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City of Heroes Interviews: Issue 9 Interview With Matt Miller
News Editor Garrett Fuller sits down with Matt "Positron" Miller, the Lead Designer for Cryptic Studios' City of Heroes / Villains about Issue 9, the game's next free expansion.
By on February 13, 2007
City of Heroes: Issue 9 Interview With Matt "Positron" Miller
News Editor Garrett Fuller sits down with Matt "Positron" Miller, the Lead Designer for Cryptic Studios' City of Heroes / Villains about Issue 9, the game's next free expansion.
| MMORPG.com: | Give us an introduction into what Issue 9 will offer players for both City of Heroes and City of Villains. |
| Matt Miller: | Well, first off we have the Invention system, which adds a whole new dynamic to the game. Heroes and Villains will collect salvage and recipes by defeating enemies. In keeping with City of Heroes “casual friendly” game design, the collecting of these items adds extra spice to the gameplay of defeating foes, rather than becoming a hardcore task of “grinding,” “camping” or hours of “raiding.” With this salvage, players can use the recipes to assemble an all new class of Power Enhancements or costume pieces (depending on the recipe), which they can then use. Unused recipes and salvage can be sold at the new Consignment Houses (for Heroes) or the new Black Market (for Villains). Next we have a revamp to the Hamidon encounter. For those not familiar with the Hamidon, it currently is one of the big “raid” encounters in the game, requiring a large group of heroes to overcome. We’ve changed the way Hamidon plays to improve the experience and also made an attempt to make the encounter better for smaller groups of characters. In addition, the Villains get their very own “Hamidon zone” in the Abyss. Finally we have Statesman’s Task Force, which allows Heroes to take the fight to Arachnos. This is on par with the Lord Recluse Strike Force and has the same reward pool to choose from at the end. |
| MMORPG.com: | What made you use the name "Breakthrough" to describe the free expansion? |
| Matt Miller: | Several reasons. First, it shows off the invention system by declaring a scientific breakthrough in getting better Enhancements into the hands of Heroes and Villains. Next, we have Hamidon breaking through in another part of the world, and finally we have the Heroes breaking through the Rogue Isle defenses in Statesman’s Task Force. |
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| MMORPG.com: | Obviously crafting has become a major part of MMOs. Tell us what the Invention system will offer players? |
| Matt Miller: | Since the “City of” games never had a crafting system or hard “loot” of any kind, we are kind of easing our playerbase into the concept. What you won’t find is a hard core crafting system that you must min-max numbers in for weeks to make the best “product”. What you will find is a fun new way to gain Enhancements, and Enhancements you actually desire. In addition, you can collect various “sets” of Enhancements which slot into specific powers. When you collect multiple pieces of the same set and slot them into the same power, you start to unlock new bonuses for your character that they didn’t have previously. This includes stuff like overall Damage bonuses or Defense bonuses versus specific attacks. Number crunchers will love the challenge of stacking these set bonuses, whereas more casual players will simply be happier that their character gets more powerful with each set they collect. |
| MMORPG.com: | If I am playing a Villain and stumble upon some loot I can salvage, how do I incorporate it into my Invention abilities? Can you walk us through a typical scenario for players? |
| Matt Miller: | Sure. First off you need access to an Invention Worktable. These are inside the Universities in Paragon City and Rogue Isles. For players with a Supergroup base, they can add an Invention Worktable to their base. Built into the table are “Invention Origin” recipes of the 28 standard Enhancements. These “IO’s” act just like normal Enhancements except they do not expire, and their bonus stays static no matter what level you are. Lower level IO’s are strengthened around that of Training Enhancements, mid level IO’s are about the power of Dual Origin Enhancements, and IO’s level 25 and above have about the same punch as current Single Origin Enhancements. Of course the power of the Enhancement is better with level, so high level invented Enhancements are slightly more powerful than the equivalent SO. You go to the worktable and open up the interface. Here you see what Enhancements you can make with the salvage you currently have. Higher level Enhancements take higher level salvage (i.e., salvage that comes from higher level enemies), so you should always have salvage appropriate to the level of Enhancements you want to build. These “built-in” recipes also have an Influence/Infamy cost to build, but they only take common-level salvage. Uncommon and rare salvage is reserved for use by the one-use recipes you find in the world.
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| MMORPG.com: | What are some of the uber-enhancements players will be able to build for their characters? |
| Matt Miller: | Well, all the recipes you find while playing the game are multi-purpose Enhancements, or something equally as cool. Here’s an example: Sting of the Manticore (a set of 6) - Slots into any Sniper power
If you have 2 Enhancements in the set slotted: Bonus to your Regeneration rate I’ll talk about the Enhancements. The last one in the list is a Proc, meaning a procedure that has a chance of happening. Every time you fire your sniper power with the Toxic DoT Proc Enhancement slotted in it, there is a chance your target gets hit with a Toxic Damage over Time effect as well as the normal damage and effect of your Sniper attack. The other Enhancements are all multi-purpose. This means that their overall bonuses are lower than a single-purpose Enhancement, but they fill multiple rolls for only a single slot. Next we have the set bonuses. The numbers are not set in stone what the bonuses are going to be, but as you can see, you get a lot of little advantages out of your Sniper power that you normally wouldn’t have. These bonuses make collecting sets highly desirable, as they can shore up holes in your character that you didn’t have any other way of shoring up before. One thing to keep in mind is that while the new crafted Enhancements have some nice bonuses and set improvements, the design intent is such that they do not completely overshadow the performance of currently available Enhancements. That way, someone who isn’t all that interested in collecting and crafting can play the game as they always have and still have a strong hero or villain. We don’t want this new system to reinvent the game and how people play it, but rather add a new dimension and avenue for fun. |
| MMORPG.com: | What other types of things can players put together using the new Invention system? |
| Matt Miller: | Well out the gate we have some new costume pieces that you can find the recipes for. We’ve got a bunch more wings for characters to make. The wings we introduced in Issue 8 with Veteran Rewards were really well received and having more wings that are available to everyone has been a popular request. We hope these new wings will make a lot of players happy. And since recipes are tradable, you can give the wing recipe and the salvage needed to make it to a 1st level character so they can have their super-special wings at the start of their careers. |
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| MMORPG.com: | Auction houses can offer a huge boost to a player economy. What will players be able to buy and sell in CoH and CoV? |
| Matt Miller: | Anything they can trade right now is sellable in the Consignment House. The Hero’s Consignment House and Villain’s Black Market take a fee on listing and selling items of course, but now you have a greater market for your goods than just selling them back to the origin appropriate stores. Many players are going to seek out the last pieces of their Enhancement sets here, or that one piece of rare salvage that they just could never find in order to make their costume piece. |
| MMORPG.com: | City of Heroes is getting a new PvE portion of the game to explore; can you talk about the Statesman’s Task Force? |
| Matt Miller: | We really wanted a parity to the Lord Recluse Strike Force, and the Statesman Task Force fit the bill. I don’t want to spoil anything about it, but rest assured that the heroes will be taking the fight to the Rogue Isles. |
| MMORPG.com: | Do you feel the Villains will be let down by giving only the Heroes new content? |
| Matt Miller: | The Villains got a bunch of new content to play with this past year, and the Heroes felt let down. We are just trying to bring the Hero experience up to par with the Villain one, so yeah, some people could feel that they are getting the short end of the stick, but I hope most people can see that these changes make the game better as a whole. |
| MMORPG.com: | What can players expect from the new Hamidon encounter? |
| Matt Miller: | Smaller raids, better tactics, and less potential for griefing. Since the Hamidon encounter will be much more do-able with small groups now, we’ve had to go ahead and put the “once per 24 hours” restriction on the Hamidon Enhancement you can get from it, so it doesn’t become farmed 10 times in a day. Once players start seeing the power of the Set based inventions, they may start picking the “Rare Recipe” option upon defeating Hamidon instead! |
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haha.
It sounds okay.
i can only read: (except in the actuall post, by that i mean this one)
"News Editor Garrett Fuller sits down with Matt "Positron" Miller, the Lead Designer for Cryptic Studios' City of Heroes / Villains about Issue 9, the game's next free expansion."
then its nothing more, anyone else experienced that?
Yep cant read the rest must be in error. :( nevermind it helps if you scroll down ! lol
Not much we didn't know, and of course the devil's in the details - deciding if the inventions are a "must-have", a waste of time, or something in between will depend entirely on what numbers they choose to assign. And by that I mean not just the value of the boost, but how rare is "rare"?
Based just on the numbers that leaked out so far, I already figure I'd have to be tripping over salvage and drained of inf to make any of the built-in IO recipes of a level other than 45 or 50.
I do foresee however, a nice use of the consignment shops. I'm really curious to see what kind of economy develops in this influence-rich world. I also hope I can deconstruct Centrioles into some useful salvage, as their value is low and set for dropping. I mean dmg/range is already the red-headed stepchild of the Hami-Os, and I only see it getting less desireable with new IO options.
Also it seems like all of this invention salvage falls into the category of "stuff that drops while you're doing what you're doing." Which is fine but still, still not giving 50s anything to do. Sure, now there's both the revamped (nice!) Hami raid and the Statesman TF, but you still have the big grind/raid question - what the heck am I getting better for?? How many of us have 50s that do nothing but get a new HO, technically becoming better, then go back to the bench? I have several.
That said, to end on a high note, sounds good with the Hami raid revamp. I especially like the "rare recipe" option, which sounds fair, and flexible, and I'm very glad you thought of it because had players suggested that it would surely have been met with the same warmth as the "select a Hami-O" idea.
lol, just eralised that too :) but im pretty sure it actually was away for a second, cause otherwise im really stupid. i guess.
Bah, I was hoping this was going to be the issue with villain epic archtypes, guess I'm going to have to wait another 6 or so months.
I'm thinking this invention system is set up as a distraction so players don't level up as fast and complain about the grind.
After reading on the official forums that Posi doesn't want the new system to overshadow those that choose not to use it, I am wondering how much it will be worth the time investment.
Posi's words:
We tried to make it so that if you had a full set of Set-based IOs, then your overall bonuses were similar in power to straight up SO slotting.
So that said, my initial thoughts are if Invention salvage drops at anywhere near the rate of Base Salvage, I don't see getting 2 or 3 powers slotted out worth the time investment/effort. It was nice he did say they will NOT make mobs tougher with the new system. Yes, I can still play the game without this addition but I'm pretty bored with the game as is so I really don't want a huge grind with this system just to gain an extra 2-5% performance boost(but I guess that is par for MMOs and unfortunately Cryptic has been moving closer and closer to the standard formula).
As far as the cost, I'm not so worried about influence IF(and that's a big if) the leaked info I've seen stays close. Such as a level 50 IO for defense buff only costs 64,000 influence. I can't see a dual IO costing 10 times as much but we will see. The biggest factor for that single effect enhancement was it used 3 pieces of salvage.
They really need to get this system on test soon(as in the next couple weeks not Cryptic's SoonTM)
I don't know if anyone will find this interesting but here is a little more info on IO sets.
Posi's response:
Sure, there are 5 different Sniper sets: Exploit Weakness, Calibrated Accuacy, Executioner's Contract, Extreme Measures, and Sting of the Manticore. All of them exist all the way to level 53, but some "start" later than others. The earliest starts at level 10 (slottable at level 7). Sting of the Manticore starts at level 35 (so slottable at level 32).
Same here, at least let's hope the epic ATs for villains will be more than just a twist of the kheldians, with all the time they take!
Borriinnngggg!!!
This is boring news, nothing exciting, nothing really new. It's just a whole lot of the same, same as WoW's expansion, boring!
Many ways to get phat lootz, you pick anyway you prefer.
In some ways this sounds sorta like runes an sets in diablo 2 .
I'm really excited about Issue 9. I'm loving the team style combat as a healer in the CoH and CoV games. I'm looking forward to the added dimension of being able to make some ehancements and costume pieces. My supergroup jokes with me about having an addiction to visiting the tailor as it is lol. Being able to make my own costume pieces? I'm nearly speechless 0_o.
I enjoyed Issues 7 and 8 as well. I like the way Cryptic adds to the game without breaking or ruining what we already have and enjoy. New additions that I've experienced really add to the game without seriously altering the general feel. This is very important to me as a gamer in general and as a survivor of the Star Wars Galaxies fiasco in particular.
I have also enjoyed that the free exapansions have been fairly polished upon release. Having expansions that actually break your game was such a let down in the past. CoH is a refreshing improvement. Thanks for all the hard work guys, it's appreciated!
Arc
Finally! It's nice to see that the devs are actually improving the game, a concept long forgotten by many mmo's. I would still like to own my own house or apartment... I guess that's the swg in me.
Well ina way you can.if your not in a sg your toon could form one an use the base a small plot one as a home with no upkeep.
Statesman has indicated that individual player housing is still on their options list. It won't be soon, of course, but they are thinking about it.
They did say that personal apartments are being discussed, possibly could be added later on. Not a high priority I'm sure, but they are aware that there is enough people that want it to put it on their "To DO" list.
Would be nice to get villain epic AT, but I'd rather they take their time and get them right rather than just make an "evil warshade". I got enough alts that I can keep myself busy with my non-50's.
I Have been a Coh Player Since the Start of Issue 3, Cov Since beta. I Have played Both Sides And have Many Toons Pinnacle i have My 'hero's Few lvl 50's Then A Few Lvl 40's then a Few more Down the List. So Yea, I Played Out hero Side Before Villains Came Out.. Then On Justice, I have My Villains.. 4 Lvl 50's then a Few lvl 40's and a few 30's then Down the list.. i Have Played Out BOTH Sides of this game.. i dont Plan on Going back to heros After i played it So long.. And i want to stay a Villain.. Here's my Problem......
I thnk Heros have 27 Zones. Compared to Villains 7? witch to me = WTF??? O wait We Have the 4 Zones that Bother Sides Share for PvP.
Heros have 5 AT's with 2 Unlockable AT's u get When u have a Lvl 50 to make a total of 7 AT's, Villains Get 5 At's yea just 5, No unlockables STILL!!!!! O then there is the fact that Each Hero AT's Gets More Power Sets compared to How many options The Villains get.. So u have More Combonations of type of At's u can Make for Heros then u Do Villains..
Now Lets Move on to everything that maid Cov, well Diffrent Form Coh when it was Released. Like Powe Sets, Costume Peices, Missions.. Well Now, Heros Have All these things as well.. They Have All the Costume Peices that was once a Villain Only thing, Bokers Turned into Detectives For Heros, Papers Mish's Turned Into Police band Mish's, Mayhems Have turned into Safegurds.. And for the Furture i have Heard talks of Bringing Over Villain Only Power Sets to the Heros Side I.E Plant Dom's to Plant Controller ninjistsu Stalkers into ninjistsu Scrappers, Electric Brutes into Electic Tanks Etc.... But no Talks Of Bringing Any More powers Form the Heros Set's to Villains? but they Still Add more content to heros and leave Villains Go..
Were Im going With All of this is.. Everthing that Made Villains diffrent form hero's the Heros Now have... not to mentions Everyone Seems to Have Allot Less Lag playing Heros then Villains, hell i know people that Quit the Game because they Could Never Run in grandville, Most Villains Renamed it LaggVille!!
Now here We Go. More New hero Content and the Vilains get Left out.. Just About everyone i have played with Ether Quit the Game or Just Quit Vllains and started playing Heros Again becasue heros Got All the Shit Villains Once Had to themselfs, and they have less Lagg with More Zones to Play in!!! the Main thing that gets me the Most is.. The Epics For villains.. I think its a Huge Joke How fast the epics was Released for heros think it was like 5 or 6 months? Here We Are over a year into Villains and they STILL have not released them!!
Then theres those Great ITEM"S OF POWER!!!! o yea remember those? u know the Things that Was the Point of Doing Base raids??? what ever Happen to them anyways, after almost a year of talking about them, they Finally release them, Just to Yank the Carpet out Form under us and Pull the SF/TF to get them, do to Buggs that After Months and Months Still have not been Fixxed!! i see no say about them in issue 9 coming up? So what We Suposed to Wait Untill issue 10 now?? or 11?? that was a Key Selling Point Of villains when it was released Make Sg, Build Sg up, Get IOP, Base Raid, Defend Base!! WITH no iOP'S base raiding Is Meaning less.. If u want to PvP as a group just to The the Arena or A PvP Zone.. Not to Mention All the Freaking Buggs with Raiding!! My Sg is the #1 Sg on justice Server, Misfit Villains!! But Even We Gave Up On base raiding Because of the Buggs, Out Last Raid Was Months Ago Vs the #3 Sg , And it was A freaking Joke! in 60 mins of Attacking The Other Sg's Base, Every Member Has Dc's At lease 10 Times Each During the Raid.. the most was 22 times if i recall, Then the Biggest Joke was We Had 1 of there Gens Down, and Was Working On the Second, Then Everyone Form Both sides of the Raid D/c'd And when We came back Both Gens in there Base reset to Full Life!! needless to say it was A Huge Waist of time.. We Could Have All Gone to the Arena or Sirens.. I mean If We Was raiding For a IOP At least we Could have had Somthing as a Reward!!
The Bottem Line.. Im Done with this game... 2 Years and a few months. With Little to Look forward to In villains.. and Damm if im jumping back to heros.. and it looks like Just About Everone i play with Is Doing the Same, Just Look at How Many People Are Playing anymore Compard to the Way it use to be.. other then Freedom and viture Server Witch Seeem to Be were Everyone that Is Still playing Have Jumped too.. there is not Many people on.. i might return in the furture But im sure that wont be for at least 6 months or So.. i want a Epic AT to Come out On Villains before i do Start pumping More monthly Money into this game..
The New Inventions System Looks nice in all, But thats Just Not Enough for Me to keep Playing Villains.. LOOK OUT MMO"s IM looking for a new one of you to Start playing!
"In addition, the Villains get their very own “Hamidon zone” in the Abyss."
It seems to be overlooked, but villains are getting some new stuff too!!!!! I believe Hami is a 40+ raid, so I'll look forward to it.
Heres the Bottom Line NcSoft
Villains is dying and its dying fast,, i'm sure u know this.. and this is how u pump life back into it.. So get Up off ur ass's and Make this happen
#1 Release The Lvl 50 Unlockable AT's for Villains.. DO IT NOW!!!
#2 Release at least 1 new Zone Any lvl range Would be nice, But i would Perfer a lvl 40 to 50 Zone.. Somthing other then Being Forced to Play in Laggville Opps i mean Grandville form Lvl 40 thru 50.. AND I DONT MEAN Another PVP ZONE!!!! that "Both" Sides Share! Hell Even a Zone that would Allow Both Heros and Villains to "Team up" And play in would Be nice lvl 40 to 50 range that is.
#3 Release the Freaking Items of Power Already!!! yea the IOP"S!!! make base's be for somthing other then Some place to Go to use Porter's or Store stuff in, and on that note change the permissions so that People can Take from the Inspnitations And Enhancment bens but cant take form the Salvage racks... This would Open it up more for people cuzz Most Sg leaders have there Settings Ranked HIGH! in fear Of New Recurits Stealing all there Salvage, witch Makes most members in a sg un able to store anything in there base..
These are the BIg 3!!!!! that Should have happen a long time ago IMO.. There is other things i can list as well that i would love to see done, But lets not get ahead of ourselfs, Just Do what should have been done already...
But everywhere else where this interview is posted, this is an inhouse interview and NOT an outside media outlet.
And this is the heading that goes along with the interview that seems to be missing:
"This internally produced Q&A with lead developer Matt "Positron" Miller takes you through all the highlights of "Breakthrough"
Garrett Fuller, who is our News Editor, wrote those questions for an exclusive Q&A. Through that I can only assume was an error, this was released elsewhere as an "in-house" Q&A.
Hope that clears things up
Thanks.