Feeling powerless today.

[Randomvector]

Just, feeling really powerless today. I think this has been my problem for the past 7 months.
Sent my letter to google today, and just wish I had more, I dunno, agency.
The only reason I want to win the lottery is to have enough money to bring back paragon studios.
But I have not the ability to generate those kind of funds on my own.

Thank you for putting up with me venting about my emotional state. Carry on.

[Dragonicism]

Hey, I was just sitting down again and playing Champions Online in the meantime. It's just painful to play, though... It's not that it's a bad game, it's just that it reminds me to strongly of City of Heroes. I really miss the simple running around, the scenery, the music...

I mean, the Renaissance Center of CO just demands the music from Aeon City. The dockyards beg for the tune from the Devil's Coat Tails sub-zone of Cap au Diable, and the CO dance club reminds me of Praetoria's Studio 55. It was always fun to come in to see a werewolf on the dance floor, sit down in a booth, and chill out while RPing with someone. I also miss the fact that Virtue was always ACTIVE. You had helpful people, you could find a group, you could get things done.

Ah, well... I suppose an absence like this can only make the heart grow fonder. Pardon me while I dry my eyes.



EDIT, now with dried eyes: I'm not saying to go play CO or forget about CoH. I share your feeling of powerlessness, and while I could paint NCSoft as evil, that's too malicious of a term. Judging by recent posts, it seems more like sheer ineptitude led them to close our city. I want Paragon and CoH back as much as the next guy, and the future DOES look bleak... But it's still a future, and we can aim to make it better. We might still see our city again, might still walk about within the Pocket D. We might even get to remake all of our old characters, and see what the next issue could've been. May as well have a little hope, Vector. We've not exhausted all of our avenues yet.

[NecrotechMaster]

the newest version of the icon program allows you to run around a select few empty zones (or fly)

while there are no other players or NPC spawns it definitely helps

[Quinch]

Although you can spawn NPCs on your own, if you want.

[Randomvector]

ICON helps.

[Phaetan]

Persistent NPCs (such as trainers or Turndown Girl in Pocket D) are now spawned in Icon 1.7  They appears to just go to the default pose instead of their normal action, but they are there.  And you can make them do the proper emote, and spawn others to fill things out.

Also, you can make NPCs wear the contents of a costume file now, allowing, for example, a group shot of all of your alts in one place to be generated.

[Quinch]

See, now... now I'm tempted to make a bind load file that spawns all the NPCs in a zone and makes them do their usual emotes.

[Thunder Glove]

The really depressing part is that CoH was the game I played when the real world was making me feel powerless.

So the last six months have been a double-whammy of powerlessness.

[JanessaVR]

Try working 14 hours a day, 7 days a week and you won't have time to feel much of anything.  Seems to be working for me, at present...

[Dragonicism]

I *JUST* loaded up ICON. This is the first I've ever heard of it, and... I cried. I really cried. To see Nerva Archipelago, in all of its dark grittiness again... It's so, so worth it. I promptly BSOD'd the instant I clicked on an Archon just a little way from my teleport-in point, but I don't care. I got to see a CoH zone again, just for a minute or so.

CodeWalker now has nothing but my utmost respect and adoration. I passed the link to ICON and info off to a friend that's also still having withdrawal pains, and... Well. This friend just wants a single travel power to work, in terms of animation/speed/jump height: beast run. I can understand why: nostalgia value. To be able to run/fly around, even without the 'active' NPCs (citizens, baddies, etc.) is priceless.

It isn't playing the game, but it's a fix. It's a walk down memory lane. It's a tiny candle of hope, burning all alone in the ugly darkness. I just hope NC isn't like the joker with this... That it doesn't just laugh, and blow it out.

[NecrotechMaster]

iirc the F1 key will toggle fly, but i think thats the only one that was in there last i know

[Super Firebug]

No, it's the 1 key, above TAB, that toggles Flight. F1 lets you type in a map name to go to, but, thankfully, Wyldhunt simplified that with his popmenu.

--Super Firebug

One thing we know from comic books: Heroes get knocked down, but they don't stay down!

[Caradavina]

I tried Champions Online, didn't like it. Didn't remind me of COH, now DC Universe made me ache for COH and I didn't like that one much either. Champions online is too far away for my taste and what's with the odd outlining of people?? I had a rough time with the gameplay as well. Right now I'm playing Rift, WoW, Everquest II, LoTRO, and doing some beta testing and NONE of it is good enough for what I had in COH - the community, the gameplay, the character customizations and powers - nothing compares, really. 

[General Idiot]

...and what's with the odd outlining of people??

It's meant to make it look more like a comic book, or something. Personally I think Cryptic missed the mark there, it just looks ugly. Fortunately, there's an option to disable it in the graphics settings. Turning it off even increases performance.

[LaughingAlex]

Personally I dislike champions online horribly weak support.  It's limited to, practically, nothing but healing and adding the occasional shield onto someone(that has  no damage resistance so these "shields" bust easy, unlike personal force fields.).  Crowd control is limited in use in that ALL forms of crowd control breaks when the mobs are taking damage and it's made even worst when the only real buffs that affects the team in a good way are the aura of primal majesty(which sadly, needs to be toned down, it boosts the users damage more then offensive passives currently)and aura of radiant protection.  And both unfortionately are confined to a very limited theme.  Debuff effects are very minor as well and don't reduce any need for self healing.  Course a healer isn't needed, but only cause everyone playin freeform can become super self sufficient.

[JaguarX]

  Course a healer isn't needed, but only cause everyone playin freeform can become super self sufficient.

yeah.

Although, seen many complaints about other games where a charcter cant be self sufficient and healers are needed to team, aka some of the classic "holy trinity" based games. Although I think COX found a decent medium somewhat, although a bit more on the teaming non-self sufficient side in many cases IMO. Unfortunately not ever game maker will take the COX path and some dont want to. There are plenty of games where a team without a healer/buffer/debuffer is doomed. In CO, healer/buffer/debuffer might find themselves feeling somewhat useless. I think there is a way to actually give them a role or something when teamed up. I think maybe some content where an enemy is immune to something unless ya have a specific debuff or something. But then that probably would get howls of discontent in any game that is not already like that as being unfair to those that dont play or have a healer or debuffer. IN a way CO kind of did that. Most success teams that I been on at least usually had a debuffer or two. Yes ya can do it and succeed without debuffer but it either had to be made up by DPS, which seems the path chosen by many or by other means. Alot of people have trouble with the worm guy Ao'p(Something) without a debuffer. In CO, people are so used to being self sufficient in most content that they dont bother with stuff where they find themselves not self suffiecient i.e. there is not limit of people lined up to do Rockjaw or something of the likes but much hesitation in the Que when Ao'p(somthing) shows up in the que.  Thus the question is HOW to make healer/debuffer/buffers useful without watering down everyone else or making it seemed forced? Me personally, if I want to be forced to bring a healer/debuffer/buffer everywhere I go for every thing I wish to accomplish, there are hundreds of other games that have that mechanic that is far more better in execution and population to do such and thus, if they did make it forced, then there would be no point in playing CO and might as well go where the population is greater, to increase chance of finding one, and game that is better done, and not worry about building a well built toon because either way no mattter what I still will have to depend on a healer/debuffer/buffer either way. But even in COX, I mostly built to be self suffiecent because after a while I realized that a healer/debuffer/buffer may not always and have been lots of cases when one wasnt either around or interested in the arc path I was on or the current TF/trial I was aiming to do.

Although I dont get the taking damge weakens a hold or control power mechanic. That one have me truely baffled at who thought that wasa good idea and I think that is one thing that is a decent sized portion of why controls feel weak in CO, especially in the two minute alert thing and just teams in general. But at the same time kind of enjoy not being barked at for attacking a mob that is under a control "Hey dotn attack that guy, I have him confused." "Dont attack that guy, he's the anchor so no AOEs" "dont attack that guy he's sleep." "Dont attack that guy, he's debuffed." Then who the hell am I supposed to attack? :p Now what is the point of being a damage toon at all now and having mob clearing AOEs?  I dont think being self sufficient is a bad thing especially in ag ame with as small of a population as CO. Trying to find teams on small population games can be a bore. Hell, COX had probably twice if not more times the population than CO and even then sometimes at certain times on certain days was hard to find a team even without factoring in the interest or lack of interest in that particular task ya aim to do. In hundreds of games where the population is in the millions or near, healers are a dime of dozen just like the rest of the types available.


CO seems to be on the other end of the spectrum. Yet, I think it fits the concept well as most comic book heroes are actually very self sufficient and actually heroes working together is not exactly the norm. Groups, you have Fantastic Four, Xmen from time to time (outside the Wolverine solo spin off stuff), watchmen (although Rorschach (Mispell maybe), Doc. M., and Comedian do stuff solo from time to time although bacially Doc M. is very self sufficient) and...I"m sure there are more but just cant think of any, but majority of heroes work alone and are self-sufficient besides a few that may have a person or two that help with the up keep of equipment. I think outside of Justice League and the Wonder Twins each of the heroes mostly worked alone.

[LT. Couper]

To me, CO isnt bad, but obviously, there are those factors that make it different from CoH. For me, even with the graphics on the highest settings, it's still kinda pixely. The archetypes are too limiting; each archetype only having one type of powers, where in CoH, there were tons of combinations of powersets.
It DOES have its costume creator going for it though. Lots of options, colors, and specifics, especially good for those awesome asymetrical costumes. I just wish it had some of CoH's costume options. Mainly the robotic arms and helmets.

Now about Icon... I haven't checked in, in a while, so I'm just now finding out about the ability to explore maps? I got Icon a little while back, so would I need to update it or anything?

[General Idiot]

The archetypes are too limiting; each archetype only having one type of powers, where in CoH, there were tons of combinations of powersets.

That's less of a problem with the game itself, and more a problem with the boneheaded decision some idiot at Cryptic made to lock the game's best and most unique feature away from free players. That being the freeform character building which you only get if you're subscribed or pay $50 for a freeform slot.

Personally, my ideal game is still CoH's team and social mechanics and massive variety of available powers, CO's freeform system and character creator, and DCUO's shiny graphics.

[srmalloy]

CO seems to be on the other end of the spectrum. Yet, I think it fits the concept well as most comic book heroes are actually very self sufficient and actually heroes working together is not exactly the norm. Groups, you have Fantastic Four, Xmen from time to time (outside the Wolverine solo spin off stuff), watchmen (although Rorschach (Mispell maybe), Doc. M., and Comedian do stuff solo from time to time although bacially Doc M. is very self sufficient) and...I"m sure there are more but just cant think of any, but majority of heroes work alone and are self-sufficient besides a few that may have a person or two that help with the up keep of equipment. I think outside of Justice League and the Wonder Twins each of the heroes mostly worked alone.

I think the original intent of supergroups was that the members would be doing TFs and missions together... but the realities overtook that early. It might have been different had there been TF-like content available from a contact in an SG base that could only be done by teams made up of that SG's members, so there would be some encouragement for the SG members to go out on missions as a group.

[Super Firebug]

Now about Icon... I haven't checked in, in a while, so I'm just now finding out about the ability to explore maps? I got Icon a little while back, so would I need to update it or anything?

Yep, the latest version is 1.7. You'll find it under Multimedia, in the first post in the sticky at the top. Links to other Icon-related stuff here.