Glacier Peak

I'm not a fan of clicking links, can you synopses this for me?

I'm happy to take on this response. I've continued to play this game since Homecoming made it available. I've enjoyed it and I've made that clear in the original post. I'm asking other players what they would say are ways to please an audience who has diverging view points. I appreciate you bringing up graphical fidelity, as I mentioned that being the connection I made with another game I've been playing over the past twenty years. I also like that proverb, in fact I'm constantly espousing to not reinventing the wheel in my day job.

That's not this thread though. I'm assuming your speaking hypothetically.

Sanguinesun, that was a terrific write up. You took my question and answered it and then some. I'm starting to see some consistency across posters' replies thus far, and without short changing your verbose response, it makes me think I should post a follow up reply that summarizes these shared points others have made as well.

Wow that first part is really true now that I think about it - team story telling has been absent in my mind for a while. I think Frostfire's Hollows arc was the last time I remember really seeing a team driven, perhaps through coincidence more than design choice, that teams would form specifically to finish it together.

I can say after playing through all the content in this game that it's not a tidy or neat path through a defined story arc that spans the whole game. Some stories are one-offs and some don't add to the larger world events. I find the climatic story arcs to be the most memorable, like the Grandville villain arcs are some of the best in the whole game. They can't all be like that though, and I don't think they should be either or else I wouldn't enjoy it as much. Hey at least we don't have to pay for those Signature Story Arcs, right? Then again, some of the writing in other arcs (Laura Lockhart spoilers!) makes me feel like someone should've been paid!

The first part in your post had me thinking back nearly twenty years ago - I can't remember what type of character I made, maybe a Blaster? What I can remember is the feeling of exhilaration and glee when I finally unlocked Hover, not even Fly, but Hover! I was able to move my character vertically, albeit slower than can be experienced now a days - BUT IT WAS FUN! I really appreciate your point about the damage meta and the utility of travel powers - travel powers are what kept me in the subscription loop honestly. It took so long to unlock one, Level 14 back then when leveling was way slower, that the power felt dramatic when I first toggled it on (never took Teleport back then lol). It had lots of trade offs sure, endurance drain was insane and it didn't have additional benefits like we see on Homecoming regarding secondary power (Speed Phase, Vertical Leap, Afterburner, Double Jump, etc) or Travel Invention Origin sets with uniques. Heck, find me someone today who thinks Fly with Afterburner is slow and I'll find you 5 people who cheered with joy when they could float over the pits of Trolls and Igneous in the Hollows or even the original Faultline zone. Anyways, all that nostalgia to say I appreciate your response and agree with your characterization of how a change can alter player perceptions in unintended ways.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. I agree with your points, especially your last sentence.

I appreciate the clarity! Edit: I wanted to add more since you took the time to write a good response to my question. We're in agreement it seems - I do like to hear from folks who have a different opinion than I do though, so that's why I posited a follow up hypothetical to the previous poster. When it comes to a game community who has the level of continuous development like this one does, while also having decades of user feedback and tweaks, it's going to look and feel different from when it first hit the streets - no doubt about it. I am satisfied, in fact, I'm impressed with the development speed and have no qualms with the direction the HC Team has been taking. It feels like we're in good hands.

I'm seeing a "my way or the highway" approach in your response, is that accurate? If not, disregard this follow up - if a made up statistic, say 95% of your player base is returning from playing during legacy, you think it's healthy for the developers of the game to ignore that majority of players suggestions and feedback? Is that fair to presume?

Thanks for taking the time to write a response Flea. I can't say I agree with this portion of your post, but the rest I agree with.

So very well said! I agree as a fellow player with everything you said. As a game developer though, I don't think you can be agnostic to the premise of my original question. The HC Team has at times provided insight in to their game design philosophy and reasons for changes. It's not entirely answering my question, but I'm not entitled to an answer from them.

I feel this is well intentioned. I remember the absolute grind to Level 50 in the first few issues on legacy, but it was a symbiotic relationship. The game needed a faster path to end game and it needed a player base who was willing to skip all the content to get there - in some cases it was to motivate other players to do the same so they could play with friends. Other times I saw what you and Snarky described.

I think Goldside offers players a different experience. Visually, it's really beautiful. Enemy types are unique and the story is expansive, really requiring multiple play throughs to get the whole picture. And it was made for a different player base and subscription model too.

I've been thinking - I play one other game from 20 years ago frequently. Old PS1 game called Legend of Dragoon. It's an easy classic JRPG that helped popularize the genre in the early 2000s. In my eyes, it's got everything I could want in a video game. At the same time, it's getting some fan made support in the graphic fidelity department and I think that is both neat and amazing to see people putting their time and heart in to a project of their passion. Okay, comparison now noted - what about CoH right? So that is where my thoughts have led me. I have the benefit of historical context - Issue 0 player here. It looked and played, and really FELT a whole lot different than yesterday when I logged in. There have been many changes made that I agree with and support from the HC Team. Only a handful I don't support, but can understand the rationale. One of the biggest examples of the changes between 2004 and 2023 are how I experience the city. How I can move about the world and interact with that world. Long Range Teleport has been an amazing option if I'm on the 100th iteration of Citadel or trying to grab badges. It's also nice to just turn off all the fancy whistles and walk (👴which is still faster than legacy days before Fitness was inherent). Crank up the music in the background to higher than 3% (if you are feeling squirrelly and don't mind ear bleed 😀) and experience the world. My thoughts then brought me to the question of this thread which I'm sure has already been asked: How would you balance game development for a player base who has both experienced the game one way since legacy launch and with the new players who through all odds find themselves trying out this super hero MMO?

I'm expecting this will be implemented along with the Warriors revamp some time in the near future 😎 Edit: @Techwright you always make great threads! Just realized this was from last year.

There are still where they have been, you might've scrolled past them.

I wouldn't chalk up dissenting opinions as a conspiracy of some forum cartels. You clearly have a preferred outcome for this suggestion and others do too. I'm glad we get to discuss our opinions in a civil manner and offer suggestions to make this community better.

See my signature block for a history on the legal talks.

Wow this thread really took off, I thought after the dormamu joke on the first page this thread would've slowly dropped down the general discussion sub forum. I was hoping for more memes honestly, well done @Snarky

D-Sync Origin enhancements have some niche versions that don't exist for Hamindon/Titan/Hydra Origin enhancements. I don't have a list of them, but they're out there!

Another thing is to not fall victim to the chase for outright higher %'s - some attacks just aren't that damaging and no amount of damage increase % to the attack will make it so.