Techwright

Good to know. I've not really paid attention to him to this point.

So are you defining "quality" as a lack of "endless patrols and deliveries and defeat alls"? Or is there another defining element?

Ebenezer, is that you? I just want a moon base zone and an airport zone. Where are the flying cars? I was promised flying cars! Okay no seriously now (sorry I'm punchy from being up too late), most everyone mentioned a successful NCSoft deal, and I concur. In game, however, I'd love to find out what improvements can be made without having to go to the time and expense of building a new zone. I've no skills in game design, but I'm wondering if they couldn't overhaul the IP zone, for example. There so much real estate already in game that's ripe for redevelopment. Add a third tram station on the middle other side of the zone from the other two. Shuffle the villain clusters around a bit, bring more storylines to that side of the puddle, that sort of thing. Similar overhauls to the hazard zones. give us reasons to go in there again. Find the way to better equalize the xp and rewards system on story missions to encourage people to leave overused scenarios like Death From Below after a first run through and instead do the story missions again as they level. Maybe review some of the story arcs to see if the spread between doors is too awkward, likely prompting a team to switch to radio/paper missions. Done right, this might even encourage players to start in the "gold" side zones again. See if there's a way (hopefully fairly easily) to reward the very best AE story arcs by canonizing them permanently in the game with their own contacts and doors. Not just any stories, only the best. Add a nurse vendor to the Oroboros hospital. QoL stuff like that.

"Arresting" the bullies...not "killing". We don't kill. Remember that the next time you are arresting a character with your 8 inch steel claws or your face-melting radiation. 😉 And welcome back! Now Go. Ki...um, Arrest Skuls.

The earliest comics actually influenced certain parts of the game that were added later. If you want to know the backstory to Ajax and War Witch, it's in there. The Phalanx ones gave a bit more details to the characters, and certain additions to the game came on the heels of information in the comics. It's been a decade since I read them, but if I remember right, the reason Posi doesn't currently wear a helmet constantly in game, but did previously, is addressed in the comics. Certain relationships were fleshed out, too. So yeah, they mostly match up, at least to the release of the game that was available at the time of the comic's issuing.

I'm guessing at the time you wrote this, you'd not encountered a major zone fight yet? 😉 To be fair, they're not as rough as they were 10 years ago, when, during a Ritki raid on Atlas, I'd throw a punch, go to the fridge for a drink, return to my chair and watch the slide show for a few more seconds before throwing my second punch. So yeah, a bit smoother. I'd endure it regardless. Nearly 8 months in, and I'm still loving it.

I just want Isaac the bartender back. I've been unable to find this CoH homage to The Love Boat. I think maybe the AE inclusion took him out? EDIT: nearly 3 years later, and I know Isaac is present, just not a functional store like he used to be.

Good info! Since its original purpose seems to have gone the wayside, I have to wonder what would happen if the Homecoming team changed the alignment requirements. Would everyone start using the base, and ignoring the zones?

A blast from my Christmas past. The villainous Nutcracker Rat King. Made especially for the Christmas season in the original game. Sadly, this can no longer be 100% recreated, as the current costume restrictions do not allow for the wedding tux to coexist with any cape. But I felt it still worth sharing. If the homecoming team ever finds a way for the two costume items to coexist again, I'll be recreating him. (Yes I know the Nutcracker's character was the Mouse King. I couldn't properly fit "Nutcracker Mouse King" into the text field.)

I've been in Homecoming since May, and I'm still discovering things probably added to the original game after I left. One of these appears to be Fort Trident. A casual comment made in Atlas Park today alerted me to Fort Trident, and I went exploring. While I was greatly surprised, and tickled by the whole "secret sub base" idea, after exploring, I'm left wondering why it is there? Every interactive seems to be a duplicate of some other interactive elsewhere in the City. At first I thought this was good, moving all the Phalanx TF's to a single location, and providing a second Atlas Park training location, but then, it's obvious that I was the only player in the fort. Everyone still starts their TF's at the original far-flung locations, and everyone apparently goes to the original trainer in Atlas Park. So why does this exist? And why does it seem everyone wants to start the TF's in the original locations, no matter how distant? My personal feeling is that, since this appears to be abandoned by the player population, this would be a great location to establish a whole new, second set of TF's from the Phalanx crew, if that's even possible down the road.

This guy looks strikingly like an in-game version of actor John de Lancie, aka Star Trek's "Q".

Some would see the name "Snarky" as a challenge, not an invitation to back down.

I'd be fine with a story where a Death Ray from Orbit takes out that city block in Bricktown: you know, that one where the buildings are elevated over an underground area and there are 2 mission doors that account for about 60% of all missions in Bricktown. I really hate that. Then rebuild it and spread the mission doors around the full zone. The "anytime" look is IMHO exactly what Paragon City should be. We've talked earlier in the thread (I think) about the 1989 Batman movie which combined 1939 city elements with 1989 to create their Gotham, and that other movies and TV series did the same. Real cities are a merger of several decades. You'll still see cars from the 1970s around, though most will have notable wear and tear. Architecture will likewise show decades or even centuries of structures. So that would be greatly appreciated in our hypothetical facelift. I see your point, but it is one we have to be careful not to fully buy into. Paragon City is swarmed with hoodlums every few dozen feet because there's a supply need for all the players to fight. Essentially, we are seeing many time slices compressed into one for the sake of gaming. Were we to more properly set the stage (say for the animated series that never developed), I suspect that, except in the darker corners of a zone, you'd not see a constant on-the-street presence by an overwhelming population of villainous scum. Were it just like the game portrays, no one would live in the city, regardless of however many heroes. Bravery and stubborn resistance aside, it just wouldn't be viable, economically and safety-wise.

Fun: Freaks, but...the eventual inclusion of the Super Sappers proved both boring and annoying. Why? Previously, Freak rez was something of a "whack-a-mole": one never knew which Freaks, if any, would rez, or perhaps use their extra life to boost their flagging health instead, leading to a bit of fun anticipating them. With the arrival of the Super Sappers, you are guaranteed strong sapping, and a rez from the character, so long as even one of the players is in his wide AOE range. And you're also guaranteed he'll do significant drain on one of you when rezzing. The result takes all the randomness out of the character, and that leads me, anyway, to feelings of boredom and annoyance. Fun: Fifth Column and Council. I don't see enough of the Fifth Column but I love fighting them. The Council is not as formidable as I remember them from 10 years back, but it's still fun because you never know which will transform to a warwolf. Warwolves totally change my fighting strategies due to their speed coupled with immunity to many holds and debuffs. That is certainly not boring. Nearly fun: Malta, but the sappers hit so hard it's really hard to truly have fun with them. Nearly fun: Nemesis, but for the overwhelming, constant barrage of knockback/damage. A bit less of that, and I'd really enjoy them. Boring: Skulls & Hellions. I frequently get these two confused on the street because they feel so much alike, despite having different power sets and iconic colors. At least the Outcasts have four different power sets. Warriors I'd consider boring except that they have such powerful strikes at times, that I have to stay on my toes more. Annoying: Crey, specifically Protectors. That 1-minute "nothing-can-touch-me" holdout at the end of their health doesn't feel organic to the game. It feels like a major cheat. BEYOND Annoying: Circle of Thorns. Reason: When this game first started, CoT were in a very specific level range, and were limited to certain zones, but it wasn't long before they started showing up in more and more territories and range levels, often pushing out the balance of gangs in a zone as was established at the game's start. Now, it might be possible to fight them in most every level (at least it seems that way). So I'm beyond annoyed because I see them as dominating the game. The irony is that I hear more groaning about trips into Orenbega than any other instance other than perhaps the blue caves, and the CoT are often there as well. If I could, I would reduce them back towards the mid-ranges like they used to be, or to create new interest, stage a civil war like we got with the Fifth Column/Council, and split the territory. Oh, I'd also add that CoT represent another problem I have with the game: that magic-based organizations, locations, and missions are out of proportion with the other four origins, at least for a significant portion of the climb to 50. It was my understanding when I started playing that first winter, that development would attempt to be as balanced as could be between the five origins. If I wanted a magic-dominant game, I'd go play WoW or one of its clones.

Mentally stuck 50 years in the past, it's the Aged of Aquarius! Not my greatest costume creation, but then the designer isn't well stocked on nehru jackets and groovy beaded necklaces. I did like coming up with a color scheme that fit the clash of the late '60s. Regardless, Aged of Aquarius as a water sentinel has been a lot of fun to play.

Primary: Atlas, Steel, Talos, P.I. Secondary: Brickstown, Founders Falls, Rikti War Zone Only for zone events or task forces: Faultline, Independence Point, Skyway (and I use Skyway as a path to Faultline), Croatoa, Striga Island Almost never any hazard zone Never gold-side locations, wards, or Cimerora. I just forget about them most of the time, and when I do remember, it feels tacked on, rather than part of the flow.

crafting/selling AH searches costume creator (though I don't really like working in it long when I'm waiting for team opportunities since I can't see the chat window) explorer badges "Kill x number of ..." badges Stocking spare inspirations into my email box Answering private messages telling me how awesome my avatar looks and can I please sign their cast stuff

Logged in today after a couple days off, and went through the patching/updating. Once in the game, everywhere I saw tight arrangements of thin lines (circled in red in the image), something that hasn't been there before. I assume I'm looking at the edge of shadows, but I'd appreciate a second opinion. Can anyone point out specifically what setting(s), I should be tweaking to properly correct this?

I must apologize, as it seems I gave incorrect information. Your comment gave me pause, and I doubled-back on my research, eventually realizing that the information I based the comment upon, was from a confused player. I started a new search, but so far, I've been unable to prove that badges exist for completing all NPC-issued missions in a zone. There are, however, multiple NPC-issued missions where badges are issued. The "Twinshot" story arcs, by example, are some of the earlier ones of these. I think there are 3 badges associated with that. That said, I'd love to see the Homecoming team at some point look into actually creating NPC-mission zone-completion badges, maybe even rewarding with a temp power (I'll take endurance reduction for Ninja Run, please). That may encourage players to go back as teams to zones they've skipped or burned through in favor of faster leveling methods, sacrificing actual story participation in the process.

Cult movies, you say? Manticore: Men In Spandex Fear and Loathing in Lost Sewers The Ziggurat Redemption Escape from Praetoria City Attack of the Killer Pumpkins Surf Council Must Die! A Fistful of Influence

There's also the selling point of badges for completing all NPC-issued missions in a zone. Why we don't see that being pushed in LFG chat, I'm don't know, but I'd probably enlist if I was reminded that these missions would drive me closer to completing the badge. I like your ideas. (some I was even LOL over) The yoga bit reminded me that maybe a chiropractor or two might not be a bad thing. As to the "walkers glued to smartphones", I'd not mind seeing the streetside purse snatcher scenario played out with a victim trying to tug their expensive smartphone or tablet back from a thug. As to hospitals, I work in one that has had addition after addition tacked on for 100 years, and the sprawling, twisted-corridor result would be perfect for an instanced mission. Sadly, we have shoe-box shaped hospitals in-game.

I'm surprised no one has posted "Boom" yet. Agreed, Samuraiko had the best vids. Did she ever come back to the game? Back in the day, several tried to put Bonnie Tyler's work to CoH vids. Of those, this was my favorite, in part because they managed to capture the awesomeness of the costume creator:

I can definitely see that. That would make sense. Maybe even a bus depot in some zone, like say Skyway. Several expressed similar sentiment (keeping a "snapshot in time"). As a clarification, I'm not asking the current team to do all this, or even any of it. I'm inquiring for fun about "what if" scenarios, and I'm essentially suggesting the same pattern the NCSoft devs did of periodically updating the game in various ways. The idea of Paragon City as its own "snapshot in time" is fine, and has precedence in the superhero genre. Consider the 1989 "Batman" movie. Gotham was a blend of elements of both 1939 (first appearance of Batman) and 50 years later, creating a unique world. In the recent "Arrowverse", one of the alternate Earths (Earth 3?) was likewise a blend of 1930's elements and modern ones. In a "what if" scenario, additions integrated into CoH, while keeping the original material (like flat screen monitors next to CRT) would essentially create that same effect, though on a less pronounced scale of 16 years, rather than 50. But if your take on it is a static 2012 look, that's totally fine. Again, this is a "what if" scenario for brainstorming fun, and I'm not stating these are things the Homecoming team should focus on. Hmm, looks like you're ready for a cup of decaf. LOL. 😄 But yes, coffee shops and even a few tea shops would make the city interesting. Yes, I believe there were such talks. Certainly they at least need to be upgraded, as every Ritki attack now manages to drop the walls. From a lore standpoint, they're not really doing their job anymore.

It's 2019, soon to be 2020. Assuming for a moment that our dev team had unlimited power and skill, how would you suggest they update the look and feel of the city? (Note this is focused on the cities themselves (blue, red, gold), not the instances, power sets, etc. ) Blueside - There's a lot more health-conscious surroundings (at least in my part of the real world) than 15 years ago. 1) I'd ask for chain gyms. Bonus points if the avatars can actually enter and use the equipment. Role players would probably love that. 2) urban jogging trails added in some new small parks replacing some of the buildings and concrete. 3) bike pathing added to some roads. Bonus if they can get NPC's actually biking. 4) boutique, organic groceries and produce shops. 5) cell towers. 6) I'd get rid of phone booths, but I'm not really sure how I'd replace them on patrol missions. Visualized GPS coordinates and your avatar checks their smartphone at each point, perhaps? New Zone (or overhaul of a dead zone): city freight yard. Aging collection of switch tracks and graffitied train cars, with a tired industrial area and a low-income neighborhood adjacent. However, there's re-development going on as Paragon City tries to redevelop a section as a new neighborhood, new station, and new track on a new national speed rail system.

I've played a lot of MMOs, but though I enjoyed things like Lord of the Rings Online, and World of Warcraft, there's only 3 games I ever felt like playing for a very long time. All three shut down. Of them, I can only re-enter City of Heroes. I've heard nothing of a rejuvenation of either of the two others, and they were both incomplete in some way, more or less sabotaged by parts of their development teams, leading to their demise. (Tabula Rasa & Firefall) Though I wish for the best versions of the others to return, CoH is the one I thought about consistently when it wasn't available. Besides, CoH has the nicest community of any MMO I've played in the past 15 years. That's worth the price of admission. Well, when there was a price.