And the mask comes off.

[Ironwolf]

I can't say for certain, but what I can say is that whenever I was informally working with one of the devs on a problem or such it was rare for a dev to imply that a change was going to be rejected by Positron himself.  It was far more likely I'd be told something wouldn't get past a more general internal review.  Part of the problem I think is that none of the devs could consistently keep it all in their heads enough *to* micromanage very much, because there was just so many things going on (keep in mind that Statesman had no idea whatsoever how Defiance worked when he wrote the guide to Defiance.  I had to correct him by actually testing the power and demonstrating it did not work the way he actually documented it to work).

But from the outside looking in, the management style at Paragon seemed to be that the higher-ups decided general high level things and then left it up to the other devs to sort out the details, and when time permitted the devs were allowed significant latitude to pursue other projects of their own interest.  For example power customization came about partially because BaB began investigating it himself first.

Not saying higher ups didn't override devs lower on the totem pole: I'm sure that happened occasionally.  I just didn't see that as a pervasive issue at Paragon.  The people that actually worked there could have a different opinion.

I answered Statesman on his how to tank example. He stated he picked the one he could survive best and tried to hold those leaving the other mobs to the rest of the team - however he failed to mention that no one else on the team has the ability to survive like a tank does - if you leave the aggro from these to others - they have a far greater chance to fail. I showed a dev that the aggro cap was in fact not true by herding 3 X 8 groups with a tank and doing a constant spiral move and attack pattern - you could hold aggro on nearly 40 enemies if you kept moving and constantly attacking/taunting.

I was told nonsense and then took them into a mission and proved it. You can't keep permanent aggro but you can stop melee and keep the mobs at range - it takes work but knowing the tricks on turning - breaking los and regaining - auras - taunt - punchvoke all could exceed the design. I was one of those guys who tried to break things.

I had a tank in Brickstown and was herding vast amounts when a player stopped to buff me, I said please don't help me. He was indignant - I was not seeking to steal XP and my buffs don't do that. I said wait a minute - defeated all those around me and then explained - I am testing the failure rate and how long I can survive versus certain types of enemies at certain numbers. I explained I can fight x amount of freaks and survive for this long, I can fight this many Crey and so on. Then when I am in a TF and our team has pulled too many - I can yell out I will not be able to survive this more than this long - can someone hold/stun or otherwise lower the amount attacking or I am going to die in about this long of a time, RUN! (f8)

I know that the players often found glitches or "exploits" in how things worked that was not supposed to be possible - like sitting in Creys at a bee spawn and setting a fire blasters fireball on auto and leaving the game running overnight.

[Arcana]

Did said writers usually run things by Matt before making these changes?  Was Matt usually involved collaboratively in the writing process and direction of the game?  My experience leads me to the assumption it was, in many ways, a collaborative process, and one in which Matt would have occassional input.  In other words, when someone in the process came up with a storyline that may not fit neatly into the existing game lore or concepts, but was seen by Matt and the rest as "a good direction" for the game to go, then they went, concerns be damned, so to speak.  To me, that is exactly the same mindset I see at play in the article, and would get the two seemingly different mindsets you mentioned to mesh well.  In essence, they are both a subset of a larger mindset of "I'm not the kind of person who is beholden much to the status quo or who is scared to upset the apple cart if I think it's a good direction."  Nothing of that mindset requires the idea to be of his origin.

That's a little different though.  I agree I think Matt individually and Paragon collectively were in fact not "beholden" to the status quo although as I said earlier I have direct knowledge of the fact they did consider the status quo beliefs of the playerbase when they developed.  But not being beholden to the status quo is a different thing than being assertive about the actual direction to take next.  That's more of suggesting Matt did not protect the past enough rather than saying he dictated the future too much.

From personal experience, there were many times I felt very certain a particular situation was broken, enough to make the conscious decision to accept that advocating a change would disrupt the status quo and possibly negatively impact some players.  However, I was always far more open to options on how to change a particular situation, and would advocate ideas that were personally not my favorite if I felt a larger percentage of the player population would support it (and thereby accept it if it occurred).  That's a case of not being beholden to the status quo but also not being wedded to a particular vision of future changes.

[Harpospoke]

 
That is exactly why I was hoping at some point for them to include smaller teamed special Incarnate Trials.  If they were set up similar to the Summer Blockbuster event where you were robbing a Casino it would have been PERFECT.
 
Imagine TPN being rewritten in a way where you and three others are teleported into the heart of Imperial City, clearing your way into the buildings together. Once inside, however, you each must split up to accomplish four different tasks in order to make the broadcast reach all of Preatoria:  one must disable the current security systems, one must prevent the power to the station being shut down, one must upload the new broadcast, and one must reprogram the Clockwork in the building to protect the broadcast once you leave.  Each of you face serious threats along the way, but each of you feels like you're contributing as epic individuals.   Then you go to the next station and do the same thing.  In the end, as a team, you confront Maelstrom and three other high ranking officials.  You would feel "incarnate" in that kind of mission, and it would be just as difficult as a raid sized iTrial. 

That's awesome!

[Arcana]

I, and some of those I teamed with dispised the I trials. I found that now that I am more powerful than ever - I am now lumped into a huge mass of mob mentality. I am spamming powers without seeing any result other than a health bar on a huge being slowly dropping. My best powers are nothing alone and singly I would be wiped out - yet somehow I am supposed to be an Incarnate being - one of galactic powers.

I understand the sentiment, but my experience was qualitatively different.  Yes, there were phases of trials that were largely characterized in that way, but that wasn't universal.  Personally I could solo containment in Lambda, so I could personally accelerate that phase, and there were Lambdas I was on where if I wasn't on it the timer would have failed.  Much of Keyes was a little bit middle ground; everyone wasn't in one place spamming, but usually separated into smaller subgroups.  And while I can understand the perspective that the desire was to see incarnate development in terms of singular achievement, I personally did not feel trivialized during the opening phase of Magisterium because I just liked the crazy fur-ball aspect of that  fight.

Partially, this is just a question of preference and what players wanted out of the experience, but I think its also partially one of perspective.  In most trials, I could actually see what I was doing.  I know what my contribution was, because my actions were not random.  I could do my part, and when necessary go off-script to help someone else (say, supporting engagement spots in BAF).  I could use my buffs when they made the most sense to do so, like Destiny buffs.  If you played that way, and you could see what you were doing, you got different visceral feedback from the trials than if you didn't perceive having any direct impact on the action.

I also think the devs partially oversold incarnate abilities, although that wasn't entirely their fault.  Most of what players expected story-wise and power-wise out of incarnate abilities were rumors driven by players passing on made-up information.  Incarnates were never supposed to be "cosmicly powered beings" like Galactus or even the Silver Surfer, say.  They were supposed to be sort of the next step up in evolution, but not the last step.  Keep in mind that the down-the-road enemies for us were going to be (among other options) the True Rikti, which on the fictional power scale were probably like a cross between the Wraith (physically) and the Asguardians (technologically) in Stargate SG-1.  Not omnipotent beings per se.

In fiction, particularly comic books, power level generally increases exponentially.  That's required for narrative purposes, to differentiate the different levels of power.  But City of Heroes, being a game, had to stick to mostly linear and sometimes vaguely quadratic increases in power.  Anything more would be unrepresentable in the game.

[Arcana]

 
That is exactly why I was hoping at some point for them to include smaller teamed special Incarnate Trials.  If they were set up similar to the Summer Blockbuster event where you were robbing a Casino it would have been PERFECT.
 
Imagine TPN being rewritten in a way where you and three others are teleported into the heart of Imperial City, clearing your way into the buildings together. Once inside, however, you each must split up to accomplish four different tasks in order to make the broadcast reach all of Preatoria:  one must disable the current security systems, one must prevent the power to the station being shut down, one must upload the new broadcast, and one must reprogram the Clockwork in the building to protect the broadcast once you leave.  Each of you face serious threats along the way, but each of you feels like you're contributing as epic individuals.   Then you go to the next station and do the same thing.  In the end, as a team, you confront Maelstrom and three other high ranking officials.  You would feel "incarnate" in that kind of mission, and it would be just as difficult as a raid sized iTrial. 
 
The possibilities for "end game content" are...well...endless, if you're creative.  The key is to not make players feel like their way is "second class" which the new DA, the incarnate TFs, and the "solo path" seemed to do to some with the seriously gimped rewards they offered.

I have absolutely no doubt that had the game continued on, this type of thing would have been released by now.  It was just going to take time; there was to my knowledge no serious opposition to doing this in the long run.

[BadWolf]

After rushing in for names, I never used the exalted server. I just couldn't drag myself from Infinity (even with a number of transfers still in my pocket).

Oh, I was _on_ all the servers. I only did Incarnate content on one, though.

[LaughingAlex]

Or perhaps it's for those that enjoy harder enemies, getting stronger characters and like large scale team content? Not everyone is under the stereotype you mentioned....

That's like saying all blacks like watermelon, chicken and sag their pants... neither are true.

Maybe you just played on unfriendly servers because I never ran into the behaviors you speak of in either game. The occasional rude group but that occurs in normal content too. Now I have run into many rude people on forums but for every rude person you meet many more friendly people.

Challenge from harder enemies is often negated by the whole character getting more powerful, even more-so if it's a convenient manner.  I didn't play the incarnate trials for the challenge, I played them more because they were fun at the time.  But I didn't really feel they were that challenging.

[LaughingAlex]

A thought on Matt Miller and Star Trek Online.  I wouldn't be surprised if there is a LOT of publisher/executive meddling involved with that game.  It wouldn't be a surprise to me at all in fact, because even CO has shown many signs that executive meddling came into play with it under PWE.  Just a thought, they may be forcing him to do things he normally wouldn't though.

[pinballdave]

I liked the smaller group events for many reasons. I thought the summer blockbuster was a great way to flesh out powersets. I liked doing Baby New Year ugly baby runs, but not more than 10 times :p. I really enjoyed the signature story arcs. I liked the challange of the Abandoned Sewer trial. This was an epic thing, even without farming the Krakens.

The big event I liked best was the Mothership Raids. Get in there and smoosh some Rikti.

[darkgob]

Now make a few plant control critters and put them on the opposing team.

Army of Me on my Plant Dom was a NIGHTMARE.

[Tcencho]

Simply amazing this is just what I wanted to hear! ^^

[Taceus Jiwede]

Or perhaps it's for those that enjoy harder enemies, getting stronger characters and like large scale team content? Not everyone is under the stereotype you mentioned....

That's like saying all blacks like watermelon, chicken and sag their pants... neither are true.

Maybe you just played on unfriendly servers because I never ran into the behaviors you speak of in either game. The occasional rude group but that occurs in normal content too. Now I have run into many rude people on forums but for every rude person you meet many more friendly people.

This.  Some people just like doing big group content.  Some people are always looking to make their character a little stronger, a little more powerful.  It fits their play style and it gives them something to work towards.  Challenging your self to improve your character even if only by .000023% is fun to some people.  Not everyone who plays for this reason is looking for a pissing contest.  Often in my case the only person I was trying to out  do or be better then was my self.  So I agree with your sentiments that not everyone, and in fact in CoH very few people, fall into the stereotype that you quoted in your post.

[Hemipowered]

         I have to chime in here about the I-trials/incarnate powers. I believe they are the single most ingenious update/expansion ever done in an MMO. I thought it was a perfect mix of additional powers and abilities, adding fun to the game without adversely affecting balance TOO much. It is not easy adding a new "system" to work within an existing one--AT ALL. And I, for one, loved the content as well.                                                          My 2 cents--take it or leave it punks...

[thunderforce]

The ugly truth is that endgame, whether in CoX or WoW or wherever, is a Haven for those dwelling in the realm of Ego.  Biggest, Baddest, Best.

Or perhaps it's for those that enjoy harder enemies, getting stronger characters and like large scale team content?

If there's a distinction between "harder enemies, getting stronger characters" and "Biggest, Baddest, Best", I think I missed it. Doing the same dance with the numbers slightly larger each time is a Skinner box, no more.

Of course there's nothing about large-scale team content that fundamentally ties it to endgame grind.

[opprime2828]

         I have to chime in here about the I-trials/incarnate powers. I believe they are the single most ingenious update/expansion ever done in an MMO. I thought it was a perfect mix of additional powers and abilities, adding fun to the game without adversely affecting balance TOO much. It is not easy adding a new "system" to work within an existing one--AT ALL. And I, for one, loved the content as well.                                                          My 2 cents--take it or leave it punks...

I completely agree about the use of "additional powers."  Incarnate powers made your characters feel even more godlike than they were with just IOs, but gating them behind certain content, etc. prevented it from completely destroying the rest of the game.  I actually thought that, had they worked an explanation in to the story a little more (say, something like "the Well will empower its guardians as their will and desire cry out for it the most") it would even have been perfect, thematically.  The idea that we don't always have access to our deepest powers from the well simply because we either aren't actually serving as a guardian of the well at that moment or our will and desire aren't "desperate" enough to dig that deeply.  They started to hint at the costs of digging into the Well, and had that been explored more, that could also have served as a decent explanation for why we don't always access those advanced Incarnate powers.
 
But the implementation was great.  We had new things to give to our characters, with variety enough to still make them unique among the rest, but not in a way that completely wrecked enjoyment in the rest of the game.
 
 
And it wasn't gear. 
 
I hate "gear." 

Especially in an MMO where my character's powers often come from within themselves, not because they found armor made of Uru forged by the Dwarf king and enchanted by yada yada yada.
 
Please don't ever make me grind for gear. 

Please.   

[silvers1]

I was just wondering about the purchase of the CoH IP ...  if successful.   Does the City of Titans project become COH2,  or do they
become two separate games?

I'd prefer to keep the existing villain groups and lore, but CoT appears to be going down its own path.

[Aggelakis]

I was just wondering about the purchase of the CoH IP ...  if successful.   Does the City of Titans project become COH2,  or do they
become two separate games?

I'd prefer to keep the existing villain groups and lore, but CoT appears to be going down its own path.

CoT has always been, and will always be, a spiritual successor, not a sequel. It has always been a separate game.

[Power Gamer]

I completely agree about the use of "additional powers."  Incarnate powers made your characters feel even more godlike than they were with just IOs, but gating them behind certain content, etc. prevented it from completely destroying the rest of the game.  I actually thought that, had they worked an explanation in to the story a little more (say, something like "the Well will empower its guardians as their will and desire cry out for it the most") it would even have been perfect, thematically.  The idea that we don't always have access to our deepest powers from the well simply because we either aren't actually serving as a guardian of the well at that moment or our will and desire aren't "desperate" enough to dig that deeply.  They started to hint at the costs of digging into the Well, and had that been explored more, that could also have served as a decent explanation for why we don't always access those advanced Incarnate powers.
 
But the implementation was great.  We had new things to give to our characters, with variety enough to still make them unique among the rest, but not in a way that completely wrecked enjoyment in the rest of the game.
 
 
And it wasn't gear. 
 
I hate "gear." 

Especially in an MMO where my character's powers often come from within themselves, not because they found armor made of Uru forged by the Dwarf king and enchanted by yada yada yada.
 
Please don't ever make me grind for gear. 

Please.

Yeah, the gear in other mmos felt like a burden rather than an upgrade.

I dislike gear, especially in a supers mmo.

[Thunder Glove]

What I liked about Incarnate powers were that, for the most part, they didn't make you more powerful by just increasing your stats, but by expanding the breadth of your abilities - adding ranged attacks, team buffs, mez/damage procs, and pets to your repertoire.  The exceptions, of course, were Alpha (which, as a pure stat-booster, was fine for a "starting" ability), and Hybrid, which I felt was a bit of a misstep, since it didn't really bring anything new to the table that previous Incarnate tiers weren't already doing (and, often, doing better).

I liked the idea suggested for Genesis in the Loregasms, which was ground patches that would simultaneously buff allies and debuff enemies.  (I know there was an unimplemented version of Genesis in the I24 client, involving replacing previous Incarnate powers with better versions, but from the sound of the Loregasms they'd discarded that idea)  They also mentioned a "debuff one stat to buff another" idea, though they didn't mention which Incarnate slot that was for.  (I'd guess Vitae, but that's only a guess)

And Omega was going to be absurdly overpowered (with several different flavors of "overpowered", from complete invulnerability, to summoning swarms of full-powered clones of yourself, to making all enemies fight for you and then self-destruct, to having a set period of time where all your powers were on instant recharge).  We'd probably have all that and more by now, and dozens of new powersets besides.  It still makes me a little sad, even amidst all the hope and hoopla.

[Arcana]

If there's a distinction between "harder enemies, getting stronger characters" and "Biggest, Baddest, Best", I think I missed it.

That explains why when I ran iTrials I kept hearing that song from the Karate Kid in my head.