Well, I'm one of those that do not see that deep of an RPG aspect when it comes to missions. When all the missions play the same, the text associated does little to alleviate repetitiveness. The only time the game feels different is when I decide to RP a character and that can do little to nothing with playing missions. That is opposed to many things feeling new within the first 3 months of play. In PnP games, reading something actually has a definitive outcome where in CoX, reading or not reading the text of a mission does not affect it's completion. It's too bad they were unable to add Skills where you would have to use a non-combat skill to help you complete a mission or make it easier(such as accessing a computer to find a weakness of the final foe). And the only sense of accomplishment I ever felt was on a tank when he was the last man standing or pre-ED when huge battles were EPIC in proportion and again this is opposed to the first few months when everything was new. Today, I can't really say anything stands out as a major accomplishment. ED successfully closed the gap of what can and cannot be done. . .the lows are pretty much the same but the highs have left the mountains to come live in the hills.
It's too bad MMOs are stuck with just text to 'tell' you that something was accomplished instead of a graphical representation. The one thing I retained from film studies is it is poor to tell a story (i.e. voiceover, titles, too much exposition by characters, etc) when you can show it.
That makes a bit more sense to me Tute. I'm still going to lean heavily on my "it is what you make of it" stance, since it's a glowie if you treat it like a glowie, but could just as easily be the Sword of McGuffin if you treated it like one. And of course they're trapped somewhat by making things more integral. The cutscenes for example in CoV - they add to immersion and RP, and fit the "show, don't tell" a little more. But some people hate them, especially seeing it for the 2nd etc time (though that's its own issue). I'm somewhere in the middle on that.
Where I'm less agreeable though are things like waypoints and clearly spelled-out objectives. If they took those out, we'd have to read the mission text more closely to know exactly what to do. But damn it, I like knowing my objectives and having the waypoint on the map. That's why 2/3s of the MMOs out there I wouldn't last a day in. So again I have to entreat you that if you want to know what you're doing in that office, knock yourself out. But for me I want the itemized list spelled out. I'll read the story in my leasure but when I'm fighting it's down to business.
Anyway ...
and sometimes you might get stuck cause you cant find the glowie.
*cough* OK don't spread this around the official boards, the creator's site was shut down by the powers that be. But there's a little program called "Blinkie Finder" that'll mark blinkies and enemies for you, and makes a special color for hostages (red) and even Voids/Quantums (purple).
How it works is you take an instant demorecord. Bind two keys to "demorecord cheat.txt" and "demostop". Use them to start and stop the demo, then open it up in BlinkeFinder and it will lay out everything in relation. It's just marks on a black background, not the most user-friendly thing, but definitely better than searching forever. Last week someone else was ghosting a mission, and a little slow for my tastes, so I was able to shout out to him "it's SW of you and on a higher level." The team was rather amazed.
Anyway here's the link: http://rapidshare.com/files/21991092/blinkies.zip. I offer no customer service about it, and what's here is only what I was able to piece together after losing my original version (and a lot more) to a drive crash last year. If you play with it, it may save you time and frustration.
I guess that is where they failed. I go into that office and see all these file cabinets and computers yet I can't do anything with them. It's not like the PDA function in DOOM3 which was a nice immersion factor imo. I like it better also when a blinkie activates an ambush and even that simple mechanism is rare. But at the same time, I hate that they caused suppression when clicking a blinkie for all stealth powers as if all players are role-playing Mr Bull in a China shop and wearing a neon-orange clown suit that honks every 5 seconds. After that, my thought was 'well, I can no longer imagine my character drew them off to another room or I snuck in between patrols, etc" No, clicking blnkies is not a big deal even with suppression but hopefully I'm making some type of point. I kind of feel bad about Inventions now as it seems like it is still in the wrong direction of immersion compared to the little I've heard about Skills.
Though I've seen other players disagree, I feel the game could use a good overhaul of sound. Battle music, citizens that yell for help, screaming mob ambushes, more environmental background, etc. And yes I've seen people that do not like the cutscenes but I love them. Compared to the rest of the game they stick out and make you feel that foe is pissed you showed up.
The last game I remember where I really 'felt' the environment was Max Payne and was absorbed by the story. I could feel the dirtiness and crime-laden atomosphere in that game. And to some degree, Half-Life2 but for some reason I'm not into that game as much though the physics are a riot sometimes. Guess I'm expecting too much from CoX.
edit:
forgot. Thanks VERY MUCH for that program. Can't wait to get home and try it out.
The last two issues added some variety for me I find. I like the new PVP zone with the pill boxes and turrets to fight for against Villains. I also like controlling the large mechs in there if I'm lucky enough to get one.
I also find the safeguard and scanner missions really enjoyable. Knowing how to unlock all the side missions in the safeguard, and get extra time adds a lot of fun, and the side missions within the safeguards are quite different from the usual missions from contacts. I think the last issue really added some variety for me. Being able to now duel villains (I mainly play CoH) in steel cage matches in pocket D is also a nice feature.
I'm looking forward to the crafting also. That's been missing from the game for me, and I'm looking forward to hunting for things to build costume parts especially.
Also when I take the time to go after a shivan or unlock the missile strike, I find those multistage quest missions in the PvP zones fun. They're very different from the "usual" as well I find.
I could just do the same contact missions over and over, but now that i know where to look, I find that there is more to the game than that.
I've probably been with the game for so long now though because I'm a huge fan of the team combat mechanics and ability to customize my hero. That's the main draw for me. The new variety just adds some more "zing"
They have gotten a LOT more creative with their mission design. The new Faultline story arcs are really superb, actually. Safeguard missions are a lot of fun, too, and with some very nice rewards.
If you like badges, there are tons of new ones, and more with every issue.
Keep in mind, the old missions and other parts of the game are still there, so don't expect any drastic changes. But I'm confident that you can have fun for at least a month if you decide to give it a go. (And by then, issue 9 will be out, so you might even stay longer!)
Your best bet might be to start a fresh character. If you haven't played the low levels in a while, you might be surprised at all the differences you see from that perspective.
New content for lowbies i didnt see much on my lowbie rad/psi defender unless the sewers trial is new. but thats all i had time to do hero side (lvl 7 or so still)
Sadly after this month im quitting again, im realizing i just cannot stand fighting in the same areas and etc, I need something more story driven in my opinion. I may sign up for myst online considering you get that and all the 800 plus games from gametap and other features for 10 dollars a month, yea it has old but new games to not the newest but new enough for pc atleast.
For a strong online RPG experience Guild Wars is the only type of that ilk. You can go right through the story and hit max level. I suppose if you wanted- you could grind for money, etc. GW isn't really a true MMO but it looks like GW2 will resolve that
I actually have gw, but to be honest I get bored after 10 min, im not impressed with the skills all that much and the game just does not feel right, even exploration does not feel like a world to me. I just cannot get into it, it reminds me of half wow and half single player rpg, and I do not like wow anymore it was ok at first.
Sadly after this month im quitting again, im realizing i just cannot stand fighting in the same areas and etc, I need something more story driven in my opinion. I may sign up for myst online considering you get that and all the 800 plus games from gametap and other features for 10 dollars a month, yea it has old but new games to not the newest but new enough for pc atleast.
Well, CoV/CoH is more story driven then any other MMO I tried. That's been said, it is a good guess to say that BioWare MMO will be more story-driven, will it be enough for you? I dunno...and it is not to be released soon.
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
Still repetitive. If you tried to play it like a "hardcore" MMO, you'd go insane, but it's very fun in short bursts.
I like to play EQ2 until I get tired of the slow pace, then play CoH until I get tired of the lack of depth, then plat EQ2 until I get tired of the slow pace...
and sometimes you might get stuck cause you cant find the glowie.
They BLINK and they emit a WOOP WOOP sound if you walk close by...
Blinking doesn't help when the glowies spawn in a corner covered by random boxes that block your view and make it nearly impossible to reach the thing.
Another problem is that the sound is bugged so it will go through walls. Because of the insane maze-designs of the missions levels, you can hear that glowie sound even though it's in another room on a completely different wing of the mission map because the twisting maze places the rooms close to each other.
(Anyone else notice the insane design of office building set maps? Who the heck would build an office like those??)
I can completely understand the OP quitting the game again after returning. I've done the same The game is still a boring grind esp. at the higher levels where you only get powers every three levels instead of two. Cryptic seems to think that tedious timesinks like 'FInd the Glowie' missions through maze-like maps consitute worthwhilte content. And they hold onto game mechanics like XP debt which are being thrown out in the new generation of MMORPGs.
The Radio/Robbery missions are an improvement but they're just the same maps over and over and over. Tedium is the name of this game. It's too bad but I can't play it anymore. Unless Cryptic has learned some important lessons, I'm not looking forward to their Marvel-based game.
Comments
Well, I'm one of those that do not see that deep of an RPG aspect when it comes to missions. When all the missions play the same, the text associated does little to alleviate repetitiveness. The only time the game feels different is when I decide to RP a character and that can do little to nothing with playing missions. That is opposed to many things feeling new within the first 3 months of play. In PnP games, reading something actually has a definitive outcome where in CoX, reading or not reading the text of a mission does not affect it's completion. It's too bad they were unable to add Skills where you would have to use a non-combat skill to help you complete a mission or make it easier(such as accessing a computer to find a weakness of the final foe). And the only sense of accomplishment I ever felt was on a tank when he was the last man standing or pre-ED when huge battles were EPIC in proportion and again this is opposed to the first few months when everything was new. Today, I can't really say anything stands out as a major accomplishment. ED successfully closed the gap of what can and cannot be done. . .the lows are pretty much the same but the highs have left the mountains to come live in the hills.
It's too bad MMOs are stuck with just text to 'tell' you that something was accomplished instead of a graphical representation. The one thing I retained from film studies is it is poor to tell a story (i.e. voiceover, titles, too much exposition by characters, etc) when you can show it.
That makes a bit more sense to me Tute. I'm still going to lean heavily on my "it is what you make of it" stance, since it's a glowie if you treat it like a glowie, but could just as easily be the Sword of McGuffin if you treated it like one. And of course they're trapped somewhat by making things more integral. The cutscenes for example in CoV - they add to immersion and RP, and fit the "show, don't tell" a little more. But some people hate them, especially seeing it for the 2nd etc time (though that's its own issue). I'm somewhere in the middle on that.
Where I'm less agreeable though are things like waypoints and clearly spelled-out objectives. If they took those out, we'd have to read the mission text more closely to know exactly what to do. But damn it, I like knowing my objectives and having the waypoint on the map. That's why 2/3s of the MMOs out there I wouldn't last a day in. So again I have to entreat you that if you want to know what you're doing in that office, knock yourself out. But for me I want the itemized list spelled out. I'll read the story in my leasure but when I'm fighting it's down to business.
Anyway ...
*cough* OK don't spread this around the official boards, the creator's site was shut down by the powers that be. But there's a little program called "Blinkie Finder" that'll mark blinkies and enemies for you, and makes a special color for hostages (red) and even Voids/Quantums (purple).How it works is you take an instant demorecord. Bind two keys to "demorecord cheat.txt" and "demostop". Use them to start and stop the demo, then open it up in BlinkeFinder and it will lay out everything in relation. It's just marks on a black background, not the most user-friendly thing, but definitely better than searching forever. Last week someone else was ghosting a mission, and a little slow for my tastes, so I was able to shout out to him "it's SW of you and on a higher level." The team was rather amazed.
Anyway here's the link: http://rapidshare.com/files/21991092/blinkies.zip. I offer no customer service about it, and what's here is only what I was able to piece together after losing my original version (and a lot more) to a drive crash last year. If you play with it, it may save you time and frustration.
Currently playing:
DC Universe
Planetside 2
Magic Online
Simunomics, the Massive Multiplayer Economic Simulation Game. Play for free.
I guess that is where they failed. I go into that office and see all these file cabinets and computers yet I can't do anything with them. It's not like the PDA function in DOOM3 which was a nice immersion factor imo. I like it better also when a blinkie activates an ambush and even that simple mechanism is rare. But at the same time, I hate that they caused suppression when clicking a blinkie for all stealth powers as if all players are role-playing Mr Bull in a China shop and wearing a neon-orange clown suit that honks every 5 seconds. After that, my thought was 'well, I can no longer imagine my character drew them off to another room or I snuck in between patrols, etc" No, clicking blnkies is not a big deal even with suppression but hopefully I'm making some type of point. I kind of feel bad about Inventions now as it seems like it is still in the wrong direction of immersion compared to the little I've heard about Skills.
Though I've seen other players disagree, I feel the game could use a good overhaul of sound. Battle music, citizens that yell for help, screaming mob ambushes, more environmental background, etc. And yes I've seen people that do not like the cutscenes but I love them. Compared to the rest of the game they stick out and make you feel that foe is pissed you showed up.
The last game I remember where I really 'felt' the environment was Max Payne and was absorbed by the story. I could feel the dirtiness and crime-laden atomosphere in that game. And to some degree, Half-Life2 but for some reason I'm not into that game as much though the physics are a riot sometimes. Guess I'm expecting too much from CoX.
edit:
forgot. Thanks VERY MUCH for that program. Can't wait to get home and try it out.
The last two issues added some variety for me I find. I like the new PVP zone with the pill boxes and turrets to fight for against Villains. I also like controlling the large mechs in there if I'm lucky enough to get one.
I also find the safeguard and scanner missions really enjoyable. Knowing how to unlock all the side missions in the safeguard, and get extra time adds a lot of fun, and the side missions within the safeguards are quite different from the usual missions from contacts. I think the last issue really added some variety for me. Being able to now duel villains (I mainly play CoH) in steel cage matches in pocket D is also a nice feature.
I'm looking forward to the crafting also. That's been missing from the game for me, and I'm looking forward to hunting for things to build costume parts especially.
Also when I take the time to go after a shivan or unlock the missile strike, I find those multistage quest missions in the PvP zones fun. They're very different from the "usual" as well I find.
I could just do the same contact missions over and over, but now that i know where to look, I find that there is more to the game than that.
I've probably been with the game for so long now though because I'm a huge fan of the team combat mechanics and ability to customize my hero. That's the main draw for me. The new variety just adds some more "zing"
Arc
They have gotten a LOT more creative with their mission design. The new Faultline story arcs are really superb, actually. Safeguard missions are a lot of fun, too, and with some very nice rewards.
If you like badges, there are tons of new ones, and more with every issue.
Keep in mind, the old missions and other parts of the game are still there, so don't expect any drastic changes. But I'm confident that you can have fun for at least a month if you decide to give it a go. (And by then, issue 9 will be out, so you might even stay longer!)
Your best bet might be to start a fresh character. If you haven't played the low levels in a while, you might be surprised at all the differences you see from that perspective.
Thanks Amasir
New content for lowbies i didnt see much on my lowbie rad/psi defender unless the sewers trial is new. but thats all i had time to do hero side (lvl 7 or so still)
Sadly after this month im quitting again, im realizing i just cannot stand fighting in the same areas and etc, I need something more story driven in my opinion. I may sign up for myst online considering you get that and all the 800 plus games from gametap and other features for 10 dollars a month, yea it has old but new games to not the newest but new enough for pc atleast.
For a strong online RPG experience Guild Wars is the only type of that ilk. You can go right through the story and hit max level. I suppose if you wanted- you could grind for money, etc. GW isn't really a true MMO but it looks like GW2 will resolve that
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
Yeah I know how you feel Angel. I been wanting new PvP content for awhile and maybe some better epics and stuff for villains.
[edit] Did Issue 8 add some new mobs for heroes to fight? On my lowbie I didnt get to see much new stuff at all besides new costumes
I like to play EQ2 until I get tired of the slow pace, then play CoH until I get tired of the lack of depth, then plat EQ2 until I get tired of the slow pace...
They BLINK and they emit a WOOP WOOP sound if you walk close by...
Blinking doesn't help when the glowies spawn in a corner covered by random boxes that block your view and make it nearly impossible to reach the thing.
Another problem is that the sound is bugged so it will go through walls. Because of the insane maze-designs of the missions levels, you can hear that glowie sound even though it's in another room on a completely different wing of the mission map because the twisting maze places the rooms close to each other.
(Anyone else notice the insane design of office building set maps? Who the heck would build an office like those??
)
I can completely understand the OP quitting the game again after returning. I've done the same
The game is still a boring grind esp. at the higher levels where you only get powers every three levels instead of two. Cryptic seems to think that tedious timesinks like 'FInd the Glowie' missions through maze-like maps consitute worthwhilte content. And they hold onto game mechanics like XP debt which are being thrown out in the new generation of MMORPGs.
The Radio/Robbery missions are an improvement but they're just the same maps over and over and over. Tedium is the name of this game. It's too bad but I can't play it anymore. Unless Cryptic has learned some important lessons, I'm not looking forward to their Marvel-based game.