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August 28, 2007
And, occasionally, everything clicks
I was running a random solo alt this evenimg -- Miss Crackle, a Lvl 11 Elec/Energy Blaster -- after karate. There's something marvelously mindless and non-committal and unstressful about just playing alts and joining PUGs ... it doesn't "matter," and therefore one can just relax and take things as they come.
I'd about given up on anyone answering the LFT, and was headed to Steel to run the University stuff, when I got a tell inviting me to a team, and picked it up. And had one of those nice experiences that actually makes up for the 60% of PUGs that are mediocre and the 35% that are just plain wrong. The team -- two blasters, two scrappers, two defenders -- just clicked, and we rolled through various Hollows missions, culminating in running Frostfire. And it was all skittles and beer and occasional OMG we're all going to die! and successes galore, until ...
Freaking "City of Heroes has encountered a problem, so sorry ... Verifying Files ..." just two mobs away from the FF room
Ah, well. Still fun.
Posted by Dave at 11:22 PM
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Filed under: Gameplay
I11 tidbits - Dual Swords and Willpower
"Mindripper," who was at PAX, noted some tidbits about I11 that Positron dropped there (emphasis mine):
1. I asked him about future plans for the Shadow Shard and if it was going to go Co Op. Basically his answer was the the RWZ is what they wanted Co Op to be at this time, and that because of gameplay problems with the shard and how big it is that this wasn't something they intended on getting into the game anytime soon.
2. I asked him about Pocket D getting year round contacts for Co Op and he basically said that would be seasonal stuuf only. I quickly followed this up with are we getting Halloween agian this year. His response was Yes, with some new twists and some new badges. He didn't go into details.
3. I asked him if the 5th Column were comeing back. He said yes and left me under the impression that it would come in issue 11. That conjecture on my part though.
4. I asked him what he could tell me about I11, He said that there will be a number of new story lines introduced and plenty of things for level capped aka 50s to do.
5. Another fan asked about the new power sets, Posi said they will be Dual Blades and Willpower, and will be for all 4 of the Melee ATs in whate ever Combo makes sensce for them.
6. That Fan also asked about a lv cap increase. No.
7. I asked about after 50 rewards such as extra enhancement slots. His answer was that was something they had discussed in house but that the tech programming is time consumeing and that that was way on the back burner.
8. I asked about the SG limit and the whole 75 accounts in a sg deal. This is something he says they want to implement but they are haveing Data Base problems with it. He further said that they thought they had the problem licked 2 issues ago but the solution that they had come up with had the potential to massively corrupt the data in super groups through out the game.
9. Also my brother says that Lighthouse said that closed beta for i11 is right around the corner, its a matter of a few weeks. Keep in mind I didn't actually hear this but others in the group I was in confirmed thats what he said.
This has led to much other discussion about, in particular, the melee powers.
On Dual Blades, Castle says:
1) Primarily Lethal damage (and, yes, I am very aware of the arguments against that.)
2) The animations are pretty darn cool looking. BAB has outdone himself here, I think.
3) As Posi said, the set is FAST. Not quick 'claws' speed, but fast nonetheless. For Tankers and Brutes, I imagine that'll be a nice change!
Dual Blades are currently fast. Really fast. So fast, probably going to have to slow them down before we go into testing. They are also going to have a few extra gimmicks that are going to make them a very interesting set to play. This set is currently being designed for Stalkers, Scrappers, Brutes, and Tanks.
Willpower is designed as a Resistance set, mostly perma-powers. Castle says:
Willpower has 'decent' resists against Smashing/Lethal/Toxic/Psi damage. It has 'poor' resists but 'decent' defense against Fire/Cold/Energy/Negative Energy.
Willpower is our attempt to give the players a powerset that can fulfill the 'tough guy' concept and we're trying to hit a very minimal FX look to it. We have to have some kind of visual effects for the various toggles and clicks just so players will know what's on and what's not on, but overall it's going to be a much less glowy/sparkly than any of the the other 'defensive' powersets. We'll see if that survives our initial closed beta testing or if players will just feel it's lackluster because of the subdued FX.
Castle also said (about Willpower? Or more broadly?):
Someone earlier in the thread mentioned Taunt Auras. Brutes, Scrappers and Tankers all have a 'Taunt Aura' power called "Rise to the Challenge" that works similarly to Invincibility, but increases Regeneration rate rather than Defense.
Very cool. Now I'll have to free up some character slots to play with them. :-)
Posted by Dave at 9:45 AM
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Filed under: Resources & Rules
August 26, 2007
Sewer Mission Etiquette
The reality of the Sewer Missions in Atlas is that once the team has gone in 4-5 encounters (say past the side dead-end tunnel full of Vahz), someone joining from the front door is not going to make it unless they have some invisibility power, healing power, or travel power. That being said ...
- Once you join a Sewer Team, it's incumbent upon you to make your way to the sewers with all deliberate speed. People are going to wait for you, and the longer you hold them up, the more impolite you are being. Joining the team is not the time to hit Wentworths, hit Miss Liberty, hit the store, hit Azuria, and go order pizza.
- It's polite to wait for a decent length of time for the last person to make it in the door before hallooing off after bad guys. Folks joined expecting to be part of the team. Be a team mate toward them.
- It's polite to head back toward the door if you're only in a few encounters and someone dies or joins the team new. It's both polite and wise to do so when it's 3-4 members of the team heading back from the hospital.
- It's impolite to insist that folks head back to the door for you when they're a dozen-plus encounters in. Not only is it time-consuming, but they've probably far outleveled the greens/blues at the entrance and so would lose XP-over-time.
- It's very impolite to act snarky when folks won't come back for you in a case like #4. It's even more impolite to continue to rag on the team leader by private tells after quitting the team in a huff. It's even more polite to do so after the team leader offers an apology.
Thus endeth the lesson.
Posted by Dave at 8:52 PM
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Filed under: Gameplay
August 21, 2007
Character Transfer proto-FAQ
A new prototype of the FAQ to go with the Character Transfer and Renaming system, "coming soon."
Q: Can I transfer a character from one account to another? I had this old account I'm about to get rid off, but I’d like one of the characters from it.
A: Character moves from account to account are not part of the features described, sorry.
Q: These features would make great Veteran Rewards! Is that possible?
A: We've talked about this, but the tech to do it wasn't a simple thing. We'd rather get the basic functionality out there for everyone and then go from there.
Q: Given the interest in names and the Character Rename feature, what is going on with character name purges?
A: As we announced on July 31st here (link to http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=8836713 ) the names for characters below level 6 on game retail accounts that have been inactive for over 90 days will be changed to unreserved status. For complete details, please reference the previous announcement ( link to http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=8836713 )
Q: Any number of questions regarding a “server-less” game configuration and possible speculation about how that will work.
A: We don't have anything to add about a "server-less" system, other than to reiterate what was stated in the original announcement. To quote:
Quote:
“One example of such a change would be a “server-less” game configuration where all players can group with anyone, without the restriction of which server they play on. We are not committing to this “server-less” configuration, and in fact there are no plans to implement a “server-less” environment this calendar year...”
Q: With Character Transfers, when someone does use it, do they receive a warning that their name is already taken prior to the move?
A: There is a Name Check feature included in the game now. By using this feature, you can check if a name is available prior to purchasing a rename token. Please keep in mind that while a name check may come through as showing a name available, there is still no guarantee that someone might not choose that name just before you use your rename to obtain it. Therefore, there are no guarantees that any name will be available. All purchases of Character Renames are final and non-refundable.
Q: Is there any other means to pay for a Character Transfer or Character Rename besides a credit card on file?
A: The systems currently in use Character Transfer and Character Rename do not include the option to use a game time card or any other payment option for these services. Only with a card on file for recurring billing is it possible to purchase these items.
Q: Can I move my characters to a Europe server or characters from a European server to North American Servers?
A: The Character Transfer Service does not allow for moves between the EU servers and the US servers or vice versa.
Q: Do all your possessions move with you when you do a character transfer?
A: Yes, including your auctions on the Consignment Market. Here is a list of things that do not move
* Your Friends list of players will no longer be valid
* You will be removed from any Supergroup that character was in, and will lose access to any SG storage.
* Taskforces or Strikeforces that may be in progress will be abandonded.
* Kiosk stats will be preserved, but rating positions will likely chage.
* We cannot guarantee that your character’s name will be available on the destination server you move too. Should there be a name conflict, your character will be issued a free character rename to change the name.
Q: Will the Character Transfer Service allow me to make a copy of my character?
A: No, sorry. No copies, just transfers.
Q: Is there a badge associated with making a Character Transfer? In the past, there was the Passport badge that was given out.
A: There is no badge received from moving in the current system. The Passport badge was intended as a one time offering for US to EU moves, since the European (EU) service started after the North American game was launched.
Q: Is there a “swap” feature to Character Transfer, so in one move I could switch 2 characters?
A: there is no "swap" feature included in the Character Transfer feature. As it currently stands, servers that are full and have no available character slots are not allowable destinations.
Q: Will the Character Rename Service allow us to change our global chat handle as well?
A: The Character Rename System currently only deals with the actual character name and is not associated with the chat server or your global chat handle.
Q: If someone moves their character OFF of one Server and transfers to another Server, does that character-name suddenly become freed-up for another player to immediately use on the first server?
A: Yes
Q: I am about to move my character from his old server to a new server. His name was so super-awesome that I created a placeholder character with the same name on the new server, to keep others from taking my super-awesome name. I want to delete my placeholder (and free up that super-awesome name) just before I move my main character to that server. My timing needs to be perfect! Here’s my question: When I delete my placeholder, how long do I have to wait before my super-awesome name is freed-up?
A: We cannot specify a time duration, but in practice the name becomes available fairly quickly. Please keep in mind that we never guarantee any names will be available.
Q: If I have items for sale/buy on the Consignment Market and my character moves to a new server, will the sale/buy still work?
A: Yes. When a character transfers servers, anything they are buying/selling on the auction house is tied to the player’s account, not the character, so the buy/sell transactions will go with them.
The same goes for the Character Rename feature; buy/sell transactions or pending transactions will not be affected by the name change.
Q: When you change your character's name, does it change on everyone's Friends list, or do they have to re-add you?
A: When a character does a rename, their name will not change on other people’s friends list until they a) zone, or b) logs out and then back in. Once one of these 2 conditions happens, other people’s friends list will be updated with the new name.
Posted by Dave at 10:32 AM
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Filed under: Resources & Rules
August 20, 2007
Invention Salvage costs
Someone's tracking the cost of Invention Salvage. It's worth having the list in hand just so you don't, y'know, sell some Pangean Soil to a contact for 5K (rather than the 4.5MM it's selling for recently). Or, conversely, so you have some idea of what buying the pieces for that nifty IO you just picked up will actually cost.
The list is being regularly linked to in the City Scoop newspaper (on the CoX boards).
And, btw, that link to Pangean Soil is actually to the Dread Tomax guide to what Invention Salvage gets used for what, part of the City of Data pages. Very spiffy.
Posted by Dave at 2:48 PM
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Filed under: Resources & Rules
What's not coming to CoX any time soon
On an amusing tote board post of "Compiled List of what Positron may hint at..." Positron himself posted on some things not likely to be seen any time soon.
Weather
Too much art for no add to gameplay. We may get into stuff like rain, but if the streets are not slick, it just wouldn't fit. Plus if weather had gameplay (like fire powers reduced in rain, wind affecting Archery, etc.) while cool, I can't see it as fun. People would just avoid weather when it didn't sync with their powers.
Probably correct. I have liked the yellow storm clouds around the Rikti invasion, but it's not high up on my list.
On the other hand, if you had weather effects that benefited / detracted from powers in a more global basis, and they were (appropriately) city-wide effects, that might be an interesting random factor. E.g., Dark powers being more powerful at night, less during the day (neutral under fluorescent interior lighting). Lightning being stronger during storms, less so otherwise. Etc. Yes, players might only trot out their particular character during positive weather -- but even if they were chronic altaholics, there would be times when it would be necessary to play a flame guy in the rain, a cold guy during a heat wave, etc.
I think it coiuld work -- but like I said, it's not a big desire.
Powerset Respecs
While this may happen within your Archetype someday (i.e. a Fire/Devices Blaster becomes an Energy/Energy Blaster), don't hold your breath. A lot of the thinking comes in the "we give you 8 (or 12) character slots per server", which should be enough to create alts of whatever power combos you want, without destroying a character you invested time and effort into. Probably not the most popular answer.
Vaguely disappointing, but not critical. Posi's right about alting up a new power set (though that has some disadvantages, too -- maybe that "you begin your new characer at Level 10" thing -- and it begs the story line in the early zones if you've actually already met some of the mission contacts).
Positron TF redone
Yeah, it's a lousy TF. It's the first one we ever did, it's due for a revamp, but that's not coming anytime soon. For the time being there will still be reason to brag about having the "I endured Positron's TF and all I got was this lousy badge" badge.
I think this is a mistake. I think they could improve early game experience by revamping this guy.
Underwater Zones
We'd rather do Space Station Gagarin or the Armstrong Moon Base.
Given the choice, I agree. Though I don't know as it has to be an Either/Or.
Vehicles
We discussed this recently and couldn't justify putting it in. Vehicles would either be really good (then it becomes City of Jet Bikes), or boring (my Jet Bike isn't faster than Fly). The effort to put them in simply wouldn't equate with what you got out of them. This is why wings took so long. When the effort DID equate with what you got out of them, they went in.
Yeah -- this one is a moderate desire on my part. I don't know that Jet Bikes should be faster than Fly -- it's just another expression of the same power with "color."
Of course, I'm still ticked that rocket boots and wings are invention items, so ...
AI System Overhaul
Too risky of completely breaking the game in some obscure way. Tweaks sure, an overhaul, not likely.
Probably true -- and a real shame. I'd love more intelligent, less predictable (but more sensible) opponents.
Ability to unslot enhancements without a respec
We like the Bind on Equip mentallity. The fact you can un-slot them during a respec is a conceit that this really isn't "equipment" per se. Different power combinations take different Enhacements, so we could either screw you during the respec process (i.e. if you can't slot it, you lose it) or let you keep some in your Inventory slots. We erred on the side of "nice" with this one.
Frankly, the implementaiton of the enhancment mechanic leaves me cold, from the arcane naming conventions to the idea that I really need a Barium Enema (or whateve it is) to give my Science character added accuracy to the whole concept of stores to buy/sell enhancements (and villains don't attack these stores because...?). The mechanic is fine -- the implementation is non-heroic.
That said, I'll also note that for a long-time player, the burden of respecs (and costume changes) have been nearly negated. I have a ton of characters that have a ton of respecs/costume tokens from vet awards. Almost makes me think it's a whole mechanic that could be gotten rid of.
Fitness Pool becoming an inherent
We've tried to make Stamina less a required power with a lot of the things IO's do. Any discussion on Stamina generally leads to the elimination of Endurance altogether (because a lot of the reason Staminia is so popular is that is lets you no longer worry about Endurance for the most part). i.e. Making Stamina an inherent means we might as well eliminate Endurance from the game.
And the problem here would be?
No, I mean, Endurance should be a problem at the end of a major, titanic struggle, or after a huge nova-like exertion. Short of that, heroes just don't get winded. Bugs the heck out of me at early levels.
Now ... what didn't Posi eliminate from the list?
- Power Customization (Though I think this has been previously ruled out).
- Tanker Shield Powerset (Meh)
- Flashback (Doing old content you missed on the way up? That's what alts are for.)
- New Epic Archetypes, i.e., Incarnates (Doesn't seem likely, though there's plenty of room for something post-50.)
- Unlimited Respecs (Except that cheapens the Vet Rewards, unless you do it as part of a trial.)
- Player Apartment/Personal Base (Can you say, "SG of 1"? Not that difficult to do, I wouldn't think.)
- Influence Banks / Mail System (Meh. The Invention system seems to have made money woes largely a thing of the past.)
- Cross-Server Teaming (Not likely.)
- Villain Stuff (Villain epic archetypes, switching allegiences between the Recluse's lieutenants, etc. Whatever.)
- Return of the Fifth Column (Seems more and more likely.)
- Jetpacks (As a permanent costume piece. Seems likely, with all the other jetpack costuming now available.)
- Hero to Villain Switch (Or vice-versa? It may be the cooperative RWZ is a test for how this would potentially work. I'd like it, frankly, though it would make CoV less "unique.")
- New Tanker/Scrapper Power Sets (Almost certain.)
- Numbers on Powers (We keep edging closer and closer to this - might as well make it transparent.)
- Offline Costume Creator (I think it's very unlikely, both because of the possibility of hacking the system and because it takes people out of the online game.)
- Supergroup System Revamp (Limit numbers to accounts, not characters. Not high on my list, but it should be trivially doable.)
- Defiance Change (Castle gathered together some faboo ideas -- I'd like to see something implemented)
- Picking Up and Throwing Things (A red name has previously indicated this is not doable in the game engine, alas.)
- Interactive Environment (a la Mayhem Missoins. We might see more of this, but I don't see revamping the game with it, nor do I want to see a lot of dev time taken up on it.)
Posted by Dave at 1:29 PM
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Filed under: Resources & Rules
To everything, churn, churn, churn
Finished up the Level 35 missions in the Rikti War Zone last night with Rita and Runt. Need to wait a few levels to start up the Level 40 missions.
Went on, coincidentally, to some Rikti content elsewhere (the Organ Grinders arc). I'm of mixed feelings over the new Rikti graphics. I think it's perfectly legit that the new invading forces have the cool new armor, weapons, etc. But the Rikti who've been stuck here on Earth since the first invasion -- I wish they'd been allowed to keep their "first generation" weapons and threadbare look. Either that, or update the mission text to give some clues that the New Rikti and Old Rikti have been intermingline.
(Hmmmm ... for that matter, as the Omega Clearance stuff that comes at the end of the Organ Grinders arc is now actually revealed in passing in the first Rikti War Zone set of missions -- has that been updated, too? Or are we supposed to look surprised?)
Posted by Dave at 1:21 PM
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Filed under: Gameplay
August 18, 2007
All the News that's Fit to Parody
Check out the "Invasion" trailer: aery cool "news video" about Vanguard and the Rikti Invasion. Very nicely done.
Posted by Dave at 8:01 PM
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Filed under: Media
August 15, 2007
Back in the saddle again
Whew. It's been a long, dry road here at Blog of Heroes -- largely because I've been doing very little CoX play over the past month or so. No, I haven't sold my soul to WoW or LotRO or anything like that. I've just been -- busy and distracted.
Last night, though, we had a fun time. Doyce sent me an e-mail asking about villains on Virtue and wanting to run the first (Tarikoss/Bat'Zul) Strike Force. Margie and I discovered we both had (soloist) villains in the range in questions -- my Eliza Dee (17) and her Deep Charge (15). Together we banded together with Kate and Doyce's Miss Optimism and Mister Brightside, and Lee's Steel Soul, and pounded through the SF in, oh, about four hours.
Lots of fun -- two scrappy brutes, a tanky brute, a corrupter, and a mastermind, very few deaths, and lots of dinging. Margie got DC from 15 to 18, and I got Eliza from 17 to 19 (and so close to Blessed Stamina). Biggest annoyance was my CoX session crashing and needing a reverify in the middle of the festivities, but it all worked out okay.
We also played with Ventrilo, after a quick install and configuration. I have to confess to having been skeptical about the whole voice-play thing in the past, but it did help with the tactics (and strategy) during the game, so a big thumbs up. Installed easily on both machines and we got going with very little hassle.
Good times. Nice to play in a larger group of people I know and -- well, mostly trust, and at least can predict. :-) We'll have to do more of that.
Posted by Dave at 11:29 PM
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