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CrudeVileTerror
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Posts posted by CrudeVileTerror
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Those are some very good points, @MTeague.
It's also why I would like to encourage the Devs to scale back on traditional content, and investigate developing additional tools for players to meaningfully define their own play experiences.
As much as I appreciate the work that has been done, and the likes of @holymittens and @Piecemeal's story arcs, I think some focus on giving the players more personal power in places like Bases, AE, and the costume creator/customization will ultimately lead to MUCH greater sustainability than any amount of "Grindable" content they could ever imagine adding.
The more power the players have to entertain themselves within City of Heroes, the less overhead there is for the Devs to worry about, while simultaneously placing the responsibility for content on the community's shoulders.
AE was a great first step, although with a lot of flaws.
I think we have the opportunity to really go in new, exciting directions now, though.
I would certainly like to put my thoughts down to paper and compose a design document on some ideas I have floating around, but I'm not as good as these Devs are in terms of time management and applicable skills. I know some people seem to think I'm ungrateful because of how critical I am all the time, and I do apologize if my criticisms ever wind up being demoralizing. If I were in the Devs' position, the kind of feedback that I try to provide is the sort of feedback I know I'd prefer to hear. Of course the Platinum Rule is better than the Golden Rule, but I just don't know how the Devs would prefer the feedback be delivered and expressed exactly.
So, if/when I ever get around to sharing a design doc in these parts, I do welcome folks to sink their teeth in to it! Hell, if folks (and GMs, and Devs) want to provide feedback on the way I express myself right now, I'd be interested in hearing that too.
All the same . . . the big problem with grind, even if it -is- welcome by players, is that it's finite.
Eventually the latest carrot will be got, and those looking for the next grind will be wondering where it is.
So . . . I think some tools to customize our goals and targets as players could probably be a lot more impactful and long-lasting than just constantly playing catch-up with a volunteer team that's trying to continue development of the game in the same way that it was while it was a for-profit retail affair.
It's a brave new world of gaming out there! I believe we can embrace the opportunity to change some things up on a fundamental level. We can explore entirely new ways to play and new ways to engage!
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Hell, even make the bare chested textures unisex. Top freedom tends to be well-received in many countries around the world. I imagine the Isles wouldn't be too fussed, and considering some of the outfits heroes/Praetorians get away with, a little more exposure is hardly the end of the world.
But yes: Gender parity for costume pieces and textures, please!
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There's a glut of certain Inventions on the market, and I sure don't have any other place to put them:
The Homecoming Team wants Inf sinks, right?
Here's one!
Invention Enhancement Recycling
Let's say it costs about 50% to 150% of the Crafting Cost of a given Enhancement (Devs' discretion), and in return the player gets a random amount of Brainstorm Ideas.
Something like:
17.5% Chance for 1 Brainstorm Idea
70% Chance for 2 Brainstorm Ideas
12.5% Chance for 3 Brainstorm Ideas
I don't think there is any need to fear that players might stop posting Invention Enhancements on the market at all after this, as a new demand for these Enhancements would be created.
At worst, I think this might hurt the players who want to buy and slot the Generic Inventions, as another use for these Inventions will increase their value on the market. But given that it's an Inf sink, I don't imagine it will offset things too much. It'll just give us a reason to actually not just throw the Inventions in to the trash after crafting them.
Possibly tie a Badge or two to the process as well to drum up interest.
Things like: "Sanitation Expert" or "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle"
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More options is good options!
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Counterpoint: Do we actually care if they appreciate it?
That's kind of part of the issue here. Many of us are still operating on assumptions of what "worth" even is, as it's often baked in to people's core identity as a person/individual.
From my philosophy, the core foundation we should be building on is the understanding that is game is a luxury and a privilege. I don't happen to feel that someone needs to appreciate imaginary digital goods.
Better, in my view, to appreciate the people who worked hard to create and deliver those imaginary digital goods.
And, broken record that I am, to really do that . . . we need to -hear- from those people. We need to know why they're doing what they're doing.
The Homecoming Team have said on many occasions that they do what they do because they love this game.
Cool.
Awesome, even!
Many of us could certainly say we love this game too.
But where are they -really- coming from?
What does this game -really- mean to them?
How do they even -define- this game?
And then, what do we do when/if we finally get those answers?
What if we find their reasons and their plans to be totally anathema to our own visions? Our own ideals?
Where do we go from there?
Of course, all of this isn't necessary.
We're each allowed to appreciate the game in our own way.
I'm just trying to articulate my side of this. The one where I sorta "get" why people want to have to do imaginary digital work to get their imaginary digital goods, even though it costs them REAL time that could be used to get REAL, tangible benefits. . . . but I can't be one of those people. I've seen what goes in to making a game. What goes in to manipulating players in to downward spirals of self-destruction which they're trained to accept as their own personal salvation.
I'm jaded in that regard.
And I do understand that people who want the grind aren't necessarily the same people I was professional tasked with parasitically feeding off of . . . but my own bias is at work, and I can't help but see reflections of those people when I see discussions like this crop up.
It gets under my skin and reminds me of a time in my life that I loathe.
So.
I'll do my best to respect your rights to having opinions, and to acknowledge my own biases and preconceptions having the power to taint my view of your perspectives . . .
But I do want to also try to find the words to express these views of mine in such a way as to share them with all of you. Maybe help you see what I have seen.
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Sadly, due to the media blackout, I can't reasonably answer that question. The Homecoming Team have been especially secretive in that regard, very likely due to N.D.A.s, and as such the wider community can only speculate (to the best of my knowledge).
If player numbers/retention -is- something which ncsoft has particular demands regarding the claim to legitimacy, then . . . well, not to be a downer, but I think we're fucked. I've had first hand experience in the industry. I can't imagine ncsoft ever being satisfied with any reasonable numbers in that regard.
I can hope to be wrong . . . but that's one area I feel quite confident in due to past experiences.
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As discussed in the last topic of this nature, people leaving isn't actually that terrible.
Yes, naturally, a social game does need to have multiple players to -be- a social game.
But you don't have to stay here forever. None of us do.
Everyone is allowed to "finish" the game whenever they want, and move on. Maybe they'll choose to come back. Maybe not.
Retention shouldn't be the end goal of all development. It leads to very unhealthy decisions being made in the design process when its focused on to the exclusion of everything else.
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I think calling it "instant gratification" is rather disingenuous, honestly. It's certainly not your cup of tea, and I can respect that, but I think oversimplifying it like that just illustrates the underlying disconnect we have on a philosophical level.
But anyway; if not going back and unlocking all the existing content, I do hope that the Devs consider the "multiple avenue" approach for all future content.
Player choice.
It always comes back to that.
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You should be saying "them" because "he" isn't correct, @Solarverse.
But to expand on my earlier point, I believe the not-for-profit nature of the game affords us the opportunity to really get out of the boxes which were set up due to either a lack of foresight, or because profit was such a huge motivating factor for development.
For example, an idea I've been bouncing around that is entirely doable, but might not be feasible without solid support and interest would be to remove level gates from every Contact, and offer two or three methods to unlocking those Contacts.
1: Reach the level that Contact is usually unlocked at, and they're unlocked as normal.
2: Complete the missions from Contacts prior to that one which follow the same or similar storylines (ie: Complete Contacts who have missions for The Skulls, and unlock Contacts for The Trolls. Complete those Contacts, and unlock the Contacts for The Family, regardless of your level).
3: Straight-up unlock a Contact by throwing enough Inf at them.
All of these could be achieved by introducing invisible Badges (or some other metric), since Contacts who are locked behind Badges already exist in the game. Reach the appropriate level, and the Badge is automatically unlocked. Complete the previous Contacts' missions, unlock the Badge. Spend the Inf to buy the Badge directly.
Naturally, a venture of this nature would be a rather huge undertaking. The current Dev Team may not be interested, but hopefully we'll be able to expand the Team in the future so options like this can become feasible.
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I think anything gated should have more than one avenue to unlocking it.
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For @EmmySky's benefit: On windows, hold Left Alt and press 0153 on the Numpad take make a ™
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I do rather wonder what the people who have dived deeply in to the code actually have to say on the matter. I'm quite guilty of speculation and piecing things together from ambiguous statements and unsupported claims of expertise over the years. I know I really should try to keep my mouth shut to prevent additional rumours and misinformation from propagating, but without someone actually giving us the truth on what things look like under the hood, I'm left to cobble together my understanding from these myriad fractured pieces of legitimate knowledge and damned filthy lies.
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Just wait until I get 8 computers! No more nuking my hardware with multiboxing from a single workstation!
(I kid! I'd have to win a lottery to afford 8 computers.)
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Well, there is at least one person on Everlasting who makes tonnes of new accounts . . . they've admitted to me that each of their alts get a new account, since they want their Global to match their character name.
As someone with 8 accounts, I kind of feel that they're being excessive . . . but who am I to judge?
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Regrettably that arc is level-gated.
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While I won't discount the reality of some people who are out looking for fights, or that on-the-whole the greater community of City of Heroes players/fan can be very positive and helpful, I also think it's worthwhile for all of us to doubt.
Doubt is healthy. Asking questions, particularly of ourselves, can be incredibly helpful to ensuring what we believe is truly valid.
If there are some people who find our community to be unpleasant or even toxic, I think there's merit in examining their opinions. Granted, it helps if they can express those opinions in ways which don't immediately feel like they're attacks, but I understand that can be very difficult when they felt attacked in the first place.
None of us are perfect, after all. Some self reflection could be good for the soul.
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As stated in https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/23662-weekly-discussion-75-poll/?tab=comments#comment-284903
Mercenaries could use an emergency buff!
There's been a LOT of discussion about it, and I believe a few big names in the topic have been @Tyrannical, @Monos King, and @Shazbotacus.
The fix which I've fixated on (heh) is the idea that Mercenaries decouple of the Medic from the Soldiers Power, add a third Soldier Henchpet, and have the Medic become a 7th Henchpet as the level 18 Power in the Set.
"What happens to Serum then," you may ask? We tone it down, remove the crash, make it an AoE, and give it to the Medic as a Buff for all the other Henchies.
I feel this will help Mercs catch up a bit without completely undermining their theme, and hopefully be low impact compared to some of the other popular suggestions to save the Set which involve new animations and activation times.
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I believe @Jimmy stated that previous counts will not happen, since the game doesn't currently have any counting code for those specific targets right now.
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And I'll stand with you, honestly.
I'm just saying that the players who are chomping at the bit for grind are in need of a bone thrown to them right now.
. . . if for no other reason than to keep them away from turning costumes in to grindable unlocks. (I kid! Mostly . . . please don't grind me to death, grinders!)
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No E.T.A. yet. The Devs have only just released Build 3, and are in need of players to do some more intensive and thorough testing and feedback processes.
Estimates from non-Devs range from late November to early January.
Personally, I really hope things don't get rushed. There's a lot of ground to cover still.
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I happen to agree with your assessment for the most part, @Kistulot, buuuuuuut . . .
Like @Glacier Peak just said, and folks over in https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/11935-give-us-grindy-stuff-like-vanguard-and-costume-unlocks-back/
Apparently there's a call for grind.
Until the Devs can come up with some other grindable content that is more playstyle non-partisan, I'm certainly willing to concede some ridiculous Badge requirements to the grind-fiends.
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number of game accounts per email
in General Discussion
Posted
So, I've got eight accounts, and make no bones about that.
I made them all around the time Homecoming first started, and email verifications weren't a thing back then.
But I've gone through my accounts and made sure all of them point to the same address, but with slight variations just in case the forum software gets persnickity.
ie: [email protected]
is effectively the same as
[email protected]
is effectively the same as
[email protected]
Whether the forum treats them as different addresses, or if the forum just doesn't care, I'm not sure. I just know that I receive all pertinent account emails to the same address.