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City of Heroes: Issue #5 Report
Dana
Member Posts: 2,415
Laura Genender of MMORPG.com had a chance to sit down and have a conversation with Matthew Miller, a Systems Designer at Cryptic Studios. The subject of the interview was the recently released "Issue #5". As a note, this interview was conducted just before the add-on was released.
;) Three different archetypes have access to some of the new powers; Defenders can access all of the new sets (Archery, Trick Arrow, Sonic Attack, and Sonic Resonance), Blasters have access to the damage dealing sets (Archery, Sonic Attack) and Controllers have access to the buff/debuff sets (Trick Arrow, Sonic Resonance). All of the attacks, buffs, and debuffs have new graphics; archers will use bows and arrows and sonic skills appear as circular soundwaves.
The Archery damage dealing set does what it was meant to do it does damage, and a lot of it. Archers can open with Ranged Shot, a sniper type attack with high accuracy but a similarly high chance of being interrupted if hit. Once engaged the Archer can use Snap Shot, a skill that is quick to execute but does little damage; Aimed Shot, a skill that takes longer to perform but does more damage than Snap Shot; or many other Archery damage dealing skills. Archers also have access to a few AoE skills: Fistful of Arrows, Exploding Arrow, and Rain of Arrows. The sets inherent secondary effect is an accuracy boost, making it easier for Archers to target stronger enemies. |
You can read Laura's full report here.
Dana Massey
Formerly of MMORPG.com
Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios
Comments
I5, was a must have. These changes needed to come. This pretty much made Tankers equal to other types of Archtypes. Now Tankers are not gods like they were.
Its a Great CHANGE!
Yet, I keep seeing new people join up because of the change. A small number of people can't accept change and leave with each update. Its no biggie. The game is by far much better with I5. I do know there are certain POWER GAMERS that don't like it. But the norms which make up most of the game does like it.
Ive played this game off and on for the past year. Im back and having a blast thanks to the changes. My scrapper now has to think in fights instead of just just killing everything. Being really powerful is cool at first...then its just boring I use to kill tons of high lvl mobs while i was watching TV....ZZZZZzzzzz.
My tank didnt die once from 16-45....not once! Multiple purple mobs were nothing to me ... ZZZZzzzz. The game isn't exactly chess now, but im finding it fun. Thanks devs.
It is with thinking like that SoE find "a better job" for Verant at Microsoft!
I am a power gamer...and my friend who are casuals left before me, WAY before me. I was trying to say and express their opinion more often then mines, since I can understand logic.
Eventually you will say that the majority of players like the Hamidon!
It is only a matter of times.
As for I5, the new Primary and Secondary powers are GREAT! They will be nerfed as well, by I8 or I9, but then it is something that will be "Much needed". The "less heroic soloing stance" is definitely a bad move when it come to a superhero game and only a minority of players calling themselves a majority will say it is great.
Instead of nerfing the class and making the players weakers, maybe it was possible to ADD an heroic challenge so INVINCIBLE would be just as hard as it is now (requiring more work for the paid folks, but they are...paid), however the player would feels like he totally own should he succeed...now the player feel like...he was somehow able to redo what he was doing in the past...but with much pain...like if his character was 20 years older.
If you want a system where every class is equal to each other, you can either play a SoE product (class are cosmetics)...or a system like Saga of Ryzom(great game btw) where everyone is identical and it is skill based (in a leveling way for SoR)...personnally I always like to see HUGE difference between each character, a tanker that have issues to kill 1 minion but that 2 AVs are having troubles to down is something I find FUN, this guy is different, he has edges and weakness...adding him damage output is a mistake, and of course you need to nerf his defense if he does more damage...so he is a little more...like everyone else. I never play a tanker and never would, but it was great to be able to group 1 and know that almost nothing can down him! Zzzz with copy cats that make players identicals. I love a controller who can died because he stumble and fall, but also with GREAT edges, like trizillions of pets or whatever, but 1 tiny trouble and the controller is dead, 1 hit from a scrapper = dead controller...FUN for everyone in PvE!
PvP balance has no room inside PvE, and CoH completely messed the PvE for PvP reasons...tell me, was it worth it to mess the great PvE game? How many persons PvP? Is the PvE funnier now that everyone feels like their neighbors rather then see a difference that REALLY matter? Scrappers and blasters use to be 2 very differents class...now a Scrapper is mostly a blaster with downtime on his damage, yet he can be lucky and deal massive damage like a blasters, but he dont really control that. In exchange the Scrapper can somewhat survive MORE then a blaster for a limited time and for limited efforts...I hardly see that like an improvement, it is class killing. Might as well have no ATs...
During the 5 days free labor days I enter CoH...and I never see the game so EMPTY. Oh, there was some players...but so very few of them...the numbers are incredibly low. And this was DURING a 5 days free. I was able to be LFG for hours without receiving tells at many differents levels (impossible not so long ago, no matter what AT you are). In fact, the only AT that receive some group offers was my overpowered PB. I dont even want to imagine outside of those 5 days how deserted the game must feels compare to what it was. There is 1 player left on all my friend list...only 1 player...and that player never express any doubt about CoH...and her mood was somewhat dark and she was happy when she read my habitual greetings: "Paladin reporting for Duty Oh My Goddess!" (She is a controller and I play a scrapper and she look a little like the Cartoon from Oh My Goddess), then she throw me something like not been able anymore to be a Goddess or anything...she was feeling weak...the only thing that make her feel somewhat better was that she know she was not alone when I told her my toon was so weak it was laughable now, maybe I could recycle in a peasant and save Cryptic time and money!
Now call that whatever you want, I call it bad design!
Back then, I remember 30+ persons in FireBase Zulu, hundred in Perigrine Island and so on...Talos was a freaking lagfest for many of my friends with worser connections and they were crying about the idea to even enter Talos. Now tell me, how exactly having hardly 30 persons in Peregrine Island and about the same in Talos "more players join in"! You talk, think and breath like Verant!
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
Thats your opinion. Which of course is not a very good one. You can try and say what ever you want. Sure Talos and P Island were empty. Why because everyone had made new characters and there was a Lag going on in Atlas, Galaxy, and Kings Row. Its not that hard to figure out but people like you just don't want to see it. I am still hoping for more balance. I can take my Tank and still beat a purple one on one. Which is something your not suppose to do. If you want to argue that then you don't know what the heck your talking about. Because I can read it right from the book.
So far everything you said above isnt true. So take what this guy says with a grain of salt everyone. Scrappers are blasters! LOL Funniest line I have read all day.
I have been playing since the second round of beta and I know the game inside and out. Was on the old boards with MacArf (Cant remember his name exactly) and Rhyno. I was a
a couple monthss away from being a 2002er. I posted on the boards all the time. So I know my way around the game.
Simple fact of the matter is I know this game inside and out. been playing since beta one. I hate the changes, I want to be a hero, not a dependant.
Everyone I know dropped that game and I would love to see the nubers before and after I5. I'll bet you a single Origin that it's less now. Simple, easy and don't muck it up with your "feelings' Lets see the facts.
LOL. You insult me and you LIE! Atlas was emptier then Talos, so was Galaxy and every other low level zone. Even if I was unlucky (and everyone just log for the 15 minutes I was passing) or my server is an exception, Talos should NEVER be less crowded then any other zone...it was the center of interest, it was the meeting place where tons of players were PLAYING a game...I dont denied Atlas and Galaxy, but if they beat Talos (which is not the case even now), it would only means the game is dead and nobody play it past level 10...CoH is not that bad yet.
Welcome to "Verant". You "think, breath and react" like them. My casuals friends are those who point that Cryptic was taking such a turn, and they were quite right on the spot.
You may disagree that a scrapper and a blaster are not the same AT, but that is only an opinion sir. For me I see little difference between the 2 now with all those changes. Before a scrapper was a good "ranger". They nerf their tanking a LOT and increase their critical chances. They add HPS to blasters. I see very little difference between a scrapper and a blaster, and their gameplay is merging! You may believe they are differents or not, but it will be an opinion. Now what kill a blaster will likely kill a scrapper just as easily if the scrapper wont use his special 1 shot edge(s) for a few minutes to survive it. Peoples were happy playing DIFFERENT ATs, they remove the difference and make them similars...welcome to a SoEish approach, if we kill the class we balance everything for PvP.
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
I beta tested CoH, and never activated my pre-order subscription after about 5 days of Beta....
Recently, a friend told me about I5, so I went to the CoH official site and checked it out.
I've finally activated my subscription, and I am having a BLAST. About 5 of my friends, who also never 'bothered' with CoH, are now playing...each of us have found something different to do, and we all are enjoying the crap out of it...which is the point of a GAME, after all.
IMO, I5 did alot for CoH. Liberty server has a bunch of new people, and I see more every day (especially as CoV draws closer).
Reason for Talos having a lower population
1. New Powers. People making new heroes and thus are in Atlas. I never saw so many blaster/defender groups. Couse I made a sonic/fire blaster.
2. Many people were in the new zone checking out everything.
If you refer to the labor day weekend for the 5 day trial, I recall all the servers at yellow load. I don't know what server you played on, but I know many friends who have recenlty returned and enjoy Issue 5.
Play it if you have fun, leave it if you don't...but leave the drama behind. That goes for any MMO
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
Wow, I'm curious which server you were playing on.... When I first logged in, all servers were listed with medium load (usually only Liberty, Justice and Freedom are). I played on Infinity and Triumph and they were both saturated with new characters as well as new players (I lost count of the number of Legolas rip-offs, lol). The lag was particularly bad on Triumph as there was even a minor crash/reset on that Monday afternoon (grrr, causing many players to have to re-level or redo a mission).
Also, I have only been KSed a couple of times in the several months I'd been playing CoH, but *that* weekend I was repeatedly KSed in the Hollows as well as Atlas (which isn't as surprising).
Keep in mind too, that many ppl were ofline waiting in gas lines for vacations or glued to the TV watching the New Orleans Fallout. So maybe many of the 'regulars' weren't around until later on. I know personally, when a game offers a new free-trial thing, I stay away for a bit to let things settle down
But I'm crowd phobic anyways.
I do agree that killing part of a game in favor of the few who PvP is silly, but it may also be in prep for the PvP with CoV (which I'm really looking forward to and I *hate* arena play).
JMO, YMMV Cheers!~
Diana
A Rod of Silence means never having to say sorry. -- Dork Tower