Author Topic: City of Steam Open Beta Live Broadcast  (Read 3541 times)

Maressa

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City of Steam Open Beta Live Broadcast
« on: June 04, 2013, 08:12:31 AM »
Forgive the self promotion but as I recall there were a lot of City of Heroes players who were interested in City of Steam so I thought I would let you all know about a live stream going on tomorrow, Wednesday June 5th at 6PM Pacific time. OnRPG will be teaming up with Gaming Evolved to bring a live stream from inside City of Steam. We will have three of the awesome developers on hand to play with and answering questions from the community. I hope we see many of you there.

We have a facebook event which we encourage everyone to join: https://www.facebook.com/events/381560165297031/

And further information can be found on the OnRPG forums: http://www.onrpg.com/boards/threads/217127-OnRPG%E2%80%99s-Weekly-Wednesday-Livestream


Or you can just ask me here. ;)

Tenzhi

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Re: City of Steam Open Beta Live Broadcast
« Reply #1 on: June 04, 2013, 08:40:19 AM »
The name "City of Steam" sounds vaguely familiar, but I don't recall what it is or if I was interested in it.  ;P
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Captain Electric

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Re: City of Steam Open Beta Live Broadcast
« Reply #2 on: June 04, 2013, 09:25:38 AM »
The name "City of Steam" sounds vaguely familiar, but I don't recall what it is or if I was interested in it.  ;P

You were. ;P

(No, really, you were! I answered some questions about it for you on the official forums.)

http://www.cityofsteam.com/

Tenzhi

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Re: City of Steam Open Beta Live Broadcast
« Reply #3 on: June 04, 2013, 10:30:37 AM »
Ah, yes, thankee.  I'll have to actually sign up for it and such when I'm on my computer.  The fact that half the races are human is annoying, but the game looks potentially interesting otherwise.  I see that it was initially going to be turn based, which is probably one of the things that piqued my interest when I saw it in that bygone era of vague memory, but if it didn't work out que sera.
When you insult someone by calling them a "pig" or a "dog" you aren't maligning pigs and dogs everywhere.  The same is true of any term used as an insult.

Captain Electric

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Re: City of Steam Open Beta Live Broadcast
« Reply #4 on: June 04, 2013, 11:39:20 AM »
Ah, yes, thankee.  I'll have to actually sign up for it and such when I'm on my computer.  The fact that half the races are human is annoying, but the game looks potentially interesting otherwise.  I see that it was initially going to be turn based, which is probably one of the things that piqued my interest when I saw it in that bygone era of vague memory, but if it didn't work out que sera.

NP.  :)

And true but they said it will still have a slower feel to it. Expect lots of cool downs and more thoughtful combat (ala City of Heroes). This is partly due to the constraints of the Unity engine, and partly due to the devs leaning more toward what they wanted in the first place. Honestly, after playing some action MMORPGs now, I gotta say I'm an equal fan of both styles. Playing CO and NW has not made me want to "never go back again". I also think the slower games will always attract better quality communities, but that's just a hunch.

Did you watch the video on the front page? Those guys are putting a lot of thought into world-building. I like that. Big plus in my book.

If you want real turn-based combat, see my Shadowrun thread. It's not an MMO though. (Although if you go to the Shadowrun site, they ARE working on an MMO too. I just found out about it, haven't checked it out yet.)

Edit: I'm trying to think, IS there even an MMO out there with turn-based combat?

Double Edit: If not, apparently there will be soon: Shadowrun Online. Just watched their Kickstarter video. They met their funding goal. Anyway, stuff for another thread.  :P
« Last Edit: June 04, 2013, 12:27:13 PM by Captain Electric »

Maressa

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Re: City of Steam Open Beta Live Broadcast
« Reply #5 on: June 04, 2013, 02:27:16 PM »
Edit: I'm trying to think, IS there even an MMO out there with turn-based combat?

Double Edit: If not, apparently there will be soon: Shadowrun Online. Just watched their Kickstarter video. They met their funding goal. Anyway, stuff for another thread.  :P

MMOHut says yes. http://mmohuts.com/editorials/best-turn-based-mmorpgs

eabrace

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Re: City of Steam Open Beta Live Broadcast
« Reply #6 on: June 04, 2013, 02:42:08 PM »
Edit: I'm trying to think, IS there even an MMO out there with turn-based combat?
I know Mechwarrior Tactics is turn-based.  That's currently in beta.
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Captain Electric

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Re: City of Steam Open Beta Live Broadcast
« Reply #7 on: June 04, 2013, 04:10:54 PM »
I'll have to check that out eabrace. And I looked at that page too Maressa. I don't want to talk bad about those games, because I haven't played them. I bet they have fans too. But it shows me that there hasn't been a lot of innovation going on in the turn-based MMO department.

I can understand why City of Steam veered away from that route though. You'd need just the right game and just the right audience. And I agree with the CoS devs in this case, I don't think it would have been the best fit.

Imagine a Warhammer 40,000 MMO where you could control a small tactical squad, team up with your friends squads for bigger fights, with turn-based combat. I'm pretty sure there would be some nerdgasms over that. (GW will never do it.  :gonk:) Or imagine a true D&D MMORPG with turn-based combat. After watching Shadowrun's kickstarter video I think it could be great fun, but it would NOT be for the masses. A game like that could have a big audience if it were attached to a recognizable IP, but it would never be a high profile MMO with two hundred thousand active players.

Anyway I didn't want to derail the thread anymore, especially because I love City of Steam. I threw my wallet at it as a founder and I'm sure I'll spend PLENTY of time there. Admittedly I'm all "beta'd" out lately and I can't believe how much money I've thrown at various kickstarters and founder packs since City of Heroes closed. But weirdly enough, CoS is the project I am most proud of donating to. Innovative, genre-blending, a friendly, funny dev team that CARES about the lore as much as the mechanics. CoS, to me, represents everything we need more of in the increasingly homogeneous MMO industry.

Dollhouse

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Re: City of Steam Open Beta Live Broadcast
« Reply #8 on: June 04, 2013, 04:15:46 PM »
Honestly, after playing some action MMORPGs now, I gotta say I'm an equal fan of both styles. Playing CO and NW has not made me want to "never go back again". I also think the slower games will always attract better quality communities, but that's just a hunch

I concur. I'm playing several games right now, and there's quite a mix of combat speed/thought. I enjoy both.

Comparatively slow games like CoH can indeed leave more room for thought and tactical sophistication (although in some cases, "traditional MMO combat" is just so absurdly easy that you don't really need sophisticated tactics...SWTOR, I'm looking at you). I'd place LotRO, GW, and most other traditional MMORPGs in this category. CoH did this style of combat better than any other game I've played.

On the other end of the spectrum, there's Defiance (an MMOTPS...). It's a shooter (and not an imitation one, like some MMORPGs with a reticule option...I mean actual realtime collision detection and so forth), and the combat happens at that pace. It's not "thoughtful" in the sense of having complex powersets that allow synergies, contain a broad array of ways to ruin your enemy's day, etc. You equip two weapons plus grenades, and toggle between them. It is, however, quite "tactical" in the sense of you have to move at least a little bit in the direction of realism (taking cover from incoming fire, etc.) rather than just standing there and mashing the right series of buttons. It's quite fun.

Then there are "middle ground" games like The Secret World or Fallen Earth.  Games like that (and I'm currently playing both...) have somewhat faster, more dynamic combat, but don't really slide into "twitch" territory.  TSW requires good, smart (and sometimes fast) movement in combat against all but the easiest enemies. Keep moving or die, basically. It also requires finding good synergies within your currently-equipped "deck" (you can, with time, get every ability in the game and set up multiple "decks" that load with a couple clicks, out of combat). Some of the more difficult content (Elite and Nigthmare dungeons, Lairs, etc.) require timely use of impairs and interrupts, etc. It's somewhat faster paced than an old-school MMO, but not twitchy...and the combat can be quite challenging.  Fallen Earth have a very well-implemented reticule targeting combat system, but the pace of combat is generally not that fast ("generally," in that sometimes everything goes pear-shaped and you really have to scramble). It's not a game in which a mad zerg tends to end any way other then very badly.

I think you're right about the connection between pace of combat gameplay and the nature of the game's community. Twitch games attract console kiddies...need I say more?
« Last Edit: June 05, 2013, 11:23:31 PM by Dollhouse »

The Fifth Horseman

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Re: City of Steam Open Beta Live Broadcast
« Reply #9 on: June 05, 2013, 12:10:32 PM »
I'll have to check that out eabrace.
Closed beta (there is a founder program, mind you). Here's some recent footage: https://mwtactics.com/forums/index.php?/topic/5347-wednesday-may-22-exclusive-live-stream-12pm-edt/
Yes, I'm in the MWT beta too. And it's awesome (with actual Awesome, just because I can't resist making the pun). :)
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