Steel_Shaman

Comments like this always confuse me.
What would the Devs have to do to make content not be a "rehash" in your mind?

When you get right down to it, MMO's all have very similar game play. Kill mobs, get points, level up, kill more mobs, etc. etc. The only thing that changes much from game to game is the scenery and the method of the mob killing.

This isn't a flame, I genuinely want to know what a game developer would have to do for content to not be "the same crap in a different wrapper" as you put it.

Fixed that for ya.

There's already an announcement up on the official site's main page, and it links to here: http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/fre..._overview.html

I think it's a bit of culture shock.
For seven years, CoH has had a very strong culture of alt-ism. People have gotten accustomed to being able to "finish" a character, and now we're being thrown a system that precludes ever finishing any one character by its very nature. So now you have folks that have a long list of 50's, and they love every single one of them (or at least several of them) and they want to see those 50's advance since there is now an option for them to do so.

From what I gather (I refuse to touch the trials, so I don't know for sure), it is possible to do that (advance all your 50's). I think I remember someone saying that a dedicated month of playing Trials will get a character "caught up" in terms of all the currently available slots. But here's where the really nasty part (for some of us) comes in: the trials are the only way to go.

Prior to now, if I wanted to outfit a 50 I had a variety of options open to me. Farm solo, run TF's, Ouroboros, AE, Marketeering, PvP and a few things I'm sure I'm forgetting. Heck, I could even run an alt and funnel recipe drops from him to that 50 I'm working on. With the Incarnate System there is one viable option. Now you could say this is normal for end game systems, and you'd be right. But it's not what a lot of us have come to expect from CoH: options.

When it first became apparent this was the route the Devs were taking, some people voiced concerns over this. They were essentially told by the community to sit down and shut up. So it went from concern to outright frustration and active distaste for some people because the topic became more and more heated over time.

At this point I personally believe the only thing that is going to defuse this ongoing argument is for the Devs to come right out and say definitively that they are working on a viable solo progression path. Not looking into, not thinking about, but that it will happen. I don't think anyone is seriously expecting a timeline for such a thing, just some reassurance that it's coming. Instead all we're being fed is marketing speak, which has sadly become the norm for any communication from the Devs. Well, they could also come right out and say that it won't happen, but that would lead to some highly ticked off customers and probably more than a few cancellations, which I think we can all agree is never a good thing for an MMO.

I find it particularly funny they're making a grindy endgame for an MMO in which alt-ism has been the norm for seven years. Well, funny in a sad demented sort of way.

Also if memory serves Power Sink is autohit, Dark Consumption is not. Perhaps not a big issue, but in a situation with lots of accuracy debuffs or mobs with high defense (I'm looking at you, Nemesis) it might make a difference.

I can only speak for myself, as I haven't discussed this issue in detail in quite this way with anyone else who feels as I do.

I had made my peace with the Incarnate system. I had reconciled myself to the fact that at least for now, I was not going to get what I wanted, but that there was a chance I would get it at some point. I had also stopped posting in or even reading threads about the Incarnate system.

Last week's announcement changed that attitude. I feel that given how hot a topic the endgame is, the new shinies the Devs are sticking behind it are highly inappropriate and are themselves inflammatory. Capes and Auras at level 1 for your alts. Emotes, chest emblems, and some neat looking new auras that thanks to their functionality practically amount to travel power customization. All of those are things I have seen wished for on these boards again and again over the years. Locking them away behind content some of us are determined to avoid is, well, very bad taste in my opinion. So to the forums I went to make my displeasure known. I will admit I should NEVER post at 1:00 AM, nor should I post when my back is acting up and I'm in pain. Those two combined resulted in some very hot posts on my part, which I still regret.

So I think it's not so much a case of people not being willing to be patient. Rather, I think it's that the Incarnate system is a sore spot for some of us and the Devs just keep poking at it with a stick.

And to be honest, I am actually glad they are providing an outlet for people that have wanted this type of play. I do not begrudge others their fun at all. My real quibble with the Incarnate system is not that it exists, but that it exists in a vacuum, so to speak. Ideally what I would prefer to see is multiple options for advancing a level 50 through the Incarnate system, including but not limited to:

1) Raiding
2) Soloing
3) Small teams
4) PvP

I would actually prefer the Devs do ALL the above, not just one of them. That way the system would be broad enough to appeal to the biggest group of people possible. What's funny about this is I personally can't stand 2 of the 4 options I listed, but I'd want them to be included just the same, in order to be fair.

Would doing this make it take longer to get the whole system in place? Of course. But in the end I think it would be worth it. There would also be much less division in the community, which is always a good thing. As it stands right now there is one truly valid path through the system, and players that don't like it are feeling pretty left out. That's (IMHO of course) the ultimate reason for all these threads: lack of options. Give people some options and this would all die down in short order.

I really do wonder where all these posts were screaming repeatedly for raid content over the years, because quite frankly I don't remember seeing them. Now what I do recall seeing was the occasional post by someone saying they were quitting and citing lack of endgame as one of the reasons. I completely agree that having no endgame has probably cost CoH a few players over the years. But a hotly requested feature? No, sorry, I'm just not seeing that.

Now this could be a matter of perspective. Since raiding doesn't interest me, I may have overlooked threads about it.

I agree with you completely Sam. Honestly if this works (i.e., trial participation increases as a result of these rewards) we can expect more of this in the future. A lot more. As in, expect practically every new costume piece we ever get again to be gated behind the Incarnate system. Pessimistic? Perhaps.

It's for that reason that I am simply going to refuse to touch the trials. I just won't have these auras and emotes. Does that bother me? Yes it does, a little. I don't care about the Ascension armor (it looks too much like fantasy gear to me) but I would like to have the auras and emotes. Ah well. One can't have everything.

This goes back to an earlier comment I made: every MMO I've ever played or read about that HAS an endgame is pretty much all ABOUT that endgame. I honestly thought the CoH Devs were going to try not to do this. But now that I see these emotes and auras gated behind the endgame, I'm starting to doubt that assumption.

I agree completely about shadows being the best part of ultra mode.
I tried tinkering with the advanced shadow settings, but couldn't get anything but the lowest settings to get rid of the flicker entirely. For the moment, I've just turned off shadows altogether. Seems kind of silly I should have to, but ah well. It's that or I'm going to start thinking my PC is sending me subliminal messages with all the screen flashing.

I just tested this using the basic shadow settings. Shadows are definitely what's causing the issue. Up until now I've been running with shadows set to "High". On that setting I get excellent framerates but have the occasional flicker issue when running around outdoor zones.

The only way to make the flicker go away entirely was to put shadows to the lowest setting. I haven't messed around with the advanced shadow options yet, I'll try that next and see if there's a happy medium that still looks good but eliminates the flicker. It will be a shame if I have to do without them though.

I would like to note that my framerates stayed consistent the entire time. Running around Imperial City my framerates were between 57 and 60 fps regardless of what shadow setting I used. So while my system seems perfectly capable of handling the shadow technology in CoH, there's something about the way CoH does shadows that my video card just doesn't like, hence the flickering.

To be honest, I had just about talked myself into Demons when I made the above post. I really like the set, and since I now have the Vanguard pack I can take the Vanguard Bow, then color it so that it looks like it's made of fire.

You can copy and paste the costume code Sam posted into notepad, then save the file into your costume subfolder of the CoH program folder. Be sure to change the end of the filename to .costume instead of .txt. The next time you run the game, the costume will appear in your list.

My first 50 was a plant/fire Dom. The last time I played him, the Brute on our team said "that's just not right" in the middle of a mission. When asked what he meant, he said "A Dominator should NOT do that much damage."

Take that as you will.

Oh, how I long to someday create an Illusion/Dark Assault Dom.
It's a dream I have....

I agree. While leveling my elec/elec as soon as I hit 12 and got Static Field he became instant easy mode.

I also know what you mean about the sleep patch hurting your eyes. I found out very quickly that I couldn't play Elec/ for long without customizing Static Field to Dark Electricity. On the default "bright electricity" color setting, the power would seem to actually have 3 colors in it, one of which is a bright white you cannot change. It's that bright white that drove me nuts. It actually gave me a headache to play the character.

Eventually I just had to deal with having that one power look markedly different from all his others. Small price to pay, but I just wanted to point that out to anyone thinking about the set. If you're like me and Static Field hurts your eyes, change it to the dark palette and you'll be fine.