Wilfred

Ant Arctic, my Ice/Ice/Force Blaster. Very fast, very dangerous, very fun. Life on the edge.

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'A love of combat on the high seas'?? A pirate game?

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Or just the third part of the City Of... series. Based on the Waterworld film, City Of Costner should launch early 2010.

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And as for Wilfred...

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Well, sure, people aren't that stupid. But the start of a new game can be overwhelming enough as it is, and if the first 10 teaming offers are all farmfills for the MA, how are they to know what else is on offer?

And if their first 50 is pretty boring, their build unfulfilling because they haven't played around with the powers, what incentive is there to stick around for another one? I suspect attrition rate is probably high among those pl'd.

@Saphi;

I agree there's no way to stop people farming; while there are faster and slower ways to gain XP, there will always be people routinely using the high-end XP systems. But you can tweak the system in such a way as to make sure that 30% of new players' first experience of the game is not this...

Broadcast
Farmer Joe: farm team lfm

Inside new player's head
New player: Ooh, a team. I would quite like a team, as I am here to socialise.

Tell
New Player: Hey farmer joe, I'd quite like to be on a team.
Farmer Joe: OK lol i send invite come to ma
New Player: MA?
Farmer Joe: sure it a buildin made by dev 4 pl'in
New Player: OK, you're level 50, I'm sure I could learn a lot from you!

Enter mission >>> Inside new player's head
New Player: Well, this isn't that much fun, not a great game, but at least I'm levelling fast. I guess that's the aim of the game. Wish they'd let me do something other than stand at the entrance.

New player hits 50 after 10 hours of play...

Broadcast:
New Player: Farm team lfm!

Inside other new player's head...
Other New Player: Ooh, I'd quite like to team. Also, he's level 50, I could learn a lot about the game mechanics from him!

Back on the beta forums, someone (my apologies, can't remember who) came up with the idea of using certain codes in the description. The system suggested was clunky and would look very ugly, as it consisted of a series of codes to show things like whether there was an EB, level range, and so forth.

But there's no reason we couldn't take something more usable from that.

Just a set of very simple descriptors slipped into the arc description; say, 'Story-driven', 'Challenge-driven', 'Humour-driven'... if concordance could be reached over what descriptors to use and a campaign of awareness-maximisation engaged upon, people could more easily find arcs suited to them, arcs which have been thought about.

Issue 14 badges

I'd have thought these would keep you busy, for a while.

Play the Archpocalypse.

Challenging.

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So, what the hell is the point as these missions do nothing?

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Off the top of my head, I'd say original content, the chance to give something back, option to earn... god knows how many MA-related badges, another route to earning pool-select recipes, original storytelling and other mob types.

You can make the NPC's harder, if you like; you can't increase their level in the rest of the game, apart from adjusting your challenge settings, why on earth would the MA be any different?

The MA's benefit is mostly for those whose reward from the game comes from engaging storytelling, intelligent plotlines or imaginative enemy groups. If you get your kicks from the game in other ways, there's obviously going to be less there for you. But if the rest of the game's clientelle can look up from grubbing for XP for a while, they may just get back to why this game first captured them; for the fun, for the setting, for the plots. Rather than from the constant quest for more and better XP gain.

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Yeah, wish there was a no-install-needed offline MA editor so I could work on my work at work, not that work, THAT work!

That would... work!

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Two words: Note. Pad.

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too bad beer tastes awful.

I'll rather drown my sorrows in hard cider or raspberry vodka.

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Tsk. When you speak of googling catgirls, I sometimes think we have much in common. Then you come out with this sort of blasphemy. Bah.

Curse you, Sweden

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Going to watch Star Wars Episode 1 in 20 mins.

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Is that on real telly? I've always thought I should maybe watch one of those films someday.

Eating physalis (sticky!) and trying to work out what I should spend this evening doing!

Good thing our servers are in a different building, then. Bring it on!

Mine too. My mother warned me about this once, I'm sure. Or something like this, anyway.

God yes. I remember the rush to get in and try ED out when it came around... I couldn't wait.

Nah, it's a delayed April's Fool. They're replacing every critter in the game with pink shuvle-wielding ninja fairies, after being hugely overwhelmed by the brilliance of my custom groups. Maybe.

Damned Europe, with their funny-coloured tablets and wonky time.

First time I encountered an AV with AR/Nin set to extreme. And got hit with an assassin strike from hell.

For sure. I'm all done using stoats, I'll go back to the old keyboard'n'mouse method.

I just got booted for 'attempting to login in an unauthorized manner'

Welcome! I'd recommend asking Psygon nicely

You know what I miss? Patrols crouched over. I have no idea when it got fixed, but I realised today I don't see them anymore.

'Tis a shame, to be sure.

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*gives Wilfred a bouquet of flowers and a statue resembling a naked man*

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Sniff, just what I always wanted! I shall treasure it alw... err... do they have to make these things anatomically correct?

There's a reason most of us who know where it is didn't post it... generally not a good idea to put the details of an exploit, even a non-profitable one, up