6 yr 5 mo feedback

Deleted from the COH forums because of being a "goodbye" post... despite others being up. I think, frankly, it's from "OMG, a long time vet and known name is leaving, and other vets are saying they will too!" So here it is -

6 year, 5 mo feedback.

VIP until: Nov 1, 2011

Total Paid Time: 6 years, 5 months

I've been sitting here looking at that, and finding my preferred option is not renewing. I don't lose a heck of a lot from going Premium (various point purchases putting me in T9 anyway, I've got a token sitting there waiting to be used.) And it's probably a good time to walk away, too. Time for a break, at the very least. (Yeah. This coming from someone who was in the "Here 'til the servers shut down" crowd.) At least for a while. The second account fades out shortly after the first.

No, don't ask. If there's any "stuff" to be had, given I don't really IO out the characters, it's been on the market shortly after it dropped for me. Besides, high-time premium. Only place I'm guaranteed not to be is the forum (which itself is cause for celebration for some, I'm sure) and Incarnate trials.

Still, the exit survey doesn't really give a lot of room, so I'm expanding on it and giving how I'm seeing the game.

The good

The thing that really kept me in the game, that was my "buy in," is the character creation system. Not just the costuming, but the fact that - unlike some games where a "Fighter" is pretty generic - you've got a wide variety of characters in the ATs. A defender isn't a "Healer." They could be debuffing without a heal in sight. They could be buffing you to the point you don't get hit. Your scrapper could be anything from high defense to heavily self-healing to nearly a melee-range controller. And everyone can solo decently (as opposed to the healer that can't fight anything more than the level 3 Giant Rat. At level 80.)

And I *really* wish more games would pick up the power+enhancement setup instead of relying on "gear." It's ridiculous to have a great character creation system, only to have your look destroyed 5 levels later because, well, your Armor of Paper really needs replacement. Here, my look is my 'brand.' I can look the same at level 50 as I do at level 1 and it makes absolutely no difference. It lets me invest in the character itself as a character versus a graphical bag of stats, and I don't go from individual to "Class X #987298374298374" because I need the same gear as everyone else.

I tend to find it a strength that, despite some people being used to games expanding via level cap increases, COH grows "wider" as opposed to "taller." (The seeming abandonment of low level zones on the Incarnate system release should hint as to why.) Plus, the very nicely (usually) done SKing/exemping system has made teaming - especially once we got auto-exemping in task forces, and eliminated the "mandatory mentor" - incredibly easy across levels. Has some quirks, sure, but overall it's a decent system that keeps the full range of the game open.

The Gripes

The Incarnate system. Alpha was perfect, guys. I could unlock it on my own or through the later trials. I could get stuff for it via trial or through collecting shards as I did what I wanted to. After that....

You know what astounded me most? A statement - I believe it was actually by Matt Miller himself - that they didn't expect people to want a solo/small team path to work on their incarnates. I don't mind trials being added - I get some people wanted them, and am glad they got them. But having them be the *exclusive* way of getting stuff? Being *surprised* people wanted a solo/small team path? What game have you been paying attention to for the last near-decade? Being surprised at a more casual-friendly way of getting things tells me it wasn't *this* one.

And yes, I'm well aware they're "announcing" something for solo/small team at the Player Summit. Know what, though, devs? You've already lost me on the system. It's too little, too late for me. And I hear similar comments in game, via friends and on the boards - that some people just don't care about it any more, that it might as well not exist (and for reasons other than what I gave, such as being tired of the "Puddle of Annoyance" and the shambles it wants to make of lore.)

The ADD Dev Team. Really, I like the individual devs (to one extent or another.) I'm sure Matt/Posi's a great guy, and he comes across all right on the ustreams. Same with Melissa/WW, and... really, I can't think of any I'd individually not be perfectly happy meeting in person. And Tunnel Rat completely disarmed me when it came to jumping on the Barrier graphics issue - I was prepared to have to get into another long fight getting devs to realize people were having problems with the graphics, but no - she hopped right in, said "OK, yeah, I see that being a problem," and fixed it.

And then we get them as a team, and I wonder "What the *hell* happened?" I've likened them to a hyperactive dog in a room full of bouncing superballs - "Ooh, look, ooh, new one there, ball ball ball, ooh, get new ball, ooh, new system, ooh, new shiny." That and the "We don't want to redo old, we want to give you new!" statements. Despite *begging* for content being added to zones like Dark Astoria, that physically are fine. I can almost picture some of them getting tired of the Incarnate system now and hating they gave themselves five more slots to unlock and come up with stuff for.

Abandoned systems. Yeah. related to the above. Remember PVP, guys? "Datamining and making improvements?" That was issue 13. We're on the eve of 21.5. You said you wanted to make changes to bring in new PVPers. On the whole... you haven't.

Or how about AE? MARTy is supposed to curb excesses... and we get another nerf. Meanwhile, there have been well thought out requests for improvements - in the interface, search, rating and more - that would have helped tremendously - but nothing gets done with them. AE's an "old shiny" that's been forgotten.

Or bases? Yes, next patch note, "We'll officially let you move stuff up and down." And the base builders are going wild, because finally they get a little bit of attention. But how about a needed base editor revamp as a whole? A holding area so you can move things like storage bins and teleporters out of the way to let you delete a room? Or even more placeable 'stuff?' Again... abandoned system. (And that's not even touching on base *raiding.*)

How about the IO system? Why aren't old sets that people just don't use (see Executioner's Contract for example) being, oh, moved to vendors (and out of drop pools) and new sets, designed with the experience gained, put in to replace them? It wouldn't even need to be on a 1:1 basis. What's the last recipe we had added - PVP recipes, to try to draw people in to the now-unused PVP zones?

Abandonment of lore, zones, etc. Ever go to Port Oakes and fly near the sunken tanker south of the sub that takes you to the Atlas Park mayhem? If you do, you'll see the oil forms an Eye of Horus. This is tied in with Gadzul Oil (mentioned by Mr. Bocor) and... the Blood of the Black Stream. (Also tied in to a player's reward of being part of the also-abandoned CCG, by the way.) But the BotBS is "someone else's idea" and has been abandoned... so we have bits of lore here and there (that could be *really* cool, frankly, even if it's no longer as an EAT) just being left dangling, forgotten. It's not a rare occurance.

And then, again, there's the forgotten ex-hazard zones. Bring them up and for some reason we get Faultline as an example of why they'd be "too much work" to do something to. Well, they don't all need the geometry reworked like Faultline did. Most of them are *perfectly fine.* They just need... *something* added to them. A reason to exist. (And, again, most have storylines to them, or at least good solid hooks, that have been abandoned.) DO something with them... other than drop meteors on them.

Between zones and systems... well, I'm reminded of a home improvement "help" show. Guy's wife called them in because he'd started a bunch of projects when they moved in and never finished. There were some gorgeous areas in the house... and then you'd walk down the hall and see he'd started knocking plaster down from the middle of the wall, leaving it in a pile on the floor for the last month, or a room was half-stripped of old wallpaper. Obviously, that was frustrating (and embarrassing) to her. And as I look at the things that have been started and left dangling, well, I get the same image. There are times this feels less like a professionally staffed and developed MMO and more like someone's "project shack."

New Atlas a step back. Look. The new atlas park is "pretty." (OK, it looks somewhat plastic to me, but it's mostly updated.) And Twinshot, Matthew H, etc. aren't bad arcs. But to me there's a big problem - it's a step backward. One of the reasons I tend not to look forward to making a new villain is (old... and new) Mercy Island. Not just getting around,b ut because there are so few paths. Now, Heroside, not only have we lost Galaxy City but we've lost a variety of starting contacts, something (thanks to origin) to at least somewhat personalize the starting experience. Nope, now we all ether grind DFB to get out of there or it's the exact... same... contact... tree. At least heroside still branches out a bit after that.

All in all...

Yeah, I'm wordy on the frustrations, I know - but if I didn't like what they had, I wouldn't have been here this long. The game has some serious strengths I think other games need to pay attention to. I don't expect me dropping down to premium (or just plain leaving for a while) to be so earth-shaking the devs sit up and go "What happened?" but I do hope they see and take some of the feedback into account. I did want to put more detail out here to be seen, let people comment if they like - not everyone will agree, hey, that's fine.

Of my first five characters, started way back in I3 on Pinnacle, three still exist. MB - who went on hiatus before he got burn (and before the first Burn change that added fear,) finally making it to 50 years later. Therra, my first 50, elec/elec blaster (and who turned into my first *character* people really identified with,) and Seeker... who's still at 42 for some reason. Two others were deletions - an ice/ice blaster who didn't survive the hollows, and Arichen, a Mind/Emp who didn't get past Independance Port. From there, I've gone to multiple accounts, 300+ existing characters (with more deletions,) and had a hell of a time.

For all the griping, devs and fellow players... thanks for making it a hell of a run.