New efforts!

[ryuplaneswalker]

Yes, hope is good.

Forever hope.

*morgan freeman voice* "Hope is the best of things...I hope I can make it to the boarder...I hope I can see my friend again.."

[JennSpace]

That even isn't even a good reason at this point with what they've done lately.  Honestly though it's half understandable at this rate.  For me, DCUO is the better option of the two, at least I can have fun with different weapon styles and i'm not averse to playing an action game.  It's just DCUO is made more for consoles, not pc, and it's audience is made for those who'd want a more fighting style game which is fine.

But CO's audience was the same people playing CoX and it's just caving into repeat bait and switch now, often unintentional, but now people are seriously catching on to it and also seriously mad at having lost 200+ dollars to a nerf.  Some ask for money back, even.  The game cannot survive if they keep doing that, and I don't think they'll be around by the time CoX comes back at this rate.  CO will shut down long before any of the spiritual successors or CoX comes back I feel, and it's just cause it's so underhanded like that.  It's a shame, but, it had only survived with CoX going down however temporary that shut down at this rate will be.  And now it cannot even survive on that crutch the way it is.

One thing I absolutely despited with Champions was how lockboxes worked. I have no problem paying for additional content I know I will like, I did both in CoX and CO but at least in City I was sure I'd get what I'm paying for!! In Champions, it's like the lottery, you have some odds to get this vehicle or that piece of clothing and I'd become completly enraged after spending a few dollars and getting nothing good. At least I didn't do it much, I maybe spent maximum $20 but I always felt this was very cheap of whoever said this is how this would work in this game.

[Noyjitat]

That even isn't even a good reason at this point with what they've done lately.  Honestly though it's half understandable at this rate.  For me, DCUO is the better option of the two, at least I can have fun with different weapon styles and i'm not averse to playing an action game.  It's just DCUO is made more for consoles, not pc, and it's audience is made for those who'd want a more fighting style game which is fine.

But CO's audience was the same people playing CoX and it's just caving into repeat bait and switch now, often unintentional, but now people are seriously catching on to it and also seriously mad at having lost 200+ dollars to a nerf.  Some ask for money back, even.  The game cannot survive if they keep doing that, and I don't think they'll be around by the time CoX comes back at this rate.  CO will shut down long before any of the spiritual successors or CoX comes back I feel, and it's just cause it's so underhanded like that.  It's a shame, but, it had only survived with CoX going down however temporary that shut down at this rate will be.  And now it cannot even survive on that crutch the way it is.

DCUO has it's moments (despite the fact that I only like combos in games like street fighter)  but the way they do difficulty increases for the different tiers in that game sucks... The Ace Chemicals Daily area comes to mind... When you suddenly have issues fighting 3 npcs at once because EVERYTHING MELTS even a tank. And I couldn't tell a difference even after getting the entire hazmat gear unlocked. It's something like enemies have a 30% damage bonus against you and your attacks do 30% less damage to them at that tier.

Where dcuo fails at it makes up with story, graphics and voice acting.  But it tried too hard to be the super hero version of wow in regards to endgame.

CO has a lack of content, poor endgame and too much stuff in lockboxes. But you're characters get to feel super for the most part.

[LaughingAlex]

DCUO has it's moments (despite the fact that I only like combos in games like street fighter)  but the way they do difficulty increases for the different tiers in that game sucks... The Ace Chemicals Daily area comes to mind... When you suddenly have issues fighting 3 npcs at once because EVERYTHING MELTS even a tank. And I couldn't tell a difference even after getting the entire hazmat gear unlocked. It's something like enemies have a 30% damage bonus against you and your attacks do 30% less damage to them at that tier.

Where dcuo fails at it makes up with story, graphics and voice acting.  But it tried too hard to be the super hero version of wow in regards to endgame.

CO has a lack of content, poor endgame and too much stuff in lockboxes. But you're characters get to feel super for the most part.

Unless they nerf you in CO :/ and make whatever you had useless.  I also feel it's not that your powerful in CO, but every enemy is specially weakened so your curb stomping them all the time.  About 99.9% of the content is so easy because enemy damage is extremely low in general, theres almost never a risk of dying unless your an especially underpowered archtype and you actively try to get destroyed.

I do agree DCUO does have some good story telling at points, though I feel the villain side is clearly the better early on.  But I also agree that they really went overkill with the grind.  It at least, from what I notice, shows improvement in content writing over time I notice(the earlier stuff and whatnot you get overshadowed by someone else all the time, especially the batman archs).

Edit: I also don't really feel super as many plots in the game are all about going out of your way to attack a group and bag some bad guy that hasn't really done anything at times.  Only a couple here and there(kevin poe, some nemesis archs ect) but it's almost like the heroes are acting and the villains are just reacting, which is never good for writing.  Note that this edit is refering to CO, not DCUO.

[Blackstar5]

One thing I absolutely despited with Champions was how lockboxes worked. I have no problem paying for additional content I know I will like, I did both in CoX and CO but at least in City I was sure I'd get what I'm paying for!! In Champions, it's like the lottery, you have some odds to get this vehicle or that piece of clothing and I'd become completly enraged after spending a few dollars and getting nothing good. At least I didn't do it much, I maybe spent maximum $20 but I always felt this was very cheap of whoever said this is how this would work in this game.

All 3 Cryptic/PWE games have lockboxes.

[Thunder Glove]

CoH did have the lockbox-like Super Packs, which a lot of players complained about, but which seemed to be making money for the company.  CO does it for the same reason.  A lot of players (myself included, though I don't play CO anymore) don't like it and are very vocal about it, but a lot more players are paying real money for those keys.

I never bought Super packs, though.  I did buy Staff Fighting and (in the days before the Paragon Market) the "Super Booster: Mutant" pack.

I also agree with "I also feel it's not that your powerful in CO, but every enemy is specially weakened so your curb stomping them all the time" - at least you run into That One Boss who'd just easily steamroll you as quickly as you'd steamroll most normal enemies.

[Von Krieger]

Some folks are only playing CO for lack of a better option though i do prefer the tailor for the ability to have things like Bracers and gloves selected on a by side basis (and wonder if thats possible at all in CoX with some tweaking but thats not my point !)

Probably not. There's only a limited number of "nodes" assigned to the body, and as with everything, it's a pain in the butt to add or change any parts of the system.

[Twisted Toon]

CoH did have the lockbox-like Super Packs, which a lot of players complained about, but which seemed to be making money for the company.

The difference between the Super Packs in CoH and the lock boxes in the other games is the packs don't drop from defeated enemies and require you to go buy an item in order to open them, like the lock boxes. All you had to do to acquire and open the Super Packs was to buy the Super Pack from the store. In STO, I have inventory slots taken up by useless inventory items (lock boxes) because I don't have any keys (I refuse to spend money on them) to open them. Every once in a while, I'll either put the boxes up on the exchange, or just delete them from my inventory. Occasionally, I will use my LTS stipend of Zen to purchase a 10 key pack and open a few boxes.

[Relitner]

The difference between the Super Packs in CoH and the lock boxes in the other games is the packs don't drop from defeated enemies and require you to go buy an item in order to open them, like the lock boxes. All you had to do to acquire and open the Super Packs was to buy the Super Pack from the store. In STO, I have inventory slots taken up by useless inventory items (lock boxes) because I don't have any keys (I refuse to spend money on them) to open them. Every once in a while, I'll either put the boxes up on the exchange, or just delete them from my inventory. Occasionally, I will use my LTS stipend of Zen to purchase a 10 key pack and open a few boxes.

That, and the Super Packs were actually fun, and amlost always had a purple drop or something immediately useful.

I bought 20 keys for STO a few weeks back (just for the heck of it), and immediately had buyers remorse. I now have a crap-ton of mostly average R&D materials, more common-quality duty officers than I was able to keep, and a blue-quality ground weapon. I did get one purple duty officer. Did I mention I bought 20 keys? According to one source there is less that .5% chance of dropping a ship. I'm sure it's about the same in CO, I just never cared enough about the garbage available in the CO lockboxes.

[Noyjitat]

CoH did have the lockbox-like Super Packs, which a lot of players complained about, but which seemed to be making money for the company.  CO does it for the same reason.  A lot of players (myself included, though I don't play CO anymore) don't like it and are very vocal about it, but a lot more players are paying real money for those keys.

I never bought Super packs, though.  I did buy Staff Fighting and (in the days before the Paragon Market) the "Super Booster: Mutant" pack.

I also agree with "I also feel it's not that your powerful in CO, but every enemy is specially weakened so your curb stomping them all the time" - at least you run into That One Boss who'd just easily steamroll you as quickly as you'd steamroll most normal enemies.

Except that superpacks gave you something useful in every pack.. instead of rank4 mods or 10% xp boosters... As for weak mobs well that depends on where you're going or what you're doing. You're certainly not going to solo hordes of of boss vampires clawling at you in vibora bay without a good build or a vehicle or some of the more dangerous cosmics / group lairs.

[JennSpace]

Except that superpacks gave you something useful in every pack.. instead of rank4 mods or 10% xp boosters... As for weak mobs well that depends on where you're going or what you're doing. You're certainly not going to solo hordes of of boss vampires clawling at you in vibora bay without a good build or a vehicle or some of the more dangerous cosmics / group lairs.

Exactly. In City of Heroes, I don't recall I ever bought any superpack and felt remorse about buying it. Either I'd get exactly what I wanted or if not, I'd sell it on Wenthworth, get a ton of influence for the enhancement and buy more things that I like on the AH! ;D The drops were so good, I often felt like I was robbing the bank, the bank being the game! XDD

[Sermon]

I actually got the black dog or whatever in one of my first super packs. Still, I was never a fan of the random packs (mainly due to the inclusion of costume pieces).

[Rampage]

I never bought Super packs, though.  I did buy Staff Fighting and (in the days before the Paragon Market) the "Super Booster: Mutant" pack.

I did buy some superpacks, as being a regular subscriber (aka VIP) gave you some points every month that need to be spent on something.

I haven't played CO/DCUO/whatever and their lockboxes, but I felt the superpacks provided a good bang for the buck.  The ATOs were useful at their auto-level, and I integrated those.. umm... magic-type glowing crystal pieces into a few costumes.  I know there were those who bought a bunch trying for one specific pet... but those were players who knew they wanted the pet, and the drop rates were posted by a number cruncher.

I also used the Paragon Market to pick up the occasional costume pack / whatever that I had missed earlier.  I also used the VIP Paragon points for Titan Weapons, Time Manipulation, maybe Beast Mastery... I don't recall which were included with VIP, and which weren't.

If CoH-reboot comes to fruition, I wonder how they'll handle that... a stipend of points for VIP subscribers worked for Freedom, because there planned content to spend them on.  Without any new content, there's much less (no?) point in being a subscriber once you've bought everything.

[Jorge Firebomb]

My guess would be that VIP will be less expensive than it was prior to shutdown, since there is no development team to support with that income. You just need to pay for GMs, the servers themselves and the bandwidth being used (and probably some other category I am forgetting). With a less expensive VIP cost, I think more people would subscribe just to have access to Incarnate content than would be the case if it remained the same cost.

Hopefully whoever is in charge of making these sorts of business decisions is good at his or her job. :)

[Scendera]

I haven't played CO/DCUO/whatever and their lockboxes, but I felt the superpacks provided a good bang for the buck. 

DCUO lockboxes are free to open as many as you like for subscribers but expire after 30 days.

[Felderburg]

Some folks are only playing CO for lack of a better option though i do prefer the tailor for the ability to have things like Bracers and gloves selected on a by side basis (and wonder if thats possible at all in CoX with some tweaking but thats not my point !)

Probably not. There's only a limited number of "nodes" assigned to the body, and as with everything, it's a pain in the butt to add or change any parts of the system.

Well, the models might be hardwired to only allow for symmetric options, but what if you added an option with a transparent texture on one half? Or something like that? Essentially, the game recognizes it as a standard, two-sided costume piece, but it looks like a one-sided piece.

[MegaWatt]

Costumes should not be 'random chance' things....if anything you should be assured costume bits and any thing else is the chance....but that's just my opinion ! i would/will hate if i had to/have to rebuy everything but i'll burn that bridge when/if i come to it when i get the game back.

[brothermutant]

Costumes should not be 'random chance' things....if anything you should be assured costume bits and any thing else is the chance....but that's just my opinion ! i would/will hate if i had to/have to rebuy everything but i'll burn that bridge when/if i come to it when i get the game back.

Pssh, whatev. I would totally pay to get my ninja run back. As a travel power, it wasn't half bad (except you couldn't slot it). I got soooooo good with NR on my Mind/Elec dom, I ran/leaped everywhere. So much fun.

[MWRuger]

CoH did have the lockbox-like Super Packs, which a lot of players complained about, but which seemed to be making money for the company.  CO does it for the same reason.  A lot of players (myself included, though I don't play CO anymore) don't like it and are very vocal about it, but a lot more players are paying real money for those keys.

Not really the same thing at all. Superpacks did not replace drops in the game and then require you to spend money to unlock them. Superpacks were completely optional and had nothing but useful stuff in them.  The main complaint about superpacks was that there were ultra-rare pets that you could only get there. But since they didn't effect gameplay, I was not convinced that anyone HAD to have them.

[darkgob]

The difference between the Super Packs in CoH and the lock boxes in the other games is the packs don't drop from defeated enemies and require you to go buy an item in order to open them, like the lock boxes. All you had to do to acquire and open the Super Packs was to buy the Super Pack from the store. In STO, I have inventory slots taken up by useless inventory items (lock boxes) because I don't have any keys (I refuse to spend money on them) to open them. Every once in a while, I'll either put the boxes up on the exchange, or just delete them from my inventory. Occasionally, I will use my LTS stipend of Zen to purchase a 10 key pack and open a few boxes.

I didn't think anybody actually picked up dropped Lock Boxes deliberately.  I just ignore them.

I bought 20 keys for STO a few weeks back (just for the heck of it), and immediately had buyers remorse. I now have a crap-ton of mostly average R&D materials, more common-quality duty officers than I was able to keep, and a blue-quality ground weapon. I did get one purple duty officer. Did I mention I bought 20 keys? According to one source there is less that .5% chance of dropping a ship. I'm sure it's about the same in CO, I just never cared enough about the garbage available in the CO lockboxes.

You honestly would have been better off selling the keys on the Exchange for EC and using that EC to buy the requisition for the ship you want on the Exchange.  The system is that broken.  Common-quality doffs are great for building up Fleet Credits on projects though (300 credits per doff), I'm constantly running the assignments at the Academy to get new crew for the Starbase (god, Tier V is taking forever, I want my Elite Delta Flyers!).

Not really the same thing at all. Superpacks did not replace drops in the game and then require you to spend money to unlock them. Superpacks were completely optional and had nothing but useful stuff in them.  The main complaint about superpacks was that there were ultra-rare pets that you could only get there. But since they didn't effect gameplay, I was not convinced that anyone HAD to have them.

Just to be clear, lock boxes don't replace drops, at least not in STO.  Often a defeated enemy will drop both a lock box and some other drop (the entities even drop in the same location so that their 3D models interset).

Disclaimer: I am by no means defending the lock box model, it's clearly awful, but there are ways around some of its problems.