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I've got one more thing to add:
In game design, it's all very well and good to say, "Here is the ideal that I have in my vision." The problem is that when vision meets real people in the form of players, the measure of success is whether or not those players are having fun, not whether you have achieved whatever theoretical design goal you set out to achieve. "Fun" is a particularly crucial factor in a paid MMORPG, because fun equates to subscriptions which equate to revenue.
People have fun in different ways. Some people like to solo, some people like to group, some like to do both. Some people like their games to be as challenging as possible. Other people like their games to be pretty brainless and easy. Some people like having a lot of luck in the equation. Other people like planning to significantly reduce the role that luck plays.
City of Heroes can potentially accomodate all of these desires, via the use of the mission difficulty slider. The relative advancement rates of people with different levels of "fun" can be equalized out by changing the XP values awarded -- or making the maps bigger or smaller. (So, for instance, if you want blue cons rather than white cons, the map expands so in the end you have to wipe more of them to finish.)
When a lot of people are posting on the forums that something is not fun, this is a warning, because plenty of people will simply stop playing rather than deciding to gripe on the forums. Moreover, the activities that players are engaging in are clear indications of where the fun is and isn't, or of what goals people are trying to achieve (I suspect, for instance, that the farming/herding/PLing behaviors are effectively a statement of "leveling up the usual way is sufficiently time-consuming and boring that I am willing to engage in periods of incredible tedium in order to avoid a longer period of mediocrely interesting play").
Yes, people will tolerate some changes that decrease fun, if other things are added which increase fun. Ultimately, though, what is going to determine longevity of subscriptions is fun, not how long it takes to get to level X. Plenty of people will abandon existing achievements in order to go do something more fun -- hours invested just makes it harder to leave.
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You are 100% right . Thats exactly what i think too . And lets not hide the truth anymore , above level 40 , powerleveling ( kora missions and werewolves herding ) IS the norm nowadays . Clever devs should ask themselve why it has come that MOST players rely on that stuff to level up . And i suspect that there are ways like these around the game to powerlevel people from level 1 to 50 . Cant blame them thought , the game has either become boring , either too hard , either too slow , either too frustrating , either too time consuming , either too solo unfriendly , either whatever ... Also , what doesnt much help is that many players ( my friends for certain ) feel like they are "rushed" to get to level 50 so they can try these new ATs ( and they dont want to play for months to get to try them ) . Same thing for "epic" new powers ... Its exactly the same as it was when the capes came out at Issue2 , everyone under level 20 were trying by all means to get there as quick as they could .
All CoH is SET toward "progression" . Actually there is nothing else to do than leveling up and thats just what people are tryin to do . There is no roleplay , minigames or any stuff in the game that people can enjoy besides collecting badges ( which is cool imho ) . As soon as you create a toon and get out of the tutorial , you can feel the "need" for level progression . NO ONE ever told me " Hey , level 9 is cool , i think ill take a break at that level and try not to level up because its fun"
Anyway , im going off my point ... which is in the end that very single question :
Is leveling up in CoH becoming too boring and time consuming ?
If yes is what most people think , then , WHY devs are trying to make it even harder ( slower ) for most of the people ?
Which brings another question to me : Could it be possible for players to play the game at their very own personal pace so they can get the fun they want ?
To the devs : Maybe if you make leveling a bit easyer you will end someday with a bunch of bored level 50 players . However , i suspect that you will get way before that a huge bunch of bored and frustrated players hanging around all levels in the game .
Im not certain what the solution is but what we have now with these new "improved" bosses is no good .
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Speak for yourself.
