A controversial topic: is it time to make all items free?

[battlewraith]

1 hour ago, tidge said:

I swear, this sounds like a 1980s BBS edge-lord question.

 

Does it? I didn't graduate HS until the late 80s and didn't regularly engage in online forums until the 2000s. 

 

1 hour ago, tidge said:

Why don't you show your e-peen first?

 

Which means what exactly? You want to know how many I have?

I have about 50 lvl 50 characters. Of those, I believe 14 are fully kitted out. 

This refers of course to Homecoming, not earlier iterations of the game. 

 

The question is not a flex. I don't care how many 50s you have, although it's amusing to see you drag your feet answering. 

How much time you spend playing and what you do with the time imo speaks to people's priorities as players and it informs

their feedback on the forums. 

[tidge]

7 minutes ago, battlewraith said:

The question is not a flex. I don't care how many 50s you have, although it's amusing to see you drag your feet answering. 

If the game provides you so little enjoyment, we can provide as much snark or @Snarky as you want here.

 

I can play about two hours a day, if I'm productive with the rest of my time and don't have something else cooking in RL , so it isn't as if I'm 24/7 stealing pennies earning inf from little old ladies AE.

[Snarky]

On 6/7/2025 at 4:04 PM, Yomo Kimyata said:

This is a serious question, and I'm asking it in this forum rather than Suggestions since I'd like reasoned plusses and minuses rather than fire.  Also, I'm not sure a topic has ever been locked on this subforum!

 

The thing is, it's easy to make inf, but a lot of people just don't want to.  And I understand that in concept.  And those of us who know how and enjoy it, well, there's really no point any more once you can buy everything you want instantly for hundreds of characters.

 

What do you see as plusses and minuses if the devs, for example, made items available as they currently do on Beta?

 

And ... fight!

Let's test this.  Yomo, send @Snarky 10 billion.  I know this is nothing for you.  For me this will be, de facto, limitless funds and EVERYTHING will be "free"  

 

After a month I can report back what the difference in play experience is.  Science!

 

[Yomo Kimyata]

1 minute ago, Snarky said:

Let's test this.  Yomo, send @Snarky 10 billion.  I know this is nothing for you.  For me this will be, de facto, limitless funds and EVERYTHING will be "free"  

 

This is so much nothing for me that the effort of sending over ten emails is just not worth the effort.

[battlewraith]

23 minutes ago, tidge said:

If the game provides you so little enjoyment, we can provide as much snark or @Snarky as you want here.

 

If you can't answer a basic question like, how many 50s you have....I doubt it. It is funny though.

[tidge]

16 minutes ago, battlewraith said:

 

If you can't answer a basic question like, how many 50s you have....I doubt it. It is funny though.

 

It's honestly not something I think about. To me, they are characters and not possessions.

[battlewraith]

6 minutes ago, tidge said:

 

It's honestly not something I think about. To me, they are characters and not possessions.

Yeah I get it. It's like the parent that can't remember how many kids they have...

[tidge]

6 minutes ago, battlewraith said:

Yeah I get it. It's like the parent that can't remember how many kids they have...

 

More like a happy person that doesn't count good days.

[Bionic_Flea]

[battlewraith]

Tidge when it comes to money:

On 7/9/2025 at 4:31 PM, tidge said:

My main character probably averages about 100 Merits a day (I don't join Hamidon raids, which would make this trivial)... and merits are a really inefficient way to get all this stuff... but just that one character is sitting on over 9000 merits and 630 Hero merits, not to mention the almost 2000 prismatics, hundred of catalysts, and well over 1 Binf (I do sell stuff on the AH). Typically new level 50s spend about 400 Merits on boosters... but anything leftover gets turned into pieces for future builds. As I noted, I have a handful of other characters I also enjoy playing, they don't hold as much, but they are pretty close. 

 

Tidge asked about how many 50s he has:

 

"It's honestly not something I think about. To me, they are characters and not possessions."

 

LOL

[Yomo Kimyata]

I'll be honest, I thought this thread was over on page 2 with:

On 6/17/2025 at 4:39 PM, Faultline said:

/jranger

 

because that ended the debate.  The powers that be have spoken, and I, for one, welcome our new ant overlords.

 

For the record, I just counted my 50s (78 across 5 servers), I figure I I have roughly a trillion inf in cash still, and I've spent roughly that amount on personal projects.  And I'd still rather add that up than send @Snarky 10bn.

[Bionic_Flea]

1 minute ago, Yomo Kimyata said:

and I, for one, welcome our new ant overlords.

 

HEY!  Wrong insect.

[tidge]

8 minutes ago, battlewraith said:

Tidge when it comes to money:

 

Tidge asked about how many 50s he has:

 

"It's honestly not something I think about. To me, they are characters and not possessions."

 

LOL

 

The one character I play every day, I kinda have to pay attention to merits... and incarnate threads... and monstrous aethers... and salvage... because that one bumps up against the ceiling for those things rather frequently. AFAIK I'm not anywhere near the 1000-per-server on characters. When I get a flashing "character limit exceeded" I'll probably start paying attention to such a thing.

 

I pass no judgement on anyone for not knowing what the upper limit on things like salvage storage, merits, etc. is.

[Snarky]

17 minutes ago, Yomo Kimyata said:

IFor the record, I just counted my 50s (78 across 5 servers), I figure I I have roughly a trillion inf in cash still, and I've spent roughly that amount on personal projects.  And I'd still rather add that up than send @Snarky 10bn.

now you're just taunting.  i assume a fair number of those 50s must be Tanks....

[battlewraith]

12 minutes ago, tidge said:

The one character I play every day, I kinda have to pay attention to merits... and incarnate threads... and monstrous aethers... and salvage... because that one bumps up against the ceiling for those things rather frequently.

 

Right so you can monitor and manage different stacks of loot. But you can't manage to count your 50s--just reading off a list from the character select screen.

I didn't know how many I had either--it took me a whole minute or two to check.

[tidge]

2 minutes ago, battlewraith said:

 

Right so you can monitor and manage different stacks of loot. But you can't manage to count your 50s--just reading off a list from the character select screen.

I didn't know how many I had either--it took me a whole minute or two to check.

 

Yep, that's pretty much it. I don't why some people think you can't figure things out. Is this when Matlock gets the judge to pause the trial?

[Intrinsic]

33 minutes ago, battlewraith said:

Tidge when it comes to money:

 

Tidge asked about how many 50s he has:

 

"It's honestly not something I think about. To me, they are characters and not possessions."

 

LOL

 

What's with the obsession over how many level 50 characters someone has?  Why is that important?

[Snarky]

4 minutes ago, Intrinsic said:

 

What's with the obsession over how many level 50 characters someone has?  Why is that important?

it is not.  some really serious players that enjoy the game stop at 40

[tidge]

4 minutes ago, Snarky said:

it is not.  some really serious players that enjoy the game stop at 40

 

We really should rename "Melody" to "Demeter" to transport the living dead to Peregrine Island!

[battlewraith]

2 minutes ago, Intrinsic said:

 

What's with the obsession over how many level 50 characters someone has?  Why is that important?

 

The thing being discussed was the possibility of making things free. I argued on the "pro" side. To do this I had to explain and defend my interests (making planned lvl 50 builds with good enhancements) against people like Tidge, who denied that grind was a thing, argues that people should be content just playing normal content, etc. 

I think if he doesn't like making these types of characters (same as the people that stop leveling at 40) then it sets his objections in context. 

It was really a straightforward question--which set unexpectedly set him off. He said "you first" so I did. Still no answer from Tidge.

 

It suggests that he thinks there's something damning about the answer. 

Otherwise, it's not important--as you can see other people have chimed in here about how many character they have.

 

[tidge]

2 minutes ago, battlewraith said:

It suggests that he thinks there's something damning about the answer. 

Otherwise, it's not important--

 

Which circle of Hell am I being damned to for having:

a) Only 1 level 50

b) exactly 14

c) about 50

d) exactly 78

e) 1000 and not a character more

 

I hope it has free WiFi!

[Yomo Kimyata]

51 minutes ago, Snarky said:

now you're just taunting.  i assume a fair number of those 50s must be Tanks....

 

Hmm. I think three are tanks.

 

The first one was a villainous Bio/Energy Melee which kick started my tirade against how overpowered tanks are.  Then I made the Passive Aggressor, a Dark Armor/Rad Melee that was only allowed to use passive auras.  And then a Stone/SS that I rolled for the Slot Machine challenge that I put on +3/x8 right out of Breakout.

 

Only the Passive Aggressor has Taunt though.  With procs in it.

[Zombra]

11 hours ago, battlewraith said:

Is that the reasonable baseline for player engagement to assume when having a discussion like this?

 

I don't think the "reasonable baseline" is anyone with over a dozen 50s (and regularly (and joylessly) churning out more), a player who's sunk so many hours that the entire game is a blur to them now, something they are so sick to death of as is that they need to throw out systems that aren't broken for the sake of wringing out a tiny drop of sensation from an ocean of flavorless grey mush.

 

Demolishing a major - and fun! - progress system in the game because some people have reached the end of it - taking it away entirely from everyone else who likes it fine - is not the move here.

 

Not speaking to anyone in particular, but it's not cool to wreck any part of COH for everyone just because you're bored with the game as a whole.

[battlewraith]

18 minutes ago, Zombra said:

I don't think the "reasonable baseline" is anyone with over a dozen 50s (and regularly (and joylessly) churning out more), a player who's sunk so many hours that the entire game is a blur to them now, something they are so sick to death of as is that they need to throw out systems that aren't broken for the sake of wringing out a tiny drop of sensation from an ocean of flavorless grey mush.

 

People can't fucking read. Or they can't retain what they read. It's weird. I gave you a list of reasons why someone might play this game that don't have to do with loot. You upvoted it.

A lot of people are into aspects of the game, but not all of it. Some things are a lot of fun, and some things are tedious time sinks to be avoided. 

 

The community is like a spinning spiral galaxy. The diehards are in the hub in the center. The game for these people is a lifestyle. If they're being honest, they would continue playing indefinitely even if there were no more development. Not only that, but they are hostile to any major change. If the game is still here in another 20 years, those remaining will be as hostile to any change in the reward structure as they are now. 

 

Moving away from the hub, you get into the arms of the spiral--people that still enjoy playing but have a more tenuous relationship with it. They might have real life time constraints that they contend with. Or they might not like features like the auction house or low level content. A proposal that makes (some thing) free is aimed at people like this--not the ones in the hub who will continue doing the same things they always do until something stops them. 

 

I submit that for the health of the game, the move is to try to keep the people in the arms from floating further  away from the hub. To this end, you offer concessions. Things like free powers. Double xp that is available all the time. Making travel powers available earlier as well as adding ones that you can get from the vendor. Things that wrecked aspects of the initial coh game design because the majority of the playerbase found those aspects tedious. It is cool to do that.

 

 

[Troo]

10 hours ago, battlewraith said:

But you can't manage to count your 50s--just reading off a list from the character select screen.

 

If they said dozens would that suffice? For me I'd have to wild-ass-guess it and guess dozens fully kitted and maybe 2-3x unfinished level 48-50s. Hold please..

 

Total: ~30 pages of characters across all servers. ~95 level 50s with about 35-40 complete T3+ builds.

Note: It sure would be great to be able to sort the character lists by level, archetype, zone, etc...

 

9 hours ago, Yomo Kimyata said:

a Stone/SS that I rolled for the Slot Machine challenge that I put on +3/x8 right out of Breakout

 

Nice mention! And what-a-JaCKPoT-roll right as tanks were peaking!!

 

Edited Friday at 06:55 AM by Troo