New efforts!

[Mistress Urd]

It was not 10 contacts. It was 5. The ones in Galaxy handed out the same missions, literally the same missions, as the ones in Atlas.

Second, they all handed out the exact same kind of missions with no story or resolution. They just stopped spamming warehouse missions when you reached a certain level. The "story" was Hellions are getting artifacts. Well, guess what? Never resolved. Never mentioned again. All of them were like that. Oh The Vaz. Oh the Council. They are up to no good but you find out more later because this story just stops. Oh wait, no you don't because none of it's ever referenced again.

You don't get to fight any super villains, you don't do anything that has any consequence, you don't save a man's missing wife and get to see her next to him every time you visit Atlas. have you forgotten that there are multiple paths within that arc? Also that you get to make actual choices in how it concludes?

Did none of you actually play the original 5 arcs but me or do just not remember how "nothing happens at all" these missions were?

I would rather have 1 good story that 5 near identical crappy ones.  But hey, just add them as an additional contact when you get off the helicopter if you must visit the burning warehouse and fight hellions. Or maybe just walk across the street and street sweep. Oh yeah that is one of the engrossing missions. "Go arrest 5 Hellions" the ever popular "Patrol Atlas Park" or maybe "Visit Galaxy Girl/Atlas plaque".

Yeah, I played the original arcs, I had Azuria send me out waaaaay deep into Hollows to get the locket. One wonders why folks did sewer runs. Yep, the missions are all generic types, but if you ran them you were usually level 5-6 and ready for Kings Row.

Lets not forget how well fighting AVs went when you ran into them in CoV before it was possible to downgrade them to EBs.

[Ohioknight]

Unreal Engine 4 is a complete game engine. It handles everything from graphics to gameplay to User Interface on it's own.

So long as you're an FPS? Or am I misunderstanding.

[AlienOne]

So long as you're an FPS? Or am I misunderstanding.

No... It's not limited to FPS. The Batman: Arkham Asylum series (which is 3rd person) was built on the Unreal engine, as was the Gears of War series (also 3rd person). All the third-person Splinter Cell games were built in Unreal. Lineage II was also built on the Unreal engine, and we all know that's an MMO.

DC Universe Online is built on Unreal engine 3, as is NCSoft's upcoming "Blade and Soul." That game trilogy "Mass Effect?" Yup. That's Unreal as well.

Not sure how familiar you are with smart phone gaming, but the game "Infinity Blade" on iOS is also the Unreal engine. The fighting game Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe was also created in the Unreal engine. If I'm not mistaken, the newer fighting game "Injustice: Gods Among Us" is also Unreal. The MMO "Tera" is Unreal.

It's a complete game engine.

[Cailyn Alaynn]

So long as you're an FPS? Or am I misunderstanding.

Using Unreal doesn't mean you have to be an FPS. FPS, TPS, MMORPG, Racing game, Side scroller... Heck, You could build a Card game with it.

[LaughingAlex]

No... It's not limited to FPS. The Batman: Arkham Asylum series (which is 3rd person) was built on the Unreal engine, as was the Gears of War series (also 3rd person). All the third-person Splinter Cell games were built in Unreal. Lineage II was also built on the Unreal engine, and we all know that's an MMO.

DC Universe Online is built on Unreal engine 3, as is NCSoft's upcoming "Blade and Soul." That game trilogy "Mass Effect?" Yup. That's Unreal as well.

Not sure how familiar you are with smart phone gaming, but the game "Infinity Blade" on iOS is also the Unreal engine. The fighting game Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe was also created in the Unreal engine. If I'm not mistaken, the newer fighting game "Injustice: Gods Among Us" is also Unreal.

It's a complete game engine.

Mortal Kombat 9 is also Unreal Engine 3.  Mortal Kombat X is supposedly being developed on UE3 as well according to the wiki but I ponder if it's really UE4 instead.  Really not sure about that one, is being developed on one or the other.

[AlienOne]

Hell, Zumba Fitness on Wii was done in the Unreal engine...

The next Unreal Tournament is being "community-sourced" (as in people from all over the world are contributing to the build), so I'm not sure there is much the newest Unreal engine can't do...

[Cailyn Alaynn]

City of Titans, and Revival are both being done in Unreal Engine 4 as well.

[Felderburg]

...and get to see her next to him every time you visit Atlas.

Whaaaaaattt??!?? 

I would rather have 1 good story that 5 near identical crappy ones.  But hey, just add them as an additional contact when you get off the helicopter if you must visit the burning warehouse and fight hellions. Or maybe just walk across the street and street sweep. Oh yeah that is one of the engrossing missions. "Go arrest 5 Hellions" the ever popular "Patrol Atlas Park" or maybe "Visit Galaxy Girl/Atlas plaque".

Why not have 5 good stories? The point is, there's got to be multiple stories to play at the beginning of the game, or people like me will get annoyed and disappointed. Sure, I could go to the sewers and get to whatever higher level quickly, but that doesn't give me the chance to level up my characters the way I want to. I took ages to find a villain I liked playing, power sets wise, and it took me so long not because I didn't like the gameplay of certain sets, but because I was reluctant to play from the same two people over and over again.

While Positron's blog indicated that he was against alt-ing, and was trying to focus more on single-character endgame, I think it should be quite clear that playing many alts is a strength of the game. And for some, different powers are not enough to vary those lower levels - there's got to be good stories too. Yes, the original missions weren't the best - in fact, I have been advocating against porting them into CoH2 because I assume that a new engine will be able to have innovative and engaging missions from the start. The AMA indicates that the whole storyline would have been reworked in I24 to solve the issues you brought up of dangling plotlines, as well - so that surely would have helped (http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Lore_AMA/Sorted#305).

I always thought a GREAT way to do CoH2 would be to make it an alternate universe in the style of Crisis on Infinite Earths. [snip]

This is a REALLY good idea. I really like it. I don't think it will work for CoH2, just because an entirely new universe "like" the old one, will rub too many people the wrong way, but I really like the idea. A lot.

[LaughingAlex]

Hell, Zumba Fitness on Wii was done in the Unreal engine...

The next Unreal Tournament is being "community-sourced" (as in people from all over the world are contributing to the build), so I'm not sure there is much the newest Unreal engine can't do...

....Just looked up UT being sourced, oh wow, about time they did something there.  I was feeling epic games had moved on from UT.

[MWRuger]

Whaaaaaattt??!?? 

Why not have 5 good stories? The point is, there's got to be multiple stories to play at the beginning of the game, or people like me will get annoyed and disappointed. Sure, I could go to the sewers and get to whatever higher level quickly, but that doesn't give me the chance to level up my characters the way I want to. I took ages to find a villain I liked playing, power sets wise, and it took me so long not because I didn't like the gameplay of certain sets, but because I was reluctant to play from the same two people over and over again.

While Positron's blog indicated that he was against alt-ing, and was trying to focus more on single-character endgame, I think it should be quite clear that playing many alts is a strength of the game. And for some, different powers are not enough to vary those lower levels - there's got to be good stories too. Yes, the original missions weren't the best - in fact, I have been advocating against porting them into CoH2 because I assume that a new engine will be able to have innovative and engaging missions from the start. The AMA indicates that the whole storyline would have been reworked in I24 to solve the issues you brought up of dangling plotlines, as well - so that surely would have helped (http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Lore_AMA/Sorted#305).

Yeah, if you save her, she is next to him. If you don't she's not. It's one of those new tech things they did near the end where they gave you a more personal view of the world based on what you did.


Hey, Don't get me wrong, I'm totally for more great stories at all levels of play. But it has been advocated several times on this thread that moving to the Hashby arc was a mistake and the origin arcs were better and that it should be undone. Naturally, some may feel that way but I have to wonder if they remember those arcs. With over a hundred alts I ran them enough times that I usually skipped them in favor of streetsweeping to get ninja run and run just enough of them to hit 5. Go to King's Row and get scanner. What for the call to the Hallows.

I never skipped Hashby. Or Faultline. I usually did Striga or Croatoa (depending on the character Phantom Traveler gets Croatoa and G9 Battle Ace gets Striga) . Yeah, it was the same arc I had done before but the story was good and it made me feel heroic.

But I'm all for good alternatives. So if the Devs that Be want to design a bunch of great opening arcs...here's my money, let's play!

[Everfreefire]

I never skipped Hashby. Or Faultline. I usually did Striga or Croatoa (depending on the character Phantom Traveler gets Croatoa and G9 Battle Ace gets Striga) . Yeah, it was the same arc I had done before but the story was good and it made me feel heroic.

Thinking about Striga, the fact I never ran the TF there (Ernesto Hess?) always bothered me. I'll have to do that when we get the game back.

[Goddangit]

Thinking about Striga, the fact I never ran the TF there (Ernesto Hess?) always bothered me. I'll have to do that when we get the game back.

Theres a lot of content I never played, especially on the villain side.  If it stays in maintenance mode for a couple of years while they're building CoH2, I suspect I can keep myself entertained.

[Everfreefire]

No suspecting about it. I *know* I can keep myself entertained.

[ukaserex]

Yeah, I played the original arcs, I had Azuria send me out waaaaay deep into Hollows to get the locket. One wonders why folks did sewer runs. Yep, the missions are all generic types, but if you ran them you were usually level 5-6 and ready for Kings Row.

Lets not forget how well fighting AVs went when you ran into them in CoV before it was possible to downgrade them to EBs.

Well...back in the day, getting to that mission deep in the Hollows led you to a rather lengthy guantlet in a zone with no hospital, so you'd rez back in Atlas Park or Skyway, depending on which city you'd entered the Hollows from - more than likely Atlas. And then you had to try and get there again, unless you were fortunate to have someone on the team with recall friend, and that friend actually got there.

The challenge was worth the effort initially. But once we got those nifty temp powers and a travel power early on, there was really nothing compelling about revisiting the story. At least, not for me. I like sitcoms, but I'm not going to watch the same one each day or each week.
The thrill of the sewers was you had literally a team of new characters leveling up very fast - much faster than the story arcs, simpy because you weren't bogged down with that traveling to and fro. A good collection of players will create dialogue - which is generally more entertaining than a story you've already experienced.
Just my two cents.

[Mouse-Man]

The addition of the new lowbie missions in Atlas park should not have subtracted from the existing lowbie missions. I honestly don't understand the logic of ripping the old arcs out to jam the new one down our throats...

Isn't there room for both?

[AlienOne]

The addition of the new lowbie missions in Atlas park should not have subtracted from the existing lowbie missions. I honestly don't understand the logic of ripping the old arcs out to jam the new one down our throats...

Isn't there room for both?

That's where I stand... Contrary to what the indecisive types out there think, when it comes to games, more choices are ALWAYS better. Why? Because when you're creating an MMO, you're trying to cater to a VERY LARGE audience.

We all know that everyone is not exactly the same. We're not all robots. We don't all think alike. We don't all like the same things. There's proof of that in this very thread. Some people like the journey to 50, some people like being 50. Some people like the invention system, some people didn't bother with it. Some people spent a ton of time alting, some people had just a couple mains they spent most of their time on. Some people liked certain archetypes, and others liked different ones. Some people liked badging, some people didn't care for it. Some people liked newer story arcs, others preferred the originals. So....why would you take out some things that part of your audience likes to insert something that another part of your audience likes? Why not keep both? That way, the audience that likes one can keep doing their thing, and the audience that likes the other has something for them to do!

I realize the argument can be made that "we're trying to get everyone to join together and do this one thing," but a developer needs to realize this:

You're not going to be able to do that.

You can't 'force' your audience to do something you want them to do. You can't develop your own standard of "this is how I think you SHOULD play games." Well, you can, but...if you develop a reputation for trying to do that, you become the next Jack Emmert and risk alienating a very large portion of your audience (and in the end accomplish exactly the opposite of what you were intending to do).

A "you should only do things MY way!" is a dictator mentality, and doesn't belong anywhere in a CoH universe.

[SpectaPhantom]

Spoiler for Hidden:

https://i.imgur.com/mAFcKC6.jpg

Funny enough this was on reddit. It's an image from the newest Unreal Tournament. That's pretty darn good if you ask me.

[AlienOne]

Spoiler for Hidden:

https://i.imgur.com/mAFcKC6.jpg

Funny enough this was on reddit. It's an image from the newest Unreal Tournament. That's pretty darn good if you ask me.

Wow, that's incredible....

[Saedor]

The addition of the new lowbie missions in Atlas park should not have subtracted from the existing lowbie missions. I honestly don't understand the logic of ripping the old arcs out to jam the new one down our throats...

Isn't there room for both?

The 'logic' to it was that that was what other free-to-play games (including their main competitor at the time, Champions Online) were doing. I didn't like the change either (or the new tutorial) as it made CoX seem like it was copying CO.

[BraveStar]

I was recently lured over to SWTOR again and, as I played through the first missions again, I realized some of the things that I loved about CoH. Everyone started out in the same few locations. When you pop out of the tutorial you found yourself in a big crowd of fellow players (particularly with Atlas Park). Yet, everyone was their own person. There were rarely any characters that looked even remotely alike (except when that was obviously the intention). There were lots of conversations going on in local and you immediately felt like part of a community. Everyone might be running around on vastly different tasks, but it all focused around city hall.

I loved the new story arcs we got in the last couple of years, but I have to agree that I missed the different starting stories for each AT. It was especially nice for alt-o-holics like myself because by the time we got back around to an particular AT, we'd half forgotten the starting missions and could enjoy them all over again instead of feeling like it was just a grind. Perhaps, in essence, those starting missions weren't really any different, but the flavor of each one was different and that difference was very enjoyable.