And the mask comes off.

[Ironwolf]

In fact you know thinking about it the best name for the new update - CoH 2015 or whatever year it comes out.

[Thunder Glove]

Hello everyone. I haven't kept up with the forum in a while and wanted to know what the latest update was if someone could let me know. Is the game a go, a no or a maybe still. 

All the information is in the first post of this topic and the "The mask comes off" topic.  But right now, talks are still ongoing.  It's not a yes or a no yet.

[AlienOne]

In fact you know thinking about it the best name for the new update - CoH 2015 or whatever year it comes out.

That's a good idea.

[Remaugen]

Or perhaps just renumber the issues, "Vol 2, Issue 1" as the only outward change. . .

I kinda like that! To honor comicbook tradition we could combine some ideas and have:

City of Heroes
Forever
Vol 2 Issue 1

Or something in that general vein.

[Azcat]

Thank you Thunder Glove I started reading from the start but then it went all over the place, which I totally understand, I am excited as well. Just hard to pick out the hard facts from wish lists and wants. But thank you for the update its all I needed to know.

[Rejolt]

Or perhaps just renumber the issues, "Vol 2, Issue 1" as the only outward change. . .

I kinda like that! To honor comicbook tradition we could combine some ideas and have:

City of Heroes
Forever
Vol 2 Issue 1

Or something in that general vein.

City of Ultimates?
Spectacular City of Heroes?
City of Heroes, 2nd Edition?
Son of the Bride of the Ghost of the Revenge of City of Heroes: this time it's personal!
In a World... Of Heroes


Edit: technically we'll be on Volume 4 as I see cov as vol 2 and gr as vol 3

[Harpospoke]

APR is only small at the moment because in all honesty until the deal is sealed there is nothing that can be done. I am taking the time to learn UnReal4 engine and a lot of the others are doing the same, learning new skills. Since much of the game is planned to be a direct port - at the beginning a lot of the work is simple grunt stuff. I know that i am working on new maps - one of the main complaints I heard from players was how boring it was to do the same maps over and over.

That was one of my very few complaints as well.   Knowing exactly what was around every corner did tend to take the mystery out of it.

I'm curious what distinction people are looking for between what makes Revival "CoH 1.5" and no "CoH 2"?

I'm curious, because I've heard people on both sides... saying basically "Revival is CoH2" and "Revival is 1.5. Not 2".
What do you guys think makes something a true "CoH 2"?

A "2" would be a "spiritual successor" like City of Titans to me.   They are trying to make a whole new game that plays similar to CoH with the same "feel".   They want to appeal to the same audience, but are striving to create a new game.

You are actually trying to make your project as much like CoH as possible.  Tiny details from CoH are important to what you are doing.  (loved the tram logo)  In my mind you are working on an update to CoH.   It's a bigger and better version of Ultra-mode to me.   The game will continue on and of course be updated from where it was the same as if the original were still running.

If it was up to me, I'd continue calling it APR until such time as the licensing deals are real and things ramp up to full work.

Then I'd call the entire project -- City of Heroes: Revival  (or possibly City of Heroes:  Forever)

I like that.

[Zychan]

Same universe and similar mechanics, but a completely different starting point and all new content.

This is probably why APR has been dubbed CoX 1.5; you'll have a different engine and slightly different mechanics, but everything else (i.e. costumes, powers, stories, main characters, zones, etc.) will be the same, or as close to the same as possible.

At least in the beginning.    I think the reason I loved the original so much is because it didn't need a 2.0...the game kept expanding and giving us new content with each new issue, so a sequel was unnecessary.  Most of the CoH 2 yearning I read on the old boards had more to do with wanting new engine (graphics, physics, or whatever) capabilities rather than wanting a whole new game.

And that's what you'll be giving us if the NCSoft deal goes through.  That, and hopefully the reality of being able to play indefinitely...

This. 

[Nightmarer]

I'm curious what distinction people are looking for between what makes Revival "CoH 1.5" and no "CoH 2"?

I'm curious, because I've heard people on both sides... saying basically "Revival is CoH2" and "Revival is 1.5. Not 2".
What do you guys think makes something a true "CoH 2"?

Why name it 1.5 or 2? Wasn't the game named "City of Heroes: Freedom"?

Now I'd like it to be "City of Heroes: Infinity" or "City of Heroes: Defiant" (anything except Union will do because, you know, it was Union and stuff, no matter how well "City of Heroes: Union" sounds  )

[opprime2828]

Personally, I really like "City of Heroes: Resurgence" 
 
It not only fits, perfectly, something about picking up right where we left off seems like a tribute to the old Devs.  Issue 24, the issue they were almost finished with, was going to be called Resurgence.  I think calling the new game Resurgence as a tribute to them would be nice.

[Cymmetri]

In fact you know thinking about it the best name for the new update - CoH 2015 or whatever year it comes out.

i24 was named Resurgence.

I'm VERY much for that.

[Dr. Bad Guy]

I don't care what you call it.  Call it   Thunder Thighs: An American Oddity for all it matters to me.  Just let me throw money at you and LET ME PLAY!!!!!!!!!!!

[Shidan]

Yeah, I'm on the Resurgence train. It fits perfectly.

[adarict]

Whether it is 1.5 or CoH 2 depends on what you are referring to.  If you are talking as if they are software revision version numbers, then Revival could be 2, because it is essentially an all new game from a coding perspective.  If you are referring to it similar to sequels, then Revival would be 1.5.  It isn't a new story or anything, just a "director's cut" so to speak.

[zslane]

I ran iTrials enough to get my main up to +4 on two branches of each slot. I did it mostly to see if I could before getting completely fed up with it. I did not grind the iTrials because I thought they were well-designed celebrations of fun. I liked feeling like a powerful superhero, which the iTrials most definitely did not foster; they made me feel like puzzle fodder. Taking my Incarnated main back out into the conventional L1-50 world did though...and if there was any real benefit to be found in the Incarnate powers, for me that was it.

In fact, I felt that the iTrials were the least-CoH-like content ever delivered. I didn't like the fact that defeating the bosses meant learning how to navigate the gimmicks that utilized mechanics not found anywhere else in the game. All the "superhero expertise" gained in levels 1-50 were made irrelevent by virtue of autohit attacks, attacks for which there were no defenses, unique mechanics (like Sequestration in BAF) that no other mission prepares you for and which no other missions make use of. The continuity of gameplay expertise felt violently severed, so much so that the iTrials felt like an entirely different game. I think it is called WoW...

Everything I loved about CoH made me loathe WoW, which I gave a try for about 6 months after taking a break from CoH (around the time the AE was introduced). Imagine my horror when I returned to the game only to find this intriguing Incarnate system was little more than short-form WoW dungeon raiding. I'm sure it appealed to the WoW expats who felt themselves on more familiar ground when they got to it, but it felt like nothing more than a tragically missed opportunity (to add "end game content" that truly felt congruent with the spirit of CoH as a whole, which is to say congruent with the L1-50 game). And the fact that trial leagues always felt compelled to max out the roster, spending more time waiting for qualified members than the trial itself took, made the process a whole new kind of tedious.

If CoT decides to improve upon CoH, I dearly hope they reconsider the end-game phase and conscientiously avoid copying other MMOs. None of them "got it" when it came to understanding what made CoH special. It would seem that the architects of the Incarnate system lost sight of it themselves.

[Illusionss]

There is no thing that could be done with the end game that would not have people complaining. Seriously, the thing you want end game to be would have 50,000 other players screaming in protest. Same with me. And with everyone. This is because everyone wants end game tailored to how they like to play the game themselves.

This is not a realistic expectation.

I had no problem with CoX's endgame, because when I got worn out with it I just took a break and went back to leveling new characters up, or having someone go rogue, or any one of the 10,000 other fun things CoX had for us to do. Then when I wanted to work on someone's Hybrid progress, it was time to hope some brave soul was forming an UG trial.

I want this game back so badly I would be willing to run BAF 100 times a day.

But, regardless CoT should do exactly what they want regarding endgame, because they wont please everyone - so they should just do what they want. People are going to scream bloody murder regardless. 

[ivanhedgehog]

Why name it 1.5 or 2? Wasn't the game named "City of Heroes: Freedom"?

Now I'd like it to be "City of Heroes: Infinity" or "City of Heroes: Defiant" (anything except Union will do because, you know, it was Union and stuff, no matter how well "City of Heroes: Union" sounds  )

I kinda like City of Heroes: Fred

[MM3squints]

I kinda like City of Heroes: Fred

I want City of Heroes: Tacos Tuesday

[zslane]

There is no thing that could be done with the end game that would not have people complaining. Seriously, the thing you want end game to be would have 50,000 other players screaming in protest. Same with me. And with everyone. This is because everyone wants end game tailored to how they like to play the game themselves.

This is not a realistic expectation.

I had no problem with CoX's endgame, because when I got worn out with it I just took a break and went back to leveling new characters up, or having someone go rogue, or any one of the 10,000 other fun things CoX had for us to do. Then when I wanted to work on someone's Hybrid progress, it was time to hope some brave soul was forming an UG trial.

I want this game back so badly I would be willing to run BAF 100 times a day.

But, regardless CoT should do exactly what they want regarding endgame, because they wont please everyone - so they should just do what they want. People are going to scream bloody murder regardless. 

Insofar as no game can please everybody all the time, you're right. But I find it difficult to understand how someone who loved the L1-50 game could love something so incongruent as the iTrials. I totally understand how a new player, fresh from 80 levels of WoW grinding, might race their way through 50 levels of the standard CoH content and then jump for joy upon reaching BAF. I'm sure it felt like home to them. But not to me.

I felt a unique kinship with the kind of players who formed the Taxicab service, or who would see a newbie struggling a bit and dump some Inf on them just because they could. I felt very little kinship with most of the iTrial lovers. From what I gather, the datamining seemed to indicate that only a tiny % of the game's population experienced the Incarnate system, and honestly I'm not that surprised. CoH was a spectacular MMORPG; but IMO the Incarnate system wasn't CoH. It was an alien organism hosted within CoH.

Even from a design perspective, the Incarnate system felt like a massive compromise, as if the devs were stuck between a rock (l33t players seeking end-game progression) and a hard place (a codebase completely hostile to raising of the level cap and the expansion of the power set system that was already straining from the existance of primary, secondary, pool, and epic/patron sets). On the one hand, it could be argued that the Incarnate system was better than no system of advanced powers at all. But the take-away for me is that any "spiritual successor" to CoH under development today ought to seriously re-think its approach to the "end game" and not make it feel like all the other MMOs out there because, frankly, most of us loved CoH precisely because it didn't try to feel like all the others (which mostly just wanted to feel like WoW).

[Artillerie]

Insofar as no game can please everybody all the time, you're right. But I find it difficult to understand how someone who loved the L1-50 game could love something so incongruent as the iTrials.

Nonetheless, I loved playing a char to 50 and then getting stuck into the itrials. Got to guess that the people I regularly teamed with did as well.

There was enough content so that people could pick and choose depending on their preferences. Thankfully there were few examples ( I can't actually think of any ) where a player was obliged to complete content that they disliked in order to progress on to something that they would enjoy more.