Comments on: Oz’s Trail of Trials, Part 1 – Friday Night Tights

By: Oz

Oz — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:54:15 +0000

Thanks, but I actually got a 5 day key from a friend which I’m running through. I’m debating an interim post (to be fair to STO’s content) or simply a summary post which might be epic in length and we tend to avoid here.

Also, to your below point on dates – you’re right, it wasn’t years. It felt like it because I did not make the immediate jump to WoW. CoH was launched in April and WoW in November. I played CoH from launch until roughly October, with several trips back over the years for a month to three each time.

By: warcabbit

warcabbit — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:06:16 +0000

Note: I do not work for Cryptic or Paragon Studios, I just have a spare 10-Day from my STO purchase, and I see no better use for it than this.

By: warcabbit

warcabbit — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:46:30 +0000

Oh, two things. Capacity increased a lot at one point: the servers don’t turn red anymore. And…
“The character classes are much more robust, all are fun to play, and there is an irreverence that WoW, years later, would echo.”
CoH launched 3 months, plus or minus, before WoW and EQ2. Lot of people avoided it to jump into those two.

But yeah, it does predate WoW.

By: warcabbit

warcabbit — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:44:50 +0000

It’s Paragon Studios, of course, from Paragon City. But most of ‘Cryptic’ stayed, excepting Jack.

And yes, the Architect Entertainment has kind of dragged people off the streets, but I’m hoping Going Rogue will fix that in the 1-20 range.

I’m surprised you didn’t try the Mission Architect stuff. Some really good missions there.

Want a 10-day for STO?

By: Se7en Tidbits: “Up to Its Eyebrows in Stupid” or “Pee Puzzles” « Are We New At This?

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:35:10 +0000

[...] for a few people I saw at the black market, I never ran into another player.” – Oz, Oz’s Trail of Trials, Part 1 – Friday Night Tights, Kill Ten [...]

By: Se7en Tidbits: “Something Fishy” or “Whining About all the Singing at the Opera” « Are We New At This?

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:10:53 +0000

[...] for a few people I saw at the black market, I never ran into another player.” – Oz, Oz’s Trail of Trials, Part 1 – Friday Night Tights, Kill Ten [...]

By: Yeebo

Yeebo — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 06:58:04 +0000

It’s not technically a Cryptic game anymore, it’s some random NCsoft studio I can’t remember the name of (that may be indicative of a problem in itself).

However, I think you nailed it. They have the scaffolding in place for one of the best modern MMOs. Fantastic character generation, mix and match class system with a ton of flexibility in what powers you choose and how you develop them. User generated content. Offline character development that enhances rather than interferes with in game character development. Travel powers that absolutely nail that thin line between immersion and convenience.

For whatever reason, the flesh hung on those bones is a grindy repetitive game. It’s never held my interest past the early 20s.

By: Julian

Julian — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:11:30 +0000

That’s a good write-up and it mirrors many parts of my CoX experience as well, sans the guildless bits.

I personally found the 30-level plus game simply intolerable in terms of time needed to be spent, no matter which AT I tried to get up there. There comes a point somewhere in the 30-40 range, earlier for some people, later for some others, in which the repetition and the grind just hits you in the face like a brick.

I know I’m probably simplifying things for the sake of a bit of hyperbole, but that’s when you realize that if you’re not a badge whore (which I’m not, because I find it utterly silly) then all you have to look forward to is a meaningless grind of uninspired and repetitive questing, or another meaningless grind of drawn-out TFs, which are drawn out just for their own sake. I’m not saying other games are not grindy, but I think most other games at least attempt to disguise the grind in better ways.

The character generator is stellar, even so many years later. It’s a great foundation for everything else. And the scaffold of the whole thing is certainly there and quite solid. It could go so many places, but unfortunately Cryptic has yet to deliver a -pleasing- building. I guess that’s just how they like to build. Who knows. Everything past the scaffold is always a large collection of hits and misses with them.