UltraAlt

You have made your points. I made mine. I'm bowing out of this one.

why is that? I have over 60 characters. I don't powerlevel, and I'm still playing. I don't understand why having multiple characters requires you to powerlevel. Okay. And the reason that you do all of that is entirely because of being able to powerlevel and/or farm. I don't keep track of my marketing like you have. Conservatively, I would guess at this point that I have crafted and sold over 20k enhancements (I would say more likely to be well over 50k to be honest, but I don't keep track. I just churn the things out.) I sell other stuff, but I don't keep track. I too help people on the help channel and in looking for group. I haven't hit a donation window due to timing, but I am unsure how powerleveling relates donations. None of these things show that power-leveling retains players. Donating show that you are more likely to continue playing but that is different than saying that people that power level are more likely to continue playing. So I have no reason to read your post further as it is purely defensive.

I think that the OP's point was that they thought that power-leveling isn't good for player retention. It isn't a matter of some people like doing it or not, and that they keep playing. It think it is a sense that bypassing the game (what end-gamers might call the leveling part of the game, even though there is now leveling in the end-game) is detrimental to a many players likelihood of continuing playing CoH because it gives them instant gratification and instant gratification does not tend to be long lasting enjoyment. It's pretty obvious that some people like to play Villains (or even Praetorians), powerlevel, farm, and PVP. The questions being :: if a player is more involved in these actions more than playing the PVE game as a hero, does that mean that they are less likely to play over the long term. The same question could be asked about soloing versus team game play or arc missions versus radio/newspaper missions. I agree with the OP that I too believe that power-leveling is not in the best interest of player retention. I don't have documentation to back that up and admit to it. I too am very grateful that THE CITY is back. I think that the Homecoming team has done an excellent job of handling the things that drove me away from playing THE CITY any longer nearly a year before the sunset. And, yeah, the microtransactions (above a subscriptions fee), power-leveling, farming, AE babies that didn't know how to get onto the train, flood of shouts for powerleveling and fire farms, and the incarnate system pretty much ruined my gaming experience. Was it good for the people that liked those things? Sure. Was it good for me? Not at all. It ruined my gaming experience. But, when it comes down to it, getting the 2XP boosters is Powerleveling in its own right and I will admit to using 2XP boosters (primarily because a friend twisted my arm). I still have some characters that have never used a 2XP booster.

Okay. that can be said about anything. If a group of people want to pick their nose and it's keeping them here, then it's helping player retentions. It doesn't indicate why powerleveling would keep someone playing the game. I do not believe power leveling increases the likelihood that someone will continue playing the game. I think someone that comes into City of Heroes for the first time, goes directly to the AE to get power-leveled to 50 is less likely to play the game for the long run than someone that comes in makes a character levels up some levels, thinks it's cool to make another character, plays some more, makes more characters, and jumps back and forth between characters. I also believe players are likely to continue playing longer if they have friends in game that they constantly play with whether or not they are in the same supergroup. I also have the feeling that players that write bio's may me more likely to be continue playing over the long term than those that don't. No statistics to prove this, but I believe that the act of writing a bio shows more personal investment on the part of the player which would make them feel connected to the character(s) and likely to continue playing due to that connection. Based on these factors, someone that is power-leveled from the get go is being power-leveled by strangers. I don't know if the power-levelers keep up with those that they power level or if they are just thrown to the wild to figure out the game by themselves (because basically they haven't learned the game as they were thrown past the actual game and into the Incarnate monstrosity). Also, someone that comes to the game to be powerlevel because they don't' want to bother leveling up is going to be far less invested in the character than someone that came to the game to create a character conception for they joy of playing that character conception. All of this is debatable, and all of this is from my viewpoint versus those of others. I have no game statistics to backup up how powerleveling may decrease player longevity. I do know that you can pick your friends and pick your nose, but you really shouldn't try to pick a friend's nose and I don't think trying to would be good for game retention other than for the people that want their noses picked by other people.

As the game is designed now, it can't give the option to have knockdown instead of knockback as a power customization presently. (or change sleep to disorient, or stun to knockback) The way to handle it is in-game using the enhancement I mentioned. If you don't want to work for the change you desire, then you aren't trying to get what you want. Gain some influence and purchase the enhancement for the powers you want to convert. I have had to do it on multiple characters to make my characters team friendly. Sometimes we have to work for what we want. I'm not down with the Ret-con. Back in the day, it was just knocking people and things around... as I recall even tanks in some situations but that was when Hulk was really mad and up at comparison of max Incarnate levels. It was never making soldier's bodies explode or smash them into a mangled pulp. No idea how the new blood-thirsty, splatterpunk takes on the Hulk might be. All the melee short-range range attacks are single target. Only way you are going to get any environment smashing is to go to the villain side and run bank heist missions through the newspaper contact.

There is an enhancement for that. Sudden Acceleration :: Knockback to Knockdown Most of the times that I have seen hand clap in a comic it is knocking stuff around and possibly damaging whatever because it is knocked back by the concussion and no direct damage. Grab a section of sewer pipe out of the ground or floor? A section of floor? seems odd outside or in caves, but boulder seems odd inside. Even just adding those two would add variety if you are looking for variation. It is more likely something like that would happen versus say making the "throw boulder" grab up and throw something that is related to the nearby environment. Pretty much all the melee sets have a closed-ranged ranged attack. This is Super Strengths version and I think it fits the power set for what it is. So you don't like the animations? So you are looking for power customizations that are different animations for the powers? Like a more Hulk-like animation versus a Superman animation? (versus Doc Samson, Thing, Ultra Boy, etc.)

Return of the Taxibots!

One hour in the pocket D. Do all your marketing and slotting there and the time accumulates quickly. I thought that it was the same exact power that was bought from the P2W vendor though.

off topic, but if they were bigger or taller would that make them easier to see? or if they were say flashing/strobing (rotating through colors/light dark)? I'm assuming that the same graphic is pulled up for the non-plaques so maybe simple change to the graphics file for that image would be possible?

Then stop complaining until you go to Beta and check out the changes.

I think you are being defensive because you feel it is an attack on how you play. If you think power leveling is good for the game, then please post to explain why you think it is good for the game and helps player retention.

I'm missing where that was said. Can you quote it please?

They is stating their opinion just like you are. People are allowed to do that here. If you don't like it, you don't have to read it or comment on it. No one is forcing you to agree with what anyone says here.

Or maybe people are being overly defensive? Take a deep breath. The world is always changing around us and all of us have to adapt to the changes or be left behind.

I think I've won my PUGger for Life T-shirt a long time ago. I love a rolling PUG with people going in and out of it, always having to adapt and learn to gel as the team transforms. It makes me learn my powers better and learn how to appreciate how the other powers operate as part of the synergy.

I strongly approve of this message.

I don't know if the DEVs have posted on this point, but they may have - I don't know the exact intent of getting rid of the base macro. I don't think it is to limit our ability to move around THE CITY as much it is to use the powers to do it instead of a DEV tool that was hijacked. Way way back in the long ago days when the internet was just getting going, I was programing games in BASIC. Graphics were very limited and it was pretty much modelled after games with text characters making up the map and a single character being the character you were moving around the map. This said to say how limited the games were on that level. You roamed around the map from your home base to make your way across the map to the enemy boss, defeat enemies along the way, defeat the boss, and take any weapons found along the way back to your base. Make it back to your base, you save the gear, level up, and the game saves for the next replay with the extra gear. So to test the game, there were various GOD-MODE powers that could be unlocked with codes. Make yourself invisible, invincible, unlock all weapons, etc. Reason I'm saying this is that, apparently, the base macro was a DEV tool and not intended to be a code that all players had access to. That being said - I do enjoy using it. If the DEVs think it is too OP, I stand by them. They apparently feel that way and are trying to limit the impact its sudden removal will have on the community. My suggestion is to start parking your characters at base portals on-live and get the Day Job for base portals and patrol XP. When the change goes live, you will already have 30 base portal saved up and you will probably automatically unlock some SG portals that your whole team can use as well. Need to port back and forth to craft? You can do that from any base portal in the game. In and out doesn't cost any power. Need to change zones quickly on a taskforce? That's what Team Teleport and Mission teleport are for. Need to get to the zone quickly without it? You can open a base portal that everyone in the team can use. It seems like the DEVs aren't taking way the easy way to travel, they are just modifying how it is done. I am an alt jumper, so, yeah, it was a bit of a pain to move all my characters around to do this (and a fair amount of influence to equip all of them), but I have done it ... because, honestly, I'm panicking a bit too. So in finally, I think people are panicking about this. Take a breath and figure out how to go with the flow and adapt to the changes. It isn't that bad when it comes down to it.

You won't have things attacking as much if you're on a team with a tank with taunt. Just saying. That's one of the reasons why I said that they are "team powers" in my other post

I have to take it all the time. Some pesky team mate who's name rhymes with Doctor Ditko never seems to be able to keep me (and sometimes my pets) alive when his characters have team heals. Med Pool is team powers. They rely on being in a team and working with a team. Stimulant is great when you need to be able to get a teammate out of holds, immobilize, etc. The delay in the powers isn't huge issue if you are non-melee and you have melee on the team on the front line. It helps keep my pets alive even if I use it a secondary heal. The self heal is a fall back and it works to get some health back quick when I need it. Unlike THE CITY that I grew up in (er started playing in? I'm older than the hills and younger than the mountains, so it's all ... oh well...), there is a lot less concern for the other members of the team that there was. Or at least that's what I have seen. Not dis-ing on anyone so much as pointing it out. (not to mention those that would rather run headlong into a fight and die rather than take a moment to figure out how to defeat the enemy safely so they don't fall in battle, but that's another thread or reason for a reply to this one) Plus, can you really trust Doctor Ditko talking about the med pool? I mean look at his disclaimer! "Not a medical doctor. Do not take medical advice from Doctor Ditko." So why listen to him about the Med Pool?! [Sorry, Doc. if you didn't see that one coming.. well... and, btw, I'll meet you on Beta tonight as planned.]

Win. I declare you god-champion of THE CITY.

That I don't know. I'm assuming you would, but that's an assumption.

I disagree because every other power has to pay for the secondary effect so why shouldn't super strength? Want the knockback? Slot it. Want damage? Slot it. The only thing I can say about Hand Clap is that it is basically "stay in one place" knock back. I don't think basic stun lasts much longer than it does than an enemy to fly through the air, hit the ground, and get up again. The only thing I could see would be changing Hand Clap into knockback instead of stun and maybe increasing the magnitude of the knockback,. The power sets are worked to balance out and I think that the hand clap was part of the overall set balancing. I can see thematically that the hand clap could be a cone knock back instead of a stun. (I mean if you aren't slapping your hands on either side of the enemy's head.. I am confused a bit as to why that would be stun) Both stun and knockback are methods of control - the same as the other control effects. Now being able to hurl more than just a boulder? I can see that. I mean gravity can throw all kinds of stuff ... looks different to everyone that see it, but it isn't always the same thing.

Well, I'm in agreement on powerleveling. My viewpoint is that the end-game is something tacked onto the end of the game, so, if you power level to 50, you aren't actually playing "the game" - instead you are simply playing the stuff tacked onto the end of the game. The game to me is about the character progression and development. People can play how they want. That's all well and good, but I think that players that want to explore the game through alting and actually playing the leveling part of the game (which I have obviously already called "the game") then they are more likely to spend more time playing City of Heroes rather than getting bored with it and looking for the next shiny object to run after. So I started started on Torchbearer because a friend was playing on that server. 1000 slots on the same server! Great. Probably have 60 alts on Torchbearer at this point, but what was great about City of Heroes before the Sunset was the different flavour of each server. So it came time to make alts on other servers. I admit that have a screen full over on Excelsior. I have 4-6 on the other servers at this point. All of these are themed superhero groups. Meanwhile back on Torchbearer it's mostly a hodgepodge of character origins and sort of a slush supergroup with no real defined theme (and a couple (2) small sg's of 2-5 alts that are themed) I'm not going anywhere as long as there is no P2P (versus F2P) going on and no P2W. I'll probably never be able to get into the donation window to support the game because people love this game so much. I really like the way that Homecoming is handling their version of City of Heroes. I left THE CITY because of the F2P, Farming, Powerleveling, and the Incarnate system (and related addition to subscription pay expected in order to advance ... if I subscribe to a game, that should be what I'm paying. I shouldn't have microtransactions on top of that. That's my view point; others have their own). [Disclaimer :: I have a lifetime All Access account on Daybreak] So am I exploring the other servers because there aren't enough players on Torchbearer? No. That is not the reason. I can find teams or teammates on Torchbearer pretty much whenever I want to. Torchbearer is pretty much steadily 3rd as far as population goes. Now I haven't had a lot of trouble finding teams on Reunion or Indomitable either and they are the lowest population servers. Am I looking for fire farms? Oh, no. In no way am I looking for fire farms. I'm not looking to get power leveled. When I comes down to it, I really don't like running on level 50 teams. My sweet spot for teamin is probably between level 1 and mid 40's. At some point the game becomes a bunch of flashing lights and I can't even see the enemies. Just watching my power tray for recharging isn't that much fun. Also .... there is that incredibly annoying Incarnate system ... I'm not even... grrrr... yeah... like that even oh, before I forget ... Thanks for posting.

I was talking about specifically within the new blaster secondary Time power options.

Base teleport macro with 10 minute timer purchased from the P2W vendor for 1 mil? New players won't now by default to park at the supergroup portal to get the Day Job power for free. I would suggest a free power that is Inherent that drops in to the tray that recharges every 30 minutes or an hour at the most. It still has the cycle-up/power-up before the transport and isn't instantaneous, but will get a newbie back to a base at the end of their play session. Maybe that is what the Oro is for now? But once again, this isn't something a new player would know about. Sure a new player won't be able to tp to a base if the don't have one, but a simple on-screen error message "You can't teleport to a supergroup base until you are a supergroup member or have a pass code. Supergroups can be formed a level 10 or send a tell in looking for group for supergroup membership or base passcodes."