Long term interest, replayability, and a controversial suggestion...

[Obitus]

We've already hit Peak population and it's now dropping steadily, but not quickly...interesting read: https://massivelyop.com/2019/07/08/city-of-heroes-homecoming-interview/

 

That is fascinating, thank you.

 

100k unique logins is an astounding number for a 15 year-old game that has been absent for 7 of them.  That the numbers are in slow decline is no surprise either, but I don't think it's cause for concern.  You only need a fraction of the current player base to maintain a healthy population on a single server, and you only need a much tinier fraction to keep the lights on, month to month.  $5k is a pittance in the grand scheme.  Don't get me wrong; the game could shut down, even soon, but I can almost guarantee that the reason for it won't be that player interest died off.

 

And that brings me back towards the main topic of the thread.  CoH is in a bit of an unusual situation here.  It's not a new game that needs to worry overmuch about retention; many if not most of us already played the game for up to 8 years, and remained fond enough of it that we were ready to jump on this opportunity 7 years after the game disappeared.  The retention is more or less baked in at this point, and as I suggested above, the game has a very low burden in terms of how much popularity it needs to maintain itself.

 

CoH was also never a traditional end-game or raid progression MMO.  Sure, we got some raid-ish stuff towards the end, in the form of Incarnate Trials, but the devs walked even that back a bit with Dark Astoria.  They knew their audience stuck around in large part due to the game's casual atmosphere and its non-trinity, choose-your-own-pace mechanics. 

 

I understand why people worry about the long term when they see all the powerleveling, but I don't think you can apply the usual MMO cliche of the content locust in this case.  Some of the people powerleveling might get bored and leave, sure, but many of the powerlevelers are just old timers who want to get back to where they were before the shutdown in 2012.  They know the limitations in the game's content.  I trust them not to be shocked when they discover that there isn't an endless stream of end-game-progression systems at level 50.  That goes double now that we don't have a for-pay developer team.

 

CoH does have a lot of story arcs and TFs, but "content," in the traditional MMO sense of the word, was never the game's strong suit.  Others have pointed to the repetitive instanced maps, and they're not wrong.  We've all seen the warehouse, the caves, the tech lab, sixty billion times.  CoH's variety comes in the form of builds, character concepts, play styles, and to an extent the multitude of vastly different enemy types available.

 

And that variety is nearly limitless.  You could spend years just exploring all of the available build options in a given Archetype, much less in the entire game.  You can damage; you can soak damage; you can buff; you can debuff; you can control; you can heal, or more likely, some unique combination of those things.  You can solo; you can team; you can solo as a team, if you want.  You can exemplar; you can sidekick.  You can play story arcs; you can play TFs; you can spend your time exclusively beating on pixel Nazis via radio missions; you can do player-made missions in the AE.  CoH is quite literally what you make of it, and that, I think, explains the game's enduring appeal. 

 

The setting is just window dressing for the comic book story you write for yourself, through highly customizable game play.  Some people prefer the maximum flexibility that level 50 provides.  I wouldn't read too much into their rushing to get (back) to that point.

[JusticeBowler]

As someone who enjoys the high-level content and runs level 50 radio and tip missions just to relax I resent being called a "Locust."

 

If you want to run low- and mid- level content, just start a team and post in LFG.  It's not rocket science?

 

It does seem like some sort of bizarro reverse-elitism elitism, doesn't it.

 

I didn't mean it that way. It is a relative term, a sort of experience of observing the playstyle and content choices. I'm sure there are colorful metaphors for relative slowbiew like myself (though I'm on superspeed compared to how my wife plays the game).

[Clave Dark 5]

There is something fun to having an "OP" build (I run an elec melle / Shield defense build that qualifies even though I have no purples or winter IOs).

You can still challenge yourself. I have the most fun with "bad" teams. In one ITF the rest of the tram faceplanted when the dawrfs/novas surged at the end if the first mission. I ended mopping those up while the rest of the tram waited or trecked to the hospital. It was challenging because there were so many they were actually getting through my defenses and I had to juggle powers and timing right.

 

I often stay in the ITF and clear the roofs by myself if the rest of the team leaves after killing there AV. A roof full of stacking debuffs can be also challenging even for my build, and again it makes it fun.

 

I only solo at x8+4 and while most mobs are still pretty easy (bosses can take a bit to wear down with my build), there are does that can pose a challenge.

 

My best answer is till a tri-form warshade. So powerful yet pretty unforgiving. A mistake can turn the situation o your very quickly. The. You use your self rez, and fix the situation. It's the perfect combination of power and crazy play.

y play. In a word it's CoH "hard mode". :)

#humblebrag. ;)

[jubakumbi]

As someone who enjoys the high-level content and runs level 50 radio and tip missions just to relax I resent being called a "Locust."

It does seem like some sort of bizarro reverse-elitism elitism, doesn't it.

I didn't mean it that way. It is a relative term, a sort of experience of observing the playstyle and content choices. I'm sure there are colorful metaphors for relative slowbiew like myself (though I'm on superspeed compared to how my wife plays the game).

We locusts are too busy getting mission completes to worry about calling other people names.

 

I think I brought in the Locust term.

While to many, these terms and words carry a heavy emotional element and some people take things personally, I also do not mean the term in a negative fashion.

 

Some gamers tear through games and move to the next in a weekend, they want constant new input.

 

These are not the same people that rush to 50 per-se, they just run in that crowd a lot of times, because they often like to go very fast.

 

The content locusts move form game to game like a cloud.

It is not about good or bad, right or wrong, it is simply a term to refer to those that love to consume content and move on rapidly.

 

When games are 'new', they are far more prevelent and IMO skew the 'numbers' of people playing games and the poweleveling ratios.

 

The point?

Nothing short of constant development will keep the content locusts from moving on, so attempts to slow them down on the road to 50, IMO, are wasted kung-fu.

[ed_anger]

I think I brought in the Locust term.

While to many, these terms and words carry a heavy emotional element and some people take things personally, I also do not mean the term in a negative fashion.

 

Some gamers tear through games and move to the next in a weekend, they want constant new input.

 

These are not the same people that rush to 50 per-se, they just run in that crowd a lot of times, because they often like to go very fast.

 

The content locusts move form game to game like a cloud.

It is not about good or bad, right or wrong, it is simply a term to refer to those that love to consume content and move on rapidly.

 

When games are 'new', they are far more prevelent and IMO skew the 'numbers' of people playing games and the poweleveling ratios.

 

The point?

Nothing short of constant development will keep the content locusts from moving on, so attempts to slow them down on the road to 50, IMO, are wasted kung-fu.

 

Of course however you play the game is far superior to how others play. We'll have to come up with a name for your playstyle, maybe The Sloth? That work for you, being named like that?

[jubakumbi]

Of course however you play the game is far superior to how others play. We'll have to come up with a name for your playstyle, maybe The Sloth? That work for you, being named like that?

 

I think of myself as a 'opinionated, loud-mouthed, lazy selfish gamer, interested in Fun over rules/conformity', I don't think Sloth encompasses the selfish part, only the lazy part...

[ed_anger]

Of course however you play the game is far superior to how others play. We'll have to come up with a name for your playstyle, maybe The Sloth? That work for you, being named like that?

 

I think of myself as a 'opinionated, loud-mouthed, lazy selfish gamer, interested in Fun over rules/conformity', I don't think Sloth encompasses the selfish part, only the lazy part...

 

Maybe The Parasite work better then? Or would you prefer The Taker? I'm sure we can work this out. 

[jubakumbi]

Maybe The Parasite work better then? Or would you prefer The Taker? I'm sure we can work this out.

 

I think Parasites would be pretty close.

"Players that enjoy the game and feed thier dopamine off of it, that don't really contribute much."

 

We all live in our own delusions, this describes mine fairly well where game communities are concerned.

[ed_anger]

We all live in our own delusions

 

Truth, peace.

[_NOPE_]

I, for one, would be proud to be called a Sloth, if it means "one who enjoys the whole, slow, journey from 1-50".

 

Just call me Flash, Flash, Hundred Yard Dash!

 

[justicebeliever]

Of course however you play the game is far superior to how others play. We'll have to come up with a name for your playstyle, maybe The Sloth? That work for you, being named like that?

 

I think of myself as a 'opinionated, loud-mouthed, lazy selfish gamer, interested in Fun over rules/conformity', I don't think Sloth encompasses the selfish part, only the lazy part...

 

+1 Inf Jubakumbi