Power up with Amplifiers! in launcher
not a fan of the item itself, but loved the promotional art.
The Nethergoat Archive: all my memories, all my characters, all my thoughts on CoH...eventually.
My City Was Gone
Any chance there's a higher-resolution version floating about?
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![](http://web-launcher.ncsoft.com/media/coh/uploads/images/installed/top-banner/COHF_Launcher_Amplifiers.jpg)
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THe ad is great, pay to win.... not so much.
Boycott Ncsoft if they close down Coh.
The buffs do not let you WIN the game.
The buffs are TEMPORARY.
There are already in game items for free and infinitely available to you called inspirations which have the same basic effect
![Smile](images/smilies/smile.gif)
If you belong to a SG you can get in game buffs from the empowerment station that last an hour.
Amplifiers do not allow your character to do something "super awesome omg I am now 50."
These are less "pay to win" than the xp boosters.
![Wink](images/smilies/wink.gif)
Uhmm it is not pay to win, but you can go ahead and think that if you want lol.
The buffs do not let you WIN the game. The buffs are TEMPORARY. There are already in game items for free and infinitely available to you called inspirations which have the same basic effect ![]() If you belong to a SG you can get in game buffs from the empowerment station that last an hour. Amplifiers do not allow your character to do something "super awesome omg I am now 50." These are less "pay to win" than the xp boosters. ![]() |
For melee's there is nothing there worth it.
Boycott Ncsoft if they close down Coh.
Im only really refering to is the Mex protection which is such a big big BIIIIIIIIIG powerboost for squishies.
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![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cb/Bismuth_subsalicylate.png/220px-Bismuth_subsalicylate.png)
And yes, you can get mez protection from Empowerment Stations as well.
Of course, since you've cheerfully admitted to employing hyperbole in an attempt to cause disruptions before, I'm not holding my breath that you'll calm down...
I just visited my local Empowerment Station. Plenty of mez resistance, but the only mez protection was to knockback. Unless there's a secret fourth-level station or something, the only way that squishies can get broad-spectrum mez protection is from purchasing Amplifiers from the store.
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Blazara Aura LVL 50 Fire/Psi Dom (with 125% recharge)
Flameboxer Aura LVL 50 SS/Fire Brute
Ice 'Em Aura LVL 50 Ice Tank
Darq Widow Fortune LVL 50 Fortunata (200% rech/Night Widow 192.5% rech)--thanks issue 19!
![Big Grin](images/smilies/biggrin.gif)
Uhmm it is not pay to win, but you can go ahead and think that if you want lol.
The buffs do not let you WIN the game. The buffs are TEMPORARY. There are already in game items for free and infinitely available to you called inspirations which have the same basic effect ![]() If you belong to a SG you can get in game buffs from the empowerment station that last an hour. Amplifiers do not allow your character to do something "super awesome omg I am now 50." These are less "pay to win" than the xp boosters. ![]() |
P2W is far less of a problem in a deeply cooperative game like City, compared to the PvP focused F2Ps where it got its name and negative meaning.
I do not suffer from altitis, I enjoy every character of it.
I'm honestly not happy about this at all, and it's about as clear an example of "pay to win" as I've ever seen. This is like what the worst of the Korean grindfest MMOs would institute to mooch money off their customers, essentially by designing "elite" content that requires those buffs to run.
Again, though, it raises an old spectre of a question - what do I pay a subscription for? Aside from character slots, what exactly does this subscription give me? I still have to buy my powersets, I still have to buy my costumes and I'm continually the target of real money sinks.
And how much do you want to bet next time I complain that something is too hard, I'll be told to just "buy an amplifier, it's cheap!" And it's a rental, too. The best kind.
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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Sam, if you're wondering why you're paying a subscription, just stop. It will take less than a month to figure out if you can live without it.
I know I can't.
Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.
Seriously, echoing the sentiments of others this is not pay to win. At first I was leery of purple enhancements in the market, now not so much. Every purchase in the store is a vote for the game and that makes it better for all of us.
This is a blatant attempt to get me to pay money to slap a band aid on the hole of a weakness programmed into some otherwise great archtypes so i can level up faster thereby making me UBER.
I am going to buy a metric crapload of them !
Sam, if you're wondering why you're paying a subscription, just stop. It will take less than a month to figure out if you can live without it.
I know I can't. |
Why I say this is I've played a lot of F2P MMOs. Most of them have a pretty crappy deal for Free and even Premium customers, mooching money on everything from transportation to simple amenities to respecs to inventory space and so on. But when you pay to subscribe, all of those nasty limitations go away and you feel like subscribing really does give you the VIP treatment. That's not the case here. In fact, here I feel that subscribing barely gets me anything past Premium and even as a VIP, I'm still treated as a Free player to whom everything must be marketed and sold.
Maybe I just haven't joined exclusive clubs enough in my life, but I keep thinking VIPs ought to be treated with a little more respect. I'd even trade some of the free stuff I'm getting (like zones and costume sets) for more respect in how things are marketed to me. I would think that my recurring subscription ought to make up for the recurring expenses on consumables, where I would only need to pay extra for permanent content, but more and more I'm seeing rentals marketed to me, and it makes me feel less and less "important," is why I'm making these statements.
I honestly don't think the performance amplifiers are a good idea, but at the very least they're cheap. That's good marketing, if nothing else, and I might be convinced to get a few for special occasions. But what I dislike is the MMO tradition behind them - pay money to get a buff and then go grind with it. I just don't like that sort of design.
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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Eh, to each his own.
There aren't leaderboards here, there aren't epeen metrics floating over our heads. There aren't mechanics that critically weigh the game based on some PvP mechanic.
Sure, some people expect a certain type of performance from their teammates, but the people that might actually care that their tank isn't tweaked for an extra 5% hp aren't the type of people I care to play with, so it serves as a good way to filter my friends list. I'd much rather learn my current team's strengths and weaknesses and adapt tactics that work for them than play some cookie-cutter minmax strategy every night.
Boosters aren't for me, but if some want to boost their stats with the spare change they have in couch cushions, it doesn't affect my ability to play the game as I see fit. If the devs raised difficulty of arcs so the only way not to regularly faceplant was to pay out for said buffs, then I'd be concerned.
![](https://sites.google.com/site/chasyork/_/rsrc/1286288783877/home/chasebanner.jpg)
Boosters aren't for me, but if some want to boost their stats with the spare change they have in couch cushions, it doesn't affect my ability to play the game as I see fit. If the devs raised difficulty of arcs so the only way not to regularly faceplant was to pay out for said buffs, then I'd be concerned.
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Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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I wouldn't say "amplifiers are the only way," but you can't deny content has been getting increasingly harder with each new addition. Even if the intent isn't to force people into amplifiers, we may end up going there for those of us who don't really have very impressive builds.
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I'm not sure if I'd call the newer content "harder" or just "incredibly uneven."
I make it through 4 of 5 strories in an arc with barely a scratch, then encounter an arc that's ridiculously uneven... and I am supposed to accept that because its the "climax" of the story and they warn me that its harder? No. I want 5 arcs that reasonably challenge me the way I'm inclined to be challenged... not 4 that make me want to leave, increase difficulty, and try again and 1 that makes me do the same in the opposite direction (plus extra cursing).
Could this tactic make me buy a power boost?
No, it's the kind of thing that would make me reconsider giving them my money altogether. (but I do see how others could buy into it)
![](https://sites.google.com/site/chasyork/_/rsrc/1286288783877/home/chasebanner.jpg)
... perhaps. I've found the game painfully easy on 'default' difficulty for some time.
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I'm not sure if I'd call the newer content "harder" or just "incredibly uneven."
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That's an entirely separate issue, I agree, but that actually IS the kind of issue which could make me buy a power amplifier. I'd actually like to buy one that lasts only 10-15 minutes, if I could. Just enough to blow through that ******* "Romulus' Army" mission where my NPC companions are useless and I spend three hours pulling spawns enemy by enemy and leaving for inspirations every other spawn. Or maybe I should save myself the trouble and just drop it. The "run the whole zone" reward is only once a week, so that's more than enough time to have my mission drop feature reset. CAN it be dropped, though?
Anyway, I'll probably get a couple of each and keep them in my e-mail in case something pisses me off, but that's about the only use I have for them.
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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The thing that I am scared of is thast soon without those pay to win temp stuff you cannot play new content. Which incicdentally is the day that I cancel my subscription.
I pay a monthly fee, I am willing to pay a bit for some fun stuff, but that should be enough for them.
The City of Heroes Community is a special one and I will always look fondly on my times arguing, discussing and playing with you all. Thanks and thanks to the developers for a special experience.
I'm honestly not happy about this at all, and it's about as clear an example of "pay to win" as I've ever seen.
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This is like what the worst of the Korean grindfest MMOs would institute to mooch money off their customers, essentially by designing "elite" content that requires those buffs to run. |
You can't even make a viable case that the devs are INTENDING to make content that requires these. You can merely FUD out a slippery slope parable.
Again, though, it raises an old spectre of a question - what do I pay a subscription for? |
Or that you're cheesed that these boosters put a Tier 2 guy infinitesimally closer to your IO'ed to the gills toons?
Or that you're cheesed that an OPTIONAL item in the cash store somehow devalues your choice not to buy them and run the content in regular or hard mode?
Aside from character slots, what exactly does this subscription give me? I still have to buy my powersets, I still have to buy my costumes and I'm continually the target of real money sinks. |
- Character slots
- Access to VIP-only content
- Access to all non-premium power sets
- A stipend of points to spend as you will. No, not enough for you to buy everything every month forever. You have to budget them if you don't wish to augment your stipend with additional cash. Nobody every promised you all content post-Freedom for free with a sub.
- A server transfer token.
- You're also a long-enough term vet that most of your Reward tokens are really only useful for consumable.
- Complete unfettered SG access.
And how much do you want to bet next time I complain that something is too hard, I'll be told to just "buy an amplifier, it's cheap!" And it's a rental, too. The best kind. |
And if some intellectual cripple is going to insist on you buying one or tell you that you should buy one for something you feel is too hard, do you honestly care what they say? Or would you want to game with someone so mentally stunted?
Stop trying to borrow trouble and just play the damned game already!
Here we go. Another one who just can't resist browbeating me for having an opinion. OK, let's roll.
As soon as you can define a viable "win" scenario that these somehow, magically allow, I'll give you this.
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But a great deal of content that's normally a pain in the *** to run sure goes a heck of a lot smoother if you have status protection. The stricter your definition of "required" becomes, the less relevant the argument you're truing to prove with it is because you're simply painting it into a corner. Again, you know what I mean.
So, basically, you're saying you're cheesed because you're not getting this for free?
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Or did I not say that in this particular post? If I didn't, I apologise. I put it in at least one of the ones I made, but they're scattered all over the boards. In case it's not in this thread, that's what I mean.
Or that you're cheesed that these boosters put a Tier 2 guy infinitesimally closer to your IO'ed to the gills toons?
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Or that you're cheesed that an OPTIONAL item in the cash store somehow devalues your choice not to buy them and run the content in regular or hard mode?
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Which I can buy, so that's a budget option.
So, Incarnates? Because everything else can be purchased, it just costs more. Again, I'm not interested in a budget option.
Which I can buy either way. Again, I'm not interested in a budget option.
A stipend of points to spend as you will. No, not enough for you to buy everything every month forever. You have to budget them if you don't wish to augment your stipend with additional cash. Nobody every promised you all content post-Freedom for free with a sub.
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Oh, happy day. And again - I can buy those if I want them. That's not VIP exclusive. It's a budget option.
You're also a long-enough term vet that most of your Reward tokens are really only useful for consumable.
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Which I'm pretty sure I could buy, if not directly then by purchasing enough points. Again, it's free stuff.
If that's not enough, go Premium and then tell us how much your player experience sucks.
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The amplifiers are basically multi-aspect super inspirations with a long duration. Deal with it. It'd be objectionable if they were perma improvements.
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Stop trying to borrow trouble and just play the damned game already!
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Now, if you were actually interested in an honest discussion of opinion and preference, I'm open to it. But if you're just going to toss off-hand insults to my intelligence and try and fail to browbeat me, then we can just keep up this circus, derail the thread and get it locked. I've gotten pretty good at that over the years.
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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Kudos to the devs for the announcement in the launcher for power amplifiers. Loved the homage to the old Charles Atlas ads.
Any chance there's a higher-resolution version floating about?
And what's next for the team?