City of Heroes Going Free-to-Play: "The City of Heroes Website announces that City of Heroes Freedom will launch later this year, brining a free-to-play component to Paragon Studios' MMORPG. This will be a hybrid method which will..."
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Reading between the execuspeak, it seems Microsoft apparently isn't willing to discuss any MMO that won't be certain to kill World of Warcraft. Snort. Yeah, good luck with that. From here.
...if you really look at the data there’s basically one that’s successful and everything else wouldn’t meet our level or definition of commercial success.Well, I suppose people will merely continue making their City of Heroes characters look suspiciously like X-men. Read Full Article
What exactly this means for the game, I can't say. Apparently there was a level of separation between NCSoft and Cryptic studios, but now it's gone. NC has bought them (and the CoH IP) out, and renamed them "NCSoft NorCal," which reminds me of when Condor was bought out by Blizzard Entertainment and named them "Blizzard North," right before Condor released Diablo.
Makes me wonder if City of Heroes 2 is about to come out or something.
Apparently, after issue 11, they're going to also give full access to "both sides" of City of (whatever) to people who only bought one side previously, wiping away all accrued experience debt, and giving all supergroups 20,000 prestige per member.
Seems that the Issue 11 expansion will center around time travel, also some weapons customization, two new power sets and some new inventions. Check out the official blurb here.
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I got an e-mail that informed me of the following:
So, looks like some good fun coming next weekend for you CoHeads. Read Full Article
School’s out! Father’s Day! Positron™ ’s birthday! So many reasons to celebrate! Yes, Heroes and Villains, the time has come again. Roughly twice a year we turn up the dial and invite players to rack up XP at double the normal rate. Next weekend Hero and Villain characters will receive double the XP, Prestige, Influence and Infamy for all of their accomplishments in the game.
The fun begins Friday, June 15th! Take advantage of this opportunity to level up your favorite heroes and villains twice as quickly as normal. Good luck and have fun!
The fellas over at Ten Ton Hammer have put up a little interview they've had with Victor Wachter and Shayne Herrera, about what they're working on for the Marvel Comics licensed superhero MMO. It's starting to sound good to me.
I must admit, when I first heard of the idea, I thought they were reinventing the wheel, what with City of Heroes and City of Villains already out by the same company. But after having played CoV, I think there's a lot they could have done with the superhero MMO that they just didn't have the resources for. With Marvel backing the enterprise, they could afford to kick that gawdoffal engine they're using to the curb and get something more fluid and less resource hoggish. Maybe expand on what they did right (and they did a great deal right), and improve in areas they got wrong. And it can't hurt to have some major Marvel IPs on the box.
Like I said.. starting to sound better and better to me.
So, I guess what I'm saying is I feel like I'm levelling too slowly.
And that leaves me with the question of, what am I levelling FOR? I can't stand playing with other people, by and large. This precludes me from the endgame big "raids." The PvP, while a charming diversion, is not something in which you can make a long investment, a la DAOC. Really, what it boils down to is that when you get 50, and you get all your "hammy enhancements" or whatever... what's left? Start a new character. That's it. And while I enjoy the first 25 or so levels, the thought of pushing through 26-50 again at half of what the rate of exp gain SHOULD be, the sweet taste of (in)justice turns to ashes in my mouth.
And that makes me sad, because I REALLY like the character customization in this game.
I haven't cancelled my account yet... Maybe the new patches coming up will do something for me. As I play villains mostly, the latest (mostly hero-oriented) expansion "issue" didn't do much for me.
Oh, and I got a look at the new costume options too... it's like Cryptic went over to the Matrix Online prop department, filled up a cart, and ran away as fast as they could. The new sunglasses, the trenchcoats, etc... all scream "TEH MAYTRICKS!" as loud as digitally possible. Well, at least they did a good job with the glasses, and some of the new costume patterns are good... and the "trinity" female trenchcoat is kinda neat too... but I am disappointed in the look of the trenchoats for male characters. I was expecting Sam Spade. Peter Gunn. Humphrey Bogart. What I got was a longsleeve vest with a flowing, lightweight cape tied to my ass. With the right color, it still looks passable... but I wanted Bogey, dammit.
And that's the view from Bandit Camp...
Pictures here.
Some may be concerned about the effect the enhancements detailed may have, but me, I don't see this as unbalancing at lower levels. I expect most will wait until they're close to 50 to mess with this stuff.. after all, who wants to pour buckets of salvage down the drain for something that will only be useful for 5 or so very short levels?
And I'm psyched about craftable temporary powers and costume pieces.
Say what you will about other aspects of the game, let it never be said that Cryptic doesn't know how to throw a party.
A fair number of people are using the new costume slot as their "Halloween Costume," and I decided to as well...
My Normal Costume:
My "Halloween" Costume: "Football Player"
Hope you all get lots of candy.
See, the rewards are mostly costume options. Kilts. Wings. Baby-doll shirts. Greek letter insignias. Trenchcoats. Although there are other rewards, such as respecs.
Now, don't get me wrong. The rewards themselves are worthy additions to the game. In my opinion, however, outside of things like Respecs these are the sort of content that should just be the sort of thing that Cryptic has been regularly adding to the game as normal (IE, previous costume option additions, Capes, Auras, etc). The caliber of most of the rewards is such that I am, frankly, underwhelmed that these are somehow supposed to go up in value simply because you have to keep paying and playing (well, ok, just paying, really) to get them.
It's not even that you have to jump through a hoop to get them. That wouldn't bother me. The fact that you have to get to level 20 and do a special mission to get a cape never struck me as anything but appropriate, for instance. I believe that wings would be an excellent addition as a level 40 mission reward, though you can name most any level and I'd have an easier time agreeing with you. But no, the hoop through which you must jump to put wings on one of your characters is not one of skill but of glacial patience. Word on the forum is they are the reward for fifteen months of loyalty.
Naturally, the reactions to this method of delivering standard content at premium price falls neatly into two camps: Those who are already veterans, and as such will have the rewards the instant they go live, are completely happy and in agreement with the method by which the content is delivered because the barrier to the content is already removed for them. The other camp is my camp... the folks who just bought the game a few months ago and frankly are rather nonplussed that our 15 bucks a month aren't as good to Cryptic/NCSoft as the veterans, so we'll get to piddle around wingless and un-greek for months (if not years), watching the elitist veterans flap around and wondering if maybe we (and our money) would be more appreciated by Blizzard, Mythic or Sony.
You see, a lot of "veterans" of these games find it very easy to forget that it is not their money alone that keeps their favorite game afloat. It requires a constant influx of new blood to the ranks to keep the expansions and support coming. If a MMO company consistently makes design decisions that pander to the already-addicted whilst alienating the fresh meat,
then the pool of newcomers slowly dries up and in a few years the Veterans will be standing around their largely empty playservers wondering why there are no newbies for their fantastic game, and why the will and wherewithal to produce expansion content seems to have dried up at the company's headquarters.
For a long time, I was surprised CoX wasn't a runaway success like Everquest or World of Warcraft. It's a well-programmed game (something many MMOs more financially successful than CoX can't claim), the concept is solid, and it's the only comic/superhero bent MMO in existance. Now that I've played for a few months, I can see why they are doing "ok" instead of "swimming in cash." It is because of things like this.
Of course, when I voiced my opinion on the official forum, the veterans promptly channeled Marie Antoinette. Of course, because I'm not a veteran, I must just be a fickle, fair-weather, faithless, disloyal peon who can be dismissed with an airy wave of the hand when I point out this isn't the best way to keep new players coming into a game.
God forbid new players should be enticed to play. Oh, no, we've got to give loyalty rewards to old-timers who probably wouldn't close their accounts if a Cryptic dev showed up in person at their house to sodomize them with a crowbar.
