

Cord "Think_Tank" Carney

Welcome, ThinkTank.

If the Halloween trial is any indication, I look forward to the rest of your projects.

Cord, one serious question here;

WHY are the Death Mages fuchsia? It's quite possibly the most un-inspiring and...well...unvillanous combination you could have given them! Grey/Black and purple, now, that's the staple of many a brooding villain.

But pink? And the blue, yellow and orange combination on the Ruin Mages?
It just....it...no. It doesn't work. It honestly doesn't. Please, can we get some changes to them? After the feedback I think you did a great job on the physical re-designs, ones I have come to love more and more by the day. Sadly, I cannot say the same for the colour schemes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

Initial thoughts
Gotta say the maps and look of the new trial is great. A wonderful looking house that its a shame you can't explore solo without folks rushing through

I'm considerably less enthused by the difficulty. For those in the mid 30's and up, all in so's things are fine..but take your average 15, perhaps not even in full do's, and handling the toxic/zombies has always been hard for lowbies, just like zombie apoc, the fact that you can only have four members makes it much more likely that your team will be further limited in some way. (let alone if someone drops from those small groups). Coming up against the two AV's with only a 4 man team can be either A) very slow, or B) very deadly depending on the group

When folks come right off the easy nature of the new sewer trial into this I think the'll be alot of frustrations

Suppose i'd suggest in future iterations that the max number of folks be raised to 6 at least, and/or have the same downgrading of AV's that the sewer trial has

Welcome ThinkTank,

Some nice stuff you have brought us so far. Just don't go nuts and hammy it up to much.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Forbin_Project Then it's time for them to get off the cross, use the wood to build a bridge, and get over it.

Really enjoyed the Halloween trial.

Gonna put in a plea for some of these things to make their way into the AE. Listening to the captions - would love to have those in some arcs I have in mind. NPC just standing there and ranting, also good.

This trial really doesn't suck and that makes me super happy. Thanks for your hard work.

Question - I can get 5 Halloween merits for finishin the trial, what do I do with them? I's there a special vendor or contact for those merits?

Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

I love the Halloween Trial. It's been a blast to run repeatedly. Great work!

Easter Egg EB? Done the trial 2x and not sure if we have seen it.

I think that hiding the CoT faces and giving them all some kind of robed look was the key to making the revamp work.

Have STILL not found the hidden Elite Boss yet...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nethergoat it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!

Great Trial. Fast paced, wonderful art/design all round, fun little blurb of a story, nice tip of the hat to old CoT, fun side mission though I didn't get it as an EB. Sound effects were a win and the Wolf was a real highlight.
My only gripe was a seeming auto hit 'Hold' from Experiment 19 and as my taste for these auto hit powers grow, lemme tell ya, my melee guys were not all that happy. I do not like the idea of auto hit when COH powers are supposed to make us flexible in that regard, however, for this trial the gripe was minor.

Loved running it for each of my primary alts =D. Kudos.