While we are on the subject of fanboy. What happen to the number one faboy of CoX, aka Figgin Teaser. I play with that guy and never enjoy it. He was up the developer hole 24/7. Did he went to WoW?
I know a few players that saod they never leave CoX but they did and said WoW is much better then CoX has to offer. Did I mention that those people bought their SG to WoW?
Looks like he's still active. jdun1, I'd say you failed on that troll. Considering a SG can consist of 1-75...it's pretty easy to bring your entire SG to another MMO...especially if your a SG on 1
your arguement is so persuasive, so filled with knowledge and insight. You back up your argument very articulately, with suggestions of improvements and raising examples to glorify your position....oh wait, you didn't
Originally posted by Blurr I love when people throw around numbers that they don't have any sources for. Anyways, you gotta realize that NCSoft has 5 games in development: Exteel Aion Soccer Fury Dungeon Runners Tabula Rasa Now that's 5 development teams that are not producing any revenue at this point. You gotta spend money to make money. As far as CoX, well lemme just say that I used to be a big fan, then I got bored of it, but I came back for City of Villains, then I got bored of it, now I've come back after Issue 7 and I'm loving it again. I wish I could say the same for WoW.
I'm playing WoW now and find it ok. I'm just playing it until Gods & Heroes comes out(and I really hope it holds up to the hype unlike DDO, another game I 'was' looking forward too). As far as CoX, for me the Issues have been lackluster and I rather read forums from now on to guage the impact they have on gameplay. Issue 8 looks interesting but so did the last few issues thus I do not expect to be impressed again until the retail expansion is released in 2007. By the time Issue 8 rolls out, most likely it will have to face G&H. The one thing CoX had for it over other MMOs was its combat but it looks like its going to get serious competition in that area, not to mention the devs of that game appear to have more concern for unique missions and some type of housing from the beginning.
tute - That's a really good point. I think Gods & Heroes will definitely be pulling customers away from other games. . . also Age of Conan and Tabula Rasa are looking really strong. (Warhammer and STO also look amazing but they won't be out until Winter 2007 at the earliest - so think 2008. . . I won't even think about them yet).
The point is that CoX is going to actually have some very serious competition at the end of the year. While the overall market will grow, let's face it, a lot of people are spinning their wheels in CoX waiting for something better.
Unfortunately, CoX has a very limited lifespan per player because it has terrible replayability. While there are tons of different power sets to play and try out, and there is enough content (if you group) to play through the PvE game several times in order to see everything (as well as two sets of this content in the H and V varieties), it's just such an xp grind that people aren't wiling to play alts much after level 20-25.
They need to just turn that double xp weekend into permanent double xp. It would improve the game tremendously.
Sorry it may be little of topic, but I was planing to get back into Coh this 2xp weekend.
However I play on Eu servers. So I didnt realy jump into game some time before COV realease becouse of to low player numbers with were split into 2 english servers. I im sure there are no probs on US becouse theres just a lot more ppl.
SO big ??? is how is it with player base on EU english servers?? Is Atlas empty like a ghost town or can you find ppl to group into SG or so. How many averagly there are ppl on server.
Am I the only one who doesn't get the argument that the game will fail, and people will leave in droves very soon, even though that hasn't happened for almost two and a half years now?
For god's sake, it's just a game. If you don't enjoy it, whooptydoo. Go play something else. I don't like FFXI, personally, but I don't really see the point in sticking around in the FFXI forum, flaming it, and telling people that it's going to fail with whatever dirt I can dig up.
Based on the current state of the game, the future of City of Heroes/Villains is quite promising.
Wow. What was that guy smoking when he wrote that crap??? Looked more like a press release than an objective analysis.
He obviously hasn't read the investor reports that state - as of March 06 - CoH/V earnings are down 32% from last year.
(Guild Wars is up 60% by comparison, and that's with a game that has no subscription fee!)
June 04 highest monthly accessess: @163,000 (across 11 servers, CoH only). March 06 highest monthly accesses: @182,000. (across 16 servers, includes CoV).
These are "hits" on the servers, NOT necessarily subscriptions.
If the future looks "quite promising" based on that kind of growth, I'd hate to see what he thinks "dismal" is.
And how do you lose 32% of your revenues in a year when you've allegedly added so many new players? Here's a hint: NCSoft is doing something with CoH/V that it didn't have to do right after release: give away free trial accounts. You don't give freebies away for a successful product: you give them away for a product that's struggling to survive.
Since your so smart. Why does WOW have free trials? It doesn't have any trouble with subscriptions.
Originally posted by aaron123 Am I the only one who doesn't get the argument that the game will fail, and people will leave in droves very soon, even though that hasn't happened for almost two and a half years now?
I don't know about the game failing. . . but it certainly is shrinking in player population and not performing nearly as well as I would have expected it to perform following an expansion as large as CoV.
Also, while those people that have said the game will fail ever since the purple patch were crazy, I don't think that those of us who feel the game will fail because of the enhancement nerfs and the horrible xp grind are incorrect. You are not listening to the complaints or arguments, but are instead lumping them all together with the crazies.
I don't like FFXI, personally, but I don't really see the point in sticking around in the FFXI forum, flaming it, and telling people that it's going to fail with whatever dirt I can dig up.
And therein lies the point: you didn't like the game and left for that reason. Many of us loved CoH until we felt forced out by the constant nerfs and lack of content, and since we can't vent our grievances on the CoH site, we come to places like this to do it.
I'll state it again: if you're fine with the game and have a sub there, go post your rose-colored opinions where you have the privilege to do so - on the CoH site - (since opposing opinions seem to disturb you that much), and leve the rest of us alone to vent amongst ourselves.
"I don't really see the point in sticking around in the FFXI forum, flaming it, and telling people that it's going to fail with whatever dirt I can dig up."
Please, enlighten me on the positive effects of venting/holding a grudge. Change? Good luck with that.
Originally posted by jdun1 Originally posted by Sanctus_Mors
Originally posted by jdun1 While we are on the subject of fanboy. What happen to the number one faboy of CoX, aka Figgin Teaser. I play with that guy and never enjoy it. He was up the developer hole 24/7. Did he went to WoW?
I know a few players that saod they never leave CoX but they did and said WoW is much better then CoX has to offer. Did I mention that those people bought their SG to WoW?
Looks like he's still active. jdun1, I'd say you failed on that troll. Considering a SG can consist of 1-75...it's pretty easy to bring your entire SG to another MMO...especially if your a SG on 1 Another fanboy trying to stifle debate about this game and it's failures.
The majority of SG never reach those numbers. They range from 5-20 active members at best.
Heh, look at my Xfire profile buddy, you'll see I've not played CoH for a bit. I will admit that I enjoyed CoX when I was there. I moved on like many games I've played. I still keep in contact with my supergroup, which at last count had around 60-70 members in CoH and CoV SG. If I was a fanboy, I'd still be playing and say that there is absolutly nothing wrong with the game, it's the best that ever existed. It's a good, fun game, somethings are wrong, some things are right. Like any game I play I learn the quirks and adapt.
I guess I'm fortunate that I didn't leave feeling jaded. I came, I played, I had some fun. I made a lot of friends. Kinda like paintball and snowboarding; I don't do it now, but I enjoyed it.
As for the "Feebie" comment that people are bringing up, Serling, you initially brought up the fact that "Any" company that does that is failing (I know I'm not quoting but that was the gist of your statment) So you thus opened a door for people to argue by bringing up other MMO's that do the same thing. The context was The circumstances in which an event occurs. Thus your context was that any company that is failing will provide trial accounts to entice people back. People have come back stating that a successfull MMO such as WoW is also giveing out trial accounts. Hole punched though your logic. Just because your posting in the CoH forum doesn't mean we can't bring in examples from other MMOs
Posting on the CoH boards; I can't, don't have an account anymore. Seeing one sided, jaded posts that are not constructive is a real turn off, same goes for Rose-Colored posts. This MMORPG.com is for people who don't play, who do play, and who are thinking of playing. If a post is constructive, I feel it would hold more weight then a post that just says "it's great" or "it sucks". If it's great, back up with supporting sentences. If it's bad, what could be done to improve it.
your arguement is so persuasive, so filled with knowledge and insight. You back up your argument very articulately, with suggestions of improvements and raising examples to glorify your position....oh wait, you didn't
Originally posted by aaron123 I'll spell it out for you:
"I don't really see the point in sticking around in the FFXI forum, flaming it, and telling people that it's going to fail with whatever dirt I can dig up."
Please, enlighten me on the positive effects of venting/holding a grudge. Change? Good luck with that.
Actually, due to censorship on their main forums, I look here to gain information on how the game is doing. Eventually, I hope to read that ED has been removed or that they've upped the xp so that the level 20-30 game is no longer a grind.
Though I really don't hold with the main "NCSoft is on the ropes/about to fail" argument that you seem to be the most against, your position that people who are no longer playing the game should not bitch about it is pretty stupid.
I'm not against the bitching. I'm against the totally ignorant stuff that's just plain false. I'm not going to name anyone. I'm more of a proponent for a decent discussion, but it's hard to have such when there are those willing to spread blatant falsehoods just to support their opinion, though I suppose there are those who do this regularly in real life, hm?
I have played COX off and on since launch, and to be honest I prefer the game now then to when it started. The purple patch made sense. And while I found ED annoying in all honesty I went from two shotting mobs to three shotting them.
And I play a regen scrapper so I know all about the nerf bat and have been hit with it several times over and over and over again . And my toon is still very playable and fun, if no longer god like but then again I am not playing city of gods I am playing city of heroes!
I can still jump into the middle of 6 +1 or +2 mobs and live to tell the tale and move to the next group 10 seconds later.
So while other may not like the game or disagree with the changes there are some of us still around who enjoy and play the game. Will I move on yes, Conan looks very good and I may have to give WAR a run.
But until then Paragon city needs to burn and my Brute is the one to do it!
DOAC is still the MMO I judge other games by, My first and still my favorite.
Trand - Well, you seem to not understand the complaints at all. I don't think most people are saying that the problem with CoX is that the enhancement nerfs weakened every hero and every villain hugely, but that the game has become an unplayable grind after level 20-30 because this has lowered everyone's leveling speed (that honestly was already slow), and the levels MEAN less because getting enhancement slots that can only up the damage of a single power by about 5% doesn't change the way you play. The levels feel meaningless now.
Edit: Also, do you get tons of complaints about that Gambit avatar. I can barely read your post because of the mad strobing on it.
You could write a thesis on all the mistakes that cryptic has made in the name of balance, and trying to name the straw that broke the camels back is like trying to give a reason for cancer. Simply put the game is a shell of what it could of been, has little longeveity for the majority of players and for the aspects of the game that are enjoyable they are overshadowed by frustration of nerphing and grinding. There are many reasons for this, but if you consolidate those reasons the simply explanation is the development team doesn't have the ingenuity and forsight to control the game environment without restricting player options. This has been a shortcoming that has plagued COH for years before it had even gone into beta.
Revised earnings for CoH/V down 15% from Q1-06 to Q2-06 and down 39% from last year. (By comparison, revised earnings for Q1 had year-to-year earnings down 32%).
Highest concurrent users for Q2: 22,274 across 15 servers in U.S. and Europe. NCSoft did not include Korean server in the count. Closed, perhaps?
That's down from Q1's highest concurrent users of 23,699: a 6% decrease in accounts logging in, though because they closed (or didn't count) the 16th server, the average server population remains around 1484. In other words: no growth.
Highest monthly accesses for Q1: 182,858. Highest monthly accesses for Q2: 171,000.
By comparison, the highest monthly accesses at release (Q2 of 04) were 169,925.
Again, these are accesses, NOT subscriptions!
The best metric for measuring subs is by looking at highest concurrent users (users with accounts logged on at the same time). Looking at those numbers again:
Q2-06: 22,274 on 15 servers. Q1-06: 23,699 on 16 servers. Q2-04: 31,085 on 11 servers.
Of further interest is that Q2's operating metrics for CoH/V, NCSoft does not provide daily accesses for the game(s). Q1's report did.
Immediate impressions:
Despite a new game (CoV) and a new, hotly anticipatd release (Issue 7), Cryptic/NCSoft are losing subscriptions. Several things bear this out:
Declining earnings. Closed or unreported Korean server (it's long been hinted that the game is nowhere near as popular in Asia as it is in the U.S. owing largely to cultural differences). Decline in accesses and number of concurrent users.
I suspect the recent "double xp weekend" was an attempt by NCSoft to bolster Q3's numbers, but short-term events like this don't replace content or rollback all of Emmert's nerfs.
BTW, Guild Wars Q2 sales is up 160% over Q1's sales due to Factions. And guess what: Arenanet is releasing a third expansion to GW this fall called "Nightfall" with - you guessed it - 2 new professions and a whole new continent of content.
One last note: Auto Assault is no longer even refered to by name on the Q2 report, only called "Other". That game won't make it to Christmas.
City of Heroes isn't dead, but it's not growing, either. And with increasing competition just around the corner, a lack of growth won't merely be stagnation.
Well, given the past couple years, I would then definitely say that "game balance" hasn't helped the future of CoX as many fanbois would have made you believe as opposed to how much supposed god-mode powers and PLing were hurting the population.
They better get on a quicker time table for releasing issues to keep the interest of gamers. As far as one of the best combat engines, Serling is correct because Gods & Heroes is around the corner. Many argued CoH's best strength was combat and there was little fluff(crafting, housing) to weigh it down. G&H appears to offer great combat PLUS other features CoX is lacking.
I sure hope the recent advertisement here on MMORPG.com for Cryptic is not for customer service but some more developers, animators, etc to bring a new 'vision'(hehe) of the game and to bring about more timely releases of new content.
When they said a possible September release of Issue 8, considering their past history, my pessimism rises and I expect it will just be on Test in the last week of September but not make it to Live until Oct or Nov. And then they will spin it to say, "Look, we released a new issue in just 3 months".
Yeah, I'm jaded about the game's current state. Read another thread if you want frickin sunshine and happy songs.
I'm probably in the minority in this but I gotta say I enjoyed the lvling from 30-50 more than the rest of the game with my toon. By 30 you have or will shortly have some of your best moves in many classes. Many say the grind is to long at this point but I found it to be much easier from 30 on for the reason that you've eleminated those that will get your group killed with stupid decisions by that point. I find the grind in the hollows to be awful, but once I hit 32 with my blaster I got my thunderous blast and nothing is better than hitting that as the tanker grabs hate to kill off alll the weaker mobs in one shot. When I hit 30 I was gaining around a lvl a night then in the 40's a lvl every other night. I will admit that my buddy and I had a group of people we lvled with and enjoyed playing with so we moved fast from missions to mission. Fact is though we generally had no more than 3 maybe four hours a day to play but from lvl 40 on you start getting epics which adds a whole new element to the game. I went with fire epics and recieved rise of phoniex which at 50 becomes a tatic not a last ditch shit I died move since debt doesn't matter(great for pvp)
I'm now working on a scrapper dark/regen and am in the mid teens and I honestly miss the lvl in the 30's and 40's and look forward to getting my scrapper there. As far as the nerfs people should understand that without many of those changes players like blasters couldn't compete in pvp(trust me its still not easy). As far as enhancement slots not mattering once you have a 50 and for me even as I worked toward 50 you change to single o's and double o's enhancments. Only generic enhances add 9 percent doubles add up in the teens and a single o adds 32 or so percent increase which is huge. Hami O's which you can't get til your 45 min and I don't suggest tryin til 50 because you will die alot add 50 to one category and 50 to another.
As far as subscriptions I would agree it isn't growing unless you count COV but its a niche category of mmo IMO which honestly probably never will draw more than what it is, not everyone wants to play a super hero game and with the lack of crafting its a turnoff for many. If your like me and really only have a few hrs a night to work on your character then I think its a great game to join especially if your in a supergroup and have villains(the supergroup base is a great addition).
On the negative side it does sometimes feel like some of the villains are overpowered in pvp but thats my opinion I suppose. That prolly has alot to do with the fact my 50 is a blaster and my other toons are in there teens. Just my take
But the nerfs weren't done for PvP and that's straight from the devs and just about every forum poster who commented on the subject.
And consider yourself lucky with your group and gaining a level a night. I played on all servers with many different ATs and only had your experience maybe 10% of the time. My best times gaining experience were back in Issue 4 and the less than 10 times I got to team up with Mr. Superfantastic(Invuln/SS tanker) and his two pocket Kin defenders with my AR/DeV blaster Quigley on Justice(or known sometimes as Just Us). My regulars left the game a lonnngg time ago and I still have yet to find a decent SG.
I'm just being petty because I got so tired of fanbois pointing out how wrong the view on nerfs were(nope, didn't agree with many of the nerfs at all) and it was killing the game. I just like to point out they were wrong. As you said, its a niche market and I don't think the god-like powers and PLing were doing as much damage as they said it was back then.
Originally posted by tute I sure hope the recent advertisement here on MMORPG.com for Cryptic is not for customer service but some more developers, animators, etc to bring a new 'vision'(hehe) of the game and to bring about more timely releases of new content.
There was a list of jobs (15 maybe?), including 2 designers jobs.
I am unsure however if it is for that game or another game, it might be for a new release althogether.
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
Originally posted by tute But the nerfs weren't done for PvP and that's straight from the devs and just about every forum poster who commented on the subject. And consider yourself lucky with your group and gaining a level a night. I played on all servers with many different ATs and only had your experience maybe 10% of the time. My best times gaining experience were back in Issue 4 and the less than 10 times I got to team up with Mr. Superfantastic(Invuln/SS tanker) and his two pocket Kin defenders with my AR/DeV blaster Quigley on Justice(or known sometimes as Just Us). My regulars left the game a lonnngg time ago and I still have yet to find a decent SG. I'm just being petty because I got so tired of fanbois pointing out how wrong the view on nerfs were(nope, didn't agree with many of the nerfs at all) and it was killing the game. I just like to point out they were wrong. As you said, its a niche market and I don't think the god-like powers and PLing were doing as much damage as they said it was back then.
If these nerfs where done with PvE in mind, then these guys are )?$* clueless.
They have a very popular and exquisite game, that was having a good balance as to the role of each party member. ED and every nerf COULD have been done prior you give the characters to the players (3 years ago), but once the player have their toons and are achieving stuff, you can't destroy their achievement with nerfs all the time, even a tiny nerf is bad, that type of nerfing is insane.
The nerfs are balancing the game and make it PvP-oriented. Are they PvP oriented-nerf, I think so. The roles of each PvE class is less defined then before and every class is more or less equal in PvP now. These nerfs serve only 1 purpose, to make this a nice PvP game. Admiting it and saying you are going to freaking focus on the PvE from now on would be the first step to correct it, denying is a SoE attitude, you want to see Cryptic become as SoE? I don't. SoE has many flaws I hope Cryptic would avoid althogether and become a freaking good game maker.
I8 might even be too late to save the game, but I am still hoping...maybe this time...maybe...I dunno, call me an enthousiast, I want to believe! But with accolades, IoPs and HOs, I have very little reasons to believe in them, I8 is prolly going to be a final mistake, yet I want to believe in...I really do.
Saying that these nerfs are not PvP-oriented = saying Cryptic is clueless and a gang of *dirty word censured*. I rather have peoples saying that Cryptic is PvP oriented than clueless. I rather have peoples saying they have a nice PvP dream then been thinking it was good PvE-wise, because nerfs and customers don't bode well unless there is something bigger at stake, like PvP, but in PvE, why would a nerf be accepted as better? It isn't. Nerfs serve a few things only once a game is released, PvP/competition...nerfs are against PvE achievements at their very roots and MMO are played for achievements, progression of a character...if peoples just want to socialise there are better place than MMOs...
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
Comments
your arguement is so persuasive, so filled with knowledge and insight. You back up your argument very articulately, with suggestions of improvements and raising examples to glorify your position....oh wait, you didn't
tute - That's a really good point. I think Gods & Heroes will definitely be pulling customers away from other games. . . also Age of Conan and Tabula Rasa are looking really strong. (Warhammer and STO also look amazing but they won't be out until Winter 2007 at the earliest - so think 2008. . . I won't even think about them yet).
The point is that CoX is going to actually have some very serious competition at the end of the year. While the overall market will grow, let's face it, a lot of people are spinning their wheels in CoX waiting for something better.
Unfortunately, CoX has a very limited lifespan per player because it has terrible replayability. While there are tons of different power sets to play and try out, and there is enough content (if you group) to play through the PvE game several times in order to see everything (as well as two sets of this content in the H and V varieties), it's just such an xp grind that people aren't wiling to play alts much after level 20-25.
They need to just turn that double xp weekend into permanent double xp. It would improve the game tremendously.
Sorry it may be little of topic, but I was planing to get back into Coh this 2xp weekend.
However I play on Eu servers. So I didnt realy jump into game some time before COV realease becouse of to low player numbers with were split into 2 english servers. I im sure there are no probs on US becouse theres just a lot more ppl.
SO big ??? is how is it with player base on EU english servers?? Is Atlas empty like a ghost town or can you find ppl to group into SG or so. How many averagly there are ppl on server.
Tnx in advance !!!
For god's sake, it's just a game. If you don't enjoy it, whooptydoo. Go play something else. I don't like FFXI, personally, but I don't really see the point in sticking around in the FFXI forum, flaming it, and telling people that it's going to fail with whatever dirt I can dig up.
Wow. What was that guy smoking when he wrote that crap??? Looked more like a press release than an objective analysis.
He obviously hasn't read the investor reports that state - as of March 06 - CoH/V earnings are down 32% from last year.
(Guild Wars is up 60% by comparison, and that's with a game that has no subscription fee!)
June 04 highest monthly accessess: @163,000 (across 11 servers, CoH only).
March 06 highest monthly accesses: @182,000. (across 16 servers, includes CoV).
These are "hits" on the servers, NOT necessarily subscriptions.
If the future looks "quite promising" based on that kind of growth, I'd hate to see what he thinks "dismal" is.
And how do you lose 32% of your revenues in a year when you've allegedly added so many new players? Here's a hint: NCSoft is doing something with CoH/V that it didn't have to do right after release: give away free trial accounts. You don't give freebies away for a successful product: you give them away for a product that's struggling to survive.
Since your so smart. Why does WOW have free trials? It doesn't have any trouble with subscriptions.
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Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy!
Addressed repeatedly (if you had bothered to read the thread). Know what context is? If not, look it up. If so, stfu.
I don't know about the game failing. . . but it certainly is shrinking in player population and not performing nearly as well as I would have expected it to perform following an expansion as large as CoV.
Also, while those people that have said the game will fail ever since the purple patch were crazy, I don't think that those of us who feel the game will fail because of the enhancement nerfs and the horrible xp grind are incorrect. You are not listening to the complaints or arguments, but are instead lumping them all together with the crazies.
And therein lies the point: you didn't like the game and left for that reason. Many of us loved CoH until we felt forced out by the constant nerfs and lack of content, and since we can't vent our grievances on the CoH site, we come to places like this to do it.
I'll state it again: if you're fine with the game and have a sub there, go post your rose-colored opinions where you have the privilege to do so - on the CoH site - (since opposing opinions seem to disturb you that much), and leve the rest of us alone to vent amongst ourselves.
There. That solves the immediate problem.
I'll spell it out for you:
"I don't really see the point in sticking around in the FFXI forum,
flaming it, and telling people that it's going to fail with whatever
dirt I can dig up."
Please, enlighten me on the positive effects of venting/holding a grudge. Change? Good luck with that.
Another fanboy trying to stifle debate about this game and it's failures.
The majority of SG never reach those numbers. They range from 5-20 active members at best.
Heh, look at my Xfire profile buddy, you'll see I've not played CoH for a bit. I will admit that I enjoyed CoX when I was there. I moved on like many games I've played. I still keep in contact with my supergroup, which at last count had around 60-70 members in CoH and CoV SG. If I was a fanboy, I'd still be playing and say that there is absolutly nothing wrong with the game, it's the best that ever existed. It's a good, fun game, somethings are wrong, some things are right. Like any game I play I learn the quirks and adapt.
I guess I'm fortunate that I didn't leave feeling jaded. I came, I played, I had some fun. I made a lot of friends. Kinda like paintball and snowboarding; I don't do it now, but I enjoyed it.
As for the "Feebie" comment that people are bringing up, Serling, you initially brought up the fact that "Any" company that does that is failing (I know I'm not quoting but that was the gist of your statment) So you thus opened a door for people to argue by bringing up other MMO's that do the same thing. The context was The circumstances in which an event occurs. Thus your context was that any company that is failing will provide trial accounts to entice people back. People have come back stating that a successfull MMO such as WoW is also giveing out trial accounts. Hole punched though your logic. Just because your posting in the CoH forum doesn't mean we can't bring in examples from other MMOs
Posting on the CoH boards; I can't, don't have an account anymore. Seeing one sided, jaded posts that are not constructive is a real turn off, same goes for Rose-Colored posts. This MMORPG.com is for people who don't play, who do play, and who are thinking of playing. If a post is constructive, I feel it would hold more weight then a post that just says "it's great" or "it sucks". If it's great, back up with supporting sentences. If it's bad, what could be done to improve it.
your arguement is so persuasive, so filled with knowledge and insight. You back up your argument very articulately, with suggestions of improvements and raising examples to glorify your position....oh wait, you didn't
Actually, due to censorship on their main forums, I look here to gain information on how the game is doing. Eventually, I hope to read that ED has been removed or that they've upped the xp so that the level 20-30 game is no longer a grind.
Though I really don't hold with the main "NCSoft is on the ropes/about to fail" argument that you seem to be the most against, your position that people who are no longer playing the game should not bitch about it is pretty stupid.
Edit: I'll simplify it from the pre-edit post.
I'm not against the bitching. I'm against the totally ignorant stuff that's just plain false. I'm not going to name anyone. I'm more of a proponent for a decent discussion, but it's hard to have such when there are those willing to spread blatant falsehoods just to support their opinion, though I suppose there are those who do this regularly in real life, hm?
aaron123 - Are you calling Serling a Republican?
Seriously, no. I'm not talking about Serling. I'm not giving names, though.
I have played COX off and on since launch, and to be honest I prefer the game now then to when it started. The purple patch made sense. And while I found ED annoying in all honesty I went from two shotting mobs to three shotting them.
And I play a regen scrapper so I know all about the nerf bat and have been hit with it several times over and over and over again
I can still jump into the middle of 6 +1 or +2 mobs and live to tell the tale and move to the next group 10 seconds later.
So while other may not like the game or disagree with the changes there are some of us still around who enjoy and play the game. Will I move on yes, Conan looks very good and I may have to give WAR a run.
But until then Paragon city needs to burn and my Brute is the one to do it!
Trand - Well, you seem to not understand the complaints at all. I don't think most people are saying that the problem with CoX is that the enhancement nerfs weakened every hero and every villain hugely, but that the game has become an unplayable grind after level 20-30 because this has lowered everyone's leveling speed (that honestly was already slow), and the levels MEAN less because getting enhancement slots that can only up the damage of a single power by about 5% doesn't change the way you play. The levels feel meaningless now.
Edit: Also, do you get tons of complaints about that Gambit avatar. I can barely read your post because of the mad strobing on it.
You could write a thesis on all the mistakes that cryptic has made in the name of balance, and trying to name the straw that broke the camels back is like trying to give a reason for cancer. Simply put the game is a shell of what it could of been, has little longeveity for the majority of players and for the aspects of the game that are enjoyable they are overshadowed by frustration of nerphing and grinding. There are many reasons for this, but if you consolidate those reasons the simply explanation is the development team doesn't have the ingenuity and forsight to control the game environment without restricting player options. This has been a shortcoming that has plagued COH for years before it had even gone into beta.
Q2 earnings are out for NCSoft here:
http://ncsoft.com/eng/nccompany/ir_data_report04.asp
Of note:
Revised earnings for CoH/V down 15% from Q1-06 to Q2-06 and down 39% from last year. (By comparison, revised earnings for Q1 had year-to-year earnings down 32%).
Highest concurrent users for Q2: 22,274 across 15 servers in U.S. and Europe. NCSoft did not include Korean server in the count. Closed, perhaps?
That's down from Q1's highest concurrent users of 23,699: a 6% decrease in accounts logging in, though because they closed (or didn't count) the 16th server, the average server population remains around 1484. In other words: no growth.
Highest monthly accesses for Q1: 182,858.
Highest monthly accesses for Q2: 171,000.
By comparison, the highest monthly accesses at release (Q2 of 04) were 169,925.
Again, these are accesses, NOT subscriptions!
The best metric for measuring subs is by looking at highest concurrent users (users with accounts logged on at the same time). Looking at those numbers again:
Q2-06: 22,274 on 15 servers.
Q1-06: 23,699 on 16 servers.
Q2-04: 31,085 on 11 servers.
Of further interest is that Q2's operating metrics for CoH/V, NCSoft does not provide daily accesses for the game(s). Q1's report did.
Immediate impressions:
Despite a new game (CoV) and a new, hotly anticipatd release (Issue 7), Cryptic/NCSoft are losing subscriptions. Several things bear this out:
Declining earnings.
Closed or unreported Korean server (it's long been hinted that the game is nowhere near as popular in Asia as it is in the U.S. owing largely to cultural differences).
Decline in accesses and number of concurrent users.
I suspect the recent "double xp weekend" was an attempt by NCSoft to bolster Q3's numbers, but short-term events like this don't replace content or rollback all of Emmert's nerfs.
BTW, Guild Wars Q2 sales is up 160% over Q1's sales due to Factions. And guess what: Arenanet is releasing a third expansion to GW this fall called "Nightfall" with - you guessed it - 2 new professions and a whole new continent of content.
One last note: Auto Assault is no longer even refered to by name on the Q2 report, only called "Other". That game won't make it to Christmas.
City of Heroes isn't dead, but it's not growing, either. And with increasing competition just around the corner, a lack of growth won't merely be stagnation.
More nerfs, anyone???
Well, given the past couple years, I would then definitely say that "game balance" hasn't helped the future of CoX as many fanbois would have made you believe as opposed to how much supposed god-mode powers and PLing were hurting the population.
They better get on a quicker time table for releasing issues to keep the interest of gamers. As far as one of the best combat engines, Serling is correct because Gods & Heroes is around the corner. Many argued CoH's best strength was combat and there was little fluff(crafting, housing) to weigh it down. G&H appears to offer great combat PLUS other features CoX is lacking.
I sure hope the recent advertisement here on MMORPG.com for Cryptic is not for customer service but some more developers, animators, etc to bring a new 'vision'(hehe) of the game and to bring about more timely releases of new content.
When they said a possible September release of Issue 8, considering their past history, my pessimism rises and I expect it will just be on Test in the last week of September but not make it to Live until Oct or Nov. And then they will spin it to say, "Look, we released a new issue in just 3 months".
Yeah, I'm jaded about the game's current state. Read another thread if you want frickin sunshine and happy songs.
I'm probably in the minority in this but I gotta say I enjoyed the lvling from 30-50 more than the rest of the game with my toon. By 30 you have or will shortly have some of your best moves in many classes. Many say the grind is to long at this point but I found it to be much easier from 30 on for the reason that you've eleminated those that will get your group killed with stupid decisions by that point. I find the grind in the hollows to be awful, but once I hit 32 with my blaster I got my thunderous blast and nothing is better than hitting that as the tanker grabs hate to kill off alll the weaker mobs in one shot. When I hit 30 I was gaining around a lvl a night then in the 40's a lvl every other night. I will admit that my buddy and I had a group of people we lvled with and enjoyed playing with so we moved fast from missions to mission. Fact is though we generally had no more than 3 maybe four hours a day to play but from lvl 40 on you start getting epics which adds a whole new element to the game. I went with fire epics and recieved rise of phoniex which at 50 becomes a tatic not a last ditch shit I died move since debt doesn't matter(great for pvp)
I'm now working on a scrapper dark/regen and am in the mid teens and I honestly miss the lvl in the 30's and 40's and look forward to getting my scrapper there. As far as the nerfs people should understand that without many of those changes players like blasters couldn't compete in pvp(trust me its still not easy). As far as enhancement slots not mattering once you have a 50 and for me even as I worked toward 50 you change to single o's and double o's enhancments. Only generic enhances add 9 percent doubles add up in the teens and a single o adds 32 or so percent increase which is huge. Hami O's which you can't get til your 45 min and I don't suggest tryin til 50 because you will die alot add 50 to one category and 50 to another.
As far as subscriptions I would agree it isn't growing unless you count COV but its a niche category of mmo IMO which honestly probably never will draw more than what it is, not everyone wants to play a super hero game and with the lack of crafting its a turnoff for many. If your like me and really only have a few hrs a night to work on your character then I think its a great game to join especially if your in a supergroup and have villains(the supergroup base is a great addition).
On the negative side it does sometimes feel like some of the villains are overpowered in pvp but thats my opinion I suppose. That prolly has alot to do with the fact my 50 is a blaster and my other toons are in there teens. Just my take
Peace
But the nerfs weren't done for PvP and that's straight from the devs and just about every forum poster who commented on the subject.
And consider yourself lucky with your group and gaining a level a night. I played on all servers with many different ATs and only had your experience maybe 10% of the time. My best times gaining experience were back in Issue 4 and the less than 10 times I got to team up with Mr. Superfantastic(Invuln/SS tanker) and his two pocket Kin defenders with my AR/DeV blaster Quigley on Justice(or known sometimes as Just Us). My regulars left the game a lonnngg time ago and I still have yet to find a decent SG.
I'm just being petty because I got so tired of fanbois pointing out how wrong the view on nerfs were(nope, didn't agree with many of the nerfs at all) and it was killing the game. I just like to point out they were wrong. As you said, its a niche market and I don't think the god-like powers and PLing were doing as much damage as they said it was back then.
There was a list of jobs (15 maybe?), including 2 designers jobs.
I am unsure however if it is for that game or another game, it might be for a new release althogether.
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
If these nerfs where done with PvE in mind, then these guys are )?$* clueless.
They have a very popular and exquisite game, that was having a good balance as to the role of each party member. ED and every nerf COULD have been done prior you give the characters to the players (3 years ago), but once the player have their toons and are achieving stuff, you can't destroy their achievement with nerfs all the time, even a tiny nerf is bad, that type of nerfing is insane.
The nerfs are balancing the game and make it PvP-oriented. Are they PvP oriented-nerf, I think so. The roles of each PvE class is less defined then before and every class is more or less equal in PvP now. These nerfs serve only 1 purpose, to make this a nice PvP game. Admiting it and saying you are going to freaking focus on the PvE from now on would be the first step to correct it, denying is a SoE attitude, you want to see Cryptic become as SoE? I don't. SoE has many flaws I hope Cryptic would avoid althogether and become a freaking good game maker.
I8 might even be too late to save the game, but I am still hoping...maybe this time...maybe...I dunno, call me an enthousiast, I want to believe! But with accolades, IoPs and HOs, I have very little reasons to believe in them, I8 is prolly going to be a final mistake, yet I want to believe in...I really do.
Saying that these nerfs are not PvP-oriented = saying Cryptic is clueless and a gang of *dirty word censured*. I rather have peoples saying that Cryptic is PvP oriented than clueless. I rather have peoples saying they have a nice PvP dream then been thinking it was good PvE-wise, because nerfs and customers don't bode well unless there is something bigger at stake, like PvP, but in PvE, why would a nerf be accepted as better? It isn't. Nerfs serve a few things only once a game is released, PvP/competition...nerfs are against PvE achievements at their very roots and MMO are played for achievements, progression of a character...if peoples just want to socialise there are better place than MMOs...
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren