Futurias

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- Defender Power Mastery: Power Build Up. We know how much Castle hates Power Boost. What's the over/under on this becoming plain ol' Build Up?

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And watch defenders in mass respec out of the Power epic. The power already got recently nerfed. They don't need to remove the power out altogether.

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I'm waiting for Blasters, Defenders, Corruptors, MMs and Dominators to get a level 41 mezz protection added.

Then you'll definitely see heads spinning to pick up those powers that offer it.

I wonder if Castle is going to be standardizing DOTs? Right now, that's probably the one biggest reason I won't play Dark Blast any more.

Interesting.

10% Slow Resists from Veats/Heats on your team.

Radius limitations on Team-Link is technical. I wonder if they toyed with just removing that cludgey mechanic and just looking at what's on your team-list?

Status Protection, Combat Flights and shapeshifting forms won't be suppressed, but everything else pretty much will suppress.

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But it being $10 for one respec really puts me off to the whole idea.

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I really have to wonder what kind of jobs people have that ten bucks seems like a big deal. Or are they approaching this from the "Damn I'd like to respec six times a month, and that's way too much?" position?


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Some people disagree with such things on principle, not
personal finances.

Can I afford $10? Yes. Would I consider $10 for a respec to be
a fair price for this service, if I needed it? No. Therefore, I
wouldn't use it even if I wanted/needed it. I'm not that
impatient and wasteful of real money.

You don't have to be unable to afford something, to find it
overpriced and not worth its pricetag.

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And things have gotten a lot more expensive recently. I don't have a great job and I'm trying to save up for a newer computer (my old one doesn't really run COH that well anymore.)

$10 may not be much, really. But that's also maybe my one movie I make a month plus popcorn. I can afford it, but not without giving up something.

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Because pissing off 100 to 600 players for something the develops had left broken without any early warnings is a good thing?



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They had warnings. The IO's are labled unique so anyone who slotted multiple copies pretty much had to know that they where using an exploit that would go away. Fortunately the devs are being nice and warning players about it rather than just rolling it live like they do for the typical exploit fix.

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And you conveniently ignored that players would just read that, see that you could slot it and shrug "must be labeled wrong like some other powers and stuff."

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Glad to hear they aren't going away. I somehow missed Posi's post.

I have no intention of using the service either. I'll freely pay $10 for a special game expansion like the Wedding Pack, but not for something I can get in game. It's just one of those things with me, sort of like not paying for influence.

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I think what is confusing people is that they are thinking of this as a money making project. Instead it was supplying something the customer has been asking for but at a price to discourage buying it. ie. They don't actually want to sell a lot of respec's.

I know that confuses people because they are used to businesses working to make money. But in the case of renames, transfers, and respec's these things are all priced high to discourage their use. If they wanted to make money off of them they are well aware that they would all sell like hot cakes at 3 - 5 dollars each.

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Not that they could just make the Respec Recipes drop slightly more often so the price becomes slightly sane.

I see no good reason that this has to be purchased with real life money at $10. Slightly cheaper or 2 for $10... seems more palatable.

This does not add a 'new value' to the game.

I'll probably use buying slots (eventually) or a server transfer. Those do things I didn't have by other means. Or additional costume and emotes/temp powers. Those are dang nice and useful.

Respecs done this way... just leaves a bad taste in my mouth and worries into the future.

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So, are Freespecs dead?



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Check the dev tracker. Positron has already posted to the effect that all normal avenues for a respec, including freespecs, will remain available.

The specific reason that was given for not offering a freespec about the Gaussian thing is that there were about 1000 CHARACTERS, not accounts, that were affected. Consider how alt-happy some folks are, that could easily amount to only a few hundred players out of some 135,000.

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Because pissing off 100 to 600 players for something the develops had left broken without any early warnings is a good thing?

That patch could go live tomorrow before a lot of people hear or even know of the problem.

This is bad communication and a bit of punishment. I'm sure some of them were "That's supposed to be unique? But it's always allowed slotting multiple times. I thought it was just a bad description."

Because that never happens...

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I still think this is a dumb idea

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I was laying out why I think its dumb. And not a good business move. This could be that 'slippery' slope that make me look at alternatives to COH.

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If it helps keep this game profitable without having to raise rates to do so, then good deal!

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If it added 'real' value to the game, I'd say good. But this doesn't add anything really that wasn't there that five to ten minutes for one guy to add in a database to make Respec Recipes drop more often.

I'm feeling scammed.

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Scammed? Really? Is having yet another option for Respecs so terrible that you actually feel like you're being abused???


This is silly. Based on your Reg Date, even your newest character should begin the game with 3-4 Respecs straight out of the gate. They will still toss us Free Respecs a couple few times a year and the Respec Trials are pathetically easy. Lastly, if you're just that hard up and have managed to burn somewhere on the order of 7-8 Respecs on your way to 50, you can still earn a drop or buy one from the Market. This optional feature may even devalue the price of the Recipe at Market.


Protip : Grab some perspective, it's free.

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Reading comprehension failure, I see.

I loved the Valentine Pack. It added new things. I use some of those costumes for brand new characters for 'cool' factor.

It adds real value.

Paying for a respec (which I have no personal need for) is getting close to gouging your customer base.

This is nothing really new. We have many ways to get Respecs. They are even 'buyable' in the Market.

I see no reason (if they really feel we need more respecs) that they could not adjust *one* reward drop rather than saying 'pay us' for that privilege.

And one respec for $9.99 is too expensive.

This is rather like my work, where we offer a product that is less useful by a huge margin for about three times the cost it used to be.

Strangely, most of our customers agree.

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If it helps keep this game profitable without having to raise rates to do so, then good deal!

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If it added 'real' value to the game, I'd say good. But this doesn't add anything really that wasn't there that five to ten minutes for one guy to add in a database to make Respec Recipes drop more often.

I'm feeling scammed.

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Just a quick follow up:

We have no plans of getting rid of freespecs. Each Issue that brings with it major power changes (which is pretty much every single one, eh?) will bring a freespec with it.

We have no plans of getting rid of the respec trials.

We have no plans of getting rid of the dropped Respec Recipes.

We have no plans of getting rid of the Veteran Respecs that your account earns.

This is simply another way to get a Respec onto your character.

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I noticed you also specifically did not say that you would additional Vet Respecs as a reward in the future...

Well, that might keep us from having one of our Vet rewards in the future from being only a respec. So that's a silver lining in this cloud.

I have to say, as someone who's been here through thick and thin, that this is an ominous change and the price is pretty high. $5 (or 2 for $10) would have been far more reasonable for those people that really use respecs a lot.

But the fact that you decided to decide that our money is more important than upping the reward table for Recipe Respecs is not a good sign, in my opinion.

Could use a paring down. I do think that the Lackey/Sidekick system should be used.

I think I'd get frustrated at 7 Villains running around under 'probation' in Kings Row. 4 would be pushing it.

But other than just a rewrite for brevity and clarity (ie. to sell it) the idea is pretty solid.

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I haven't even got a microphone, myself.

It's rough on roleplaying (cute little girl with the barritone voice).

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But roleplaying is in essence suspension of belief in some cases anyway (Hard to imagine a baritone voice? Try having it acted out in front of you by a 6'5" Norseman Now that is suspension of belief!). My friend and I (who have the worst time finding RP groups who actually RP!) Have used voice chat to coordinate our actions OOC, and reserved typing to our In-Character interactions. We even have a pair of aliens That speak in Mad Gab-like english ("Thisis haou eta kingaim, knotso bahd winu git dountwo iht. Beezihdz, tha re'akshun frum thooz whusi iht ihz daon writ prysliss.") and have RP'd the voice chat as telepathy between the two of us.

Probably nothing to fear from this, since it will be like any other option and you can simply shut it off. People can see you have it shut off and gripe? Do they know you have a mic? Do you really care? would you want to continue playing a game with a person who gets bent over such things? I used to have a buddy that would get pissed and pester me if I did not answer my cell phone every time he called... Notice I said used to have a buddy.

All in all, I think this is may be nothing less than more of the same over-the-top improvements to a game that by all rights should be old news by now (Seriously, four years is like twice the lifespan of most games as it is. How many MMO's have come and gone in the last few years?) This new reinvestment into the franchise has been full of nothing shy of win. Every patch renews my interest, even if I have no use for the offerings. More is better, and new is revitalizing.

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I *think* that's what Voice Font is supposed to be, but I supposed it could be typing into a chat and it talks for you. I'm hoping that you can play with how your voice sounds. I sound like neither a female nor huge body type. :/

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As a point of clarification not included in the press release specific for City of Heroes and City of Villains, this new voice chat technology will be used through the PlayNC Launcher and not directly through City of Heroes.

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LH? Any information on how the tech will be applied, bandwidth costs and such? Any links to NCSoft pages about the information?

I feel like such a doofus, considering I read this and then missed the part about player created content. I truly hope there is a way to clone at least the look and power-sets of our own characters (gotta a Praetorian arc in mind.)

This... has awesome written all over it.

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Hmmm....

36 slots on 11 servers is 396 total alts.

Primary powers * secondary powers for all the character types (not including the new powersets!) is 400 possibilities ...

Not QUITE enough slots....


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It will be over 537 when i12 goes live.

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Um, 24 slots X 11 servers is 158 slots you would have to purchase.... for a low, low price of $1,040.

O.o'

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Yes, our dear City of X has been summed up as "playing Barbie dressup".

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It wasn't before? O.o

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Hmmmmm.. Spines/Fire scrapper? Name.. Mr. Hot and Bananna. Ax brute.. yummy.

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Baked Banana!

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As for the story... Bleh.

Sorry. I like Doc Brainstorm, but I don't like the game mythos telling me that my powers are the result of this or that. First in Web of Arachnos we are told that Statesman basically loosed all powers on the world, and now we are told that even natural heroes really aren't, they all have powers because of this "mystical network, an energy based control panel for super power distribution". Add in that we are told that Dr. Brainstorm has bugged ALL invention tables, and that he alone is responsible for creating all the new variations of power sets, and I am just... less than thrilled.

I know, I am taking it too seriously. And I can ignore it for my own storytelling (and I will). But I hate having to ignore the game story to tell my own. Its one of the reasons I dislike playing villains more than heroes, as the stories are more stifling and less fitting to my villains.

*sigh*


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I was kind of thinking the same when I saw the info about the Midnight Squad discovering the source of powers.

There's something odd about a person using an assault rifle and devices as having some kind of 'cosmic connection' that some how gives him/her the ability to shoot guns and toss webgrenades.....

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Wouldn't that be cosmically blocked for accessing most any other powers? :P

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Yeah, but no trainers allowed in Hazard Zones. They're too smart to stand around, that's why Wincott, dispite his years of diligent service in The Hollows, is still just a Lieutenant.

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They might be getting rid of 'hazard zone' settings and turning it into a hybrid like Striga.

Add a hospital, trainer and some stores and it'd be super-set.

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* More Real Numbers: Players can now display stats on powers before they choose them enabling more informed power selection and new temporary powers allow players to display enemy stats.

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I'd really like a mini-dashboard of all the RES and DEF basics. It really is *amazingly* useful to know when you just got double-hit by Longbow Nullifer sonic grenades that you should move away *from* to get rid of that -60% RES penalty.

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/e pissed

Weren't the villain epics supposed to be achieved WITHOUT reaching level 50?

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that's what they originally wanted, but that interview was like what? over a year ago, things change.

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They've pretty much always stated that the first villain EAT would be a 50 to unlock. *Future* EATs after that will have other ways of being unlocked.

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Through their accomplishments, players unlock the new Roman themed armor costume set.


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Please, please, please not the Vanguard merit system.

Please?

But hot dog that they're there. Oh yes, they will be mine.

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/SIGNED......and if we need to let's get a separate post going for eveyone oppsoed to this system to EARN the Roman outfits.

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I'm not opposed to 'earning' the costume parts, but I do think the Vaguard Merit system is too rough and pricey. It basically forces you to play the zone raid event about six times... even if your character would suck at the event.

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Bab, are you going to let castle attempt steal your guilt?!

On a serious note: its a shame I cant see the future. I picked the 5th column pet with my macer, had I known the next pet (or that there was going to be another pet) was going to accommodate clockwork design but no 5th column designs, I would had picked the clockwork non combat pet instead.

I guess there is no chance to get a mekman added to the list, will there? Also, what about some natural/mutant creations? Like DE monsters? You guys keep doing tech/magic and ignore the entire mutant aspects.

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Take the red drone one or the red whisp. These are obviously external, so can fit the *thematics* of your characters history in any shape or form.

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What sucks is when I switched my Beta acct over to my Live account. The first week I had to use a game card temporarily due to financial circumstances. NCsoft doesn't recognize game cards as 'paid' time so I'm 1 week behind everyone else

Course what I've heard from the VERY VERY FEW friends that are old timers like me that still play the game is the pet while neat is essentially worthless. One good sneeze will kill it

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Huh? I paid for *over* a year with time cards and I'm still getting my vet rewards the moment that I'm 'supposed' to as a 3 day headstarter.