20th Anniversary Q&A - Question Submission Thread

[Troo]

20 years.. not all projects are still around 20+ years later..

 

Q - What do folks think the magic or secret sauce was that resonated with players?

 

Q - Do you think CoX could have been built in 2024?

 

p.s. - thank you!

[RiktiHater]

To everyone: How did you resist the urge to do "A Little Bit More" on various parts of the game? It honestly astonishes me how you can make something this complete over twenty something releases.

[Helgrenze]

Thank You all for this amazing game. I have been playing since shortly after release.

 

Question for any/all: Were there any plans to give Praetorians the option of going straight to First Ward as part of the storyline instead of going to Paragon/Rogue Islands first?

[CraterLabs]

Here's three (and a half) questions for the writers and designers, but I could see them touching on the Powers Team too:

 

1) It's been said in previous Lore Q&As that the Incarnate powers were eventually going to be "trivialized and replaced" with a different set of endgame abilities (something about mystical weapons, like with Excalibur), either as a new "type" of power or as a second wave of Incarnate abilities. Was there a set number of those planned out, or was it going to be developed on an as-needed basis, and would they all be tailored to particular story arcs the way that the Incarnate powers were designed to counter the Praetorian threat? If so, how many story loops would've happened until we swapped our mega endgame powers for mafia-themed abilities to take on Sebastian Frost?

 

1.5) On the subject of Sebastian Frost, while it's generally assumed that most "street grade" Superadine just grants super strength and durability, some of the lore implies it can kick-start powers. Were there customize Superadine batches that could tailor special powers the don's most trusted lieutenants? Would we have gotten to see Sebastian Frost's personal stash turning him into a giant monster made of ice? Or was its use for other superpowers meant to always be more of a "kickstarting the latent abilities" variety?

 

2) There's some occasional disagreement about the nature of what constitutes a "Mutant" among fans. Some people think it has to refer to people born into having a special genetic difference (as in the X-Men), other people suggest that it can also apply to creatures who have some sort of mutagenic process applied to them (as in the Ninja Turtles). The game has some in-universe instances of people describing what makes a science power or a mutant power, and the general philosophy seems to be that science is "people who are changed" and mutant is "people who are something new or different". The grey area of "people who are (1) changed into (2) something new or different" seems to be where the disagreement pops up, and this is muddied by characters in-universe mentioning that they're not sure if they've actually been classified properly.  Meanwhile, the FBSA secretary at City Hall is probably just shrugging her shoulders and handing the paperwork over to whichever department feels like the best fit to her whenever a new person registers as a hero. Is there a clear-cut answer? Is the overlap intentional?

 

3) You occasionally find missions that bury references to a tree with multiple branches or roots, or a river with multiple tributaries or streams, usually five or so, or once an image on an urn of five men bowing before a tree with sunlight shining through the branches onto them, with the implication that this was "power" or "the source of origins" or something like that. Was this something specific (possibly tied to the history of the Corax and their ancient war or whatever) that was being built to, or was there just a general encouragement to stick in references to "a source with five things coming out of it" to represent the game's origins? It's cool either way, but it always felt really significant in the moment.

 

Thank you all for all the work you did making such a great world to poke around in, sorry for getting so invested in it. 🙂

[CraterLabs]

Some Clockwork questions for the writers:

 

How good of an engineer was the Clockwork King outside of his psychic abilities? Some Clockwork descriptions imply that they actually have functional computer brains and personalities (and some of them even get tossed into the Zig according to the mad-libs-y police scanner missions, which I absolutely take as canon), and he seemed to know enough about robotics to at least get his foot in the door for meetings and interviews, but the nature of his ability makes it tricky to know if that's genuine mad science skill, him creating sub-personalities for the more advanced Clockwork that he starts vicariously living through, or a bit of both depending on the situation. The ability of Bat'Zul to take over the Clockwork in the Rogue Isles combined with the description of the "psionically charged brass" and "clockwork gear" salvage pieces sort of suggest that there's at least a *little* autonomy or self-sustainability for them, but it'd be nice to know for sure, heh.

 

(Oh, and on that note, with the Clockwork getting their higher-level psionic counterparts and the various villain groups slowly getting their own redesigns, would we have eventually seen Clockworks proliferating to the different city zones, with different regional variants? Or were they good as they were?)

[Skyhawke]

Was Officer Daniels in the tutorial a Nemesis plot?

[Fireknight013]

Was going to space ever on the table for the dev team, especially during live days?  I always had hoped before Praetoria, that there would be another planet, perhaps similar to the Praetoria direction, but with alien race and new archetypes that would be in direct conflict with both the heroes and the villains in the other factions.

[Marbing]

First, I would like to acknowledge and thank all of you for all the work you did for this game that we all love. I have played so many other games over the years but I always come back to this one. It is just such a special game to me and I am sure everyone here feels the same! That said, I have a few questions for any who would like to answer:

1) How does it feel seeing how all the work you did when the game was live has been appreciated by so many people and impacted us in such a way that the game was essentially resurrected? 

2) What feature, power, story arc, content, etc that you worked on are you most proud of?

3) And lastly, the question all of us are wondering: If you could nerf anything in the game as it stands right now, why would it be regen?
 

Edited April 25 by Marbing

[ZamuelNow]

For the writers:
Prince Kiros Nandelu, the Galaxy City contact for Mutant heroes, is stated to be an African prince.  Was it ever determined what country (real or fictional) he was from?

[Alchemystic]

As someone who really likes to delve into conceptualizing new powersets and ancillaries, I have a question for Black Scorpion and Synapse; What powersets were you guys working on that you wish you had a chance to introduce to the playerbase? We know there were plans for 'Wind Control' and a suite of origin power pools, but were there any projects that were in the pipeline that were never fully realized before the game's closure?

 

I also have a semi-related question for Back Alley Brawler and Tunnel Rat; the biggest hurdle for new powersets is the VFX and Animation, which is somewhat of a limiting factor here in Homecoming. Are there any powerset (or incarnate power) concepts you wanted to explore that were unfortunately shelved due to the technical limitations of the time?

 

 

Edited April 25 by Alchemystic

[TomatoPhalanges]

For anyone who worked on progression, enhancements, content, etc. or has worked on it since in another game:

 

Are there any progression, itemization etc. systems or ideas from other games that you have worked on since or have played since CoH's development that you can see working in City of Heroes?

 

And for everyone:

 

Do you have any advice you'd give to the current people supporting the game, or things you'd personally like to see, whether as a player or former developer?

Edited April 25 by TomatoPhalanges

[Headhunter]

I don't know who among the devs would even know about this anymore. Maybe Manticore? The Well is the source of not only immense power but also endless questions. While I have some head-canon of my own I'd like to compare it to the "Official Version". Thanks for everything!

• According to Prometheus the Well is a person, and a man. Who is that man?
• Is there a Well for each multiverse, or does one Well serve up power to humanity across every dimension?
• Do alien races have Wells of their own or is it a uniquely human concept?

[kureneko]

Can we have a revamped version of of some of the older Task Forces such as Synapse, Quaterfield and Citadel to start?

[scarlet_f]

Hi, all I have a few questions concerning some maps:

1. Who made the circle of thorns and council maps?
2. Why are most of them so hard to navigate? was that on purpose?
3. If you could remove/revamp them to be less annoying would you?

Edited April 25 by scarlet_f
forgot a word

[CalmRenao]

When news first surfaced about a City of Heroes private server in April, 2019, what were some of your initial thoughts?
What was your first reaction to the news?
With Homecoming and other servers coming online, did it surprise you the level of support City of Heroes received from old and new generation players alike?
Did you create accounts instantly and join us in grinding through the Sewer Networks / Death From Below—and we didn't even know that we teamed with you?😁

 

CoX's world building is some of the most impressive, vast, and substantial in any game.
Where did some of the inspiration come from for CoX's various enemy groups and zones?
Were there enemy groups and locations that were being formulated prior to City of Heroes' release but were shelved?
What were some concepts that never saw the light of day?
Were there ideas and plans in place to not only revamp zones/locations, but to expand on their size entirely?
By now, wouldn't Boomtown and Galaxy City be rebuilt?

 

CoX also has some catchy music!
What were some of the inspirations behind the short hooks and musical textures that played in various neighborhoods in the CoX zones?
How were different styles and pieces of music chosen for the zones?
Were there ever any ideas or intentions to add more continuous, ambient pieces to the City of Heroes soundtrack (i.e. like the ambient music of Star Wars: The Old Republic)?
Were there ever music themes for CoX's signature characters or zones that were brainstorms?
If you could give your characters theme songs, what songs would they be? From what artists?

 

When I read the CoH Story Bible and its related material, I can't help but imagine the fun the brainstorming process must have been with the team during those pre-production and production days of CoX.
How was the day-to-day work life at Cryptic and Paragon Studios?
What are some of your fondest memories during those times?
What were some of the more challenging obstacles?
What major creative breakthroughs, disagreements, and funny/amusing memories do you have during the building of CoX?

[nihilii]

What's your favorite thing you worked on that never made it live? And if possible, can you tell us why it didn't happen?

[Lobstar]

For Floyd “Castle” Grubb:

Can you tell us some about the various challenges encountered by the powers team as they developed things like zone pvp, arena pvp and the short lived base-raiding pvp?

(Follow up question, is it true that the fiercest pvp was typically on the forums?)

For anyone:

What is that one thing that you really, really wanted to finish developing for the game but ended up not working out in the long run?

 

For anyone:

Do you have a favorite old school in-game memory that you wouldn’t mind sharing with us?

For anyone:

Who created the original, too-small-to-navigate-with-a-team, blue cave maps and why were they so angry that day?

(Kidding, all in good fun, nothing but love for the OG Devs 🙂)

[TalynDerre]

I have a lore/backstory question about the Rikti War:

 

What happened to the rest of the world during the Rikti invasion?  Which cities, besides Paragon, were the hardest hit?  Did different nations fight back against the Rikti in different ways?  Were there other portals to the Rikti Homeworld in other cities, or is the one in Paragon City the only one?

[Harlequin565]

What a lovely idea and a really fitting event. Questions are for anyone on that team, or all of the team...

 

Powers folks:

If the Homecoming team could coax you back to the keyboard to collaborate on a new powerset, what would it be (and for which AT)?

If you had to list the top 3-5 powersets (including Force Field) that needed fixing, which ones were they and in which order would you fix them?

Which power sets are you most proud of?

Were there any powersets that you thought "the community will love this", but the takeup was meh or worse?

 

Community Team:

Are there any community posts, or phrases that still make you smile today? If so - what are they?

Is there anything you miss about the CoH community in particular?

 

Writers:

Who wrote the funniest lines?

 

All: 

How many of you have played since it came back? Is it 100%?

 

Please pass on my sincere thanks to them all for creating a really entertaining, varied, wildly unpredictable game that entertains me 20 years on. That's a helluva'n achievement.

[BurtHutt]

I don't know if this had been asked but...I'm wondering in which direction the original team would've taken this game? HC has done a great job but I am curious to hear about the original vision and direction. I know that Storm was brewing (that Coming Storm was coming for, what felt like, an eternity) but what was coming up after that?

 

Also, the Live Devs started making some stylistic changes to mission design and the design of TFs/SFs/Trials. Were these going to further evolve? 

[wjrasmussen]

Rivera Heights off of the Hollows.  When can we get this zone for as a 50+ zone filled with goodies.

[saxofonekid]

To any of all, 

If you could design a power set, what would it be and for which AT?

I vaguely remember reading there was a planned way for Hamidon to be taken out and that no servers or only one was able to perform it. Was this true and if so, how was Hamidon designed to be fought? 

 

P.S. it's crazy to go from reading those forums and seeing your names and now being able to hear from you guys again just makes me so dang happy!

[Cold Bob]

There are a lot of good questions in this thread: I don't have anything to add, because I think everything has already been covered (other than the deep lore questions -- it is amazing to me, some of the things I am hearing about City of Heroes, for the very first time -- and I've been playing since Launch!)

[SarahTheM1]

My question(s) primarily concern writing and I guess zone design. There's a mystery that's tantalized me for years, and it all comes down to three connected elements: The Gamester, an extremely obscure in-game company called DevCon (and their evil counterpart, ConDev), and the Red Rook.

 

The Gamester is obviously just a fun bit of flavor to justify some seasonal events and subsequently there's very, very few references to him in-game. DevCon was only seen on a billboard at the Galaxy City arena construction site and was naturally removed when I4 launched and the arenas were finalized. ConDev meanwhile was located in a building in Aeon City but I think it got replaced by the AE building. Presumably it's a gag about Developer Construction.

 

However...when the Gamester first made his presence known he did so with a Red Rook insignia. The original DevCon sign also prominently featured a Red Rook. And to quote the wiki, quoting an old website backgrounder on Cap Au Diable, "Today, most of the world’s major corporations maintain offices in Cap au Diable including ... ConDev, whose red rook logo acts as the only clue to who might own this mysterious company." Additionally, the neon slot machines that appear in St. Martial (and the St. Martial exit of Pocket D) have Red Rooks as well.

 

So, basically, was there anything more to the Gamester? Or any significance to all these sly Red Rook references? My best guess is all this Red Rook and DevCon business was a running joke and/or calling card for a particular dev, but if so, who? I know the zone designers loved their easter eggs and self-references.

 

Thanks!

[CraterLabs]

For the developers and designers:

 

What was the original distinction between Hazard Zones and Trial Zones meant to be? The in-game explanations of the difference between those zones is a little vague. I got the impression that one is meant to focus more on "larger crowds of enemies" and another on "more dangerous enemies" from a mechanical standpoint, and that story-wise one is just "generally dangerous area" while the other is "defining story moment area", but comparing the zones to those definitions doesn't always make it clear. So, is this a thing where the definitions changed over time in response to how the players interacted with it? Was there an endpoint that the zones were going to transition to, or did the definitions stay basically the same, but the distinction between what they meant mechanically was more of a background detail?

 

For the writers and story team:

 

Was Praetoria done for keeps? There's a lot of talk in Number Six's story arc about it being "hopeless", but that talk is also what you'd hear in a lot of other third-act "the supervillain is winning for real now" stories (generally right before heroes turn the tables and pull victory from the jaws of defeat), and I kinda like the idea that maybe the Devouring Earth and nuclear blasts haven't completely wiped it out over there... but I also know that the game was starting to move on, so I'm not sure how final that finality was meant to be.

Edited April 26 by CraterLabs