What play styles should the Dev team support: solo, teams, story, powerleveling, etc

[Abraxus]

I feel like the Devs should spend time improving, and adding to the game according need (to keep things efficient, and stable), and popularity with the player-base, when possible.  I say that, as opposed to wanting them to actively neuter, or making some aspects of the game unplayable in order to discourage people from playing that particular thing.  IMHO, if they want to see less of a particular activity, the best way to accomplish that is to make some other aspect of the game MORE attractive, and allow folks naturally gravitate towards it.   Facilitating a choice to do something more rewarding, rather than leaving them with only the choice you want them to make is always the better method. 🙂 

[skoryy]

On 10/31/2019 at 1:12 PM, DougGraves said:

 

Because the devs only have so much time.  So saying "Yes" to all is saying you don't care if you get any of them.

 

If the devs spend the next year working only on pvp content for teams of 3 stalkers are you going to be happy?  You said "Yes" to it.

 

I'm still saying 'yes' because I understand we all play different ways, the devs do the best they can to improve things for all of us, and I'm not here to blatantly stir drama. Ahem.

[MetaVileTerror]

I think the Homecoming Team shouldn't worry about making content themselves right now so much as mapping out the philosophy and plan for where we want Homecoming to go, so that we can tailor the volunteers' expectations for when they contribute.  With volunteers knowing what the Homecoming Team wants, they can step up without confusion and say "Here I am!  Ready to help."  And then, in turn, inform the community what to expect.  Less sitting in the dark, trying to determine what exactly "continued development" means.
You know, a sort of business plan, game design document, or (ugh, loathe this term) roadmap.  Of course, one which is planned and designed from the beginning with the understanding that this is NOT a published game.  It's something special, which needs a special approach to these plans.  Something that needs to be flexible, while still being informative.

 

Now, I get that the ncsoft negotiations put a special kind of strain on this whole thing.  There are concerns about offending those who hold the authority to dictate the future of the intellectual property.  The fear that the plug will be pulled again.  But I don't think that fear should prevent us from communicating and establishing the important details in an on-going dialogue.  And the threat of legal repercussions is severe, no matter how unjust.
And, yes, I get that we're speaking about volunteer work.  People have limited time, people have jobs that pay, and what I'm proposing is the sort of thing which people get paid to do (or at least, should get paid to do).  And the industry itself is plagued with the exploitation of people who are passionate about making games already, so I do not want to advocate that anyone ends up being abused here in that way.  

So, without naming names in a way that might put anyone in jeopardy . . . does Homecoming have someone who can fill this role?  Someone who can communicate with the various volunteers, gather their thoughts, feelings, and plans, filter them appropriately, and then share them with the community on a regular basis.  We have Community Reps and we have Game Moderators, but from what I've been told, they're not being told a lot of the plans, and often they're being told to keep them "hush hush."  

Threads like https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/9872-a-question-from-the-homecoming-team/ and https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/10784-another-update-from-the-homecoming-team/ are a great start, but there is room for improvement.

 

I can continue to be patient, but I also still want to encourage the Team to communicate at that level.  It's not about what anyone deserves or is entitled to; this is just me saying what my experience in the industry tells me is the solid plan for our future.  

 

 

[Oubliette_Red]

What I think the Homecoming Team should support?

 

• CoH playable executable ✔️
• Operating servers, multiple if possible ✔️
• Maintaining and stabilizing the codebase ✔️
• Give up base fixes and items (because I care about this more than costume parts) ✔️
• Access to Prestige/unlockable costume parts from the start ✔️
• Unlock Prestige powers ✔️
• Seed the market to help mitigate the outrageous prices that were on Legacy ✔️
• Give us a Test/Beta server that we can test builds and/or new content on ✔️
• New Archetypes  (1 so far, I suspect there will be more eventually) ✔️
• Revamp older content: No more escorts please ( I'm sure there are other annoying things that Legacy changed in newer content, but needs to be propagated to older stuff)
• Better lighting, this is a personal request since I like to take screenshots of my characters, but gamma values are ignored so more often than not screenshots turn out way too dark

I'm sure there is more but this is what I can think of off the top of my head at the moment.

So far, I'm pretty happy with what a bunch of volunteers have given us. I think they should spend time continuing what they've been doing.

 

😊

 

Edited November 3, 2019 by Oubliette_Red

[DougGraves]

11 minutes ago, Oubliette_Red said:

• Better lighting, this is a personal request since I like to take screenshots of my characters, but gamma values are ignored so more often than not screenshots turn out way too dark

 

Yesterday afternoon I was playing in caves and with the sunlight coming in my room I could not tell what was cave and what was openings.  I just ran around the walls until I stumbled into an opening.  Being able to adjust the brightness would be nice.

[Abraxus]

19 minutes ago, DougGraves said:

 

Yesterday afternoon I was playing in caves and with the sunlight coming in my room I could not tell what was cave and what was openings.  I just ran around the walls until I stumbled into an opening.  Being able to adjust the brightness would be nice.

There is a setting for Gamma level.  It helps a lot.

[WanderingAries]

Can't see straight enough right now for the Bigger question, but for the more focused one....

 

"Yes" or "Everything, but the Trolls (not meaning trollers)". People that intentionally make the game not fun for other players (for their amusement) need to go back to CoD or wherever they came from.