27 Jan, 2009
Double XP Weekend - Aftermath
Double XP weekend was productive this time around. I had focused on a new character which had taken off. I had started it a week beforehand on a whim. Since my broadsword shield scrapper female had lost its appeal due to its group problems, I wanted to try a more traditional male version. I ended up with a decent costume that evolved into a brittish look I really liked. And quickly got plenty of comments off of it, which also drove its play time up. Early on I had also lucked into a rare recipe that I sold for 10 million influence which financed him until just a day or so ago, along with other Wentworth income, albeit far smaller revenues. There were 1.5 million in costume contest wins..
ALSO making it fun was hitting upon a group his first day or so called the Justice Guard. Who should be co-founder of the group but an old friend -- Feuer-Konig, from years ago , back in the SERAPH Team one/Fast Neutrino days.
By the time last Friday rolled around, Sir Britainic had already reached level 25 or so. By the end of the weekend he had hit 36. Considering he's had less than 2 weeks play time, I consider that quite an accomplishment. Fast Neutrino also hit 42, getting a level while taking on Imperious Task Force in the new Cimerora zone. Sir Britainic wasn't high enough at the time JG was running ITF, and got into another group before their plans changed and they decided to do ITF after all. Fast Neutrino DID join JG as well. The ITF was QUITE an experience, with some aspects I had not expected. A couple levels on Kid Arcane and others were also gotten in, but by far, Sir Brittainic has had most of the play. Sir Britainic also spent enough time in the Cimerora on Sunday and Monday to earn the roman sword and shield costume pieces. Also during that time, he's gotten some COVER time, if you know what I mean.
As to the Double XP weekend, crowds were common, especially maxing out Freedom and Virtue in the evenings. Even Infinity was pegging medium load. On some times it was very hard to get into Virtue, requiring frequent tries until a window opened up. Curiously I always saw it as MEDIUM Load or FULL, but Never HIGH Load, except on one single occasion. I don't know what their margins for HIGH are now, but it must be VERY narrow. Some lag was noticed, the first I've experienced really since getting the new computer, so it was all SERVER side. But in the end it was highly profitable time spent.
16 Jan, 2009
Hero vs. Villain - part III
Here we go again...
14 Jan, 2009
Heroes vs Villians -- Part II
Couldn't resist passing along the second in these ad videos...
08 Jan, 2009
Heroes vs. Villians -- The Mac Ad...
Couldn't resist passing this on on...
07 Jan, 2009
Amended prediction
One more prediction struck me. The early dead zones. Perez Park and Boomtown are not what they once were. Perez Park on launch was the primary place for leveling from 7 thru 10 --either thru door missions (usually caves), hunt missions, or teams hunting Hyrdas. I used to see a lot of Boomtown hunt missions as well, but not so much any more.
I suspect something will happen to one or both zones. Remember that Boomtown side of Steel Canyon has seen some activity. If some of Baumtown was reclaimed, much the same way the Faultline has been, there could be some new fun areas there to play with. Perez Park as reclaimed, with people and active businesses could provide some new material possibilities for the user created mission content. Either wasy I would suggest it as a possibility.
06 Jan, 2009
Random thoughts
There have been lots of odds and ends I've noticed over the past couple weeks.
New Kids "JLA" clone group -- I've seen this on Virtue pop up and propagate greatly. First a Superman, then A Green Lantern, then a Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Batman, Hulk, Hawkwoman, Steel, Doctor Fate, and others. Clone groups pop up every 8 to 12 months, and NEVER last. One or more gets reported, and then blanked names and costumes get put into place as the EULA is enforced. These pint-sized clones have lasted longer than others, but since the group name even has been changed once, I suspect that they are already playing around the GMs and the EULA dangerously close.
Lots of trial accounts have been popping up -- you can tell this when someone is on a low level team and can't do any private tells because they are on a trial account. I even had one such account ask me questions and then accuse ME of being lazy because I wouldn't power level him. Several of these trial accounts have been obnoxious, and some were even insulting CoX players with names like "i laf at you all'. While I enjoy seeing new people discover City of Heroes, so few trial account people seem to WANT to be here, and are just killing time.
I've tried to play some tanks of late, but they seem to be VERY slow in leveling. More so than any other type I've played.
My new computer is chugging along. I did have something weird happen last night during a Citadel TF. Graphics started corrupting somehow. Evertime I would get to a beach, or a sandy hill of a certain texture, it was overlayed with a crazy quilt of color. This was even to start to be noticed on stairways before I called it a night. I'm hoping that this was a one-time thing, but i never got back in again to confirm it.
I'm still getting used to Issue 13 Task forces. Instead of the chose your random drop menu at the end, it just simply shows a time of completion and gives you REWARD MERITs. I got 50-60 for Synapse, and 30 last night for Citadel. You can choose what you want. Spending 8 awards gets you Single Origin enhancements at your max possible level, which can be very helpeful if you are doing one of the first few TFs at a low level. Still it does take some getting used to.
More later.
06 Jan, 2009
A new year
The winter lords have gone back to their homes. The Ski Chalet has vanished from Pocket D. No more are presents sitting on the ground and rooftops of Paragon City. We get to look forward to the upcoming year. And what will it bring? I've a few thoughts on that.
- Server Collapse. This is something I think MIGHT be coming. Lets face it. Some servers are VERY empty right now. While you can get on Virtue, Freedom, or even Champion and see crowds any time of the day in Atlas Park, other servers are barren of heroes at times. I could very easily see a few servers get combined. NOT a great many, but a few. Since there might be the same hero name on both servers, and they very well might be active names, there is probably going to be some objections to this. A sign this is coming possibly would be another name purge on all servers like they did a couple years ago, freeing up names from accounts that have been dormant for months to years.
- Issue Delays. I really would expect I14 to be several months off. I expec that with the mission construction component of the issue, that some problems will push this back once or twice from their expected release date. Nature of the beast on something like that. It probably will require an extended beta or two.
- Anti-competion events/gifts. We have TWO possible super-hero MMOs on the horizon; DC Universe and Champions Online. While Champions may be stuck at the moment with publisher problems, I expect one or both of these to be released this year. To keep the attention on City, I expect NCSoft to release special things to coincide with releases. IF they have an issue (which supports the above prediction) and a release is forthcoming on one of the two games, they may hold the issue and release it at the same time DC Universe or Champions release. Or it might be something like another Pack that gets added to the game. We've seen the Wedding Pack, and Cyborg pack. How about a Mystic pack? A Creature Pack? A Golden Age pack? Even a minor release with some new costume options. I don't see them doing NOTHING when the other games release, and can't help but wonder if they have one or two items waiting in the wings to release at the same time.
- End Game content One thing the game has lacked -- Level 50 (or beyond) content. With a game entering its 5th year this year, I can't help but think that one of the best things they could do is give some sizable addition of content, that is all or in part focused on the upper level characters only. I hesitate to say they will add levels beyond 50, but wouldn't say that is IMPOSSIBLE.
You might want to book mark the permalink for this post and check back in 12 months to see if I'm right.
