A Question from The Homecoming Team

[Kodo]

The one thing that CoH has always lacked is PvE that is something other than AoE killing groups of mobs. It needs more diverse PvE scenariors.

 

Also the Homecoming Team rocks! This is the best this game has ever been. Thank you!

[VileTerror]

Sorry, MasT; could you elaborate with some examples of what you mean exactly?

[BrandX]

New powersets!

[bluedynamo]

Thought of a different new power set to consider..... LUCK defensive power(picture Longshot from the older X-Men). I guess you could also make a secondary offensive set from that(like the Leadership or Combat set skills), where you seldom miss hitting with attacks while it's engaged. I also forgot to mention previously, I think Kallisti Wharf deserves to be completed. It's a lovely place that is sadly very very empty. Thanks again! 

Edited January 22, 2020 by bluedynamo

[Latex]

I'd like more things that facilitate Roleplay; it's one of this games biggest draws for a lot of people and always has been.

 

• More costume pieces.
• Labeoux Thong needs a top piece to match!
• The ability to use all costume pieces for every slot, for example being able to use Chains under a Jacket.
• Tattoo options that are a completely separate category so that you can use tattoos regardless of your Tops with Skin selection.
• Asymmetrical costume parts- for example one short glove one long glove.
• Ripping every costume piece from every NPC that doesn't use it as a full mesh model and implementing it into the costume creator.

Edited January 22, 2020 by Latex

[Neuronia]

Some requests from my roleplayer friends:

 

A return of the "perma" costume temps that were granted in PvPEC events a while back, esp. the Ring Mistress one.

A potential "Nemesis Staff " Assault set for Dominators, using the Nem Staff animations in game to do energy damage and so on.
An ability to unlock more NPC outfits, whether through defeats, missions, task forces, trials...

Thank you.

 

 

[XLehctimX]

I'm all about the customization, more colour pallets, more costumes, more powers. Would love to have seen a teleport that works more like a mages blink spell from Warcraft (click once and go ahead a set ammount of distance, with little to no cooldown). I also wish they came out with some spider-man esque powers, like web slinging as a travel power. 

[Rygenix]

There needs to be something for money. Something to control the economy in the game. By the time the game closed standard wealth was in the billions with absolutely nothing to do with it. There needs to be something to maintain this to keep it under control. Things like;

Another range of enhancements Branching beyond SO, to something of old Hamidon Origin (+50% to 2 stats)

Purchasing double slots for your character(making power slots have double effectiveness) Charge 50 million or whatever, but it's going to maintain the economy better.

Casino-mini games

Influence currency instead of SG currency for base creation. 

There's plenty to do.

[_NOPE_]

@Rygenix, I don't see why. We aren't paying money for this game. So what if everyone is rich and everything is cheap by comparison? What does it hurt if everyone can get everything that they want easily?

 

Pretendy Fun Time Games

 

Go. Hunt. Kill Skuls.

[Blackfeather]

2 minutes ago, The Philotic Knight said:

@Rygenix, I don't see why. We aren't paying money for this game. So what if everyone is rich and everything is cheap by comparison? What does it hurt if everyone can get everything that they want easily?

 

Pretendy Fun Time Games

 

Go. Hunt. Kill Skuls.

I think their point was they're worried about in-game currency inflation, and thus were proposing different influence sinks to help mitigate it. That being said, I'm not concerned about that myself - prices seem quite cheap to me at least.

[quixoteprog]

18 minutes ago, The Philotic Knight said:

@Rygenix, I don't see why. We aren't paying money for this game. So what if everyone is rich and everything is cheap by comparison? What does it hurt if everyone can get everything that they want easily?

 

Pretendy Fun Time Games

 

Go. Hunt. Kill Skuls.

In most such games one element that makes it compelling to play is the effort required to achieve certain milestones. It is a well researched psychological trait on all humans that we appreciate things more the more effort they took us to achieve. Essentially, if it is too easy to get everything then nothing means anything to anyone anymore. I'm not saying it needs to be like WoW where you will be locked out of the high end game unless you sign a 4 year contract with a guild that you will dedicate at least 70% of your life to playing.

 

But this game is pretty easy now. If we want to draw in new players and keep them interested in playing their success needs to mean something.

[_NOPE_]

There are influence sinks and limitations already built into the system:

 

1. Auction House fees
2. Altitis/Equipping Alts
3. The two billion influence cap
4. Purples

[_NOPE_]

1 minute ago, quixoteprog said:

In most such games one element that makes it compelling to play is the effort required to achieve certain milestones. It is a well researched psychological trait on all humans that we appreciate things more the more effort they took us to achieve. Essentially, if it is too easy to get everything then nothing means anything to anyone anymore. I'm not saying it needs to be like WoW where you will be locked out of the high end game unless you sign a 4 year contract with a guild that you will dedicate at least 70% of your life to playing.

 

But this game is pretty easy now. If we want to draw in new players and keep them interested in playing their success needs to mean something.

I thought that was what Incarnate Levels and Trials were for, along with the ability to modify your difficulty settings? Badges? There's all kinds of accomplishments in this game that don't have to be tied to the in-game currency.

[quixoteprog]

13 minutes ago, The Philotic Knight said:

I thought that was what Incarnate Levels and Trials were for, along with the ability to modify your difficulty settings? Badges? There's all kinds of accomplishments in this game that don't have to be tied to the in-game currency.

All good points. You cannot buy badges or the accolade powers some provide.

 

But what you CAN buy are expensive sets in the AH, that will allow you to up your power level to a point that trivializes the difficulty slider and Incarnate trials.

 

There are people who can solo +4/8 missions. Meaning anything more than 2-3 people can steamroll any mission. The state of the economy has either a direct or indirect effect to everything else in the game.

 

Again, not saying it needs to be exclusionary where only certain 3l33t t34mz can get the best stuff. It should be possible, however, to set up things so that they are hard to get, but given enough time and effort anyone can achieve anything. Even solo. But making things too easy renders them less meaningful.

 

Edited January 24, 2020 by quixoteprog

[Blackfeather]

18 minutes ago, The Philotic Knight said:

There are influence sinks and limitations already built into the system:

 

1. Auction House fees
2. Altitis/Equipping Alts
3. The two billion influence cap
4. Purples

Mmhm. Hence why I'm not too concerned about inflation being an issue at the moment - prices seem quite stable to me.

[_NOPE_]

@quixoteprog, sounds like those that want to have that bragging right and do that kind of extreme action would actually be HURTING themselves by buying the most l337 gear. I can't remember the term, but there actually is a precedent for gamers that intentionally gimp themselves of the challenge of their skills - those gamers that start a fantasy RPG with no armor and just a dagger, and play the entire game like that... MAN I wish I could remember the term. A CoH player could do the same thing by never slotting anything ever, only ever using one power, that kind of thing. I myself have done something similar recently by running a FF/Elec Defender from level 1 to Veteran level 45+ (I can't remember the exact level) without EVER teaming.

 

So, I guess it comes down to this - if you WANT a challenge, this game gives you the freedom to make a challenge for yourself. If you don't want a challenge and want to steamroll the game, then that option is there as well. In my opinion the game as it stands now is perfectly balanced, because both options are there.

[Hardship]

I think that the seeding of the auction house for salvage and the fact that you can buy recipes for merits helps more than anything to keep the cost of things down. The "unlimited" supply means that demand shouldn't be a problem, thus keeping prices reasonable. Sure, eventually everyone might become inf rich, but prices shouldn't go up too much because of it.

[quixoteprog]

@The Philotic Knight Sure, people can artificially gimp themselves to make things more challenging. But doing something like that seems like it could make the game more of an academic exercise. It is already an abstraction and imposing artificial constraints will dilute the verisimilitude. The whole idea of a ROLE playing game is to lose yourself in it to some extent.

 

As an ad absurdam argument you could go the other way and says, if you are really concerned that things take too MUCH effort and the economy is too much of a burden then you can always move to the beta server, there nothing costs anything. Characters get regularly wiped, sure, but you can just remake them.

 

Or, lobby to have a "permanent" beta server where everything is free and you can play maxed out from minute one. I would have no problem with the admins of this game providing something like that. I would never play on it. But if that is what you want then why even play the game? If you really want unlimited resources with no effort then just sit in a chair and imagine playing?

 

I can assure you that if the live servers were to be changed to allow people to type /all_the_money in their chat window and have their influence set to 2 billion. And had a second Auction House /AH2 where any enhancement cost 5 inf. then this game would die.

 

You could make all the arguments saying, "But you don't have to type the command! You can pay full price for everything in /ah! Mission Difficulty Slider!" you want but most people would do it, max out a dude, run through some endgame content, grow bored and quit. Probably go back to playing WoW.

[_NOPE_]

@quixoteprog, you make good points, sir. So the question then is, how do you define "balance" in a game economy? Before we start talking about any potential changes, we must define:

1. What does a "healthy" game economy look like?
2. What are the parameters that make it so?
3. Does this game exist within those parameters?

Only THEN can we can go to the point of 4) What can/should we do about it? But, let's not put the cart before the horse and assume that the economy is "bad" before defining what exactly "bad" is, right?

[VileTerror]

Not meaning to antagonize, but Philotic, quixo:  That particular debate is one we've seen played out in other threads.  And while you two are probably doing the most civil re-enactment of it I've ever seen, I do not believe this is the appropriate thread for it to continue in.  

 

May I offer the suggestion of digging up one of the existing threads or starting a new one in General, please?

[olufdebang]

For me, a system that keeps everyone on the same playing field - Equal balance for all. 

I don't like systems where you can pay for content that unbalances the game.  This is a huge one for me.

I understand hardware costs money, I understand that people need to earn a living, and programming is a job and this can't survive forever as a "hobby".

If income is required, a trivial amount (Even $2-3/month) just to cover the bills and costs.    Maybe free users get no 50+ abilities like incarnate?  No additional pay options.

I would like development of new content, new archetypes and powers, but not if it means going more than $7/month.  I have 3 people in my household who play this game.

Edited January 25, 2020 by olufdebang

[_NOPE_]

Except that this game, as it stands now, is free, and costs nobody any real world money except those that volunteer it. 

[olufdebang]

38 minutes ago, The Philotic Knight said:

Except that this game, as it stands now, is free, and costs nobody any real world money except those that volunteer it. 

Agreed.  I like it this way.  And if donations can keep it going that's fine.  My comment was more of *IF* donations aren't enough to do what is needed.  I'd rather take less content development to keep costs down, but it's hard to add large scale content without having someone make development a full-time job...  

[Cidri]

All crashes removed. They feel out of date, and are only needed by less buff characters that can use the boost. Just make sure they cannot be perma'd, like making recharge not enhancement like Victory Rush.  I feel the dev team is already moving in this direction when I look at Sentinel defenses and Scrapper Ice Armor.

 

Clothing texture options that are less odd and special. We have some, but there could be more. We have more than enough exotic stuff there. Bumpmapping some of the old clothes textures. More hairs, especially long hairs.

 

Open Source. Its the wave of the future.

 

PvP that is closer to how PvE works. The fact that PvP uses separate rules and requires at the very least separate builds and more likely separate characters is a HUGE barrier to cross.

 

Some kind of contest/nomination system that can turn select Architect missions into official game content in the open world under the supervision of the devs. I think this would incentivize Architect creators to do more than just farming maps.

 

Bring Statesman back. I felt it was a cheap stunt to have him killed. 

 

Fix sidekicking to incarnates. At the moment, in any 45-50 content, there is a two level gap between incarnates and those sidekicked, as incarnate levels do not count. This makes the sidekicks too outclassed to be fun.

 

Less of a jump in difficulty from old to new content. The new arcs in King's Row are nice, but SO much harder than previous content in that level range - and this is a level range where toons are quite weak.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 28, 2020 by Cidri

[Silver Lancer]

I know it is very unlikely, but if the game could add characteristic values to the build, that would be amazing.

I would like to see Strength, endurance, intellect, agility added with initial values that increase with level.

Strength could give bonuses to melee toons.

Endurance adds stamina bonus.

Intellect would increase psi damage, psi defense.

Agility adds to defense.

The game is great but this is the only thing, I feel, that it lacks.

 

By the way, I'm so thrilled to be back!

Great work Homecoming!