In the current (and barren imo) landscape of super hero MMOs, yes, definitely.
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Another problem is lack of advertising, the same thing did hurt COH quite a bit. But POE has grimdark content so does CO the gods of Edom arc for one. Does anyone know about this outside of the game? Probably not. There is also whiteout alien invasions are still popular Saints row 4 proved that. You like fighting zombies? Co has that, you want to fight Vampires? We got that too but no one but us knows we have that. Sure superhero MMO is a niche market . A solution could be to expand on that, the hero element stays but we can go dark we can go sci fi. This game can grow in many ways.
To answer would I pay for a expansion, probably yes I would. WoW asks the same and so do many other MMO's. However it has to be something impressive. Not to impress me but to show to the world CO still has something to show. Plus advertisements here and there and on steam would not harm it, its a good way to get back on the map.
WoW has a massive player base. They can sell expansions because even if only a tiny fraction of their players bought it, they'd make oodles of money. WoW was hemorrhaging more players every quarter than most MMOs can only dream of having.
If the intent of having a paid expansion is to make money for Cryptic, people need to actually buy the expansion. Enough people to make it worth bothering with. Do you think CO has the player base to make an expansion worthwhile? New players are not going to give a crap about an expansion. APs and Comic Series were paid for at one time. Now they are all for free. That is a much smaller scale than a full blown expansion. If it was such a great money maker, why didn't Cryptic keep going that route?
Who cares if YOU want to buy an expansion? You're probably already spending money on the game, which isn't the problem. More people need to spend money on this game. That mean more people need to be playing this game. Paid expansions do NOTHING to bring in those people. They aren't playing this game now, they sure as hell don't give a damn about a paid expansion.
More people need to spend money on this game. That mean more people need to be playing this game.
So what is Cryptic doing to grow CO, to get more people to play this game, to make more money?
Oh, that's right. Nothing.
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
But, what if they put an acces pass for said new zone....
IN A LOCKBOX???
could be temporal, maybe like a week(after it gets activated.
DO NOT EVEN JOKE ABOUT THAT.
Sterga: *pushes up glasses* Technically, comic series were free. But that's being as pedantic as possible, I get what you meant. And, I mean, the thread's a theoretical question. With that logic, why even keep things open? IMO, we need more content to get people to come back, we have a thread right now about a gaming site bashing us for not getting content. If it has to be paid, so be it. At least then the people ripping on the game can't say we're not getting love. Especially if it came with a new zone? I know a bunch of people who'd come back for that, who left because of the lack of new stuff to do that's not an alert. I can see where you're coming from, but my experience differs. I know for a fact that we'd get an increase in players, I personally know about 40ish people who'd come back and buy it, which ain't a huge number, but it's 40 more people than we have now.
You're right that people need to spend money, though. The "I'm boycotting until they give me a free pony" thing mystifies me. If you like it, support it, otherwise it goes away.
Sister silicon?
In game, I am @EvilTaco. Happily killing purple gang members since May 2008. RIP Caine
Considering the current state of the game, the only way that resources are going to be put into developing a whole new zone with new enemies, new missions, new lairs, etc. is that people actually pay to access that new zone to justify putting in so much resources into developing it in the first place. Businesses are all about investment and returns.
Zones have been made hugely irrelevant anyway due to alerts. Why go to a new zone when players can just stay in MC and queue for alerts? Sure, there's the exploration and immersion value of a zone, but if its the goal of a player to hit level 40 as quickly as they can then those are not going to mean much. Nevermind that people would probably cause a massive firestorm on the forums anyway and complain about nickel-and-diming and the usual greedy corporation accusations.
I had to think about this one for a while. Eventually, I arrived at the answer. "No. I would not pay for a new zone." I don't want to create gated content for Silver users and deny the game the revenue a new zone might generate.
I would, however, buy a legacy park similar to what Cryptic offered when they release NeverWinter and launched the Romulans in STO. I would be happy to kick in some money for costume pieces, vehicles, or other perks that reflect a new area. a
Is Cryptic doing something to bring in new players? Depends on what you consider "doing something" is. Advertisements, not so much, but that is much less important than you might think. Mobile games have a hell of a lot more competition than MMOs, yet advertisement is the least important factor for people downloading top 5 apps.
The consensus among game developers is that the best retention mechanic is having a solid game. CO was pulled in too many directions at once and the core game suffered for it. And on top of that, bugs that have been around forever. How many times has Bullet Bound for Bisselle been fixed only to break again? What about the Gadroon open mission in Canada? Has that EVER worked?
New content won't make or break a game if the game is already broken.
Think about it this way: In two years, Twitch went from 3 mil monthly viewers to 45 mil. Video game content is the fastest growing category on YouTube. What does CO have that is worth streaming about? What incentive is there for someone who makes a living doing gaming content on YouTube and Twitch to bother with CO?
This question is purely theoretical and has no basis in fact. With that being said - If Champions were to announce a huge expansion pack, but wanted to to charge for it - would you purchase? Of course there's lots of variables, but let's say it had a new zone, some new powers, new costume pieces, and new playable content. It's pretty much your dream expansion for CO. Would you buy it or would your pass?
I would not pay for it, and then I would likely lose interest in the game.
Is Cryptic doing something to bring in new players? Depends on what you consider "doing something" is. Advertisements, not so much, but that is much less important than you might think. Mobile games have a hell of a lot more competition than MMOs, yet advertisement is the least important factor for people downloading top 5 apps.
The consensus among game developers is that the best retention mechanic is having a solid game. CO was pulled in too many directions at once and the core game suffered for it. And on top of that, bugs that have been around forever. How many times has Bullet Bound for Bisselle been fixed only to break again? What about the Gadroon open mission in Canada? Has that EVER worked?
New content won't make or break a game if the game is already broken.
Think about it this way: In two years, Twitch went from 3 mil monthly viewers to 45 mil. Video game content is the fastest growing category on YouTube. What does CO have that is worth streaming about? What incentive is there for someone who makes a living doing gaming content on YouTube and Twitch to bother with CO?
In a Perfect World (capitilazied so puns couldn't be missed) I couldn't agree with this post more, from a fellow players' pov.
Ok that being said you mention a ton off stuff that threatens mmo's (well not WWO), as well as a ton of gaming that isn't phone or tablet compatible. k that aside....again loved the post
When you think about how much money Cryptic gets for releasing a new lockbox or item in the store worth 5 to 15 dollars. How much do you think they'd charge for something substantial that actually takes time to make?
If they are charging players head over heels for cut and paste items, imagine what they would charge for something that takes actual work and a team to create?
In a Perfect World (capitilazied so puns couldn't be missed) I couldn't agree with this post more, from a fellow players' pov.
Ok that being said you mention a ton off stuff that threatens mmo's (well not WWO), as well as a ton of gaming that isn't phone or tablet compatible. k that aside....again loved the post
I'm not sure what I said that is a threat to MMOs. The biggest threat to an MMO is a company that choose not to adapt their business plans or pay attention to trends in the industry. PC games aren't competing with tablets, smartphones, and consoles. In fact, F2P MMOs (on the PC) are seeing revenue increases each year and that trend is expected to continue.
If WWO is supposed to be WoW, well, Blizzard throws money at the top steamers and uploaders of their games. Not every company has brain damage like Nintendo.
I'd be shocked if CO ever charged for a major expansion. Heck getting anything approaching an STO season or an NWO module would shock me, whether or not Cryptic charged for it, though based on the vague optimism that Trail has said about the game's development plans, I wouldn't be surprised if something the size of a small comic series was in the works, hopefully with accompanying powers, costumes, and other goodies.
In order for anyone to even consider paying, first we'd need to even consider the possibility of actual new content at all.
New costumes, auras, and menial missions (aka alerts) is merely what's expected to be included as part of a game's new content. They're not meant to be the new content by themselves.
It's close to one year since Cryptic North allegedly started working on CO and what do we have to show for it? Nothing. No new zones, no new mission arcs with actual writing (as opposed to the campy scrabbles Matt's 5-year-old nephew wrote for the latest alerts), and not even a new level cap. And don't even start with the Foundry because you're getting shot down faster than you can spell "apathy."
And you know what? I no longer care. There's a non-zero probability that CoT will turn out to be a thing (against all odds) after all. Cryptic seemingly has accepted the fact that by 2016 CO is going to lose 2/3rds of its playerbase (which is the amount they gained when CoX closed) to a game which won't have better technology, nor years of experience and growth, just people who care, even if just for things as basic as being in touch with their (future) playerbase.
I'll keep my Gold subscription and have my fun here until CoT announces its mission editor. Once that happens, it's goodbye and good riddance.
I've not liked the notion of buying access for areas since Ultima Online added the Lost Lands and I sometimes literally had to deal with seeing people riding invisible mounts (since I hadn't bought the expansion, I wasn't allowed to even *see* their ostard, which was kind of crazy).
On the other hand, a dense pack of character building content like new powers, lots of costume parts (particularly npc signature ones), more nemesis options (i.e. unlocking more personality types that actually cause different missions and dialogue to come up) would probably catch my money if not unreasonably priced. Something totally outside current game play like the fabled mission architect system or the ability to run some special missions *as* your nemesis might get me to bust out my wallet as well.
But generic places to go and people to punch? Not so much: Plenty of that already without an upcharge.
.... based on the vague optimism that Trail has said about the game's development plans, I wouldn't be surprised if something the size of a small comic series was in the works, hopefully with accompanying powers, costumes, and other goodies.
To be completely honest with you, Scott? I wouldn't get my hopes up.
I'm going to sound like a bitter, jaded naysayer here.
As someone else asked, 'it's been a year and what do we have to show for it?'
Costumes are fine and dandy. We've gotten 9 over the last year, not counting the gamble box costumes. That's pretty decent, even though a few of those costumes weren't to my liking and I still struggle to see how they have any real place in this setting, but whatever- to each their own. The 'design a costume' thing is a good step in the right direction.
The only 'new powers' we've seen were a block to compensate for the dodge nerf, and laser sword powers that I've seen about 5 people use the entire time I've been playing this game.
As far as content goes? We got three new alerts and an extra little mission. A whopping 10 minutes of playtime.
Now, despite all this- this isn't diddly squat. Every time Neverwhatever gets a new episode/chapter/elven twerking feature, Cryptic is all over this smoldering turd like it's made of chocolate cocaine. Yet we can't get bugs and broken content fixed, despite bringing these things up since launch.
As far as I can tell, CO's trying to keep its head above water. But just as soon as a new project comes around (and it's coming) Cryptic will abandon this bastard child and jump ship, because that's practically their business model.
Or, as I see it. They are strapping floaties to it's face and keeping it above water. Watching, waiting for someone else to open a superhero MMO. Then they'll pop the floaties and let it sink, knowing that they didn't end one of the last two superhero MMO's available and they won't be seen as satan.
I could be coy and pretend to have in-depth knowledge of a major coming release that I don't. But I have heard vague whispers lately that have encouraged me about CO more than I've been in a long time (hence I'm back on this forum, in this thread, whereas I'd sworn off getting involved in potentially toxic arguments and trolling), but I can't blame anyone for being skeptical. The rumors can be wrong, they have before.
Our dev team is small, and it stands to reason that if we're going to get a significant addition to the game, it's going to take them awhile. However, I have observed this: every time I've had wild hopes for this game, they've been cruelly dashed, but every time I've despaired and thought this title was dying, it came back to life in a surprising way. We're in the negative part of the cycle at the moment. I figure we're due for some reason to get our hopes up again.
Watching, waiting for someone else to open a superhero MMO. Then they'll pop the floaties and let it sink, knowing that they didn't end one of the last two superhero MMO's available and they won't be seen as satan.
Now this hypothesis makes a lot of sense.
They no longer care for CO, but closing a MMO costs money, and if they do it now, they'll also become the new NCsatan and their stock value will suffer for a whole year (as it happened to NC). So, it makes perfect sense to bid their time until CoT (or Valiance, whichever comes first, probably Valiance) launches, and collect the pocket change they get from this game meanwhile as a "shutdown fund." They know that once CoT launches all the playerbase will jump ship and not look back for even a moment, and that's when they'll jump ship themselves with a guarantee of no hard feelings.
They're waiting for the launch of CoT to close CO?
Cool - since CoT gives every sign of being classic vaporware, that means CO is staying open forever!
"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!"
Disclaimer: Nothing personal. I don't even know you from Adam(or Eve) but your post touches on some of the things that some of us have hard to hear/endure/tolerate for quite some time now and it's about time I addressed it.
In order for anyone to even consider paying, first we'd need to even consider the possibility of actual new content at all.
New costumes, auras, and menial missions (aka alerts) is merely what's expected to be included as part of a game's new content. They're not meant to be the new content by themselves.
Some bug repairs(not all, I'm not a blind optimist here), balancing, and they kinda sorta maybe fixed vehicles(Ok they cut out some AI exploiting abilities and replaced one of those with one of the most OP things in the game to date).
It's close to one year since Cryptic North allegedly started working on CO and what do we have to show for it? Nothing. No new zones, no new mission arcs with actual writing (as opposed to the campy scrabbles Matt's 5-year-old nephew wrote for the latest alerts), and not even a new level cap. And don't even start with the Foundry because you're getting shot down faster than you can spell "apathy."
CN officially took the reigns with Fatal Error which I enjoyed despite thinking Cybermind could stand a 1M HP diet just in the name of the flow of the overall fight.
Level Cap Increases in MMOs is a dated and pointless venture. Alternate Advancement/Boon/Reputation Systems which allow you to further develop your character over time without further trivializing game content by raising the levels is a much more sound solution IMO. I hope they NEVER raise the level cap in CO.
And you know what? I no longer care. There's a non-zero probability that CoT will turn out to be a thing (against all odds) after all. Cryptic seemingly has accepted the fact that by 2016 CO is going to lose 2/3rds of its playerbase (which is the amount they gained when CoX closed) to a game which won't have better technology, nor years of experience and growth, just people who care, even if just for things as basic as being in touch with their (future) playerbase.
I'll keep my Gold subscription and have my fun here until CoT announces its mission editor. Once that happens, it's goodbye and good riddance.
P.S: The clock is ticking.
Ok, few points here.
1. I might concede that STO got a sizable boost to it's playerbase with the closing of CoX(since a few of the Paragon Devs went there and it was pretty well known at the time) but could you produce the evidence that 2/3rds of CO's Playerbase are CoX Refugees who were not playing CO beforehand and came here solely because CoX went under?
2. Cryptic bought a new company to mostly handle and improve CO because they're planning to bury their head in the sand the moment one of these "Spiritual Successors" goes live? Yeah, totally makes sense. I don't mean to be rude here but there's alot of Kool-Aid drinking on the backs of these successors which I have, personally, not seen even remotely enough evidence to believe. From my own personal observations the only thing CoT(and the others) have accomplished to date is to further fuel the fires of the fringe X-CoX(Not all CoX Players are like this so please do not think I am saying that. Some of them are awesome) hate machine which is bitter because their game died and somehow Cryptic didn't have the proper respect to instantly cancel the inferior CO and instead chose to allow it to survive. They sit on the CO forums, other forums, or zonechat and drone on and on and on and on about how this game sucks because we have fingers and non-botox/stroke facial expressions....and that's after the Santa Set gave them mittens so they could make fingerless heroes.
3. Is the clock actually ticking? I'm not championing here for complacency but at this stage the "competition" is at the very best a long shot pipe dream. You're better off making mods for Freedom Force and trying to pass that off as a spiritual successor(and I do like me some Freedom Force). It would take less time.
Now don't get me wrong. If this sounds overly negative or confrontational then I'm sorry but every since CoX-ageddon there was the addition of some nice new faces to the community and then this darker bitter element whose only real goal seems to be to rub their hands together like a Bond Villain while they wait for the death of CO because in a world where CoX no longer exists....CO does not have the right. I'm sure there are some very nice things in CoX that warrant "some" sense of nostalgia. This, truth be told, isn't even remotely the 1st MMO I've played but when I moved on...I MOVED ON.
In a nutshell: It's your life. Do what you wish with it BUT standing in the middle of a Live game betting everything on the pipedream, to me, is missing the entire point. There's a game. Play it or play something else that exists now. Even if one of these successors manages to go live in 2026 how much time will some of these people have wasted being so bitter? I don't know about you but I'm playing a game...and enjoying it. :cool:
Now that I think of it, I would gladly buy an optional "Founder Pack" for a major content patch that provides special toys. As an example, a pack containing one freeform slot, a costume set, and exclusive emotes. A higher tier of this pack could contain even more freeform slots and a never seen before yellow title.
2. Cryptic bought a new company to mostly handle and improve CO
And close to one year after Cryptic North... what do we have to show for it? I don't need any pictures of devs working on other games or picking their noses, the facts speak for themselves.
As far as the facts speak, CO never left maintenance mode.
Did Cryptic open something called Cryptic North with around 80 employees? Yes.
Did Cryptic open Cryptic North to assing more resources to CO past the two interns and a trained seal it used to have? Not if I am to believe my eyes.
Based on the previous paragraph. If Cryptic has 80 new devs, three games, and one year later only two of them have gotten new content, then where is Cryptic North really working?
Now that I think of it, I would gladly buy an optional "Founder Pack" for a major content patch that provides special toys. As an example, a pack containing one freeform slot, a costume set, and exclusive emotes. A higher tier of this pack could contain even more freeform slots and a never seen before yellow title.
Not sure about more freeform slots, but I'd buy a pack with emotes and customizable titles.
And close to one year after Cryptic North... what do we have to show for it? I don't need any pictures of devs working on other games or picking their noses, the facts speak for themselves.
As far as the facts speak, CO never left maintenance mode.
I do not think that "F" word you're using means what you think it does.
Did Cryptic open something called Cryptic North with around 80 employees? Yes.
It is entirely possible that I missed this but could you please link me to where CN is announced to have 80 employees?
Based on the previous paragraph. If Cryptic has 80 new devs, three games, and one year later only two of them have gotten new content, then where is Cryptic North really working?
The 3 games are 3 games. It was said CN would help out from time to time with the other projects but their main focus was CO. This was in the announcement interviews. However, the 3 games are...wait for it...THREE games. Aside from NW basically taking everything that isn't nailed down in STO there is, sadly, very very little evidence of communication and such between the 3 games.
The bottom line is results, and I see none.
Please read some patch notes. Just because you've set up the "Rules" on what does and doesn't count does not mean nothing has happened. You might not like what has happened....but it happened. It might not be at the level alot of us feel it should be...but it's happening. Some "odd" things might come down from higher up and have to take priority for the momment...but things happen around it.
I'm not sure what I said that is a threat to MMOs. The biggest threat to an MMO is a company that choose not to adapt their business plans or pay attention to trends in the industry. PC games aren't competing with tablets, smartphones, and consoles. In fact, F2P MMOs (on the PC) are seeing revenue increases each year and that trend is expected to continue.
If WWO is supposed to be WoW, well, Blizzard throws money at the top steamers and uploaders of their games. Not every company has brain damage like Nintendo.
Apologies for not being more clear, I was referring to the tablets, phones, etc as an alternate form of entertainment, in the context of economic threat (v all mmos as a whole)l.
And close to one year after Cryptic North... what do we have to show for it? I don't need any pictures of devs working on other games or picking their noses, the facts speak for themselves.
As far as the facts speak, CO never left maintenance mode.
Did Cryptic open something called Cryptic North with around 80 employees? Yes.
Did Cryptic open Cryptic North to assing more resources to CO past the two interns and a trained seal it used to have? Not if I am to believe my eyes.
Based on the previous paragraph. If Cryptic has 80 new devs, three games, and one year later only two of them have gotten new content, then where is Cryptic North really working?
The bottom line is results, and I see none.
I agree with your sentiment and frustration. That being said these numbers seem really, really suspect.
If you really do talk with J Emmert, stop letting him drunk dial you if this is the info he's peddling. He's waaay out of touch.
I'm pretty sure nobody said that Cryptic North was opened with 80 employees.
The only number ever mentioned that I can recall was something like 50 devs working at STO and it was never said that said people are working only on STO.
I'm pretty sure that Cryptic doesn't have all their human resources bolted to any particular game, but they are moving people between projects as they see fit.
I'd rather believe in Cryptic having 80 devs in total, but then, I really can't recall this number being mentioned. Ever.
Apologies for not being more clear, I was referring to the tablets, phones, etc as an alternate form of entertainment, in the context of economic threat (v all mmos as a whole)l.
Meant no offense.
I wasn't offended, I was confused. Different screens are good for different game types. Smartphones are dominated by casual games. Probably tablets too. MMOs are core games, so appeal to totally different players.
Crytpic North may not have 80 people, but I seriously doubt they would pay the salaries of more than an intern for CO if they simply planned to shut the game down in the near future. Glassdoor has the number of employees at Cryptic in the 150-500 range. As of 2012 Cryptic had 120-140 people.
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To answer would I pay for a expansion, probably yes I would. WoW asks the same and so do many other MMO's. However it has to be something impressive. Not to impress me but to show to the world CO still has something to show. Plus advertisements here and there and on steam would not harm it, its a good way to get back on the map.
Sorry if I ranted a bit
If the intent of having a paid expansion is to make money for Cryptic, people need to actually buy the expansion. Enough people to make it worth bothering with. Do you think CO has the player base to make an expansion worthwhile? New players are not going to give a crap about an expansion. APs and Comic Series were paid for at one time. Now they are all for free. That is a much smaller scale than a full blown expansion. If it was such a great money maker, why didn't Cryptic keep going that route?
Who cares if YOU want to buy an expansion? You're probably already spending money on the game, which isn't the problem. More people need to spend money on this game. That mean more people need to be playing this game. Paid expansions do NOTHING to bring in those people. They aren't playing this game now, they sure as hell don't give a damn about a paid expansion.
[at]riviania Member since Aug 2009
So what is Cryptic doing to grow CO, to get more people to play this game, to make more money?
Oh, that's right. Nothing.
They're not there in the beginning, but when your story ends / Gonna last with you longer than your friends
DO NOT EVEN JOKE ABOUT THAT.
Sterga: *pushes up glasses* Technically, comic series were free. But that's being as pedantic as possible, I get what you meant. And, I mean, the thread's a theoretical question. With that logic, why even keep things open? IMO, we need more content to get people to come back, we have a thread right now about a gaming site bashing us for not getting content. If it has to be paid, so be it. At least then the people ripping on the game can't say we're not getting love. Especially if it came with a new zone? I know a bunch of people who'd come back for that, who left because of the lack of new stuff to do that's not an alert. I can see where you're coming from, but my experience differs. I know for a fact that we'd get an increase in players, I personally know about 40ish people who'd come back and buy it, which ain't a huge number, but it's 40 more people than we have now.
You're right that people need to spend money, though. The "I'm boycotting until they give me a free pony" thing mystifies me. If you like it, support it, otherwise it goes away.
Sister silicon?
RIP Caine
Zones have been made hugely irrelevant anyway due to alerts. Why go to a new zone when players can just stay in MC and queue for alerts? Sure, there's the exploration and immersion value of a zone, but if its the goal of a player to hit level 40 as quickly as they can then those are not going to mean much. Nevermind that people would probably cause a massive firestorm on the forums anyway and complain about nickel-and-diming and the usual greedy corporation accusations.
I would, however, buy a legacy park similar to what Cryptic offered when they release NeverWinter and launched the Romulans in STO. I would be happy to kick in some money for costume pieces, vehicles, or other perks that reflect a new area.
a
The consensus among game developers is that the best retention mechanic is having a solid game. CO was pulled in too many directions at once and the core game suffered for it. And on top of that, bugs that have been around forever. How many times has Bullet Bound for Bisselle been fixed only to break again? What about the Gadroon open mission in Canada? Has that EVER worked?
New content won't make or break a game if the game is already broken.
Think about it this way: In two years, Twitch went from 3 mil monthly viewers to 45 mil. Video game content is the fastest growing category on YouTube. What does CO have that is worth streaming about? What incentive is there for someone who makes a living doing gaming content on YouTube and Twitch to bother with CO?
[at]riviania Member since Aug 2009
I would not pay for it, and then I would likely lose interest in the game.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
In a Perfect World (capitilazied so puns couldn't be missed) I couldn't agree with this post more, from a fellow players' pov.
Ok that being said you mention a ton off stuff that threatens mmo's (well not WWO), as well as a ton of gaming that isn't phone or tablet compatible. k that aside....again loved the post
If they are charging players head over heels for cut and paste items, imagine what they would charge for something that takes actual work and a team to create?
I'm not sure what I said that is a threat to MMOs. The biggest threat to an MMO is a company that choose not to adapt their business plans or pay attention to trends in the industry. PC games aren't competing with tablets, smartphones, and consoles. In fact, F2P MMOs (on the PC) are seeing revenue increases each year and that trend is expected to continue.
If WWO is supposed to be WoW, well, Blizzard throws money at the top steamers and uploaders of their games. Not every company has brain damage like Nintendo.
[at]riviania Member since Aug 2009
New costumes, auras, and menial missions (aka alerts) is merely what's expected to be included as part of a game's new content. They're not meant to be the new content by themselves.
It's close to one year since Cryptic North allegedly started working on CO and what do we have to show for it? Nothing. No new zones, no new mission arcs with actual writing (as opposed to the campy scrabbles Matt's 5-year-old nephew wrote for the latest alerts), and not even a new level cap. And don't even start with the Foundry because you're getting shot down faster than you can spell "apathy."
And you know what? I no longer care. There's a non-zero probability that CoT will turn out to be a thing (against all odds) after all. Cryptic seemingly has accepted the fact that by 2016 CO is going to lose 2/3rds of its playerbase (which is the amount they gained when CoX closed) to a game which won't have better technology, nor years of experience and growth, just people who care, even if just for things as basic as being in touch with their (future) playerbase.
I'll keep my Gold subscription and have my fun here until CoT announces its mission editor. Once that happens, it's goodbye and good riddance.
P.S: The clock is ticking.
On the other hand, a dense pack of character building content like new powers, lots of costume parts (particularly npc signature ones), more nemesis options (i.e. unlocking more personality types that actually cause different missions and dialogue to come up) would probably catch my money if not unreasonably priced. Something totally outside current game play like the fabled mission architect system or the ability to run some special missions *as* your nemesis might get me to bust out my wallet as well.
But generic places to go and people to punch? Not so much: Plenty of that already without an upcharge.
To be completely honest with you, Scott? I wouldn't get my hopes up.
I'm going to sound like a bitter, jaded naysayer here.
As someone else asked, 'it's been a year and what do we have to show for it?'
Costumes are fine and dandy. We've gotten 9 over the last year, not counting the gamble box costumes. That's pretty decent, even though a few of those costumes weren't to my liking and I still struggle to see how they have any real place in this setting, but whatever- to each their own. The 'design a costume' thing is a good step in the right direction.
The only 'new powers' we've seen were a block to compensate for the dodge nerf, and laser sword powers that I've seen about 5 people use the entire time I've been playing this game.
As far as content goes? We got three new alerts and an extra little mission. A whopping 10 minutes of playtime.
Now, despite all this- this isn't diddly squat. Every time Neverwhatever gets a new episode/chapter/elven twerking feature, Cryptic is all over this smoldering turd like it's made of chocolate cocaine. Yet we can't get bugs and broken content fixed, despite bringing these things up since launch.
As far as I can tell, CO's trying to keep its head above water. But just as soon as a new project comes around (and it's coming) Cryptic will abandon this bastard child and jump ship, because that's practically their business model.
Or, as I see it. They are strapping floaties to it's face and keeping it above water. Watching, waiting for someone else to open a superhero MMO. Then they'll pop the floaties and let it sink, knowing that they didn't end one of the last two superhero MMO's available and they won't be seen as satan.
Then again, they already are.
Our dev team is small, and it stands to reason that if we're going to get a significant addition to the game, it's going to take them awhile. However, I have observed this: every time I've had wild hopes for this game, they've been cruelly dashed, but every time I've despaired and thought this title was dying, it came back to life in a surprising way. We're in the negative part of the cycle at the moment. I figure we're due for some reason to get our hopes up again.
Now this hypothesis makes a lot of sense.
They no longer care for CO, but closing a MMO costs money, and if they do it now, they'll also become the new NCsatan and their stock value will suffer for a whole year (as it happened to NC). So, it makes perfect sense to bid their time until CoT (or Valiance, whichever comes first, probably Valiance) launches, and collect the pocket change they get from this game meanwhile as a "shutdown fund." They know that once CoT launches all the playerbase will jump ship and not look back for even a moment, and that's when they'll jump ship themselves with a guarantee of no hard feelings.
Cool - since CoT gives every sign of being classic vaporware, that means CO is staying open forever!
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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Some bug repairs(not all, I'm not a blind optimist here), balancing, and they kinda sorta maybe fixed vehicles(Ok they cut out some AI exploiting abilities and replaced one of those with one of the most OP things in the game to date).
CN officially took the reigns with Fatal Error which I enjoyed despite thinking Cybermind could stand a 1M HP diet just in the name of the flow of the overall fight.
Level Cap Increases in MMOs is a dated and pointless venture. Alternate Advancement/Boon/Reputation Systems which allow you to further develop your character over time without further trivializing game content by raising the levels is a much more sound solution IMO. I hope they NEVER raise the level cap in CO.
Ok, few points here.
1. I might concede that STO got a sizable boost to it's playerbase with the closing of CoX(since a few of the Paragon Devs went there and it was pretty well known at the time) but could you produce the evidence that 2/3rds of CO's Playerbase are CoX Refugees who were not playing CO beforehand and came here solely because CoX went under?
2. Cryptic bought a new company to mostly handle and improve CO because they're planning to bury their head in the sand the moment one of these "Spiritual Successors" goes live? Yeah, totally makes sense. I don't mean to be rude here but there's alot of Kool-Aid drinking on the backs of these successors which I have, personally, not seen even remotely enough evidence to believe. From my own personal observations the only thing CoT(and the others) have accomplished to date is to further fuel the fires of the fringe X-CoX(Not all CoX Players are like this so please do not think I am saying that. Some of them are awesome) hate machine which is bitter because their game died and somehow Cryptic didn't have the proper respect to instantly cancel the inferior CO and instead chose to allow it to survive. They sit on the CO forums, other forums, or zonechat and drone on and on and on and on about how this game sucks because we have fingers and non-botox/stroke facial expressions....and that's after the Santa Set gave them mittens so they could make fingerless heroes.
3. Is the clock actually ticking? I'm not championing here for complacency but at this stage the "competition" is at the very best a long shot pipe dream. You're better off making mods for Freedom Force and trying to pass that off as a spiritual successor(and I do like me some Freedom Force). It would take less time.
Now don't get me wrong. If this sounds overly negative or confrontational then I'm sorry but every since CoX-ageddon there was the addition of some nice new faces to the community and then this darker bitter element whose only real goal seems to be to rub their hands together like a Bond Villain while they wait for the death of CO because in a world where CoX no longer exists....CO does not have the right. I'm sure there are some very nice things in CoX that warrant "some" sense of nostalgia. This, truth be told, isn't even remotely the 1st MMO I've played but when I moved on...I MOVED ON.
In a nutshell: It's your life. Do what you wish with it BUT standing in the middle of a Live game betting everything on the pipedream, to me, is missing the entire point. There's a game. Play it or play something else that exists now. Even if one of these successors manages to go live in 2026 how much time will some of these people have wasted being so bitter? I don't know about you but I'm playing a game...and enjoying it. :cool:
Join Date: Aug 2009 | Title: Devslayer
And close to one year after Cryptic North... what do we have to show for it? I don't need any pictures of devs working on other games or picking their noses, the facts speak for themselves.
As far as the facts speak, CO never left maintenance mode.
Did Cryptic open something called Cryptic North with around 80 employees? Yes.
Did Cryptic open Cryptic North to assing more resources to CO past the two interns and a trained seal it used to have? Not if I am to believe my eyes.
Based on the previous paragraph. If Cryptic has 80 new devs, three games, and one year later only two of them have gotten new content, then where is Cryptic North really working?
The bottom line is results, and I see none.
Not sure about more freeform slots, but I'd buy a pack with emotes and customizable titles.
'Caine, miss you bud. Fly high.
I do not think that "F" word you're using means what you think it does.
It is entirely possible that I missed this but could you please link me to where CN is announced to have 80 employees?
The 3 games are 3 games. It was said CN would help out from time to time with the other projects but their main focus was CO. This was in the announcement interviews. However, the 3 games are...wait for it...THREE games. Aside from NW basically taking everything that isn't nailed down in STO there is, sadly, very very little evidence of communication and such between the 3 games.
Please read some patch notes. Just because you've set up the "Rules" on what does and doesn't count does not mean nothing has happened. You might not like what has happened....but it happened. It might not be at the level alot of us feel it should be...but it's happening. Some "odd" things might come down from higher up and have to take priority for the momment...but things happen around it.
Join Date: Aug 2009 | Title: Devslayer
Apologies for not being more clear, I was referring to the tablets, phones, etc as an alternate form of entertainment, in the context of economic threat (v all mmos as a whole)l.
Meant no offense.
I agree with your sentiment and frustration. That being said these numbers seem really, really suspect.
If you really do talk with J Emmert, stop letting him drunk dial you if this is the info he's peddling. He's waaay out of touch.
The only number ever mentioned that I can recall was something like 50 devs working at STO and it was never said that said people are working only on STO.
I'm pretty sure that Cryptic doesn't have all their human resources bolted to any particular game, but they are moving people between projects as they see fit.
I'd rather believe in Cryptic having 80 devs in total, but then, I really can't recall this number being mentioned. Ever.
I wasn't offended, I was confused. Different screens are good for different game types. Smartphones are dominated by casual games. Probably tablets too. MMOs are core games, so appeal to totally different players.
Crytpic North may not have 80 people, but I seriously doubt they would pay the salaries of more than an intern for CO if they simply planned to shut the game down in the near future. Glassdoor has the number of employees at Cryptic in the 150-500 range. As of 2012 Cryptic had 120-140 people.
[at]riviania Member since Aug 2009
I believe in the game and not just the customization.
If an expansion isn't at least available for free to gold or lifetime members it would probably offend a lot of people.
But for a few more zones and some end game content i'd gladly buy it.