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f13.net  |  f13.net General Forums  |  The Gaming Graveyard  |  City of Heroes / City of Villains  |  Topic: I16 0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.
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Author Topic: I16  (Read 30437 times)
Lantyssa
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on: July 16, 2009, 03:04:36 PM

Received a mail about Issue 16:

Power Spectrum

Quote
City of Heroes' latest offering, Issue 16: Power Spectrum, forever changes the way all super powered beings will look at their powers. Now, changing the colors of your powers is as easy as changing the colors of your cape!

At last, our next free content update unveils the all new, much requested and long awaited Powers Customization system! You wanted more control over what your characters' powers look like, and you are getting it! Issue 16: Power Spectrum takes City of Heroes' unparalleled character creator to the next level by unveiling a kaleidoscope of colors for your characters' powers. Become your own pyrotechnician as you select themes for your characters' powers and color coordinate the hues of the power effects.

New Character Creator

Not only does the newly updated Character Creator allow players to jump directly between Archetype, Powersets, Costumes and Character ID in any order without losing progress, but it also allows you to select your colors and theme for each individual power or apply it to the entire powerset. These themes will allow for color tinting of geometry and particle effects such as energy blast colors and force field colors. The primary and secondary colors of any power effect can be changed individually for each power in the set.

Customizable Powers

Customizable powersets include Cold Domination, Dark Armor, Dark Blast, Dark Melee, Dark Miasma, Earth Control, Earth Melee, Electric Armor, Electric Assault, Electric Blast, Electric Melee, Electricity Manipulation, Empathy, Energy Assault, Energy Aura, Energy Blast, Energy Manipulation, Energy Melee, Fiery Aura, Fire Assault, Fire Blast, Fire Control, Fire Manipulation, Fire Melee, Force Field, Gravity Control, Ice Armor, Ice Assault, Ice Blast, Ice Control, Ice Manipulation, Ice Melee, Illusion, Invulnerability, Kinetics, Mental Manipulation, Mind Control,  Necromancy, Plant Control, Psionic Assault, Psychic Blast, Radiation Blast, Radiation Emission, Regeneration, Sonic Resonance, Sonic Blast, Spines, Stone Armor, Storm Summoning, Super Reflexes, Thermal Radiation, Thorny Assault and Willpower.

Super Strength and Martial Arts will each receive an alternate animation for their powers, and Stone Armor and Necromancy will include limited customization.

Other Issue 16 Features

Powerset Proliferation - More powersets are now in the hands of Archetypes who couldn't use them previously! Blasters will have access to Radiation Blast, Brutes will get their Claws on, Controllers can now freeze it up with Cold Domination, and Corruptors get to feel the "twang" of Archery and Trick Arrow. Defenders can go high-tech with Assault Rifle and Traps, and Dominators can pulverize their enemies with Earth Assault. Masterminds heat things up with Thermal Radiation, Scrappers and Tankers get ready to fry their foes with Electric Melee and Electric Armor, and finally Stalkers get to swing their own mighty Broadsword.

Enhanced Difficulty Options - Players can now fine-tune their difficulty levels by telling the game exactly how they want to be treated. They can choose to be regarded as a specific size team (even if they are soloing), and even have control over the level they are detected to be when it comes to the dynamic spawn system. So if you ever wanted to see if your Scrapper could take on a map that is populated for an 8 person team, four levels higher than your own, now you can! The difficulty settings of the mission owner dictate how the mission is handled, just as before, and you can change your difficulty settings at any Hero Corp.'s Representative in Paragon City or Fateweaver in the Rogue Isles.

* Double XP weekend starting July 31.

* New Science Booster Pack.

* Pointer to Going Rogue expansion.  [Dunno if anything here is new. - Lan]

Hahahaha!  I'm really good at this!
Nevermore
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Reply #1 on: July 16, 2009, 03:13:15 PM

Power customization, Radiation Blasters, Earth Assault Dominators, Archery/Trick Arrow Corruptors and faction switching in the expansion.  That's literally everything I've ever asked for with the exception of Illusion Dominators.  I know what game I'll be playing more soon!

Over and out.
tazelbain
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tazelbain


Reply #2 on: July 16, 2009, 03:36:50 PM

None of that interests me.  Sounds like a patch to The Sims.  "Now with even more dress up options!"  Snore. 

I love the random level generator.  It's the best thing about the game.  And it's largely unchanged since 2004.  Good grief.  Traps? Puzzles? Bonus Areas?  Vertical maps?  terrain effects? Hacking? Different AI behaviors?  So many fraking things you could do with this system and they leave it to languish.

"Me am play gods"
Lantyssa
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Reply #3 on: July 16, 2009, 04:40:14 PM

It is everything I want, but I'm not sure if it can hold me long enough to make it worth my while.  Though nothing is really holding me for long right now.

One thing I did find out recently is that CoX now has leveling pacts.  That is a really big draw, I just wish it wasn't limited to characters below five.  Higher levels should be allowed to start one if they're close in level.

Hahahaha!  I'm really good at this!
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Reply #4 on: July 16, 2009, 07:44:28 PM

Levelling pacts were a great idea, hamstrung by their level limitations.

I16 is very much the "we've got the same power offers as ChampO!" issue. I'm also expecting I16 (based on recent experience) to come out with a new TF / SF for each side that serves as the sole new play content while there will be at least one major bug that blunts excitement about the issue.

Zetor
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Reply #5 on: July 17, 2009, 04:37:48 AM

Thirding the request for unrestricted leveling pacts. That's a mechanic that other games could/should adapt, it's a neat way of balancing out the hardcore and casual players within a quasi-static group.

In my guild, we just do a ghetto version of it on our alts: we only play them when everyone is on, and only play them until one of us has to log off. Doesn't completely equalize xp (if someone goes to the hospital, they don't get xp until they're back on the map), but it's very close. Since all we do on them is AE content, there's no travelling downtime either [other than leveling].

I'd say the biggest change for this patch - for me - is the more dynamic mission slider thing... as shiny as the new powerset options are, I don't really want to start yet another level 1 alt anytime soon. :p

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Reply #6 on: July 18, 2009, 01:58:54 AM

Having thought about this somewhat, I16 is really just pandering to CoH/V's existing player base. There really isn't much in it that I can see to bring back exited players or attract new ones.

The fans love it, of course - they've been asking for this for years. But the new difficulty setting options are just going to lead to the same problems that AE did with regards to powerleveling and farming and new colours / animations for a lot of powers isn't going to attract a whole heap of players back. Powers aren't the main weakness CoH/V has.

Kageru
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Reply #7 on: July 18, 2009, 08:23:18 AM


This is just an issue though... dramatic new play mechanics and major content additions would be the sort of thing they'd be saving for the expansion.

Is a man not entitled to the hurf of his durf?
- Simond
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Reply #8 on: July 18, 2009, 09:41:50 AM

The expansion that is due ... ?  why so serious?

I don't think I16 is going to make it out of the gates for September. Maybe it will, but Paragon Studios tends to like a month of closed beta, then a couple of weeks of open beta and I don't think they'll have time unless i16 goes into closed beta next week.

Sure, promising the changes is something, but a lot of CoH/V players are likely to go and check out ChampO. Some of them won't come back. Some might not stick with ChampO, but even breaking the habit of playing CoH/V is a bad thing for Paragon Studios.

CoH/V needs to build its player base. I15 won't do it. I16 - against a competitor who promises to do the same things but better - probably won't do it. Going Rogue, which might be I17 (so maybe by the end of the year) or I18 (so maybe early next year), is likely to be the bigger draw, but it actually has to offer players a reason to come back or start fresh. And if Going Rogue doesn't build that player base, get it growing 100k + players, then that might be all she wrote for major updates to that game. 

Kageru
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Reply #9 on: July 19, 2009, 08:14:28 AM


I would expect the issue and expansion is under parallel development. They've got a significantly different scope.

I think they're probably aware they either need to re-invent the game or accept a steady dwindling. At the same time it looks like they don't have the money to do CoH2 but are instead hoping the expansions can renew the game in stages without sacrificing the revenue they have. It would be a fairly neat trick if they can pull it off but it's not going to be easy. And yeah, even if they do play it well there's still a lot of new MMO's, and superhero ones at that, in development. We should have a good idea of what's going to happen when we see how the expansion is received: too late, too small or failing to attact any new blood and they'll be in trouble.

On the positive side since cryptic got cut out of the deal they seem a bit more motivated to put up a decent fight.

Is a man not entitled to the hurf of his durf?
- Simond
Hutch
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Reply #10 on: August 09, 2009, 05:16:04 PM

Matt Miller ("Positron") writes a dev diary for MMORPG.com

This is the story of power color customization. I guess they've had it in the works since spring of 2008.



Plant yourself like a tree
Haven't you noticed? We've been sharing our culture with you all morning.
The sun will shine on us again, brother
Rendakor
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Reply #11 on: August 13, 2009, 12:48:30 AM

Interesting read. Kind of a shame they didn't roll this out when I still had some interest in this game. It'd take a really major expansion to get me to come back now (or a free weekend awesome, for real).

"i can't be a star citizen. they won't even give me a star green card"
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Reply #12 on: August 13, 2009, 07:20:46 AM

Super-sidekicking announced.

Quote
The second feature is what we have come to call “Super-Sidekicking” but actually applies to all types of Sidekicking: Exemplaring, Lackeying, and Malefactoring as well. With this system, everyone in the team will find themselves automatically level adjusted to the level of the owner of the Mission that is currently selected. If there is no mission that is currently active, then the level is set to the leader of the Team.

If you are below the level you are getting set to, you are automatically sidekicked up to one level below the owner’s level, just as if you had sidekicked to them. If you are above the level, then you will be lowered to the level of the owner, just as if you exemplared down.

It's exactly the way that ChampO is doing sidekicking and is a fantastic adjustment to this mechanic.

Zetor
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Reply #13 on: August 13, 2009, 08:43:06 AM

Wow, that's pretty hot. Does that mean that trials and TFs no longer need all players to be a certain level to participate? Similarly, if 4 people from a 6-man team are too high level for a TF, do they get no-xp-exemplared or super-sidekick-exemplared?

Glazius
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Reply #14 on: August 13, 2009, 09:25:26 AM

Wow, that's pretty hot. Does that mean that trials and TFs no longer need all players to be a certain level to participate? Similarly, if 4 people from a 6-man team are too high level for a TF, do they get no-xp-exemplared or super-sidekick-exemplared?

You know, I don't know. People have been asking things like this and Posi hasn't spoken out one way or the other yet. I'd think super sidekicking would apply normally to TF teams, but at the same time 8 level 1s have a snowball's chance at actually completing, say, the LGTF.
tazelbain
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tazelbain


Reply #15 on: August 13, 2009, 09:52:49 AM

One person has to start the TF?  They have to meet the requirements on the TF and everyone else scales to them?

All this forced exemplaring would seems to kill a ton of exp unless it starts to give exp.

"Me am play gods"
ezrast
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Reply #16 on: August 13, 2009, 01:48:23 PM

Quote
This means that no matter what level ranges you have in your group, you can ALWAYS play together and you can ALWAYS get XP. Yes, we are even changing the way exemplaring works so that you get XP while you are fighting at a lower level. There will be an option of having the “old way” of exemplaring, and earning extra Inf. instead, for those players who want to earn some more Inf. instead of levels.
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Reply #17 on: August 13, 2009, 07:34:28 PM

Level requirements for Hazard Zones are going away (doesn't seem it will impact on PvP zone restrictions though). So lvl 1s can enter a lvl 50 hazard zone.

They might not be able to join high level TFs, but they will be able to raid.

Glazius
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Reply #18 on: August 14, 2009, 10:42:54 AM

Level requirements for Hazard Zones are going away (doesn't seem it will impact on PvP zone restrictions though). So lvl 1s can enter a lvl 50 hazard zone.

They might not be able to join high level TFs, but they will be able to raid.

The mothership, yeah. They're still locked out of the Hive/Abyss, not that anyone cares about Hamidon anymore.
Trippy
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Reply #19 on: August 14, 2009, 05:16:23 PM

Virtue raids Hami 5 times a week, with usually "double" (back to back) raids on most of those days.
Trippy
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Reply #20 on: August 26, 2009, 08:08:14 PM

I16 is in open beta now.
stark
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Reply #21 on: August 27, 2009, 10:51:39 AM

I condensed the patch notes to points of interest, removed most of the fluff:



Powers Customization:

Hundreds of powers have been updated to allow new color selections and customization. Players can now pick new Themes for each powerset, adjusting colors, appearance, and even animations for some sets.
Key Features:
Thousands of Tintable particle and geometry effects for powers, such as Energy Blasts and Stone Mallet colors.
Customizable Primary and Secondary colors for powersets, with color choices themed to match the selected powerset.
Powerset Themes selectable for a complete set, or individual powers.
Powerset Themes selectable at character creation, as well as in the tailor screens.
Independant Theme selection for each character costume.
Preview live animations of all powers, showing the selected Theme and color choices.
Save and Load Theme settings for each powerset, saving colors and selections for all powers.

Costume slots: Your active costume slot is stored when you log off will be the costume slot used when you log back in. It will also display that costume in the character selection screen.

_______________________________________________

Powerset Proliferation:

Blasters - Radiation Blast
Brutes - Claws
Controllers - Cold Domination
Corruptors - Archery, Trick Arrow
Defenders - Assault Rifle, Traps
Dominators - Earth Assault
Masterminds - Thermal Radiation
Scrappers - Electric Melee, Electric Armor
Tankers - Electric Melee, Electric Armor
Stalkers - Broadsword

Epic/Patron Powers Pools: The balance between the Epic/Patron power pools has been revisited. Now all Epic power pools have 5 powers to choose from.

_____________________________________________


Enhanced Difficulty Options:

Choose to fight monsters between a -1 to +4 level difference from the player's level.
Choose to set your personal team size (1-8).
Choose if you want bosses to scale down to Lieutenants when soloing or not
Choose to have AVs scale down to EBs.

_______________________________________________


Sidekicking Changes: Super-Sidekicking! One player can now sidekick or exemplar the whole team, everyone can always player together!
Each player in the group's level is set to the level of the owner of the active team task. If no team task is selected, everyone in the group's level will be set to the level of the team leader.
When the team level changes, players will be notified via a dialog and have the option to quit the team or immediately accept. The dialog will time out after 30 seconds at which point acceptance is implied.
While in the pending state, players cannot receive rewards and any critters they damage will be worth no experience.
Players can choose to auto-accept team level changes 0 to 50 levels above or below their current level.
Exemplars will now earn XP and retain access to powers up to 5 levels above their aspirant. A level capped person will get XP converted into influence like exemplars used to.

_______________________________________________


Mission Architect:

Custom Critter XP Scaling
Mission Creation Improvements

_______________________________________________

XP Curve Adjustment
To go along with our new changes to sidekicking and exemplaring, we've made some adjustments to the experience awarded from minions, lieutenants and bosses in the level 5 to 24 range. In short these enemies are on average receiving a 20% experience and influence increase. This will slightly speed up the pace at which heroes and villains advance through the 5 to 24 range
Zetor
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Reply #22 on: August 28, 2009, 04:37:12 AM

Lots of good stuff, though the AE custom mob xp changes make me a sad panda. Basically, custom mobs will be much harder than normal mobs AND award less xp (unless you give them every single power, which isn't a good idea; heck, some custom mob powersets are borderline overpowered with just standard abilities). I know it's supposed to deter farming, but talk about throwing out the baby with the bathwater... :p

Trippy
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Reply #23 on: August 28, 2009, 05:42:03 AM

That part doesn't really affect farming as people were mostly using Freaks, Maniacs and Demons instead. The drastic decrease in Exp for mob groups that don't have all 3 types is what's going to kill off Boss and LT farms.

Zetor
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Reply #24 on: August 28, 2009, 06:11:19 AM

I know (and I don't mind that change much); it annoys me that they'd cut custom mob xp that drastically, though. It kind of makes story-based arcs with a custom group near-pointless for xp. Just when I was getting into creating arcs, too... /sadf

Glazius
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Reply #25 on: August 28, 2009, 06:52:56 AM

Lots of good stuff, though the AE custom mob xp changes make me a sad panda. Basically, custom mobs will be much harder than normal mobs AND award less xp (unless you give them every single power, which isn't a good idea; heck, some custom mob powersets are borderline overpowered with just standard abilities). I know it's supposed to deter farming, but talk about throwing out the baby with the bathwater... :p

As long as they keep the standard set they're worth standard XP, but I agree, it's possible to build an enemy group entirely out of standard/standard powers that can totally wreck most players.
Redgiant
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Reply #26 on: August 28, 2009, 08:29:50 PM

I'd love to finally see some serious attempt at:

1. Buildings which actually have interiors.
2. (1) with different - *radically* different - interiors.
3. PvP with 3 and 4-sided battles. DAoC for CoX ...
4. (3) with an Aion-like extra faction for ganging up on one side (probalby the stonger side, if that can be detemrined)

But I guess to bother with (3) or (4) you'd first have to invent a reason to even PvP in CoX ...

A FUCKING COMPANY IS AT STEAK
Zetor
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Reply #27 on: September 02, 2009, 01:47:13 AM

After reading up on it some, the difficulty slider is going to be one of the bestest changes evar. Our current hero group has a ton of AOE power and control, but is kinda weak against hard-hitting bosses (peacebringer, warshade, dark defender, ill controller, got a ways to go until lv20); on the other hand, our current villain group is very strong against single targets and can take a beating against tougher mobs, but lacks AOE (we have 2 brutes with some kind of 'single target' powerset, a plant dominator, and a rad corruptor). It'd be different for our (finally!) level 50 group too, it's just that we lost all motivation to play those characters after hitting the cap.  awesome, for real

The powerset customization is pretty neat (finally ice armor and earth control will not have to look like crap!), but I wish it was as customizable as Champions' powers, complete with selecting where you want the pew-pew-beam to fire from, etc etc, though I can understand why it would be difficult/impossible to implement that awy.

In other news, my arc finally broke the single-digit barrier [number of plays, including the 3 testers from my SG] last week. It only took 3 weeks! why so serious?
« Last Edit: September 02, 2009, 01:48:44 AM by Zetor »

Glazius
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Reply #28 on: September 02, 2009, 03:31:35 PM

In other news, my arc finally broke the single-digit barrier [number of plays, including the 3 testers from my SG] last week. It only took 3 weeks! why so serious?

I do a review thing on the official boards, though I have no idea how much it'll help with circulation.
Zetor
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Reply #29 on: September 02, 2009, 10:53:48 PM

You did review my arc, actually; it was the one called 'The Coldest of Wars' with the annoying glowie hunt and the even more annoying end-boss. :p

(small world, etc etc)

Glazius
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Reply #30 on: September 03, 2009, 07:55:25 AM

You did review my arc, actually; it was the one called 'The Coldest of Wars' with the annoying glowie hunt and the even more annoying end-boss. :p

(small world, etc etc)

So I guess the answer to how much I do for circulation is "not much" then.
Zetor
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Reply #31 on: September 03, 2009, 08:13:33 AM

Eh, I think story-based AE arcs are just in a general slump lately, is all (other AE authors report similar experiences), and I did appreciate the review, esp. since it was my first arc. The lack of plays is probably a combination of everyone trying out champions, not many people playing AE except for farming, other players being disillusioned with AE restrictions / sameyness (I16 is not going to help things), and most importantly only a very small % of players reading forums and sites like cohmissionreview. Teh AE Shiny™ has worn off.

[anecdote: currently my arc sits at 12 plays; 3 of these were the 'playtester' SG members, 2 were reviewers]

Trippy
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Reply #32 on: September 16, 2009, 12:58:07 AM

I16 went live yesterday (Tuesday).
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