And since I had been looking forward to the game for a long time before release and since I had really enjoyed my thousands of hours playing it, and since I was excited about returning for the expansion pack, and since I'd specifically requested not to be nerfed, made the effort to help the programmers and gone so far as to offer other suggestions for balancing.....
I was bitter too.
Not being a fantasy game, I don't think it was ever destined to be as popular as many MMO's. Now it's just another old and under resourced game. I don't suppose Cryptic have much intrest in it anymore.
... I personally tried the 14 day trail version. I played everyday for 12 days. Each day about 12 hours. ... Now, this game does get repetitive, so I'd say that you shouldn't play too much because you'll burn yourself out. However, that's also true for any game.
LOL OK, Thunder that (THAT THAT THAT!!) is not casual playing
I don't think any game could be interesting enough to give it 12-Consecutive Hours - let alone 12-Consecutive Days - LET ALONE 12-Consecutive Hours for 12-Consecutive Days!
It isn't possible for games to provide that much entertainment. And therein lies the problem with being able to write a computer game. Kids (I say that because they are the only ones that can (shouldn't, but because of poor parenting, can) devote that rediculous amount of time to playing with toys.
I would say kudos for the marathon session... but unless you are Valedictorian of your school you wasted more time in under two weeks playing a silly game than you will spend studying for any of your classes (actually closer to ALL of your classes combined) for an entire semester. (Very very few kids study for greater than 90-minutes each day)
That is sad.
Any children that play with toys 12 hours a day are far closer to a valetudinarian than a Valedictorian.
Have fun
Christine
"The reality of the poor in America isn't the difference between The Haves and The Have Nots, it is the difference between The Haves and The Have Lots."
You might be interested to know how Arenanet came to balance Guild Wars without pissing off most of its players.
Let's look at what was - arguably - the most powerful profession in Guild Wars at release: Necromancers specializing in summoning undead minions (a controller's pets in Issue 3 would be analogous).
When Guild Wars was released, MMs (Minion Masters) could summon a virtually limitless supply of minions from slain friends and foes. It wasn't unusual to duo team with an MM and clear a whole map with the MM having a minion army of high level pets 30 or 40 strong (which was a factor of 8 to 10 more than the largest mob you'd meet).
So, shortly after release, the number of minions a maxed-out MM build could summon was 10, which was still about twice as many as you needed to own most mobs. Only when you reached the higher levels of the game did MMs run into trouble with certain groups that could "pwn" their minions (an NPC race called the "Mursaat") with a non-player spell called "Spectral Agony". But this was a race reserved for the very highest end of Prophecies, and they were easy to kill with other builds, so an MM wasn't even necessary to a group by then.
At the same time, Arenanet had created a player profession (Monk) with a skill subset (Smiting) that featured something called "Holy Damage", which did double damage to undead and summoned foes. But Smiting wasn't a popular build because player teams wanted monks to be healers and protectors, not smiters (other professions were better at overall damage than smiters) and MMs weren't that popular in PvP because they were easily interrupted and killed.
So MMs enjoyed a relatively nerf and buff-free existence until Factions arrived, which is when Arenanet took another look at the profession.
With the arrival of Factions, MMs were buffed with two new, very powerful minions: a Flesh Golem that a maxed-out level 20 MM could summon at level 26 or 28 (with the right weapon mod), and a "Vampiric Horror", that provided a slight healing buff for it master with every attack.
With a Flesh Golem tanking, and an army of Vamp Horrors healing, the MM was (and remains) the most powerful build in Factions. To mitigate these two buffs, the A-Net devs looked at reducing the overall effectiveness of the Necromancer's unique power that enabled him to have virtually unlimited energy in a fight: Soul Reaping. For each attribute point allocated to Soul Reaping, the MM would get that amount of energy back whenever anything near him died. Pretty powerful.
The A-Net devs knew Soul Reaping unbalanced Necromancers with regard to other professions, and experimented with ways to mitigate its effectiveness, most of which broke the Necro profession. Finally they settled on a formula that gave Necros their allocated energy back 3 times in 15 seconds (when something near them died), unless they were already at max energy, at which point the death of something near them wouldn't count against the timer. This is the system that exists today, and it's a fix just about every player likes and can live with. (The devs at A-Net have usually been very cognizant of the player's feelings about nerfs, and have always tried to approach them as a "fix" of last resort).
But even with the changes, MMs still pretty much rule Cantha and most of Tyria. So by the time Nightfall was introduced, the devs decided more nerfs weren't needed. What was needed was an effective counter to the MM build.
Introducing the Dervish: a Holy Warrior specializing in AoE scythe attacks featuring (drumroll please)...
Holy Damage: the bane of all undead and summoned creatures. Even without Holy Damage, Dervishes deal so much melee damage with their scythes, the undead wouldn't have survived long against them anyway. But while Holy Damage is practically useless against other professions (unless you're a Necromancer wearing Tormentor's armor), it is - quite literally - doubly fatal to the undead and summoned (which also makes them effective against the spirits a Ritualist - a Factions profession - summons).
Now, for the first time since the Mursaat in Prophecies (2 years before), the devs had a group of NPCs and players that could effectively counter an MM without nerfing the build at all, which means while MMs still rule many parts of all three campaigns, there are more places and players capable of standing up against them.
Like the mid-to-late game in Nightfall, and continuing in Eye of the North, most NPC mobs now feature several Dervishes all using holy damage specifically designed to slay minions. And guess what? With Dervishes now keeping the "pet" population spayed and neutered in Nightfall and Eye of the North, the devs have been able to provide more buffs - in the forms of different minion types - to Necromancers wishing to play this build.
The moral of this story is that a truly creative design team can look at an overpowered build and come up with solutions that ultimately provide a greater challenge without breaking the build. Furthermore, a design team that truly puts the interests and needs of its players and customers ahead of its own selfish and short-sighted interests can produce a game that's both balanced and extremely popular.
Guild Wars has sold more than 4 million units and the popularity of the game has allowed A-Net to offer additional campaigns, plus an expansion - and now - begin development on Guild Wars 2, an MMO that will borrow many of the game mechanics from CoX without the grinding, or monthly sub.
This was the lesson many in CoX were trying to teach Emmert and company back in the day: you don't need to nerf builds across the board to provide challenge. You simply have to look at mob AI and skills to do that, as A-Net did with Dervishes versus Minions. It's a shame they didn't learn, otherwise I - and many others like yourself - might still be playing.
P.S. The avatar in my posts is a Necromancer (MM) wearing Drok's Tormentor's armor. I've played three Necros through all 3 campaigns, so I know what we Necros have gone through. The devs at A-Net have been the best I've seen so far.
Being a CoH noob i really hope that game not to die. I reallyyyy love it. Im having a lvl 9 character now and so far it seems well populated. Im also playing WoW and the 2 EN available servers i saw on CoH was a surprise to me.
I first started playing CoH right after issue one. Got to level 50 in less than a year and enjoyed every minute of it. I also met a lot of good friends in the game.
A few things i use to love about the game. Character creation, killing tons of mobs at once, power leveling.
I quit waiting for update 4, it seemed to take forever. Ever since then i have been playing off and on, not really becoming interested again. Until now.
I heared a friend was playing so i reactivated my account to play again. And i must say, its the most fun i have ever had in the game since i first bought it.
Things i love now. Character Creation, but mainly the storyline. I now read most missions, and every story arc i do. I love it. And now with Issue 11, the story is going to get even better. And thats not just what i think, everyone i have talked to is excited about this next update, most with weapon customization, but some with the story.
I think its a great game still and its not dieing on the 2 main servers at least. Server transfers may have ruined the low pop servers even more, but a merger is always expected.
/rant on
And one more thing. Every MMO is repetetive. So its funny that you use it as an excuse to not play CoH. At least in CoH you get stronger as you level, unlike WoW. Hated getting to a higher level in WoW, realizing my percent damage went down per hit. And if you don't understand what i mean ill explain it. At level 1 in WoW, your fireball will almost kill an even mob, at max level, good luck with that.
What is the future of your character advancement? I ask that because when they said we won't be going beyond level 50, that felt like the beginning of the end to me. They could still use AA to advance a level 50 character, but they didn't. They dropped plans for the next expansion, makes me feel the devs are just going to milk it from here and have no desire to expand the game beyond the occasional issue.
Comments
Nerfs killed it for me.
And since I had been looking forward to the game for a long time before release and since I had really enjoyed my thousands of hours playing it, and since I was excited about returning for the expansion pack, and since I'd specifically requested not to be nerfed, made the effort to help the programmers and gone so far as to offer other suggestions for balancing.....
I was bitter too.
Not being a fantasy game, I don't think it was ever destined to be as popular as many MMO's. Now it's just another old and under resourced game. I don't suppose Cryptic have much intrest in it anymore.
I don't think any game could be interesting enough to give it 12-Consecutive Hours - let alone 12-Consecutive Days - LET ALONE 12-Consecutive Hours for 12-Consecutive Days!
It isn't possible for games to provide that much entertainment. And therein lies the problem with being able to write a computer game. Kids (I say that because they are the only ones that can (shouldn't, but because of poor parenting, can) devote that rediculous amount of time to playing with toys.
I would say kudos for the marathon session... but unless you are Valedictorian of your school you wasted more time in under two weeks playing a silly game than you will spend studying for any of your classes (actually closer to ALL of your classes combined) for an entire semester. (Very very few kids study for greater than 90-minutes each day)
That is sad.
Any children that play with toys 12 hours a day are far closer to a valetudinarian than a Valedictorian.
Have fun
Christine
"The reality of the poor in America isn't the difference between The Haves and The Have Nots, it is the difference between The Haves and The Have Lots."
Baff...
You might be interested to know how Arenanet came to balance Guild Wars without pissing off most of its players.
Let's look at what was - arguably - the most powerful profession in Guild Wars at release: Necromancers specializing in summoning undead minions (a controller's pets in Issue 3 would be analogous).
When Guild Wars was released, MMs (Minion Masters) could summon a virtually limitless supply of minions from slain friends and foes. It wasn't unusual to duo team with an MM and clear a whole map with the MM having a minion army of high level pets 30 or 40 strong (which was a factor of 8 to 10 more than the largest mob you'd meet).
So, shortly after release, the number of minions a maxed-out MM build could summon was 10, which was still about twice as many as you needed to own most mobs. Only when you reached the higher levels of the game did MMs run into trouble with certain groups that could "pwn" their minions (an NPC race called the "Mursaat") with a non-player spell called "Spectral Agony". But this was a race reserved for the very highest end of Prophecies, and they were easy to kill with other builds, so an MM wasn't even necessary to a group by then.
At the same time, Arenanet had created a player profession (Monk) with a skill subset (Smiting) that featured something called "Holy Damage", which did double damage to undead and summoned foes. But Smiting wasn't a popular build because player teams wanted monks to be healers and protectors, not smiters (other professions were better at overall damage than smiters) and MMs weren't that popular in PvP because they were easily interrupted and killed.
So MMs enjoyed a relatively nerf and buff-free existence until Factions arrived, which is when Arenanet took another look at the profession.
With the arrival of Factions, MMs were buffed with two new, very powerful minions: a Flesh Golem that a maxed-out level 20 MM could summon at level 26 or 28 (with the right weapon mod), and a "Vampiric Horror", that provided a slight healing buff for it master with every attack.
With a Flesh Golem tanking, and an army of Vamp Horrors healing, the MM was (and remains) the most powerful build in Factions. To mitigate these two buffs, the A-Net devs looked at reducing the overall effectiveness of the Necromancer's unique power that enabled him to have virtually unlimited energy in a fight: Soul Reaping. For each attribute point allocated to Soul Reaping, the MM would get that amount of energy back whenever anything near him died. Pretty powerful.
The A-Net devs knew Soul Reaping unbalanced Necromancers with regard to other professions, and experimented with ways to mitigate its effectiveness, most of which broke the Necro profession. Finally they settled on a formula that gave Necros their allocated energy back 3 times in 15 seconds (when something near them died), unless they were already at max energy, at which point the death of something near them wouldn't count against the timer. This is the system that exists today, and it's a fix just about every player likes and can live with. (The devs at A-Net have usually been very cognizant of the player's feelings about nerfs, and have always tried to approach them as a "fix" of last resort).
But even with the changes, MMs still pretty much rule Cantha and most of Tyria. So by the time Nightfall was introduced, the devs decided more nerfs weren't needed. What was needed was an effective counter to the MM build.
Introducing the Dervish: a Holy Warrior specializing in AoE scythe attacks featuring (drumroll please)...
Holy Damage: the bane of all undead and summoned creatures. Even without Holy Damage, Dervishes deal so much melee damage with their scythes, the undead wouldn't have survived long against them anyway. But while Holy Damage is practically useless against other professions (unless you're a Necromancer wearing Tormentor's armor), it is - quite literally - doubly fatal to the undead and summoned (which also makes them effective against the spirits a Ritualist - a Factions profession - summons).
Now, for the first time since the Mursaat in Prophecies (2 years before), the devs had a group of NPCs and players that could effectively counter an MM without nerfing the build at all, which means while MMs still rule many parts of all three campaigns, there are more places and players capable of standing up against them.
Like the mid-to-late game in Nightfall, and continuing in Eye of the North, most NPC mobs now feature several Dervishes all using holy damage specifically designed to slay minions. And guess what? With Dervishes now keeping the "pet" population spayed and neutered in Nightfall and Eye of the North, the devs have been able to provide more buffs - in the forms of different minion types - to Necromancers wishing to play this build.
The moral of this story is that a truly creative design team can look at an overpowered build and come up with solutions that ultimately provide a greater challenge without breaking the build. Furthermore, a design team that truly puts the interests and needs of its players and customers ahead of its own selfish and short-sighted interests can produce a game that's both balanced and extremely popular.
Guild Wars has sold more than 4 million units and the popularity of the game has allowed A-Net to offer additional campaigns, plus an expansion - and now - begin development on Guild Wars 2, an MMO that will borrow many of the game mechanics from CoX without the grinding, or monthly sub.
This was the lesson many in CoX were trying to teach Emmert and company back in the day: you don't need to nerf builds across the board to provide challenge. You simply have to look at mob AI and skills to do that, as A-Net did with Dervishes versus Minions. It's a shame they didn't learn, otherwise I - and many others like yourself - might still be playing.
P.S. The avatar in my posts is a Necromancer (MM) wearing Drok's Tormentor's armor. I've played three Necros through all 3 campaigns, so I know what we Necros have gone through. The devs at A-Net have been the best I've seen so far.
Being a CoH noob i really hope that game not to die. I reallyyyy love it. Im having a lvl 9 character now and so far it seems well populated. Im also playing WoW and the 2 EN available servers i saw on CoH was a surprise to me.
He that lives upon Hope dies farting.
I first started playing CoH right after issue one. Got to level 50 in less than a year and enjoyed every minute of it. I also met a lot of good friends in the game.
A few things i use to love about the game. Character creation, killing tons of mobs at once, power leveling.
I quit waiting for update 4, it seemed to take forever. Ever since then i have been playing off and on, not really becoming interested again. Until now.
I heared a friend was playing so i reactivated my account to play again. And i must say, its the most fun i have ever had in the game since i first bought it.
Things i love now. Character Creation, but mainly the storyline. I now read most missions, and every story arc i do. I love it. And now with Issue 11, the story is going to get even better. And thats not just what i think, everyone i have talked to is excited about this next update, most with weapon customization, but some with the story.
I think its a great game still and its not dieing on the 2 main servers at least. Server transfers may have ruined the low pop servers even more, but a merger is always expected.
/rant on
And one more thing. Every MMO is repetetive. So its funny that you use it as an excuse to not play CoH. At least in CoH you get stronger as you level, unlike WoW. Hated getting to a higher level in WoW, realizing my percent damage went down per hit. And if you don't understand what i mean ill explain it. At level 1 in WoW, your fireball will almost kill an even mob, at max level, good luck with that.
/rant off
What is the future of your character advancement? I ask that because when they said we won't be going beyond level 50, that felt like the beginning of the end to me. They could still use AA to advance a level 50 character, but they didn't. They dropped plans for the next expansion, makes me feel the devs are just going to milk it from here and have no desire to expand the game beyond the occasional issue.