Do you think the game got TOO user friendly at the end?

[General Idiot]

Ouroboros was one of the better ideas they ever had, and I don't know why more games don't have a similar setup. ESPECIALLY games that like to release lots of temporary content, looking at you Guild Wars 2.

Off the top of my head the only other game that lets you replay content is STO, but they don't offer any in world explanation for it there. Though they could easily pass it off as you running simulations of your old missions in the holodeck or some such. They don't have old removed content in there either, though I dunno if there even IS any removed content in that game.

[Eoraptor]

Yeah, it blew my mind the first time I portled into Oroboruus and realized "holy schnikies, this is the old Infected tutorial!" I thought it was one of the best innovations out there for going back and catching old content, because the game had an epic amount of content available over the span of 23 issues.

[Pinnacle Blue]

That said, while there were a number of additions in the last year that increased convenience i found most of them to be either very handy/reasonable or easily ignored. Except the TUNNEL system. For whatever irrational reason i found it to be highly annoying and superfluous.

Butbutbut you could get to Night Ward from AP!  Heck, you could get to PI from AP without visiting your base or TI.  And you could get to FF from PI without having to first visit Talos or your base.

Of course, on my Warshade, hardly any of this was an issue, as I could Shadow Slip into any non-hazard zone in Paragon.  :P

[Pinnacle Blue]

Powers that you could only get as veteran's rewards didn't hurt the game.  For example, those bonus teleport powers greatly improved your chances of getting a Shadow Shard Task Force.

On the other hand, I was enraged by the idea that "20 was the new "50" Kheldians.

I actually waited until I had a 50 before rolling a Peacebringer.  It's an epic AT, fer chrissakes.

[CheerGunbunny]

*shrug* I made one when 50 was required to unlock the squids.  And promptly made one...and as underwhelmed.  I think I pushed one to level 28....yuk. 

I know some folks loved them some Kheldians....I ain't one of em.

[Triplash]

I managed to get my seafood before the unlock level was moved to 20, too. They changed it shortly after that but I gotta say, I was always happy I got mine "the hard way". I didn't much like them at first either, but they were on my list of things to explore more one day. Not high on the list mind you... but on there.

Kinda like how I got my first full set of Vanguard costume pieces by turning in Vanguard Merits. I still bought the set when they put it on the market, because 30+ alts so forget that noise, but again I'm glad I did it "the hard way" at least that first time.

[Pinnacle Blue]

*shrug* I made one when 50 was required to unlock the squids.  And promptly made one...and as underwhelmed.  I think I pushed one to level 28....yuk. 

I know some folks loved them some Kheldians....I ain't one of em.

As you can tell from my sig, I was. :P  Dechs Kaison's MFing Warshade guide changed my life.

I viewed my Warshade(s) as being their own thing but to me my PB was just another blaster (albeit one who could also tank and heal).

[Turjan]

I know some folks loved them some Kheldians....I ain't one of em.

All a matter of what you wanted out of 'em I suppose. For my part, I thought it would be fun to play up to the squid/lobster jokiness thing, so I made a PB called Prawn Crackers.

Before he became Prawn Crackers, the human side of him had been married to a Peacebringer. But that Peacebringer fell during a fight with supervillains in Independence Port. Quite literally fell in fact - into the bay. Her body was never recovered. The husband was devastated and drifted into madness. Eventually, in a fit of suicidal depression, he jumped off a bridge into the sea. As he sank into the depths, he felt something calling to him...it was the same Kheldian who had been merged with his wife. Its mind had been scrambled during that fatal battle and it had remained on the sea bed, alive but crippled and insane, surviving only by erratically merging with passing sea creatures. The broken Kheldian and the drowning human recognised eachother, and so the lost souls merged to become Prawn Crackers.

I played him mostly because I liked the concept :)
It was a tough class to master, but that was part of the fun for me - the PB (and WS) were like a Swiss Army Knife class : they could do just about anything if you knew which tool to use for what job!

Here's Prawn Crackers posing with a friend...

https://i.imgur.com/IzWEmEQ.jpg

(/end thread derail) ;)

[batqueen]

Love that suit, man you really could build anything in Coh!  :)

[Pinnacle Blue]

Love that suit, man you really could build anything in Coh!  :)

Yes.  Yes you could.

https://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m584/shmoopymac/screenshot_120123-03-22-35.jpg

[Pinnacle Blue]

*shrug* I made one when 50 was required to unlock the squids.  And promptly made one...and as underwhelmed.  I think I pushed one to level 28....yuk. 

I know some folks loved them some Kheldians....I ain't one of em.

Not to belabor the point, but I just found this-- and if I'd known we could make videos this well-done I would've promptly upgraded my video card and learned how:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vlYmf_supU

Note what happens at 1:36, then note the level of enemies he takes down in the vid.

[saipaman]

It's possible that I missed it, but I would have preferred to have seen access to the Tunnel System as a reward granted for a particular story arc.  Something similar to the Midnighter arc to get into Cim.

[Tahliah]

No.  You could still go to the original Icons, and you could still take the trains as before . . . if you wanted.  They weren't removed, so if you wanted to keep to the former ways of traveling, getting new costumes, etc. you could do so.   I'm with others on the heroes taking the subway, T, metro, whatever thing.  It was always a bit weird to me; I could fly!  Why would I take public transportation to fight evil?  :p

Personally, I liked that everything was easier to get to near the end, but I did keep going to the original Icons for costume changes.  I also wasn't into trainers as tailors, so I simply ignored this change completely.   

[Mantic]

I did not like Kheldians for two reasons: (1) the concept took creativity out of my hands, forcing specific models and the assumption that I ever wanted to play characters that were part of Paragon's lore, and (2) they were twitchy, by which I mean that effective use meant having low latency and nimble fingers. I finally decided to respec my warshade "StarBeast" into a "human only" build, and "real" Kheldian players considered it a gimp.

But the Arachnos ATs were awesome. I had several of them and they were each very different from the others. Sure, you had to start with the Arachnos outfit, but it was an extra costume, and you could get a second costume early (about level ten) because of it. The characters were all great for support roles even with high latency (particularly the dual-leadership Widow builds), and aside from the crab spider with it's backpack, you could dress them up as all sorts of concepts. Soldiers of all stripes, particularly, but not just. There were even some odd sub-concepts you could get out of them, such as a kind of Psionic Tank widow, or a mace-only blaster/corrupter type bane with mace mastery.

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/ManticMan/CoH/Isfet.png

The only thing about Isfet here that obviously linked him to Arachnos were the spider-bot pets, but pets were a weak point of customization for any AT. Going off the standard build plan didn't gimp him, either:

Spoiler for Hidden:

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.96
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Isfet: Level 50 Natural Arachnos Soldier
Primary Power Set: Bane Spider Soldier
Secondary Power Set: Bane Spider Training
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Mace Beam -- Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(A), Thundr-Acc/Dmg(5), ExStrk-Dmg/KB(9), ExStrk-Acc/KB(19), ExStrk-Dam%(21)
Level 1: Bane Spider Armor Upgrade -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), S'fstPrt-ResKB(33)
Level 2: Mace Beam Blast -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(5), ExStrk-Dmg/KB(9), ExStrk-Acc/KB(21), ExStrk-Dam%(23)
Level 4: Wolf Spider Armor -- S'fstPrt-ResKB(A), S'fstPrt-ResDam/EndRdx(43)
Level 6: Hover -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(7), Srng-Fly(34), Srng-EndRdx(36)
Level 8: Build Up -- GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(A), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(36), AdjTgt-Rchg(36), AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg(37)
Level 10: Mace Beam Volley -- Posi-Dmg/Rng(A), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(11), FrcFbk-Rchg/EndRdx(11), FrcFbk-Rechg%(13), Range-I(13), Range-I(15)
Level 12: Poisonous Ray -- Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(A), Thundr-Acc/Dmg(15), ShldBrk-DefDeb(17), ShldBrk-Acc/DefDeb(17), ShldBrk-DefDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(19)
Level 14: Combat Training: Offensive -- Acc-I(A)
Level 16: Tactical Training: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 18: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 20: Tactical Training: Leadership -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(23), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx(25), AdjTgt-ToHit(27), GSFC-Build%(33)
Level 22: Mental Training -- Flight-I(A), Flight-I(34)
Level 24: Cloaking Device -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(25)
Level 26: Tactics -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(27), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx(31), AdjTgt-ToHit(31)
Level 28: Combat Training: Defensive -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(29), GftotA-Def(29), GftotA-Def/EndRdx(31)
Level 30: Surveillance -- DefDeb-I(A)
Level 32: Tactical Training: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(33)
Level 35: Mace Blast -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(37), ExStrk-Dmg/KB(37), ExStrk-Acc/KB(40), ExStrk-Dam%(40)
Level 38: Maneuvers -- Ksmt-Def/EndRdx(A), Ksmt-ToHit+(39), GftotA-Def/EndRdx(39), GftotA-Def(39)
Level 41: Disruptor Blast -- Ragnrk-Dmg(A), Ragnrk-Dmg/Rchg(42), RechRdx-I(43)
Level 44: Call Reinforcements -- CmdPres-Acc/Dmg(A), CmdPres-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45), BldM'dt-Dmg(45), BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg(45), C'Arms-Acc/Rchg(46), C'Arms-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46)
Level 47: Summon Blaster -- ExRmnt-Acc/Rchg(A), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48), ExRmnt-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(48), ExRmnt-+Res(Pets)(48), C'Arms-Acc/Rchg(50), C'Arms-+Def(Pets)(50)
Level 49: Vengeance -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(50)
Level 2: Swift -- Flight-I(A), Flight-I(34)
Level 2: Health -- Mrcl-Heal(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(40), Numna-Heal(42), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(42)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- Adrenal-EndMod(A), Adrenal-EndMod/Rchg(3), EnManip-EndMod(3), EnManip-EndMod/Rchg(7), P'Shift-EndMod(43), P'Shift-End%(46)
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Conditioning
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
------------
------------

Code Select Expand

| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;1504;714;1428;HEX;|
|78DA6594CD4F136110C6DFEDBEB59452686929E5FBB3140A542ADE0D2A922A18129|
|06BB3C24A3769B6647755381AA3468F5E3C89891F512F68A2013FFF10134D8C4713|
|C5881A39189CEE3385401BCA6FFBCCCC33F34EB73BB57CB2666DE2CA31A1C44E143|
|4DBCE8D59DA7CDE2CDAB9996261C1D02DDF59CDB96869055508E1CDDA1774C74757|
|89836976FAB866EAB999256341B7CA6262D6D20CD330177313DAC2A2EEEC4F2A07C|
|35933AF5BBAE9A4CB1781E962B1903E553016F34E9D7B3DA96B5462E78DA52062A5|
|50A9D6FD94352F19B671DE2818CE4A6C7CC9984FCF8D8FCDE6A6B4799DFED98E6EA|
|DC44B43D3DB2FCAAF1D2956091929E45DB0EAB247888814F5CB6074055C0B505C71|
|6B14D148176D5274C6C1EA7288FC9417C2CD972FF7FB45D92FC67EEBE4A7B29FCA3|
|EA918E8A7ED7A1153BD0D8AEB73280476FD057BB6C1D2583EF4567D8F3C883D663E|
|007BEF8135A5B3C3D7EB5FC77CD51BCCAB9C738D99825ECB0C12027CC600EFAC967|
|7165254F74C218FEACE5F2FC1575410443F116C46EE1BD2EA58ABEB82564F0708B3|
|1666ED2DE545A0C9C843CC147B02C6EF83CDAB60E753F01DD534F04E1B7AE0D3C57|
|C46B1468E35F24EE3BCD308F56FE27D3771AF66EED55EEA152572AF0DF269E1DC16|
|F6698D32ABF0FDB54B62528AE794DB869D89B60ECCF19AB40E9EA383EB3B798E2D5|
|A5B37EFB89B77DBCBBBEEE5FB28C9F75192EFA330CD9EE07912DBC2EDDFF78FC973|
|F45581BFC9BF1FFE9EFE2338CFC028981A449FF734DF2072BC831FE033F491B9899|
|CA1AFE0F0278FAB0F7F06FF907F9A6BD39BF03DFC93B9C5FC0566B836F3058CD239|
|4650AB8CF05E3261F01BFDC014DE9972E07BDDDC8BA94A16E74C9E0607CE31E7E0F|
|37D2F5728FDA8FFB1A77995EBD8A9E706F32678E81698BA8DD987EF80AD72F73942|
|7FF412A90A65A442C95428A315CAD10AE58CDC7DFEEC4C5644A7E5EE134828AEE20|
|FD1F305CACE7FBB33F39C|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|

[Eoraptor]

No.  You could still go to the original Icons, and you could still take the trains as before . . . if you wanted.  They weren't removed, so if you wanted to keep to the former ways of traveling, getting new costumes, etc. you could do so.   I'm with others on the heroes taking the subway, T, metro, whatever thing.  It was always a bit weird to me; I could fly!  Why would I take public transportation to fight evil?  :p

Personally, I liked that everything was easier to get to near the end, but I did keep going to the original Icons for costume changes.  I also wasn't into trainers as tailors, so I simply ignored this change completely.   

That was the great thing about the game. when new content was bought in, with a few exceptions, it didn't affect existing content. if you didn't want to mask-up at a trainer you could still haul ass throughout the city to an icon shop. If you didn't like Portals, you could still haul your ass around the city zone by zone through the street system or the trains. when the game added a new feature, you could more or less take it or leave it.

the only thing I think that was well and truly scrapped by an update was the tutorial and level one system that replaced the origin specific contacts with the universal habashy and twinshot arcs on blue side. (that kind of bummed me because it took a lot of thought out of the early game and reduced the importance of origins since everyone played the same early game form then forward)

(I thought the firewalls that you couldn't fly over were enough of an explanation, but later players often didn't learn about those and why they were there)

[Pinnacle Blue]

No.  You could still go to the original Icons, and you could still take the trains as before . . . if you wanted.  They weren't removed, so if you wanted to keep to the former ways of traveling, getting new costumes, etc. you could do so.   I'm with others on the heroes taking the subway, T, metro, whatever thing.  It was always a bit weird to me; I could fly!  Why would I take public transportation to fight evil?  :p

They should've added a long-range flight power to the flight pool like they did with the teleport pool, and given it a name like Up, Up And Away or something.  Although I was glad they merged the Yellow and Green Lines, I never really understood the "wait for the monorail" part of superheroics.

[FatherXmas]

They should've added a long-range flight power to the flight pool like they did with the teleport pool, and given it a name like Up, Up And Away or something.  Although I was glad they merged the Yellow and Green Lines, I never really understood the "wait for the monorail" part of superheroics.

Standard travel time sink component for a subscription based MMO.

[Mantic]

Standard travel time sink component for a subscription based MMO.

Well, you say that, but standing in the bus-station waiting for a train to arrive is markedly different from actually traveling by normal means between point A & B on the map or hopping through a portal shortcut at will in Asheron's Call.

I believe it was really just a thematic way of managing the zone-map divisions of the game that were necessary to balancing performance with urban geometry density back in '03. Now, all the travel-inducing missions, sure, those were a time sink.

[dwturducken]

They should've added a long-range flight power to the flight pool like they did with the teleport pool, and given it a name like Up, Up And Away or something.  Although I was glad they merged the Yellow and Green Lines, I never really understood the "wait for the monorail" part of superheroics.

Afterburner at least made flight faster than ninja run. I never used it around speedsters to see if it leveled the playing field, there. Teleport was always the fastest way to travel, anyway, so I never faulted them giving it the more epic boost. I only had a handful of characters whose concept called for teleport as a travel power, so I never ended up getting much use out of the zone teleport.

[Pinnacle Blue]

Afterburner at least made flight faster than ninja run. I never used it around speedsters to see if it leveled the playing field, there. Teleport was always the fastest way to travel, anyway, so I never faulted them giving it the more epic boost. I only had a handful of characters whose concept called for teleport as a travel power, so I never ended up getting much use out of the zone teleport.

Teleport may have been the fastest power but fine-tuning where you arrived was a bit iffy at times.  I absolutely adored the Jingle Jet for my Warshade but as it wasn't always around, I took Super Speed too.  If I recall correctly, Afterburner was fast, but just a hair slower than Super Speed.  Combined with Nebulous Form and Combat Jumping, I could get to most mission doors/objectives faster than my teammates, especially in Striga.