A Few Suggstions from (limited) Experience Elsewhere

CoH has been my only MMO. I have tried other free trials or dipped my feet in when they have gone free. I generally lose interest and drop them pretty quickly. However, I recently found an exception to this (in fact there is now a competition going for which I play free and which gets my subscription going forward, it may all hinge in I22). But from this experience I have come to recognize a few thoughts/suggestions for this game that I have enjoyed for many years:

(tl;dr version - war walls need to go, fewer 'city center' spaces could help the flow of missions and geographic linage of the zones, Origins based crafting could be cool, a 'reputation' system with the various factions could have a great place in CoH)

1. I never understood the call to bring down the warwalls. Even after Praetoria's introduction, it just wasn't something I understood. After traveling from area to area without any loading screens and the sense of a coherent whole world... yeah, I get it now. Those war walls need to go.
2. Despite being chopped into a checkerboard by the (now so annoying) war walls, I have liked the loose sense of the entire city being a single entity that comes from missions and contacts spread throughout it - you are never bound to an area. I also like having access to various functions convienently in multiple locations (though, really, an AE in nearly every zone?). However, I also have discovered I like the atmosphere of a more spoke-and-hub mission content: a single location with main gathering and features and then out into the world for activities. It feels bigger, more grand. Paragon City now feels disjointed and hectic.
   
   Maybe... if Atlas Park is so important, then leave the big things there and have KR, etc. hub off of it. Then do the same several levels later and use FF or some such similarly. As it stands now it feels more random than it used to.
3. There are a lot of things I appreciate about the elementary crafting system within CoH. There are also things I am finding I appreciate about full crafting/profession as a progressive system within a game. This is where I think Origins could have played a more significant role - an Origins based flavorful/immersive/optional crafting system outside of direct leveling.
4. One thing I never reallly liked is my characters do not have a 'place' or affiliation within the game. Only your own imagination ties you to a faction or flavor of the game. All villains are Arachnos bound, Praetorians lose verything that defines them when they cross over, you join the Midnighters just to get to the ITF but not because it 'matters' to be in that group, and the only organization you 'join' really is Vanguard. I have found that really like gaining reputation and standing with a local populace/group - that there is a recognition/purpose to what I am doing.
   
   I think Vanguard Merits started to play in this direction. I think there is more that could be done here. Influence/Infamy are now terribly used terms IMO. Instead, you should gain influence and standing with hero/villain groups as you carry out missions with/for them. Longbow should want to affiliate with me for my actions, or the Council with a villain, or the PPD, or Vanguard etc. This could manifest in merit systems like Vanguard (merits), or perhaps change the pool of available alignment missions, or offer special contacts/arcs/costumes, all sorts of much more immersive opportunities.

Darn mistype in the thread title.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Forbin_Project No. 1. Not everyone has top of the line computers that can handle being crowded into the same zone as everyone else, so forcing unnecessary lag and disconnects on them is a horrible idea. And when they quit because of it they aren't going to blame their own computers they'll blame the game for the lag and disconnects.

Maybe.
I can't speak to specific technical issues related to the concept. But, if properly planned/implemented the hub zones wouldn't suffer horribly. *shrug* In all seriousness, how do newer games (presumably more advanced requirements) not seem to have this problem with seemingly higher population?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Forbin_Project 2. Much like the server populations many players prefer using isolated/underpopulated AE's where they can work in peace and quiet.

Given the nature of AE usage... I bet there would still be quiet and peaceful AE centers other than one mainly utilized location.

Another problem with getting rid of the war walls is that most of the zones don't actually fit together the way the overall map shows. The best example of this is Terra Volta. The zone is bigger than the wall surrounded spot it takes up in IP. So removing the war walls wouldn't be just a technical fix, it would require a lot of artistic work to turn Paragon into a single continuous map.

As a note on AE, keep in mind that every AE building has a section designed exactly for the purpose of working in peace and quiet.

An open letter to NCsoft

1,2) I flew around the praetoria maps once for kicks, I found it meh.

3) No! Please keep the game balanced around SO's (and release more ATO's pls).

4) That would be an unpopular move, as an example people campaigned long and hard to unlock PPP's from specific Patrons. I don't like being forced to go to specific places and do specific content to gain specific rewards. I think Freedom of choice is the best quality of the coh system (ie: choice of ae, story arcs, random missions, crafting or pay money etc) and I hope it stays that way.

Apparently only nay-sayers caring to comment... so either bad/uninteresting discussion points.

Oh, well.

While a more open world can be nice, I enjoy flying around Praetoria until the Sonic barrier gets me anyway, I don't think it would work well in Paragon City itself. The War Walls are there for a very good, in-game reason: To contain any destruction that occurs in the zone. I can't see them being able to come up with a good reason as to why the walls have come down when there are dozens upon dozens of invasions occurring. Add to that that many people have older machines (The game is almost eight years old, so it stands to reason some computers are that old and playing it still). I can see the open world option being done in the Rogue Islands though. It's odd and irritating to suddenly hit a barrier for no reason.
As for point four... From what I understand, that's what they're slowly starting to do. You aren't necessarily part of a specific faction, but the story lines of the SSA and the Incarnates seems to building to this, to an extent.

I also despise the war walls, at least in general usage. I would be fine with certain areas being walled off as higher security, but I'd love to see most of them come down eventually. Also, from an in game perspective, it would be great if we could tear down the trappings of a totalitarian fascist state run by The Statesman now that he's dead. Want to go from one suburb to another? We may not require that you show your papers (security level) anymore, but we can close these doors any time Blue Shield says so...

In all seriousness, I think it's worth exploring the idea of getting the walls out of The Rogue Isles at least. If that works out well, we could move forward from there.