The Future of CoX. Ah the Memories...

I'm with Sam. People that get nostalgia for the old days don't actually remember what they were like. People quitting over perma-debt, for example. Having to spend day after day after day street hunting in Brickstown because you're out of contacts and leveling is so slow in the 30's. Going without SO's at all simply because you could never afford them at the low levels. The glory days weren't necessarily that glorious.

And back when there were no min/maxers leveling as fast as they could? Like the people that built invul tanks and herded entire maps or even zones? PI farms that could get you to level 50 in a day? People farming the Abandoned Sewer Trial, never completing it, just farming for the experience? People using smoke to make themselves invulnerable? Regen to make them unkillable? Burn on a fire tank to herd up entire maps of 5th column puppies and kill them all at once? "Perma 46" characters built specifically for farms?

I don't think things have changed as much as people think. At least, as far as how people want to play the game.

As far as what I'd like to see revamped -- Synapse, for sure. Maybe the shard TFs as well, if they even feel like those zones are worth salvaging. Sure there are problems with Sister Psyche, Citadel, Manti, and Numina, but they don't compare to Synapse.

I certainly don't think they need to remove or replace Hess, that's a fun TF that too few people have experienced because you have to unlock the contact (which only takes half an hour via Ouro). Though I've said before, the giant robot really should come to life and stride across the zone or something. But still, nothing wrong with Hess at all.

I'd recommend starting over with a new character using powersets you haven't tried before.

I've played on and off for years now, and have over ten level 50s, some of whom are incarnated out, but there's a whole heap of stuff I havent touched still.

I've just discovered Cold Domination in the past couple of weeks.
Never played Trick Arrows
Never played a Mastermind beyond the 20s
I've never got a Brute beyond the 30s (doing that now and finally got to Footstomp after 5 Superstrength characters)
There's Energy Aura, all the newer powersets, alternative Stalker builds to my MA/SR. Havent played a Blaster for some time, maybe Dual Pistols.

I still find suboptimal teams who need to work together and struggle through basic content. Its also nice to also have the option to play with heavy hitters who trivialise the content every now and then. I get to be powerlevelled or powerlevel others without having to pair everyone up.

I love where the game is now compared to when I started.

Just gonna chime in with everyone else. The game gets better every time I play it.

Tonight I was in an awesome PUG duo with my lowbie Grav/Elec Dom and a Dual Pistols/Trick Arrow Corruptor. We had a freakin' blast going through Montague's arc. Both of us were 4-5 year Vets that had gone premium, so we knew what we were doing and we'd done it a thousand times, but it was nonetheless a heap of fun.

I encourage all vets to lead teams. Don't just moan about the fast tracks to 50 that the devs have installed. We've all done a few sewer runs, but why not grab up some newbies and do an arc or two? Invite them to your sg. Encourage them to team with you the next time you're around. Welcome these newcomers to the community.

Oh, and I've stopped taking Hasten. Doesn't mean I need to slap more recharge into my build. Just means I need to find a power to use will the others are recharging. The game still works with SOs. Still works just fine.

The map... ahhh.. the map! I almost forgot this. The thing I like to see first is the removing of the warwalls and the use of the same zone tech as Praetoria. Enlarge all zones so they actually hit each other. Use the zoning screen also used in Praetoria in-between. And we actually know the layout of the city again and it will make sense.

And although I know all old TF's will slowly get a revamp.. What about the paper/police missions? Is there a way to at least double those with the new maps included?

That's pretty ambitious, Liz.

I could go for it, but I won't be expecting it to happen. Especially since the War Walls still have a storyline reason to exist: The Rikti aren't gone yet.

I've been on a few failed ITFs recently, so it's not all rose gardens and flying ponies.

Mainly from people who don't understand how Twilight Grasp from the healing nictus works. If the team's full of low damage support-types and they don't figure this out or listen to the explanations, it hurts. Frustrating too, when someone says they don't see the twilight grasp vfx and insists on staying close anyway.

I remember my first few runs back when it was released, and wow, what a difference.

With all due respect, the OP sounds a bit like grandpa saying "when I was your age, I walked 5 miles to school! In the SNOW! With no BOOTS! We couldn't AFFORD boots! And we were grateful! GRATEFUL, I tell you!" About that time, grandma would wander in and say "no you didn't, Henry. You walked once because you missed the bus, and your mom was at work and couldn't drive you." Then grandpa would mutter something about kids being too entitled these days, and grandma would add that might be right, dear. And that might apply to us, too.

There are any number of things to be nostalgic about - like being tight with your sg mates, because you needed a decent-sized group of solid players to build an sg back then. But honestly, I like the game soooo much better now. This was the first MMO I'd ever played, and I remember when I started (right after ED came into play), venting at my husband, saying "WHY on earth does it take SO long to get to _____?" And "Why do I have to go to the furthest away zone, hunt 10 guys for no experience, then spend forever going back to where I started?" He'd say I was crazy, that this was a thousand times better for travel time and lack of busywork than any other MMO. It made me wonder why anyone ever played any of those things, if they were even WORSE than CoH, since I seemed to waste so much time that I would rather spend actually playing.

Back then, I took every possible QoL option I could find. People would regularly ask me why I had 2 travel powers. The reason is, of course, because anything else drove me batpoo crazy. Sprinting across the Hallows? Dying over and over, and going to the hospital... in Atlas?! How much "fun" was that? I recall the only way I finally got across the Hallows to my mission was to use my level 6 hover - which at the time was ungodly slow, and took me about 45 minutes, what with getting lost and etc. But I didn't die!

Now I can just buy a jet pack and be done with it. Now we have Ouro Portals, and FF is on the train line, and there is only 1 train line. I no longer have to run the entire length of Steel Canyon on my level 3 (with its requisite multiple deaths) for a costume fix. I can even get a tail AND a belt!

And reading the content? WHAT?! I never read the content, after the first few arcs I'd run. They were all the same! "We have a terrible problem! Go interrogate 10 ___ and get us information!" "Good, you got that information, now go see the Longbow recruiter, I think he has an offer for you" "You're back! David Wincott needs to see you immediately!" "Go clear out all the ____ in (zone far away from you)" "Well done! Now go arrest 10 ____ (foe group that is impossible to find at your level)" "Good job! The Security Chief in Perez needs to talk to you!." I needed to read that? Really? Now we have great content I WANT to read! Praetoria has some great writing, and First Ward is top notch stuff: I laughed, I cried, I wanted to adopt Noble Savage.

I'm still all about QoL - I get common IO's at 22, so I don't have to hold up a team for 15 minutes, or play horribly because all my SO's suddenly all turned red. I have enough vet rewards that I can respec around 38-40 and Frankenslot set pieces, so I'm more effective, and thus have more fun. And respec again at 47 - having saved all those IO's from the respecs and place them in bins in my SG for the next alt. This, thanks to the fact that now I have 3 enhancement trays because of the lovely and wonderful paragon market (Yeah, tell me this costs more than SO's).

No, I wouldn't go back for anything. I'm not sure how I stayed in the game, other than the fact that with every issue, things got easier to negotiate, and there were fewer and fewer mindless tasks to perform. If I'm doing puttering things, it's because I'm costuming or playing the market, and it's done when I choose to do it.

We can fuss, and whine and be entitled about this or that. But looking back to where we were, to where we are now, the devs have done a great job, because the game keeps getting better and better with each issue.

Touch my old TFs with care lest you take away one of those things I enjoy most. Leave all old arcs alone. Add new ones, maybe tweek old ones at the most.

My favorite TF cycle which on rare occasions is also an all day thing but typically just how I break up my casual pug time.

Sister psyche,moonfire,hess,citadel, first respec tf. I call it the Mechanical Council plot. Its not hard to use a touch of imagination to pull together Burkholders interest in cybernetics and freakshows own obvious cult like obssession, on top of the fact there is content aplenty about sentient machines from citadel and lumi to MK in founders and ofcourse the story arc about council bots becoming self aware.

Sorry for that rant I was just trying to underline how rich and actually pretty logical those groups mesh together in that level range. Especially since in sister you encounter a few council.

There are plenty of places that do need touching up, but not every old TF is in dire need. COX is content RICH and is probably among its biggest strengths in this current age when so many new MMO over the last 3 years have come out so light on content one month is all it takes to see the game in depth.

COX has OPTIONS to level in such numbers that even if at any point in time a new player gets ancy and speed levels with some help, if they come to love the game in time they will get curious and go back to explore all there is.

As a Lore Based RPer who prefers a mentor like role, I often am teaching both new and old players about the in game history and oft inspiring them to go hit the Ozone and flashback to see some of the old arcs I draw upon for my characters or discussions. Or pull up pwiki and start earning thier history badges. The story of galaxy girl and dauntless usually does that

I'm with _eeek_ and Samuel Tow on this. I totally remember not having enough influence for SOs until about my mid 30's, dying over and over again and being in perma-debt, and I even remember using hover to slooooowly get around the Hallows.

The first character I ever made was an elec/dev blaster, back when I was introduced to the game in May 2004. At that time, I had no previous experience with the game at all, so I had no idea what I was doing or how anything worked. I didn't get that character to 50 until sometime in January 2005. Contrast that with my WP/DB tank I made in 2009 (I think), who got to 50 in about two months without me having to do any power leveling or playing her excessively. Though I did play her almost exclusively for that time.

I remember accumulating a bit over 60 million inf just from doing Hami raids over and over, with my level 50 elec/dev blaster. At the time, I thought that was an incredible amount of inf to have! Especially since I didn't really have anything to spend it on, haha. Nowadays I have a lot more fun playing with the auction house in order to collect up hundreds of millions of inf, just so I can trick out each and every level 50 character I have with Purple and PvP IOs. Bling!

For what it's worth, all those street hunts in Numina's TF did have a point, back when it was the closest thing we had to endgame (seems absurd now, yes?) - going back through all the zones you'd leveled through and beating up all your old foes, in a whirlwind widdershins tour of the city. Now, of course, street hunting is dead and the "final" TF isn't anymore...

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Originally Posted by Organica I'm with Sam. People that get nostalgia for the old days don't actually remember what they were like. People quitting over perma-debt, for example. Having to spend day after day after day street hunting in Brickstown because you're out of contacts and leveling is so slow in the 30's. Going without SO's at all simply because you could never afford them at the low levels. The glory days weren't necessarily that glorious. And back when there were no min/maxers leveling as fast as they could? Like the people that built invul tanks and herded entire maps or even zones? PI farms that could get you to level 50 in a day? People farming the Abandoned Sewer Trial, never completing it, just farming for the experience? People using smoke to make themselves invulnerable? Regen to make them unkillable? Burn on a fire tank to herd up entire maps of 5th column puppies and kill them all at once? "Perma 46" characters built specifically for farms?

As the song goes:
"Ah yes, I remember it well..."