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Pattern Ghost

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Posts posted by Pattern Ghost

  1. City of Heroes - Online Hero Game

    in Champions

    Posted

    Re: City of Heroes - Online Hero Game

     

    I did read that the Incarnate powers are going to be VIP only, so you'd need a subscription to get them back. There won't be a way to buy them with points.

     

    I've been kind of itching to come back with a lot of the changes Paragon Studios has made, but my PC didn't handle the updated graphics well, and I didn't want to pay for two subs since I wouldn't be devoting a lot of time to it. Since I've put Windows on my iMac (I know, I'm a heretic), the first problem is solved, and now that my brother in law is hooking me up with a sub, the second is solved.

     

    Champions has gotten to the point that it runs pretty well now on my machine, but I still don't like the combat system much, nor the way the characters or the overall graphic design looks. I could get over the graphics, but I don't like the feel of "driving" the character so to speak. Whereas I loved the feel of controlling the character in CoH, but quit the first time due to the game not having much high end content, and being seduced away by WoW. (Which has fallen into a bit of a rut design-wise, with all the new stuff feeling the same, so quit it to sub to DDO. Ah, I'm a fickle one, aren't I?)

  4. City of Heroes - Online Hero Game

    in Champions

    Posted

    Re: City of Heroes - Online Hero Game

     

    Rise from the grave, Oh Thread!

     

    Ok, this is our largest CoH/V thread, so I figured I'd post here.

     

    My brother-in-law started working for ArenaNet a while back, as a programmer on Guild Wars 2. One of the perks of the job is that he can give away a fully paid sub and license keys for any of NC Soft's games. (But only once per game title.) So, he's setting my account up for CoH*. The last time I went back and played for a bit, I didn't play my old main AR/DEV Blaster, because I was so rusty on all the updates (I stopped the first time after I3 came out.) that I didn't want to deal with relearning a high level. This time, I'll probably play an entirely new character, from scratch.

     

    So, who here still plays? Do we have any Hero Board supergroups runnning? Anything I should know before diving back in? I'll likely play very slowly at first, due to medical stuff, and time constraints.

     

    *Ironic that it's now going free to play, but when it does, I'll have a free VIP account, which is nice.

  6. Questions about the Champions 6E core rules book

    in Champions

    Posted

    Re: Questions about the Champions 6E core rules book

     

    One store I used to go to had shrink wrapped, but they also had one of almost every book unwrapped, so people could browse them or even play with them in the store. I always thought that was cool.

     

    (I've got no comment on the OP, as it's been covered enough. Just the last post there reminded me of the cool store.)

  7. Neverwinter site

    in Other Genres

    Posted

    Re: Neverwinter site

     

    I remember the Neverwinter Nights on AOL. Full of a bunch of asshats, committing general asshatery.

     

    The trailer looks pretty good, and I may check it out. But after being burned by being an early buyer of CO, I'm going to take a wait and see approach and not jump on it at launch. They claim that they've learned from their mistakes in developing CO and STO, and are taking a better approach with Neverwinter, but I'm not too trusting of them with my limited budget. I hope it turns out OK. In the meantime, I still have DDO, which is growing on me the more I play it.

  8. Atari unloading Cryptic Studios

    in Other Genres

    Posted

    Re: Atari unloading Cryptic Studios

     

    I think in the MMO production world, only being in the hole in the single digit millions, is making money in comparisson to being in the hole double digit millions..... So I suppose it should be something like, Cryptic isn't losing as much money as what they USED to be.....

     

    ~Rex

     

    MMOs don't really need WoW-type numbers to be very profitable. They just have to not suck, and the makers need to understand that a bad launch -- which has become standard in the genre -- will kill their subs. Cryptic shot themselves in the foot the same way Warhammer did: Over ambitious goals not met at launch, with a crap game engine driving the whole mess. Both games are better now, but gamers tend not to be big on second chances when a company doesn't meet its pre-launch hype/promises. (WoW seems to be an exception, as they didn't meet two of their major design goals at launch, but aside from getting screwed by Oracle, the launch was very smooth for an MMO, and they didn't leave out nearly as much as, say, WAR did.)

  9. Atari unloading Cryptic Studios

    in Other Genres

    Posted

    Re: Atari unloading Cryptic Studios

     

     

    Honestly, it makes me think the people who bought the Atari name and have been running it into the ground just DO NOT know how to run a business, much less a game publisher.

     

    Atari did that with the Jaguar debacle way back in '93. They didn't have a name to run into the ground by the time the current owners got it. No harm, no foul.

  10. Deciding on Supers MMO

    in Other Genres

    Posted

    Re: Deciding on Supers MMO

     

    I agree with Starcloud with regard to the character models. I much prefer the look of the City of Heroes models. It's too hard to make a model in CO look more than vaguely human. The underlying skeletons just seem off, and the animations are pretty bad to boot. I can't comment on CO game play, because my system can only handle the game on the very lowest settings.

     

    The last time I played City of Heroes was a little while after City of Villains was released. That was a pretty decent update, and I liked the new villain power sets, but the early quests were a bit repetitive for me. When I get a new computer, I plan to get the latest expasion, as it seems they've done some graphic engine updates along with the other new content. What drove me away initially was the lack of variety in high level missions: You'd get a tank, go to an Arch Villain battle, have the tank round everything up, AOE it to death, lather, rinse, repeat. It was about the only way to level effectively post-40 (I left right after the level cap was raised) as the death penalty was harsh, and non-tanks could die relatively easily soloing. (They also nerfed the heck out of my main defensive measure, Smoke Grenades, which was in fact over powered, but then went to perfectly useless.) That said, I keep making trial accounts a few times a year to check it out. I really, really want it to be good. I suspect it's much better now, but it's competing with WoW for my limited monthly gaming allotment. As far as the actual characters go, I love creating and running them. The powers feel right, the game play feel is excellent, and you feel super. With some more activities to do outside adventuring and some better adventure design, the game would be perfect for me. (Also, some new environments. They may have them now, but the limited types of maps/terrain in the original release were mind-numbing to a degree.)

     

    I've got no comment on DCUO. I may get it at some point, just to level cap and quit to see the game and the storylines, but I'm kind of waiting to see if it flops and then goes free to play, because I have a limited budget for monthly game fees.

  11. Getting to know the game

    in Champions

    Posted

    Re: Getting to know the game

     

    I think running a lot of mock combats is a good approach.

     

    One thing to keep in mind is that a lot of the combat system is optional. Other things, like skill levels and power advantages are core rules, but you don't have to build with them.

     

    So, build very simple characters, then layer on new concepts and test them out, finally ending with testing the optional rules.

  13. Tropes Revisited: Beautiful Female Martial Artist. Ideas sought

    in Champions

    Posted

    Re: Tropes Revisited: Beautiful Female Martial Artist. Ideas sought

     

    Hmm, is it too late to make a suggestion?

     

    Well, if it is, ignore this one. =)

     

    I was thinking of a Malaysian Silat practitioner. High collared sleeveless black shirt and pants, with a colorful sash, which is also a primary weapon. (Sarong/Pareo, etc., perhaps crossing a shoulder*). Other weapons might include kris or parang. Simple, with the sash/sarong adding the color/flavor.

     

     

     

    *Shouldn't be worn as primary clothing if used as weapon, obviously. I'm thinking more of an over the shoulder and around the waist thing.

  15. The move to FTP

    in Other Genres

    Posted

    Re: The move to FTP

     

    If the free to play have to use Archetypes, then does that mean returning former subscribers who go free to play won't be able to play their old characters?

     

    I haven't read up on the details of this, seeing as my PC won't run the game well, but I'm mildly curious. (May get a faster PC eventually.)

  21. So, are Bricks more expensive in 6th Edition?

    in Champions

    Posted

    Re: So, are Bricks more expensive in 6th Edition?

     

    Ah, cool. Thanks.

     

    Also, the way resistant defenses work, would you just buy most of them as a power, rather than buying up PD/ED then making some of it resistant? That could have an effect on builds.

     

    I kind of like the idea that now I don't have to have a character that's great at DEX skills to also have one with a good CV. Splitting DEX off from CV makes a lot of sense.

  22. So, are Bricks more expensive in 6th Edition?

    in Champions

    Posted

    I've been mulling over the stat costs in 6E, but not being familiar with other rules (Powers, Talents, etc) changes, I don't really know how this plays out.

     

    It seems that with the new way characteristics are handled, a higher percentage of the points would be spent on stats to get an equivalent character in 6E, even after accounting for the extra 50 points suggested for a standard super.

     

    Let's say:

     

    60 STR

    18 DEX

    30 CON

    15 BDY

    13 INT

    11 EGO

    20 PRE

    10 COM

    30 PD

    20 ED

    04 SPD

    18 REC

    60 END

    60 STN

     

    6 OCV/DCV

    4 MOCV/MDCV

     

    Under 5th Edition: 183 pts out of 350 or 52.3%

     

    Under 6th Edition: 249 pts out of 400 or 62.25%

     

    So, a slight difference in points. Obviously, the higher your derived stats would have been under the old system, the bigger the disparity will be if you try to buy them up under the new system.

     

    What I'm wondering is how this balances out against other changes, such as costs of defensive powers, changes to frameworks, etc.

     

    Do you all feel that bricks are pretty well balanced out point-wise? Not so much vs. other archetypes, but rather that there are enough points left after buying sufficiently bricky-feeling stats to buy the other bits and pieces a good brick should have? (Defenses, combat ability, an exotic defense or two, "brick trick" powers, and some skills.)

  23. Possession? Huh?

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Possession? Huh?

     

    It has aspects of Mind Control and Telepathy (and' date=' if one wants, either the "Astral Form" of Duplication or else the Projection form of Desolidification also introduced in the APG), but it's very much its own Mental Power with its own writeup.[/quote']

     

    Ah, very cool, and about time. =)

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