Gear vs. Hats

Am I the only one that find looking at new things to be better?

The assassin has a japanese samurai based costume, this doesn't fit her role well? She looks like a ninja anyway, so if her new look doesn't fit then her old one doesn't either.

The cardboard tube, wasn't it just a tip-of-the-hat to a different game? Also fine.

New visual stuff doesn't mess with the gameplay. Adding a new class or weapon, would cause complaints that are more valid than "lol I don't like the way it looks". Aestetics do not make the game harder to play, ergo stop complaing please?

Lastly, they do add to the stuff you would continue to play the game for, at least when you have to earn them. Now, they shouldn't be crazy to get, but having a costume/taunt/grapple that shows accomplishment/time-played will definitely make some people play to get them.

So, in your logic this is the same as this?

And this is a mirror image of this right?

NO!? Say whaaaaaaaaaat!? They're both black cars!

Would you kindly show me where I've said they do affect gameplay?

What I did say is that they're unnecessary, useless, muck up visual style for absolutely no reason, and end up being wasted development time that could have, instead, been used on things that actually matter (like new maps, for instances).

People like customization, customization means more customers, it's an easy thing to do, why not let them do it.

They also like maps, achievements, and, pretty much anything new.

General populous isn't exactly far above a magpie in that if it's shiny, they like it! They don't care (or even understand) what, if any, use it has! "BUT IT'S NEW AND OMG OMG OMG OMG! I WAAAAAAANT!!!!". Just add stickers, or pins, or anything that takes an hour at most to whip up on maya, doesn't look like everyone went from high functioning professionals to people who just tripped into the locker room, and it has the same ******* effect.

Here's the backbreaking problem in that logic though: these are the same people that stop playing after 2 days because the novelty wore off, that's all they were here for, and now they got no reason left to stay. Adding more maps and better comp support gives you a steady user base. These people are the pillars of your community. They build "inner" communities. They host servers. They have "regulars" on their servers. They have websites that discuss the game, that get people playing. That spread the word. Etc, etc. It's the critical mass effect. Same way you "start up" a server. A server with 1 person doesn't necessarily go anywhere. Get 2 or 3 people on it, and it suddenly starts filling up, though this is more noticeable on games like TF2 when you can have 18, 24 or even 32/36 people servers. First few slots are hell to get on... Get past the 10/12 people mark and watch the rest flood in.

The same applies to the community. You need a solid and stable "starter" community. You don't get those by spending your resources creating novelty and unnecessary things that only really dilute the visual stile. Hell, golden rule of art design - less is more. If it serves no purpose, why does it exist?

The fact that balance has gone downhill in the latest two patches doesn't help either.

Like I said earlier, I just want something to spend my remaining $500,000 ingamecash besides protags
If that means, gear/hats/whatever, ok

I would love to use in-game money to purchase new taunts. I am kind of bored of the same one over and over again...

Dont turn MNC into another fashion show, plz.

I am sorry you can't enjoy style.

You know back in the day, developers cared about releasing new maps and gameplay modes instead of cute hats and retarded Valentine's Day themes. It happened in little games called, oh I don't know...Quake, Team Fortress Classic, and Call of Duty, for example. You might have heard of them. The fact that MNC still only has *FIVE* maps (one of which blows, two others that are almost identical AS WELL AS no way for the community to create their own) and *ONE* gameplay mode is the main reason why my friends and I have all stopped playing (and I KNOW we're not alone in this boat). Right now after you learn the basics, every game is same old, same old. It's a shame, I had a number of other friends who were considering purchasing the game that I have since told to not bother. But seriously, what can I say to them?? "The game is fun for awhile and gets old quickly...oh but IT HAS HATS WITH EVERY PATCH!!111oneone" :lol: :roll:

Anyway, just thought I'd throw out there. I'm sure it's meaningless and/or wrong. Feel free to now continue the discussion of whether Uber should release hats or gear.

viewtopic.php?f=29&t=5971&start=60

Cough Cough

And those mod tools are taking their sweet sweet time. I really hope they do get released soon, as MNC does need something good to jump start its engines again. The player numbers are not looking healthy at all.

I believe the amount of aesthetic changes to the game are enough for now. Sure, it's nice to have something new to look at every now and then, but the novelty of new cosmetics can only last so long. The game needs to be fleshed out more, instead of all this current focus on the fat. New game modes are needed, especially.

So, the uber developers is a small development team, smaller than the original sonic team lol.

They make some fresher skins, giving the player a visual choice. Also, what the player sees most of the time is THEIR OWN CHARACTER, so this affects themselves more than anyone else. Yet, you see some evil in this, wanting to take away everone else's free choice, and force your own opinion. How about we remove every other skin EXCEPT cardboard tube assassin costume, see how he likes it.

Anyway, my arguement is, where you say that visual additions take away from developer's limited time, the very small development team still manages to make a map WHILE dealing with game balance issues and adding new skins. How then? Probably because AZO, the animation guy that probably did the new taunt work(cheers to him), had very little to do with making a new map. They may have limited people, but the people they do have are capable of doing skins while making maps and other content. They are slow, people complain about it, but at this rate this great game is only going to be perfected in less than another year, not too far from TF2.

Ask for the skins being corny, they are a LOT better than TF2 skins. They all look like combat armor or dress so far. They pull from meaningful things, like other combat games. They all add uniqueness. I say the best taunt so far is cardboard tube samurai's shuriken taunt. Elegent. Their work is great, I say stay the course, there isn't one complaint I have with their progress.

And I made this thread to stop people from raging about gear. Holy crap I misread the reaction it would get. I don't know what to take away from this. I had gathered that the primary reason people disliked the gear system was a negative experience with TF2 hats. Apparently I was wrong.

I still don't get how people say the gear mucks up the visual style of the game. The game has an announcer that yells humorous lines and a "juicebot" that you need to keep away from fruits. How is a cardboard tube samurai out of place?

It is cartoony, and it is technically a battle uniform. No problem seen. Some SSF4 costumes are more corny than that.

They still released 4 things of content. That is a lot more than the classic zelda or sonic. Therefore, I don't see why updates every 2 weeks with 20 more game modes and 50 more maps is necesary. Be glad new stuff comes around when it does?

in conclusion... gears are healthy for this game

Healthy to an extent. They can be used as incentive but only when combined with other content like maps and bug fixes which should take priority.

Otherwise yeah, gear over hats.

I think if we just made the protags mean something, more people would spend the money. Like, if you wear a tag that a certain sponsor likes, you get a bonus on that endorsement. Or those hard protags that are like mini achievements (9001, the Sackers)? Add big bonuses to those and up the cost to buy them. Like, have one tag be able to split Gold, Silver, or Bronze into half of their strength, but it gives you an extra slot in that level. Walking around with three silver endorsements and one bronze at the same time would be awesome.

I'm just throwing out ideas. Earning money is cool, but not really keeping me going. I would love to do something with it.

IMO, protags should not affect gameplay at all because if there is a relation between gameplay and customization, that would limit our choices etc
a better way might be to have a section of the armors/gears (ie shoulder pad) display the protag of choice, like a small emblem/badge thing. not too fancy, yet noticable

or we could let uber concentrate on things that actually matter like gameplay, balance and new maps instead of cosmetic items that do precisely zero

Not ENTIRELY true. They actually do a tiny bit more than zero.

1. Brightly colored skins, E.G. the "retro" skins attract the eye easier and thus lead to increased attention. Its a minor thing but psychologically and physiologically it does work that way.

2. The Outland skins have different taunts, and some of the taunt lengths are noticeably different length than the originals. Longer taunts mean more time you are vunerable before getting your money for taunting after a kill. The hurt/heal gun for example has a shorter taunt length when in outland gear, but the shotgun has a longer taunt. The outland/CTS outfit for the assassin has a SIGNIFICANTLY longer taunt when using the sword (its probably about 25-35% longer than the normal one and the camera is at such an angle that its even harder to see what is going on around you.)

Ultimately these are extremely minor and mostly don't affect gameplay in noticeable ways, but they do more than "zero".