Matt Miller (Positron) answers your questions!

No, really. In summary:

  1. Current content focus is Hero level 35-40, and Hero/Villain 40-50.
  2. Don’t expect the Patron Power setup to change.
  3. Epic Archetypes are a lot of work; none are currently scheduled, as they keep getting bumped for higher priority things.
  4. I9 brings new datamining tools to help the devs figure out where folks are “grinding.”
  5. More base stuff a-coming …
  6. Customized colors on powers would be really keen, but have determined to be impractical. Rats.
  7. Don’t expect any specfic revamping of any given ATs to make them more soloable.
  8. Server transfer will happen. Sometime.

And then there was this interesting response on new power sets:

When it comes to Powersets, there are no shortages of great ideas. Unfortunately, like Epic Archetypes that I talked about earlier, they are not easily implemented and are always competing with other features for the next Issue. If I could wave my magic wand and instantly create 10 new powersets, these would be the ones I’d like to see: (in NO particular order):

Electric Hammer
Shield Defence
Shield Melee
Magnetism
Magnetic Blast
Force Control
Psionic Weaponry
Street Fighting
Akimbo Pistols
Demon Summoning

Obviously some powersets are more suited to some ATs than others. Demon Summoning for example, would be a Mastermind Pet set. Of course, if these make it into the game the names would probably change as well, and this entire list could change if the wind blows just right. And as a bonus I’ll pre-answer the obvious follow-up questions:

No, I don’t know when these will appear in the game.

No, they will not all appear at once in one update. When we introduce new power sets we’re more likely to do a couple at a time.

Akimbo Pistols is planned as a Corruptor set at first, and it is NOT, and never will be, a Scrapper or Stalker set.

11 thoughts on “Matt Miller (Positron) answers your questions!”

  2. As much as I don’t want to, this article merely reinforces my notion that COX has become one big Beta for the MU game.

  5. And yet more, this time from Statesman:

    Yes, Posi wasn’t specific about upcoming features…but that’s because he’s currently very focused on near term projects with Issue 9 and Issue 10. We have no shortage of great ideas for the future and the commitment to bring those ideas to you! Of course, we have learned from the past and want to keep expectations realistic, so yeah, we try not to get too crazy about talking about what Issue 11 and beyond will include. So, sure, Posi keeps mentioning stuff over and over from those updates because that’s what he is grinding hard on.
    I can tell you for sure that we’ll be reading this thread and others about ideas, suggestions and what not for the future. We try not to get too specific (hence my reputation for vagueness) because we’ve been bitten by several things that we thought were pretty sure, only to see them not happen. Skills? How about the original design for City of Heroes? Anyone remember that? Things change during implementation, so as a result, we don’t like saying things until we’re 100% sure of them. And even then we make mistakes.
    Secondly, let’s try to clear up a misconception. Cryptic does NOT fund Marvel’s development. Microsoft does. NCSoft publishes City of Heroes. They fund its development team, marketing, PR, sales and this website. NCsoft provided Cryptic with funding to finish City of Heroes and launch it.
    Yes, several rednames have moved onto other projects at Cryptic and other companies. That’s pretty much inevitable in every industry. Heck, Lord British isn’t still working on Ultima Online! We still have a development team that works hand in hand with NCsoft to deliver the best content it can.
    Something about the development team: it contains employees of various disciplines. Designers. Artists. Programmers. Producers. They are 100% dedicated resources to City of Heroes (meaning they don’t work on anything else). We schedule features according to what players have requested and the team’s ability to do it. Power Customization, oft cited here, is a HUGE undertaking. Artists would need to go through nearly every f/x file in order to rig it for customization. And there’s no small amount of programming to do. But if we used our art team for this, we wouldn’t be able to deliver any other content that involved the art team for anything else. It’s not like the CoH team consists of a fluctuating group of resources. We can’t allocate 10 artists to it one update, and 5 designers & 5 artists the next. It’s a pretty careful balance.
    Now for our CTO’s remark in a local newspaper… Keep in mind that Bruce is talking from his perspective as Chief Technical Officer. What Bruce was saying is that Cryptic is doing a new version of its engine to go along with hardware advances. Technology marches forward and yes, we’re excited by the engine’s potential. I’d imagine that the Mythic team thinks similarly about Warhammer Online when comparing it to Dark Age. Or SOE when thinking about EQ and EQII. But that’s a tech guy talking about a tech thing. Just like SOE and Mythic continue to stand by EQ and Dark Age, Cryptic Studios and NCsoft continue to support City of Heroes.
    No matter what the NCsoft numbers say in rise or decline, the bottom line is always: is a product profitable? I can’t speak for any other NCsoft game, but CoH is quite comfortably in the black.

  6. And on a related note, Statesman says:

    Since new power sets seem to be such a huge topic of conversation…
    I can definitely say that we’re going to try to put new sets into the game over the next year. We’ll follow these principles:
    1. We’ll make sure to read through the Suggestions forum.
    2. We’ll try to give equal attention to each Archetype.
    3. But we’ll make sure to address Archetypes with fewer choices first.
    Sound fair?

  8. Ah. Cleverly noted, Margie.
    That said, some of these (shield fighting, magnetism, pistols, street fighting) have been being talked about for ages. First time I’ve seen “electric hammer” mentioned — I’d love a tailorable “item” of some sort (hammer, staff, rod) that could be used for various things of that sort.
    Trick with electric hammer, esp. if you’re thinking Thor, is if you make it a Tank (like Thor) or Blaster (like Thor).

  9. Tankalicous, Id say. States did note that they would address ATs with less choices first.

  10. MOST POWERFULL POWER IS: “Mind Materialization” … so U can HAVE Any Power you Think or Materialization object or situation !!! :)) COOOLL … some one from this series must take this ideea and make real this new character !!!
    =========================
    Original ideea from BYREV: “Mind Materialization Power”

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