Tokyo

Originally Posted by VexXxa

Originally Posted by Dahjee

You underdstood all of about 2% of this thread, but I agree. I did deliver the lol.

Originally Posted by Photonstorm

- And toward the end, everyone spotted an orange name in our midst; Qugin. Selecting him showed he was a Stalker. Everyone screaming Rikti Spy and started to chase him. He was eventually defeated but it turned out it was a bug of some sort (that was confirmed by Niviene).

- Eventually, we got the event message that Rikti left Nerva.

Originally Posted by je_saist

That's wildly inaccurate, and not really based in any sort of truth. Lets go over the basic history first to frame the questions here:

One of the basic problem(s) is that what the developers imagined the game would be like back in 2001, 2002, and 2003, isn't what the game has become. The game was originally founded on the same sort of gameplay basis as Everquest, with repetitive missions, constant grinding, massive street hunts, and endless weeks with no level progression. Many of these older influences are still seen in today's game if you follow the natural contact progression by following the contacts that sell your avatars origin of enhancements, or if you run the older Task Forces.

In the same way, bases were seen as something that would cater to the UO Pub Crowd, the sort of player who saw two hours sitting and doing nothing but chatting as equally important as spending two hours grinding towards the next level. Some of the base functions were extensions from the Pub / Town ideal, giving players a neutral zone... since there really wasn't a zone in the game until the Dance Party, and even then that wasn't really well known. A Pub answer only really arrived with Pocket D.

Other functions of the base were added on as they made sense to the game and how comic book entities like the Fantastic Four or Justice League handled their bases. Storage for personal items, transport to other zones, and so on.

In the early days of CoH, having a base with all of the zone teleporters helped players drastically cut down on travel times... but as the average power of the computer has advanced, and as new train station and connection zones have been added, the importance of having a base with every single teleporter has slowly disappeared. Speaking for myself, with a couple of my computers, I can take trains or ferry's and get to missions faster than players with mission teleport.

***

Base Raids and the Cathedral of Pain fitted into the original design scope of the game, when the development staff at Cryptic honestly thought they had to have PvP play in order to draw a successive playerbase from the established MMO's on the market. Market Reality, however, taught a different lesson.

Despite launching PvP play in May 2005, by the time May 2009 rolled around 4 years later, the paying playerbase that participated in PvP content had never left single digit percentages. Quite simply, City of Heroes was proof to the MMO industry that PvP play was not a requirement for a successful MMO... and as NCSoft found out in the financial meltdown of Tabula Rasa... PvP play was not enough to sustain a game either.

In game reality followed that external financial trend. The majority of the paying playerbase couldn't care about base raids. The idea of loosing several hundred hours of prestige just wasn't worth it. The plain and simple fact was, only the largest and active SuperGroup's with a full list of actively contributing members could ever hope to recover from a Raid. Getting that many people who were willing to participate in PvP, on one server, in just one Super Group... just wasn't happening. So, for the most part, Raids were limited to SG's play-raiding... basically trading back and forth Items of Power with no real damage to each base.

***

Cathedral of Pain also presented another problem, or at least it's reward did. The Invention Enhancement system completely replaced the old Items of Power in the game. Quite simply, the Items of Power are not coming back. This also rendered one of the original envisioned functions of the base system irrelevant.

***

There's also another factor to consider when looking at the history of the game. Back in the ending months of 2007 NCSoft bought the City of Heroes franchise from Cryptic, and in 2008 started pumping money into the company. We've already seen some of the fruits of that reinvestment with the information on I17 and Going Rogue released at Hero-Con.

What isn't focused on is that between the 2005 launch of City of Villains and the 2007 buyout, Cryptic tried to kill City of Heroes. The general idea was that Cryptic's Marvel Universe Online would be released and would replace City of Heroes. While the Paragon Studio Devs probably can't comment on exactly what went on at Cryptic, we do know that City of Heroes was essentially run on a skeleton crew across Issues 7, 8, 9, and I think up until 10.

Essentially, Cryptic wasn't willing to invest the time, money, or resources into seriously upgrading the City of Heroes game or examining underlying functionality. Now that NCSoft owns the property, Paragon Studios has the resources to do what Cryptic wouldn't... and again, we've got an idea what those results are going to look like over the immediate future of the game.

***

That pretty much brings us up to... now.

In the current environment of the game, the function of bases does need to be looked at. Paragon Studios also, when Going Rogue launches, will have the resources to look at the function of SuperGroup bases, if Going Rogue doesn't address some of the base features.

We can make a few guesses as to what the future of bases is going to look like.

Base Raids, as we knew them in the past, probably won't be coming back. The primary reason is that there just isn't a market for it, and the whiny hell-repping PvPer's can just get over that.

In the same way, Cathedral of Pain, as we knew it, is gone. There is a chance that the Task Force itself will return in Ourobous with a Merit Reward, although I suspect the Calvin Scott Task Force will be the first de-activated Task Force to be turned back on through Ourobous.

What I suspect the focus on Bases will be is to offer functionality that isn't available, or is separated from the game. Given the petitions raised at the end of each winter session to keep the Ski Resort around, I would suspect that some coders might find themselves implementing ski-able surfaces into Bases, allowing players to create their own internal ski-slopes.

I suspect we'll see development on Open-Air, Shadow Shard Style islands to contain bases, and I suspect we'll see tech work to make open-air / internal cave rooms work together.

I suspect we'll see an integration of the Base System with the AE system, so for those who want to rack up on SG defenses, they'll be able to use their own Base as a Stronghold for other players to assault in AE... without risking prestige.

What I suspect, and what actually happens... well. We'll see what the future brings.

Originally Posted by ChaosExMachina

I propose that these should be set up both regularly and as spontaneous events.

Blasters and Doms only. The objective is to spam wins rather than avoid defeats.

What times would work best? Preferably this would be daily.

To start with, I will be hosting such an event at Virtue, 7:00PM Pacific tonight.

Originally Posted by Phillygirl

The PvPEC has done polls before regarding what the community wants regarding events. I cannot remember if arena settings where in the last one i saw though.

Originally Posted by VexXxa

Originally Posted by _Mojo_

PVP is fun for me, and I'm not very dedicated either...

The problem isn't that PVP isn't fun in this game, it's that it's not this game's focus. If people wanted to do dedicated PVP they'd probably be more drawn to other games. I enjoyed PVP before (actually, not so much), but I really enjoy PVP now....except for fighting stalkers. They get hit and run away from me :-(

This game's appeal was never PVP, and then they try to force it down our throats or entice us with candy, but now that candy is worth more than anything else in this game.

Originally Posted by Antoinette

Yup I am just a nobody, who happen to think Dahjee is a great player. Sorry for wasting your time typing all this sh** cause I did not read all of it...

Originally Posted by Antoinette

...and it is true, PvP forum is a joke...

Originally Posted by Emo_Bitter

The reason TS is on while heal decay is off is to even the playing field against healing type classes in a a suitable manner. This way you give the healer there full heals but they get suppressed so they can't run away from damage, thus never losing per say

Originally Posted by Buxley1

Well at least your server got the event. Most of us weren't so lucky.

If Paragon Studios wants to select one or two servers for beta testing a new event then they should say that's what they're doing. But instead of beta tests we get this all wrapped up as "special content for special servers" at the same time as free server transfers are implemented. Makes a cynical person wonder if they're trying to get people to move or something...

-Bux

Originally Posted by Emo_Bitter

I'm keeping the rules like this. The goal as I see it of the PvPEC is to provide the communities with unique variations of PvP so as to bring both "PvPrs" and "PvErs" together.

I'm sorry if some of you guys don't like how we've structured this event but I encourage you to come out anyways. Not all events will be setup this way, but keep in mind were trying to add spice and diversity in our events to keep interest among the community.

Originally Posted by Emo_Bitter

Format: Random Draw 2v2
Weight: SHW (47-50)
Match Duration: 10 Minutes
Match Options: Travel Suppression On, Heal Decay Off, Diminishing Returns On.
Maps: Random. All maps will be in play.
Additional: Tier 1 Inspirations and Arena temps are permitted. One reset is permitted within the first 60 seconds of the match if a player disconnects. Sudden Death Mode does not count.

Originally Posted by Dahjee

Judging from the attitude and replies... I think It'd be better if folks here try and remember that its just a game. This is just a forum, and it's not that serious. I come from a place that seeks to enjoy my play time... not take is so damn serious.

Everyone who wants to PvP will die at some point. Everyone. Zone PvP is not arena... theres no timer, no kill count, and ya know what... theres no winners and losers! Just a bunch of toons hopping around hoping to kill more than they die. the end.

If people Rage ever time they die in PvP... then I can understand the desire to Only roll toons that have been cookie cut due to their top notch status. It's not that serious to me. Don't make PvP into something it is not... which is that damn serious.

Originally Posted by SoulTouch

...an /MM blaster takes more skill to play then a /EM blaster and thats why I dont think...

Originally Posted by black_barrier

basically the only reason i still play this game.

Originally Posted by Wraiven

So, I must admit, tonight was not my "first" night playing PvP. Last night I took a SO'ed, PvE build Spines/SR Stalker to RV and was owned as suspected. But I picked up on a few PvP tactics that helped me get the gist of what PvP was doing these days. But...


Tonight, I decided to take a PvP build, SO'ed out, with none other than a Stealth IO, Caws/SR level 40 Stalker into Sirens and to my surprise, the general PvP players out there were pretty damn challenging when compared to the old school PvP days. I was for sure killed a hell of alot more times than I killed, but wow, I must say, these guys and gals sure as hell did make it fun. Spirits in PvP tonight were friendly, nobody complained or became aggravated, and all in all, all players seemed to have a good time.

Even though I came into the zone with nothing more than a Stealth IO and SO's, I did not walk out of the zone feeling like I contributed nothing to the game. I must say all in all, the PvPers of this game has really impressed me. I walked out of the zone tonight very impressed.

I still hate the travel power nerf thing, but after experiencing tonight's game, I have to say, I will for sure be back to fight another day!

Thanks, Freedom, y'all rock!

Originally Posted by CriticalKat

I don't see that kind of childish crap on Virtue, I also haven't seen nearly the skill level that I see on Freedom. Personally I would rather ignore the idiots and participate in better pvp.

Originally Posted by Reiraku

It should also be known that Hot of War (of the SG, Korea) and Hero Base Drone 436-B have announced their engagement. We expect the wedding sometime next year, in the fall.

Originally Posted by SmegHead

It's funny you say that. Most of the transfers from virtue seem to have the fightklub mentality on lock. I heard one guy complaining about how tanks and brutes have phase on freedom and that he was switching back to virtue because nobody actually stood and fought here.

But yeah, if you don't have tough skin (which it sounds like you don't if you let petty crap like that get to you) freedom isn't the place for you.

Originally Posted by Supermax

How's that? Also, basing your opinion of a server on two total matches against bad players isn't a very good idea.

Originally Posted by CriticalKat

I find it to be the exact opposite. I moved one toon to Virtue and one to Freedom on the same day. While I will admit Virtue doesn't seem to be quite as "clickish" for arena matches, they have still been very lol compared to Freedom. RV has even been more lol. While broadcast isn't as bad on Virtue as it is on Freedom, I haven't found people working together as a team on Virtue, at all. Pretty sad and not very competitive IMHO.

As far as fiteclub, I never see it happen on Freedom because the zone is just too busy, Virtue I have seen and interrupted fightclubs several times.