Anyone Tired of COX and Paragon Market

I am becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the game overall.
As a long time subscriber I am hoping for some player feedback
about the overall quality of the game now and the value
of the Paragon Market to you.

The game overall seems to be getting stale to me,
I guess that is too be expected after 7 years.
My feeling is that it is due to a couple of factors.

1) My lack of time to invest in Super Group stuff, TF or Incarnate Arcs.

2) Lack of mission teams to join. Trials have destroyed teaming in Paragon.
Solitary nature of trial interaction reminds me of PI powerleveling run.
Empty zones with almost no one to team with during daytime.

3) Lack of new enemies, staleness of same old foes year after year.
Lack of new contact, paper, radio missions for mission teams.

4) Lack of Desire to create new Hero/Heroine
The same old powersets nothing new or interesting for free.
The new powersets that I have bought have dissapointed me.
Same old costumes unless you pay for new options.

6) Lack of Desire to level or roleplay my older Heroes.
Do to apathy or boredom with my progress or the game itself.


As far as the Paragon Market is concerned, I feel it is a necessary evil.
I do like the fact that it has enhancements since some are scarce in WW and BM.
I feel it does serve a purpose to F2P and Premium Members.

But, for me as a VIP it only serves annoy me since now powersets and costumes
are not QL improvements as they have been in the past.
The Paragon Market has reduced my choices instead of increasing them.
It is too bad new free stuff might have rekindled some interest in the game.

Frankly, I have been disappointed with the powersets I have purchased.
Now I resist the temptation to buy new powersets due to my boredom with the
sets included with my subscription.

Overall, I guess you could call me dissapointed in the direction of the game.

The game feels stale because the new stuff is being pumped out and the rest of the game isn't being upgraded at the same pace. We are reaching a saturation point with all these new power sets and costumes, while existing balance changes need to be done for existing power sets for example. Mittens for hands is another point or even power customization for epics/pools.

So...free verse?

I think if they spend an issue to tie up loose ends (IO sets, mission architect, bases, power sets, etc) of existing content it would rejuvenate the game. To me, it is clear that adding more (Going Rogue expansion) is pretty much a flash in the pan.

This is why I look forward to zone revamps Paragon team has in store. But I believe they need to expand on that idea of revamping the games core.

I gotta agree with gemini, it only feels stale right now because we're getting A LOT of things like new powersets, costume pieces, and low and high end content, but not enough mid-level content (night ward's a decent step in the right direction, but we still need more), too many loose end systems that need some tie up/polishing/upgrades.

But I speak at not being at a loss for teaming because I tend to have one very consistent teammate, and a handful of others whom I can join and I'm not too big on large teams anyway, especially as an RPer where it's hard to get in a word edge wise and not ignore someone else.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow City of Heroes is a game about freedom of expression and variety of experiences far more so than it is about representing any one theme, topic or genre.

I think a break may be just what is needed in this case OP. I took one for a couple of years and highly recommend it based on the symptoms described.

I'm genuinely impressed by the It Feels So Stale Because We're Getting Too Much New Stuff line of thinking.

That is quite the amazing feat of mental contortion!

LOL. Nope. I'm still having as much fun as when I started.

Sounds like your problems with the game are really that you're a bit burned out (which does indeed happen).
Take a break.
It may only be a week or two, or it may be longer... but most of the time, the desire to play returns and a fresh look of things that seem stale right now become fun and interesting again (or not!).

I always try and change it up when I feel a bit stale. An old alt I haven't played in a long while or maybe just go exploring or do some base building or some other aspect of the game that I hadn't touched in a while.

As far as the store is concerned... The monthly points plus a measure of patience has made it pretty much a non-issue for myself.
I've taken the approach of not getting anything that I don't have a plan to use right now.
And any powersets get tried out on Beta/Test before I buy them (assuming I have an alt in mind that I want to make soon/immediately).


I will say this, I believe it is somewhat true that the focus of a game's design takes a new (and somewhat disappointing) form with a F2P/Hybrid business model than a purely subscription-based model.
The focus becomes about what cool things they can sell, as opposed to anything that could be added to the game to make it more awesome.

Now, Paragon Studios has pleasantly surprised me in the past, so I am not convinced that they'll abandon the latter approach entirely.
I am just saying that I think the things we have been seeing, and the things we have not been seeing, are a result of that general shift in approach.

I'm okay with it and have been enjoying the game, so I'm not worried or doom-and-glooming about it, but it is something that can turn people off and/or could grow to be a problem eventually.

I don't have that feeling at all.

This is the only MMO on the market that doesn't turn in to a homework assignment once you hit a certain level, the only MMO that lets you set your difficulty to "Impossible" and win, and the only MMO that has absolutely no fear whatsoever of travel (looking at you, Blizzard/Lucasarts).