Are we getting Staff and beast tomorrow?

How is it valid? And I'm not specifically asking just you, and not trying to demean or belittle. Can anyone here honestly tell my why it's okay to be so upset that a powerset isn't coming out tomorrow?

Welcome to the Internet. Population: unbridled, pointless rage.

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

Yeah if the lep pet is really $10, they are out of their minds. The Tron disc throw at 250 is also ridiculous.

Actually yes, the amount of angst this is generating is astounding. I'm not getting it at all.

No promises were broken, no release dates delayed. I'm not even getting were you or anyone else got the expectation that Staff would have released with I22. It was always going to be a weekly market item release.

Having both release in close succession in time for the 2xp is actually completely ridiculous (and both this week like the thread title suggests even more so). Why on earth would they release two buzz generating powersets right behind the launch of an issue when the buzz is still going strong? Especially since there wasn't a lack of new and reworked powersets in the issue itself. Spreading them out to release at times the momentum might be slacking is a logical thing to do.

That the sets are already finished is not a factor. There's always stuff that's already finished, and it always gets held back till the slotted release time.

Setting unrealistic expectation and then getting frothy that they aren't met when there never was any indication that they would be, is unreasonable at best. You can disappointed sure, but the reactions in this thread? Really?

Would you accept their answer if they did?

New power sets are more fun than old ones to most of us. There are more people on during x2 xp which is more fun. Playing a new set that most of us solo tested to 50 with more people is more fun. People are upset because they will be having less fun than they would have had with a new power set. So, to boil it down, people are angry because they feel they are going to be having less fun and fun is good.

I am sure that answer will not be good enough for you though.

So you're saying new powersets, full teams, and double xp is fun.

We're still getting the new powersets. Despite the fact that the devs did all the work on the powersets and people are raging because they aren't giving us those sets right now, the devs are still giving us these sets. Just not at the time the players demand it.

We've always had teaming. Double XP weekend doesn't unlock the ability to team and play with buds. You can find them at any given time through broadcast, global friends, and chat channels. Besides, once the new powersets launch there'll be a ton of people playing them and forming teams regardless of if it's double xp weekend or not. Happens every time.

And xp in this game is laughably easy to get nowadays, anyway. With DFB, DiB, Patrol XP, AE farms, and those temp powers that double XP gain for a period of time, you can easily hit level 50 within a few days. I typically get my characters from 1 to the 20s within a casual day of making them just from those sewer runs.

The devs are doing nothing to ruin anyone's fun. It's the players getting so worked up that are ruining their own fun. So again, why are a few of you folks getting so angry?

If you try to make sense of it in a completely binary manner, of course it doesn't make sense. The marketing "plan" behind it all makes perfect sense though, and as we're all well aware, marketing is an evil Lovecraftian cthulu monster who sits 3 cubicles down from Positron's desk, spreading its unholy influence to the development team.

The long and short of it is rather well orchestrated:

Week 0: Release i22. Include VIP-only powersets, VIP only costumes, VIP only incarnate trial, VIP only incarnate zone. Aim is to keep people in for a month.

Week 1: Who cares, you're still riding off the buzz generated by 22's release. Put out some silly cosmetic item, take a week off, throw frisbees to people in Atlas, etc.

Week 2: Put out overpriced cosmetic pet that increases influence gain in time for double xp. Fact that it can die makes it seem worthless (thus avoiding the "pay2win" mentality), obsessive "store completionists" and minmaxers still nab it regardless.

Week 2's weekend: Double XP event. Nabs a bunch of people to return and re-up for subscriptions so they can level the new shinies release in 22 faster.

Week 3: Most likely Beast Mastery. May not sell as well as a melee set, but you've hit a sweet spot where there are the highest number of VIP players eligible to use the set since Masterminds are gated. Also, there's quite a few people still around from double xp. Anyone who has their account lapse then has to buy back Masterminds if they want to keep using that character but don't already have access, or re-up for more VIP.

Week 4: WWD. People are still in VIP to see the grand finale, and it'll likely heavily tease the next issue (Pandora's Box) to encourage more VIP subs. It's also just in time to meet the monthly quota.

Week 5 or 6: Staff Melee. Doesn't particularly matter since all 4 melee ATs are able to be used by free accounts, and melee ATs are the largest portion of the playable ATs, and therefore have the broadest appeal. By this point the hype has died down from i22 and double xp, and they'll use Staff as leverage to keep the excitement going as long as possible.

So, why are people angry over that? Because Staff was up first on beta, was in a "complete" state far before BM, has had minimal changes and attention paid to it aside from altering the sounds, and is being held back purely for marketing purposes. It's the same hate that stems from games having DLC on the disc and you have to buy access to it, or pre-order at certain retails, etc. Nobody likes being played by marketing.

I was just saying that to myself. I feel like I'm finally apart of this screwed up internet family by invoking rage throughout the forums.
Oh lawdy lawdy you guys will move me to tears.

Yeah, looking at it like this, makes perfect sense from a marketing perspective. Although from my personal "Shut up and take my money" perspective on wanting Staff asap, I'm a little dissapointed. I kinda burnt myself out on CoH a bit before i22, and Staff Melee was something I was looking forward to to drag me back in. And while being dragged in a little later is no problem, my multi-month subscription is sitting unused until the set I'm looking forward to is released.

Keep in mind that I, for one, am not angry or raging... The burn-out and sitting on an unused subscription is a situation of my own making. Just was hoping for that one thing that turn this around arrived sooner rather than later.

This! THIS... so much of it. No, even more of it. Yes, yes, that's enough.

Goodness, the rightness... it burns.

No, that is not the same... that is a whole new level of BS.

Oh, me too. I've wanted a Staff/Dark Brute ever since I played the combo on beta. But, then again, every time I get that nagging sense to be infuriated or even really disappointed by decisions like these, I remember that without the increased revenue from the f2p conversion and the market stuff, we wouldn't be getting this content at the pace we're seeing now. Ever since VEATs squeezed themselves in a whole issue release ahead of schedule due to the wedding pack, this stuff sort of became expected for me.


It was the best analogy I could think of. Staff and BM are technically in the game right now, but switches just need to be flipped first. Heck, Staff was in the game in i21. Obviously in an incomplete state - and completely absent from Stalkers, which likely changed due to the reaction over Titan Weapons - but you could link the powers in chat and look at the numbers all the same. On the disc DLC works in a similar manner. Characters, maps, stuff like that, they're all on the disc, but switches need to be flipped. The way they do that is by having you pay and download an unlock key (which are usually about 100kb or something close) and tada! Suddenly content.

So I can't look at the situation logically, because then I'd see all the rage stems from illogical gut reactions? What? And they should just release stuff whenever, and not when it makes the most sense to do so all to avoid a bunch of kids from getting angsty ... Sure, whatever.

And as I said staff being completed first is totally irrelevant to the situation.

Your comparison doesn't make any sense either. That situation isn't even remotely the same. Nothing is kept from you, you're not being 'played'. Stuff just gets released on its intended release date. Oh Noes! How unfair ...

Thanks for backing me up.

From the outside looking in it may seem that way for sure. However, many people have been on BETA for quite a bit of time and tested things quite a bit. Staff has been on BETA since I21 and appeared to be a ready state for some time now. They were bumping people on staff to 50 WEEKS ago to test the I22 DA content and frankly that alone made many of us testing feel that the set was ready for release.

BM is not ready as it needs some SERIOUS work, yet it will not get that work and will be released broken for pay to meet some crazy schedule. This is just bloody brilliant.

I'm saying that the rationale doesn't make much sense, but that I understand where it comes from. If you try and analyze the situation devoid of any personal investment and emotion, you're not going to find a good reason.

I'm not suggesting that at all. I understand the reasoning perfectly, and I'm fine with it. Disappointed that I won't get to play a set I want to and level it up quickly, sure, but I have plenty of other characters that I could be leveling as well.

Maybe not as much as you'd think. Perception of the issue is key to reaction. People reacting here more than likely know that Staff was in a state of greater polish/completion than Beast Mastery was at the same time. An admittedly smaller group will tell you that even now (Reppu would probably still have a few choice words over how well the set is put together). The idea that "x is done, then y is done, so x is released, then y is released" is still fairly prevalent in people's minds. The f2p transition and subsequent change of how content is delivered obviously tosses that right out the window.

Technically, it is. Both sets are "done". Unless there's a patch between now and BM's release, no bug fixes/tweaks are gamebreaking enough that they couldn't literally flip the switch right now. Marketing wise, yes, I get that it has a date and isn't being "withheld" in that sense. But the whole issue stems from people not understanding marketing. The "Black Pebble is evil and soul-less" humor exists for a reason - because some people honestly, at some point, though that.

Sure thing. Wasn't trying to argue at all, but I'm glad I was able to at least make it seem that way.

At the risk of continuing going off on tangents, yes, you can certainly take my forum name to be a sine that I have played TWEWY. ... ... cosine.

Zetta slow.

That was one of my favorite games of all time. Tried to make a Neku in TWEWY a long time ago but didn't have the hair. The Pocket D pack may help with that.

I am now certain that the Paragon Studios office building is composed of immense green stones which fit together in non-euclidean ways.

"That which is in beta can eternal lie, and with strange schedules even double XP can die."

Black Pebble's office nickname is Acererak.

Let me quickly draw a reference triangle... Yes, you are right, it appears to be non-Euclidean. CAT(-1) maybe, as some people can take shortcuts and stockpile their inf so they get powerlevelled when it is released.

Exactly. It's just terrible marketing - there's a sweetspot for releasing new stuff, and they've clearly missed it. Now people are just getting angry and frustrated. I'm at the point where I really don't care that much anymore, I would hope that isn't the mindset they were hoping for in their customers.

As for the sound effects (for both staff and titan), if they have new guys doing sound effects recently, they might want to look into bringing the old guys back...

This micro transaction stuff would be fine, but the way they're doing it is just terrible. Don't artificially drag out releases just so you have a new thing to sell each week, and stop overpricing everything - 800 pts for a frigging leprechaun? Really? If they continue on this course they're going to run this game into the ground much faster than it would otherwise.