New efforts!

[Golden Girl]

I would have to agree he was his own worse enemy. I remember when they posted on the first HO nerfs.The post was something along the lines of we never expected people to farm HO and make builds around  them. Talk about going wtf what do you mean did not expect people to farm them you have 10 years of previous MMO's showing you exactly how that happens. UO, Ever Quest, DAOC etc etc had all been out for ever all showing that common theme about MMO's.

As far as MMO dev excuses go, that's right up there with Zenimax promising a smooth launch for TESO, and Bioware saying that they weren't expecting SWTOR players to reach the level cap so quickly :P

[LaughingAlex]

I also have to disagree that HO were nerfed into uselessness. I found them quite useful. I constantly used HO's on  characters even in fully IO'd out builds..

I could care less about the Well of the Furies.. Not every character I created went to every level of the Incarnate that was available. Almost everyone would get an Alpha slot because it was so useful. But not everyone got every slot.. and I had around 40 plus level 50 toons and was slated to start at least three more from scratch before the shutdown.. and with Radiation Armor and Mele.. Psi Melee and the Martial Assault coming to Blasters there would have been many more alts to come.

HO's were indeed still useful, I had wanted them myself for some of my more advanced characters, namely my fortunata and my time manipulators both had reasons to want them.

[LaughingAlex]

I actually quit the game for a few months after ED. When I came back, I realized it was a nerf, but a necessary one. The game was horribly imbalanced, and it was very easy to make characters way too good with very little effort. I vaguely remember my level 17 (18?) blaster one-shotting level 20 bosses in Independence Park (you know who I mean -- they used to throw furniture and appliances at us). All it took was level 20 SOs, six-slotting Aim, Build-up and Snipe. Any insta-win combination like that is obviously imbalanced and needs to be fixed. Invulnerability tankers were the same way. They could six-slot a few toggles and herd an entire map of mobs, often times +3 or +4. That indicates an obviously broken game mechanic (too easy to win). It's not fun to play a game where everything is insanely easy, and more than if it's insanely difficult. Right?

With crafting and Set IOs, they leaked back in a little of the over-powered abilities, but you had to work for them and spend big bucks. Incarnate abilities push it even further, and also take a lot of time and effort to obtain. Pre-ED it was too easy to be overpowered. Now it takes effort, planning and time to be SLIGHTLY overpowered. If you want people playing a game a lot longer, that's the type of balance you want in place. I bet that ED kept CoX players in the game longer because it took longer to make an impressive build.

And nothing about ED made characters unplayable. Once I came back, I played quite a few, and had lots of fun even with the increased challenge.

Aye, people should take another look at why CO is a very, cripplingly unpopular game.  You think being overpowered at the highest level was one thing try being overpowered at level 8 to the point of being near-INVINCIBLE at level 8.  Litterally unkillable by most enemies at that level range.  All one needs is regeneration in that game.  OR you could try any maintained self heal + invulnerability and every average enemy's attacks will do 1 damage out of 1000-5000 health.

People had even killed Mega Terak naked(as in no items equipped on character) by blocking with electrical shield and using regeneration rank 1, without using any attacks.

Sure, in CoX you could be overpowered pre-ED, and even post-ED you could become overpowered though you had to really earn it, but imagine being rediculously op from it being handed to you on a silver platter?  The game becomes a snooze-fest :).  CO, well, from what people told me did the exact opposite, the enemies got the global nerf....It was a horrible direction.

[Andy]

I haven't logged in on Titan in quite some time, but I saw this effort referenced on a Facebook thread. All I have to say is well done and how very exciting! I understand things could still fall apart, but even if they do, the love and dedication for CoH that (still!) exists is so very heartwarming. Cheers to you, Ironwolf, and whoever is else is helping you out.

COME ON YOU GUYS! BRING IT IN! GROUP HUG!

[Mistress Urd]

As far as MMO dev excuses go, that's right up there with Zenimax promising a smooth launch for TESO, and Bioware saying that they weren't expecting SWTOR players to reach the level cap so quickly :P

How about players commenting that AE was going to be nothing but a big farm?

Then again, it led to one of the most epic posts of all time from Positron.  :P

[CoyoteSeven]

I second that, actually -- It would be damn nice to get an in-game mission from Ascendant, and imagine the fun of writing the dialog!

Could you have him on the phone making calls to his agent between mission briefings that you would hear when you got close?
Some of his classic scripts -- they should be preserved in the game.

His agent should be close by, offering that "discount" TF that that was in the AE.

[JKPhage]

Gotta say, I'm glad that we now have a relative time frame for things. Nothing concrete but "aiming for a close in August" is good enough for me. Could be a little sooner, could be a little later, but we now know to keep our ear to the street around that period. Once we have news that the game IS coming back, I'll be willing to wait for whatever time is necessary to get it back up and running. At least now that general timeline takes a bit of the edge off. I'm not logging in every day expecting to see news of the acquisition, just logging in to catch up on discussion. Much appreciated Ironwolf!

Just a thought that occurred to me last night as well: We seem to have a really lovely and dedicated group of people still hanging around the forums and keeping the community alive. Some of us might not post as much as others, like myself, but we still stay around and like to get involved. Perhaps when we get our game back we should look into creating a super group for those of us still kicking around the Titan forums? I'd love to just pick whatever server sounds good and roll up a new hero to join up with the rest of you guys for fun. We're obviously all dedicated, and between the lot of us I'm sure we'd end up with a very talented and diverse group. Just putting a bug in your ears for the future...

[Goddangit]

GG, sounds to me like you misread what he was saying -- the Incarnate arcs betrayed the origins OF HIS CHARACTERS (not the game), because of the Well being the source of power, etc. 

So when he played them with his mystery man that developed the secret equation to the universe, then some "Well of the Furies" or whatever gave him the super boost rather than an additional factor in his cosmic equation -- and it didn't FEEL right.

You got it exactly, OhioKnight.  Thank you.

To clarify, I'm not advocating removing post 50 content.  If you want to play it, god bless you - have a blast.  I just don't think it fits in the context of a myriad of origins to force everyone down that one tiny path.

[Goddangit]

and I'm still holding out hope for Christmas in the Chalet. :)

[BadWolf]

@LaughingAlex-

I think once new content started to be added (notably Dark Astoria) that allowed for more solo play options to acquire the Incarnate powers, that was a step in the right direction. I would like to see drop rates modified a bit more to accommodate people who are mostly soloers (such as myself) who wanted to do those missions, but didn't want to grind through endless Incarnate Trials. I am sure it was a juggling act to accomplish, though, and certainly have no idea of the numbers involved, but I do feel as if the devs were heading to a more equitable solution.

That was the thing for me--I'd never touched Incarnate content until the new Dark Astoria went live (and it was such an awesome arc, too! I was coming home every night really jazzed to find out what happened next--I played it like I was binge-watching a series on Netflix) because I was worried that endgame content was going to be like it was on Worlds of Warcraft with elitist players demanding perfection from everyone in a twenty-odd person group.

Then, as I went along, I got invites to join trials. And lo and behold, everyone was friendly, nobody got ticked off over mistakes, my Incarnate XP bars filled up fast, the rewards were good and nobody complained about "ninja-looting" or loot tables or any of the other stuff that makes WoW raiding such an unholy chore. It was...fun.

And then I remembered. I wasn't playing WoW. I was playing CoH--the game that didn't punish you for wanting to play it. WOO!

[HEATSTROKE]

 Personally i prefer the post ED Invention Origin world myself. I was very concerned about ED.. and I got over it. I think Jack Emmert did a bad job explaining it and basically he lied to the community.. a huge no no. The game got much better when Positron took over. My character were much better off in the post ED world than they ever were before.

And here was the beautiful thing about Incarnate... You dont ever have to play it. You dont need any of it to do a non incarnate mission or story arc. I preferred that all my 50's at least had the Alpha slotted with something..

I never really cared about the whole Well of the Furies thing.. In my mind a tech guy got an upgrade.. a mutant experienced another mutation.. a natural player trains harder.. studies under a new master.. whatever I chose to explain the increase in power worked perfectly fine for me.. and I tended to only put incarnate abilities on my toons where they made sense..

For example.. my NRG/NRG blaster never took a judgement because none of them suited him.. he wouldnt throw fire.. or ice.. or electricity.. he did take an Alpha for damage.. he did take the Interface which added the energy DoT.. those made sense for him..

The beautiful thing about CoH is that it could be for you whatever you wanted it to be...

  If you wanted to max out every toon to the last drop and get every Incarnated goodie.. go do it..

  If you want to get every badge under the Paragon sun.. have it...

  If you were crazy multi level base builder guy... go for it..

  If you were I need to have as many costumes as possible... good for you...

  If you were a person who had to try every powerset so you had a gajillion alts.... great !!!

  If you liked the lower level missions and arcs you could turn your xp OFF if you chose and play there until your hearts content..

  If you had to examine ever twist and turn of every story arc... awesome !!!!

  CoH was what YOU wanted it to be.. 

[Ohioknight]

One main issue I had with Statesman was his poor ability to explan his vision. He seriously needed a PR person to check his posts.

I did have one of his in game characters on my friends list and we talked at times about the coming issues and such. I don't think he realized I knew he was Jack Emmert. I think he wanted some men/women on the street input of how the game was going. I also had Awesome Opposum in our SG and he was a Dev - forgot which one now - I don't think it was Castle.

Just for the record:  New information... since Ironwolf knows Jack Emmert and his Dev name, he is not one of the "people who worked on the game" in the new effort. Which Tony also confirmed on Facebook, so yeah, kind of a duh, but still officially new information.

BTW that Facebook thread -- I gather the keeping quiet thing is a ship that's kinda sailed.

[Scendera]

It's a public thread on a public forum...was bound to happen. (And no...wasn't me who blew it up on FB, but I did see it there too.)

[roribeedm]

Just for the record:  New information... since Ironwolf knows Jack Emmert and his Dev name, he is not one of the "people who worked on the game" in the new effort. Which Tony also confirmed on Facebook, so yeah, kind of a duh, but still officially new information.

BTW that Facebook thread -- I gather the keeping quiet thing is a ship that's kinda sailed.

It was already posted on other facebook groups months ago, plus it's not like anyone is demanding names of the buyers to send them letters of thanks or offers of assistance. And I haven't seen a single post regarding writing letters to NCsoft to push for the sale to go through. Personally I think that's the more important thing rather than ignoring that it's happening. If absolute silence was required, this thread should have been ended as well and Ironwolf should have just posted "Someone's trying to buy the game but I can't talk about it at all" and then walked away.

No matter what the circumstances are, people are going to talk about any buy out attempt they hear about, whether it's just rumors or a complete hoax. It can't be stopped. People love the game and want it back and the slightest sliver of hope is going to get tongues wagging. If a conversation on facebook is going to sink the deal, next time the attempt needs to be kept completely silent, no posting here or anywhere else by anyone even tangentially connected to the attempt, and then there won't be any discussion going on.

I very much doubt that'll be the case though. As long as the people keep their conversations on facebook or these forums or anywhere that doesn't interfere with the buyers or NCsoft, I don't see the harm in talking about it.

[Fanta]

Just for the record:  New information... since Ironwolf knows Jack Emmert and his Dev name, he is not one of the "people who worked on the game" in the new effort. Which Tony also confirmed on Facebook, so yeah, kind of a duh, but still officially new information.

BTW that Facebook thread -- I gather the keeping quiet thing is a ship that's kinda sailed.

It's a good thing. I'm sure those involved will be happy to know so many of us are behind their efforts. We just have to try not to burn bridges before we cross them. A real hero would give the villain a chance to redeem themselves   ;)

[LaughingAlex]

Just for the record:  New information... since Ironwolf knows Jack Emmert and his Dev name, he is not one of the "people who worked on the game" in the new effort. Which Tony also confirmed on Facebook, so yeah, kind of a duh, but still officially new information.

BTW that Facebook thread -- I gather the keeping quiet thing is a ship that's kinda sailed.

The message is more we don't want to be spamming the buyer or NCSoft, talking about the efforts is not prohibited.

[MWRuger]

  If you want to get every badge under the Paragon sun.. have it...

  If you were crazy multi level base builder guy... go for it..

  If you were I need to have as many costumes as possible... good for you...

  If you were a person who had to try every powerset so you had a gajillion alts.... great !!!

  If you liked the lower level missions and arcs you could turn your xp OFF if you chose and play there until your hearts content..

  If you had to examine ever twist and turn of every story arc... awesome !!!!

ME! That was  what I did! Because I could and it was fun! (I hope I get to some more!!!!)

[MWRuger]

I was one of those who posted on facebook months ago. It was  on a thread where people were mourning the loss of the game and talking about how much they missed it and it felt wrong not to share the hope that I felt when I first read this thread. I linked to it and hopefully it helped.

But I think you have it right when you say if absolute silence was necessary this thread would have been closed long ago.

[Remaugen]

I loved the Incarnate stuff and the ED, though I would have preferred solo or small team trials as my internet connection and mid-class PC had a lot of severe problems and lagged badly with the big crowds.

I had to have either raised levels or some other form of post 50 accomplishment/reward, otherwise I would have lost interest in the toons that hit 50.

That said. . .


Are we there yet?  ;D   

[JanessaVR]

I objected, and still do, to ED.  The action itself.  Simply because capping at 3 of a kind makes NO SENSE when a power can ONLY take one kind of enhancement.  Perma-hasten, perma-unstop? Bad, need fixing.  But ED was using a chainsaw for an appendectomy.

I came in at Issue 12 (post-ED), and rarely had that big of a problem attaining Perma-Hasten with my L50's.  If that was the intent, ED failed.

ED stopped people who weren't hardcore Mids number-crunchers.   ;)