City of Heroes on Steam with Achievements & Purchasable Starter/Vanity Item Packs

I've got many people in to this game through Steam sales of CoH when it used to be on the service. It was great.

Steam as a whole is excellent for me. Awesome sales, ease of use, very convenient, friends list, voice chat, and so on. Their digital distribution gaming platform does it right.

Of course, if you're a tin-foil hat wearing type then you're gonna hate every single service that gives you the slightest funny look (Facebook, Steam, etc..). So, honestly, if you're that person then you'll hate it and you're probably just kinda miserable in general.

Eh, problem is paranoid alarmists assume just because they COULD track something, they ARE tracking it... That and getting bent out of shape over something being tracked that honestly doesn't affect them at all. Problem is, you can't really argue with them. Seriously, as I said before, why should I give a rat's *** whether Steam knows that I bought a vase on EBay?

I've done a little research into some of the bolder claims made against Steam (meaning I called/talked to a few of my dorkier friends about it over the course of the day and evening). And there are a few factors at work, as they see it, some of which I completely sympathize with; and some of which I actually find offensive.

The Good
Steam is great, and always has been, IN MY EXPERIENCE. But today, since ya'll saw me post last, I learned of its seedy, bug-ridden past. Steam suffered launch woes and in its first several months, the service suffered through a perfect storm of annoying and even harmful bugs. Many early adopters left and never came back, but those early adopters told their friends how horrible this "Steam" service was, who in turn told their friends. Some of the stories may have grown more horrible over time. Some were undoubtedly true. Meanwhile, Steam pressed on, ironing and squashing bugs. But the seeds of popular opinion had been sewn. Which is why today, I was put in the position of informing a couple of under-the-rock friends that the bugs they're still ticked off about were probably ironed out a few years ago.

I will take this opportunity to mention that I actually played City of Heroes for a couple of months way back in 2004 (that account is still tied to my master account; I even blew the dust off of it one night after CoH: Freedom launched). There simply wasn't enough of it there to keep me interested, but that NEVER led to making false assumptions over the next several years. Online services grow and change. I can't believe this is news to people. I always expected that I'd come back one day, and I did.

So, the good news, apparently, is that Steam is not what it used to be. If you haven't checked it out in a couple of years, then you should.

The Bad
The bad news is that Steam loves the DLC/microtransaction model. Now, I actually love the DLC model too, so this isn't bad news FOR ME. DLC is a great way to expand the life of a product, and many single-player games large and small are getting the sorts updates and patches you'd normally only expect from the land of MMOs. Coming from a Warhammer 40,000 franchise fan, I can assure you that this is good news for me (yes I know the gravy train has now stopped for Retribution, but hey, DoW III! Someday! *Shakes fist at Company of Heroes 2*). A lot of (seriously uninformed) people in this thread have claimed that MMOs don't have a place on Steam, but a quick look at their Massively Multiplayer category will reveal a large and growing pile of MMOs, mostly F2P. DLC and microtransactions make that possible. Unfortunately, a huge crowd out there simply feels like they're being nickel and dimed (never mind the fact that those nickels and dimes are what is allowing some of their favorite franchises to continue on). I can't really argue with them, because part of their argument is just the facts.

But here's some perspective. When Fallen Earth went F2P and put their product on Steam last year, the insanely massive influx of new players actually crashed their servers. They made a quick recovery, and have gone from a flailing, drowning MMO to something else entirely. That's what Steam does. Like it or loathe it, it brings money to online games. Lots of money. Coupled with the fact that NO pre-existing MMO has ever REQUIRED its users to switch to Steam as their game's launcher (meaning none of this would effect those who don't use Steam), don't ya'll think City of Heroes could benefit from that sort of exposure? No? Well, okay.

One thing I learned that isn't so bad is the fact that Steam doesn't actually take a cut off every microtransaction. That's pure rumor. In the case of some F2P MMOs it DOES take a cut whenever players buy the equivalent of Paragon Points to spend in their various MMOs digital marketplaces. But in the case of some MMOs (like STO for instance), it's STILL cheaper to buy points via Steam than via the publisher's website.

But for many of you, the bad is still the bad: if City of Heroes ever went back on Steam, there would more than likely be some content available only to Steam users. That is just the reality of the market. It is a tactic (and a compromise between Valve and publishers) that gets more people to install and use Steam. I'll concede that this stinks for people who just don't want another service to subscribe to. But...

The Ugly
On the other hand, I have over 150 games on Steam, most of which I paid chump change for. POCKET CHANGE. I've only played a small fraction of them. Maybe I'll get around to the others. Some day. But that's not the point. With a little bit of patience, and a couple of Summer and Christmas sales, these are games that YOU paid twenty to sixty dollars for and I didn't. Mass Effect, Bioshock, Half-Life 2, Arkham Asylum, Borderlands and all DLC, Deus Ex, Freedom Force and Freedom Force vs. the 3rd Reich, Gratuitous Tank Battles, Dungeon Defenders + DLC, Civ V + DLC, the ENTIRE Dawn of War and Dawn of War 2 series + ALL DLC for 75% off a couple weeks ago (I was missing a few things), Red Faction: Guerilla, Spore + expansions, all of Tale Tell Games Back to the Future and Wallace & Gromit titles (and Ghostbusters), Every X2 game for 75% off, Torchlight, the Witcher, plus many, many more big names and dozens of smaller indie diamonds like Runespell: Overture, Machinarium, all the Majesty games, King Arthur, Legendary, Din's Curse, Braid, Armada 2526, Nuclear Dawn and so on.

In comparison, think of what your games have cost you. But...wait, you DID pay for your games...didn't you?

Remember I mentioned at the start of this post about being offended by some factors? Here is the worst thing I learned today from two friends and a co-worker who hate Steam the most. It has ruined "free gaming" for them. A.K.A. piracy. DLC, patches, achievements, Steam activation, all of these things are like iron bars for software pirates. Not to mention, Steam has been rumored not to play nicely on computers where it has come into contact with pirated Steam-ready games. When I flat out cornered them about it, when I explained how Steam as a digital content distribution platform was running smooth as glass these days, they had to admit that all of the squashed bugs and streamlining in the world was beside the point, and always would be: they just want everything for free, and the rise of digital distribution has rained all over their pirate parade. (They didn't exactly put it like that, but...)

So behind all the ill-will and bad press they've thrown around over the years, there was this really offensive idea: Steam is "awful" because it keeps them from stealing.

The one silver lining, I learned, is that when you put it like that to someone, any pirate with a conscience will frown (hopefully at themselves). Even if just for a moment. Not saying I changed anyone's mind (or behavior). But I think most people really do know better.

And for the record...

Errrr, no, I can't believe how long my post is, either.

I'm sure I either deserve a high-five or a slap in the face, one of the two!

There just aren't that many games that come out solely on PC which I'm interested in, and my general preference when there's a console version is to get (by purchase or rental) that version and avoid most of the headaches of PC gaming. Out of the eight games from the list you gave that I actually played - I rented Mass Effect, Borderlands, and Ghostbusters for about $4 each; I purchased Freedom Force before Steam existed; I bought Arkham Asylum for the 360, I bought Civ V (for $10 as I recall) and Spore for the PC; and I borrowed The Witcher from a friend (literally - box and all) and discovered that I was glad I didn't buy it.

And out of the ones I played on PC, there's absolutely no reason I would've wanted them to be tied to an online service (indeed, in Spore's instance the program's built-in online service was annoying enough).

I could be swayed toward agreeing with some of the criticisms I've heard here. And no one's even brought up, for instance, how some MMO publishers as well as single-player publishers have abused the microtransaction model, holding back on half their content at release and then essentially charging many times over what the game in its entirety SHOULD have cost, under the cover of "DLC". That's what we in the super hero world call "shady." But not all publishers do it, or at least not to such an extent that it's blatant cow-milking greed. I honestly don't mind if a company plans and develops DLC content even before release, if the game at release is a full meal on its own.

But I will say this. Like some other things in life (sushi, cliff-diving, signature task forces...), someone had to talk me into Steam and nearly twist my arm to get me to try it out. I'm glad they did. Regardless of all the tiny details, and even a few large ones, I think the influx of players would be worth it. Contrary to some of you, I think if Steam brought them, Paragon Studios could keep them. For those of us who continued to ignore Steam, all we would see would be benefits. More zone revamps, more power sets, more story arcs, more cool stuff.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xzero45 wat

I said calm down.

Steam might bring in more players, but, as was mentioned, CoH already was on Steam and the decision was made to break off from the service. Presumably, the reasons behind the decision still exist, making the whole issue moot.

There where good reasons Steam wasnt working anymore.. none of them technical. It was more of a financial structure.

I would love if it could be solved. Not that I would play over Steam but it will draw in more players. And that is all I care about on this.

I would think game "quality" should be the focus re: bringing in/retaining new players. The "fast gimmicks" model is applied by many MMOs and has shown it works for only a very short time, often leaving those players with a bad taste once the gimmick wears off. CoH, imo, has an edge over most others in that it is constantly adding/updating/upgrading the gameplay experience as opposed to just using some smoke and mirrors to keep any players they managed to draw in with w/e gimmick used.







*in awe of Arcanaville*

Up until some patch a few weeks ago I was still running my Going Rogue, bought on sale, through Steam. It always called the launcher correctly and launched but still reported stats through Steam. Since that patch though I just get to a black screen 90% of the time.

Aion still launches correctly through Steam, and both of my Turbine games do as well. It's just City that is broken.

Ah well, Just means alt+tabbing instead of using the built in friends messenger, and of course no play time tracker.