City of Heroes going F2P with Issue 21

[Tyrnan]

http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/freedom/freedom_overview.html

Sound pretty much identical to what I remember of the Champions Online model (without the stupidity of removing access to one of the major selling points of the game). Free players, Premium players (previous subscribers) and VIPs (subscribers who get an amount of cash shop points included in their subscription each month).

FAQ

Wasn't sure if this should go here on in the City of Heroes section in the graveyard but since the AoC announcement got posted here I assume this is the right place. Apologies if I got it wrong.

[Hutch]

I'll have to pay attention to this. If I can get back into my old account, and keep the characters, content, and perks that I had previously accumulated, then F2P with a cash shop might get me to sign back up.

[Lantyssa]

Coolness.  Great timing since I've been on a CoX kick.

It's the right place for it, Tyrnan.  No one would see it buried in the CoX forum.

[Tyrnan]

Coolness.  Great timing since I've been on a CoX kick.

Yeah I just resubbed 3 days ago so I'm pretty  right now. And I've been hoping they'd makes some sort of time-based powerset for years so that should keep me happy for a while.

[Trippy]

Hmm...

[Sky]

Great timing since I've been on a CoX kick.

Merusk needed another sig line, eh?

[Zetor]

Hmm...

Seconded. Maybe it's time to see how rusty I am with my rad defender... again.

I am kind of sad they aren't including the Mission Architect for f2p'rs (I assume they can unlock the ability to play MA arcs with $, but only VIPs will be able to create arcs). That feature (player-created story arcs) is the best/most unique aspect of COH, and I'm not just saying this because I have a dev's choice arc.  

[Mrbloodworth]

The real question. Will it be on steam?

[Trippy]

So far do not like. I'll have to see what my buds on Virtue are going to do. If most of them are going to try to move to the VIP-only server that's going to be problematic for me.

[Trippy]

The real question. Will it be on steam?

It already is.

[Mrbloodworth]

The real question. Will it be on steam?

It already is.

In the F2P area I mean. ( Using the wallet and all that ) There are a few MMO's that are on steam, but not in the F2P section, but are F2P ( Or will be ).

[Numtini]

FINALLY!!! This game has cried out to be free to play for far longer than the current fad.

[Trippy]

The real question. Will it be on steam?

It already is.

In the F2P area I mean. ( Using the wallet and all that ) There are a few MMO's that are on steam, but not in the F2P section, but are F2P ( Or will be ).

If Steam also supports reoccurring subscriptions then they could do it though I doubt NCsoft will want to give Valve a cut.

[Lantyssa]

They might for the increased exposure.

Merusk needed another sig line, eh?

It's been a while since I've given a good, sig-worthy quote.

[Mrbloodworth]

The real question. Will it be on steam?

It already is.

In the F2P area I mean. ( Using the wallet and all that ) There are a few MMO's that are on steam, but not in the F2P section, but are F2P ( Or will be ).

If Steam also supports reoccurring subscriptions then they could do it though I doubt NCsoft will want to give Valve a cut.

Yeah I would guess thats issue.  However if it was as tightly integrated as Spiral knights ( Uses steam account for log in ETC.. ) I could see giving it a spin again.

[PalmTrees]

As a subscriber I'll be getting some free cash shop points, wonder how far they'll go. Might finally get some of the costume pack outfits. I'd always thought that charging separately for a handful of new costume options was kinda shifty.

Hopefully they can pull in some more cash and finally do what they've needed to do since launch and create new tilesets. Nemesis so needs its own steampunk style lab/secret base. And maybe one day the CoT can afford to widen their damn tunnels.

[Soln]

Ok cool.


Since this my first day on planet Earth, what's diff between CoX and CO?  CO seemed faster to the fun with early travel powers and more variety of power overall.  How do they stack up?

[luckton]

Ok cool.


Since this my first day on planet Earth, what's diff between CoX and CO?  CO seemed faster to the fun with early travel powers and more variety of power overall.  How do they stack up?

CoX has actually wizened up to this issue and you can now get your travel power earlier.  The Fitness Pool power is also given to everyone before level 10 for freeeeeeeeeeee.  And many power sets that were kept for one archetype only has been given to a lot of archetypes.  Plus they added more power sets overall.

[Merusk]

Great timing since I've been on a CoX kick.

Merusk needed another sig line, eh?

While sigworthy, if I tack on another from her it begins to look like stalking.

[Surlyboi]

You mean it's not?

[Lantyssa]

CoX has actually wizened up to this issue and you can now get your travel power earlier.  The Fitness Pool power is also given to everyone before level 10 for freeeeeeeeeeee.  And many power sets that were kept for one archetype only has been given to a lot of archetypes.  Plus they added more power sets overall.

Uh, still 6 and 14 last I checked.  Last week.  Fitness is given at level 2 for free.

The production values are higher with CoX.  It runs better while looking better.  I prefer most of the costume options with CoX, but CO has some you can't get plus more colors per part.  It's an acceptable alternative but it should have been an evolutionary step up.  The world is larger in CoX, heroes and villains, and with Going Rogue you can bounce between the two sides.

The combat systems are different enough to each have their adherents.  Free-form power selection is cooler, but limited to paying customers.  CoX has a wide variety though, so it's not like they're hurting.  CO's travel powers are superior for the most part.

For me, CoX just edges out CO in so many areas that it makes it an easy choice.  It doesn't help that I seem completely unable to give a whit about CO's lore.  It's like the difference between Marvel and DC, except the DC characters are all generic and bland.  There's Witch Woman who does witchy things and Bullet Man who shoots himself out of a giant cannon at naughty people.  Oh, and a dude named Defender whose defining moment is failing to defend a major metropolitan city.  Thankfully, no one gives a shit about the real Detroit and razing it to build a modern city would only be an improvement.  Somehow the game even gets that wrong.

[Ingmar]

I believe you get a temp travel power now though that carries you until you get the real one. Maybe I only had that as a vet reward or something.

[Merusk]

You mean it's not?

Nope.

[Ingmar]

From the looks of things I'd have to play to unlock most of my characters, even as a returning player. That's not so thrilling.

EDIT: However I find it extremely amusing that only pay customers can actually post on their forums. 

[luckton]

EDIT: However I find it extremely amusing that only pay customers can actually post on their forums. 

Been like that for a long time...isn't that the standard 'norm' nowadays?

[Ingmar]

EDIT: However I find it extremely amusing that only pay customers can actually post on their forums. 

Been like that for a long time...isn't that the standard 'norm' nowadays?

Well of course it was like that before, the only customers they had were pay customers. I don't know if it is the standard for F2P games.

[Amaron]

Who has played CoX lately?   Last time I played it the mission architect had ruined it.   All the grouping had dried up for anything but power leveling in the MA missions.

[Tyrnan]

CoX has actually wizened up to this issue and you can now get your travel power earlier.  The Fitness Pool power is also given to everyone before level 10 for freeeeeeeeeeee.  And many power sets that were kept for one archetype only has been given to a lot of archetypes.  Plus they added more power sets overall.

Uh, still 6 and 14 last I checked.  Last week.  Fitness is given at level 2 for free.

The City Traveler veteran reward (5 years) lets you choose a travel power at level 6 without having to take the prerequisite. Obviously not much use to people who haven't been playing for that long, but they said that you could choose the vet rewards you wanted with the new system. Although I imagine there will still be some sort of tiered system and would be very surprised if you could choose that one straight away.

Early access to travel powers was definitely one of the things that CO did right. Giving every second mob the ability to turn it off on you however, wasn't such a bright idea.

However I find it extremely amusing that only pay customers can actually post on their forums. 

Yeah, I was thinking that they really should add a section to their forums that the F2P people can post in. Although I could also see that turning into a bit of a headache.

[Ingmar]

Who has played CoX lately?   Last time I played it the mission architect had ruined it.   All the grouping had dried up for anything but power leveling in the MA missions.

That didn't seem to be true when I last played around when Going Rogue came out, at least on Virtue. I was constantly getting tells for groups from random people, mostly for non-MA stuff.

[Tyrnan]

Who has played CoX lately?   Last time I played it the mission architect had ruined it.   All the grouping had dried up for anything but power leveling in the MA missions.

That didn't seem to be true when I last played around when Going Rogue came out, at least on Virtue. I was constantly getting tells for groups from random people, mostly for non-MA stuff.

It's the same on Union. There's still some of that going on in MA (or people just use it to power up to SO/IO levels) but it's not nearly as prevalent as it was when it launched. They tightened up a lot of the loopholes people were using since then. Also I think that (some) people finally realised that rushing to the level cap in a game that doesn't really have an end-game was rather pointless.

[Slyfeind]

Oh man. If all I have to do is buy Paragon Points to play all my old characters for free, I'm sold.

[Amaron]

Oh man. If all I have to do is buy Paragon Points to play all my old characters for free, I'm sold.

I'm really curious what exactly they are going to sell considering this.   They can't really do pay2win without and end game.   I really want to hope they are going to do something smart like new power sets at 15 bucks a pop or something.   Going on the past though CoX's code is not well suited to pumping out new power sets cheaply.

[Sjofn]

Costume sets, baby. The game is 95% playing dress up.


EDIT: Also yes, CoX's lore stomps the shit out of CO's. I give a fuck about CoX's villain groups (well, most of them). CO is just zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Also CoX's superjump >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> CO's superjump.

[Nevermore]

I'm definitely going to have to look into this.  I always loved CoX.  I just ended up losing interest finally because the gameplay just got repetitive, even for me.

[Ingmar]

Yeah it is definitely in my top 3 or 4 MMOs, I go back to it from time to time, this will facilitate that for me nicely.