Yes, there is indeed a exclusivity contract with Massively, that was explained in a random thread a while ago. Apparently CO has to wait for the Massively article to post before they can post on their own website.
Er, not quite the case. Here's how it works: Usually, when a gaming outlet has an exclusive, they get the info first, and they get to post it during the exclusive period; the publisher doesn't post that same info as a courtesy. So for this, we gave Massively a 24 hour exclusive, so for the first 24 hours, we pushed people to their article, and afterwards, we posted an informative blog on our own site.
That's what's meant by an exclusive. There's no contract at all, and nothing locked in about us going to Massively instead of some other outlet. We just have a good working relationship with Massively, and we know Eliot enjoys some CO on occasion.
Summary - IMHO, recent & upcoming additions to CO make me feel things are headed North.
Positive Thing 1: Cryptic North fixed many issues they inherited.
Have to agree. Honestly? My favorite part was when they started making costume parts in various materials instead of metal-only. NOW DO THAT WITH THE THIGH UZIS AND ACTUAL USABLE WEAPONS!!!
Positive Thing 2: Cryptic North is adding new content.
I wish we were getting more- a new zone, a new comic pack, something. I'd love for them to even hold a CONTEST where we help write the next Comic/Adventure pack.
Hell, I want us to have another 'design a villain' contest for Alert Bosses!!!
Eh, it is. But kudos for them getting this out. It's overdue, but it makes good on a promise. I just hope it's worth playing and not a splatterfest like Gravitar was.
The future of CO is very muddled. On one hand we have had a lot of nice updates recently and some more planned to come out soon. However, the state of updates to CO over the last year has been barren for the most part. At least for individuals not interested in lock boxes or vehicles. It's also very hard to determine whether Cryptic North's current stream of updates is something we can expect regularly or if their current stride will cease or slowdown.
Personally, I try to stay optimistic about this subject. I hope the devs at Cryptic North have to bite their tongues whenever they read a thread like this because they have a list of fixes, updates, and new content lined up and planned for the coming year and beyond and have the budget to achieve them. But they can't disclose such information yet.
With that said my gut feeling is to keep my expectations very low and to not expect much from the future. I hope I'm just overly jaded from CO's recent history, but, I can't shake that feeling.
Anything that would increase knowledge about CO would definitely help. I know PWI is trying to push their new launcher, but anything (update, new AT's, etc.) to try and get CO back on the front page of Steam would probably bring in a boost of new players.
Another idea that maybe would work is cross game promotions/sales. Bundle a couple items from CO/NWO/STO and sell them as one unit. Maybe give the bundle a focus on one game and a couple extra's from one or both the remaining Cryptic games.
Going further into that (and I hate to suggest it) but maybe cross game items in lock boxes. Like drifter salvage: Collect "XX" number of CO Costume Pieces from NWO lock boxes and get a token you can use to get a "free" costume set/AT/etc. for CO. Make the Pieces tradable between players and maybe some interest for CO/NWO/STO would be generated from current players of Cryptic's games. Untradable would work too. Maybe even better. "I have enough to unlock X from CO/STO/NWO might as well use it." It might generate new traffic to all three games stores and the games themselves.
Either way I look forward to Champion Online's future and wish it the best.
Maybe give the bundle a focus on one game and a couple extra's from one or both the remaining Cryptic games.
They allready made a NW bundle, CO just wasn't included in the extras...
And the recent ARC "bundle" contained old costume pieces.
I fell for the 1st one and 'we will give something in the future' fell down because of tech issues....
And 2nd one was free.
CHAMPIONS ONLINE:Join Date: Apr 2008
And playing by myself since Aug 2009 Godtier: Lifetime Subscriber
New content or not, CO's aging. Newer MMOs have set higher expectations. It's a constant race.
IIRC Cryptic said its games have a 5-year life (sorry I can't remember the exact source). The solution is not new Alerts, but hopefully a CO2. It's not Cryptic North's fault, it's just something every game must face.
There are still plenty of MMOs from the 90s around. So, age, yeah, not a negative. The content race has nothing to do with age.
If we're talking trading stuff between games, I'd like to turn my magic diamonds into Q. Or trade my Zen between games.
There are still plenty of MMOs from the 90s around. So, age, yeah, not a negative. The content race has nothing to do with age.
Yeah, although I haven't played it in a long, long time, one of the MMO's I most enjoyed, Dark Age of Camelot, is still going strong, relatively-speaking, after more than 12 years. They still get regular updates and a new studio was just created to take over running it.
LTS since 2009. Author of ACT parser module for CO. Founder of Rampagers. Resident curmudgeon.
"Without data, you're just another person with an opinion." -- W. Edwards Deming
Hey, Cryptic mentioned CO recently in public! It was an interview regarding STO Foundry, and it casually mentioned how Cryptic developed Foundry and ported it to all their games.
sigh
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?
New content or not, CO's aging. Newer MMOs have set higher expectations. It's a constant race.
IIRC Cryptic said its games have a 5-year life (sorry I can't remember the exact source). The solution is not new Alerts, but hopefully a CO2. It's not Cryptic North's fault, it's just something every game must face.
Actually that was PWE, the more suitier guys than Cryptic's suits, the ones that own them. It's their business policy; they ride a game for five years then abandon it. Or something.
Hey, Cryptic mentioned CO recently in public! It was an interview regarding STO Foundry, and it casually mentioned how Cryptic developed Foundry and ported it to all their games.
sigh
that was a of-cuff remake about neverwinter, as seeing as champions still has not gotten foundry. And the new game will undoubtly get it as well, leaving the same old excuses for champions not getting despite what others have said about all games sharing the same code.
Hey, Cryptic mentioned CO recently in public! It was an interview regarding STO Foundry, and it casually mentioned how Cryptic developed Foundry and ported it to all their games.
sigh
No, they didn't mention CO. The writer of the article, however, did mention NW, and I wrote a rather incensed post about that in the STO forums...
"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!"
Er, not quite the case. Here's how it works: Usually, when a gaming outlet has an exclusive, they get the info first, and they get to post it during the exclusive period; the publisher doesn't post that same info as a courtesy. So for this, we gave Massively a 24 hour exclusive, so for the first 24 hours, we pushed people to their article, and afterwards, we posted an informative blog on our own site.
That's what's meant by an exclusive. There's no contract at all, and nothing locked in about us going to Massively instead of some other outlet. We just have a good working relationship with Massively, and we know Eliot enjoys some CO on occasion.
Personally I'm not so concerned with how much info they feed us. After all, whether they tell us what they're doing or not, they're still doing it. I'll happily be surprised when stuff comes out... in fact I greatly prefer it to being let down when stuff they promised doesn't come out, or ends up taking longer than I'd like.
I don't think I've ever seen news from the devs have a long-lasting positive effect on the player base... it always ends up going from "that looks great!" to "why isn't it live yet?" and then "it was rushed" and right back to "we haven't gotten anything new lately".
I say the devs keep their cards close to their chest. They don't need to try to manipulate players into continuing to play with news of what might be around the corner, the game is good enough to do that on its own, and consistently getting better.
Er, not quite the case. Here's how it works: Usually, when a gaming outlet has an exclusive, they get the info first, and they get to post it during the exclusive period; the publisher doesn't post that same info as a courtesy. So for this, we gave Massively a 24 hour exclusive, so for the first 24 hours, we pushed people to their article, and afterwards, we posted an informative blog on our own site. That's what's meant by an exclusive. There's no contract at all, and nothing locked in about us going to Massively instead of some other outlet.
I personally find it far far more depressing (but sadly typical) - that Cryptic-Studios has been (and continues to be):
Silent when we have been asking on the forums for an explanation re: the desperate state of the game.
Silent when we have been asking for ages when the next SOTG is (if that is you are as a studio still committed to letting us know what is going on).
Silent when we complain that communication has dried up yet again (despite the promises after at least three fallings-out with your official community over communication).
Silent on every single forum debate re: almost every single facet of the games development, and where the game is headed and if indeed Cryptic has any plans for solid development on this game --- Apart from when something is assumed about an exclusive arrangement between Massively and Cryptic - and then all of a sudden that is deemed worthy enough to get a formal reply and clarification..... I mean really???.
And please don't use the excuse of having to keep your cards close to your chest re: silence over future content - because DCUO really doesn't give a monkeys about what Cryptic is up-to with this game, they have been marching on with content and have left this game in the dust with one arm tied behind their back- (and no I do not play DCUO).
Please talk to us about what we are genuinely concerned about - not just chiming-up to set the official record straight about Cryptic PR arrangements with websites (As if many of us care about that).
We just have a good working relationship with Massively, and we know Eliot enjoys some CO on occasion.
And yet even when Eliot joins Champions players in giving a pretty damning verdict on the current state of the game through his Jan 8th article at Massively entitled: A Mild-Mannered Reporter: 2013 in review for superheroes - Cryptic-Studios still stubbornly ignores it all and continues on with it's misguided strategy for the game. Unbelievable.
I want to genuinely engage, discuss and contribute to a future where the community helps let you guys know what we would like developed in this game's future - but it's like Cryptic-Studios are just.not.interested. in that or indeed answering any questions that may make them feel uncomfortable.
..........................................
Dropping my knitting to buff you whilst hitting - Proudly protecting Millennium City's little ones since 2009.
If they say "hey we're doing this awesome thing" then if it doesn't live up to someone's expectation they can post out of context quotes to prove they were right and the devs wrong.
If they remain silent people will still rage but without any official posts to twist.
"I have met the enemy and he is us."
This is my Risian Corvette. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Mother, love ya and you know this. You need to log into the game every once in a blue moon. We miss you. Not all of your post is correct right now. Not all of it is incorrect. Come spend some time with us and catch up. We miss you.
To eastgatewidow: They aren't silent. They've responded to other threads similar to this one. Here's a quote from TT about why we don't get those UNTIL Field Reports
Re: the second line of conversation, I think we can all agree that the last UNTIL Field Report over-committed us. When we needed to be flexible and responsive to new opportunities, we'd publicly set out an agenda that was static. We don't want to be in that situation again, so we're not announcing things until we're confident we can deliver, and that it's the best plan for Champions.
It's not that they are slighting us. It's not that they see CO as not worthwhile. It's that they don't want to make promises (actual or perceived) that they cannot deliver. Personally, I respect that and would rather they stick with this than hear about future plans that later fall through for whatever reason. I'd rather not know the plan existed if it's not going to happen.
I'm perfectly happy with the game not getting a hell of a lot of press right now, and I'm for damn sure not giving it word of mouth. Why? It's still unpolished. They've squashed a ton of bugs, but we still have a lot of major issues that have existed since basically launch. I've paid for literally over 30 subs for random people in this game, and even free it can't keep em around, because they either get bored of the endgame or quit before then because of all of the bugs.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: we've had our numbers destroyed a few times by big pushes when we weren't ready for em. The steam push, in particular, destroyed the rep of the game something fierce. We can stay in maintenance mode as long as it takes to get everything polished up, and get a bit more endgame going. I'd much rather see that happen than see another pack of new people come in, bash us, then get bored and leave again.
In game, I am @EvilTaco. Happily killing purple gang members since May 2008. RIP Caine
I'm perfectly happy with the game not getting a hell of a lot of press right now, and I'm for damn sure not giving it word of mouth. Why? It's still unpolished. They've squashed a ton of bugs, but we still have a lot of major issues that have existed since basically launch. I've paid for literally over 30 subs for random people in this game, and even free it can't keep em around, because they either get bored of the endgame or quit before then because of all of the bugs.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: we've had our numbers destroyed a few times by big pushes when we weren't ready for em. The steam push, in particular, destroyed the rep of the game something fierce. We can stay in maintenance mode as long as it takes to get everything polished up, and get a bit more endgame going. I'd much rather see that happen than see another pack of new people come in, bash us, then get bored and leave again.
Unfortunately that type of thinking will keep us in this hole. No press, no new people, no resources sent our way to produce that other stuff even if all the bugs are finally fixed. Yours is a losing strategy.
(And frankly, in my experience, CO's much less buggier than STO and that game has loads and loads more players than here.)
Unfortunately that type of thinking will keep us in this hole. No press, no new people, no resources sent our way to produce that other stuff even if all the bugs are finally fixed. Yours is a losing strategy.
(And frankly, in my experience, CO's much less buggier than STO and that game has loads and loads more players than here.)
Well, what got us in this hole were serious glitches like chat going down for a week straight, 2 kitchen sink patches (one right around the steam launch, which decimated our incoming population), and a launch from beta that was almost comically buggy. You could blame it on the lack of content and pulling devs to neverwinter, and you'd probably be right, but the fact is we'd already lost a bulk of our base by that point.
We're already getting no press and no new people. But like every time the population here is mentioned, there are people banging the "let's recruit!" drum. We still don't even have items for pvp, queues are jacked up, stronghold is bugged beyond all reason, new zones seem just not to open past 8, lairs are comically buggy and sometimes flat out broken, whole chains of the nemesis system lock up (to the point where 3 of my 40s literally can't do them anymore), the game has huge memory leaks that have in the past forced me to turn off all indicators to fight a zone boss so the game doesn't fully lock up and die... If this is a not-buggy mmo, by any measure, in your eyes? well, that might be what's keeping us in this hole too. Yeah, bugs are expected in any mmo, but this is a bit off the chain. Like I said, I've paid for just gobs of accounts for random people to try the game out. I'm not talking from nothing, here, I'm pointing out the main reason everyone always left. I've got a pretty big focus group to back up what I'm saying, and that's why I'm saying a push right now wouldn't really be beneficial in the long run. Negative word of mouth sucks hard for mmos, and most of the people I know who'd never play this game say they don't because it's a glitchy mess. I can't say they're wrong.
I don't know that I saw a single complaint when they went on that 2 month bug-squash. From this community, I think that's pretty good proof that it was a great idea. Just sayin: I wouldn't argue with more of that, especially if we're going to try some grass roots campaign to up the numbers.
In game, I am @EvilTaco. Happily killing purple gang members since May 2008. RIP Caine
Well, what got us in this hole were serious glitches like chat going down for a week straight, 2 kitchen sink patches (one right around the steam launch, which decimated our incoming population), and a launch from beta that was almost comically buggy. You could blame it on the lack of content and pulling devs to neverwinter, and you'd probably be right, but the fact is we'd already lost a bulk of our base by that point.
We're already getting no press and no new people. But like every time the population here is mentioned, there are people banging the "let's recruit!" drum. We still don't even have items for pvp, queues are jacked up, stronghold is bugged beyond all reason, new zones seem just not to open past 8, lairs are comically buggy and sometimes flat out broken, whole chains of the nemesis system lock up (to the point where 3 of my 40s literally can't do them anymore), the game has huge memory leaks that have in the past forced me to turn off all indicators to fight a zone boss so the game doesn't fully lock up and die... If this is a not-buggy mmo, by any measure, in your eyes? well, that might be what's keeping us in this hole too. Yeah, bugs are expected in any mmo, but this is a bit off the chain. Like I said, I've paid for just gobs of accounts for random people to try the game out. I'm not talking from nothing, here, I'm pointing out the main reason everyone always left. I've got a pretty big focus group to back up what I'm saying, and that's why I'm saying a push right now wouldn't really be beneficial in the long run. Negative word of mouth sucks hard for mmos, and most of the people I know who'd never play this game say they don't because it's a glitchy mess. I can't say they're wrong.
I don't know that I saw a single complaint when they went on that 2 month bug-squash. From this community, I think that's pretty good proof that it was a great idea. Just sayin: I wouldn't argue with more of that, especially if we're going to try some grass roots campaign to up the numbers.
"like chat going down for a week straight"
Sure. When that happened, defenders claimed that a. it wasn't happening b. not game wide c. intermittent This continued after the devs acknowledged the problem.
Constructive criticism is vital. I see way more bull**** apologists than I do Cryptic fans who play who actually want things to improve.
On Alert was simply put in place to introduce new gear, new stat structure, and a way to level up better between the gaps of missing content between specific levels. That way they can get ready for an expansion and the level cap increase.
But a little thing called Neverwinter Online happened and halted all CO production.
Now they are entirely reliant on the Alert queue system since doing anything bold with the game will break it since all the veterans of the code moved into other Cryptic projects that could prevent disaster.
'We don't give you the next 6 months plans, because we don't know if we are doing it.
Or know if we can do it.
and because you guys always make assumptions and interpretations about what we say that aren't true and then you flip your beans when we don't deliver on any of our
promises that weren't actually promises, and all the promises that you imagined that never even actually existed, and having the forums constantly be full of your BS outrage where you call us names is bad for business, and we'd much rather have the discontented murmering that you guys constantly deliver anyways since all online games get that.'
:rolleyes:
Whenever I create a new toon, the first thing I do, before even leaving the PH, is to turn off nameplates and damage floaters. If I need to know someone's name, I can mouse over them, and this way my FPS stays somewhere reasonable
CO and LOTRO have joined forces to fuel my hate of nameplates. CO because they kill framerates, and LOTRO because seeing a hobbit named Bewbeez teamed with a dwarf named Trolly McTrollerson deeply wounds my Tolkien-loving heart.
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
Stereotypes exist for a reason. I've seen enough PVPers post on enough boards to know that I'm not far off the mark.
Hazard a guess as to what percentage of the game's pvper population even bothers posting on the boards. Personally, I've run into many more PvEers who thought that all content should cater to them and that pvp content doesn't matter and that all PvPers are scum. That doesn't mean I try to characterize all PvEers that way.
Hazard a guess as to what percentage of the game's pvper population even bothers posting on the boards. Personally, I've run into many more PvEers who thought that all content should cater to them and that pvp content doesn't matter and that all PvPers are scum. That doesn't mean I try to characterize all PvEers that way.
Well Cryptic obviously doesn't care much for PVP so, shouldn't it revolve around PVEers? Oh, and what about we RPers? WHAT ABOUT US!?!?!
HA! Get it? I made a pun in the title! See it?...No..? well I do..
Anyway Yeah, So where we going with the future of the game? Ever since on Alert update, the game has been focused solely on Alert system. There has not been a new mission released in other areas of the game since before then. These lands have gone barren and are now obsolete. Infact, mostly it's just veteran players on alts that SOMETIMES venture into these mission loaded areas that once offered decent gear as you leveled up, but now there is no incentive, or rather, not a very strong one in the least. I am almost certain, even without data backing it up, that the game has under a 5,000 player population. ACTIVE players, meaning they log in for more than atleast a week's time total on the account. The game is doing nothing to attract new players, and despite the updates of the upcoming rampage revamps, and new gear, it still does not fill the void of what can be called a "successful" MMO. Part of this problem is the marketing. I've never heard of Massively as being one of the top broadened MMO news firms to the general public. If the game needs new players, and generate even MORE revenue, it needs to be advertised too much more widely known gaming firms, such as IGN or GAMESPOT. The point is, the game needs a CONCISE direction in where it's heading for it's development. There hasn't been story progression as far as Lore goes in a long LONG LONG time. Mechanon, Doctor Destroyer, Terror INC, CrimeLords, etc etc. We haven't had a Q&A in a long time. I think we are well overdue for one.
>_> IGN only advertises COD and Gamespot is seen as a joke . CO needs banners on sites like YOU TUBE ( also seen as a joke these days but still cat videos ) and Comic Vine.
Actually get advertisements on Comic Websites. COX did that, DCUO does that , CO should be doing that U_U
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!
Well Cryptic obviously doesn't care much for PVP so, shouldn't it revolve around PVEers? Oh, and what about we RPers? WHAT ABOUT US!?!?!
What about you? Why you're barely even gamers! quaf quaf quaf qauf quaf! s( U 3 U )z *twirls cane, rustles giant bag of gold, tips top hat, rides away in 200 ft long stretch limo*
Though technically yes, the whole "Be the hero you want to be" thing would kind of indicate that role-playing is a deeply important part of the game.
Though technically yes, the whole "Be the hero you want to be" thing would kind of indicate that role-playing is a deeply important part of the game.
Considering the fact that the game is more like 'Look like the hero you want to be, but be the same cheeseball as everyone else with no other option'... RPing is the only way to do this.
I really feel like Cryptic North has been doing a lot for Champions Online given the resources they are probably given. I really got into CO when I found out that COH was going to close, and there's a lot in the game that I enjoy.
I wish that it'd get more content ... Dev generated or something Foundry-lite because there's only so many times you can save Vibora Bay and Monster Island.
Beyond that, I wish we could get another thread from one of the Cryptic North Devs. The last one was really well received IMO ... both in the forums and the game in general. I think the explanation as to why wheeled vehicles wasn't coming was much appreciated.
Yes, there's a risk in making promises you may not be able to keep, but there's also a danger in leaving your audience feel unappreciated too long.
On the whole, though, I really appreciate the hard work Cryptic North has put into the game so far and I hope we hear more good things from them in 2014.
Considering the fact that the game is more like 'Look like the hero you want to be, but be the same cheeseball as everyone else with no other option'... RPing is the only way to do this.
How'd you get my name on a quote from spinny's post?
Considering the fact that the game is more like 'Look like the hero you want to be, but be the same cheeseball as everyone else with no other option'... RPing is the only way to do this.
To answer the OP, I think we've been going north, but our dad, Cryptic, has been going to all of the roadside museums along the way while we're sitting in the back of the van bickering with one another about where we go next and Mom's getting sick of our ****.
Maybe I overlooked this but does anyone think that maybe Cryptic North will be combining the City of Heroes/Villains IP with Champions?
The IP wasn't sold to numerous interested parties and nothing has been acknowledged about it by NCSoft since then, even mentions of the game are no longer on NCsoft's site.
Then in less than 9 months after CoH goes dark Cryptic North is announced with a specific purpose to work on Champions...
Let's be honest, this game was shoved out to make money and has been in maintenance mode since 6 months after launch. Many of the things done in Champions were to test the tech for Neverwinter and STO and that's typically the only time additions were made.
Suddenly, the #1 Superhero MMO shuts down out of the blue while it's more than pulling it's own weight? Cryptic/PWE decide to magically create an entirely new studio and the first thing they say is it's focusing on Champions, their fairly ignored game?
It doesn't make much sense to me that they wouldn't be using the Champions IP stuff instead but they've had 4 years and they haven't increased the level cap or added a new persistent zone since 6 months after launch. Now out of the blue they're dedicating a new Studio for Champions? It takes a long time to get a studio setup and ready. Even to prepare an announcement takes months of sorting legal matters out.
That's unlikely, considering that they'd have to acquire the CoH IP first. Considering NCSoft rebuffed all offers to purchase it from them, I wouldn't hold my breath.
We don't know if there was a reversion clause and no one at Cryptic or NCSoft has said, though it is unlikely. As far as pulling its own weight, well I've already dissected that multiple times as well have others and the reality seemed much bleaker.
I know people see conspiracy everywhere, but at best you will probably see homages of CoH in Champions. I know a few of the developers from Paragon now work at Cryptic, but last I heard they chose to go to other projects instead.
New rampages. new costume pieces, been some bug fixes, stuff is slowly being added. if the pace quickens a bit and I think it will, we'll have some more substantial content before too long.
The Bad
Fire and ice is far too trinity focused. please design future tough content to reward hybrid playstyles as well. we don't want more trinity in this game.
while it should be an option for those who want it, it should NOT be something ever people feel forced into to complete content.
Personally, I don't view the requirements of team content (Fire and Ice in this case) as thoroughly trinity focus.
I've so far organised some runs on it via private queue, and mostly assigned the roles according to the player's abilities. This is to me pseudo trinity. Even when our tank left, I have assigned other players to tank as long as I think there's adequate support to allow him to do so. Some players may have found themselves being the dps or tank, or support in different rounds when playing with me. This is only possible we don't play fixed classes.
As far as reliance on group goes, I'm pretty happy support shines the most here and tanking helps considerably. Afterall, we're banding together to fight enemies more powerful than ourselves.
We don't know if there was a reversion clause and no one at Cryptic or NCSoft has said, though it is unlikely.
From what I've heard of Cryptic and NCSoft parting ways with the latter seizing control of CoH, the existence of a "reversion clause" seems incredibly doubtful. In fact, that was partly the reason of Cryptic buying the Champions IP, so it couldn't be taken from them. Big help that proved to be, they barely touch it now. :rolleyes:
Comments
Er, not quite the case. Here's how it works: Usually, when a gaming outlet has an exclusive, they get the info first, and they get to post it during the exclusive period; the publisher doesn't post that same info as a courtesy. So for this, we gave Massively a 24 hour exclusive, so for the first 24 hours, we pushed people to their article, and afterwards, we posted an informative blog on our own site.
That's what's meant by an exclusive. There's no contract at all, and nothing locked in about us going to Massively instead of some other outlet. We just have a good working relationship with Massively, and we know Eliot enjoys some CO on occasion.
Have to agree. Honestly? My favorite part was when they started making costume parts in various materials instead of metal-only. NOW DO THAT WITH THE THIGH UZIS AND ACTUAL USABLE WEAPONS!!!
I wish we were getting more- a new zone, a new comic pack, something. I'd love for them to even hold a CONTEST where we help write the next Comic/Adventure pack.
Hell, I want us to have another 'design a villain' contest for Alert Bosses!!!
Eh, it is. But kudos for them getting this out. It's overdue, but it makes good on a promise. I just hope it's worth playing and not a splatterfest like Gravitar was.
You know, if Cryptic did a Science Fiction game with this degree of customization? I'd write lore. For free. And it would melt your brains.
I don't mind. It's one of the less obnoxious review sites out there. I'd like for them to get with Cryptic and set up a community event.
Overall, I don't think CO's headed North or South. I think we're gonna sit right here and wiggle east and west.
Personally, I try to stay optimistic about this subject. I hope the devs at Cryptic North have to bite their tongues whenever they read a thread like this because they have a list of fixes, updates, and new content lined up and planned for the coming year and beyond and have the budget to achieve them. But they can't disclose such information yet.
With that said my gut feeling is to keep my expectations very low and to not expect much from the future. I hope I'm just overly jaded from CO's recent history, but, I can't shake that feeling.
Anything that would increase knowledge about CO would definitely help. I know PWI is trying to push their new launcher, but anything (update, new AT's, etc.) to try and get CO back on the front page of Steam would probably bring in a boost of new players.
Another idea that maybe would work is cross game promotions/sales. Bundle a couple items from CO/NWO/STO and sell them as one unit. Maybe give the bundle a focus on one game and a couple extra's from one or both the remaining Cryptic games.
Going further into that (and I hate to suggest it) but maybe cross game items in lock boxes. Like drifter salvage: Collect "XX" number of CO Costume Pieces from NWO lock boxes and get a token you can use to get a "free" costume set/AT/etc. for CO. Make the Pieces tradable between players and maybe some interest for CO/NWO/STO would be generated from current players of Cryptic's games. Untradable would work too. Maybe even better. "I have enough to unlock X from CO/STO/NWO might as well use it." It might generate new traffic to all three games stores and the games themselves.
Either way I look forward to Champion Online's future and wish it the best.
They allready made a NW bundle, CO just wasn't included in the extras...
And the recent ARC "bundle" contained old costume pieces.
I fell for the 1st one and 'we will give something in the future' fell down because of tech issues....
And 2nd one was free.
And playing by myself since Aug 2009
Godtier: Lifetime Subscriber
There are still plenty of MMOs from the 90s around. So, age, yeah, not a negative. The content race has nothing to do with age.
If we're talking trading stuff between games, I'd like to turn my magic diamonds into Q. Or trade my Zen between games.
[at]riviania Member since Aug 2009
Yeah, although I haven't played it in a long, long time, one of the MMO's I most enjoyed, Dark Age of Camelot, is still going strong, relatively-speaking, after more than 12 years. They still get regular updates and a new studio was just created to take over running it.
"Without data, you're just another person with an opinion." -- W. Edwards Deming
sigh
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?
Actually that was PWE, the more suitier guys than Cryptic's suits, the ones that own them. It's their business policy; they ride a game for five years then abandon it. Or something.
that was a of-cuff remake about neverwinter, as seeing as champions still has not gotten foundry. And the new game will undoubtly get it as well, leaving the same old excuses for champions not getting despite what others have said about all games sharing the same code.
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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Thank you for the correction.
I don't think I've ever seen news from the devs have a long-lasting positive effect on the player base... it always ends up going from "that looks great!" to "why isn't it live yet?" and then "it was rushed" and right back to "we haven't gotten anything new lately".
I say the devs keep their cards close to their chest. They don't need to try to manipulate players into continuing to play with news of what might be around the corner, the game is good enough to do that on its own, and consistently getting better.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
I personally find it far far more depressing (but sadly typical) - that Cryptic-Studios has been (and continues to be):
Silent when we have been asking on the forums for an explanation re: the desperate state of the game.
Silent when we have been asking for ages when the next SOTG is (if that is you are as a studio still committed to letting us know what is going on).
Silent when we complain that communication has dried up yet again (despite the promises after at least three fallings-out with your official community over communication).
Silent on every single forum debate re: almost every single facet of the games development, and where the game is headed and if indeed Cryptic has any plans for solid development on this game --- Apart from when something is assumed about an exclusive arrangement between Massively and Cryptic - and then all of a sudden that is deemed worthy enough to get a formal reply and clarification..... I mean really???.
And please don't use the excuse of having to keep your cards close to your chest re: silence over future content - because DCUO really doesn't give a monkeys about what Cryptic is up-to with this game, they have been marching on with content and have left this game in the dust with one arm tied behind their back- (and no I do not play DCUO).
Please talk to us about what we are genuinely concerned about - not just chiming-up to set the official record straight about Cryptic PR arrangements with websites (As if many of us care about that).
And yet even when Eliot joins Champions players in giving a pretty damning verdict on the current state of the game through his Jan 8th article at Massively entitled: A Mild-Mannered Reporter: 2013 in review for superheroes - Cryptic-Studios still stubbornly ignores it all and continues on with it's misguided strategy for the game. Unbelievable.
I want to genuinely engage, discuss and contribute to a future where the community helps let you guys know what we would like developed in this game's future - but it's like Cryptic-Studios are just.not.interested. in that or indeed answering any questions that may make them feel uncomfortable.
Dropping my knitting to buff you whilst hitting - Proudly protecting Millennium City's little ones since 2009.
@Mothers_Love
If they remain silent people will still rage but without any official posts to twist.
"I have met the enemy and he is us."
Join Date: Aug 2009 | Title: Devslayer
It's not that they are slighting us. It's not that they see CO as not worthwhile. It's that they don't want to make promises (actual or perceived) that they cannot deliver. Personally, I respect that and would rather they stick with this than hear about future plans that later fall through for whatever reason. I'd rather not know the plan existed if it's not going to happen.
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Or know if we can do it.'
:rolleyes:
And playing by myself since Aug 2009
Godtier: Lifetime Subscriber
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: we've had our numbers destroyed a few times by big pushes when we weren't ready for em. The steam push, in particular, destroyed the rep of the game something fierce. We can stay in maintenance mode as long as it takes to get everything polished up, and get a bit more endgame going. I'd much rather see that happen than see another pack of new people come in, bash us, then get bored and leave again.
RIP Caine
Unfortunately that type of thinking will keep us in this hole. No press, no new people, no resources sent our way to produce that other stuff even if all the bugs are finally fixed. Yours is a losing strategy.
(And frankly, in my experience, CO's much less buggier than STO and that game has loads and loads more players than here.)
Mind you, generally they've fixed way more in STO overall, but Cryptic is just not good at handling bugs, and prefers 'next new thing.'
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?
Well, what got us in this hole were serious glitches like chat going down for a week straight, 2 kitchen sink patches (one right around the steam launch, which decimated our incoming population), and a launch from beta that was almost comically buggy. You could blame it on the lack of content and pulling devs to neverwinter, and you'd probably be right, but the fact is we'd already lost a bulk of our base by that point.
We're already getting no press and no new people. But like every time the population here is mentioned, there are people banging the "let's recruit!" drum. We still don't even have items for pvp, queues are jacked up, stronghold is bugged beyond all reason, new zones seem just not to open past 8, lairs are comically buggy and sometimes flat out broken, whole chains of the nemesis system lock up (to the point where 3 of my 40s literally can't do them anymore), the game has huge memory leaks that have in the past forced me to turn off all indicators to fight a zone boss so the game doesn't fully lock up and die... If this is a not-buggy mmo, by any measure, in your eyes? well, that might be what's keeping us in this hole too. Yeah, bugs are expected in any mmo, but this is a bit off the chain. Like I said, I've paid for just gobs of accounts for random people to try the game out. I'm not talking from nothing, here, I'm pointing out the main reason everyone always left. I've got a pretty big focus group to back up what I'm saying, and that's why I'm saying a push right now wouldn't really be beneficial in the long run. Negative word of mouth sucks hard for mmos, and most of the people I know who'd never play this game say they don't because it's a glitchy mess. I can't say they're wrong.
I don't know that I saw a single complaint when they went on that 2 month bug-squash. From this community, I think that's pretty good proof that it was a great idea. Just sayin: I wouldn't argue with more of that, especially if we're going to try some grass roots campaign to up the numbers.
RIP Caine
"like chat going down for a week straight"
Sure. When that happened, defenders claimed that a. it wasn't happening b. not game wide c. intermittent This continued after the devs acknowledged the problem.
Constructive criticism is vital. I see way more bull**** apologists than I do Cryptic fans who play who actually want things to improve.
But a little thing called Neverwinter Online happened and halted all CO production.
Now they are entirely reliant on the Alert queue system since doing anything bold with the game will break it since all the veterans of the code moved into other Cryptic projects that could prevent disaster.
I shot your quote with my "Fix-Dit Lazer"
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
Fixed that.
Click here to check out my costumes/milleniumguardian (MG) in-game/We need more tights, stances and moods
CO and LOTRO have joined forces to fuel my hate of nameplates. CO because they kill framerates, and LOTRO because seeing a hobbit named Bewbeez teamed with a dwarf named Trolly McTrollerson deeply wounds my Tolkien-loving heart.
They're not there in the beginning, but when your story ends / Gonna last with you longer than your friends
Hazard a guess as to what percentage of the game's pvper population even bothers posting on the boards. Personally, I've run into many more PvEers who thought that all content should cater to them and that pvp content doesn't matter and that all PvPers are scum. That doesn't mean I try to characterize all PvEers that way.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
@Aleatha1011 in CO | Keeper of the Cheesecake since Nov. 2011| Bunni BOT is on PRIMUS! | Come check out my deviantart page!
Well Cryptic obviously doesn't care much for PVP so, shouldn't it revolve around PVEers? Oh, and what about we RPers? WHAT ABOUT US!?!?!
>_> IGN only advertises COD and Gamespot is seen as a joke . CO needs banners on sites like YOU TUBE ( also seen as a joke these days but still cat videos ) and Comic Vine.
Actually get advertisements on Comic Websites. COX did that, DCUO does that , CO should be doing that U_U
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!
What about you? Why you're barely even gamers! quaf quaf quaf qauf quaf! s( U 3 U )z *twirls cane, rustles giant bag of gold, tips top hat, rides away in 200 ft long stretch limo*
Though technically yes, the whole "Be the hero you want to be" thing would kind of indicate that role-playing is a deeply important part of the game.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
Considering the fact that the game is more like 'Look like the hero you want to be, but be the same cheeseball as everyone else with no other option'... RPing is the only way to do this.
I wish that it'd get more content ... Dev generated or something Foundry-lite because there's only so many times you can save Vibora Bay and Monster Island.
Beyond that, I wish we could get another thread from one of the Cryptic North Devs. The last one was really well received IMO ... both in the forums and the game in general. I think the explanation as to why wheeled vehicles wasn't coming was much appreciated.
Yes, there's a risk in making promises you may not be able to keep, but there's also a danger in leaving your audience feel unappreciated too long.
On the whole, though, I really appreciate the hard work Cryptic North has put into the game so far and I hope we hear more good things from them in 2014.
How'd you get my name on a quote from spinny's post?
How'd you get my post quoted under Kojiro's name?
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
This post has been edited to remove content which violates the PWE Community Rules and Policies -Smackwell
The IP wasn't sold to numerous interested parties and nothing has been acknowledged about it by NCSoft since then, even mentions of the game are no longer on NCsoft's site.
Then in less than 9 months after CoH goes dark Cryptic North is announced with a specific purpose to work on Champions...
Let's be honest, this game was shoved out to make money and has been in maintenance mode since 6 months after launch. Many of the things done in Champions were to test the tech for Neverwinter and STO and that's typically the only time additions were made.
Suddenly, the #1 Superhero MMO shuts down out of the blue while it's more than pulling it's own weight? Cryptic/PWE decide to magically create an entirely new studio and the first thing they say is it's focusing on Champions, their fairly ignored game?
It doesn't make much sense to me that they wouldn't be using the Champions IP stuff instead but they've had 4 years and they haven't increased the level cap or added a new persistent zone since 6 months after launch. Now out of the blue they're dedicating a new Studio for Champions? It takes a long time to get a studio setup and ready. Even to prepare an announcement takes months of sorting legal matters out.
I'm just wondering if there's something there.
I know people see conspiracy everywhere, but at best you will probably see homages of CoH in Champions. I know a few of the developers from Paragon now work at Cryptic, but last I heard they chose to go to other projects instead.
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That's your opinion.
Silverspar on PRIMUS
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I've so far organised some runs on it via private queue, and mostly assigned the roles according to the player's abilities. This is to me pseudo trinity. Even when our tank left, I have assigned other players to tank as long as I think there's adequate support to allow him to do so. Some players may have found themselves being the dps or tank, or support in different rounds when playing with me. This is only possible we don't play fixed classes.
As far as reliance on group goes, I'm pretty happy support shines the most here and tanking helps considerably. Afterall, we're banding together to fight enemies more powerful than ourselves.
From what I've heard of Cryptic and NCSoft parting ways with the latter seizing control of CoH, the existence of a "reversion clause" seems incredibly doubtful. In fact, that was partly the reason of Cryptic buying the Champions IP, so it couldn't be taken from them. Big help that proved to be, they barely touch it now. :rolleyes: