Churn is not Cryptic's fault, churn is a force of nature in the MMO world.
Players download and play games and leave games more often than they stay to play.
I lasted 30 minutes in Conan.
A week in Secret World even though I wasted cash on a lifetime of regret.
About twenty minutes in Raiderz. Less than an hour in Fallen Earth.
Long enough to be murdered from one side of the map to the next in Blacklight retribution.
About 20 minutes in Kaneva and an hour in entropia universe.
About 15 minutes over at DC.
Tried that Marvel beta twice just long enough to download it, play a few minutes and be disgusted.
I played STO for about an hour before the F2P update.
It took about thirty minutes to be convinced nobody plays Myth online anymore.
I played Neverwinter for four days and havent' logged in since.
Vindictus amused me long enough to make a little video of bouncing boobs.
It took me seven years since playing beta to pay for a Vendetta Online account.
I just mailed three boxes of X-box 360 games to a poor friend, half those games went back
in the case within 30 minutes of playing them and never came back out.
Thats just me,churning through a dozen mmos and three dozen console games.
Same goes for millions of players: download, try, be not impressed, move on.
On the strength of those two, I tried Neverwinter. I gave it a shot, because I really did want to like it - but somehow that never worked out. I think it was the unimaginative story construction, and the fact that I couldn't change the controls - I had to use the mouse, like it or lump it.
To be honest i kind of had a similar problem with Neverwinter, especially given Cryptics other games, it just seemed way too limiting in way too many ways for me, though i took it a bit further. The control scheme is just terrible and not being able to remap the controller just makes it so much worse, and given that it was built on a tag targeting it kind of seems to be more of a nuisance that i can't use that, or that i can't move or dodge while attacking. The story was just kind of Meh for me as well, and i was a little disappointed that none of my character choices made any difference other than maybe a mission here and there. Also one the the big draws for me is the character creation and customization. Having that much freedom not only in how my character looks and the abilities they have can make or break a game for me. Given that this is based of D&D, i just found it way too limiting for my tastes, much like SWTOR, they could have just handed me a premade character and it would have been the exact same play through regardless of what i did, and with how little choice you get compared to here and sto, they might as well have done just that.
I beta tested City of Heroes. And played it for years. I beta tested City of Villains and played it for months. I beta tested this game. And Star Trek Online. Subbed to both for over a year.
I like super hero games. So I still goof around in this game. I love Star Trek so keep coming back to STO when I get the itch.
I still have my very first Everquest character, heh, that I log into now and again just for nostalgia. Churn churn churn!
Driven away from there by the noob-haters (I was more a newbie than a noob, but if nobody's willing to tell you things, how are you supposed to learn them?),
You make a consistent friend or two that you group with regularly and by the time you reach "end-game" you know your class enough to start out with the "runs" through I believe it was Blackrock Spire mostly?
Then you get into a guild and raid. And unless you're in a trailblazing guild of pioneers, you're using established strats that other guilds already used and published. So reading up on some strats and watching some videos sometimes helps too.
Least that's how it worked in both Everquest and Original World of ********. These days, I have no clue. I mean they totally changed raid content in WoW.
and by the game design which actively punishes soloing after about lvl 45.
They changed that big-time.
Gave DDO a shot, because I started off as a D&D player before any other RPGs, but I don't think I stuck with any characters past the first town. It just didn't click for me.
That first town was the only town till like level 16 debuted.
On the strength of those two, I tried Neverwinter.
Neverwinter is sort of doomed. The game should have come out a year or two ago. By this time it's past its freshness date, using tech that is beyond the grasp of those working on it behind the scenes.
Jack Emmert is an enthusiastic guy. But he needs to maybe think about rebooting into a new company with more up to date tech so he can make his fun ideas work better in the final execution.
I've been playing this game almost since it came out. My best friend bought me TWO different copies, and then helped me pay for a lifetime subscription. This game, as all games, has it's flaws, but for the most part is one of THE best MMO's I've played, even to this date. Yet, with people who've played this game as long as we have, we tend to gather everything that's wrong with this game, and just complain about it. So, just enjoy playing, and make up your own mind.
I like this game for what it was as well as what it could be. If Cryptic began putting proper development back into the game then it would be a lot better. A superhero MMO with this much customization has a lot of untapped potential and it's been killing me that it should be the hands down better Super hero mmo out there but that no one is really capitalizing on the situation.
ok, tried coh from issue 1, played till the servers shut down, think i was wearing a pink toga dancing the pop dance in atlas park at the time.
pogt a lifer here at launch played intermittently, still around, but not that many hours over the years.
played phantasy star online for months on the dreamcast before the game genie crackers started corrupting people's save files and destroying their characters. did runs on the x-box and game cube as well, and tried universe for a month, anxiously awaiting the new one.
played world of ******** for a week, than much later got it and played for another week when monks came out. in my exit interview email, i think i blew their minds when they asked if i played another mmo and I listed co. graphics killed it though.
still have dcou on the comp, played for about 2 weeks every few months before the customization gets me down.
played everquest 2 for a few weeks, then came back for a week when they added faries, then came back when they added the saarnak. may give it another go, because it at least looks like a game made this century.
played perfect world when the tides expansion came out due entirely to a dumb joke on the coh forums. only played for a few days though, because they actually had classes locked by gender, what @##$%ing year is it again? you cant be a male venomancer or a female berzerker.
played ffXI for about a month before ragequitting so hard that i nearly quit playing mmos. deleveling is something that should be left in the past with trepanning. especially when ger is level locked, and a death can literally leave you penniless and in your underwear. May give realm reborn a look.
tried secret world last week for a day, but the melee animations are horrid, there is no martial arts weapon thing, and the gameplay just felt too loose.
played scarlet blade for about a week, still have no idea why.
have age of wushu on the comp presently but the flow of fighting, at least at low levels is so slow it doent really live up to its premise. damn good looking game though.
even played guild wars 1 and 2, but nothing ncsoft gets my patronage now. plus they had this thing with swords being held at the middle of the handle rather than at the hilt that just drove me bonkers. that and i want spears and scythes back, swords, axes and maces are cliche'.
played tera for 2 months it was ok, but the leveling path is the exact same no matter what class or race you are, so for an altaholic like me, the 4th character i ran through bastion of lok was the limit.
finally played swg for a few months, enjoyed it, but my computer was not great(also why i didnt stick with istaria) and by the time I upgraded, nge happened an it was time for me to go.
So yeah, Cryptic doesn't cause churn - people finding the games they like causes churn.
ehhh. yes and no. people who find game they like stay with those games, they will shop around, but you can see that through these stories that when peopel find games they like, they stay with them and pay money to keep them going. yeah peope join and leave C+ games, but A games, people stay with. cryptic could make co an A game, but muddled and unfocused attempts keep it in the "nice, but i'll keep looking" camp. rather than the "this is great, i'll settle down, form long term friendships here and build a rapport with the devs. and not really look too heavily at other games". I looked at other games while playing coh, but they didnt measure up, so i kept coming back, and paying. co could be on that level, but it isnt.
They pay you, too. And me. Q is fairly readily available; get enough of it, and you can swap it for Zen on the exchange, and buy things. (My last two costume sets were purchased that way.)
Sure, they don't pay us a lot...
Maybe you would settle for being paid in peanuts ( ...hell, you can eat peanuts, you can't eat Q or Z, so peanuts would be an upgrade ) but you won't ever see me calling it "getting paid".
If I go to Flubber Land, and every time I ride a ride they give me Flubber Bucks, which I can only spend at Flubber Land, and only on Flubber Toys which only function while I am in Flubber Land... that's not getting paid. Especially since all those rides are baby rides like the rotating tea cups thing... you wanna ride a roller coaster or something like that? Well, you're gonna be doing a lot of tea cup rides before you have enough Flubber Bucks for that.
It's an example of tricking people into thinking they're getting more than they actually are, except in the case of CO there are those poor bastards who actually paid dollars for stuff a bunch of us got with Flubber Bucks.
Don't even ask about the currency over at Blubber Land.
Champions Online: Be the hero you wish you could be in a better game.
Maybe you would settle for being paid in peanuts ( ...hell, you can eat peanuts, you can't eat Q or Z, so peanuts would be an upgrade ) but you won't ever see me calling it "getting paid".
If I go to Flubber Land, and every time I ride a ride they give me Flubber Bucks, which I can only spend at Flubber Land, and only on Flubber Toys which only function while I am in Flubber Land... that's not getting paid. Especially since all those rides are baby rides like the rotating tea cups thing... you wanna ride a roller coaster or something like that? Well, you're gonna be doing a lot of tea cup rides before you have enough Flubber Bucks for that.
It's an example of tricking people into thinking they're getting more than they actually are, except in the case of CO there are those poor bastards who actually paid dollars for stuff a bunch of us got with Flubber Bucks.
Don't even ask about the currency over at Blubber Land.
Not to mention you can't convert Zen into dollars. You can only convert dollars into Zen.
When I see "paid," I'm assuming real money, not Smoo's Flubber Bucks.
So yeah, Cryptic doesn't cause churn - people finding the games they like causes churn.
Funny you say that because considering the way things are with the game currently: There's an emphasis on churn and not player retention. The game not being expanded via permanent content expansions and there's an obvious focus on the cash shop.
Same, all my characters I created in 2010 I can no longer use.
Too dumb to read the title of the thread and respond correctly.
Its "Does anyone who plays this game actually LIKE it."
2010 was three years ago and 2011 was two.
You don't play, this thread isn't for you.
I got a million Space Bucks that says your Flubber Bucks aren't worth the cyber paper that they're printed on.
I will have you know that Cybersoldier's brand Cyberpaper is worth up to its weight in gold, and I do not appreciate you slandering my fine products, good sir.
JON! HOCO! GET IN HERE AND DEFEND MY PRODUCT WITH ZEAL!
So what do you guys like about this game? Do you even like it at all? Should I not invest my time/money? I don't know, this might be silly, but it would be nice to hear some people support for this game. I'm really enjoying the game, so maybe this should matter, but its been a discouraging experience reading the forums.
I think most people here like the game, the frustration comes just from the fact that the development of the game has simply stopped after the On-Alert update.
I think most people here like the game, the frustration comes just from the fact that the development of the game has simply stopped after the On-Alert update.
This is not true. Vehicles. Weird events. That Nighthawk thing.
They, the small team of them, have been working.
The frustration comes from the biological fact that the same exact actions over
and over produce a stress hormone response that blocks dopamine uptake.
Novelty, challenge, and reward are required to get more dopamine.
No Dopamine, no happy.
Novelty alone can get people addicted.
Look at all those funny and cool and inventive names.
Look at all those costumes. Look at all those powers.
Read all those ridiculous RP bios.
Read the latest complaints and drink the bittersweet frustration of others.
Variety is the spice of life.
When the novelty of the game wears thin we come to the forums and try to get a fix.
Perhaps by presenting a problem in a snarky 'I know better than them thar developers' thread, or by producing a novel approach to the issues of the day, or showing off our colorful underwear, or just telling that other person they are wrong, wrong wrong, what a rush.
Its a grasp at control over the flow of dopamine, a lack of control produces stress hormones.
Oh yeah, temporary events with 15 minutes of content each. That's really "working."
The average male lasts two minutes after penetration yet billion of babies are produced.
15 minutes of content is like seven times more fun than most people get without all the hassle.
The average male lasts two minutes after penetration yet billion of babies are produced.
15 minutes of content is like seven times more fun than most people get without all the hassle.
Yes, but we really have to work to get that 2 minutes! This "fifteen minutes" is kind of like a fraction of that work, compared to the proportionate gratification at the end.
I liked the game and its pve content until the moment they started screwing with the passives (b4 on alert when every lvl40 knew what monster island and vibora bay are) after that its like...."meh...id rather play tf2"(actual thinking quote). The cool drops disappeared so theres no real pleasure of doing missions for leveling.. Drops like DS are almost non-existant anymore so.... Remember that game that used to be cool but now its full of s***? And vehicles? In a game that already has travel powers? Im still gold tho... And i can still kinda pvp...kinda...not rly doin any pve except nemcon (full run of course...)
The average male lasts two minutes after penetration yet billion of babies are produced.
15 minutes of content is like seven times more fun than most people get without all the hassle.
You must have some pretty boring sex to think that those 15 minutes of content were a single second more fun.
Champions Online: Be the hero you wish you could be in a better game.
The average male lasts two minutes after penetration yet billion of babies are produced.
15 minutes of content is like seven times more fun than most people get without all the hassle.
As a Dadmom I can tell you the 18 years after one of is said babies is produced is not that fun..not fun at all , its as much fun as a sword up the butt :<
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!
As a Dadmom I can tell you the 18 years after one of is said babies is produced is not that fun..not fun at all , its as much fun as a sword up the butt :<
a sword up the butt?
Well, that's one way to avoid -- ** the lights flick off for a second **
} POW! {
} BAM! {
} CRA-ACK! {
** when light return, Zed lies unconscious on the ground **
As a Dadmom I can tell you the 18 years after one of is said babies is produced is not that fun..not fun at all , its as much fun as a sword up the butt :<
I heard the Romans used the same word for both "sword" and "weewee."
Comments
Maybe you have ADHD.
To be honest i kind of had a similar problem with Neverwinter, especially given Cryptics other games, it just seemed way too limiting in way too many ways for me, though i took it a bit further. The control scheme is just terrible and not being able to remap the controller just makes it so much worse, and given that it was built on a tag targeting it kind of seems to be more of a nuisance that i can't use that, or that i can't move or dodge while attacking. The story was just kind of Meh for me as well, and i was a little disappointed that none of my character choices made any difference other than maybe a mission here and there. Also one the the big draws for me is the character creation and customization. Having that much freedom not only in how my character looks and the abilities they have can make or break a game for me. Given that this is based of D&D, i just found it way too limiting for my tastes, much like SWTOR, they could have just handed me a premade character and it would have been the exact same play through regardless of what i did, and with how little choice you get compared to here and sto, they might as well have done just that.
.
I beta tested City of Heroes. And played it for years. I beta tested City of Villains and played it for months. I beta tested this game. And Star Trek Online. Subbed to both for over a year.
I like super hero games. So I still goof around in this game. I love Star Trek so keep coming back to STO when I get the itch.
I still have my very first Everquest character, heh, that I log into now and again just for nostalgia. Churn churn churn!
You make a consistent friend or two that you group with regularly and by the time you reach "end-game" you know your class enough to start out with the "runs" through I believe it was Blackrock Spire mostly?
Then you get into a guild and raid. And unless you're in a trailblazing guild of pioneers, you're using established strats that other guilds already used and published. So reading up on some strats and watching some videos sometimes helps too.
Least that's how it worked in both Everquest and Original World of ********. These days, I have no clue. I mean they totally changed raid content in WoW.
They changed that big-time.
That first town was the only town till like level 16 debuted.
Neverwinter is sort of doomed. The game should have come out a year or two ago. By this time it's past its freshness date, using tech that is beyond the grasp of those working on it behind the scenes.
Jack Emmert is an enthusiastic guy. But he needs to maybe think about rebooting into a new company with more up to date tech so he can make his fun ideas work better in the final execution.
Neverwinter really underscores that problem.
pogt a lifer here at launch played intermittently, still around, but not that many hours over the years.
played phantasy star online for months on the dreamcast before the game genie crackers started corrupting people's save files and destroying their characters. did runs on the x-box and game cube as well, and tried universe for a month, anxiously awaiting the new one.
played world of ******** for a week, than much later got it and played for another week when monks came out. in my exit interview email, i think i blew their minds when they asked if i played another mmo and I listed co. graphics killed it though.
still have dcou on the comp, played for about 2 weeks every few months before the customization gets me down.
played everquest 2 for a few weeks, then came back for a week when they added faries, then came back when they added the saarnak. may give it another go, because it at least looks like a game made this century.
played perfect world when the tides expansion came out due entirely to a dumb joke on the coh forums. only played for a few days though, because they actually had classes locked by gender, what @##$%ing year is it again? you cant be a male venomancer or a female berzerker.
played ffXI for about a month before ragequitting so hard that i nearly quit playing mmos. deleveling is something that should be left in the past with trepanning. especially when ger is level locked, and a death can literally leave you penniless and in your underwear. May give realm reborn a look.
tried secret world last week for a day, but the melee animations are horrid, there is no martial arts weapon thing, and the gameplay just felt too loose.
played scarlet blade for about a week, still have no idea why.
have age of wushu on the comp presently but the flow of fighting, at least at low levels is so slow it doent really live up to its premise. damn good looking game though.
even played guild wars 1 and 2, but nothing ncsoft gets my patronage now. plus they had this thing with swords being held at the middle of the handle rather than at the hilt that just drove me bonkers. that and i want spears and scythes back, swords, axes and maces are cliche'.
played tera for 2 months it was ok, but the leveling path is the exact same no matter what class or race you are, so for an altaholic like me, the 4th character i ran through bastion of lok was the limit.
finally played swg for a few months, enjoyed it, but my computer was not great(also why i didnt stick with istaria) and by the time I upgraded, nge happened an it was time for me to go. ehhh. yes and no. people who find game they like stay with those games, they will shop around, but you can see that through these stories that when peopel find games they like, they stay with them and pay money to keep them going. yeah peope join and leave C+ games, but A games, people stay with. cryptic could make co an A game, but muddled and unfocused attempts keep it in the "nice, but i'll keep looking" camp. rather than the "this is great, i'll settle down, form long term friendships here and build a rapport with the devs. and not really look too heavily at other games". I looked at other games while playing coh, but they didnt measure up, so i kept coming back, and paying. co could be on that level, but it isnt.
Maybe you would settle for being paid in peanuts ( ...hell, you can eat peanuts, you can't eat Q or Z, so peanuts would be an upgrade ) but you won't ever see me calling it "getting paid".
If I go to Flubber Land, and every time I ride a ride they give me Flubber Bucks, which I can only spend at Flubber Land, and only on Flubber Toys which only function while I am in Flubber Land... that's not getting paid. Especially since all those rides are baby rides like the rotating tea cups thing... you wanna ride a roller coaster or something like that? Well, you're gonna be doing a lot of tea cup rides before you have enough Flubber Bucks for that.
It's an example of tricking people into thinking they're getting more than they actually are, except in the case of CO there are those poor bastards who actually paid dollars for stuff a bunch of us got with Flubber Bucks.
Don't even ask about the currency over at Blubber Land.
Champions Online: Be the hero you wish you could be in a better game.
Some people are this delusional
Why are you still here?
Not to mention you can't convert Zen into dollars. You can only convert dollars into Zen.
When I see "paid," I'm assuming real money, not Smoo's Flubber Bucks.
Funny you say that because considering the way things are with the game currently: There's an emphasis on churn and not player retention. The game not being expanded via permanent content expansions and there's an obvious focus on the cash shop.
Too dumb to read the title of the thread and respond correctly.
Its "Does anyone who plays this game actually LIKE it."
2010 was three years ago and 2011 was two.
You don't play, this thread isn't for you.
I will have you know that Cybersoldier's brand Cyberpaper is worth up to its weight in gold, and I do not appreciate you slandering my fine products, good sir.
JON! HOCO! GET IN HERE AND DEFEND MY PRODUCT WITH ZEAL!
Hoping that Cryptic North turns things around and gives us the content and powerset additions we sorely need, though.
@kelpplankton
Oldschool CoH player, Lifetime CO and STO subscriber, animator and artist.
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I think most people here like the game, the frustration comes just from the fact that the development of the game has simply stopped after the On-Alert update.
This is not true. Vehicles. Weird events. That Nighthawk thing.
They, the small team of them, have been working.
The frustration comes from the biological fact that the same exact actions over
and over produce a stress hormone response that blocks dopamine uptake.
Novelty, challenge, and reward are required to get more dopamine.
No Dopamine, no happy.
Novelty alone can get people addicted.
Look at all those funny and cool and inventive names.
Look at all those costumes. Look at all those powers.
Read all those ridiculous RP bios.
Read the latest complaints and drink the bittersweet frustration of others.
Variety is the spice of life.
When the novelty of the game wears thin we come to the forums and try to get a fix.
Perhaps by presenting a problem in a snarky 'I know better than them thar developers' thread, or by producing a novel approach to the issues of the day, or showing off our colorful underwear, or just telling that other person they are wrong, wrong wrong, what a rush.
Its a grasp at control over the flow of dopamine, a lack of control produces stress hormones.
Stress, Portrait of A killer, BBC Documentary is a good look at very subtle stress conditions that
cause long term and increasingly worse health and mental effects.
People fall in love and freaking die or kill because of the stress of it.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
@Pallih in game
Oh yeah, temporary events with 15 minutes of content each. That's really "working."
The average male lasts two minutes after penetration yet billion of babies are produced.
15 minutes of content is like seven times more fun than most people get without all the hassle.
Yes, but we really have to work to get that 2 minutes! This "fifteen minutes" is kind of like a fraction of that work, compared to the proportionate gratification at the end.
Part of the problem since December, 2012.
HOLY CRAP! What the hell have I been working so hard for?!?! Obviously most guys aren't taking care of her at least a couple of times first :P.
You must have some pretty boring sex to think that those 15 minutes of content were a single second more fun.
Champions Online: Be the hero you wish you could be in a better game.
As a Dadmom I can tell you the 18 years after one of is said babies is produced is not that fun..not fun at all , its as much fun as a sword up the butt :<
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, that's one way to avoid --
** the lights flick off for a second **
} POW! {
} BAM! {
} CRA-ACK! {
** when light return, Zed lies unconscious on the ground **
I heard the Romans used the same word for both "sword" and "weewee."
STD's were rife back then they all had the burning pee. ( Yeah I blame that hussy Cleopatra 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!
Its too easy.
I don't even have to fight anyone, wear gear ,use telepathy , buy a vehicle or leave my hideout.
Only time its a challenge is Bloodmoon.