Coffee Talk Highlights, Jan 18: Crime Incarnate with Second "Redshirt" Measure and Bat-Aeon


Agent White

 

Posted

Zwill has apparently defeated a raccoon in battle and is wearing its head as a hat.



His friend Adam is watching the Ustream for the first time.

TANGENT: Dress codes, or lack thereof.

TANGENT: Scotsman in the Paragon office.

TANGENT: Scottish, kilts, accents, and Z's bad Braveheart quote and accent.

TANGENT: Giant flaming cabors.

TANGENT: Sports in Scotland.

Chat: One of the contests for them is repelling the English.



Announcement of a new pummit!

Rather than have panels in multiple rooms and only streaming some, they will be streaming everything and having the day being a bit longer.

There will be another fan participation design a costume session.

It's likely that it will be at the exact same venue.

Z: "I'm not going to call it a Pummit. Dammit, I just did!"

Psychoti: "Plummit. Call it a plummit."

Guessing the date:

12:44 Rajani_Isa: 4/1/12
12:44 Samuraiko: yes it is!
12:44 SnowGlobeCoH: April 1
12:44 ArbiterFabulous: March 24th?
12:44 Mentalshock: March 27-28th
12:44 Kemli: April 5
12:44 psychoti: 4/20/12.

Z: "April 1, yeah."
Z: "4/20? No, there are other things happening in San Francisco on that day."

Pummit is scheduled for 4/28, the anniversary day!

Z shows the graphic again and apparently it slows down his PC because it's too big.

VK: It's not the size of the image, but what you do with the pixels.

Z: "That's what she said!"



PSA: ParagonWiki is offline today in support of the SOPA/PIPA protest.

TANGENT: Z likes saying SOPA PIPA.



Second Measure arrives and is jealous of Zwill's hat. His wife won't let him wear one in public.

Zwill does a squirrel impression.






TANGENT: Wizards of the Coast announcing DnD Next/5e and discussion of DnD

2M relates how he got into DnD and has never been to Gencon.

I'm actually a second generation DnD player.

More discussion of Zwill's hat.

psychoti: I still think you look like a freaky totem pole.

2M has a meeting in five minutes, so they get to the business of discussing Issue 22.

Nate: "We have two zones people never really go to. We were looking at using both of them, but Dark Astoria had more potential. It's kind of where gods go to die."

Z: "What were some of the challenges in changing DA?"

Nate: "When it start I talk to Positron and was like, "Why is there one corner of Peregrine Island or Grandville that I can do with my 50?" Even if we weren't doing the Incarnate System we'd want to give your 50 some things to do."

Z: "Well, the Shadow Shard is for level 50's. But it's not part of a city. We learned some lessons from that."

Nate: "I was a player for a long time before I joined the studio and got lost with a level 50 in the Shard."

Second Measure leaves and Dr. Aeon arrives.





Aeon: "So I'm replacing Second Measure. Am I third measure? Fourth measure?

Z: "You're... wait, I almost made a Mitt Romney joke."

They've been watching the beta and making changes to fine tune the content. There are a lot of Quality of Life changes going in.


Talking about the Team Up Teleporter changes. It can now be used in instanced missions.

They're added task forces to the TUT.

TANGENT: Missed this one while typing.

Aeon: "I can be the one who stops the tangents!"

He all of a sudden busts out a frighteningly accurate raspy Bale Batman voice.

TANGENT: Aeon's Batman voice.

Aeon: "I'm not the hero Ustream needs, I'm the one it deserves!"



Nate returns.

TANGENT: Second Measure does something to Zwill's chair.

The new Bloody Bay trial "Drowning in Blood."

Jokingly mentioning that they're going to make all trials have a D - (letter) - B abbreviation.

TANGENT: Men in Black 3.

Z: "Are we trying to make there be a trial for every level range to ease people into doing trials?"

2: "No promises."

Talk of the Dilemma Diabolique trial's difficulty. Aeon can't answer as it was Baryonyx that made DD.

TANGENT: Aeon does his Baryonyx impression.

Z: "He's going to come over here and punch you."

TANGENT: Staff members from New York.


Staff Melee on Beta soon.

Talk of Beast Mastery on beta.

Super teleporters for bases! They can take 6 beacons instead of the normal 2. Thank goodness.


Z: "So you worked on something yesterday."

Aeon: "Yes, I'm one step closer to killing off every major NPC in the game."

Z: "Will you be writing in new characters just to kill them off?

Aeon: "Of course!"

Talk of the cutscene with Aeon working with El Topo, Tunnel Rat, and Honey Badger.

"He's watching. He's going to come over and hit you."

Z: "I think Leo has accepted his role as the Honey Badger. Much like his namesake Honey Badger just don't give a damn."

Z: "OMG! Rain! It's rain!"

Aeon: "Don't get too excited. It's just in one instanced map. We won't be having weather."

psychoti: I like how you actually get back on topic the instant Second Measure gets back, then don't ask him anything.

Some talk about the first viewing of the scene in the studio.

Discussion of other question themed arcs.

"What's for Lunch? Where are my Keys?"

SnowGlobeCoH: Q: Can I have Statesman's stuff seeing that he's leaving for good?

Z: "Everything was bind on equip. He cleaned out the supergroup storage."

2: "Statesmen is a jerk."


Cathedral of Pain being added to the TUT?

2: "There are some issues with that, namely tying in the supergroup stuff with the TUT."

Adding the TF's aren't so simple as flipping a switch, they have to be individuall added.


No plans to run a Statesman funeral event like the in game wedding. Statesman isn't getting removed in Issue 22.

Z: "We'll have the funeral on the boat in IP... oh wait..."

Aeon: "Awkward."

2: "We'll have it in the southwest corner of IP. No one will attend."


psychoti: I vote that Doc Aeon answers all these questions in the Dark Knight voice.

Aeon: "You have to ask that in the form of a question."

Aeon did the cutscene at the end of Dilemma Diuabolique.

Z: "You're the Paragon Studios Scorsese, aren't you?"

Aeon: "Well, I don't like to brag."

2: "You're not that short."

Aeon: "And he has more hair than me."

Z: "So maybe you're the Michael Bay of Paragon Studios."

Aeon: "No, that's terrible!"

Z: "Lens flare! Explosion!"


Talk of Dimensional Warder and Mother Mayhem. No one knows if the MoM MM counts for it or not. The zone invasion one did not count.


Piyerus: q: did Darren Wade get State's weakness as well as his powers (ie being controlled by the Well)?

Z: "Is he being controlled by the well?"

Bat-Aeon: "We'll have to see."

2: "Does he know way too much about Greek mythology?"

Aeon: "He gets all his powers and then he's like..." Aeon grabs his temples and makes pained noises.

Bat-Zwillinger: "Only the future will tell!"

Z's Batman sounds more like a Dr. Claw.

Z: "Ow, that hurt my throat."

Bat-Aeon: "Leave it to the professionals!"

Bat-Aeon: "I'm the one who can do the job you can't!"

Z: "Wow. Samuraiko just called you the Paragon Studios Uwe Boll."

Aeon: "You're dead to me Samuraiko."


More arcs for the 35-45 story content.

2: "Many things are planned for the future."

Z: "We've looked at things for gaps like that, like we're adding the 20-30 Drowning in Blood and post-50 with the solo incarnate in DA."


Chat: "Can Dr. Aeon answer all the questions in the Dark Knight voice? I'd say please, but evil does not respond to please."

Bat-Aeon: "It's true."


Level for the new Steel Canyon story arcs?

Bat-Aeon: "Uh, those would be, uh 15-20."

Z: "You can stop that now."

Bat-Aeon: "But they asked the question."


Components will not drop from DA.

Bat-Aeon: "I don't believe so."

Z: "That's strictly the threads."

Bat-Aeon: "Only the threads."

Z: "If I'm not mistaken there's something else that drops from mobs in DA."

Bat-Aeon: "Regular salvage!"

Z: "Yes, but also..."

Bat-Aeon: (Interrupting) "Influence!"

Z: "Don't the enhancement catalysts drop from Incarnate level mobs? Very rare."

Aeon: "I'm not sure, that's a Baryonyx question."

Z: "I thought they did."

Aeon: "Can we cut out this part of the Ustream?"

Z: "Cut the live video? Sure!"

Chat confirms that they do indeed drop.

Aeon: "Of course they do!"


Talk of the ATIO's.

Z: "You can also get them from the merit vendors in..."

Zwill does several incorrect pronunciations.

Bat-Aeon: "Ouroburos."

Zwill: "Ugh! Now it's just getting creepy!"


Rajani_Isa: Q: What about giving us a 10-15 SF?

Z: "In general we're making a lot of both faction content, co-op where we can."

Aeon: "But we know players like their hero and villain stuff. Drowning in Blood has both a Hero and a Villain version."

Z: "Going forward we can expect a mix of the two."


They're investigating the possiblity of a global free, premium, and VIP pkayers.

Rajani_Isa: Q: What about giving us a 10-15 SF and revamp Synapse at the same time?

Aeon: "I can't do both."

2: "OF course you can! You have two hands! One computer on the left and one on the right."


Statesman will be physically removed from places entirely, not used with phasing or anything.

Aeon: "Once I23 comes out he's gone."

Bat-Aeon: "But only in physical form. He will always live on in our memories. And in our actions. It's not what you do that defines you. No, wait, that's wrong. It's what you do that defines you."

Awkward silence.

Aeon: "There's more questions right there."

Zwill just stares at Aeon for a good ten seconds before finally sighing.


Super Packs as part of Issue 22?

Z: "We're not ready to give out a release date."

Aeon: "That's not something I'm involved in."

Z: "We're generally pleased with the feedback we've gotten."

They are not going to launch with an alternate means of getting the Super Pack costume pieces. Tier 9 VIP's can use their Paragon Rewards tokens to get the packs.

Z: "We're comfortable with where the Super Pakcs are with the concessions and the adjustments we've made. We've settled on some bulk rate discount prices."


Title for Issue 23?

Z: "We don't have a working title yet. We call it 2300, internally."

Bat-Aeon: "Because it's the one that comes after 2200."

Z: "You can stop that."

Aeon: "No I can't. It just keeps coming. I didn't even mean to say it like that.

(Chat) billymailman: He doesn't do the voice, the voice simply uses him as a conduit.


Z: "Thank you for joining us on this week's coffee chalk..."

Zwill stumbles over saying coffee talk several times.

Bat-Aeon: "Coffee talk, with Andy and Sean McCann."

Zwill has his train of thought derailed as he was in mid gesture.

Z: "I don't even know what I was doing there."

Aeon holds up a hand, without the V in the fingers

Bat-Aeon: "Live long and prosper.

Z: "Wow."

Bat-Aeon: "Fight crime!"

Z: "Wow."

We start fading out.

Bat-Aeon: "It never sleeps!


Quote:
Originally Posted by reiella View Post
Until I see something that states to the contrary, going to assume VK is right .

 

Posted

No plans to have a Statesman funeral???

They put together a new mission map with custom glowie for Hero 1, but they have no plans to do anything for Statesman?

WOW


That or.. he will be coming back sooner rather than later?

Who knows anymore, for sure it seems odd to me, but then again... what do I know?


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Posted

I really wish they would add weather to the rest of the game. I have lived in Paragon for over 7 years now, and it has not rained once. :/


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Posted

HAPPY with the feedback on Super Packs?!

What, lots of people going "I am simply not buying these, this is a freaking rip off" ?

And no alternate means to get the costumes. Wow. Bum move guys. Real bum. Not impressed with that...

The rest is good.


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Posted

Thanks for the write-up


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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha View Post
HAPPY with the feedback on Super Packs?!

What, lots of people going "I am simply not buying these, this is a freaking rip off" ?

And no alternate means to get the costumes. Wow. Bum move guys. Real bum. Not impressed with that...
Do you honestly think they could give a rat's behind about feedback these days?

I'm getting the impression that they are happier getting complaints about their content these days than getting compliments about it.




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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha View Post
HAPPY with the feedback on Super Packs?!

What, lots of people going "I am simply not buying these, this is a freaking rip off" ?
They like getting complaints. It indicates the internet is still functioning, which is a prerequisite for the game to be playable.


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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Arcanaville View Post
They like getting complaints. It indicates the internet is still functioning, which is a prerequisite for the game to be playable.
I'm guessing they are stress-testing the forums.




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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Liquid View Post
I wish I hadn't missed this one. I think I would have enjoyed Bat-Aeon.
They're all recorded and uploaded to the UStream page


@Golden Girl

City of Heroes comics and artwork

 

Posted

Liquid, go watch the recording of it. I was dying laughing when he busted out that Batman voice. HI-larious. Then Z tried to copy it and ended up sounding EXACTLY like Dr. Claw from the Inspector Gadget cartoons.


 

Posted

I have to say, just removing Statesman with no phasing tech is disappointing to me. I thought triggering his absence by playing the arc would be really stepping things up, big time. Now I'm all, "oh, that's all it is." Your character really is NOT changing the game world through actions at all.

Yay for Staff weapons though!


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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Psychoti View Post
Liquid, go watch the recording of it. I was dying laughing when he busted out that Batman voice. HI-larious. Then Z tried to copy it and ended up sounding EXACTLY like Dr. Claw from the Inspector Gadget cartoons.
Thanks, I forgot that they recorded them!


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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainMoodswing View Post
I have to say, just removing Statesman with no phasing tech is disappointing to me. I thought triggering his absence by playing the arc would be really stepping things up, big time. Now I'm all, "oh, that's all it is." Your character really is NOT changing the game world through actions at all.
Certain big events have to be game wide, as the meta-story needs basic truths to build future content on.


@Golden Girl

City of Heroes comics and artwork

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainMoodswing View Post
I have to say, just removing Statesman with no phasing tech is disappointing to me. I thought triggering his absence by playing the arc would be really stepping things up, big time. Now I'm all, "oh, that's all it is." Your character really is NOT changing the game world through actions at all.
I think it's because the phasing tech has to be built into the zone itself. So Independence Port isn't rigged up with States being able to phase out. And there's a ton of missions and task forces that have to be rewritten or modified because of that. It's a fairly substantial amount of work. Most likely the devs will have to go and manually rewrite all that stuff, including most obviously the Maria Jenkins arc, the Statesman Task Force, and the Lord Recluse Task Force.


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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Von Krieger View Post
Announcement of a new pummit!

Rather than have panels in multiple rooms and only streaming some, they will be streaming everything and having the day being a bit longer.

There will be another fan participation design a costume session.

It's likely that it will be at the exact same venue.
YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY!

I will see you guys there!

Quote:
Nate: "We have two zones people never really go to. We were looking at using both of them, but Dark Astoria had more potential. It's kind of where gods go to die."
I wonder what the other zone was...

Quote:
Aeon did the cutscene at the end of Dilemma Diuabolique.

Z: "You're the Paragon Studios Scorsese, aren't you?"

Aeon: "Well, I don't like to brag."

2: "You're not that short."

Aeon: "And he has more hair than me."

Z: "So maybe you're the Michael Bay of Paragon Studios."

Aeon: "No, that's terrible!"

Z: "Lens flare! Explosion!"

Z: "Wow. Samuraiko just called you the Paragon Studios Uwe Boll."

Aeon: "You're dead to me Samuraiko."
Okay, what director *IS* Dr. Aeon?

James Cameron? (Oh come on, tell me you can't hear Celine Dion singing "My Heart Will Go On" during the WWD5 cutscene?)

Michael Bay? ("We need more FX! MORE FX! IT'S NOT ENOUGH TIL THEIR MONITORS EXPLODE! Plot?! Who cares about PLOT?!")

George Lucas? ("God damn it, Sean, we're not recoding the cutscene for you AGAIN just coz you had another idea...")

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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dark_Respite View Post
I wonder what the other zone was...
My guess? Boomtown.


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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dark_Respite View Post
George Lucas? ("God damn it, Sean, we're not recoding the cutscene for you AGAIN just coz you had another idea...")
Statesman trapped Wade first.


@Golden Girl

City of Heroes comics and artwork

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Doc_Reverend View Post
My guess? Boomtown.
That's what I was thinking, too.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dark_Respite View Post
Okay, what director *IS* Dr. Aeon?
Lloyd Kaufman


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Posted

I was thinking Eden. It's pretty much nothing but the gateway to Hamidon and has the trial, otherwise it's a complete ghost town and I could see it becoming an Incarnate zone as an escalation of Hamidon and the Devouring Earth.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Agent White View Post
I was thinking Eden. It's pretty much nothing but the gateway to Hamidon and has the trial, otherwise it's a complete ghost town and I could see it becoming an Incarnate zone as an escalation of Hamidon and the Devouring Earth.
There could be a theme overlap problem there with First Ward - they've just made a brand new zone based on the idea of a ruined city destroyed by the DE - turning Eden into a brand new zone based on the idea of a ruined city destroyed by the DE might be too similar visually, even if the story content was a lot different.
It's not really a problem to have normal city zones sharing a look, like Atlas Park and Steel Canyon, or Nova Praetorian and Imperial City, because that's the way a lot of cities really do look - but for somewhere that's become an unusual disaster area, sharing the same visual look as another unusual disaster area doesn't really work so well.


@Golden Girl

City of Heroes comics and artwork

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Golden Girl View Post
There could be a theme overlap problem there with First Ward - they've just made a brand new zone based on the idea of a ruined city destroyed by the DE - turning Eden into a brand new zone based on the idea of a ruined city destroyed by the DE might be too similar visually, even if the story content was a lot different.
It's not really a problem to have normal city zones sharing a look, like Atlas Park and Steel Canyon, or Nova Praetorian and Imperial City, because that's the way a lot of cities really do look - but for somewhere that's become an unusual disaster area, sharing the same visual look as another unusual disaster area doesn't really work so well.
Eden as it stands now is a ruined city destroyed by the devouring earth. A revamp could easily see the DE infestation wholly consuming and transforming the place, removing the last vestiges of human civilization and turning it into a more naturalized 'paradise'. Think how things look closer to The Hive's entrance compared to the Founder's Falls entrance, then just spread it across the entire zone and add some more organic twists like we've seen with the Praetorian Devouring Earth. First Ward is a sort of 'post apoc' feel, I would rather see an Eden revamp transform it into a 'twisted paradise', like add in some really breath taking views, more waterfalls and rock structures and great trees pushing through everything, with maybe only a few small remnants left of the buildings, just a crumbled wall here or there, but otherwise totally lush plant life, etc.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Agent White View Post
Eden as it stands now is a ruined city destroyed by the devouring earth. A revamp could easily see the DE infestation wholly consuming and transforming the place, removing the last vestiges of human civilization and turning it into a more naturalized 'paradise'. Think how things look closer to The Hive's entrance compared to the Founder's Falls entrance, then just spread it across the entire zone and add some more organic twists like we've seen with the Praetorian Devouring Earth. First Ward is a sort of 'post apoc' feel, I would rather see an Eden revamp transform it into a 'twisted paradise', like add in some really breath taking views, more waterfalls and rock structures and great trees pushing through everything, with maybe only a few small remnants left of the buildings, just a crumbled wall here or there, but otherwise totally lush plant life, etc.
That angle could work - and there's a way it could be an Incarnate zone too, along with scrapping the Hive, or just rolling it into Eden.
When the champion of the Well is defeated, the power Tyrant was drawing from the Well is suddenly released in a kind of power surge to other major Incarnates, including the Hamidon, as the devs have strongly hinted that it is one already.
With this extra boost, the Hamidon smashes through the war wall between the Hive and Eden, and starts lumbering towards Founders' Falls, while its creatures, who are getting Incarnate power from it, begin to tear down the war walls between Eden and the outside world, threatening a repeat of the Praetorian Hamidon's rampage.
Luckily, the newly liberated Praetorians are able to rush sonic fencing tech to Primal Earth, which is enough to stop the Hamidon reaching the FF war wall, and to stop its forces spreading out past the other 3 shattered sides of Eden.
The Hamidon now settles in Eden, one step closer to the normal parts of Paragon City, and its new Incarnate power not only empowers all its minions, but also the earth that it's linked too, causing weird changes to nature - like there are trees as tall as skyscrapers, hills that are wider at the top than the bottom, lighter-than-air-rocks floating in the sky, waterfalls running backwards, and huge, almost alien looking plants and fungus everywhere.
To generate story content, when the Hamidon got it's power boost, there was a raid on at the time - a lot of the heroes were killed, but others were transformed into new champions of the Hamidon, while others were too badly hurt or too underpowered against the new stronger DE to esacape back to the city, and are still trapped in the twisted natural nightmare that the zone's become.
Arachnos has also infiltrated the zone, as Recluse continues to be interested in Incarnate power free from the control of the Well, and wants to learn if the Hamidon has managed to reach that goal or not.

In other words, Eden could be a 54+4-54+8 incarnate co-op zone


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