I put in a week of STO, and personally, I think CO is the better game. Bugs and etcetera aside, STO just didn't seem like it'd be much fun down the road. Maybe if you're big into Star Trek I guess, but all it really did for me was make me want to watch some old TNG episodes.
CO continues to be fun, despite the lack content, but I don't think it can last much longer in it's current state. By that I mean it needs some more zones and more/better repeatable content, and above all else they could refine the shit out of the Nemesis stuff. I think the Nemesis feature, if fully realized with total customization of minions, missions, and Nems themselves, could totally carry this game for the rest of this year.
STO, while initially impressive, doesn't appear to have the potential to really add anything new down the road. It'll just be the same "run around on the ground shooting phasers and rolling around" followed by "fly around slowly in a spaceship and click a few buttons." Of course I'm over-simplifying here, but I can only imagine future content for STO to just be essentially pallet swaps of existing content - New planet visuals to roll around on, new space backdrops to ignore while you circle-strafe at Mach Zero.
TL;DR - STO's playerbase will get bored and move on shortly after launch, and CO could outlast it if the Nemesis stuff is improved.
Just my opinion, so there is a very slim chance that I might possibly be wrong, maybe.
The Dagon on
Steam ID : TheDagon
PSN : TheDagon
Pretty much every game ever : TheDagon
I'd say it was only a matter of time, after seeing people (back when I was still playing) getting to level 8 or 9 on that open mission. I put in tickets about it in hopes the devs would do something, but I didn't really think they would.
Still, that is a testament to the breadth and depth of human inanity.
ArchonexNo hard feelings, right?Registered Userregular
edited January 2010
That guy must have no life. Still, i'd love to see the look on any newbie's face that saw him in the tutorial.
Hell, i'd never leave the tutorial with that character if I was him. I'd just stay there, and terrorize or confuse new players as they tried out the game.
Is this unprecedented for a company to launch two MMO's so close together?
I can't recall an instance of it recently.
SoE might have, but they tend to not really give a crap about their MMO's outside of the flagship ones. I know a few korean grindathon MMO companies have released them close, but they're usually based around getting release day sales anyways.
I think the decision to release early came down to the license holders. I remember a developer expressing the urge to keep working on the game for a few months back during CB. From the sounds of it, they're pressing onwards, either because they may have to re-negotiate the right to use the IP, or they may lose some sort of bonus.
I'd say it was only a matter of time, after seeing people (back when I was still playing) getting to level 8 or 9 on that open mission. I put in tickets about it in hopes the devs would do something, but I didn't really think they would.
Still, that is a testament to the breadth and depth of human inanity.
Why would you petition something as stupid as that? Why does it matter if someone levels up to 40 in the tutorial? Does that somehow make you less of a man or something?
SkyCaptain on
The RPG Bestiary - Dangerous foes and legendary monsters for D&D 4th Edition
Yeah, during the end of the year everyone in PA was pretty much gone.
PVP has been stagnant since right after the Tazer Arrow fiasco.
I still presume this game will last a good long while, but they've lost a lot of momentum.
The only times PvP in CO was really fun were those far too brief moments after broken powers were fixed yet before the next batch of broken powers were discovered (or at least popularized).
The week after they fixed the fucking annoyance that was Taser Arrow, for example.
And yeah, I'm waiting for some real new content to show up before jumping back in. The annoying holiday event didn't count for anything more than proving that after 6 years Cryptic can't design an open-world Christmas event for shit.
Lawndart on
0
Just_Bri_ThanksSeething with ragefrom a handbasket.Registered User, ClubPAregular
edited January 2010
I can't remember where to find the evidence for the mission 'How the West was lost' in MC.
Just_Bri_Thanks on
...and when you are done with that; take a folding
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
The only times PvP in CO was really fun were those far too brief moments after broken powers were fixed yet before the next batch of broken powers were discovered (or at least popularized).
The week after they fixed the fucking annoyance that was Taser Arrow, for example.
And yeah, I'm waiting for some real new content to show up before jumping back in. The annoying holiday event didn't count for anything more than proving that after 6 years Cryptic can't design an open-world Christmas event for shit.
There were also certain times of day involved, which level you were playing at, etc. But once the FotMonkeys showed up the PVP would go to crap quickly, and en masse.
There were also certain times of day involved, which level you were playing at, etc. But once the FotMonkeys showed up the PVP would go to crap quickly, and en masse.
Aren't there always going to be a certain amount of "FotMonkeys", though? Granted, if your system has a lot of holes and there's still a lot of "balancing" going on, it will be more pronounced of an issue, but there are going to be cycles in any system where people discover and abuse a "new technique" until everyone else gets wise to it.
I saw a guy a while ago leveling like that in the tutorial, he was around level 23 or so when I saw him. Not sure if he got bored and didnt go all the way to 40.
Just_Bri_ThanksSeething with ragefrom a handbasket.Registered User, ClubPAregular
edited January 2010
They seem to have deleted the post after that one from The Mighty Pencil where he complained that they were still promoting the game with wishes and daydreams, and nothing of substance.
Just_Bri_Thanks on
...and when you are done with that; take a folding
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
i'll probably fire this up again soon, nice having a LT sub no stress to login an play.
Actually, this is a good point. Despite all the issues that have reared their heads, I kinda like having the LT sub, because I don't feel like I'm burning money away if I don't log in for a week or so. When I have the time, I can turn it back on and ease back into playing. Things like LT subscriptions are made for people like me: interest in the game, income to pay up front, and enough real obligations that I'm not going spend a whole weekend/weeknights power-leveling.
There was also mention from a developer about "Enforcers" on PTS forums which was mentioned in context of STC working on these Enforcers still.
By my uneducated guess, it would appear the new update will include "Monster"-level difficulty mobs similar to CoX that are somewhere between Master Villian to Super Villian in PvE difficulty. Maybe a reason to team if they have/spawn lots of minions?
bootzilla on
0
Just_Bri_ThanksSeething with ragefrom a handbasket.Registered User, ClubPAregular
edited January 2010
pts patch notes are not compiled until the push to live. For patches to the pts, it is all piece-meal where they only put up notes for the most recent changes.
Just_Bri_Thanks on
...and when you are done with that; take a folding
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
Here are the patch notes for today's PTS patch (to build FC.11.20100106.12).
General:
Fix for Map transfer stalling and disconnects.
Queues:
Improvements to the queue should help members 'sync up' across maps and help prevent being matched into separate instances.
Fixes the queue leave button for teams. People who were added to the queue but didn't click the "join" button themselves couldn't see the queue.
Fixes the "Untranslated: (null)" message that was appearing on the queue UI for nemesis confrontation. It will now display "Confront your Nemesis on Serenity!"
As always, please use this thread to post your feedback for these changes. Thanks!
Just_Bri_Thanks on
...and when you are done with that; take a folding
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
Default State of the Game - 01/26/10
Greetings, Champions!
Welcome to the 2010 reboot of the State of the Game! We’ve been keeping our shoulders to the wheel, our noses to the grindstone, and our foot on the pedal to bring you some great updates for Champions Online. There’s a lot to talk about, so now that the preamble has ambled, let’s dig into the meat of it!
The “Kitchen Sink” patch is slated to hit the live servers tonight, and this bad boy has a slew of changes that are based a great deal on your input over the past couple of months. We’ve touched just about every area of the game, from items to characteristics to powers to costumes to sound to graphics to zones and missions to UI to... well, you get the idea. I won’t delve into every last detail here (that’s what the patch notes of incredibly large size are for) but I did want to call out some highlights.
Powers
The Archery, Celestial, Darkness, Fire, Force, Ice, Might, Munitions, Power Armor, Single Blade, Sorcery, and Supernatural power sets have all seen improvements. The long-discussed (and cried out for by the community) changes to both Swallowtail Cut and Force Cascade have been made.
Items Get More Offensive
Items which previously were described as granting an Offensive Combat Value bonus for certain kinds of attacks had not been actually giving that bonus. These items have been rebuilt and redesigned, and now have a chance to grant a short duration (20 second), very high intensity boost to OCV on attacks of the designated type.
Lemuria Rises!
The performance issues in Lemuria have been greatly improved. We’ve had extremely positive response from our players on the Public Test Shard as to how well the zone plays now, so we’re hoping that this is the end of “Lagmuria.”
Nemesis
The appearances and powers of your Nemesis can now be edited for a modest resource cost at the MCPD crime database. Defeated Nemeses can also now be reactivated from the MCPD crime database if you don't already have an active Nemesis.
Crafting
There are changes and addressed issues with various blueprints and components, but most exciting is that bind-on-Equip Crafted Travel Device blueprints may now be dropped by White Rhino, Dr. Demogaard, The Bronze King, Vikorin the Blind, and Shadow Destroyer. Get out there, fight some bad guys, and gain the knowledge required to make some of the wildest travel powers in the game.
Team Looting
There are a lot of upgrades to the looting system that grants better distribution amongst team members, address issues with players thinking they took an item when another player already claimed it, and changed both round-robin and need-or-greed team looting to be on a per-item basis as opposed to a per-bag basis. There are also changes to the Master looting system, and the overall team looting threshold is now met on a per-item basis rather than the highest quality item in the bag.
And Oh, So Much More...
Many more topics are discussed in much more detail in the patch notes, so make sure to give them a read. We’re constantly working to improve Champions Online, so keep playing and let us know how about your experiences!
What’s Next for Champions Online?
We have a lot in the pipeline and this is a good a time as any to break some news! The development team has been working on not only improvements, but also on some amazing new content and game systems for your enjoyment. We don’t have exact dates set for all of these features, but they are coming in the short term as opposed to being long range plans. As we get closer to release on these, we’ll let you know! And away we go...
I See a Blood Moon a Risin’
By popular demand, we’re going to be bringing back the Blood Moon event with a few twists and upgrades based on your feedback. The concept is that the event will trigger the day before, of, and after every real-world full moon. We’re using the same technology we debuted with Clarence in our Misfit Toys event to make battling Takofanes and his minions more interesting and challenging for heroes of all ranges of experience. Look for announcements in the upcoming few weeks as to when the Blood Moon will rise again!
This One Goes to Eleven
We’ll be introducing difficulty levels that players can set both for individual heroes and for their team. With 1 lower and 2 higher levels of difficulty to select from, players can create a challenge that fits their play style and ability.
Flashing Back
Cutting-edge temporal technology invented by the genius tinkerer Juryrig allows heroes to travel back to moments in their own history. Have a moment of personal glory that you want to relive, a mission that didn’t quite go the way you wanted, or missing an elusive perk? Here’s your chance!
Vibora Bay Watch
We’ve had a big secret here at Cryptic, and we can’t hold it in any longer. Over the past few months we’ve been working like mad on our first (untitled) expansion for Champions Online! The setting is Vibora Bay, one of the Gulf Coast’s largest and most exciting cities. It’s a center of commerce, culture, tourism, and some incredibly strange goings-on. It maintains unusual traditions of mysticism and religion along with an eclectic group of inhabitants and frequent paranormal activities. Heroes constantly face threats of global proportions, but this time the crisis is greater than ever. The apocalypse has come, and it rides upon the half angelic / half demonic wings of Therakiel.
A web page is currently in the works that will feature screen shots, a video trailer, and detailed information on this level 37 – 40 mega-adventure pack, so stay tuned for more information!
That’s all for now, heroes - see you online!
__________________
Chronomancer
Changing Time since 2142
Patch Notes: January 27th, 2010
Posted by Daeke
Hot Issues
* This build contains over two months worth of fixes and changes to the game! Please read the full patch notes to understand how changes may have affected your character.
* Players in Lemuria should experience much less lag and find the zone more playable. Please let us know on the forums if you are still experiencing issues.
* Nemeses can now be edited at the MCPD Crime Database. Change their costumes, powers, and minions for a modest fee!
* Team Looting mechanics have been changed. Check out the Missions and Content section for more details.
* Due to the changes being made to the powers, Swallowtail Cut and Force Cascade: Containment users will be given free retcons in an upcoming patch.
Patch Note Topics
* General
* UI/Chat
* Powers
* Missions and Content
* Crafting
* Character Creator
* Known Issues
General
* New Item Functionality - Procced Offensive Combat Value ("Offense" on items): Items which previously were described as granting an OCV bonus for certain kinds of attacks had not been actually giving that bonus. These items have been rebuilt and redesigned, and now have a chance to grant a short duration (20 second), very high intensity boost to OCV on attacks of the designated type. This effect can occur no more than once every 120 seconds. Some items affected by this change include:
o Nakomis Totem
o Gloves of the Changeling
o Omicron Chemistry
o HotSleep Fists
o Mechmachine Fists
o UNTIL Achilles-JPG Gloves
OCV is now on a Diminishing Returns model. Lower values of OCV generate greater benefit than previously, and very high values will result in less benefit. The benefit from OCV follows the exact same curve and values as your primary characteristics. (This is almost certainly a 'buff' for everybody who has any OCV, as there likely wasn't enough gear to pass the inflection point in the content before this update.)
* MP3 tracks will now correctly turn off when switching to another player.
* Object interaction will no longer cancel when rotating your character with the keyboard.
* Messages displayed when players get disconnected are now more accurate.
* ATI multi-sampling has been improved for 2000-, 3000-, 4000-, and 5000-series cards, including flickering fog and blooming, outlining problems, and streaking line artifacts in shadows.
* Nvidia has released new graphics drivers for Windows Vista/Windows 7 which contain a fix to some issues with Champions. If you were experiencing problems, please update your drivers (32-bit link or 64-bit link) and see if they are resolved.
* Made improvements to DirectX state management, fixing an issue where bad data could cause polygons to appear in random, flickering locations, occasionally causing crashes.
* Setting a withdraw limit of 0 in the guild bank will now actually count as a limit of 0, instead of being unlimited.
User Interface and Chat
* The following new options have been added to the Control Schemes: Camera Follow Type, Max Camera Distance, Mouse Look sensitivity, Controller Look sensitivity. With “Always Face Forward” option off, turning left and right will now turn the camera. We have also increased the camera’s pitch and yaw interpolation speeds when using the keyboard/mouse.
* Players should no longer see negative numbers showing up in chat when you dodge/resist/immunify an attack.
* Changes to the render scale setting should now correctly save.
* The camera should now move more smoothly and handle collisions better.
* Super Group contacts now have icons.
* Players that set their "Looking For Group" rules to reject team invitations will show that status in the LFG UI.
* "Show Damage Floaters" has been added to the options menu.
* When you're holding an object, the tooltip for Smash will now display the damage it will deal.
* Team notification error messages should now appear in red.
* Unlocking a new Pattern will now show the pattern name instead of the material name.
* The buy option in stores should now correctly check inventory space and send the correct message if there is not enough space available.
* The option to set bloom intensity has been added to the options menu.
* The option to switch audio output device has been added to the options menu.
* A new privacy setting has been added that allows players to set themselves as Visible, Friends Only, or Anonymous.
* When selecting a character at the character select screen, the character now assumes the correct pose instantly rather than blending into it.
* Chat channels will correctly save when switching between tabs.
* There is now an error message when trying to use Team, Guild, or Officer chat while not a member.
* The correct error message will now display when trying to send tells to non-friends from a trial account.
* Fixed an issue with overflow bags where the "Take All" and "Discard" buttons didn't update the UI. Players should no longer receive an "Inventory Full" message while they have open space in their bag.
Powers
* Players with very high stealth will no longer get aggro when someone on their team pulls aggro. A player that cannot be perceived will not be treated as a legal target, until a point at which they normally would be.
* Dodge and Avoidance are now on a diminishing returns model. Lower values of Dexterity generate significantly greater benefit than previously, but very high values will result in less benefit.
* Added moderate knock resistance element to snares.
* It is no longer possible to switch builds and retain any benefits from the previous build.
Archery
* Sonic Arrow: Tap damage increased, charged damage reduced.
* Torrent of Arrows: Charged damage decreased.
Celestial
* Expulse: Fixed costing so it knows that it can only be cast at full charge.
Darkness
* Ebon Rift: Now appears very close to the target, instead of a fixed distance away from the caster. Additionally, the rift now lingers for a duration that increases based on how long it was maintained. Base cooldown has been increased to 16 seconds.
* Ebon Rift: Vengeful Shadows: This advantage was not working properly against targets that were immune to knockback, dealing unintentional massive damage. We have changed it such that enemies who are immune to knockback take significantly less damage from this advantage. The net result is - this power works the same as it did before this change against critters who are not immune to knockback, but enemies that are immune to knockback effectively take 30% more damage from your Ebon Rift if they are within range of the advantage. Also increased the range of the advantage from 5 feet to 7 feet (as it is supposed to be melee range).
* Shadow Embrace: Damage over time increases slightly more slowly.
* Personal Force Field: Now regenerates at triple the normal rate when out of combat.
* Force Blast: Tap damage and cost reduced. Charged damage and cost increased slightly.
* Force Cascade: Containment Blast: Description updated to read "Applies a hold to all targets hit by Force Cascade and prevents them from being damaged."
* Force Eruption: Activate time reduced from 0.57 seconds to 0.5 seconds. Tap damage and cost increased, and charged damage reduced.
* Protection Field: Power no longer returns a percentage of your energy as an absolute value of energy (i.e. returning .15 energy rounded up to 1 from a 15% energy return). Also, "You've gained energy" effect will only play on you when you actually gain energy, instead of every time the target is struck.
Gadgeteering
* Sonic Device: Cooldown increased to 30 seconds from 18 seconds. Shares a cooldown with Imbue.
* Shotgun: The base power has been placed on the same diminishing returns model as other knockback powers.
* Two-Gun Mojo: Close the Gap: No longer has variance above/below 30%, and changed where the % increase takes place so that this should always equal a 30% increase at point blank, even at high stat levels.
Power Armor
* Chest Beam: Description incorrectly stated the power knocked back, however it did not. Power now has knockback, but has had a 3% damage reduction to keep the cost relatively close to what it was (though it has been increased a bit).
Single Blade
* Dragon's Bite: Now uses the correct description.
* Swallowtail Cut: Damage can now be resisted, the percent of health damage does not benefit from damage-improving effects and buffs, and reduced the tick rate of the power.
* Sneak: Adjusted to work with the new perception values of critters. Should be more useful versus both critters and players now.
Sorcery
* Sigils of Radiant Sanctuary: Should no longer be possible to have more than one set of this Sigil out.
* Sigils of Radiant Sanctuary: The aggro stealth provided by these sigils no longer unintentionally scales with stats.
* Sigils of Radiant Sanctuary: Fixed an error with the advantaged version of this power that was preventing it from ranking up appropriately.
Supernatural
* Lash: Meteor Hammer: Added diminishing returns to the Knock effect. Also now properly works alongside Aspect of the Celestial's HoT effect.
* Condemn: Tap damage increased, Tap cost reduced. Charge damage increased, Charge cost reduced.
* Bite: Tap and Charge damage and cost increased.
Telepathy
* Collective Will: The debuff inflicted by the advantaged version of this power is now slightly weaker at each rank.
Critters
* Changes have been made to critter perception in order to enable changes to player stealth. This should not have any effect on how critters behave during combat, but may change how long critters stay in combat. Sneak has already been modified to work with these new changes.
Missions and Content
* Immobile critters will now only choose to attack things that are within their range.
* Open Mission timers should now correctly start in all cases.
* Unique items will no longer be given out in open missions if the player already owns that item.
* Critters will now only give out rewards after their death just once, as it should be.
* Missions now reward level appropriate resources upon completion. If you're over the level of the mission, you'll receive fewer resources as a reward.
Tutorial
* Citizens Distressed: Replaced SUO Weaponry reward with Modified SUO Weaponry so that each reward has different stats.
Lemuria
* Lemuria's performance should be greatly improved. Please report any additional performance issues you experience underwater.
UNITY
* Earthworm Gem: Scientists now give credit immediately after his guards are defeated.
* Special Assignment missions are now granted correctly.
Nemesis
* Nemeses can now be edited for a modest resource cost. Visit the MCPD crime database to update your Nemeses' appearances and powers.
* Nemesis names must now be unique (on a single character) when you create or edit a Nemesis. You can no longer have two nemeses named "Nuck Chorris".
* Nemesis Confrontation: Qliphothic Tainted Realm: Both the damage and the power gain occur less often, but for higher amounts per tick. The net result is an overall reduction in both energy gain and damage inflicted. Overall damage is now significantly reduced by your Recovery stat. (Lore reason: Your own system's hearty energy generation helps push out or purge the tainted energy!) The higher your Recovery, the less damage you'll take. Added an icon and flagged the power as an un-purgable debuff, and added a description / text to the icon that reads: "You are being flooded with corrupted energy. Keep your energy low, or it will harm you!" The damage is now resistible. In addition to the obvious benefits of further reducing the damage, it makes using Shadow Form a viable tactic, albeit still something of a mixed blessing; your energy will be constantly topped off, but you’re now able to automatically resist the damage to a VERY high degree.
* Defeated Nemeses can now be reactivated from the MCPD crime database if players don't already have an active Nemesis.
Items
* Items with a level requirement of 1 will no longer display the level, as everyone meets that requirement.
* Temporary Forcefield (level 9): Fixed flavor description to match power.
* Changed item tag on Acheral Mace Device and Sonic Pacification Device so that they are no longer consumable.
* Mutating Gene Bomb Catalyst and Xeno-Infection Catalyst have had their slots changed from secondary to primary to match their recipes.
* The stats on Ward of Yggdrasil are now appropriate for the item.
* Changed Strength Amplified Exolimbs to Dexterity Amplified Exolimbs to match already existing stats.
* Necrull's Skull can now only summon one of each type of undead critter, rather than unlimited hordes.
* Action figures at the Toy Master now properly list if they are Bind on Pickup rather than Bind on Equip.
Team Looting
* Round-robin looting now gives a better distribution amongst team members.
* Free-for-all loot bags can now only be used by one player at a time. This should prevent players from thinking they took an item when another player already claimed it.
* Round-robin and need-or-greed team looting are now on a per-item basis as opposed to per-bag.
* Master looter items are now granted immediately after the master looter assigns a recipient, rather than in one large batch at the end.
* Master looter mode no longer has a timed event associated with it.
* Loot that is being interacted with no longer expires, and interacting with loot refreshes the expiration time. This prevents situations where a need/greed timer could expire after the loot itself has expired, preventing anyone from receiving the item.
* Team looting threshold is now met on a per-item basis rather than the highest quality item in the bag. Now, if a bag contains white and blue items, and the threshold is for Blues, the the whites will be assigned round-robin, while the blue is distributed by the master looter.
* Loot rolls and rewards now correctly deal with changes to the team (such as a new leader, players joining/leaving, etc.) while a loot bag exists for the team.
Crafting
* New BOE Crafted Travel Device blueprints can now be dropped by White Rhino, Dr. Demogaard, The Bronze King, Vikorin the Blind, and Shadow Destroyer.
* Enhancements at crafting vendors should once again show stat information.
* The tooltips for enhancement blueprints now display the types of blueprints they can enhance.
* Emperor's Blaze Blueprint now correctly makes the Emperor's Blaze power replace instead of Amp Maces.
* Marked the blueprint for Advanced Surge Protection as a consumable.
* Gadget Boy Theorem component is now labeled as Competent.
* Fixed a bug that was causing players to reopen the crafting table each time an item was deconstructed.
* Reduced some required components for intermediate crafting objects.
* Fixed an incorrect component cost on the Speedball blueprint.
Costume Creator/Tailor
* Capes should no longer display incorrectly when first showing up on screen. The issue where polygons stretched or a temporary drop in framerate occurred has also been fixed.
* Fixed a bug causing unlocked costume pieces to reset to default pieces when entering the Tailor.
Known Issues
* The camera gets "stuck" to the side of the player after transferring between zones. Simply manually moving the camera (with the right-mouse) should unstick it.
* The "Mouse Look Reticle" does not change colors based on the target it is facing.
* When attempting to queue for Nemesis Confrontation, the UI opens up to the wrong tab.
* Focus of the Unleashed Tempest: Incorrectly displays a growing stack of Heightened Focus. This has no effect on any of the powers currently in the game.
* Due to the changes being made to the powers, Swallowtail Cut and Force Cascade: Containment users will be given free retcons in an upcoming patch.
Posts
Most of us that frequented this thread?
Most of the PA guild?
Most of the subscribers?
PVP has been stagnant since right after the Tazer Arrow fiasco.
I still presume this game will last a good long while, but they've lost a lot of momentum.
I suspect they're withholding news of a content update until after STO comes out, so as not to end up competing with it in activity and subscriptions.
At least, I hope that's the case, because i've noticed the game being somewhat dead the last few times I was on.
If they are, it's going to have to be a really good content patch to justify the lack of activity lately.
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
It'll bounce back with a bit of love from CO's developers.
STO isn't ready for release, barring some sort of miracle release day patch (Which i'm not unwilling to discount given what happened with CO.).
Most people are playing it because it's the new game out, too. I imagine a few people will come back to CO when/if they get bored.
CO continues to be fun, despite the lack content, but I don't think it can last much longer in it's current state. By that I mean it needs some more zones and more/better repeatable content, and above all else they could refine the shit out of the Nemesis stuff. I think the Nemesis feature, if fully realized with total customization of minions, missions, and Nems themselves, could totally carry this game for the rest of this year.
STO, while initially impressive, doesn't appear to have the potential to really add anything new down the road. It'll just be the same "run around on the ground shooting phasers and rolling around" followed by "fly around slowly in a spaceship and click a few buttons." Of course I'm over-simplifying here, but I can only imagine future content for STO to just be essentially pallet swaps of existing content - New planet visuals to roll around on, new space backdrops to ignore while you circle-strafe at Mach Zero.
TL;DR - STO's playerbase will get bored and move on shortly after launch, and CO could outlast it if the Nemesis stuff is improved.
Just my opinion, so there is a very slim chance that I might possibly be wrong, maybe.
PSN : TheDagon
Pretty much every game ever : TheDagon
Still, that is a testament to the breadth and depth of human inanity.
Hell, i'd never leave the tutorial with that character if I was him. I'd just stay there, and terrorize or confuse new players as they tried out the game.
I can't recall an instance of it recently.
SoE might have, but they tend to not really give a crap about their MMO's outside of the flagship ones. I know a few korean grindathon MMO companies have released them close, but they're usually based around getting release day sales anyways.
I think the decision to release early came down to the license holders. I remember a developer expressing the urge to keep working on the game for a few months back during CB. From the sounds of it, they're pressing onwards, either because they may have to re-negotiate the right to use the IP, or they may lose some sort of bonus.
Wow. Not sure if I'm wowing in admiration of his commitment to this or... If I'm just a wtf moment.
PSN: Kylogue
Why would you petition something as stupid as that? Why does it matter if someone levels up to 40 in the tutorial? Does that somehow make you less of a man or something?
The only times PvP in CO was really fun were those far too brief moments after broken powers were fixed yet before the next batch of broken powers were discovered (or at least popularized).
The week after they fixed the fucking annoyance that was Taser Arrow, for example.
And yeah, I'm waiting for some real new content to show up before jumping back in. The annoying holiday event didn't count for anything more than proving that after 6 years Cryptic can't design an open-world Christmas event for shit.
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
There were also certain times of day involved, which level you were playing at, etc. But once the FotMonkeys showed up the PVP would go to crap quickly, and en masse.
wouldn't it be great if uh
there wasn't PVP like at all
just sayin'
We've been playing WoW, sometime around mid-october actually.
Unsure how much sub he had left.
And once he kinda stopped I lingered.
I can't stand playing MMOs without people I know. >_>
Probably.
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
Then I never would have bought the game or the six-month subscription.
What an abysmal waste of time. People are congratulating him. How is this an accomplishment?
Steam (Ansatz) || GW2 officer (Ansatz.6498)
^^^ Agree. Now, Cryptic should do the guy a favor and call social services on him.
More posts like this please: Update news!
i'll probably fire this up again soon, nice having a LT sub no stress to login an play.
Concur!
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
Gotta make room for the content patch somehow.... I hope.
edit: just saw the new thread title...love it.
There was also mention from a developer about "Enforcers" on PTS forums which was mentioned in context of STC working on these Enforcers still.
By my uneducated guess, it would appear the new update will include "Monster"-level difficulty mobs similar to CoX that are somewhere between Master Villian to Super Villian in PvE difficulty. Maybe a reason to team if they have/spawn lots of minions?
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
http://forums.champions-online.com/showthread.php?p=1447639#post1447639
Greetings, Champions!
Welcome to the 2010 reboot of the State of the Game! We’ve been keeping our shoulders to the wheel, our noses to the grindstone, and our foot on the pedal to bring you some great updates for Champions Online. There’s a lot to talk about, so now that the preamble has ambled, let’s dig into the meat of it!
The “Kitchen Sink” patch is slated to hit the live servers tonight, and this bad boy has a slew of changes that are based a great deal on your input over the past couple of months. We’ve touched just about every area of the game, from items to characteristics to powers to costumes to sound to graphics to zones and missions to UI to... well, you get the idea. I won’t delve into every last detail here (that’s what the patch notes of incredibly large size are for) but I did want to call out some highlights.
Powers
The Archery, Celestial, Darkness, Fire, Force, Ice, Might, Munitions, Power Armor, Single Blade, Sorcery, and Supernatural power sets have all seen improvements. The long-discussed (and cried out for by the community) changes to both Swallowtail Cut and Force Cascade have been made.
Items Get More Offensive
Items which previously were described as granting an Offensive Combat Value bonus for certain kinds of attacks had not been actually giving that bonus. These items have been rebuilt and redesigned, and now have a chance to grant a short duration (20 second), very high intensity boost to OCV on attacks of the designated type.
Lemuria Rises!
The performance issues in Lemuria have been greatly improved. We’ve had extremely positive response from our players on the Public Test Shard as to how well the zone plays now, so we’re hoping that this is the end of “Lagmuria.”
Nemesis
The appearances and powers of your Nemesis can now be edited for a modest resource cost at the MCPD crime database. Defeated Nemeses can also now be reactivated from the MCPD crime database if you don't already have an active Nemesis.
Crafting
There are changes and addressed issues with various blueprints and components, but most exciting is that bind-on-Equip Crafted Travel Device blueprints may now be dropped by White Rhino, Dr. Demogaard, The Bronze King, Vikorin the Blind, and Shadow Destroyer. Get out there, fight some bad guys, and gain the knowledge required to make some of the wildest travel powers in the game.
Team Looting
There are a lot of upgrades to the looting system that grants better distribution amongst team members, address issues with players thinking they took an item when another player already claimed it, and changed both round-robin and need-or-greed team looting to be on a per-item basis as opposed to a per-bag basis. There are also changes to the Master looting system, and the overall team looting threshold is now met on a per-item basis rather than the highest quality item in the bag.
And Oh, So Much More...
Many more topics are discussed in much more detail in the patch notes, so make sure to give them a read. We’re constantly working to improve Champions Online, so keep playing and let us know how about your experiences!
What’s Next for Champions Online?
We have a lot in the pipeline and this is a good a time as any to break some news! The development team has been working on not only improvements, but also on some amazing new content and game systems for your enjoyment. We don’t have exact dates set for all of these features, but they are coming in the short term as opposed to being long range plans. As we get closer to release on these, we’ll let you know! And away we go...
I See a Blood Moon a Risin’
By popular demand, we’re going to be bringing back the Blood Moon event with a few twists and upgrades based on your feedback. The concept is that the event will trigger the day before, of, and after every real-world full moon. We’re using the same technology we debuted with Clarence in our Misfit Toys event to make battling Takofanes and his minions more interesting and challenging for heroes of all ranges of experience. Look for announcements in the upcoming few weeks as to when the Blood Moon will rise again!
This One Goes to Eleven
We’ll be introducing difficulty levels that players can set both for individual heroes and for their team. With 1 lower and 2 higher levels of difficulty to select from, players can create a challenge that fits their play style and ability.
Flashing Back
Cutting-edge temporal technology invented by the genius tinkerer Juryrig allows heroes to travel back to moments in their own history. Have a moment of personal glory that you want to relive, a mission that didn’t quite go the way you wanted, or missing an elusive perk? Here’s your chance!
Vibora Bay Watch
We’ve had a big secret here at Cryptic, and we can’t hold it in any longer. Over the past few months we’ve been working like mad on our first (untitled) expansion for Champions Online! The setting is Vibora Bay, one of the Gulf Coast’s largest and most exciting cities. It’s a center of commerce, culture, tourism, and some incredibly strange goings-on. It maintains unusual traditions of mysticism and religion along with an eclectic group of inhabitants and frequent paranormal activities. Heroes constantly face threats of global proportions, but this time the crisis is greater than ever. The apocalypse has come, and it rides upon the half angelic / half demonic wings of Therakiel.
A web page is currently in the works that will feature screen shots, a video trailer, and detailed information on this level 37 – 40 mega-adventure pack, so stay tuned for more information!
That’s all for now, heroes - see you online!
__________________
Chronomancer
Changing Time since 2142
Patch Notes
http://www.champions-online.com/node/594825
Posted by Daeke
Hot Issues
* This build contains over two months worth of fixes and changes to the game! Please read the full patch notes to understand how changes may have affected your character.
* Players in Lemuria should experience much less lag and find the zone more playable. Please let us know on the forums if you are still experiencing issues.
* Nemeses can now be edited at the MCPD Crime Database. Change their costumes, powers, and minions for a modest fee!
* Team Looting mechanics have been changed. Check out the Missions and Content section for more details.
* Due to the changes being made to the powers, Swallowtail Cut and Force Cascade: Containment users will be given free retcons in an upcoming patch.
Patch Note Topics
* General
* UI/Chat
* Powers
* Missions and Content
* Crafting
* Character Creator
* Known Issues
General
* New Item Functionality - Procced Offensive Combat Value ("Offense" on items): Items which previously were described as granting an OCV bonus for certain kinds of attacks had not been actually giving that bonus. These items have been rebuilt and redesigned, and now have a chance to grant a short duration (20 second), very high intensity boost to OCV on attacks of the designated type. This effect can occur no more than once every 120 seconds. Some items affected by this change include:
o Nakomis Totem
o Gloves of the Changeling
o Omicron Chemistry
o HotSleep Fists
o Mechmachine Fists
o UNTIL Achilles-JPG Gloves
OCV is now on a Diminishing Returns model. Lower values of OCV generate greater benefit than previously, and very high values will result in less benefit. The benefit from OCV follows the exact same curve and values as your primary characteristics. (This is almost certainly a 'buff' for everybody who has any OCV, as there likely wasn't enough gear to pass the inflection point in the content before this update.)
* MP3 tracks will now correctly turn off when switching to another player.
* Object interaction will no longer cancel when rotating your character with the keyboard.
* Messages displayed when players get disconnected are now more accurate.
* ATI multi-sampling has been improved for 2000-, 3000-, 4000-, and 5000-series cards, including flickering fog and blooming, outlining problems, and streaking line artifacts in shadows.
* Nvidia has released new graphics drivers for Windows Vista/Windows 7 which contain a fix to some issues with Champions. If you were experiencing problems, please update your drivers (32-bit link or 64-bit link) and see if they are resolved.
* Made improvements to DirectX state management, fixing an issue where bad data could cause polygons to appear in random, flickering locations, occasionally causing crashes.
* Setting a withdraw limit of 0 in the guild bank will now actually count as a limit of 0, instead of being unlimited.
User Interface and Chat
* The following new options have been added to the Control Schemes: Camera Follow Type, Max Camera Distance, Mouse Look sensitivity, Controller Look sensitivity. With “Always Face Forward” option off, turning left and right will now turn the camera. We have also increased the camera’s pitch and yaw interpolation speeds when using the keyboard/mouse.
* Players should no longer see negative numbers showing up in chat when you dodge/resist/immunify an attack.
* Changes to the render scale setting should now correctly save.
* The camera should now move more smoothly and handle collisions better.
* Super Group contacts now have icons.
* Players that set their "Looking For Group" rules to reject team invitations will show that status in the LFG UI.
* "Show Damage Floaters" has been added to the options menu.
* When you're holding an object, the tooltip for Smash will now display the damage it will deal.
* Team notification error messages should now appear in red.
* Unlocking a new Pattern will now show the pattern name instead of the material name.
* The buy option in stores should now correctly check inventory space and send the correct message if there is not enough space available.
* The option to set bloom intensity has been added to the options menu.
* The option to switch audio output device has been added to the options menu.
* A new privacy setting has been added that allows players to set themselves as Visible, Friends Only, or Anonymous.
* When selecting a character at the character select screen, the character now assumes the correct pose instantly rather than blending into it.
* Chat channels will correctly save when switching between tabs.
* There is now an error message when trying to use Team, Guild, or Officer chat while not a member.
* The correct error message will now display when trying to send tells to non-friends from a trial account.
* Fixed an issue with overflow bags where the "Take All" and "Discard" buttons didn't update the UI. Players should no longer receive an "Inventory Full" message while they have open space in their bag.
Powers
* Players with very high stealth will no longer get aggro when someone on their team pulls aggro. A player that cannot be perceived will not be treated as a legal target, until a point at which they normally would be.
* Dodge and Avoidance are now on a diminishing returns model. Lower values of Dexterity generate significantly greater benefit than previously, but very high values will result in less benefit.
* Added moderate knock resistance element to snares.
* It is no longer possible to switch builds and retain any benefits from the previous build.
Archery
* Sonic Arrow: Tap damage increased, charged damage reduced.
* Torrent of Arrows: Charged damage decreased.
Celestial
* Expulse: Fixed costing so it knows that it can only be cast at full charge.
Darkness
* Ebon Rift: Now appears very close to the target, instead of a fixed distance away from the caster. Additionally, the rift now lingers for a duration that increases based on how long it was maintained. Base cooldown has been increased to 16 seconds.
* Ebon Rift: Vengeful Shadows: This advantage was not working properly against targets that were immune to knockback, dealing unintentional massive damage. We have changed it such that enemies who are immune to knockback take significantly less damage from this advantage. The net result is - this power works the same as it did before this change against critters who are not immune to knockback, but enemies that are immune to knockback effectively take 30% more damage from your Ebon Rift if they are within range of the advantage. Also increased the range of the advantage from 5 feet to 7 feet (as it is supposed to be melee range).
* Shadow Embrace: Damage over time increases slightly more slowly.
Fire
* Conflagration: Substantially improved graphical performance.
Force
* Personal Force Field: Now regenerates at triple the normal rate when out of combat.
* Force Blast: Tap damage and cost reduced. Charged damage and cost increased slightly.
* Force Cascade: Containment Blast: Description updated to read "Applies a hold to all targets hit by Force Cascade and prevents them from being damaged."
* Force Eruption: Activate time reduced from 0.57 seconds to 0.5 seconds. Tap damage and cost increased, and charged damage reduced.
* Protection Field: Power no longer returns a percentage of your energy as an absolute value of energy (i.e. returning .15 energy rounded up to 1 from a 15% energy return). Also, "You've gained energy" effect will only play on you when you actually gain energy, instead of every time the target is struck.
Gadgeteering
* Sonic Device: Cooldown increased to 30 seconds from 18 seconds. Shares a cooldown with Imbue.
Ice
* Frost Breath: Damage increased slightly, cost decreased.
* Ice Blast: Damage increased slightly, cost decreased.
Might
* Enrage: Increased the bonus damage per stack.
Munitions
* Shotgun: The base power has been placed on the same diminishing returns model as other knockback powers.
* Two-Gun Mojo: Close the Gap: No longer has variance above/below 30%, and changed where the % increase takes place so that this should always equal a 30% increase at point blank, even at high stat levels.
Power Armor
* Chest Beam: Description incorrectly stated the power knocked back, however it did not. Power now has knockback, but has had a 3% damage reduction to keep the cost relatively close to what it was (though it has been increased a bit).
Single Blade
* Dragon's Bite: Now uses the correct description.
* Swallowtail Cut: Damage can now be resisted, the percent of health damage does not benefit from damage-improving effects and buffs, and reduced the tick rate of the power.
* Sneak: Adjusted to work with the new perception values of critters. Should be more useful versus both critters and players now.
Sorcery
* Sigils of Radiant Sanctuary: Should no longer be possible to have more than one set of this Sigil out.
* Sigils of Radiant Sanctuary: The aggro stealth provided by these sigils no longer unintentionally scales with stats.
* Sigils of Radiant Sanctuary: Fixed an error with the advantaged version of this power that was preventing it from ranking up appropriately.
Supernatural
* Lash: Meteor Hammer: Added diminishing returns to the Knock effect. Also now properly works alongside Aspect of the Celestial's HoT effect.
* Condemn: Tap damage increased, Tap cost reduced. Charge damage increased, Charge cost reduced.
* Bite: Tap and Charge damage and cost increased.
Telepathy
* Collective Will: The debuff inflicted by the advantaged version of this power is now slightly weaker at each rank.
Critters
* Changes have been made to critter perception in order to enable changes to player stealth. This should not have any effect on how critters behave during combat, but may change how long critters stay in combat. Sneak has already been modified to work with these new changes.
Missions and Content
* Immobile critters will now only choose to attack things that are within their range.
* Open Mission timers should now correctly start in all cases.
* Unique items will no longer be given out in open missions if the player already owns that item.
* Critters will now only give out rewards after their death just once, as it should be.
* Missions now reward level appropriate resources upon completion. If you're over the level of the mission, you'll receive fewer resources as a reward.
Tutorial
* Citizens Distressed: Replaced SUO Weaponry reward with Modified SUO Weaponry so that each reward has different stats.
Lemuria
* Lemuria's performance should be greatly improved. Please report any additional performance issues you experience underwater.
UNITY
* Earthworm Gem: Scientists now give credit immediately after his guards are defeated.
* Special Assignment missions are now granted correctly.
Nemesis
* Nemeses can now be edited for a modest resource cost. Visit the MCPD crime database to update your Nemeses' appearances and powers.
* Nemesis names must now be unique (on a single character) when you create or edit a Nemesis. You can no longer have two nemeses named "Nuck Chorris".
* Nemesis Confrontation: Qliphothic Tainted Realm: Both the damage and the power gain occur less often, but for higher amounts per tick. The net result is an overall reduction in both energy gain and damage inflicted. Overall damage is now significantly reduced by your Recovery stat. (Lore reason: Your own system's hearty energy generation helps push out or purge the tainted energy!) The higher your Recovery, the less damage you'll take. Added an icon and flagged the power as an un-purgable debuff, and added a description / text to the icon that reads: "You are being flooded with corrupted energy. Keep your energy low, or it will harm you!" The damage is now resistible. In addition to the obvious benefits of further reducing the damage, it makes using Shadow Form a viable tactic, albeit still something of a mixed blessing; your energy will be constantly topped off, but you’re now able to automatically resist the damage to a VERY high degree.
* Defeated Nemeses can now be reactivated from the MCPD crime database if players don't already have an active Nemesis.
Items
* Items with a level requirement of 1 will no longer display the level, as everyone meets that requirement.
* Temporary Forcefield (level 9): Fixed flavor description to match power.
* Changed item tag on Acheral Mace Device and Sonic Pacification Device so that they are no longer consumable.
* Mutating Gene Bomb Catalyst and Xeno-Infection Catalyst have had their slots changed from secondary to primary to match their recipes.
* The stats on Ward of Yggdrasil are now appropriate for the item.
* Changed Strength Amplified Exolimbs to Dexterity Amplified Exolimbs to match already existing stats.
* Necrull's Skull can now only summon one of each type of undead critter, rather than unlimited hordes.
* Action figures at the Toy Master now properly list if they are Bind on Pickup rather than Bind on Equip.
Team Looting
* Round-robin looting now gives a better distribution amongst team members.
* Free-for-all loot bags can now only be used by one player at a time. This should prevent players from thinking they took an item when another player already claimed it.
* Round-robin and need-or-greed team looting are now on a per-item basis as opposed to per-bag.
* Master looter items are now granted immediately after the master looter assigns a recipient, rather than in one large batch at the end.
* Master looter mode no longer has a timed event associated with it.
* Loot that is being interacted with no longer expires, and interacting with loot refreshes the expiration time. This prevents situations where a need/greed timer could expire after the loot itself has expired, preventing anyone from receiving the item.
* Team looting threshold is now met on a per-item basis rather than the highest quality item in the bag. Now, if a bag contains white and blue items, and the threshold is for Blues, the the whites will be assigned round-robin, while the blue is distributed by the master looter.
* Loot rolls and rewards now correctly deal with changes to the team (such as a new leader, players joining/leaving, etc.) while a loot bag exists for the team.
Crafting
* New BOE Crafted Travel Device blueprints can now be dropped by White Rhino, Dr. Demogaard, The Bronze King, Vikorin the Blind, and Shadow Destroyer.
* Enhancements at crafting vendors should once again show stat information.
* The tooltips for enhancement blueprints now display the types of blueprints they can enhance.
* Emperor's Blaze Blueprint now correctly makes the Emperor's Blaze power replace instead of Amp Maces.
* Marked the blueprint for Advanced Surge Protection as a consumable.
* Gadget Boy Theorem component is now labeled as Competent.
* Fixed a bug that was causing players to reopen the crafting table each time an item was deconstructed.
* Reduced some required components for intermediate crafting objects.
* Fixed an incorrect component cost on the Speedball blueprint.
Costume Creator/Tailor
* Capes should no longer display incorrectly when first showing up on screen. The issue where polygons stretched or a temporary drop in framerate occurred has also been fixed.
* Fixed a bug causing unlocked costume pieces to reset to default pieces when entering the Tailor.
Known Issues
* The camera gets "stuck" to the side of the player after transferring between zones. Simply manually moving the camera (with the right-mouse) should unstick it.
* The "Mouse Look Reticle" does not change colors based on the target it is facing.
* When attempting to queue for Nemesis Confrontation, the UI opens up to the wrong tab.
* Focus of the Unleashed Tempest: Incorrectly displays a growing stack of Heightened Focus. This has no effect on any of the powers currently in the game.
* Due to the changes being made to the powers, Swallowtail Cut and Force Cascade: Containment users will be given free retcons in an upcoming patch.
Also, please give your feedback on Melee here!
http://forums.champions-online.com/showthread.php?t=98090
Hmm. Not happy. First new zone in the game, and it is 37-40 and we have to pay extra for it.
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.