As I look back some 33 months now (holy crap I've played this game sooo damned long)I remember when you could login and play and feel like a damned Hero.

When I say that I mean that I felt like I could duplicate the feats of the spandex clad folks in a variety of Comic Books. I could play a Colossus type and take a huge amount of abuse from a swarm of thugs and punks while having a harder time against real Villains. I could lay down a patch of Ice and know that it was going to keep the bad guys busy a while.

Now.....33 months later, its changed and not for the better. Can I still "Tank"? Sure but in no way as before. I can't be a Spiderman or a Batman because the power sets have all been "nerfed" in the name of "balance". Super Reflexes is terrible ... its asking to throw away a power set until you hit the 30s. Why? Because Defenders and Controllers couldn't hit them in PvP. Guess what? They weren't supposed to. Take a look a a Spidey or a Bats fight ...... They are dodging and/or blocking and AVOIDING that one good hard shot that would take them out of the fight. When the JLA started fighting guys outside Batman's weight class, what did he do? Piss and moan that it was too tough or did he use the thing that really makes him dangerous to any bad guy...his brain? All Powers are not created equal...sorry but its a sad truth.

MMOs are, by their very nature an exercise in futility when it comes to trying to maintain a balance across the board. It cannot be done without gutting the genre that the game is based on. "City Of" is in the process for gutting itself now....focusing more and more resources on PvP (a segemnt of the game that has rabid followers to be sure but a very small % of the overall player base) and introducing things like an Auction House that really has no business in a Super Hero game. It does appeal to people who play WoW though and that's the real aim. The same thing applies to the crafting segment of the game that is coming soon (tm).

I've watched a couple of games I loved to play slowly die from what amounts to poor choices by the guy who makes the final calls. SOE destroyed Star Wars by trying to reinvent the wheel and then time and again nerfing in the name of "balance" until a Master Marksman was getting his ass kicked by a bunny rabbit and a butterfly. Entire Character Classes were broken for YEARS. The fact that Jack is starting to follow the "model" of the jackass that killed Star Wars shows in the avenues they are chosing to develope and in the things they aren't doing .... like fixing things that are broken. "City Of" has great graphics but they have steadily placed a greater and greater burden on the Client PC. One guy spent 6K on a new PC that HE himself built and still couldn't get close to the performance we had a year ago. Guild Wars is stunning....just login and look out over a plain.....watch grass move in the wind, see that water ripple..... Lord of the Rings Online has the most stunning views I have ever seen in a game.....they rival real world vistas I've looked out over. In both cases the performance is great......several times as good as you regularly get in "City Of". Why? And why is it that there isn't a fix in sight? Have they made some changes? Yup...they changed the appearance of powers that were never an issue from day one but they have yet to address the real cause. Too much time....it would shift resources away from making new stuff to pile on the old broken stuff but hey....that's the SOE way and now its seems to be the "City Of" way too.

Is City of DOOOOoooooOOOOOOMED? Yes...I think so....its going to be a slow, lingering death not unlike cancer but its going to die. My main account is paid thru July but barring some miracle that convinces me otherwise I'm moving on to greener pastures. I can get my Hero fix with a bunch of people on the XBox 360 with Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Maybe the MUO game will be good.....though Jack is in on that so I'm betting against it.

I can still dream though, right?

Labels: COH, COV, games

I dreamed that a Black Hole was coming towards the Earth. Of course, we weren't told about it until it was discovered by an ameteur stargazer because of the panic and hysteria that would ensure.

I remember thinking "well....this certainly sucks" but at the same time being curious about what it would be like to be pulled in. I've read a ton of books on Black Hole theory (yeah...I know....who in the hell reads that shit) and the bottom line is, no one knows for sure.

I remember the chaos and people wailing and milling about and looking up into the daytime sky and the thing became "visible" (sure..I know it didn't but the surrounding distortions would be).

I remember the clouds starting to be pulled away (and along with them the atmosphere) and leaping into a car so that hopefully I'd be able to live until the last possible moment and not be killed by debries. The car lifted off the ground and started sailing throught the ...what...air (?) towards the Event Horizon and me thinking...."this is it....I'm really going to see what is there...."

I woke up just as there was a flash of light in the dream. I have no idea what made me dream that but my mind was working overtime thinking of time dilations (and how I'd never really see them) and all sorts of things.

Definitely the weirdest thing I've dreamed in.....possibly forever ;p

Labels: dreams

I've been watching the Imus thing with a little interest and through it all I've asked, "So...ok... um.... why is it so bad for him to say what an entire subculture says on a daily basis?"

Seriously......if its not acceptable for one person or group of people to say something or use a term then its really hypocritical for others to do it.

And now....the Press is picking up on that......

Huh.....who would have thought.

Maybe it was the crucifixion of one of their own that got them to sit up and take notice.

Maybe...just maybe....something good will come of it.

Long odds on that but hey....I can dream