If it happens, then what?

[NightWolf]

This might just be me, but I think Cryptic is working on City of 2. Why I say this the producer of star trek online has been moved to making a new mmo. I have a feeling it is going to be the aforementioned City of 2. And I have learned to trust my feelings.

It is interesting to see  that there is coh.com, which leads to the well known: http://www.coh.com/en/sunset.php
But it seems like coh2.com and coh3.com also link to that page. Wonder what their intention was for those domain names. (both created 5 years after the original coh.com)

[Hyperstrike]

Champions is not getting the kind of attention and support that STO and Neverwinter get, but in the last year or so it has gotten more attention than it had for about a year prior. Barring a major investment by Cryptic and Perfect World, it's never going to reach its full potential, but per Trailturtle they are pleased with the success that it does have.  It's also the one game Cryptic owns outright, and I think that's going to keep it around as much as anything else.

I wouldn't be displeased if Cryptic came up with a game closer in style to COH than CO, but I like both playing styles so I'd play both. :D

It doesn't get the attention because the IP is self-owned.  So there's no license holder standing behind them with a club, pushing them to perform.
There's also the fact that Champions just isn't a huge name.  Even in the PnP gaming.  They're well known and well capitalized.  But they're just not "huge".  Now something like Catan?  THAT is huge.  I don't really "get" the appeal of Catan, but it's still massive.

[Illusionss]

If it happens...Well.

Let's just bring up something..


Here's city of heroes.
https://images.weserv.nl/?url=mygaming.co.za%2Fnews%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F03%2FcityOfHeroes.jpg

Here's one of the latest generation of video games, Grand Theft Auto V.
https://images.weserv.nl/?url=media1.gameinformer.com%2Fimagefeed%2Fscreenshots%2FGrandTheftAutoV%2FRSG_GTAV_Screenshot_030.jpg

Even if COH comes back, it's been left light years in the dust with regards to graphics, game dynamics, storyline and overall detail. It will always hold a special place in our hearts, but without a complete overhaul it won't be able to compete.

Me, I am greedy. I want all that CoX was, AND ALSO new and improved souped-up graphics that will make us fall in love all over again. I keep reminding myself that setting the bar too high means inevitable disappointment. Baby steps.

I think what all of us need is something to keep us busy. Once CoT rolls out, we'll be very busy and this will make the wait for the inevitable underground server a lot more bearable.

[Golden Girl]

Graphics-wise, chasing ultra-realism is pointless for MMOs, as they need too much post-launch investment to keep them looking up to date - which is why so many MMOs use a more stylized look, as it extends the shelf-life of the graphics.
That's why WoW has only just started getting around to updating its character models, and why Wildstar and EQN are taking a similar stylize route for their looks.
Ultra-realism also isn't suitable for a comic book game, as it's too far from the source material - when CoH updated its graphics, they simply added more detail rather than changing the style, which was well-suited to a comic book game.

[MaidMercury]

Should I throw out my 80's music because it is 'dated'?...Minecraft looks like old school Nintendo but it seems popular.

CoH, the way it was, updated or not, is my game of choice. Graphics don't capture the sense of community we had....most GTA players I know, play awhile and drop off.

[healix]

MaidMercury, you nailed it.

[Little David]

Though you have to admit, it would be kind of cool seeing what City of Heroes would be like with one of the GTA engines ...

Alas, Rockstar and NCSoft would make it rain blood if someone ever tried that.

[GenericHero05]

Should I throw out my 80's music because it is 'dated'?...Minecraft looks like old school Nintendo but it seems popular.

CoH, the way it was, updated or not, is my game of choice. Graphics don't capture the sense of community we had....most GTA players I know, play awhile and drop off.

Spot On!

[Triplash]

Should I throw out my 80's music because it is 'dated'?...Minecraft looks like old school Nintendo but it seems popular.

CoH, the way it was, updated or not, is my game of choice. Graphics don't capture the sense of community we had....most GTA players I know, play awhile and drop off.

Exactly! 80's music rocks (a lot of it anyway), and even with the parts I don't like, Minecraft is still my second favorite video game of all time. So I completely agree that "new and shiny" definitely does not beat "tested and proven".

Plus, in Minecraft's case, it uses newer graphics technology all over the place; it just looks like it's an older style. It was a design choice to give it a charming, classic appearance. A choice which seems to have been embraced very well, considering that Minecraft is currently the third best selling PC game with over 14 million copies sold.


See, there's something you have to remember about people who only look for the "best" graphics. They're never going to be satisfied. No amount of technical improvement is ever going to be enough for them; they will always want the next step, and the next, and the next. Solid gameplay and fun storylines don't matter to them, or are very much secondary in their mind. If graphics are all they care about, then they will always - and I mean always - instantly move on to the next thing.

When gameplay is what matters to a player, or storyline, or a particular style, then they tend to stick with it even if the game has other aspects they don't really enjoy. But when the graphics are a game's strongest feature, even its biggest supporters will move on and not look back. Nostalgia for a game like that usually amounts to laughing at how much you used to like it, and wondering how you ever put up with all the flaws.

[Golden Girl]

CoH managed to have a comic book art style without being hideous like CO.

[Brou]

CoH managed to have a comic book art style without being hideous like CO.

Dare you to do better, or do at all. :)

[Thunder Glove]

Dare you to do better, or do at all. :)

... interesting dare.

[Aggelakis]

Dare you to do better, or do at all. :)

You do realize she's the head of www.heroes-and-villains.com right?

[Brou]

You do realize she's the head of www.heroes-and-villains.com right?

That's why I said it. :)

[healix]

https://i.imgur.com/i41Nsdt.png

[Drauger9]

*hides*

[LadyShin]

https://images.weserv.nl/?url=www.portalprelude.com%2Fimages%2Fnews%2Fchallengers.jpg

[Illusionss]

I was not disrespecting CoX's graphics, I'd just like to see what CoT does with an up-to-date engine. We could have both: old school AND new.

God knows I am worn out with the ugliness in CO. The male face [the ONE that they have] is so ugly that I cant force myself to roll a male alt there, and I notice that many of the male alts I do see are helmeted or heavily masked.

They have three dinky zones there. How many did CoX have, like... 29?!!! Little zones, big zones, giant zones, dark zones sunshiny zones space zones this that and the other. Many of them very beautiful. CO is to CoX as a newspaper ad insert is to The Complete Works of Shakespeare.

[Little David]

I imagine that if City of Heroes hadn't been killed off by NCSoft, we would be seeing more normal map tricks like they were starting to do with the Steampunk update, to try and improve the quality of the graphics without having to mess with the actual poly density too much. It really did help mask the fact that CoH's character meshes were of a poly density close to that of Quake 3 Arena's models.

I bring this up mainly as a counterpoint to the people who are saying that "City of Heroes didn't NEED a graphics update, it was perfect the way it was!" City of Heroes never had a stagnant level of graphics quality. Cryptic and Paragon were always trying to find ways to improve it as time went on. Newer zones looked better than older zones, and whenever they went back and revamped a zone, they wound up improving the quality of the graphics there.

It's true that graphics quality standards will be a never-ending treadmill for the foreseeable future, and you will get idiots who sneer at games in development as having the graphics from games five years ago. On the other hand, there's absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to see your favorite games get a visual facelift, to bring them closer to contemporary standards of graphics quality.

Half-Life 1 got it in the form of Black Mesa.

Command and Conquer: Renegade got it in the form of Renegade X.

And you know what? I would still want to see what City of Heroes would be like if it used an engine like the ones in the Grand Theft Auto series. Not just because the newer engines have a lot more contemporary graphics technology available, but because the GTA engines would allow for all of Paragon City to be simulated, rather than as a collection of walled-off zones.

[doc7924]

Should I throw out my 80's music because it is 'dated'?...Minecraft looks like old school Nintendo but it seems popular.

CoH, the way it was, updated or not, is my game of choice. Graphics don't capture the sense of community we had....most GTA players I know, play awhile and drop off.

Exactly - the graphics were great for what it was and certainly was improved on since 2004.
Even if we never got any updates ever I would take the game back in a heartbeat.