Friday Update #253

[Golden Girl]

This week, we’ve been doing some more design work on various ways to give players the ability to have a better chance of operating on their own if they choose to, rather than only have that option available to some classes/builds.

The idea that only some classes/builds are able to play solo, while others are meant only to be played in teams is an old-fashioned concept that still surprisingly makes its way into some modern games too, and even ‘City of Heroes’ had it for the majority of its time.
However, the CoH developers did make some moves to address this problem, mainly with the change that was made to the Fitness power pool, which was eventually made into a set of inherent powers, giving all the Archetypes access to improved Health and Stamina if the player wanted it.

The option to play any class/build solo isn’t just about making sure that players aren’t stuck with having to wait for a team to form before they can play, it’s also an artistic requirement for any genuine comic book game, as the comic book genre made up almost entirely of characters who can operate on their own, and to be faithful to the genre we need to give players the same level of independence for their characters.


Have a heroic/villainous weekend!

The Heroes and Villains team

[American Gargoyle]

I'll be interested to see how you make a controller type soloable. I'm talking city of heroes controller type that is control/support. The only way I can see is to do away with the controller and make them all dominators.

[Blaze Rocker]

I'll be interested to see how you make a controller type soloable. I'm talking city of heroes controller type that is control/support. The only way I can see is to do away with the controller and make them all dominators.

I'm very interested in seeing it too, especially since I'm the one designing power sets for the game.

[plinkyplonk]

My very first toon was a controller - I solo'd her to level 50 and was very adept at soloing though naturally more effective in a team.

[Thazager]

I played a controller also, mind/ kinetics. Using mesz (lasts 30 secs) and dominate I could sleep hold mobs. For 3 mobs: mez 1st, dom 2nd, mez 3rd, and begin back and forth mez/dom on 2nd. I played most missions at level and didn't die until around level 38 against named boss with an AE that saw thru invis.

[Azrael]

There's no reason why Controllers and Dominators can't co-exist.

I tend to think the original COH power sets were 'buffed' to make the "COV" versions.

My favourite 'type' was a dominator. Basically a defender or a controller with blapping capabilities (or you may call it a punching ball in a set of lady's tights...slapped around my even con mobs...) until you can hit the awesome 'Dominator' button. BOOM! Boss resisting my mez, eh? 'You ARE mezzed NOW!' Lockdown.

I had perma-hasten (which was cruelly robbed with ED Issue 4...) and perma Domination. With a high level of defence from my 4 billion influence spend. Ouch. Not cheap. Slightly flawed with the 35% defence uncapped. But it was fun to play because if I 'lost it' then I paid the price. Otherwise. Terrific fun, blast, scrap, blap, control...domi.... How to pull those legs off that spider.

Controllers had 'containment.' Could be very powerful with those Sleep powers...or fire kin. Defenders SHOULD have had some self buff with Insulation and Deflection shields. Not having this...meant you couldn't DEFEND yourself. playing solo. Yep. Just a punching bag in a sock for even cons. Some great types of defenders. And if you could 'DUO' with another defender you could buff one another which made for an awesome combo with dual Dispersion fields and a single Insulation/Deflection shields coming from your duo partner.

For me? The best controller was an Ice Ice blaster. Elegant. Deadly. Control. Hold. Snipe. Dead. Repeat.

Getting the archetypes and the basic powers that CoH had with the 'x-factor' feel of game play through a simple but elegant interface?

That's the challenge. The mobs were also brilliantly weighted for the combat...whether you wanted just 3 mob, 5, 8, or a whole warehouse full of them.

Azrael.