1st Content patch: outdoor missions lvl 40+ only

[Xilren's Twin]

Well crap.  I was looking forward to trying some of those.

I saw the big thread on this and wanted to comment.

In this update, instanced (outdoor) missions are level 40+ only. This is not a design principle, but rather just a limitation of time. The amount of missions in levels 41 to 50 is just enormous; we simply did not have the time to add the instanced outdoor missions to the lower levels.

In other words, there's no prohibition stating that instanced outdoor missions will always be available only to high level characters. To the contrary, the next Update (actually, I like calling them Issues) is all about making missions BETTER at ALL levels. We're adding new mission objectives, new AI behaviors and spreading the Instanced Missions down to lower levels.

I'm keenly aware that City of Heroes is a game that's not just for the hard core player; heck, we designed it that way! I want to make sure that players love being in Paragon City whether they play 30 hrs. a week or 1 hr. a week. Remember - this is only the first Issue. The next one, Shadow of the Past is going to blow you out of the water.

Makes me wonder how hard it is to add missions in the game structure.  It just doesn't stike me as being that hard, but what do I know.

You can also now start downloading the update when you log OUT of CoH if you choose.  Can't use it yet, but it's probably the zones peices and such.

Xilren

[WayAbvPar]

From other dev studios, this would worry me. However, CoH is a casual player's dream for the most part; there is enough content at the lower levels to keep me entertained. I don't mind that the catasses get first crack at some of this stuff.

I would definitely have an issue if a majority of future content was skewed to high levels, especially if they kept ratcheting up the max level. I hate to sound like a drooling fanboi, but I have confidence in Cryptic. We'll see how long that lasts =)

[daveNYC]

I don't think it's that hard to add missions, it's probably more of an issue designing missions that are somewhat original.

[Daydreamer]

And they probably want to avoid stepping on their own toes as much as possible.  Why add new lowbie missions now when they will just be surpassed, if not rewritten, when the second content patch hits with its new goals/obstacles/AI?

[Alrindel]

Adding new missions is certainly very easy, provided that all you want to add (right now) are more "go to an instance of area type C size 3, kill all the bad guys, and touch five randomly placed blinking objects."  But right now they're tinkering with the mission engine itself to add new functionality, and that's much more delicate.  Once they've finished creating the new mission types, I expect that the missions themselves will come very quickly.

[kaid]

I believe statesman said that for now they will be 40+ but they intend to integrate them to lower levels as well as time goes on. Inserting them at lower levels would be a bit more invoved than most think you would have to rework story lines and go and adjust a good number of missions. Initially it is just alot easier to add them to the upper level stuff to avoid breaking storyllines.

Also there are supposedly a large number of changes to existing mission tile sets like the jails and new ai that will be seen in existing missions.


Kaid

[Mesozoic]

Sort of on-topic.  

It would be an interesting future of development for games, wouldn't it?  The end result of extensive instancing might not be that you pay a fee for a SP game, but instead that you pay a monthly fee for gameplay that floats seamlessly from a single to multi to massive game.  

You play your SP campaign until you get a /tell from your buddy, then you walk through a door and end up in a personal area for just the two of you.  Later another friend comes into your instanced zone.  Later still someone leaves and you head out to find a replacement in the massive environment.  The three of you head to a new instanced team zone.  Dinner time comes, both teammates leave, and you're right back to the SP campaign.   The current distinction between "single" and "multi" would be very blurred.  To a lesser extent, so would "massive" and "instanced."  (in the same sort of way that COH has already done  - which Atlas Park is the "real" one?  1 or 2?)

The idea of stopping your SP game, logging onto a master server list, picking a server, calling your friend in, playing, dealing with random fucktards, and then logging off would be completely archaic by comparison.  So would classic MMOs like UO, AC, DAoC - anything without a large amount of instanced content to get away from aforemetnioned fucktards at will.

[Sky]

Some of that groundwork has been done by Microsoft for their Live service. Like when playing a Live-aware single player game, and having your friend log on and join you, making it a coop game. Some cool stuff.