http://nw.perfectworld.com/news/?p=896631
So... Why are our state of the games, when we get em, so much less than this? Not even in the "this is what's coming" side of things, but more of a road map of the plans and what's been done. It's direct, to the point, and specific. The only vague thing they mention is the new class, and even that is pretty directly spelled out.
So why do we get unconfirmed rumors and vague hints?
I only bring this up because it's directly the same company giving out both states of game. Ours (when we get em), and theirs. They're such opposite ends of the spectrum it's painful to witness.
I don't say this to be disrespectful, it's more of a "take an example from yourself" kinda thing. The kind of communication we get is very far separated from either of the other 2 mmos cryptic runs.
As an example, our last state of the game was June 2012. Nearly a year ago. And we're still spinning those wheels, with no further roadmap than "we're adding more events". A full year without any sort of details on where we're going as a game, and consequently as a community. I half expected a SoTG when vehicles came out, but even searching on that yields nothing.
Now, this isn't to ignore the efforts of Turtle, and his very direct approach to community involvement. That is awesome, don't get me wrong. But sometimes it's nice to have it all directly laid out for us in a non q and a format. The ask cryptic didn't tell us a hell of a lot, so I politely request: Rather than having us ask you what you're planning, and giving vague answers, why not tell us? What you've done recently, and what you've got on the burners. I hesitate to say it might do a lot for the mood around here.
In game, I am
@EvilTaco. Happily killing purple gang members since May 2008.
RIP Caine
Comments
The game's as good as being on life support.
"Gosh, two weeks for this archetype named 'Impulse'. Sounds exciting!"
Damn. Now that i look back... i can see that a lot has changed.
I really hate to think that their silence is really just them confirming our fears. Probably, though, if there were any plans beyond what was outlined in the q n a we would know about it by now.
Don't get me wrong, I'll still play...
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
Mind you,I am glad they fixed those bugs. That was truly nasty ones and some were from STO
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
We won't get a SotG until a reasonably sized team returns to CO full time, they fix all the game breaking and inconsistency bugs, and they themselves line out what they want to have happen in the next chapter of Champions.
They just don't know themselves. But now that NWO is out and the new expansion on STO is happening, their bosses are finally letting CO be talked about publicly in the offices without receiving returning cold stares.
Though what I'm concerned about is why does NWO get big updates done in modules, STO gets big updates in seasons, and CO doesn't even get a title for their updates beyond "patches". It leaves me to believe that they never intended to add major expansions to the game beyond Vibora Bay since the beginning. Just bits of whatever whenever.
EDIT: Changed chapters to modules. Doesn't change my argument regardless.
Apart from the apparent lack of Devs...what is the actual reason why CO has been neglected?
I have no game building experience, but I'm not sure that the Malvan Event (finale and rings) were they all done by one Dev...I'd have thought at least three worked on it..(being positive here, don't hate ).
Whatever happened to the Victorian London Halloween event, Moon Zone, Vigilante/Dark Hero style Zone, the Telepathy Update, Crowd Control Pass, etc? So many opportunities and hopes of players just dashed to the ground leaving room for pure player base rage and hate.
My optimism is slowly dying here...and that's pretty much the only thing keeping me in CO, apart from the community (cause you guys are frankly awesome )
The last time we got open and honest direct dev communication about an event was the holding back of the Harbinger fight, when they wanted to make it more epic. That was nice.
TrailTurtle is doing a great job, there is no doubt about it.
I think what I would like to see would be a post or thread rather about CO, where it is headed and REALISTIC plans for the future, as in what can be actually achieved, rather than what happened last year...*scowls at Telepathy Update Promise*...
And yes I mean apart from the Mentus Updatus Telepathium Lockboxes...
My Characters on PRIMUS
[#]WeNeedHeroicFashion - <Aura Suggestions> - <CO Wiki (WIP)> - <Crowd Control Discussion> - <Telepathy in Champions Online> - How to review The Force Power Set - Join the Champions Online: On Alert Discord!
I am @RavenForce in game
__________________________
I wish they'd do something big with Champions Online. I remember, when I was playing City of Heroes right after it went F2P hybrid, I used to check in on the Champs website, because at that point in time, the two games were competing furiously. I wasn't the only one who noticed. Comic series and signature story arcs, similar travel powers or wildly different power sets one-upping each other. It was great. First it was CO coming out with new stuff all the time, and then CoH upped the ante and we were getting new costumes, powers, vanity items, every two weeks. As a comic book nerd, I thought I was seeing history repeat itself: there was a new "Big Two" in town, and they weren't pulling punches. The future looked super.
Whenever I think about this nowadays, it's a feeling like walking into a ghost town that used to be full of life, and is now only memories, a thick layer of still, settled dust on every interior, an eerie silence broken only by a cold, empty, unassuring wind howling outside the windows. (Not making this up, that really is the imagery that's been flashing through my head for months now, whenever I think about these two games and the genre in general.)
Outside of Cryptic's own games, what does Champions Online compete with now? I know the answer that first springs to your lips--but do you really feel like anyone at Cryptic is making moves to stay competitive with those properties?
If you're still reading, let me ask you something--and this is especially aimed at those who've played Cryptic's other games, as well as City of Heroes under Paragon Studios, and are familiar with more fleshed-out, well-written game universes. It's also especially aimed at those who are familiar with the Champions pen-and-paper source material.
What if they offered to tear it down and give you a Champions game more faithful to the source material, more contemporary and competitive with other super hero games in theme, less 1960s Adam West Batman? Born out of the same potent life breath that has given rise to the success of STO and NW? Would you riot in the streets, or give Cryptic your blessing?
[SIGPIC]Captain Electric and the Sapien Spider[/SIGPIC]
"YES, PLEASE"
Vote YES for the Foundry in Champions Online.
@Captain-Electric | CoH/Virtue veteran | Proud new Champion
Hell, even if CO was shut down for improvements for a while (not sure how that would go down..) and given a new lease of life via focused fixing and development...I'd be happy.
CO has made promises and in some instances..more often than not has failed to deliver.
My Characters on PRIMUS
[#]WeNeedHeroicFashion - <Aura Suggestions> - <CO Wiki (WIP)> - <Crowd Control Discussion> - <Telepathy in Champions Online> - How to review The Force Power Set - Join the Champions Online: On Alert Discord!
I am @RavenForce in game
__________________________
My CoH characters made it here fine and dandy.
DCUO is punishment for me, not an option.
Would you leave if a better, bigger, richer-featured, more customizable, better-written super hero MMORPG came out?
Would CO still be fine and dandy then?
[SIGPIC]Captain Electric and the Sapien Spider[/SIGPIC]
"YES, PLEASE"
Vote YES for the Foundry in Champions Online.
@Captain-Electric | CoH/Virtue veteran | Proud new Champion
Co may be my favorite game, but times and circumstances change. I used to think MMO's wouldn't close, and I'd be playing MXO KARATE forevery and ever.
I'd stay and start again. Playing. It would be painful, initially, but otherwise better than current state of CO and its road to nowhere.
I also seem to recall before the forum switch, they said they were going to change the format of the SOTG, to essentially tell us less. I can't find the exact post, but they were no longer going to talk about the future, but more brag about what they've done or something. I'll continue trying to find it.
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
http://co.perfectworld.com/news/?name=co-node-595562
It was back when we had a calendar.
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
I offer you a challenge. Take what we know about the future of the game (events with tiny missions leading up to an alert climax that won't be permanent planned for the rest of the year, and one developer working on some powers on his spare time), and put that into a State of the Game of the length of the Neverwinter one. And try to not make it sound totally depressing.
If you're feeling saucy, put a new State of the Game together for all the coming months in 2013, and try not to repeat yourself.
Sounds like a pretty unfair challenge to me, actually. It's not that they can't take an example from themselves, it's just that future development isn't worth talking about in this game.
Blah Blah Blah.. #TelepathyNOW
I mean.. Girls can make a human LIFE in 9 months why can't CO finish a already finished powerset update? I mean.. they're GIRLS! Come ON!
The only version of a revamp that I'll accept is a complete character transfer where everything I earned is of equal performance value to the new reset.
But all we really need is new content and alternate level paths and zones instead of a whole remaking of the game. But Cryptic's MO is to not make alternate leveling paths in their games. Every member of Cryptic that did stayed with CoH and formed Paragon.
_________________________________________________
SOTG: May, 2013
Greetings Champions!
It is time, once again, to take a look at what the Champs team is working on now and what is up next.
Before we take a look at the happenings of the world of Champions Online I would just like to take a momment to thank the playerbase. It never ceases to astound me how loyal, dedicated, and driven all of you have proven to be in light of the hardships that you've endured as we get closer and closer to considering maybe possible taking our new shiny, Neverwinter Online, to Live Status.
As with when we subjected you to this process with our other popular game, Star Trek Online, once we decide to send Neverwinter Online Live we will be returning some of your devs to you here on Champions Online as well as some new goodies that can only scratch the surface of beginning to make up for the damage we've inflicted.
Also, like other previous SoTG here in Champions, our new re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-emphasis towards better communication will only focus on the short term goals of this game and we may perhaps maybe consider the return of The Until Report sometime "soon(tm)."
With that being said.....Strap in, the show's about to begin.
Communication
Our dedication to new heights of communication could not possibly be doing any better even if we chose to put any effort into it. To be short Trailturtle is awesome and, don't tell him, he will be recieving a pay raise, custom avatar and sig picture made by one of the artists on Star Trek Online so he isn't stuck with "Roin'Esh Default" any more, and the custom forum title "Best CO CR in The History of Ever."
In the coming months we plan to continue with Trailturtle doing his livestreams, Trailturtle communicating with all of you on the forums, Trailturtle as the token visible flag bearer for our entire company in your game, Trailturtle running various Live and PTS Events(more to come on those "soon(tm)"), and anything else we can get Trailturtle to do when he has a waking momment of free time.
Trailturtle, if we could clone him we would.
What's in Development?
Content?
As you, our faithful diehard playerbase have noticed. We just wrapped up The Forum Malvanum Event. This 2 part event really put Lordgar and Lordgar to the test for content development and, although there were a few suprise bugs that everybody who showed up to test told us about, we believe the event hit Live in True Cryptic Fashion. We are also fairly confident that the next day patch resolved a few of the aforementioned issues because if it didn't then we currently have no plans to go back into this event. Onto the next shiny!
Our 3rd Ultra Mega EVENT is beginning work now and Lordgar, Lordgar, and Lordgar couldn't be more excited. While it's still a little bit too soon for me to give out any concrete information on this event I'll give you a hint from the notes on my desk right now. Either this event is your hero battling hordes of midgets or that's some code to say it will be shorter than the last event. Either way we're looking into new and exciting ways to bring you more ways to use your vehicle to go from point A to point B and a shiny new lockbox. Also, due to Cryptic Engine Advancements, we're looking into new and exciting ways to push the boundries of story, lore, boss mechanics, perks, and titles in this event. That being we're going to try to put some into this one.
Also worth mentioning is that our costume creator Lordgar has said that the new event will come with more of the great costume unlocks you've come to expect from Champions Online in 2013. We're looking into a metal only hair option, a cloth only new robotic chest, and TWO different metal sandals. The Sandals will be marked "Left" and Right" and will be Bind on Equip so you can trade with your friends to complete your set.
Also, since Trailturtle told us a few people here and there have mentioned it in passing we would like to clarify that even through we announced in our November 2011 SoTG that "It will now be easier to get more nemesis encounters into the game." We still have no actual plans or intentions of doing this at this time. We would rather focus all of our resources into doing things that you, the playerbase, actually want instead of smaller projects that we feel would not make any lasting effect. I'm certain you all agree and support this decision.
Powers
With the semi-return of Dev XXXXXXXX to Champions Online as a partial Dev between Neverwinter duties(we hope to change this once Neverwinter Online goes Live) it's time to get back to powers.
New Powers -Telepathy
Unfortunately, the powerset dubbed "New" Telepathy ran into some issues the last time we attempted this project but we are happy to report that it's making a comeback XXXXXX XXXX XXXXX. We're thankful to those who put in the time to test these new powers on our amazingly useful feedback tool known as PTS(Public Test Server). The powers known as XXXXXX have recently had XXXXX XXXXX to their XXXX XXXX and this means that XXXX XXXXX. The powers known as XXXXXXX XXXXX have been XXXXX into XXXXXXX XXX XXX status and should XXX XXX XXXX XXXXX. We've heard the vocal cries of the playerbase and their love of Telepathy so we're committed to delivering a bold, exciting, and unexpected twist to "shake up" this powerset.
New Powers -XXXXXXXX
That's right, True Believers, Dev XXXXXXXXX is also bringing more new powers to Champions Online. The XXXXXXXX XXXXXX are designed to be XXXXX powers for the XXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX set. While I cannot discuss them too much due to where they are in the development stage. I will say that XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
I hope you're as excited about this as I am. Just by the hints I dropped here you should be excited, especially if you loved the new and exiting balance mechanics with our past "New" powers like Strafing Run, Boomerang Shot, and Gas Pellets. Stay tuned to our PTS Servers for your chance to test out these new power mechanics and, as always, we look forward to your feedback on the PTS forums to help us balance them before they go to Live.
Heavy Weapons Review
After the success of the Open Beta for our other game Neverwinter Online and the success of one of it's more successful classes, The Great Weapons Fighter, we've decided it was time that the Heavy Weapons Set benefitted from some of the amazing new technology, balancing, and effectiveness that this powerhouse of a class has in Neverwinter Online. While I cannot go too deeply into the specifics of the changes I can say that if you love the Great Weapons Fighter as much as I do then you're going to instantly fall in love with what we have in store for Heavy Weapons Set.
What's Next?
As our new game Neverwinter Online gets to the point where we might consider making a timeline for it to go Live we hope that, at that time, we can also schedule a time for the return of the Champions Online Devs to Champions Online to work on Champions Online. When that time comes we'll likely get Trailturtle and Lordgar to both combine their talents and write The 2013 Until Field Report. It should be a very exciting read.
We also plan to continue our highly successful Monthly-ish Mega Events throughout the rest of 2013 because you all demanded it. As Lordgar, Lordgar, Lordgar, and the rest of Team Lordgar push the boundries of what we can accomplish for you, the playerbase, with these events we hope to reach new heights like, again I don't want to make promises we can't keep but...ok...just this once. We're aiming to make an event this year with 4 Missions, 1 Special Alert, Half a Costume Set with only 1 bug/omission per item, 2 lockboxes, storyline, comic panels, and more of the "Sidekick to Level 30 Mechanics" which have been so popular on the forums and with the overall playerbase. We also hope to, in the future, get these Titanically Monumental Mega Events to PTS for feedback at a much more managable 2 days before they go to the Live Servers so we can raise the bar on our already stellar QA System.
As a final note I would like to take a momment to appologize for the rampant shutdowns and crashes that have recently plagued all of our Cryptic games like Star Trek Online and our newest game Neverwinter Online. While these unfortunate occurances had nothing to do with our newest game Neverwinter Online and to even propose such a thing is ludicrous we still feel that you, our amazingly loyal Champions Online Playerbase deserve a little something for your troubles.
This is why, "soon(tm)" we wil be mailing every toon in Champions Online our [Dr. Newbton II: The Sequel Pack]. Each pack will contain the following:
-[Special Edition Action Figure: Dr. Newbton II]
-Custom ingame Title "Oops, He Did It Again"
-The "NEW" Emote /e facepalm
-Costume Unlock [Dr. Newbton T-Shirt](Available only in Metal)
-50k Astral Diamonds for our new game Neverwinter Online
-Custom Title "Visitor from That Other Game" for our new game Neverwinter Online.
This is just our way of saying,"Thanks for sticking with Champions Online."
I hope this update helps share a little more info about what?s going on over here on the dev side. If you have more questions or would like to share your feedback regarding what you?d like to see in Champions Online, feel free to post them here!
Click here to register for Neverwinter, the free-to-play Dungeons & Dragons MMORPG. The best part about Neverwinter: it's free to play! Become a Hero of the North today with a Founder's Pack purchase! Currently in Open Beta so you can all play, buy zen, gather Astral Diamonds, buy mounts, craft, buy companions, combine armor looks to somewhat customize your look, and buy keys for our lockboxes. Experience all the splendor of Cryptic's 1st Action MMO today!
______________________________________________________________
Ok, Smack. There ya go. See? It's not "All" bad.
Join Date: Aug 2009 | Title: Devslayer
But instead, I direct you all to the masterpiece above. Not saying "I got nothin," far from it. But damn if that Crosschan doesn't deserve to bask in some glory for a bit.
Well played, sir. Well played.
(I'll be back.)
[SIGPIC]Captain Electric and the Sapien Spider[/SIGPIC]
"YES, PLEASE"
Vote YES for the Foundry in Champions Online.
@Captain-Electric | CoH/Virtue veteran | Proud new Champion
Epic!
I think this beats my old favorite (Smackwell's multi post rant railing against receiving a "free") read here by just a little.
So many classic lines to pick from. Well done sir.
Absolutely brilliant...needs to be quoted again.:biggrin:
Click here to check out my costumes/milleniumguardian (MG) in-game/We need more tights, stances and moods
1. How many times did you have to stop ebcasue you were laughing too much?
2. How many times did you have to stop due to anger?
3. Can you post that on the nevermind forums?
That seems to be unfortunately accurate.So how many are in team Lordgar now?
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
Pure poetry! Bravo. Bravo!
Nothing against TT but I disagree.
He and his predecessors are just he mouthpieces; as they've mentioned before.
All good or ill is way over their heads. He's just the poor schulb assigned to talk to us [or NW more often].
Here we are now going to the West Side
Weapons in hand as we go for a ride
Some may come and some may stay
Watching out for a sunny day
Where there's love and darkness and my sidearm
In game as @forgemccain
Smack, here's the thing. They've been bug fixing. We have the entirety of the vehicle system to talk about. I bet if they wanted to, they could write a really detailed "here's all we accomplished" with the different vehicles and weapons. Wouldn't take too much to say "And we plan to continue with unrolling a few vehicles in the style of..." or "after this wave, we're switching focus from vehicles, as we feel we've achieved what we wanted to". Mention if they plan on continuing to release skins for the vehicles after they finish the dev cycle. Give another "this is how we design" for vehicle skins, showing how they designed the models and any concept art.
This is all off the top of my head with about 15 seconds worth of thought. And I'm not saying monthly, but it's been a full *year*. I don't think anyone expects a monthly statement, the game simply isn't getting enough for that yet. But, at least quarterly. Because if they haven't come up with enough to bs about in 3 months, to at least stretch out into a medium length article? We're in trouble.
RIP Caine
Alright, PW/Cryptic need to sit up and pay attention to this.
I hope and pray that they all awoke from a dead sleep in a cold sweat the moment he posted that.
I am not even kidding.
Jonsills has been the most doggedly staunch GOOD anti-doomcryer on these forums (I say "good" because there's another, but he's terrible).
If Jack didn't feel THAT tremor in the Force, we are indeed in trouble.
As for Cloud's questions, alot of the main points covered in the SoTG are my normal channel conversations with friends while ingame(s) so I did giggle from time to time but, overall, it's a summary of alot of points that we've been commenting on for quite some time.
As for the NW forums, I do understand your hope that one of our Devs might see it if it were actually on their forums but I find that place to be so toxic(and stupid, let's not forget stupid) that I try not to go there as much as possible. I "might" consider posting it there but I do not believe it will have the impacy you're seeking because of all the stupid there which would pile ontop of it.
As for Team Lordgar. It has as many people on it as Lordgar can be.
If the community attention to this project continues at this pace then I might be persuaded to do another in 2 months(which is how the actual SoTG is supposed to happen). I'm not so much certain about an Until Field Report since the format of that might not lend itself as much to this type of thing. Of course, I might get bored again from farming the "Beating Firewing repeatedly raises your chances to get NOTHING Alert." Time will only tell.
I would like to just take a momment to legitimately praise Trailturtle and Lordgar for the work they've done. I, honestly, feel that TT is the best we've ever had and even if he is a "mouthpiece" the past ones were...just...so...bad. As for Lordgar, I believe(unless proven wrong) that he really is the only person on the ship at the momment. While there are shortcomings, mistakes, omissions, bugs, and the other things I have previously outlined in 2013 I think it's also worth considering that this might be the best that can be expected from one man running all forms of content development for a MMO. So, while I poke fun at these two from time to time, I just think it's worth mentioning that they are actually here for us....and for that alone I thank them.
Lastly, I did use the Xs in my post as a means to not so much let the "cat out of the bag" on a few things but recently noticed that those very things I was trying to be polite about not revealing....hit PTS yesterday(heh oops). So if you don't already know, go read up.:biggrin:
Join Date: Aug 2009 | Title: Devslayer
Its all very simple. Neverwinter is new and one of their two focuses right now (STO being the other) - therefore of course they are going to make it 'all hands to the pumps' and provide a stellar and comprehensive SoTG, to give the impression to players (and the IP-holders) that the title is in good hands, is being developed for and that the studio has solid plans for the title's future.
If they let Neverwinter or StarTrek falter with the same lacklustre treatment they give Champions-Online, they would have the licences pulled by their respective IP-owning studios. Of course (and unfortunately) thats never going to happen with Champions-Online because Cryptic own the IP and can afford to sit on their hands and do next-to-nothing with the title as they have apparently chosen to do.
Dropping my knitting to buff you whilst hitting - Proudly protecting Millennium City's little ones since 2009.
@Mothers_Love
I thought vibora bay was brilliantly done. The story arc surrounding it gave you that feeling that you were not the B, C, D Lister Hero here. Your played a major role in the game as a true top tier super being. I used to frequent these forums. I used to play this game every day faithfully. It seems like after the overhaul to crafting and the addition of mods and alerts, and the change to the rencen is where my interest began to diminish. With perfect world taking over, I just feel this game lost alot of its charm for me after that. I remember saying to myself, "ZEN?!? Wth is ZEN?!? Where are my cryptic points!!!".
The change to the forums, and to the website overall infuriated me even further. These small intricacies made such a HUGE difference for me, idk why. These and all the "content additions" lately just seem so boring and uninspired.
I literally check in once in awhile to see if maybe, just maybe CO has some big plans on the horizon.... but it always ends up in me just rolling my eyes in disgust and going back to whatever it is that is going on in my life at the time. I figure I have a lifetime sub, ill just come back when these guys decide CO is worth putting more time into it. Until then, I boycott by not playing until they put some serious work into it.... which may be never.
The closing of CoX was such a great opportunity to revive the game. It's really too bad they didn't take full advantage of it. Cryptic, if you're reading this...I really loved this game. Why did you guys just let it deteriorate to what it is now?
I will be around, and I will come back when you guys prove you want me back.