Zwillinger

At this point, with the myriad other QOL and game improvements our Engineers are working on, and the amount of work it would take, I'd say it would rest relatively low on the priority scale.

Is it possible? Sure, all things are, within reason. Is it probable in the immediate future. Most likely not.

Big Red star or not, we still do due diligence to verify that the person is the actual SG Holder.

I get what you're saying, and on paper, things can look fair. A lot of your suppositions seem to be, at least from my viewpoint, in a sterile environment without the million different variables that have tremendous influence over individual experience.

My anecdotal observations and subsequent opinion is grounded in taking the player and external influences intro account.

This is why I'm not a designer, but rather the guy who reads the design or listens to the game plan and immediately thinks of the million ways that the player will break it . I'm nowhere near creative enough to actually come up with a design.

I'm not even touching PVE balance .

I filter out my Private Tells when I'm on live servers, so if you tried that way, I probably never saw it. I usually get flooded when on live.

I understand the frustration about not having access to PM's.

I wasn't backed into a corner, it's simply the first time I've noticed a comment about it.

I don't dodge around an issue I've got an easy solution for. If I don't notice something, that's different than being evasive.

Please don't expect answers to questions asked on other forums about official game matters. I focus my primary attention to the official forums.

My bad?

An interesting postulation, however there will always be a segment of the Community which holds the develops directly accountable for perceived inequities in a PVP environment, no matter how many tools you offer them. Warranted or not, this influences the perception of others.

Managing a PVP community is an exercise in psychology (no negative implications implied.)

If you don't have direct access to PM's, you can always send an email to cohcommunity@paragonstudios.com. As to me not responding to PM's...I do my best, but I'm also currently sitting on over 4000 Private Messages received in the last 13 months, with only 300 marked as unread or unresponded too. I do need to occasionally sleep .

As to PVP events prior to my time here, I have no idea what was promised or what should have been awarded. If someone can provide me documentation and some kind of record of who should have received what and hasn't, I will of course do my best to rectify the situation.

This indeed; the allergy, from what I remember being told by the allergist, isn't in the hair, but rather in the dander, which has been in contact with glandular secretions.

There's an interesting thing I've heard said about PVP design as it pertains to balance: If everyone is complaining that the other person is too strong, then we're successful. If one particular segment of the community isn't complaining (i.e.; a particular class/archetype) we should probably look at them.

Personally, I don't think it's possible to ever get it "close enough" because even "close enough" is entirely subjective. "Close enough" for who? And by what yardstick are you measuring it by.

Off topic: I do appreciate the genuine conversation happening in this thread about design theory and principals. It's nice that we're able to discuss this without it becoming heated .

It is narrow. Unfortunately (IMHO) true PVP balance has to exist in a vacuum, meaning only ever on paper and never actually played.

The minute you introduce outside influences, all of that awesome design goes out the window.

YMMV .

I've been reading them .

My direct experience has proven the opposite. Anecdotal observation has shown me that the minute you introduce any form of variation, you cannot obtain even relative balance in PVP. Even in systems which use direct mirrors, in my experience, it's impossible to obtain balance.

Edit: I do agree that what keeps PVP gameplay interesting is the fact that balance is a constantly shifting target. This introduces a dynamic element, for better or worse.

*sits down in his armchair*

The only way I can see to possibly achieve anything even coming close to balanced enough to not matter anymore is to put two or more characters of opposing factions in the room with the exact same abilities, exact same attributes and exact same weaknesses. The environment must be completely symmetrical with zero variation at any point. Both players must be of exactly the same skill level (ratings systems do not accomplish this since they can be gamed) and all players must be playing on the exact same system with the exact same technical specifications on a connection that operates at the exact same speed/latency.

Or it can be turn based.

Ironically, I'm severely allergic to cats.

In general, there is a significant amount of truth to this statement. I've been fortunate enough to be part of a newly launched product, but there's plenty of my colleagues who've never experienced that.

David moving to a new project is in no way considered a knock against him, nor do I believe for a moment he loves COH and our Community any less. We just gave him an opportunity to explore another creative option, and he chose to accept it.

There should never be a concern that we've got the "B" team working on one project over another. We're not a gigantic colossal studio with a seemingly endless supply of development staff. Each and every person hired here at Paragon is the "A" team. We're small enough of a studio that we can't afford to hire any less than the best.

Plus, I'm still here, and plan to be here for the foreseeable future. It is my goal to lead the team that builds strong Communities for all of the games Paragon produces, including City of Heroes.

I knew what the Vault was. Remember, before I was the CM, I played the game off and on for 7 years.

BE QUIET YOU. I PURPOSEFULLY DID NOT SAY VAULT.

Ehhhh...personally I would doubt that as it would limit our marketability for Super Packs. Super Pack costume sets are likely to be new offerings.

We'll let you all know when it's time to pull them out of deep freeze.

Yes, I am a terrible tease. Let the hating commence.