Statesman_NA

Don't forget to add "more mini-events like the giant Octopus, the Ghost Ship and the infamous Paladin."

What tweaks would you like to see for Super Groups?

What new features?

Sigh. I was trying do to many things on the computer at once. Ah well...

Much thanks to Stellus for running a fun contest to create me a board avatar...

And much thanks to Subminima for submitting the winning design. Awesome...

(*Back to writing up some City of Villains stuff...*)

Sorry I haven't been on the boards recently. I've was away for personal reasons for the past week. I'll be scouring the forums this weekend!

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So in short, could you do us a favor and differentiate between things that are guesses and things that are not when you're posting? I think that most of us like to know what you're working on, even without dates. Just let us know what is set and what isn't.


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No problem. From here on every single thing I mention is just a rough guess. My discussion of features and their potential release are, at best, internal goals.

It's a "damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario"...

Some people would like to know what we're working on, even without dates.

Thus, I try to give general guestimates (though never exact dates). I like to communicate as much as I can with the forums about the status of different issues. Sometimes I do well, sometimes I don't - but I do try.

I NEVER give specific dates on anything because game development is a fickle thing. I do try to give at least an Issue #, because that provides a ballpark estimate for you guys.

Naturally, there are some who will criticize when we don't adhere to even that rough guess.

Skills is in Issue 5...

Issue 4 revolves around the Arenas (now under construction)....

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Course, now that that's hammered out... *nudges him towards Kheldians*

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Done! Just playtested today!

I want to make this very, very clear...these changes are due to not only the "data", but the well reasoned posts on these boards.

I really do read & really do listen! The "devs" aren't cooped up in an ivory tower; we love this game just like you do! In the end, we're all players. I have the privilege of being the lead designer. I want to do what's BEST for the game.

Solo and Team Play

The recent change to boss difficulty has brought out a long simmering question: what does a solo player do in City of Heroes. Currently, some missions are for the “lone wolf” hero, but many are not. With the now sturdy bosses, even the most skilled player has difficulty completing these tasks. Worst of all, some players are surprised by the presence of a boss and defeated almost immediately.

On the one hand, this is a MMP. I believe that some of the best features of the game shine when players join forces with other players. On the other hand, I’ve always believed that part of our game’s strength is the ability for a player to log on for a half hour, have fun, then log off. If a mission requires a team up, players spend a lot of time simply organizing. The quick fun element dissipates.

In the short term:

• We will roll back the Boss changes.
• Team up XP bonuses will be increased.

Let’s not start pointing fingers – “the whiners had their way” or “the game’s too easy, make it harder” – because I think the Boss changes violated a basic principle. Namely: never let a person make an uninformed decision. And right now, people aren’t clear when a mission requires a team up and when it doesn’t. Plus, they have no ability to drop a mission if they don’t feel like doing it. Besides, we’ve introduced our Mission Difficulty Slider to satisfy the demands of those who want something more challenging in the future.

In the mid-term:
• There are two types of missions in City of Heroes. The bread and butter missions are drawn from a generic pool. The vast majority of a player’s experience are devoted to completing these tasks for his Contacts. We will be making it so that a Boss will NEVER show up on the mission for a solo player at the lowest Reputation level (Hard-Boiled, though we’re changing that to Hero). Instead, any named villain will be a Lieutenant. That Lieutenant will have the same name, powers and costume as the Boss; his villain rank will simply be lessened. In this way, solo players won’t miss out on the flavor of the mission’s story. If a team or a player with a Reputation at Tenacious or higher enters that mission, the Lieutenant will become a Boss.
• Contacts give out another series of missions – story arcs. These are linked missions that form a much larger tale. Players normally receive story arcs only after they’ve leveled their Contact up to the highest level. Whenever a named character occurs, he’ll be a Lt. for the solo player at the lowest Reputation level and a Boss for teams or solo players with higher Reputations. Arch Villains, Elite Bosses and Giant Monsters will remain as they are; but, for the early and mid-levels, players will not need to defeat these foes to complete the mission. In the high levels, this is not the case.
• Task Forces and Trials will continue to contain Elite Bosses, ArchVillains and Giant Monsters. There will be no changes here.

In the long term:
• The Mission UI will be improved to designate various elements of mission: timed missions, team up required, etc.
• A system will allow players to drop unwanted missions or do old missions that have been passed over (the infamous “flashback”).
• Only until players can drop missions will we look at the Boss difficulty again.

What’s our goal? Simply put: if a player wants to do something solo, it should be CHOICE. Teaming shouldn’t be required, but rather encouraged. If a player gets a mission with an Arch Villain, he’ll be able to drop it and get another.

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Now that is a list I would love to see. As an aside - I think it would be fun if the Devs posted.... say the top ten and let players vote on what ones they wanted to see. Might be interesting if the devs are planning on adding two, let the players vote on one and then pick one themselves. *shrug* might be fun at least

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The reason why we don't do this is because players don't necessarily understand the effort that goes into features. Not everything can be voted on equally; some things take MUCH more effort than others. And this is not transparent...

Also, there's a lot of other things going on, often underneath the proverbial hood, that players don't notice. They don't know what's a priority and what's not just from a plain ole' stability standpoint.

Quick update:

I've been discussing things with various team members and I've got an "official" meeting today to kick around some ideas about this issue. With luck, I'll post later today - otherwise early next week.

Many players complained about the stun at the end of Rage because it turned off toggles and left them helpless. At the same time, hardcore players with perma-unstoppable or Unyielding were able to avoid the Stun effect. Thus the casual player was getting penalized and hardcore player wasn’t getting the desired penalty. We're still looking at the issue - so feel free to post your thoughts & ideas!

I've never promised either.

I've gotten them down on a wish list which we dip into whenever we're looking at "quality of life" issues to add to an expansion.

Just wanted to drop a line...

I've been discussing many of these issues internally with the team...and I think I might have something interesting that satisfies both parties...but I've got to do more research first.

I know some people were upset when I didn't at least post a status in the Burn & Invulnerability threads (even when there wasn't much else to say), so I thought I'd try to avoid that mistake again!

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I think the genre (and the great game) attracts many of us who want some online gaming experiences, but need it to be flexible enough that we can solo at will (instead of standing around trying to form a team for 10 minutes).


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Eighth - you've hit the nail on the head! Positron and I were just talking about this; part of the beauty of the game is that you don't need to wait in order to get to fun. I don't want to lose that in the rush to encourage grouping. Like I've said, I'm going to review the missions this week and see how many have bosses at the different level ranges.

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States, it has been the experience of a great many players (mentioned on other threads) that *multiple* unnamed bosses show up on missions that they entered alone.


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I'll check this!

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There is also the issue of things like the respec trial, which was even before the change considered very difficult for the average group.


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Before the change, there was a success rate of just under 80%.

Because of your feedback, I'll have someone on our team look at the number of bosses in missions from levels 1 to 50. I don't mind later missions perhaps including a greater % than earlier missions (if only because players are more powerful and have made friends with others), but your posts want me to doublecheck the exact numbers.

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I don't feel the new bosses are equal to a +1 boss now. I have characters who used to be able to take on a +2 boss as easily or more easily than a +0 boss now, maybe more, and my risk of one-shotting wasnt as high on the old +2.


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They are just +1.

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You say above that the spawn override takes place when a mission calls for *a* boss - does this mean that ordinarily, missions entered by a single player should not spawn more than one boss?


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Typically, yes.

But...there are a few missions that have multiple bosses in a single spawn and a few more that have multiple bosses spread throughout the map. The vast majority of boss missions have a single boss appear (no matter what the team size) in one of the end rooms.

Boss Changes

In our game, mob (i.e. villain) spawns depend upon the size of a team. The following is a rough approximation of how spawns are calculated:

A minion is worth 1/3 of a hero

A Lt. is worth ¾ of a hero

A Boss is worth 1.5 heroes

Admittedly, these are approximate. A single hero might spawn anywhere from 2 to 4 minions. Or a Lt. by himself. Or a Lt. and a minion.

The level of minions fluctuates in missions anywhere from +1 to -1 of the mission holder. In zones, the level of spawns depends upon the level of the team leader and the zone level restrictions. In other words, there’s maximum and minimum levels set to the mobs in each zone.

This system is how spawns work in mission maps AND zones. Yep – spawns in zones check to see what size a nearby group is. When your team is running through an area, you’re actually creating spawns as you go.

In levels 1 to 22ish, this system works perfectly. Things are about as hard as we wanted them to be. But as soon as players can purchase single origin Enhancements, they rapidly make the above calculations almost irrelevant. A player enters a mission – or a zone – and can rapidly breeze through +1 to -1 leveled spawns using the calculations above.

A solo player (unless the mission calls specifically for a boss in a spawn override) will create spawns with minions and lts. ONLY. My concern at the mid and higher levels is that a solo Archetype isn’t all that powerful. Their inherent weaknesses and strengths really come into play post level 25.

Teams, on the other hand, become more and more efficient at the mid and higher levels. With a large selection of powers, and well defined Archetype roles, the team is great than the sum of its individual parts. Because Bosses spawn for teams, it means that Bosses were easier than “1.5 heroes.” They became essentially lts.

I didn’t want to impact solo play by increasing mobs across the board. Instead, I focused on Bosses. We increased the damage, hit points and XP of Bosses to be exactly one level higher. In other words, a level 30 Boss, now more closely resembles a level 31 Boss.

Naturally, some might ask, “why not change spawn sizes” or “why not change the level spawns”. Good questions. Suffice to say, those solutions involve touching systems that have enormous impact in the game. It would be very, very difficult to do either. Increasing Boss difficulty, on the other hand, is a much safer solution in terms of the game. We can analyze and track the results, while not destroying major systems. Many times, game development is all about looking at the best solution considering not just issue itself but also the overall game itself.

But, I digress (apologies to Peter David). My main issue right now is the “one shot” defeats. Blasters, Controllers or Defenders who round a corner a little too quickly can find themselves facing instant debt. They have no opportunity to prepare for the boss because they didn’t see him. I do like that Bosses now stay around longer in fights, but I don’t like how deadly they can be so we are actively analyzing this situation.

As for why we put Bosses in missions at all – in other words, why isn’t everything solo-able – the answer is simple. We want gameplay that encourages the best part of the game: teaming up. Soloing is fine, but a MMP really shines when you meet other people and play alongside them. I’ve made many good virtual friends through other MMP’s that I simply would not have done if I could solo everything all the time. I admit it: I’m anti-social. It’s hard to get me to group up with strangers. But after I do it, I always wonder “why don’t I do this more often…” I might still be anti-social in “real life”, but in MMP’s I’m a social butterfly (I have no doubt that this will appear in sigs for years to come…)

Since people want more explanation on the Boss changes, I'll post something in a new thread in the Dev Corner...hopefully today. Otherwise sometime this week.

I would LOVE to do Pulp stuff...but would it sell? That's the issue.

Doc Savage. The Shadow. Agent 13. *shudders* Such great potential from the Pulp world.