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A Mild-Mannered Reporter: The growing, creeping power
City of Heroes is a rarity. It's a well-established game that hasn't yet raised the level cap even once. Oh, sure, the Incarnate system is cheating a couple of extra level-like improvements out, but you hit the cap at 50 now just like you did when the game first launched. Compared to World of Warcraft, which ups its top level biannually, the game provides a real sense of security that the cap hasn't changed. Level 50 content is still relevant because the top end of power has remained stable. Of course, there's a downside to that as well. While having a forever-rising level cap has its own issues, a firm cap has left us with an endgame that's grown bloated as only games with entrenched caps can. We're not constantly having to relearn the entire endgame so much as we're getting new widgets added on, and we're finding ourselves stuck with a growing problem of old-fashioned power creep.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Why there are no more Epic Archetypes in City of Heroes
My weekend plans went cross-eyed, as they often do, but as a result I found myself looking through some old notes for future columns on City of Heroes. There were a lot of notes I took early on when I was first writing columns, some of which I wound up using and some of which wound up being discarded, but one particular idea jumped out at me: a column about potential future Epic Archetypes. Specifically, I was looking back over and noting how a lot of the archetypes I listed wouldn't actually work at all. I've gone on record as having been a big fan of EATs right from the beginning, as they're meant to be classes that break up the regular structure of the game's classes. That strikes me as laudable. But even disregarding the technical aspects of the epics that makes them more complex to develop and balance, I think there are some noteworthy basic problems with them on a conceptual level. We may very well never get another one just because the game has been structured to make them almost a design mistake that's never been corrected.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: How City of Heroes almost died
If it hasn't become clear over the past two and a half years, I really enjoy speculation. I like crazy theories, I like exploring possibilities, I like thought exercises, and so forth. There's some speculation that I find particularly ill-informed or lacking in some fundamental point of logic, but that doesn't mean I don't learn about them first. Why am I making a point out of this? Because I've developed a theory about the state of City of Heroes, and I want to make it clear before I launch into this somewhat grim theory that I'm basing this entirely on outside observations. I want it to be clear that I could, in fact, be totally wrong, and when I say that City of Heroes nearly committed unintentional suicide a couple of years ago, I don't want that to be seen as some grand behind-the-scenes revelation. And if it weren't obvious from that line, yes, that's where I'm going. I think Going Rogue nearly gutted City of Heroes and burned the whole game to the ground. And I think everything the game has done since can be directly traced back to that expansion.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: What City of Heroes needs for its ninth year
The past year of City of Heroes has been in no small part defined by the free-to-play revolution moving into full swing. 2010 was the year in which it became clear that free-to-play could work; 2011 was the year in which nearly every game moved over to the new model, with only a handful of stalwarts clinging to the subscription-only model. Unfortunately, this also means that the once-present divide between business models no longer exists, and by and large there's less sense that free-to-play games are inherently worse than subscription games. The imaginary barrier simply doesn't exist as it used to. What does that have to do with City of Heroes for its next year of development? Almost everything. I've talked about how the game has two obvious and direct competitors in the superhero genre, but now they're all competing with the same business model. They all have the same initial outlay, instead of City of Heroes being the oldest, most respected, and cheapest option. In order for a game to be successful, and it no longer has to convince players that it's worth $15 a month for a few months -- it just has to convince you that downloading it and giving it a shot is worth the effort. That means flash, fun, and a quick dose of what you're looking for.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Eight years of city life
There are some things that were broken this year in City of Heroes beyond a shadow of a doubt. Then there were things that weren't necessarily broken depending on whom you asked. But one thing has been broken absolutely and completely: my format for these retrospectives. See, from one point of view, this was a content-light year. I mean, we had two new issues and that's it. On the other hand, one of those was the launch of City of Heroes Freedom, and the result has been a steady stream of partial updates, minor improvements, new installments in the signature story arc, and so on. In previous years, going issue-by-issue worked as a way to look back over the course of the year, but it just doesn't work any longer. But then, it's not supremely necessary. There are three big things that have defined the game for the past year: Freedom, the Incarnate system, and new toys. So we're going to break the format that doesn't really work and just talk about those in order.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Status report, last year
What with one thing and another, a year has passed. At this time last year, things were very different for City of Heroes, and so I started up my usual trifecta of columns on the past year with a look back at what I said the game needed and how it's done on those fronts. So it's time for the second annual iteration because as we all know, the first annual anything doesn't really count. And if your memory is getting rusty from a year ago, by all means, take the time to refresh it. Certainly if you had told me back then that every major superhero game would be free-to-play before the year was up, I wouldn't have believed it. But that's what's happened, and as the game has shifted, so has the market around it. That means that the game has really had to face off against its two "direct" competitors on a straight footing, and that might not have been in the game's best interests as a whole.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Positive charge
PAX East this past weekend was indeed filled with revelations, but none of them had to do with City of Heroes or any other NCsoft game, really, so I can't even complain about one getting all the love while the others were ignored. And while I could probably try to spin a thousand words out of wanting to insert a Rock Band Blitz-style minigame into the game under discussion, I have the feeling I'd get some odd looks and a rejected column. What I did have opportunity to consider, however, is how pretty much the only thing I've brought up in regard to the Paragon Market has been the many, many choices made regarding it that I consider debatable. The Super Pack and the numerous power sets both have been targets for negativity, and I honestly haven't said anything corresponding about the positives. This seems unfair on many levels. Sure, I think the implementation is sometimes dicey, but there are a lot of parts of the market that are great, and I happily doff my hat to the team for them. So instead of burying the shop, let's praise it.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Countless marvelous powers
There were a lot of reasons I decided to stop collecting Transformers a couple of years back, but chief among those reasons was the fact that it was increasingly a hunt for novelty over permanence. A new wave of toys was released, and fans were expected to buy the lot of them, admire the novelty, and then almost immediately move on to the next wave. The idea of new releases playing into past toys was increasingly left out in the cold, meaning that you could essentially just keep grabbing a new set of toys every two or three months rather than enjoying the ones you had. Of course, Transformers are meant to be toys for children, so the marketing strategy is pretty defensible. But I'm beginning to wonder whether City of Heroes isn't adopting a similar attitude with the steady onslaught of new powersets. Since Freedom hit, we've seen an absolute explosion of new sets with new mechanics and new ways to play... but we've also seen a real dearth of anything tying players to a given powerset. It's novelty on a steady basis, but we might not have appreciated the slow pace of new sets before.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Superheroish
This may already be clear, but I'm a pretty big fan of comics, superheroic or otherwise. City of Heroes first attracted me because, well, superhero MMO. Like most fans of the genre, I've been creating my own superheroes since I was old enough to think of an appropriate name, and the thought of being able to create these characters and throw them against all manner of villains was more than enough to pique my interest. I dropped my money on a boxed copy and never looked back. Unfortunately, for all its strengths, City of Heroes isn't all that great as a superhero game. It's clear that the people working on the game also know a lot about comics, and there's a definite sense that Paragon Studios works overtime at replicating the source material. But there's a lot of stuff that the game can't or won't handle, and as a result it's never felt like a game about superheroes so much as a game inspired by them. Most of the notes are there, but the music isn't, and I think I've finally nailed down a few reasons why.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Digital Enhancements
Last week, I covered the raw basics of Enhancements in City of Heroes. This was a good place to start, but it also glossed over everything but the basics. It's telling that glossing over everything but the basics still involves stuff that's as bogglingly complicated as diversification, but then, there's a reason I decided to do these columns in the first place. But with all the basics out of the way, what more could there be to cover? Lots, as it happens, because last week didn't touch upon dual Enhancements or Inventions, both of which cover the same ground and take into account the specifics of Enhancement Diversification and so forth. So for those of you wondering why I didn't talk about IOs, those still trying to get a handle on the system, or those just morbidly curious about how the game works, it's time to start in with the enhancements that broke the entire system in half more or less the second they were introduced: Inventions.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Some Enhancement evening
Using the Enhancement system is pretty important to playing City of Heroes successfully. It's a combination of both gear and (arguably) character specialization, and it's the main way that you increase your power over the course of your leveling. Sure, you get new powers as you level up, but your earlier powers remain your steadfast workhorses. Mastery of Enhancements is the path to being imbalanced. Unfortunately, the Enhancement system is also really, really complicated. I don't say this lightly; in fact, I say this specifically after a conversation with a fellow Massively staffer who has never fully understood how this system is supposed to work. Said staffer is an intelligent man, but the system is rife with corner cases, strange rules, exceptions, and several elements that are never really explained in full. So for all of the newer free-to-play people or old hands at City of Heroes who never really got the system, here's a primer on how Enhancements work.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: That's really super, Super Pack
So, the Super Pack is out. Not a whole lot has changed in City of Heroes as a result. The skies have not been raining fire any more than they already do on a regular basis (superheroes, you know the deal). People still log in and play and enjoy themselves. And my enormous ranting diatribe still sits in the archives for anyone who missed it the first time or just wants to take a second look for posterity. My feelings haven't changed. But while launching into a full-on rant was certainly cathartic and managed to hit a lot of good points, there were a lot of good points brought up in the comments that I simply hadn't touched on. So it's time to address some of the those ideas and complaints, both the good and the bad. (Although under the circumstances, it's pretty much all bad in varying flavors.)
Celebrate City of Heroes' 7th anniversary with the devs!
Few MMOs make it to seven years, and fewer still retain a sizable, fanatical playerbase the way City of Heroes has. From its humble origins as a different type of online RPG through its growth in fame, power and two expansion packs, City of Heroes has mimicked the superhero archetype in more ways than one. The devs at Paragon Studios want to celebrate this seven-year milestone with the coolest crowd on the block: namely, CoH players! While there will be no in-game events this year due to content coming in May, the devs will be available for a meet and greet this Thursday, April 28th on the EU and NA servers. Check out the schedule to see when and where you can hang out with your favorite dev and perhaps unload a burning question or two. The team will also appear later that day in a special UStream live chat event. Stay tuned to Massively, as tomorrow our Mild-Mannered Reporter column will be throwing the confetti and blowing kazoos to mark this auspicious occasion!
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Both sides now
Back when Going Rogue was first released, I made a point that I wasn't going into detail on the alignment and tip system. As I saw it at the time, there were two major reasons not to go whole-hog into it, the first being that I was already writing an entire novel on the expansion, and the second being that Paragon Wiki was hard at work putting more details into place. Why try to reinvent the wheel in a weekly column? And there was also a third reason: I'd been spending more time in Praetoria than on my old characters. So I suppose in some way I ought to thank whichever designer gave my poor brute the chance to fight two elite bosses at the same time with three NPCs as backup in a single-player mission. It gave me plenty of incentive to spend more time with my higher-level characters. (Seriously, that mission is absurd.) That meant I started diving into the alignment system, and that means I'm going to spend more time detailing one of the centerpieces of City of Heroes gameplay at the moment: alignment.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Two sides to the story
I'm pretty excited for Going Rogue. Part of that is kind of inevitable -- I write a column about City of Heroes, I've tried to make a clear point that I'm a fan of comics in general, and quite honestly right now I'm in a bit of a video game drought and could use something new. But there's more to it than that, and it goes right back to my love of BioWare and the motivation to do speed runs of Silent Hill 2 just to see all of the various endings available. What I'm getting at here is that I'm a big fan of any game that offers me morality or lets the game shift depending on my choices. So when Going Rogue had its two factions explained, I sat up and took notice, because the morals at play are certainly not black and white. No, they're grey and gray -- if not closer to blue and orange -- and that led to the inspiration for what I believe to be two of my most popular columns. And wouldn't you know it, even with both columns written, there's still more to be said.
