City of Heroes

NCSoft is preparing their latest expansion for City of Heroes/City of Villains. As a veteran player who loves the game and thinks highly of its developing and marketing teams, I gush about it ad-nauseum to anyone who will listen. I am excited about the upcoming release. However, like all old timers, I like to think my experience and insight affords me the privilege to fuss every once in a while.

Sometimes you just have to wonder if the powers-that-be are thinking!

Issue 13 is now in Open Beta. As testers explore the introduction of Day Jobs and Dual Power Builds, some minor changes have also been discovered, the kind of stuff that makes you go, “Huh?”

Take this new option for instance: Disable Earning XP.

Yes you read it correctly. Here, I shall type it again: Disable Earning XP.

It’s a character-specific option offered under Menu-Options-General-Miscellaneous. I was dumbfounded. Then I laughed. Yet it took a visit to the official forums to confirm there was no more to this than meets the eye: Click here to disable the acquisition of experience points for your character.

Just one time in four years of steady play, have I come across a player who thought she was leveling too fast. She feared she would out-level her contacts. See, the game was designed so no one toon could experience all content. Out-leveling a contact meant skipping missions. There was no going back unless you landed those missions by way of a PuG. Since many missions led to a badge, an accolade and/or other goodies, missing out dealt a blow. So I could (almost) understand the notion of disabling XP --- back then.

However, it’s a moot point with the introduction of time travel through the Ouroboros Zone (Issue 11). Now, once your toon hits a certain level, you can access past missions and still get credit as if you were the intended level. If an important mission got past you, you need only jump back through Ouroboros to secure the bennies.

So I ask again, “Disable XP?”

Of all the testers' responses to this change, only two can be repeated in polite company.

1) Considering all suggested improvements for the game and (as with all MMORPGs) all the dumb little things that never quite worked right, how did ‘Disable Earning XP’ become a priority for the company’s resources?

2) For a game that has from Day One waged war against power-leveling, the introduction of an option to disable XP seems counter-intuitive, since it makes possible the concept of perma-bridging.

So! Coming soon to a City near you, day jobs, with dual builds so we can multi-task… While our resources are spent unwisely by the the powers-that-be!

Virtual Reality: gotta love it.

I suspect the devs will eat their code the first time someone employs this option for one toon --- and inadvertently saves the choice as a global default in their UI settings. I can hear it now: “Why aint I getting no XP?!”

I don't know how often that happens in CoX, but I know there are people out there who play in duo's/teams, and who wish to stay on the same level as they progress. This sometimes offers problems, in that a person has a lot of time on their hands, more than the other and wishes to play in that time, but can't since she would be gaining XP in that time.

Or she would like to help another part of her friends with something, but again, that would give her XP.

Disabling Xp is an easy way to let people control at which rate they are leveling and allowing them to remain with their partners as they want to. Don't know what there is to fuss about. Everquest 2 had it for a long time AFAIK.

Cheers.

Well, also in Issue 13, comes the introduction of Leveling Pacts, in which you can bind characters together so they level at the same rate. If one of them earns XP in-game without the other, the XP is not applied until both are in-game together. The XP is then split between them. This would resolve the issue of pairing up with another to level together, then splitting off occasionally to do your own thing or help someone else.

So. Again. "Disable XP?" 

you ever heard " for the journey not the destination" friend? disalbling exp is great for players that find area;s that they are enjoying but close to outlevelling, that way you can enjoy the area for as long as you decide to with it still being a challenge.

It's not all about levelling as fast as poss with many players. I for one like to enjoy games as much as possible and hate outleveling great area's. It is a choice remember!

Actually thats one of the options that should be in almost every mmorpg now days from the start , it may not be a big problem in this game but in most all games of the last 5 years leveling too fast was a huge issue for many people .

 I like many people don't like to out level our friends or guild ,  skip content or miss dungeons or parts of the world because the leveling curve is too fast to actually enjoy the world , and being forced into making alts just so you don't miss half the game is BS ( many people like my self HATE alts) so a toggle off exp option or an alternate advancement system where you can split the exp is a must if the game plans to have  fast leveling.

It might not have been a big need in this game , but it should be there for the people who dont want to level fast or want to stop and hang at a certain level for a while but still be able to play and enjoy the content they are on .

Originally posted by shukes33

you ever heard " for the journey not the destination" friend? disalbling exp is great for players that find area;s that they are enjoying but close to outlevelling, that way you can enjoy the area for as long as you decide to with it still being a challenge.

It's not all about levelling as fast as poss with many players. I for one like to enjoy games as much as possible and hate outleveling great area's. It is a choice remember!

Whoa!   Wait a minute! LOL  I am all about the journey! I am more about the journey than any other player I know!

But  I would rather get credit for what I do in-game than not, that's all. If I find a great area of the game, I just get another character up to that level and run them through it too. Sidekicking and exemping works too. At least you get something.

But hey, ANYONE who would think DISABLING XP is a good thing because it offers the potential to expand the journey, is SOMEONE  I WANT TO KNOW ! If you love the game that much, we have a lot in common! 

Originally posted by TheRedPill

Originally posted by shukes33

you ever heard " for the journey not the destination" friend? disalbling exp is great for players that find area;s that they are enjoying but close to outlevelling, that way you can enjoy the area for as long as you decide to with it still being a challenge.

It's not all about levelling as fast as poss with many players. I for one like to enjoy games as much as possible and hate outleveling great area's. It is a choice remember!

 

But  I would rather get credit for what I do in-game than not, that's all. If I find a great area of the game, I just get another character up to that level and run them through it too. Sidekicking and exemping works too. At least you get something.

 That's great for you and for a lot of people , but many people don't like and wont make alts, so something like a toggle exp off option or something of the like is a must have  for the ones who want to do as much as they can.

If by "get credit" you mean getting exp/items for what your doing then i don't really understand this at all. I play to have fun , to see the world and explore dungeons and group with friends ,  "getting credit" is the last thing on my list. Ya its great to see those exp number when you kill something or get a nice item from a dungeon or quest , but that's just extra .

There's a small but vocal minority on the forums that frequently worries about leveling too fast.

Specifically this time they were worried about the bonus you get after your character has been logged off. They asked for a way to decline that specifically. Since that isn't possible, they put in a "no XP at all" option.

Actually there is a rare instance when I might find use for this - when I haven't done a Mayhem/Safeguard yet and am about to leave the range (on a TF for example). I might take the no-xp option for a little while rather than get in a position of trying to find and join someone else's safeguard. (That would of course be unnecessary if those were available Flashback-style, but they aren't.)