Quoted from KS's updates # 12 "Classifications are the primary focus of a character. They define your role on a team or your basic method of solo play. They also determine which suite of powers are your main tools both in and outside combat. We currently plan to launch with the Commander, Ranger, Guardian, Enforcer, and Stalwart and hope to get enough funding to launch with the Master*. "
Why the heck was Master not made one of the streach goals?
These kinds of "goals" are nonsensical...
That would have been a good one to get people to pledge more into the project. Mastermind was one of the biggest parts of CoV.
To "get people to pledge more into the project" is a flawed objective: your reward tiers are for that. Stretch goals are something else. You only need to make people feel that they aren't giving you money that you don't need, not that they are going to get some extra "thing."
Where does the money equate to the pet class? All you do by incorporating such things is muddy the water regarding where the money is going, and gate off key features behind a ransom demand which may not be met.
Just figure out where the additional money can be put to use and tell us that. I'd much rather up my kick commitment to contribute to the purchase of additional resources (stock photos, prefab models, a mocap rig, etc.), or the hiring of professionals to produce some specific section of game code or resources, than the promise of some "feature" that should be part of the design by default.
You must be kind of new to Kickstarter, Manic. This is pretty much how everyone on kickstarter does things. What you are talking about is the behind the scenes mumbo-jumbo that makes the content offered in the Stretch Goal possible.
No, I'm not new. I've been paying attention, and following a lot of the discussion regarding crowdfunding on Gamasutra as well. I can see that time and again when noise comes up about extended funding it is not about "what backers get" (despite many dismissing complainers as "greedy") but whether the money is doing anything but going into the project lead's pocket.
There is no "mumbo jumbo that makes the content offered possible" when you arbitrarily gate this or that feature as Gen. Havoc suggests. Particularly when content does not equate to paid man-hours. Presumably the "volunteers" who produce models, textures, sounds and code for those pets (in this particular case) will not actually be paid for those contributions, so there is a disconnect between the money and the feature.
It's just dicking people around in an attempt to create a money-flinging panic.
Actually, while basically true, you forget one thing. All they need to produce what they have promised is the $320k that we already reached. Money above and beyond this goal will be going to other things, things like mac test environments (for the $450 stretch goal). Beyond this, they will be able to begin paying people. These people would be in addition to their volunteers. They would be there to multiply effort and get extra content out there.
If the only commodity of trade you have is time, then a little money goes a long way.
I don't really believe that. The Kickstarter goal was [i]way[/i] too low, only covering the engine license and an initial software license for many volunteers. It's not the first time I'm balking at the decision to gamble solely on unproven amateurs that way, but that was their decision.
They still fall shy of having a great deal of material that could improve the work done, such as the stock resources I mentioned, and that would all go toward making "what they have promised" nicer and faster to accomplish. Being able to outsource [i]anything[/i] to professional agencies is an opportunity to bypass the growing pains and limitations of volunteer labor, too, and well worth spending the added money.
That would be a pretty crazy budget for computers relative to how little the team has to work with altogether... gotta believe there's more to it than that.
I had a MM of every flavour except mercs, you might say I'm an MM fan.
But honestly they were a small fraction of the playbase, how many MMs did you see standing around at the AH, in PUGs or raids?
I hope they get added eventually but they're not a huge marketing draw.
I believe it is a stretch goal. Not all of them have been revealed yet. The note at the end of update 11 says:
(All Classifications and Specifications marked with a * are planned as post-launch additions, unless we pass certain stretch goals. Also, all names are preliminary and are subject to change before launch)
Thank you for your concerns and input.
I've been here since before MWM existed, and its an amazing group. I know you have only my word and the information you've seen so far to go by. So, I respect your skepticism, but trust is earned and requires time. Even the most reputable game studios in existence had to prove themselves before gaining a reputation.
We understand that. The skill sets in our group of volunteers allows us to deliver on the commitments we have made and will make. We also have a unique perspective: we are gamers with experiences from inside an MMO.
You may find this article by Mark Kern interesting: "http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm/feature/7585/Mark-Kern-MMO-Development-Needs-Change.html". Particularly the following:
"We need more innovation and less risk in MMO development. As developers, we need to share our work early and often, before we are so far along that we can’t make changes and adapt to players. As players, we need to be active participants in this new type of development process, contributing ideas and constructive feedback and giving the developer room and time to make the changes that are necessary.
This idea would require a “co-development” where the game is shared early to a large group of players for the last 50% of development time. Developers would also share features before they were completed. Sharing these prototype early would ensure that developers could make changes without incurring great cost."
We have turned that a bit on its head, by being both developers and players. However, we don't stop there. We keep looking for more feedback from the game community and players generally. Its curious as the article wasn't written until July of this year, after we'd been hard at work for months.
We want to be certain that City of Titans is developed with the players' needs in mind, and is not derailed by corporate pressures. We also respect that this is a business, and several of us are very familiar with the requirements to succeed in the marketplace.
So, I don't know if that allays your concerns, but we will be working hard to earn your trust.
Terlin
[color=#ff0000]The Bullpen[/color]
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I'm not really surprised. A Mastermind-like pet class would probably require a lot more coding to work properly. I'm sure they will be in eventually - but it's probably best to stick to the more straightforward "classes" rather than trying to implement everything at once and doing it poorly.
^ All of this from Inter
I'm not going to lie. I want MM in the game so bad. But I want a FUNCTIONAL MM and if it takes a while to make it happen then I am all for this.
[B]Revenge is motivation enough. At least it's honest...[/B]
Roleplayer; Esteemed Villain
[img]http://www.nodiatis.com/pub/5.jpg[/img]
And for the love of god, can they please stay where I tell them to so they don't get mauled by the angry mobs?
I know they aren't very smart, which is why I am having to hold their hand and tell them what to do, but sometimes that isn't enough because they like to go off and get killed anyways. Expendable? yes, but I am getting sick and tired of having to call in new ones because of their inability to follow simple orders.
Keep Low. Move Fast. Kill First. Die Last. One Shot. One Kill. No Luck. Pure Skill.
It took a few years for CoH to introduce a pet class. And even then, they were fiddling with the mechanics and AI for the whole time it existed.
Pets are hard. In the time it would take our coders to make an excellent pet class, they could code three other simpler classes, thus, Pets go to the bottom of the class-priority-list. It takes more than just another 100k to develop Pets so they'd be ready at launch.
Former Online Community Manager & Forum Moderator
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It didn't even take them 18 months (if you are going from release date to release date)...
18 months to produce *one* class? That's not really feasible when trying to make an *entire* game in two years.
Better to leave pet classes till post-Launch so that all of the kinks can be worked out.
[center][color=purple][size=16][b][I][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78N2SP6JFaI]Just a cat from another star![/url][/I][/b][/size][/color][/center]
Agreed. Though, if I know they're coming, I'll reserve a few character names early.
The 18 months was for masterminds to come out... and that also included Brutes, Dominators, Corruptors and Stalkers (City of Villains release), along with all of the other content related to CoV all in the same release. Granted, only enough content to get to 40 initially, but at least it was there..
I'd rather have a pet class done right, then done right away. I can find plenty of other characters to play.
You don't need to reserve character names - the plan is to allow you to call them whatever you want.