'The City Transforms'

[hermit000]

Ok since i know thy wont tell us for a long time, does anyone have any ideas about how the city could transform during the game? I love the idea that my character can actually influence changes in teh environment through his/her actions inactions. Kinda lends weight behind the whole with great power cliche`. If badguy x gets wooped 'x' number of times then he goes into hiding/retaliates with ambushes, explosions, more nefarious plats. or if the heros neglect to smack down streetgang 'y' for weeks on end they get stronger, better gear and harder to defeat and spread there teritory through the city more pervasivly. Any other ideas on this?

[The_Padre]

You mean like if we don't stop enough of villain group X's plots the city or area begins to look more run down? Reminds me a little of Recluse's Victory, which would be cool.

[BaneBlight]

all i know is i am crossing my fingers for something good

[Webad]

Ok since i know thy wont tell us for a long time, does anyone have any ideas about how the city could transform during the game? I love the idea that my character can actually influence changes in teh environment through his/her actions inactions. Kinda lends weight behind the whole with great power cliche`. If badguy x gets wooped 'x' number of times then he goes into hiding/retaliates with ambushes, explosions, more nefarious plats. or if the heros neglect to smack down streetgang 'y' for weeks on end they get stronger, better gear and harder to defeat and spread there teritory through the city more pervasivly. Any other ideas on this?
Are you Expecting an Orbital Attack or the Decepticons attacking Autobot City?
"Their defenses are broken, let the slaughter begin." -Megatron

[Fortress]

There was a plot in Asherons call where these floating towers kept 'moving' after each patch... eventually (i missed the actual event) one of the towers wasnt stopped and ended up destroying an entire village...... literally....

People who logged out from the village before the explosion ended up taking falling damage when they logged back in because they fell into the huge crater that was left..... :)

That kinda thing would be cool...

[hermit000]

nope, despite that beaing neat i am refering to one of the last lines in teh release about the game where they said the city would transform

[RandomCitizenX]

I am hoping that each big event patch, whatever the equivalent of the Issues from CoH will be, will include some fall out from the finish of the last story. Didn't stop that alien invasion last pat? now they have a hive system now and are regular villains. Shot down the ships and made them crash? Now there is a new type of loot floating about based on their tech.

[Tiger]

Or if you do not clear an area of criminals it causes a swarm spawn, and eventually an AV. But after awhile a group of Super-Cops (power armored) and or a signature hero comes in and cleans them up, and restarts the cycle.

[Gold-Rush]

I am hoping that each big event patch, whatever the equivalent of the Issues from CoH will be, will include some fall out from the finish of the last story. Didn't stop that alien invasion last pat? now they have a hive system now and are regular villains. Shot down the ships and made them crash? Now there is a new type of loot floating about based on their tech.

This is what I am thinking, as well.

But just have to wait and see.

[DestinationX]

If badguy x gets wooped 'x' number of times then he goes into hiding/retaliates with ambushes, explosions, more nefarious plats. or if the heros neglect to smack down streetgang 'y' for weeks on end they get stronger, better gear and harder to defeat and spread there teritory through the city more pervasivly. Any other ideas on this?


I think something like this would be possible on a wide scale, having the city change because one or a few heroes didn't take down said number of baddies would be a bit to much activity. Though it's a great idea, don't get me wrong. To have the city change based off of a few players actions, would make the city change a lot, and I mean A LOT. Like several changes an hour most likely.

Now they could do something like this through "server events". Say the devs have noticed a slacking off of killing baddies "X". They then could add in more damage, or spray painted alleys with the gangs name. Or events like the Rikti invasions, where the zone looks or feels different because something unique is going on.

That I think would be more workable for the wide scale city wide stuff. Now to do an individual level stuff, I can see them putting that into missions and if they have something like Task Forces as in CoH. That I think would be less nuts for the game, devs and everyone else involved.

But killer ideas, I really would love to see that kinda stuff put into the game for sure!

~ Destination X ~

[Aceldama]

Definitelty something I'd like to see.

Cryptic has already shown that they're able to remodel an entire zone based on what's happening in the story, ala Faultline and the project that lead to it's new construction. I realize there were gameplay issues backing the idea to revamp it, but even so, it was done.

Personally, I'd love for there to be epic events that can be won or lost and would affect the city or surrounding area.

They talk about that sunken city seeking to regain power. Well, what if an epic mission breaks out on the servers in which all of the heroes must band together to stop just that. If they fail, the city rises to the surface and now they have new threats to deal with.

Same for giant monsters.

Not only that, but it could also work for signature NPCs. An assassination on the mayor or something of that nature. If it isn't foiled, it has an impact on the game.

The list could go on forever. Let's hope the devs realize the potential in this.

[MrWonderful]

I remember looking at the E3 demo video pre-beta with Jack talking about some of the ideas with an adaptive universe. Each server was supposed to have its own "continuity." I can understand why they dropped it, but I'd fall all over myself to see that happen here. Of course, some of that is happening in CoX, as was said, with Recluse's Victory and the end of the Lady Grey Task Force, but I'd love to see it on a much larger scale.

[fuzun]

It's definately doable. Cryptic's first-gen engine can do it. CoH/V has a zone that dynaically reskins as certain control points are captured by heroes or villains. And I doubt they left the zone reskinning tech out of their new engine. I do hope that Crypic is able to deploy that tech into the open player zones. It would be cool for the sections of the zone change in response to events say a building fire which moves onto nearby building and the builds are repeaied afterwards.

[Bad_Luck]

It'll be interesting to see what they do with the idea.

[Cormarrr]

That is one of my biggest complaints about MMOs. I run around and kill XXX mobs yet there are always more of them. No matter how many gang members I defeated in CoH there was a never ending recruitment of them. They could do some easy stuff like if you defeat Mob A then more of Mob B spawn as they take over territory.

Server wide events are also lots of fun and can be used to alter zones from time to time. Something like Gang X starts a war. If the heroes can do enough missions/kill enough guys they save the city. If they don't then a bomb goes off and flattens an area.

I think it would be kool to log back in after a few week break to find a zone in ruins - knowing that if YOU had logged in YOU could have helped prevent it.

[Aceldama]

That's probably what they mean by "Make Your Mark" on the features page.

It'll definitely be amazing to log in and find that the scene has changed since you were last there.

It'll also be intersting to look at other servers and see what the players there prevented/didn't prevent.

[ireidt]

Cryptic coulddo so much with this, like you all have stated earlier. I would love to see a town in ruins, but then your hero decided to clean it up and after a while, the town is rebuilt and good as new, but it still shows the scars from being destroyed.
or vice versa. A town is fine, but a villian attacks, but what if the villian bribed you to not do anything? as the city is being destroyed you sit back and count all the money you just got.

[hermit000]

Wen i said if bad guy x gets whooped x numebr of times i dint mean if a single player defeated hm or teh gang that numebr of time, more along teh lines of if server wide they were defeated 'x'(where x is a really big number) then things would start to change, changes on this scale would be slow, insiduis like all things evil should be, and then its woudl be up to us to notice teh spread of grafitit or the rise in violent crime in an area of teh city, or teh state of repair as teh citizens began to be afraid to go outside, things like that, so there wouldnt be changes even daily but over teh weeks the changes would work sort of on a slide scale, so if we all decided to ignore one neighborhood for 6 weeks it could slide into a drug infested slum, then we would have to 'work' to get it moving back in teh other direction again. It would give us a reson to patrol the city, no tjust run teh same instances misions over and over

[General_Maximus]

What I'd like to see is stuff like what I've heard used to happen in some older MMOs where occasionally a GM would spawn some huge powerful monster in an area it normally wouldn't spawn in and take control of it to wreak havoc until the players got together to stop it.

I'd love to see Cryptic hire a few people specifically for this kind of thing, creating a more interactive and changing world for the players. Maybe make some kind of interface on the GM's end that tracks how many evil plots have failed or succeeded so they can tell if spawning a supervillain rampage is appropriate or if a parade in honor of whichever hero kicked the most ass would fit better.

[MillenniumMan]

How about if your arch-villain isn't locked up by your hero in time he can blast a huge laser from a space station that will level 3 city blocks as he kicks back and enjoys the show. and as he does so it is known that you failed because of the huge crater in the city. or if you do stop him "X" number of times you get something dedicated to you in the city like a statue. or If you could have a choice to stay dead at the highest level you could get killed for good by your arch-nemesis you will get a statue dedicated to you explaining your great achievements and the memorial will stay there forever.

[hermit000]

the idea of your nemsis unleashing a doomsday weapon after he/she/it defeats you so many times is neat, but the statue or what ever dedicated to your charadcter would become redundant after 35000 players get statues dedicated to them in teh city.

[SuperPheemy]

Well, after a certain point you don't get a statue.... maybe a plaque, a nice plaque. On a long marble wall. then when the plaques get too numerous, you get a friendly mention in the local newspaper. After the Classifieds... below the fold...

[Urban]

I am hoping that each big event patch, whatever the equivalent of the Issues from CoH will be, will include some fall out from the finish of the last story. Didn't stop that alien invasion last pat? now they have a hive system now and are regular villains. Shot down the ships and made them crash? Now there is a new type of loot floating about based on their tech.

It would be very neat to be see our in-game world evolve over time, but IMO I think they'll leave it a persistent world where it looks the same wether or not you stopped that bomb from going off or SuperVillian X set off his doomsday device and you couldn't stop it.

Of course that could just be me trying to keep my hype factor in check, but still, it'd be pretty cool and what's there not to like about having to learn the city all over again?

[JudasAce]

There was a plot in Asherons call where these floating towers kept 'moving' after each patch... eventually (i missed the actual event) one of the towers wasnt stopped and ended up destroying an entire village...... literally....

People who logged out from the village before the explosion ended up taking falling damage when they logged back in because they fell into the huge crater that was left..... :)

That kinda thing would be cool...

The destruction of Arwic was a preplanned thing, though, the players couldn't have stopped it if they wanted. It was no coincidence that it was the trade center and the most populated area in the game...the devs said that was one of the reasons they nuked it, because the overpopulation was causing server load problems.

[Shanir]

Im guessing with each patch or issue update etc the story would move along, things would get destroyed new things would get built but the 1 problem with that is that if your not here from beta you will be slightly confused

[Bad_Luck]

Im guessing with each patch or issue update etc the story would move along, things would get destroyed new things would get built but the 1 problem with that is that if your not here from beta you will be slightly confused

Sounds like sweet sweet chaos. As long as the overall story doesn't change, I don't think it will get to bad for newbies.

[Shifty]

Wow, what an attribute to the game to be able to adapt it to the gamers activity. This would allow them to keep it fresh as zones change new mobs move in or get booted out.
Random gm spawns if too many of a certain villain type is allowed to spawn in one zone. Weather in a zone effected as an cold, storm etc. wielder holds sway! The construction of a AV base goes merrily along until enough heroes can do arcs and gather the evidence to apprehend said baddie.

[hermit000]

Why cant the overall story change, it would reflect new hearos not being around for all your old timers battles, a slowly evolving story where not all the characters can run the same mission after 3 years woudl be interesting. It woudl encourage an evolution in teh story telling aspect of MMO's and allow for our characters to actually influence changes int eh overall story. When game launches, just beof roficial christening/inauguration of the city, whole slew of story arcs possible at that time to thhwart villian plans to desttroy city and incite terror int eh masses, year one story evolves so new characters can no longer participate in that story arc(unless they bring in time travel) so it would be possible for new hereos to use existing ones as their idols/rolemodels. "Did you hear what Defender did to stop the plot to destroy the city back during the innauguratioon..." story exists, legend is built, que idol worship and tada new role model for up and coming hero's

[Hythian]

I can see it now... Doctor Destroyer's robot minions advance towards Millenium City... But then, the city rises up and transforms into a giant robot and starts crushing them beneath it's giant asphalt feet...

Er... Wait... That wasn't what we were talking about?

*cough*

I am really looking forward to the idea of a MMO that actually progresses and has a world that changes.

While CoX did have some changes to the gameworld as time passed, zones that got updated, villain groups that changed (though I still wonder if 5th Column to Council was more of a international business thing then a story change), it never really felt like you, as a player, had any effect on the world yourself.

That is the one thing I want. The ability to actually influence the game world.

WoW sort-of-kind-of-not-really did something like that with Ah Qiraj (or whatever the name was) which was a zone expansion they had. Basically the zone was in-game, but the raid / gates of the area didn't open until the players on your world completed some set tasks (I don't remember what they were, I wasn't playing WoW at the time it happened). So you did have 'some' influence on the game world in some small way, but it wasn't terribly impressive as the opening of the gates was inevitable (if you didn't do the quest, someone else was going to) and it wasn't really a change in game story or direction.

Which is really what I hope they mean for that and what I hope they will do. Have a game world with a dynamic evolving story over time.

For example, maybe, with each issue / regular update there is a small story-arc / quest-line with a branching end to it. As an example, maybe near the end of the quest you have the choice of one of two options, both equally good but both with different potential consequences.

Say for example that VIPER has an evil plan in motion, and you have two ways to stop it. (A) Destroy the weapon they are going to use, or (B) Defeat the soldiers they are sending into the city to use it. Two goals, but you can't do both because they are different locations and doing one will alert the VIPER agents that you are on to them and the other group goes to ground to hide.

If the majority of the people on the server choose (A) then the weapon is destroyed and the plot is foiled, but VIPER still has a squad of elite agents in the city and who knows what they are going to be up to next. If you choose (B) then the agents have been stopped, the plan has been foiled, but the weapon still exists and you will need to track it down to find it.

Now, to make this work, those "plot changing" missions would need to have an expiration date on them. Or at least an expiration date beyond which it wouldn't have any further effect on deciding the direction of the world. It would be best too if there were several such missions running at the same time, but all on plot lines that didn't necessarily cross with one another so there could be a constant slow change in the situation and status quo of the world.

Also, by doing it largely with plot missions like that, the changes would be largely server-side based (changing the text people use to talk to each other or talking about the situation in the city) which means that they can do lots of changes like that and have a changing / growing story like that and then only every so often hit up the art team for the big world map changes like blowing up a building and scarring the world map.

[dkellis]

I have to admit that my first thought upon seeing the title was that the city would literally transform and roll out.

It would certainly be more than meets the eye.

[hermit000]

the title is a direct quote from the first announcment about the game. Have no fear though i imagine there will be a transformere mmo eventually

[Nodin]

I am hoping that each big event patch, whatever the equivalent of the Issues from CoH will be, will include some fall out from the finish of the last story. Didn't stop that alien invasion last pat? now they have a hive system now and are regular villains. Shot down the ships and made them crash? Now there is a new type of loot floating about based on their tech.

This is something I wish would have been a part of CoX. It would be an excellent way to put in new content.:)

[Lord_of_Time]

Just altering the landscape would not be enough. Without there being some tangible benefit/detriment to the change it's all window dressing. I want to see a physical AND conceptual reaction to the change.

[Cyclone_Jack]

The first thing that popped into my head was Metroplex, the city thats...more than meets the eye. ;)

But, yes, I do agree with the OP, it would be nice to see various changes in the city as certian events transpire, or certain tasks are failed.