Official NCSoft news from Positron. It seems that too many folks complained (unjustly, IMO, but …) about not being able to create custom villains/allies in the announced Mission Architect system. So they’re going to add that in — but push back the whole system to I14, in 2009Q1. In the meantime, we get I13 going into beta Real Soon Now with all sorts of keenness:
Issue 13: Power and Responsibility
Issue 13: Power and Responsibility will contain the bulk of features we’ve announced previously, including:
- Shield and Pain Domination powersets
- Merit Reward system
- Day Jobs (that include a suite of new costume pieces)
- Additional Cimerora and Midnight Squad mission arcs
In addition, we have some other new exciting features to reveal that will be included in Issue 13: Power and Responsibility. These include:
- Leveling Pact
- Multi-Builds
- PvE & PvP Powers rebalancing
- Villain Patron Power Respec
- Supergroup Base Repricing
Which looks like a fine set of stuff for a new Issue. But its some of the prevoiusly-unannounced bits that have me seriously jonesing:
The Leveling Pact: A new innovation to MMOs, this groundbreaking system allows you and a buddy to create new characters and have your XP be permanently in sync, whether both characters are online or not. You will always be the same level, even if your buddy plays ten times more often than you do! It’s sort of like “Extreme Sidekicking.”
This makes me very excited. As a committed duo-er, there are a lot of ways this could be incredibly fun. Heck, depending on how it’s implemented, I could see being in a “committed duo” with some of my solo characters, without having to worry about leaving my partner behind.
Multi-Builds: Another innovation to City of Heroes, we are delivering the ability to have two different build-outs of each character, including which powers are selected and which Enhancements are slotted. This will now be possible for characters who want to take advantage of it. By visiting any Trainer you can switch the entire build of your character to an alternate one. You can use this separate build for whatever you like. If you wish to use different power selections for soloing and groups, you can do that. This even makes it possible to have different IO sets slotted for PVP and PVE. It’s up to you.
This is another amazingly powerful ability. It flattens the whole “PvE vs PvP” build gap (not something I’ve ever worried about, but something I’ve found annoying to read of). It also has some interesting RP capabilities. And, better yet, it lets you test a character build without having to spend time on the Test server. Excellent!
PvE and PvP Powers Rebalancing: Floyd “Castle” Grubb and the powers designers have been hard at work in finding ways to strike a better balance between the many powers in the game. The scope of what they are doing is too broad to go into details here, but we’re very excited and we’ll share more information soon. Suffice it to say that we know that you don’t want your PvE powers adjusted because of how they play in PvP, so we’re taking a new tact in power balancing with Issue 13.
Welcome news, since the consensus is that most PvE nerfs are due to PvP abuses (and some in the other direction, too). Clearly this is a result of the Multi-Builds thing.
(Note to Posi — it’s “taking a new tack,” not “new tact.”)
Summary
Issue 13 was so big we had to turn it into two releases, Issue 13: Power and Responsibility and Issue 14: Architect. Issue 13 will be going into beta soon and launching this Fall. It will include most of the previously announced features of Issue 13, and then some. Issue 14: Architect will include the full-featured Mission Architect and is scheduled to launch to the live servers in Q1, 2009. I am really looking forward to getting Issue 13 into your hands as soon as possible, and starting off a kick-ass 2009 with the release of Mission Architect.
Very cool. I look forward to hearing more details.
More on the Leveling Pact from Pohsyb:
Sounds like it won’t be something that can be “farmed” or abused. I’m sad that it’s limited to lvl 5 and below (though I think I understand it). It will allow for solo play by a duoist pair; makes trying to sync up existing solos into an occasional duo less fun (because of the split), but that’s probably okay.
And with this: simultaneous dinging! Woot! Esp. at Level 50.
The best thing here, I think — sometimes I think Margie and I get minorly irked when the other character dings first, or when “hey, are you whacking on bad guys while I’m doing stuff at the store” — it’s not cheating on the other, precisely, but it’s almost a mildly passive-aggressive competition. This does away with that. “Joined at the hip.”
I’m assuming, btw, that you can break (irrevocably) a pact, assuming cases where one of the duo no longer wants to play that character (or, in bad situations, with the other person).
More from Pohsyb (http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthreaded.php?Number=12049945):
Quote:
What about player debt?
Debt is still tracked on a per player basis. The player with debt will just earn less for the pact until their debt is payed off.
Quote:
Do they have to be on a team together if they are both logged on?
Nope
Quote:
If they are both truckin away, but on different teams, does the split still happen?
Yes
Quote:
Do ALL sources of XP get split in this manner? (entity death, mission completion, arc completion, glowie clicking, etc)
Yes
Quote:
If A is exemped on one team and B is not, on another, does A get XP regardless?
A will not earn XP towards the pact, but will still get his share from B.
I like that they are holding the MA back until they can get it 100%. Personally, I consider the ability to customize certain mobs in the missions to be very important. And we get I13 sooner rather than later as a result, and Q1 of 2009 is right around the corner.
Well, I’m pleased to be getting I13 out sooner. I don’t think customizing characters is as important, but it’s fine that they’re doing it.
Many people are worried about Floyd Grubs fiddling with the current powers and how they work in PvE. It’s becoming a serious hate issue against him but after what we’ve seen with energy transfer and total focus, it is a real concern. I don’t think this game can afford disappointments, and there really shouldn’t be any in a game anyway. The reason to play is to have fun and not be frustrated when we log in after the new issue to find out some of our characters powers were reduced because some developer thinks he knows what is best. Adding PvP to this game was the biggest mistake. I personally almost miss the last guy that worked on the powers. It seems Floyd doesn’t quite understand the objective of games. He’s making mistakes that are nearly on the level of amateur emulator gamemasters or “developers” make with emulated mmorpgs. Lineage 2 took a hard dive with it’s nerfs and CoH/V is going to get it too. Plus these new costume pieces better be obtainable to duo or trio players, or even solo players. If it takes more time, that’s fine, but please don’t reduce this game to the mentality of other mmorpgs. A lot of us love to solo or group with 1 or 2 friends at the most. Raids and task forces aren’t something most people want to do. It would be nice if we could enter them solo with a reduced chance of drop but the total possibility of being about to complete them alone or with a friend.
Margie made a similar comment about TFs — but I think (even though I am not socially in a position to do so these days) that TFs/SFs are appropriate for groups of more than 2-3 — and that those groups should get certain bennies for doing so. I can live with that.
I have a bit more faith in Floyd (Castle) — but I agree that PvP was a huge mistake. It sounds, with the I13 changes, that they will be better able to do PvE vs PvP adjustments independently of each other. I hope so.
Hopefully they make all those costume pieces accessible to people who can’t group up big or play at hours where every zone is about dead. Even right now (as I’m logged in and typing here) the black market is dead, grandville as 3 people, no ones in cimmeron either. At 2-7 am it’s even worse. I usually am winding down at 6 am and I go at 7 so I can’t afford to waste time even if someone came on at 6 est to play. I’d need to leave in one hour so it’s just not workable. So I hope Positron can understand that. The games magic wears away when other people can get stuff because the game works around rewarding big groups that have a different schedule than I do. I know it’s not NCs fault, but they need to realize a lot of people play very late and there’s just no one around. At 5 am Warhammer and WoW are crowded. CoH/V is never crowded even after midnight for me if I’m lucky enough to get on that early.
As for Floyd, it’s just a common flaming I hear from people, but it’s not a juvenile flaming, more of a professional criticism. He’ll nerf more powers that are fine in PvE to give balance to the summer only PvP for the kiddies. He should never take away from any powers for PvE just work up others that lack. A good example of this was the magnitude on Total Focus (totally unnecessary) and energy transfer. I think if he sees people playing something too much he nerfs things so people play other things but if the list of excellent characters keeps getting smaller so will the game. So many people I did know left over his handiwork. His harsh talents would be better suited for a more active game. I get the sense from his posts that he has no clue what he’s doing. He reminds me a lot of the Sunsword, the guy that destroyed Ultima Online. Good technical skills, poor grasp of what is fun and what should be left alone. Thanks to the last energy nerfs, there’s more emulators and the 2 people I did play with,left for that server that probably has more people on it than an official server. Plus they take payments (to fund the server costs) and give you great items. That’s a lot better than grouping with a bunch of strangers, or not being able to group at all at 3-7 am (like me.)
Positron is really a solid developer, Hero 1 is a great writer and Back Alley Brawler is one of the best animators in the biz. Floyds the only weak link.
If all goes well, Positron will understand that a lot of players just can’t group in big things and need alternatives to getting any unlockables. It might make up for Castle’s ignorance to how games should work. I know I sound passionate about this, and that’s because I love this game. I don’t want to see it fall apart, and the yes people on the official forums and plants will agree with any changes regardless of how bad they may be, but the side they don’t tell, is the people that leave, and Castle needs to understand how someone that loves their character and plays the PvE game, suddenly sees a nerf after an issue, and how that makes that person any others playing it feel. This game of all mmorpgs I play is loaded with soloists and duo teams, and the last thing it needs it to be torn in another direction. They made the mistake by adding PvP, and now with rebalancing powers, the PvE is going to suffer. Any big group content to unlock new things is going to alienate many players. They will give up after awhile when they are getting nerfed and alienated from content either due to time constraints, or just personal preference regarding playstyle.
The low population at off hours (and on most servers) is a problem, and has impacted my solo play time (and alts). I’m not sure what NC can do about that (consolidating or merging servers would help some, but not definitively). And, yes, there are people who just don’t have the time to get on to play a TF/SF, even if there were people on at the time to play one.
Does that mean that TF/SF rewards should be available to everyone, or be scalable for smaller groups? I’m not sure I fully agree, though the specialness — badges, costume pieces — should be kept to a minimum.
The nerfing of PvE for PvP balance has been a long-time complaint of mine. It *sounds* like they are taking steps to divorce the two by changing how powers work in the two settings. It sounds like that is where the “rebalancing” is focused, and it would be a tremendous help.
I think Floyd is going to screw it up based on his track record in the industry. BTW it isn’t cool if the people who play at a different time can’t get the stuff the people who play the “normal” shift can get. People work a lot of different shifts, mmos need to adjust to this and stop rewarding one type of gamer. All the new costume pieces should be available in a fair manner across the board, be it solo or grouping. Everything should be a lot more scalable. Alienating half this games audience is going to kill it. The new WoW expansion at least offers people all hours game play really, not that many want to group and listen to idiots talk about their sex encounters(not), their children or checking on the baby or bio-breaking time wasters. Also merging the servers would be completely unwise and it isn’t going to put more people on in the later hours, since I know for a fact in the later hours all those servers are dead. Besides that point, the real problem with merging servers is people will lose their character names because of it, and lot would quit. Fact, I get a good amount of account cancellations every week if someone is issued a name change. People just leave if they have to change their name. I can’t forget the decent amount of people leaving since the last issues nerfs. I could lose my job posting THAT info up here, but I could prove it easily. This mmo can’t be treated like WoW, War or your typical mmo. It’s a great game but they have to move carefully with it. It’s funny how they don’t do the research outside of their own little world, because then they’d see people leave other mmos because too much grouping, content being limited to groups/guilds and not everyone who plays mmos has friends they can count on or even wants to group much at all. I see a lot of duo wife/husband – boyfriend/girlfriend scenarios. People also leave other mmos because CoH/V allows them full access customization. That was the #1 reason in the past for over players quitting a dozen mmorpgs to go to CoH/V. If they take that away, all that’s left is a game that’s got a lot less going for it, and just another clueless power nerfing developer. With all the emus out there now… well things look more promising in the hands of people with a heart, than these official guys making changes to the game, just to show their employer that they are doing something to earn their paychecks. No disrespect to Matt and most of the team though. Matt’s a great guy, and a godsend of a developer.
As someone who pretty much solely solos/duos right now, I agree in principle. That said, I think it’s okay for there to be some *limited* amount of whizz-bang that comes from doing a TF/SF with a group. If some people can’t do that — well, that’sthe way it goes. If that becomes a significant part of the content, or the only way to get a lot of spiffy stuff, then there’s a problem.
But that’s not new in CoX. TFs/SFs were the only way to get certain badges (as is PvP), and pre-IO the only way to get HOs was through doing Hamidon, which was pretty much a prime time event (and not for the faint-of-video-card).
I hear plenty of that on PUGs I’m on in CoX.
But perhaps marginally less dead if the scanty populations of multiple servers were in fewer places.
Besides that point, the real problem with merging servers is people will lose their character names because of it, and lot would quit. Fact, I get a good amount of account cancellations every week if someone is issued a name change. People just leave if they have to change their name.
That is indeed a concern. I think there are systematic ways they could address that, but it is a real problem.
That’s certainly my situation.
I really don’t see anything announced or significant design directions that worry me about that … yet.
While I agree that there are certainly days/times that are more sparce than others, the real cure, if you want to get decent teaming, is to join a meta-guild that has international members and plays both sides and multiple servers.
I know that at the time I have available to play I spend more time hanging with US West Coasters and Australian members of my guild.
However I’ve NEVER gone more than an hour on-line before getting on at least a duo with a Guild member.
Part of that is having enough characters spread out to be able to move to where the teaming is.
Now, if I have ONE character at a particular level that I want to play . . . well, I’m going to end up soloing until I can get Guild members to join me, or maybe PUG to remind me why I don’t like to do that anymore . .. .
As an example I was on a team last night. We had 2 30’s and were running in Croatoa. They SK’d my 20 and another character. Then a member left, so the three of us all converted lower level characters and recruited on our channel to get more teammates. At the same time there was a full team in the 30s on Freedom Villains and an ITF run going on. This was at 1am EST.
Now, RO is the largest guild in the game, but there are many with similar populations, I strongly suggest some research into SGs and finding one that meets your needs.
Play on!
Well when I meant the rewards for grouping should go to everyone and they should and could make that happen, I didn’t mean the enhancements/recipes so much as costume pieces. Costume pieces and creation should be open to everyone. I know there’s the witch hat etc you need to group with, but I was able to solo it. It was just a big pain. It’s good to see you share similar problems though as I do. I really hope they at least give us some way to get those costume pieces without grouping because a lot of us just can’t be it schedule for me, or preference or video card issues as you said. I like the rikti merit system because I can get everything soloing. Sure it takes longer, but not that much. Besides I get through about 3 levels before I have everything worth buying with those merits, so there’s some value to it. I hope they add that very thing for these new costume pieces and not just reward group A(prime time players, kids, people with lots of friends, not everyone has friends in mmorpgs), while group B (time issues) C (video card issues) or D (just want to solo/duo with significant other and relax)are out of luck.
This entire week I’ve been playing from 3-4am to 7am and no one is on. I play on 4 different servers. Sometimes I see people come on close to 7am but I can’t join a group then because I’m about 15 minutes from going offline.
Actually, what bothers me more than exclusive-to-large-group-missions stuff is the costume / minor power booster packs they are now *selling*.
I don’t like that idea either, but if it’s between buying them or getting them through grouping/raiding/taskforces and trials, I rather buy them and would every time. Hopefully these new costume pieces in the next issue will be available through solo play but if they aren’t I’d buy them. There should be an option for that. Like I kept saying some of us don’t have the luxury of prime time play, or any friends in video games like this one (when they all play War or WoW) or just plain preference to playing alone. I think there should always be options with costume pieces to accommodate everyone. People would buy them, since people buy influence/infamy, but some people would group to get them and the other people like me would just solo in the late hours to get them. If that third option is removed, then yeah I’d rather buy them then never get them at all. I’d pay a larger fee a month for full access to those pieces. They should have the option to turn your account into a casual player account. Casual Player Accounts would have an increased fee, instant access to costume pieces or via a level range (when you hit it.) I doubt a lot of people would do it, but some would, like me. That’s the most extreme option though. I rather just have them obtainable through a merit system that can be completely accomplished via SOLO play, or however we WANT to play. If the big grouping/SG people think all these raids and taskforces are so great, it won’t affect them and they’ll still do those things with their big Supergroups or net buddies. I mean they still do them after getting what they want anyway from what I’ve read and heard. Some of us don’t have those options though, or want them.
They key thing is not alienating anyone from content, or the reason people leave other mmos for this game, is lost. That kind of research is easy to do. I’ve seen it said a million times. Almost always because people get fed up with getting items from raids in other mmorpgs. People grow tired of it after awhile and someone would suggest CoH/V, but now they are starting to turn CoH/V into those games sadly. Still over the past couple of years, times have changed and people play all crazy hours and mmorpgs need to adapt to that, not the other way around. I’m not going to quit my job here (where I’m typing from) to play a game. If I take a day off, it’s to be with the ones I love, not play a game. I’m sick of the fallback excuse I have seen from developers both in this game and others, is to take a day off of work for A GAME. Insane. Developers need to recognize that times are different now. Rewards at least in the form of the costume pieces, should be an achievement all can access. I’d like to extend that to the recipes and hamidons too but I won’t push it.
I think for the 10 dollars they are charging for that content, they should pack in some more stuff. If I were to review that booster pack, I’d say the HUD auras are pretty lame, and borderline tacky. The costume pieces are extremely below average. There’s a few good pieces in there, but it looks awful on female characters from what I’ve seen. The actual self destruct power is pretty useless too. You can’t even move around, and it doesn’t go off if you die before the long animation is done, so it’s useless to a lot of archetypes. Getting debt, or as much as you do for it, is kind of pointless. I guess they ran it through the fun detector and saw that without debt and without rooting the player down with a long animation that kills half the archetypes, that it would be too fun, so they made adjustments to destroy the fun factor. That seems to be the policy they endorse with many aspects of games these days. I’m sure Floyd was behind that, but I don’t know for sure. I don’t track everything he does anymore. Most of all there’s just too much robot/tech looking themed costume pieces for a comic book game. yeah yeah I know Ironman etc. A lot of rewards already are robot oriented, and the Vanguard stuff looks robotic or tech-like to me. I wish there was more normal looking pieces. I guess when Dark Knight is released they’ll probably do another booster with some more normal pieces hopefully.
I kind of like the idea of a Casual Account upgrade with a different fee but access to things that at the moment only big groups and sgs can get. Though it’s not the best solution for everyone. Some people would just like to be able to gain things through solo or duo play. Basically not being forced into a situation (that won’t even happen at some hours of the night) but having a choice.
I think the veteran rewards gap should get smaller the more months you play too. It’s really a downer for people just joining. They have to play for 38-40 months or whatever to get something and by the time that happens, there’s going to be a lot more games out to play. I think once you’ve played for 6 months the 3 month gap or whatever it is should close and keep closing as you reach a year, to the point of getting things every month. I think it’s safe to say someone who’s played for a year or two is probably sticking around.