Any *old old* game things you kinda miss?

[MoonSheep]

10 hours ago, The_Warpact said:

The Cape mission. 

 

PVP before the nerf and mostly base raids.

 

An actual villain population which was cutoff from blue unless you did the change over missions. 

 

The game has been made more convenient just like the world today.

I prefer to grow a garden and get veggies that way instead of the convenience of just buying from the store. I guess I prefer my game the same way, stuff should be earned in a way it makes it more wholesome and worthwhile. 

 

i completely agree. the game on live used to have meaningful rewards for progression. everything feels a bit too auto-win thesedays

 

on a nostalgic note, sirens call on live used to be *amazing* before everyone had a hyper IOd out build 

[Gulbasaur]

17 minutes ago, MoonSheep said:

i completely agree. the game on live used to have meaningful rewards for progression. everything feels a bit too auto-win thesedays

I kind of agree, particularly with the cape and aura missions. They were kind of character milestones. The only things you really "earn" on a character now are the accolades. 

 

The P2W/premium rewards stuff I could take or leave - it wasn't in the early game so for me it's not a problem. 

[Clave Dark 5]

6 hours ago, Normal Thomas said:

Frostfire was such a fun rite of passage. I'd be surprised if anyone still runs teams for that content.

I see calls for that lots of times.  Rest assure, it's safe!

[cranebump]

The little travel break you’d get between missions when running on teams. With all the teleportation it sometimes feels like it’s eyes and fingers glued to the system. Even breaks between mobs was welcome from time to time.

[Herotu]

19 hours ago, Gulbasaur said:

Old-skool Defiance. Yes, it was a silly mechanic, but Blasters getting stronger as they took more damage was fun. 

There's nothing silly about that. It's a great idea. It should be in the game now. 
 

  

5 hours ago, MoonSheep said:

 

i completely agree. the game on live used to have meaningful rewards for progression. everything feels a bit too auto-win thesedays

 

on a nostalgic note, sirens call on live used to be *amazing* before everyone had a hyper IOd out build 

I concur, the feeling of progression isn't much of a thing in the new CoH - maybe it's more about "unlocking" than discovering. 

Convenience is a huge part of modern games - the idea that blocks are put in the game so that achievement can allow the user to overcome them... it seems developers of all games don't like it anymore. Isn't that the point in a game? Why have snakes in Snakes and Ladders? Why not just ladders? 

Part of game development is or should be creating problems/inconvenience. 

For example, I want to have to travel to Icon to change my gear - it makes the world seem more alive when people are using shops, not just crowding round Ms Liberty.

Having said all of this, I do like being able to build my entire appearance at the start of the game.

Edited July 26, 2022 by Herotu

[Erratic1]

10 hours ago, Normal Thomas said:

I liked the scrappy pre-Safeguard travel powers, pre-inherent Stamina Hallow experience. Low levels are too streamlined these days. Frostfire was such a fun rite of passage. I'd be surprised if anyone still runs teams for that content.

 

Frostfire was regularly run, announced and recruited for on Torchbearer until it seems half the population ran off to Excelsior.

[Erratic1]

While I understand why it was changed and fully support that change, I kinda miss the original version of the respec trial in Terra Volta which was hard to succeed at unless you had a good team with good builds...

 

...the precise type of builds which did not need a respec.

[Blackfeather]

6 hours ago, MoonSheep said:

i completely agree. the game on live used to have meaningful rewards for progression. everything feels a bit too auto-win thesedays

 

on a nostalgic note, sirens call on live used to be *amazing* before everyone had a hyper IOd out build 

 

This discussion in general kind of reminds me of this video:

 

 

It's an interesting watch that argues that the lack of QoL features in older MMOs also paradoxically help make them feel better in the long term and more memorable. Combined with a lack of existing easier alternatives, it also meant that this was something easier to do without losing as many players to other games.

Edited July 26, 2022 by Blackfeather

[JasperStone]

Fire/kin troller with 12 imps out

[Techwright]

14 hours ago, Normal Thomas said:

I liked the scrappy pre-Safeguard travel powers, pre-inherent Stamina Hallow experience. Low levels are too streamlined these days. Frostfire was such a fun rite of passage. I'd be surprised if anyone still runs teams for that content.

 

I lost count after tallying 500 trips through the Frostfire mission in the original game. Probably 600-700 total.  It's why I've only run it twice in the new game.  It was great fun in that era.

[Techwright]

8 hours ago, Blackfeather said:

 

This discussion in general kind of reminds me of this video:

 

 

It's an interesting watch that argues that the lack of QoL features in older MMOs also paradoxically help make them feel better in the long term and more memorable. Combined with a lack of existing easier alternatives, it also meant that this was something easier to do without losing as many players to other games.

It's an interesting discussion, more fond the memory because of the struggle, but Shakespeare hit upon it first in Henry V:

 

This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian:’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.’

[Normal Thomas]

8 hours ago, Erratic1 said:

 

Frostfire was regularly run, announced and recruited for on Torchbearer until it seems half the population ran off to Excelsior.

I'm on Everlasting and, funny enough, right after I made my post I saw someone announce it in LFG that they were running Frostfire.

[Lines]

I'm the sort of person who gets very bored of something once I'm good at it. Like so many things in life, I miss learning how to do it.

 

CoH is such a great game to explore, travelling in different ways with different characters. I remember it taking months or years to fully explore the city and the Rogue isles. I even really liked finding interesting maze rooms in Oranbega and checking every nook and cranny with the 3D movement of the characters. Even by sunset, I didn't feel like I had really seen it all and there were some zones that still felt full of mystery.

 

I really enjoyed working out the layers of improvements for different characters, especially once IOs rolled around.

No amount of reversing QOL or convenience changes would bring back that feeling. It's the unfortunate and irreparable effect of getting good - it gradually just turns more and more into spreadsheets with bright graphics.

 

I agree very much with those who lament that the hazard zones have lost their bite - For me, this is the saddest loss from power and convenience creep. But I feel there is potential to bring that feeling back, but in new and exciting ways that are relevant to the current context of the game. I think there is room for new mechanics and encounters that bring back that feeling of entering the zone and thinking "right, need to pay attention now." 

 

I haven't been able to play for the last year or so, and probably out of action for the next year too. But I am so thankful for the hardmode content I've seen added to give me something to get my teeth into. I'm really looking forward to the feeling of struggling, learning and discovering again.

[Gulbasaur]

9 hours ago, Lines said:

I agree very much with those who lament that the hazard zones have lost their bite - For me, this is the saddest loss from power and convenience creep.

Thinking about map stuff, there are a couple of things in the early game maps that made me wonder why the devs just never did anything with them. There are some really cool map areas. The shantytown in Crey's Folly. Monkey Island. The broken city in Eden. So much of it has 10/10 atmosphere and whoever was putting those maps together clearly enjoyed what they were doing and did it very well, but it was just never used. Some are clear "street sweeping" areas, but there is so much cool map stuff with lore that is just never really touched. 

 

It's a bit less prevalent redside (although I do think some redside maps feel a bit rushed), although the Wards both have a bit of it going on too. Striga is probably the most "integrated" map, in my opinion, as the task forces and story arcs there use the map for storytelling.

[tidge]

On 7/25/2022 at 1:15 PM, Gulbasaur said:

The slog between zones is something I have a sort of nostalgia for - I find I end up just teleporting around now. There used to be two monorail lines, leading to a moment where you'd have to brick it across Steel between missions. I oddly miss that enforced down time between missions. 

 

Quantums absolutely murdering Kheldians and those tanky void cysts. I know it was blatantly unfair, but back in i3 Kheldians were New Game Plus so the extra difficulty was a neat mechanic.

 

The 'slow travel' is something I am nostalgic for, but I don't miss it. When the game and zones were all new, and so much was still unknown about the geometry and the lore, this was just one more (big) element of exploration. I can recapture this feel with restrictions on travel in Ouroboros missions.

 

I still occasionally feel a little twinge when I encounter the 'new' architectures in certain zones (Steel Canyon, Founder Falls) where the Universities and Auction houses were put up. I completely miss Galaxy City as a starting zone.

 

Quantums and Voids should really make a default comeback, at least on Council Radio Missions above level 30, even without Kheldian team members. Players may consider Council Radio missions to be a joke, but I'm not sure that everyone appreciates that these spawns were one of the early "hard mode" challenges.

 

[Grouchybeast]

4 hours ago, tidge said:

The 'slow travel' is something I am nostalgic for, but I don't miss it. When the game and zones were all new, and so much was still unknown about the geometry and the lore, this was just one more (big) element of exploration. I can recapture this feel with restrictions on travel in Ouroboros missions.

 

I do (or rather did, because I haven't been playing for quite a while) slow travel when I'm soloing, but it feels rude to do it on teams.  But when I'm not holding up other people I love flying around the city, or taking the trams, or even flying over to go though an underpass.  I do admit I'll cheat and take the now-linked-up tram to get across IP, though, at least some of the time.

 

I miss going to WW to trade, or to Icon to change outfits.  I even miss Prestige sometimes.  There was a real feeling of achievement to upgrading bases on Live.

[Sakura Tenshi]

On 7/25/2022 at 12:15 PM, Marine X said:

( 1 ) I miss when Exploration Badge Hunting actually required some skill to locate instead of just going to Markers on the Map. Even after they had all been documented it was still some work locating them by the Map Coordinates. You had to get help to get some of them with no travel powers till 14, you couldn't just zip your level 1 up to the top of the Atlas Statue.

>.>

 

I never figured out how to install Vidiot maps so it’s still like this for me.

 

@Gulbasaur

as far as capes and aura unlocks go, those were trivialized when the live devs added a bunch of capes and auras you could have from creation.

Edited July 27, 2022 by Sakura Tenshi

[cranebump]

On 7/26/2022 at 9:04 AM, Erratic1 said:

 

Frostfire was regularly run, announced and recruited for on Torchbearer until it seems half the population ran off to Excelsior.

True. And I just ran with an FF team (of 6) yesterday. It's one of the few capstone regular story arcs you can still (fairly easily) get people for.

[cranebump]

23 hours ago, Techwright said:

 

I lost count after tallying 500 trips through the Frostfire mission in the original game. Probably 600-700 total.  It's why I've only run it twice in the new game.  It was great fun in that era.

There was a time when, at the beginning of each FF run, I'd announce "this is my (insert ridiculously high number here, like "3,452nd") Frostfire mission." Even today, I'll pretty much drop what I'm doing to join one.

[Akisan]

Legacy base salvage.  Little stuff like the Vahz actuators, or the Red Caps' coins really helped the game world feel alive - that there was a backstory there, and that we weren't just punching different-looking sacks of HP.

[biostem]

There was a time where reaching level 14 to unlock fly, SS, or SJ, felt like a huge upgrade to your gameplay.  I remember running around with just hurdle & combat jumping, trying to see just what new areas I could get to.  I remember having just hover, and trying to reach the blimp in AP.  I also remember wracking my brain on how to fit hurdle, health, & stamina into my builds...

[WanderingAries]

Not game-game so much as community. I'd taken a break around like i13 I think. Maybe like a year later (IDK TBH) came back and could remember really how things worked (never really got back in the groove) and seemingly lost the connections I had before with people. I used to bounce around teams and often ended hanging with people that just made it feel like hanging out with friends IRL. Kinda lost a bunch of that after my break.

[Gulbasaur]

39 minutes ago, WanderingAries said:

Not game-game so much as community. I'd taken a break around like i13 I think. Maybe like a year later (IDK TBH) came back and could remember really how things worked (never really got back in the groove) and seemingly lost the connections I had before with people. I used to bounce around teams and often ended hanging with people that just made it feel like hanging out with friends IRL. Kinda lost a bunch of that after my break.

Hah, my old supergroup. Some of us used to post each other baked goods. I met up with one person in real life years ago and it was like cathcing up with an old friend. We had an active supergroup that was part of an active coalition and it was really fun. I find Everlasting can be a bit cliquey and it's hard to find a way in at times, not that I mind PUGing. 

 

Sadly, because I'm a halfwit, I can only remember two character names (Black Light and Thief-Taker, you there?) and the rest is lost to time. 

 

I also sort of miss the old Store missions, where you had to open up contacts. IOs killed that a bit as they level with you. 

[Mad Hobbit]

I miss the old Hamis  when they were 50/50 instead of today's 33/33. for some things like Fly the old ones were great if you only took the base slot. i remember the 6 slotting of powers, i was beta testing COV when the change happened, it was leaked and the forums exploded lot of threads with over 100 pages, I felt sorry for the moderator. Also miss the old phase powers, you could reduce the end and have it up full time for exploring. i also miss the reward missions where you could unlock some costume pieces. loved the first time i did the cape one with my MM  rob/ff felt like i earned it.

[tidge]

23 hours ago, biostem said:

There was a time where reaching level 14 to unlock fly, SS, or SJ, felt like a huge upgrade to your gameplay.  I remember running around with just hurdle & combat jumping, trying to see just what new areas I could get to.  I remember having just hover, and trying to reach the blimp in AP.  I also remember wracking my brain on how to fit hurdle, health, & stamina into my builds...

 

This made me flash back to trying to use Combat Jumping to get on top of the roofs of building in King's Row to complete that accursed "Defeat 10 Circle of Thorns" after out-leveling Galaxy City. I spent hours after reaching level 14 just using Super Jump.