Scarlet Shocker

Just a quick update - we played yesterday (August 31st) and started from scratch, redside. Four of us on team and we also voiced in discord (+/- a few tech issues with discord) It was a fun session and we knocked out 10 levels. I think we're mostly using 25% XP boosters. Our goal is to run through content as much as possible, and we start next week's session doing Kings Row bank over. We have taught Longbow a harsh lesson that they won't be forgetting in a hurry which is all good; ALAB as the acronym goes. If you're interested in joining us next week we aim for a 2:30pm start Eastern (7:30 UK, 11:30 Pacific) - all welcome, so add a global here and have a level appropriate in Port Oakes next week!

Cottaging in public is generally considered to be illegal

Reduce the time to a realistically challenging period for a level appropriate team. If the mission is completed within that time offer 6 bonus Merits a la GMs Turn it into an incentive, rather than a penalty.

Dominator: Controller:

Editorial Decisions were clearly made

I recall reading somewhere that our Devs would like to do more with the Incarnate system but I don't remember where I read it nor when. I believe the wish is to add some more powers over time but there's a lot of story to develop to make it happen and with a small, part-time team, no matter how dedicated they are, they have serious constraints. So... yes, but holding your breath isn't going to do you any favours!

I like the idea a great deal, with the proviso that the new sets (I presume they'd have to be new, rather than adding to pre-existing sets) offer greater variance than most sets do now.

More costume pieces are most welcome and headgear especially so. One of the most sorely lacking costume parts is hair that goes well with the hats in game. Great, ornate hats, but the hair's a short back and sides or something crap that fails to fit with the ethos of the Costume Creator I would like to see hats have different styles of hair per hat option.

Fair enough. I would agree the MCU has certainly shown signs of losing its way, and perhaps there's also an element of overload; Mickey Mouse is a very very greedy rodent, after all. But you have kind of emphasized the point I was trying to make; we have the game we want and need and it's very unlikely that a new Superhero game can do better than this in terms of engagement. It would have to be something incredibly special and if you look at how some MMOs with massive budgets have flopped... I think that is a hill too high for most Studios to even attempt to climb

a lot of comments here have addressed the financial reasons why CoH2 is very unlikely but there's an even more important reason: Nobody's going to be able to capture the emotional pull of the game we love to play enough to make it viable. It's incredibly niche, the Superhero trend is fading fast, and getting a new crowd excited in a new game doing what this one does isn't likely to happen. What could a new version of our game offer? Better graphics, for sure. New missions, definitely. A more open environment? Probably. But fundamentally that would be window dressing. The basics wouldn't be very different. You'd still play a super hero in a city of super heroes, you'd still chose powers from sets, you'd have limits to those powers for the sake of balance and it would almost certainly have a similar form of progression. CoH1 was ground breaking but it wasn't a blockbuster, and Champions Online wasn't able to capitalize on the shuttering of our game. Even Marvel Heroes came and went and DCUO... well never mind, you get the point. Successor fan projects have all fallen by the wayside bar one which looks interesting but will it have enough to capture imaginations? I wish it well but I sincerely doubt it. TL;DR - the people who want to play a Superhero MMO have a fantastic one already and they will compare anything new to this (unfavourably) and those who don't want to play such a game won't play a new one.

I just read this and I am repulsed at the thought of @snarky admitting to knocking one out. I feel so unclean

yeah everyone there is dead cool

Rather than beard the Devs in their lair I'd prefer to send a barbed note about better beards. Beards are cool, en vogue and on trend. We don't have too many good options in game so better bears would be better but hope I didn't make anyone bristle!

There is great value to discovering what I call "The Hidden Places" in the game. Some have evolved over time but others are consistently good. There's no reward for getting them other then the joy of "I was there," but they remain awesome and it's good to hunt in a group. On live Avatea, our lovely EU CC, and I organised a trip with some willing volunteers/passengers to find as many as we could. We spent about 4 hours visiting places red and blue (This was Pre-Gold IIRC) and it netted us about 4XP total but was a very rewarding early evening

Is there a pilot, a living person, in charge of the War Walker, or is it simply an automaton guided by a highly sophisticated computer? I appreciate that when these were invented, only a decade or so ago that would have been a clear cut question but now... well less simple but my question is does it have a living breathing pilot? If it does can we get a collaboration with MechWarriorOnline? 🤣 That's flippant and frivolous but Atlas vs children of Atlas has some merit but I'm more curious about the lore aspect of these things and where their "protopilots" come from. Skyraiders? Nemesis? There seem to be a lot of mechanically propelled large opponents (MPLOs?) but it seems some may and some may not. I want to know why Longbow and/or Vanguard or Hero Corpse haven't utilised them? I know Vanguard has its heavy mechs and they seem to be autonomously mechanical. Longbow have them but seemingly only in some alternative future. Hero Corps are always behind the curve. Arachnos seem to have some but... not often and RIP never, which I find surprising. But why do the Council and other universally acknowledged bad guys get them when the good guys don't get anything close? Also can I get their orbital cannons?

to be fair, Snarky's brought this on himself. He should never have played dead when trying to evade the taxidermists

I will often take something like Hover or Combat Jumping but then forgo the faster travel powers in favour of the temp powers. That's not necessarily because I eschew them, but more because there are usually better powers available that I'd prefer in my attack chain. Not always the best strategy I admit but hey...

Now you're just taking the piss!

Perhaps we should all contribute some inf to have Snarky resurrected so that he can rejoin the ranks of the living.

speak for yourself my friend!

I guess it depends most on what AT you like to play and how your playstyle affects the game. But you've now made me nostalgic for a Pre-Sunset shard where the game is exactly as it was then. That's not to denigrate anything our current devs have done but when we compare and contrast we're mostly remembering through 10+ years of distance which with faulty human memory and stuff

Yeah the movie was truly awful, and barely over an episode in length. However the TV series was brilliantly fun even if a bit camp. I never saw any of the original series with Ian Hendry but I loved every episode with McNee and of course Diana Rigg and Linda Thorson were great fun too. (I have every episode from 1965-68 on DVD so I do occasionally binge watch)

Mrs Peel, we’re needed! One of the greatest theme tunes on British television – one of the greatest themes ever. But the incidental music… that was fun, repeatable, classic. You can pick it up from the Bruton catalogue if you wish. And that is exactly what we get for the Kalisit Wharf music. What is meant to be a signature sound for one of the premier zones in our city is exactly like the poor farmer sneaking into the back of the farmhouse in darkest Shropshire, as a double blind to confuse the viewer as to the real villain. It’s the old British Leyland Mini pootling through a country lane before the action happens. Frankly, it’s not good enough. I don’t know where it was sourced, who chose it (I do the team the courtesy of presuming that they didn’t actually compose it themselves, but it’s pretty sub-par. Actually a lot sub par. I haven’t been in Kalisti that often, but every time I poke my head in there, the music is… uninspiring. We have a new(ish) zone and great new enemy groups that move the story forward and we’ve got a toot toot peep sneaking in the back vibe. I like the zone. I like the content I’ve experienced, and the maps and decore are fantastic – fresh and vibrant, a prosperous, cool zone. But the music is important. Vitally important. It sets the tone, the vibe, it creates the mood, gives you those goosebumps that make you think “Yes, this is is amazing!” But the music in this zone conveys no danger, threat or peril. This is a zone that sounds completely safe, but is infested with some of the toughest foes on the game’s streets. Don’t believe me? Ok then turn down the volume and watch Star Wars with Sesame Street playing in the background. Try watching a James Bond movie with Thelonious Monk at his most esoteric. Music counts and what we have there is… well it’s not even a car chase. It’s a tootle in the park without any sense of fear or threat when there’s a whole new enemy group that has huge potential for hero and villain alike. City of Heroes, even as an older game, has a great soundtrack. Even when the tunes got a revamp for Freedom it was great. You may have an opinion about which you prefer, but they are all pretty damned fine. Sadly, Kalisti Wharf doesn’t have it and that’s very sad. TL;DR: Great zone, looks fantastic, good enemies… music lets it down. Please, somebody, make it meaningful!