The Central Nexus Blog

02 Nov, 2009

Halloween aftermath...

Posted by Omnitron 14:17 |

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As the Halloween event draws to a close (maybe a day left for badges -- IF you hurry), I thought I'd post some quick thoughts.

Most of it was the same as last year -- open a door, get the treats, or face the assortment of oppents as tricks. It was possible to hit several doors in a row, but if you got TRICKs, the entities followed you MUCH better than last year. Still, there was many a time that someone would open a door JUST after I had faced a mob, before I had recovered, and left the mob for me to face. The one character I focused on got the suite of event badges, including some of the new ones.

The new ones were on the Banners -- this event put 4 banners, guarded by different opponents, that would slowly phase in. Eventually they would be vulnerable. You had a time limit to attack and eliminate the 4 banners, and then coordinate on the "greater mystic aspect" which would be a giant monster. I faced Jurasik in Atlas Park on one, and Adamastor in King's Row on another. IF you were on a team you got a badge for each banner, and one for the final GM. The unique thing was they showed the range to the Giant monster, but not a map point. A trickier way of locating your foe, that I kind of liked. The only thing I didn't like was that other than the banners themselves, the oppenents were mostly recycled stuff seen before in CoH. I would have liked to seen FRESH opponents. Granted it was wild seeing some of them in the low zones, but still, in this day and age, even the Architect system would give us NEW foes to face.

I've not seen as many people using the costumes given by the event this year -- I think it is old hat for some.

I will be glad when the sun shines again in Paragon City. If for no other reason than it makes the costume contests better.

13 Oct, 2009

October thoughts

Posted by Omnitron 18:53 |

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We're on the eve of the annual Halloween event -- what will they do new this year?

I've been seeing LOTS of odd-colored powers lately - some can be very striking, others make character into living neon signs. Good or bad, it is eye-catching more often than not. If you haven't journeyed into Paragon City lately, your next visit will be at least a bit interesting.

The Double XP weekend was this weekend. I had some conflicting obligations, but did get a few hours in. I was able to work up a few new character combinations on Virtue -- an electric/electric scrapper called Veridian Volt and a Trap/Rad Defender called Nukatron. I also got several levels on Septema Burgess, and got Wild Deal up to 20. Not bad for the time I put in.

I'm seeing a few complainers on City of Heroes more and more . Most of them are either individuals with copy-cat characters, breaking the EULA by duplicating an existing copyright. Many have such LAME excuses, when the subject comes up and their violation is pointed out. Some think the character or punctuation added to a name like "xx Superman xx", or "Godzilla.", makes them different enough. USUALLY these are the same people making JLA , Avenger, or X-Men supergroups as well. There are a few supergroups that are broadcasting recruitment promos a tad TOO often. It may be good for their membership drive, but it does annoy many a Atlas Park roamer when they see the 10th 2-part promo in an hour, sometimes done to broadcast AND Request channels back to back. I've seen more than a few arguments started due to such over-zealous promotional activity.

I'm wondering whether we'll see Going Rouge this year or not -- It'd have to be sandwiched between the Halloween and winter event. It will be a tight fit. But the alternative is Going Rogue not being out till February. TOO long and it will bump into the Valentine's day event I'm still hoping/guessing at mid to late November.

Finally, COH Podcast has posted a special episode now -- which includes yours truly as a Dragon*Con Panelist. Check it out HERE

07 Oct, 2009

Back again - MMO Comparison

Posted by Omnitron 19:59 |

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I've spent a good deal of time looking at City's competitor - Champions. And there is as much I like as don't like.

Sure you can do some things that never happen in City -- Like lifting and throwing objects, including vehicles. There are a handful of powers that I like the effects on like the Sorcery set. But there are things that just don't make sense yet. Being able to have capes from the get-go is good. But is it enough?

City of Heroes has a LARGE world. Even at the beginning we had Atlas Park, King's Row, Skyway City, Steel Canyon , etc. all available to the low-level hero, with other zones available in a few levels. CO - has only a few HUGE Zones. Granted that focuses the beginning player, but it doesn't divide the world up as effectively by level as COH does. CO funnels you through the same intro zone (no choice), and into one of two secondary intro zones. Both of these are subsets of the same three end-zones. You have to get 8 or 9 levels in before your character can join the population at large - zone wise.

I think CO will need a LOT of fixing. Power balancing is still going on -- You can try one power set and have little problem; another will be HARDER to get anywhere.

Quests seem to have no limit in CO -- you can have as many active as you want. However there does seem to be a limit to how STALE they can get. Compare this with City's 3 mission max. However there is no remote-contact so far that I've seen for CO - meaning you spend a lot of time running back to the mission-giver to collect your reward. While I like the no-limit to missions, there seems to be a lot of time wasted in going back to the mission giver.

Personally I think the City approach of enhancements on powers is a little bit more friendly to the new player. HOW to enhance a CO character to get a particular effect like more damage or faster movement speed is NOT as easy to establish. I suspect that some players may be turned off by this. Since this is driven by Attributes which can be adjusted by primary characteristics, talent/perks, AND Offensive, Defensive and Utility gear that is found and equipped. All these factors come into play -- A much more complicated mechanic than City's enhancements.

The CO community is still evolving; I find City of Heroes FAR better, both as helpful online players, and Supergroups that actually are trying to get something done. CO doesn't have the prestige or last logged in date either -- but then I haven't seen a limit to SG membership either. CO has the same problem with copyright infringing characters - only MORE so. I've yet to see the equivalent to a City's "Generic" characters. I have to admit that most Supergroups, being small and new, don't have ANYTHING like the feel of City SGs.

I realize that the games are different, despite being designed at least initially by the same company, covering the same genre. However they are night and day by comparison. I see these attracting completely different audiences. Some CO players I've talked with complained about one thing or another on City - controls, leveling, etc. Most of these things I found similar problems with CO.

With Going Rouge on the horizon, and a third competitor in DC Universe coming down the road after that, I can't help but wonder how they will all balance out. With each game having its own distinct world, history, and NPC character set, the end difference will be in mechanics -- Whether it is user interface, game mechanics, or simply the world in general.

In my opinion I find myself wanting to like Champions, because it is new and different and allows me to do things impossible in City. But I find myself liking City better. The end result is -- will I stay with it? I'm already debating that.

10 Sep, 2009

Dragon*Con Afterthoughts

Posted by Omnitron 09:52 |

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Sorry it has taken me so long to post about Dragon*Con again this year. It was a hectic weekend. But a fun one. Unlike last year I got to see several celebrities, attend a live podcasting of Sword & Laser, see several Star Trek actors even if the lines were huge-- (Patrick Stewart, Leonard Nimoy, and William Shatner). Costuming was wild -- from steampunk Star Wars to Michael Jackson's glove -- practically anything was fair game.

Sunday featured three panels , one for each of the superhero role playing games. Of the publishers, only Sony showed up directly. The PAX effect strikes again, as may game publishers, electronic and otherwise, failed to show at Dragon*Con. Since all three sessions were FILLED TO CAPACITY more or less, I find the respect given to Dragon*Con a little lacking. PLEASE -- Cryptic? NCSoft? DON'T overlook us next year AGAIN. Even if you send just one person, it would be GREATLY appreciated.

First off was the fan panel for Champions. This was a discussion of several things that were likes/dislikes of the game. Several comments over the patch that made things more difficult after launch were made -- it clearly had mixed feelings. Most issues were with the interface and details of the game -- "How do you do...?" details. At the time, I'd not yet played the game, but it seems that it was beneficial for those that do. Their non-by-passable tutorial is not making any friends among the ALT happy Champions crowd.

Next up was City of Heroes -- The same person that ran the first fan panel recruited both myself and my friend as panelists -- Myself at the VERY last minute. After twelve years of Dragon*Cons -- this was a first. It seems that some swag was sent by NCSoft -- all Guild Wars.

Issue 16 AND the Going Rogue expansions were high on everyones minds -- but no one really had any details to share. A few details were leaked out --Going Rogue will likely add a third starting zone to the game.
PVE is still rated high by most players
Of the audience over 40% seemed to be Mission Makers in AE. Farming was light -- but most of the "farmers" were using the rise in levels to bypass the under level 20 content that they've seen SO many times before.
Endgame content still low.
Content of missions old.
Villain strike forces seem to have some holes in level coverage, resulting in several stretches of grinding. One comment that this brought up versus the grind is "That's WHY they are villains..."
We want the return of the Cathedral of Pain!!!
The recent T-shirt contest --- MANY attending there would love to have shirts with the winning designs and was wondering why they weren't being sold.
Several supergroups were at the event as a group -- Cape Radio was represented, The Icons group from Victory, a Top 20 Infinity group, and a Freedom group were all noted. Several of the members were QUITE vocal.
Chooch and Viv from the COH Podcast were in attendance as well -- The session was recorded and will likely be on their podcast shortly in some form or another.

Last up was DC Universe online. They showed several videos, all online. Most questions went unanswered, as it seems they are still early in their build, and a lot of issues hadn't been decided yet. I've my doubts about them -- When asked about copyright infringing "clone" characters, they commented that "we trust our players to make original concepts." After 5 years of Hulk, X-Men, Superman, clones and more, they've NO clue what they'll see on launch.

It was an exhausting weekend. Crowds were THICK. And to make matters worse I twisted my knee Saturday and it is still hurting. It slowed me down a LOT on Sunday. Fortunately that was mostly Sheraton/MMO track.

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