I like the goofy parts. I also like the non goofy parts. we should have plenty of both.
Let's put it this way-
It's fine to have some humor.
But I want to play a Superhero game. Humor is a part of comics. Most people don't hate Deadpool. But most people don't think Deadpool needs an entire series on his own, because too much goofiness makes for a poor story.
A new zone and a level cap raise is probably the easiest way to accomplish this.
New zones and new levels only serve to thin out the population.
New content in existing zones with better ways to control your level *cough*Flashback*cough* would put more people in the same areas we have.
Personally, I'm rather tired of continual level increases. Didn't like them in the 800lb gorilla game. All it did was thin abilities out or add ability bloat, depending on the expansion, and cause things you use to have to go away until you leveled up high enough to get past a hurdle designed to keep someone from having ability X and ability Y at the same time now that there are more ability points.
This is my Risian Corvette. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
I like the goofy parts. I also like the non goofy parts. we should have plenty of both.
I'm not sure if I just haven't run enough content, but from what I have run, it's felt like it had way to much of the goofy. At least, when I run early content (and some nemesis content) and don't get me started on that awful Dojo alert
New zones and new levels only serve to thin out the population.
Well, if Nemesis missions are the only reason my level 40s ever leave RenCen, then yeah, having something new and interesting to do will "thin out the population".
Choose your enemies carefully, because they will define you / Make them interesting, because in some ways they will mind you
They're not there in the beginning, but when your story ends / Gonna last with you longer than your friends
later game content. VB apocalypse. Aftershock. stuff like that.
Dark and Evil supernatural doesn't mean 'good writing' and 'serious content'. As a matter of fact, these two things take it to a new low.
It's like those absurd animes where the whole show/book/series is a bunch of comical antics and goofiness and then out of nowhere there's dead children in the streets and I'm supposed to snap right to serious mode. That's BAD story writing in every sense of the term.
later game content. VB apocalypse. Aftershock. stuff like that.
I quite enjoy VB. But that is end game. Though it does need some reworking on the writing. Nothing like beating up this powerful sorcerer who then tells you, "Do this or I'll beat you up" you know, right after you beat him up
Something I really liked about Queen City was using older resources and making new content out of it. It was a promising and surprising change. We need more of that on a regular basis but added to already existing zones without creating new ones. There needs to be more stuff in Canada and the Desert too. There's TONS of dead space out there.
I never cared for the VB intro, from the very beginning I saw how Victoria was going to betray me, yet for some reason my character was too gullible? There is some suspending of reality going on here. Though it isn't the first immersian breaking hook in the game. (*Every character in the game is computer savy enough to hack into a database is another*)
Then I basically am strong armed into helping this guy whose way of asking for help involves insulting my character and commanding them to follow him, tells me to go do his chores(get his laundry, sandwich, and I can't remember whatelse), and then go run through a bunch of crypts.
Then once you actually get to Vibora bay it is running the same crypt map over and over and over again with the same crappy writing they used for the rest of the game.
Then I basically am strong armed into helping this guy whose way of asking for help involves insulting my character and commanding them to follow him, tells me to go do his chores(get his laundry, sandwich, and I can't remember whatelse), and then go run through a bunch of crypts.
At least if you have Mysticism at a high level you can tell him to shove it and make the relic on your own. Those kind of options are a nice touch.
I've never read any of the text pop ups in missions or from NPCs.
The mission parameters are all that matters.
Getting things done and letting it all play out in a glorious sequence of action and spectacle tells its own story.
Oh damn, That chick is evil and Magnum PI is pissed.
I don't know why, but everyone dies!
Why do we want some flame gems? Hell, who wouldn't?
Damn that homey stole our flame gems! Might makes right so let's fight!
Time machine? What time machine? Ok sure, Ill go through a time machine. Who wouldn't?
Yay New Orleans!
I was in Hilo, Hawaii last year, it reminded me of Vibora Bay.
I took a walk in a torrential rain storm down the jungle road to get some tea.
I came across three gang bangers, they snarled and growled until I demanded they play fair.
I probably would have been defeated had I not used 'growl', ego and presence.
The terrible pain in my feet from the two mile walk in sandals told me it certainly wasn't my
constitution or strength or dexterity or gear getting them to back down.
In the end, I went back to my jungle hideout by the waterfall with my reward,
snapped a party bomb and danced to techno and the sound of a million frogs.
Vibora Bay lacks nature sounds. I think.
Pretty sure there's no random bats, seagulls, stray dogs, frogs or flopping fish.
Some nature sounds across the game would be a nice quality of life improvement.
If they are on the right channel and can be heard when I have my own music, or the camera zoomed out.
Cryptic's Top Secret Project right now is gathering data on that new start up game.
Everything posted about that game in these forums and in chat channels becomes instant property of Cryptic/PWE.
Every single idea, hope, dream and suggestion.Well that's my current theory. That's what I'd be doing in my role as executive corporate champion saving the sacred citizen shareholders from the humility of lost profits.
The other theory I heard of is that they are making a new Perfect World for a Western market.
All they have to do is say "Something like that and we're porting all the costume's and play style
and powers from Champions Online, plus some other stuff", show me a trailer with some recognizable things in a brave new game and I'll throw $300 at them right now.
Adding more costumes to the C-Store that aren't in a lockbox.
Allow full customization with free pieces at the start and not just 150 pieces or so.
Allow F2P to make freeforms with powersets from unlocked archtypes.
Make the default faces in CC less ugly.
More missions at low levels than the Westside arc.
More missions at low levels than the Westside arc.
Replace the help a citizen threatening mobs with mobs that are bigger and out of place but leveled appropriately.
This would improve their visibility.
OR
Replace the citizen models with a hero, with an interesting aura and powers, getting beat down.
Let's see how heroic people really are by keeping score of how many Alert Team Lowbies Are Super characters we can save, by collecting ATLAS recognition from completing the missions. yay.
Throw away all alerts and lockboxes and keep vehicles only for transportation.
Make a villain expansion, a foundry, super group bases, new zones, higher level cap, new powers, new advantages, revive PvP/add world PvP at least in designated zones, add more PvE "dungeons" like Therakiel's Temple, create new PvE encounters like random events/world bosses. Upgrade world graphics.
Oh and remove the cringeworthy campiness from the game.
Realistically though? I've no idea. Add more lockboxes I guess.
1.- Remove level requirements from zones. Plenty of people would talk a lot better of the game if they could see Vibora Bay or Lemuria during their first week of trying the game.
2.- Stop listening to the toxic crusaders in the playerbase, they'll hate you no matter what you do or stop doing.
3.- Grant a single Freeform slot to silver users so they can experience what they're missing out on for not going Gold.
4.- Change your culture of non-communication (I can't blame you on this, however, given the playerbase's toxicity).
5.- Hire new writers to add at least another eighty hours worth of story arcs. They don't have to have pretty camera shots that require scripting, just being well-written (and preferably discarding silver-age cringe-inducing stuff). Plenty of users here would be willing to write for you for free, even.
5.1.- Put a metaplot together and advance it. Even Anarchy Online had one.
6.- Foundry. Competition for Superhero MMOs arrives starting next year, and for many users who want a mission architect in their superhero MMO (not STO or NWO) the clock is ticking already. If "the Foundry" as it is can't be adapted then create a different mission architect for CO. CoH didn't use to have a mission architect either until it did, so why can't CO?
A foundry system is long over do in this game. And i've always thought that the AT's should be free to everyone. And new content is always a good thing.
2.- Stop listening to the toxic crusaders in the playerbase, they'll hate you no matter what you do or stop doing.
You mean the part of the community that isn't satisfied with lockboxes and halfassery, and the one that's quite vocal about it- and offers a constant source of suggestions to improve the game?
Yes, let's listen to the cheerleaders that defend every bad decision Cryptic's made. That'll carry CO into the future.
4.- Change your culture of non-communication (I can't blame you on this, however, given the playerbase's toxicity).
This playerbase's toxicity can be summarized as such: Someone will criticize the game. Someone else will come along and defend it and use 'but they're men with families' defense to support lockboxes and 5-minute content. Then they'll tell the person with a criticism to 'Get out'. The cheerleaders are poison in this well, because a critic will make his point and leave. Cheerleaders ***** out anyone who doesn't love the game like they do.
All the Toxicity here? It's NOTHING compared to other games. Mind you, I'm also talking about other games that do much more than Cryptic in terms of game content and Customer Support.
The toxic environment didn't blow in from the nethers of the internet. Cryptic brewed this perfect storm themselves. They have no one else to blame.
If the company does not communicate with its playerbase because of harsh criticism, then these men should not have jobs making video games. And I'm sure they're well aware of that, PWE isn't allowing them to do much.
Because let's face it, that deal with PWE to keep the game from closing down was a deal with the Devil, and it's screwed us. Cryptic should have sold CO to someone who cared about its future.
Not good enough for people to bother playing, apparently.
Odd, I seem to see quite a few people playing whenever I log in. Or are you expecting throngs comparable to the streets of Stormwind or Ogrimmar? Because that's just not going to happen, and that's not the fault of Cryptic, PWE, or even Atari, it's just the way comic books are regarded by society at large.
Oh, and Cyber, the toxicity to which Foxy refers doesn't seem to be those with a valid criticism of this or that aspect of gameplay (you might have noticed that Foxy's post included a few such criticisms). Rather, it's those who seem to actively want CO to fail, like Nextnametaken or the late, unlamented Jaybezz. They offer no critique, simply complaints apparently inspired by the fact that CO keeps on chugging no matter how badly they hate it. (Oh, and as you point out, it's also those who don't seem to think there has ever been a misstep made in this game, but there are fewer of them and they aren't as loud.)
"Science teaches us to expect -- demand -- more than just eerie mysteries. What use is a puzzle that can't be solved? Patience is fine, but I'm not going to stop asking the universe to make sense!"
Odd, I seem to see quite a few people playing whenever I log in. Or are you expecting throngs comparable to the streets of Stormwind or Ogrimmar? Because that's just not going to happen, and that's not the fault of Cryptic, PWE, or even Atari, it's just the way comic books are regarded by society at large.
Less than 2000 gamers online, it might break that when it's peak weekend hours. That's 'a few'.
Don't forget that a game from 2004 had a community that dwarfed CO's at best, and it was a comic book game. And that wasn't loyalty. That was a better product that was five years older and looked every bit older.
Oh, and Cyber, the toxicity to which Foxy refers doesn't seem to be those with a valid criticism of this or that aspect of gameplay (you might have noticed that Foxy's post included a few such criticisms). Rather, it's those who seem to actively want CO to fail, like Nextnametaken or the late, unlamented Jaybezz. They offer no critique, simply complaints apparently inspired by the fact that CO keeps on chugging no matter how badly they hate it. (Oh, and as you point out, it's also those who don't seem to think there has ever been a misstep made in this game, but there are fewer of them and they aren't as loud.)
Yes, but that wasn't specified. Usually, when people have a complaint, they're considered 'toxic' and asked to leave. I may gripe and lash out at CO, but you have to understand the way I describe it to my friends:
"The best way to describe it, it was like City of Heroes' next step. Improved graphics and faster gameplay, and a lot of features that took City of Heroes a few years to implement based on feedback. Except when they chose an IP, they picked a lousy one. And not only did they pick a lousy one, but they picked the worst parts and ran with it. Other than that, the game feels like an unfinished teaser that got cobbled together and thrown out the door. The best thing that could happen is someone else takes ownership, because CO could have been the best Superhero MMO out there, and instead it's sort of a sad tease."
I don't want CO to fail. But I don't want it floundering where it is right now, which is somewhere between 'Maintenance Mode' and 'Life Support'.
Please. If anyone thinks this community is 'toxic', your tolerance is weak.
Odd, I seem to see quite a few people playing whenever I log in. Or are you expecting throngs comparable to the streets of Stormwind or Ogrimmar? Because that's just not going to happen, and that's not the fault of Cryptic, PWE, or even Atari, it's just the way comic books are regarded by society at large.
This is cheerleading BS.
Comic book stuff is plenty popular (look at TV, movies, etc). The kind of folks who play MMOs are even MORE likely to be into it.
CO is QUITE CLEARLY not doing well, and that's not even glancing at WoW numbers for a second.
Or do you think CO hasn't gotten advertising or significant dev focus for years because it's doing so fabulously well it doesn't need the help?
Campaign: The Fenwick Cycle NWS-DKR9GB7KH
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
So are you going to give PW millions of dollars a year to develop cool stuff for you to play by yourself?
That's sort of a silly thing to say when you consider the sheer number of low population free2play titles that PWE runs, don't you think?
What response were you expecting? Something along the lines of, "Oh no you're right! I can't possibly float the game with my own wallet so I better join you in going around pointing out that nobody is playing the game and that it's doing poorly, because that will generate millions of dollars overnight!"
I mean... do you even know what your objective is?
That's sort of a silly thing to say when you consider the sheer number of low population free2play titles that PWE runs, don't you think?
What response were you expecting? Something along the lines of, "Oh no you're right! I can't possibly float the game with my own wallet so I better join you in going around pointing out that nobody is playing the game and that it's doing poorly, because that will generate millions of dollars overnight!"
Actually, the discussion was 'How would you increase CO's profitability and playerbase?' Look, it's right there in the title.
I was expecting you to actually engage the topic.
Instead, a bunch of people proceeded to dump in the thread 'EVERYTHING IS FINE SHUT UP.'
Not good enough for people to bother playing, apparently.
I see it! :biggrin:
When someone says they think it's a good game, and you then point out that it's not and that no one is playing it because it's not a good game, that's totally a way the game could improve!
Thank you for setting me straight s( ^ _ ^)z
And so, Zahinder had saved Champions Online and was named the new king of games
Comic book stuff is plenty popular (look at TV, movies, etc).
Really? Is that why DC can't even get a Wonder Woman movie greenlit, and had the TV series cancelled before it could premiere? Is that why Justice League Unlimited went off the air after two seasons?
The Avengers was popular. The spinoff TV series Agents of SHIELD seems to be mildly popular; the ratings have been trending downward, but then again only three episodes have aired. Arrow isn't a TV-series version of Green Arrow; it's a CW teen-soap-opera that so far has skirted wide around Oliver Queen's destiny as a costumed hero.
Go to any bookstore, or even the paperback rack in a good-sized grocery store; see how many fantasy novels there are, not even counting the bodice-rippers. Now visit your friendly neighborhood comics shop, assuming you still have one, and see how well they're doing. Comics have nowhere near the popularity of a good violent fantasy novel, even though the storytelling possibilities are far more vast, in part because of the stigma comics have of being written poorly, in excessively simple language (a stigma picked up decades ago, and promulgated by people unaware of Whedon's run on X-Men, or Straczynski's on Amazing Spider-Man, and who know Peter David only as the author of Sir Apropos of Nothing if they know of him at all).
The point stands; this genre is less popular than that one, and when you add in the stigma of MMO players as basement-dwelling misfits with poor hygiene and worse manners, it just makes any grandiose future for online gaming in general, and this game in particular, highly unlikely. I have made my peace with this; I enjoy playing CO, I have hope that it will improve in the future, and when one day it does end (as all things do, in a universe of entropy) I will have had fun with my entire time here. I encourage others to make a similar peace.
On the other hand, if you can enjoy bemoaning what will never be, well, as long as you're still enjoying the game, play on. And if, one day, you find yourself unable to stand the game any longer, I hope you can find it in yourself to move on in peace, seeking your next entertainment without wasting your time over the last one.
"Science teaches us to expect -- demand -- more than just eerie mysteries. What use is a puzzle that can't be solved? Patience is fine, but I'm not going to stop asking the universe to make sense!"
The current state of CO is most definitely Cryptic's, PW's, and Atari's fault. Cryptic has the ability to do amazing work. But they are choosing, at least until now with Cryptic North, to neglect the game. They are constantly making excuses for why things can't happen.
Some may be valid and others may not be, if the game has so many tech issues, perhaps its time to solve those. If the game is running out of space, then lets address that. If those are the problems keeping CO from getting permanent content, then those are the problems that need to be solved. Hopefully this is something that gets resolved with Cryptic North.
They offer no critique, simply complaints apparently inspired by the fact that CO keeps on chugging no matter how badly they hate it.[/QUOTE
You believe that my saying "Wake up! the population is bleeding dry again, market this game or fail" is hating the game while harassing people with image macro spam is better for the game and community.
That's what you've stated and how you behave.
When someone says they think it's a good game, and you then point out that it's not and that no one is playing it because it's not a good game, that's totally a way the game could improve!
No, what happened was this was a thread about how to increase CO's profitability and playerbase, and someone's contrary non-answer was 'NOTHING IT'S GREAT.'
On the other hand, if you can enjoy bemoaning what will never be, well, as long as you're still enjoying the game, play on. And if, one day, you find yourself unable to stand the game any longer, I hope you can find it in yourself to move on in peace, seeking your next entertainment without wasting your time over the last one.
I can't stand playing the game any longer.
I'm still here because I hold out a little hope that maybe Cryptic might listen to some of these comments and, you know, actually market the game AT ALL.
I don't care how bad you think the comic book genre is, when vast segments of your target audience are completely unaware that you even exist, you've really f'd up.
Campaign: The Fenwick Cycle NWS-DKR9GB7KH
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
Then I feel very badly for you, that you can't seem to find anything else to fill your time. Perhaps, one day, something will come along that will be more positive for you...
Next, you can give up the cherry-picking. You're attempting to reach conclusions using poor statistical methodology, with unsupported data, and worst of all you have absolutely no suggestions to change what you claim is a terrible decline. All you can do is post screencaps of filtered numbers, with no access to the raw data behind them, at times when there might well be something else to account for folks' time (you've posted weekday afternoons, you've posted the wee small hours of the morning in the States, now you've posted the numbers on a Sunday afternoon during football season).
"Science teaches us to expect -- demand -- more than just eerie mysteries. What use is a puzzle that can't be solved? Patience is fine, but I'm not going to stop asking the universe to make sense!"
I have plenty of fun things to fill my time. I'm really enjoying GuildWars2. They A) advertise the game, actively develop the game, C) have great attention to detail, and D) communicate with the playerbase.
There are a few things I really dislike, but that's going to be true with anything.
And hey, as much as you can say 'popular genres!', when a fantasy game doesn't do well people find an explanation 'oh, the market is over-saturated.'
But I'd still rather be playing a superhero game that's doing well.
Campaign: The Fenwick Cycle NWS-DKR9GB7KH
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
You believe that my saying "Wake up! the population is bleeding dry again, market this game or fail" is hating the game while harassing people with image macro spam is better for the game and community.
That's what you've stated and how you behave.
What you're doing is the same as if I had a complaint about Wal-Mart, and I went and started yelling at other Wal-Mart customers about it.
We all know that there aren't many people playing this game. More importantly, the devs know that there aren't many people playing this game. You're not informing anyone of anything... the only effect you could possibly have is that potential new players see your posts, assume the game is dead and not worth playing, and then go play something else like DCUO without ever even trying CO. If you think your posts have any other possible effect, then you're delusional; everyone is already aware of everything you're saying, players and devs. We simply disagree with you that it's a reason to act like the sky is falling.
Did it ever cross anyones mind that the folks in charge aren't going into panic mode because they have inside knowledge that this game won't be closed down no matter how low the population gets?
Not every MMO is city of heroes. In fact, it seems that the vast majority of them aren't and will simply keep existing because nobody sees a reason to shut them down.
What you're doing is the same as if I had a complaint about Wal-Mart, and I went and started yelling at other Wal-Mart customers about it.
We all know that there aren't many people playing this game. More importantly, the devs know that there aren't many people playing this game. You're not informing anyone of anything... the only effect you could possibly have is that potential new players see your posts, assume the game is dead and not worth playing, and then go play something else like DCUO without ever even trying CO. If you think your posts have any other possible effect, then you're delusional; everyone is already aware of everything you're saying, players and devs. We simply disagree with you that it's a reason to act like the sky is falling.
Did it ever cross anyones mind that the folks in charge aren't going into panic mode because they have inside knowledge that this game won't be closed down no matter how low the population gets?
Not every MMO is city of heroes. In fact, it seems that the vast majority of them aren't and will simply keep existing because nobody sees a reason to shut them down.
1. Wal-Mart does not provide forums for feedback.
2. The sky may not be falling, but population might be. If you feel comfortable saying that the people working on the game are in touch with whats happening, fine. Not everyone agrees with that sentiment.
Seriously, we should stop trying to get Cryptic's attention and accept the status quo? Give up fighting for improvement and advancement ? I could not disagree more.
**lastly Sills dude enough with the name dropping. Jay did not hate the game. He wanted things to improve, wanted his main to be a cc telepath, and paid oodles of money only to see his main crushed. Should we further divide people by simply using money spent as the metric for who likes the game and who does not? How would that make you feel? If the answer is not very good, you might consider the feelings of others when you feel a need to single people out to support your point. You can make your point without kicking people who are down, or denigrating those whose have opposing viewpoints.
Fury, you must have missed Jay's last post before the permaban - the one where he stated openly that he wanted CO to fall, thinking this would provide more funding for his own superhero MMO (when in fact it would be more likely to cause investors to assume no one wanted to play superhero MMOs, and pull all funding).
I'm trying to give those still here the benefit of the doubt wherever possible - but Jay removed all doubt.
"Science teaches us to expect -- demand -- more than just eerie mysteries. What use is a puzzle that can't be solved? Patience is fine, but I'm not going to stop asking the universe to make sense!"
Comments
Let's put it this way-
It's fine to have some humor.
But I want to play a Superhero game. Humor is a part of comics. Most people don't hate Deadpool. But most people don't think Deadpool needs an entire series on his own, because too much goofiness makes for a poor story.
New zones and new levels only serve to thin out the population.
New content in existing zones with better ways to control your level *cough*Flashback*cough* would put more people in the same areas we have.
Personally, I'm rather tired of continual level increases. Didn't like them in the 800lb gorilla game. All it did was thin abilities out or add ability bloat, depending on the expansion, and cause things you use to have to go away until you leveled up high enough to get past a hurdle designed to keep someone from having ability X and ability Y at the same time now that there are more ability points.
I'm not sure if I just haven't run enough content, but from what I have run, it's felt like it had way to much of the goofy. At least, when I run early content (and some nemesis content) and don't get me started on that awful Dojo alert
Well, if Nemesis missions are the only reason my level 40s ever leave RenCen, then yeah, having something new and interesting to do will "thin out the population".
They're not there in the beginning, but when your story ends / Gonna last with you longer than your friends
Start cashing checks.
"Without data, you're just another person with an opinion." -- W. Edwards Deming
Dark and Evil supernatural doesn't mean 'good writing' and 'serious content'. As a matter of fact, these two things take it to a new low.
It's like those absurd animes where the whole show/book/series is a bunch of comical antics and goofiness and then out of nowhere there's dead children in the streets and I'm supposed to snap right to serious mode. That's BAD story writing in every sense of the term.
I quite enjoy VB. But that is end game. Though it does need some reworking on the writing. Nothing like beating up this powerful sorcerer who then tells you, "Do this or I'll beat you up" you know, right after you beat him up
Then I basically am strong armed into helping this guy whose way of asking for help involves insulting my character and commanding them to follow him, tells me to go do his chores(get his laundry, sandwich, and I can't remember whatelse), and then go run through a bunch of crypts.
Then once you actually get to Vibora bay it is running the same crypt map over and over and over again with the same crappy writing they used for the rest of the game.
At least if you have Mysticism at a high level you can tell him to shove it and make the relic on your own. Those kind of options are a nice touch.
The mission parameters are all that matters.
Getting things done and letting it all play out in a glorious sequence of action and spectacle tells its own story.
Oh damn, That chick is evil and Magnum PI is pissed.
I don't know why, but everyone dies!
Why do we want some flame gems? Hell, who wouldn't?
Damn that homey stole our flame gems! Might makes right so let's fight!
Time machine? What time machine? Ok sure, Ill go through a time machine. Who wouldn't?
Yay New Orleans!
I was in Hilo, Hawaii last year, it reminded me of Vibora Bay.
I took a walk in a torrential rain storm down the jungle road to get some tea.
I came across three gang bangers, they snarled and growled until I demanded they play fair.
I probably would have been defeated had I not used 'growl', ego and presence.
The terrible pain in my feet from the two mile walk in sandals told me it certainly wasn't my
constitution or strength or dexterity or gear getting them to back down.
In the end, I went back to my jungle hideout by the waterfall with my reward,
snapped a party bomb and danced to techno and the sound of a million frogs.
Vibora Bay lacks nature sounds. I think.
Pretty sure there's no random bats, seagulls, stray dogs, frogs or flopping fish.
Some nature sounds across the game would be a nice quality of life improvement.
If they are on the right channel and can be heard when I have my own music, or the camera zoomed out.
Everything posted about that game in these forums and in chat channels becomes instant property of Cryptic/PWE.
Every single idea, hope, dream and suggestion.Well that's my current theory. That's what I'd be doing in my role as executive corporate champion saving the sacred citizen shareholders from the humility of lost profits.
The other theory I heard of is that they are making a new Perfect World for a Western market.
All they have to do is say "Something like that and we're porting all the costume's and play style
and powers from Champions Online, plus some other stuff", show me a trailer with some recognizable things in a brave new game and I'll throw $300 at them right now.
Allow full customization with free pieces at the start and not just 150 pieces or so.
Allow F2P to make freeforms with powersets from unlocked archtypes.
Make the default faces in CC less ugly.
More missions at low levels than the Westside arc.
[SIGPIC]http://imgur.com/9gptU4e[/SIGPIC]
Replace the help a citizen threatening mobs with mobs that are bigger and out of place but leveled appropriately.
This would improve their visibility.
OR
Replace the citizen models with a hero, with an interesting aura and powers, getting beat down.
Let's see how heroic people really are by keeping score of how many Alert Team Lowbies Are Super characters we can save, by collecting ATLAS recognition from completing the missions. yay.
Make a villain expansion, a foundry, super group bases, new zones, higher level cap, new powers, new advantages, revive PvP/add world PvP at least in designated zones, add more PvE "dungeons" like Therakiel's Temple, create new PvE encounters like random events/world bosses. Upgrade world graphics.
Oh and remove the cringeworthy campiness from the game.
Realistically though? I've no idea. Add more lockboxes I guess.
Sorry couldnt read what your saying cause your AV is somewhat hypnotic ._o
Nepht and Dr Deflecto on primus
They all thought I was out of the game....But I'm holding all the lockboxes now..
I'll......FOAM FINGER YOUR BACK!
But, it was a good post!
[SIGPIC]http://imgur.com/9gptU4e[/SIGPIC]
1.- Remove level requirements from zones. Plenty of people would talk a lot better of the game if they could see Vibora Bay or Lemuria during their first week of trying the game.
2.- Stop listening to the toxic crusaders in the playerbase, they'll hate you no matter what you do or stop doing.
3.- Grant a single Freeform slot to silver users so they can experience what they're missing out on for not going Gold.
4.- Change your culture of non-communication (I can't blame you on this, however, given the playerbase's toxicity).
5.- Hire new writers to add at least another eighty hours worth of story arcs. They don't have to have pretty camera shots that require scripting, just being well-written (and preferably discarding silver-age cringe-inducing stuff). Plenty of users here would be willing to write for you for free, even.
5.1.- Put a metaplot together and advance it. Even Anarchy Online had one.
6.- Foundry. Competition for Superhero MMOs arrives starting next year, and for many users who want a mission architect in their superhero MMO (not STO or NWO) the clock is ticking already. If "the Foundry" as it is can't be adapted then create a different mission architect for CO. CoH didn't use to have a mission architect either until it did, so why can't CO?
The playerbase is toxic BECAUSE of Cryptic. I can totally blame them.
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
It would be a MONUMENTAL undertaking, and given PWE doesn't have enough faith in CO to do way easier stuff... yeah.
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
It already is a good game though
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
You mean the part of the community that isn't satisfied with lockboxes and halfassery, and the one that's quite vocal about it- and offers a constant source of suggestions to improve the game?
Yes, let's listen to the cheerleaders that defend every bad decision Cryptic's made. That'll carry CO into the future.
This playerbase's toxicity can be summarized as such: Someone will criticize the game. Someone else will come along and defend it and use 'but they're men with families' defense to support lockboxes and 5-minute content. Then they'll tell the person with a criticism to 'Get out'. The cheerleaders are poison in this well, because a critic will make his point and leave. Cheerleaders ***** out anyone who doesn't love the game like they do.
All the Toxicity here? It's NOTHING compared to other games. Mind you, I'm also talking about other games that do much more than Cryptic in terms of game content and Customer Support.
The toxic environment didn't blow in from the nethers of the internet. Cryptic brewed this perfect storm themselves. They have no one else to blame.
If the company does not communicate with its playerbase because of harsh criticism, then these men should not have jobs making video games. And I'm sure they're well aware of that, PWE isn't allowing them to do much.
Because let's face it, that deal with PWE to keep the game from closing down was a deal with the Devil, and it's screwed us. Cryptic should have sold CO to someone who cared about its future.
Oh, and Cyber, the toxicity to which Foxy refers doesn't seem to be those with a valid criticism of this or that aspect of gameplay (you might have noticed that Foxy's post included a few such criticisms). Rather, it's those who seem to actively want CO to fail, like Nextnametaken or the late, unlamented Jaybezz. They offer no critique, simply complaints apparently inspired by the fact that CO keeps on chugging no matter how badly they hate it. (Oh, and as you point out, it's also those who don't seem to think there has ever been a misstep made in this game, but there are fewer of them and they aren't as loud.)
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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Less than 2000 gamers online, it might break that when it's peak weekend hours. That's 'a few'.
Don't forget that a game from 2004 had a community that dwarfed CO's at best, and it was a comic book game. And that wasn't loyalty. That was a better product that was five years older and looked every bit older.
Yes, but that wasn't specified. Usually, when people have a complaint, they're considered 'toxic' and asked to leave. I may gripe and lash out at CO, but you have to understand the way I describe it to my friends:
"The best way to describe it, it was like City of Heroes' next step. Improved graphics and faster gameplay, and a lot of features that took City of Heroes a few years to implement based on feedback. Except when they chose an IP, they picked a lousy one. And not only did they pick a lousy one, but they picked the worst parts and ran with it. Other than that, the game feels like an unfinished teaser that got cobbled together and thrown out the door. The best thing that could happen is someone else takes ownership, because CO could have been the best Superhero MMO out there, and instead it's sort of a sad tease."
I don't want CO to fail. But I don't want it floundering where it is right now, which is somewhere between 'Maintenance Mode' and 'Life Support'.
Please. If anyone thinks this community is 'toxic', your tolerance is weak.
I play it. Everyone else can go be a bung for all I care
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
You have a remarkable ability to misunderstand what people are saying.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
This is cheerleading BS.
Comic book stuff is plenty popular (look at TV, movies, etc). The kind of folks who play MMOs are even MORE likely to be into it.
CO is QUITE CLEARLY not doing well, and that's not even glancing at WoW numbers for a second.
Or do you think CO hasn't gotten advertising or significant dev focus for years because it's doing so fabulously well it doesn't need the help?
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
So are you going to give PW millions of dollars a year to develop cool stuff for you to play by yourself?
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
That's sort of a silly thing to say when you consider the sheer number of low population free2play titles that PWE runs, don't you think?
What response were you expecting? Something along the lines of, "Oh no you're right! I can't possibly float the game with my own wallet so I better join you in going around pointing out that nobody is playing the game and that it's doing poorly, because that will generate millions of dollars overnight!"
I mean... do you even know what your objective is?
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
You're not very good at following thoughts. I'll do my best to keep it short and use small words.
You'd be doing yourself a favor :biggrin:
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
Actually, the discussion was 'How would you increase CO's profitability and playerbase?' Look, it's right there in the title.
I was expecting you to actually engage the topic.
Instead, a bunch of people proceeded to dump in the thread 'EVERYTHING IS FINE SHUT UP.'
What response were YOU expecting?
Chatting about ways the game could improve.
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
I see it! :biggrin:
When someone says they think it's a good game, and you then point out that it's not and that no one is playing it because it's not a good game, that's totally a way the game could improve!
Thank you for setting me straight s( ^ _ ^)z
And so, Zahinder had saved Champions Online and was named the new king of games
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
The Avengers was popular. The spinoff TV series Agents of SHIELD seems to be mildly popular; the ratings have been trending downward, but then again only three episodes have aired. Arrow isn't a TV-series version of Green Arrow; it's a CW teen-soap-opera that so far has skirted wide around Oliver Queen's destiny as a costumed hero.
Go to any bookstore, or even the paperback rack in a good-sized grocery store; see how many fantasy novels there are, not even counting the bodice-rippers. Now visit your friendly neighborhood comics shop, assuming you still have one, and see how well they're doing. Comics have nowhere near the popularity of a good violent fantasy novel, even though the storytelling possibilities are far more vast, in part because of the stigma comics have of being written poorly, in excessively simple language (a stigma picked up decades ago, and promulgated by people unaware of Whedon's run on X-Men, or Straczynski's on Amazing Spider-Man, and who know Peter David only as the author of Sir Apropos of Nothing if they know of him at all).
The point stands; this genre is less popular than that one, and when you add in the stigma of MMO players as basement-dwelling misfits with poor hygiene and worse manners, it just makes any grandiose future for online gaming in general, and this game in particular, highly unlikely. I have made my peace with this; I enjoy playing CO, I have hope that it will improve in the future, and when one day it does end (as all things do, in a universe of entropy) I will have had fun with my entire time here. I encourage others to make a similar peace.
On the other hand, if you can enjoy bemoaning what will never be, well, as long as you're still enjoying the game, play on. And if, one day, you find yourself unable to stand the game any longer, I hope you can find it in yourself to move on in peace, seeking your next entertainment without wasting your time over the last one.
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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My Characters on PRIMUS
Toons and costumes thread
@Benevon
Leader of Super Serious Brooding Vigilantes
Some may be valid and others may not be, if the game has so many tech issues, perhaps its time to solve those. If the game is running out of space, then lets address that. If those are the problems keeping CO from getting permanent content, then those are the problems that need to be solved. Hopefully this is something that gets resolved with Cryptic North.
No, what happened was this was a thread about how to increase CO's profitability and playerbase, and someone's contrary non-answer was 'NOTHING IT'S GREAT.'
You're welcome.
In future, you may find the titles of threads to be really handy.
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
I can't stand playing the game any longer.
I'm still here because I hold out a little hope that maybe Cryptic might listen to some of these comments and, you know, actually market the game AT ALL.
I don't care how bad you think the comic book genre is, when vast segments of your target audience are completely unaware that you even exist, you've really f'd up.
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
Next, you can give up the cherry-picking. You're attempting to reach conclusions using poor statistical methodology, with unsupported data, and worst of all you have absolutely no suggestions to change what you claim is a terrible decline. All you can do is post screencaps of filtered numbers, with no access to the raw data behind them, at times when there might well be something else to account for folks' time (you've posted weekday afternoons, you've posted the wee small hours of the morning in the States, now you've posted the numbers on a Sunday afternoon during football season).
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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There are a few things I really dislike, but that's going to be true with anything.
And hey, as much as you can say 'popular genres!', when a fantasy game doesn't do well people find an explanation 'oh, the market is over-saturated.'
But I'd still rather be playing a superhero game that's doing well.
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
What you're doing is the same as if I had a complaint about Wal-Mart, and I went and started yelling at other Wal-Mart customers about it.
We all know that there aren't many people playing this game. More importantly, the devs know that there aren't many people playing this game. You're not informing anyone of anything... the only effect you could possibly have is that potential new players see your posts, assume the game is dead and not worth playing, and then go play something else like DCUO without ever even trying CO. If you think your posts have any other possible effect, then you're delusional; everyone is already aware of everything you're saying, players and devs. We simply disagree with you that it's a reason to act like the sky is falling.
Did it ever cross anyones mind that the folks in charge aren't going into panic mode because they have inside knowledge that this game won't be closed down no matter how low the population gets?
Not every MMO is city of heroes. In fact, it seems that the vast majority of them aren't and will simply keep existing because nobody sees a reason to shut them down.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
1. Wal-Mart does not provide forums for feedback.
2. The sky may not be falling, but population might be. If you feel comfortable saying that the people working on the game are in touch with whats happening, fine. Not everyone agrees with that sentiment.
Seriously, we should stop trying to get Cryptic's attention and accept the status quo? Give up fighting for improvement and advancement ? I could not disagree more.
**lastly Sills dude enough with the name dropping. Jay did not hate the game. He wanted things to improve, wanted his main to be a cc telepath, and paid oodles of money only to see his main crushed. Should we further divide people by simply using money spent as the metric for who likes the game and who does not? How would that make you feel? If the answer is not very good, you might consider the feelings of others when you feel a need to single people out to support your point. You can make your point without kicking people who are down, or denigrating those whose have opposing viewpoints.
I'm trying to give those still here the benefit of the doubt wherever possible - but Jay removed all doubt.
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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