Vaudevillain

It was the day of the new expansion, and Dylan was eagerly awaiting the end of work. Tonight was the night Dr. Zlo hosted his great race, all in order to show off his newest invention. An equal amount of heroes and villains were invited, though few were from outside Menagerie. The only one Dylan sent an invitation to was Valiant, and that was because the man was Dr. Zlo's nemesis. It was their destiny to fight against each other time and time again.

Dextra had sent a few invites out, primarily to important faction leaders, to secure alliances. The man was still trying to get Vert to listen to the players, despite the company constantly ignoring the petition. Dylan hoped that his in with the expansion would help on that front.

Vert had already asked for his initial idea, a brainstorm to help the team in designing. Dylan instantly replied with his idea to steal the moon by using a shrink ray. It was the kind of thing straight out of a kid's cartoon, which meant it was perfect for Dr. Zlo. Dylan couldn't wait for the response back, wondering how Vert would handle the suggestion. He hoped they didn't reject the proposal; Dylan already had lines in his head for Dr. Zlo's attempted conquest.

Samir rolled his chair over to Dylan, sighing exaggeratedly as he did.

"Dylan, why is it work has to last so long?" the man complained.

"It's just the way it is," Dylan answered dryly. Samir made this complaint every few weeks, making it an old song and dance for the two.

"Besides, we already get a lot of benefits."

"You know, I read the other day that people in the nineteen sixties thought we would be working four days a week as time went on."

Samir spun in his chair, grabbing a pen off Dylan's desk and turning in his hands.

"And why don't we?" Samir grumbled. "Do you know how often I would avoid traffic if I had a flying car?"

"You'd crash that thing right into a hill if you drove, Samir," Claire quipped from her office.

"Ah, you wound me!" Samir joked. "To think my own boss doesn't trust my driving."

"Hey, I saw how you drove on our way to that architectural conference," Claire shot back. "I'm amazed you didn't get pulled over with how fast you were going. Don't you know what a speed limit is?"

"Those old highway roads are never enforced," Samir answered. "And hardly anyone drives them anymore."

Dylan snorted, "Yeah, because we have self-driving cars to get us everywhere. Face it, Samir, you and I are a dying breed."

"I still can't believe the two of you like to drive behind the wheel," Claire said. "Doesn't that seem dangerous to you?"

"Sure," Samir shrugged, "But it's also a lot of fun!"

Claire shook her head, turning back to her computer as her email pinged. Dylan turned back to his coworker, "She just doesn't get it."

"And she never will, my friend," Samir answered. "It takes a special kind of person to enjoy that adrenaline rush behind a car."

"At least I'm not as reckless as you," Dylan said. "I try to drive responsibly."

Samir smirked, "And who was it that told me to go faster down those highway roads the last conference?"

Dylan waved a hand, "I only meant for a few seconds, not the entire time. You can't pin any of it on me."

"I can and I will," Samir said solemnly. "Yes, officer, it's not my fault that I was driving recklessly. My friend here dared me to do it, and if I said no, that'd make me a coward. And you know as well as I do that we can't get called cowards."

Dylan snorted a laugh as Samir made up a conversation with a fake officer. The clock ticked to the end of the day a short moment after, signaling the end of work. Saying goodbye to Samir, Dylan finished the last of his work and drove straight back home, stopping to grab a bite from a fast food joint. He didn't want to waste any time cooking tonight.

OroJackson:

Maintenance is done. Let's get in there!

Oro's message came through just as Dylan entered his apartment.

Superfan39526:

Perfect timing!

I just got home.

Dylan shoved the last chicken sandwich into his mouth, taking off his coat and shoes as he munched. Food done and jacket put away, Dylan stepped into his room and placed the VIS over his head. World of Supers started up, a new graphic of ancient pyramids rising from the earth with undead hordes marching across the screen. Excited, Dylan started the game, entering the world as Dr. Zlo.

The patch notes appeared as the game loaded, the last few remnants of a patch fixing up the last bugs.

Gameplay Changes

Death and Respawn

Over the past months, we've received many complaints about the respawn system and its fallouts. Players in combat with other players would respawn and quickly find their targets again, making fights an ever-constant struggle until one party got bored. Needless to say, this issue grew exponentially in faction wars. Players never had to stop in their constant fight, leading to larger factions winning by sheer numbers alone.

To remedy this issue, we're implementing two new mechanics into the game; both centered around death. The first one is a durability system for items. All items are now gifted with a durability number that decreases over time. On death, durability takes a significant hit, possibly breaking some items completely and making them useless. Don't worry; players can still take powers to repair or even enhance durability, and NPCs around the world are willing to repair your equipment for a price.

Our following change involves reputation and should hopefully curb a good bit of the playerbase's eagerness to get back into the fight. ON death, a player typically loses reputation equal to the difference in player's ranks (a minimum of one). Now, subsequent deaths to the same player (or group of players) cause your reputation loss to double after each death. That means if you're rank A and lose a fight to another rank A, you lose one reputation. If you die again within five minutes, you lose two more reputation, then four, then eight, and so on. This change should prevent players from continuously bombing an area, as both their equipment and reputation will take massive hits.

Dylan nodded along as he read. He liked these changes, even if it nerfed his power slightly. He'd have to keep tabs on the durability of all his items, but at least others wouldn't be able to keep respawning with the same equipment each time. However, that didn't stop players with more physical powers. He guessed that was why Vert changed reputation loss as well. It sounded like a good idea to stack on losses after multiple deaths. Dylan looked at the next change, smiling as he did.

One of our highest complaints to our ticket system was the money creation power. Unfair, game-breaking, and other words have all been used to describe the ability, stating that the power to buy absolutely anything ruined the player economy. After careful monitoring of the situation, we do see that the power itself is problematic, but from a gameplay standpoint. Player economy is something we at Vert have kept our hands off of, letting the players form their own systems instead. We felt that creating a structured economy inside the game would limit players' creativity, and we still think this way. Crafters inside the game have already turned to other forms of payment besides money. It looks like the economy is holding firm on that front. No, our issues with the power stem from the gameplay itself, most notably faction mechanics.

When we added faction mechanics into the game, we felt that the option to outbid other players with mercenary contracts would be a fun addition. However, the money creation power has broken this system, leading many factions to ignore the idea of mercenaries altogether. Another issue started to arise with player-controlled land. We neglected to add an option for players to trade materials or other objects for real estate. Leaving money as the only option for sale made it impossible for players to set realistic prices, as players could pay for the land with one use of a power.

To remedy this issue, we're making a few changes and nerfing the money creation power slightly. First off, we're making it possible for players to barter materials and other goods for land. We hope that this fixes the real estate issues many factions have had.

All money created with powers is now counterfeit currency. Players with money powers can still craft realistic-looking bills, but it takes time to make a convincing fake. It's still possible to quickly create a large amount of money, but the quality will be low. This change also gives a chance for NPCs to notice that the player is using a false currency.

Any NPC that notices false currency will refuse the transaction and call law enforcement depending on the severity of the crime. Heroes with the power should take note; too many infractions will lower your standing in the community and might possibly make you a villain!

This change feeds into mercenary contracts. Mercenaries that notice false currency will refuse to do business with that person and anyone in their faction for a set period of time. Our plan is for this change to stop the bidding wars between factions.

It wasn't the worst change, Dylan admitted. But he would be happier if Vert removed the power from the game completely. Of course, Dylan understood that a lot of the game's appeal rested on picking any power. Sure, Vert had to limit some ethically questionable abilities from a legal standpoint and had to keep anything R-rated away because of censorship boards, but limiting anything else because of game mechanics would counteract World of Super's message.

Dylan skimmed through the rest of the balance changes, noting that Mad Science wasn't listed this time. It seemed Vert was content with the power's strength level. Though Dylan did see a change to other gadget powers.

Finished, Dylan closed out the box, the world swirling around him as it placed him back in Skyline.

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