Details on Dark Astoria Makeover?
By
Agent White,
Posted on: 2011-11-21 09:32 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
Nance's ninjas were kinda weird - they didn't really suit a federal agent 
@Golden Girl
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Quite sad. I mostly play villains and I think I've been in DA maybe five times total, so my opinion on this might not count for much (although others here seem to share it), but man that place is/was unforgettable for those two elements alone. |
Originally Posted by Melancton
1) The fog will be gone
2) The ghosts will be gone |
Bad call.
You wanna make it a zone that actually has stuff going on in it? Cool, go for it, but don't strip out what was good the first time round.
Edit: NO FAIR!!! Noble Savage posted while I was composing my post! >
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You got the entire rest of the game to NOT have fog in. I like things un-homogenized.... thats just me.|
Originally Posted by Tyger42
Eh... More like "Let's go to New Orleans...but we removed the smell of puke and urine".
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Evidently it is not being entirely removed, for which I am grateful.
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The thing is, that short draw distance, with things in the fog not being visible until you're right on top of them, was part of the creepy vibe.
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Originally Posted by Noble Savage
As I understand it:
1) 'Fog' will be reduced. But really, all this means is that the current short draw distance/fade to solid gray will be expanded so you can see further into the scene. The creepy vibe of the zone remains in full force, however, because of dramatic adjustments to the zone's scene file (which affects atmosphere and color). |
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They should have made it a 30-40 zone imo.
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The problem with the current DA fog, as I see it, is that it is too uniform. Fog should not be just one uniform greyness...|
Originally Posted by Noble Savage
As I understand it:
1) 'Fog' will be reduced. But really, all this means is that the current short draw distance/fade to solid gray will be expanded so you can see further into the scene. The creepy vibe of the zone remains in full force, however, because of dramatic adjustments to the zone's scene file (which affects atmosphere and color). |
Real fog has many different appearances; patchy, thick, thin, swirly, low lying... I've even seen it where it is like a wall, clear on one side and then bam! you're in fog (I've seen a few car accidents because of this).
Anyway... that's my 2 inf on fog.
I like fog...
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Don�t say things. What you are stands over you the while, and thunders so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary. - R.W. Emerson |
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Right. The current application is a bit of a 'fake,' it's just a draw distance application (not particle FX). That said, full zone particle FX would be prohibitively expensive, so we'll generate the appropriate atmosphere in other ways.
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Originally Posted by Impish Kat
The problem with the current DA fog, as I see it, is that it is too uniform. Fog should not be just one uniform greyness...
Real fog has many different appearances; patchy, thick, thin, swirly, low lying...I like fog... |
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Originally Posted by Dark_Respite
I don't think there's a word strong enough to describe it. "Excrement." "Abominable." "Horrendous." "Insulting." "Demeaning."
In a nutshell, it didn't matter that by lvl 20, you were (usually) recognized as a hero of the city by Statesman and gifted with a cape, recognized by at least one, maybe two members of the Freedom Phalanx for exceptional heroism (for the TFs), etc. Nance didn't like you, and was just WAITING for the excuse to assassinate you. With super-sekrit hidden invulnerable ninjas. Yes, it was pluralized. And that was just the opening story of the arc. It got worse from there. Never mind all the ridiculous inconsistencies about where we were sent, why we were sent, etc. AND it was so badly broken we couldn't finish it to just get it over with and move on to the next arc. The ENTIRE beta group revolted. We told the rednames in NO uncertain terms that if this arc made it to live, we would stop at NOTHING to tell the entire playerbase not to play it, because it went against everything we as players believed about our characters. We might range from novice to veteran heroes, we might range from reluctant to enthusiastic, from bright futures to shadowed pasts, but we were still HEROES. This completely demeaned everything we had done for the past 20 levels. To their credit, they asked, "What would you do instead?" We gave them new ideas, made suggestions, hashed it out amongst ourselves and the devs. They tried another iteration - better but still needing a ton of work. We went back to the drawing board. Again and again. Finally they said, "Okay, try this..." And we said, "Yes... THIS will do." That became the current Keith Nance arc. Later I found out they'd applied those lessons to the sequel arc (Jenni Adair's), and refined it quite well, to the point where it's one of my favorite arcs in the game. So... yeah. Michelle aka Samuraiko/Dark_Respite |
I have a snarky comment about what's happened to the writing in this game since the early days, but I'm going to leave it alone.
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And also part of the annoyance factor of traveling in the zone. YMMV
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Originally Posted by Eva Destruction
The thing is, that short draw distance, with things in the fog not being visible until you're right on top of them, was part of the creepy vibe.
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Hey, feel free to snark. Just don't take my head off if I brought back news from the Plummit that you personally don't like, as if it were my decision or my fault.|
Originally Posted by Aura_Familia
I have a snarky comment about what's happened to the writing in this game since the early days, but I'm going to leave it alone. |
Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite
Dark_Respite's Farewell Video: "One Last Day"
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I am excited to see some solo/small team content for 50's and DA/Mot are perfect in my opinion. I'm hoping for some long meaty story contacts for both alignments and an awesome task force. No doubt it will all be very short because everything has been short lately (for the get-it-over-with-already crowd) but I can hope.
I'll miss the ghosts but them and the fog kind of went together I guess. I'm sure it'll still be a creepy place.
Thanks to DR for the recap on the zone remake itself! I for one definitely appreciate it. 
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If you share lore news, you will get snark. I highly doubt any of it is directed at you.
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Originally Posted by Dark_Respite
Hey, feel free to snark. Just don't take my head off if I brought back news from the Plummit that you personally don't like, as if it were my decision or my fault.
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Eva Destruction AR/Fire/Munitions Blaster
Darkfire Avenger DM/SD/Body Scrapper
Arc ID#161629 Freaks, Geeks, and Men in Black
Arc ID#431270 Until the End of the World
I am looking forward to this. I actually have "Dark Astoria Police Department" on Virtue as a Super Group. Noone left in it but me though.
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Well, people differ on opinions. Some are fine with it, some saw it as a nuisance - and one they couldn't avoid due to mission doors being placed in there. The atmosphere it gives tot he zone is cool, I'll give you that. But not enough to be worth the hassle of trying to travel through the zone, IMO.
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Originally Posted by Bad_Influence
You got the entire rest of the game to NOT have fog in. I like things un-homogenized.... thats just me.
Evidently it is not being entirely removed, for which I am grateful. |
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Avatar art by Daggerpoint
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I think you may have the most well manned official organization in DA!
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Originally Posted by Count_Scottula
I am looking forward to this. I actually have "Dark Astoria Police Department" on Virtue as a Super Group. Noone left in it but me though.
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I agree 100%. I dont care what they do with the zone just dont take away what made it cool.
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Originally Posted by Slaunyeh
Sad
Dark Astoria is, by far, my favourite zone. Sadly, there's nothing in there. It saddens me that fixing it involves removing what made it awesome. Worst news I've heard all week (which includes that my new PC will be delayed indefinitely) |
The fog filled DA will still be around via Flashback. The zone isn't being removed so much as relocated.
I'll admit, it is a little sad to see the CoH Silent Hill going away but I also haven't seen what the revamped version is going to look like. From the preview slides (that we UStreamers couldn't see) someone made a comment along the lines of "Mot must be a god of death metal", so I'm thinking something GWAR/Dethklok (lol) inspired, lots of skulls and spikes and twisted towers. The constant night will be nice.
Kinda curious if the twisted war walls will show in Talos since, y'know, they're the borders.
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The cynic in me is expecting something along these lines:|
Originally Posted by Golden Girl
The DA makeover will also improve quite a few older contacts by making the zone no longer valid for some of their missions - so being sent to DA on a mission will be gone for good in I22.
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All previous door missions in DA will instead be located in either Boomtown, Terra Volta, Striga, or Crey's Folley. We promise that missions appearing in the Hive and Storm Palace are a temporary glitch and will be fixed "soon".
but the optimist in me is hoping for:
All previous DA missions will appear in the same zone as the contact.
"Hmm, I guess I'm not as omniscient as I thought" -Gavin Runeblade.
I can be found, outside of paragon city here.
Thank you everyone at Paragon and on Virtue. When the lights go out in November, you'll find me on Razor Bunny.
Wow, every new addition and change, always with the complaints. Always! The way some people go on, I'm thinking maybe the devs should open up a new server and call it "Echo of Issue 1"...
In other news, The Sleeper Has Awakened!!!
Maybe they could make the fog & ghosts intermittent? Instead of day/night they could have a fog/no fog cycle.
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Please remove that fog. DA was the worst zone to navigate in. You can easily make a creepy ghost-town-abandoned-city vibe without blinding the players.
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Gah. I bet they'll be ultra-convenient teleport affairs, or even just accessible from an LFG type UI, god forbid.|
Originally Posted by Dark_Respite
To address this:
a) there will still be an echo of DA as it stands now for badges, plaques, etc. b) the primary gate from Talos will be closed (a la Galaxy City), and new access points provided for both heroes AND villains |
I'm alos a bit sad to see the fog vanishing, but that's tempered by the desire to see DA from the sky and finally see what it looks like as a whole lol.
Not exactly enamoured by the mention of Death metal inspiration, however.
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Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
[The Incarnate System is] Jack Emmert all over again, only this time it's not "1 hero = 3 white minions" it's "1 hero = 3 white rocks."
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This genuinely makes me a little bit sad. The fog and the ghosts were my two favourite things about the zone. The way things loom up out of the grey is one of the most atmospheric parts of the whole game, especially combined with the cold glow of the BP. And the fade-out ghosts are both creepy and touching. I occasionally go in there with a level 50 and break up BP rituals just so that the ghosts will come up and thank me.
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Originally Posted by Melancton
1) The fog will be gone
2) The ghosts will be gone and |
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This would be a really interesting idea.
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Originally Posted by Obscure Blade
Maybe they could make the fog & ghosts intermittent? Instead of day/night they could have a fog/no fog cycle.
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"Hmm, I guess I'm not as omniscient as I thought" -Gavin Runeblade.
I can be found, outside of paragon city here.
Thank you everyone at Paragon and on Virtue. When the lights go out in November, you'll find me on Razor Bunny.
1) The fog will be gone
2) The ghosts will be gone and
David Nakayama, Lead Concept Artist
COH Concept Art Gallery now open at http://pixelsaurus.deviantart.com/