Samuel_Tow
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Posts
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Joined
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Quote:It's not just this thread, though. Pretty much every time I've heard people bring up Water Blast, it's come with creative names for it, like Golden Shower or Crimson Discharge or I. P. Freely or something. I'm starting to suspect I don't get the zeal for Water Blast because it has to do with the camp of character names like the ones here.Originally Posted by Tenzhi
No reason other than to suit the topic 'clever/cliche Water Blaster names'...
Again, I'm not saying water-based Water Blast character names are bad, I just wonder why they're so popular that I see them across a multitude of fan sites and forums. -
The Blaster changes are quite good... Almost enough to get me to give the AT another change but not quite. Lack of status protection and meaningful defences still snap me back to reality. I imagine the changes will be very much appreciated by those who already enjoy Blasters, though, so that's still very good news. I have to say, un-sucking nukes makes me happy even if I won't get to use them. It tells me an outmoded "balance by annoyance" mechanic is going away, and that's nothing but good news for the future of the game and big respect for the powers team.
The changes to power pools, Fighting especially... Concerns me. I was hoping taking the decent powers in the pool would be made easier and instead not only is it just as hard, but now I'm actively encouraged to take ALL of it. Ugh... We'll see how it turns out.
Spines is what I REALLY care about, though. Bio Armour inspired me to make a new Spines Scrapper, and I was quickly reminded how shoddy the set's age-old design was. How lucky is it that mere weeks later I read about the set being improved? Sweet! I can't wait!
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Quote:I hope it doesn't turn into a new Atlas Park.Originally Posted by JayboH
I don't think they ever did, but yeah, King's Row's textures are fugly compared to just about anything else.
Honestly, though. I24 is shaping up to be a lot of fun. They seem to be addressing a lot of long-standing, really rotten problems, and that's always gold in my book. You don't have to keep adding new stuff to a game to expand it. Un-sucking old powersets is pretty much as good as making new ones. -
Quote:Any grounds-up redesign that didn't include this would be madness, and this isn't Sparta. To me, if they achieve nothing else, they need to at least not break what's already there.Originally Posted by Dark_Respite
Implement an entirely new base system from the ground up, but give SG leaders the option to "Leave my base as-is"/"Update to new system" (or even wipe it out and start from the beginning).
Beyond that, I'd e perfectly happy with a grounds-up redesign if we could go with a Minecraft-inspired base builder, as opposed to the current "room-based" one. At its very basic, just load players into a cube room with the teleporter in the middle and let them "dig" out from it cube by cube. Have each cube be a 3 feet tall, so three are about the size of a max-height male and two about average height, then let people hollow out the shape of the base they wanted to make. Limit it to, say, 256x256x64 lengthXwidthXheight and let us dig away.
Once that's done, let us put cubes back in and pick their textures, then add to that a collection of props from the game, like consoles, couches, tables, stairs and such. In short, let us pick the shape of our base by ourselves, then let us decorate it with props after that.
I know what you're thinking - but what about rooms? We need a power room and a control room and so forth, right? Um... Do we? Why not just get away with putting a cost on the actual functional items, rather than the room they're in? But OK, suppose we need to define rooms in a system that doesn't use rooms as basic units. How do we do that? Well, let players define "doorways." Pick two blocks on the floor in a line and have the engine trace that line along the floor, up the wall, along the ceiling, back down the other wall and back along the floor until it completes a curcuit. That's your doorway. Section off room by defining a doorway at each of its entrances and just define that to be a separate room. Want that to be your power room? OK. So how big is it? Well, count the cubes it's made up of and that's your size. Now give it a cost and performance based on that size and you're golden.
I realise that this is not going to happen. It's too much work and a fundamental redesign of the system. But at the same time, this is what might finally get me to mess with bases, because forcing the base to conform to a rigid grid makes it easier to work with without having to worry about complex positioning AND it makes that grid is still considerably finer than what we could do with bases before. -
Why does a character with water powers have to have a synonym or metaphor for "water" in their name?
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I honestly don't think Westin deserves a mention at all. Yes, he's slimy and disgusting, but then so's the dog landmine I stepped in on my way home from work the other day, but you don't see me raising a fist in the air yelling "Damn you, irresponsible dog owners! Damn you all to hell!!!" No, I basically wipe my feet on the grass on then wash my shoes after the fact.
That's about the dignity Westin deserves to be regarded with. He's slimy and disgusting and makes us feel dirty afterwards, so take a shower and forget about him. The man is a toad with no ambition, no real power and no real lasting influence. He's the Sleez of City of Heroes. He's a small fish in an ocean of big fish, and he just happens to stink. That's about it.
To me, this is kind of asking what the scariest horror movie is and having someone quote the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remakes because they have lots of gore in them. -
Don't you have to buy female and male parts separately? Or am I misremembering?
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Quote:I agree with this statement. It's easy to adopt the "I'm fine, so if you don't like it, just go away" mentality, but that's very, very damaging to the game. The simple fact is that no-one benefits from a player leaving a game angry. The angry player obviously doesn't, but neither do we the persistent players because that's one less person to support the game. I lived through the horror days of the Surviving 15, where subscriptions were critical, the development team was down to a skeleton crew and every player mattered. I don't know how many of us are left from back then and how many of us still remember those days, but back then, we kind of sort of had to learn to treasure every player that paid money for this game or, hell, even had a good thing to say about it to his friends.Originally Posted by Captain-Electric
What I share a concern for is the welcoming experience for returning players in the sense that it could negatively impact reviews in the gaming press. I'm not thinking in terms of individual people and their complaints; I thought I was at first, but now I realize I'm thinking more in terms of collective feedback that we always ought to have our ears open to. For anyone reading along, I mentioned this earlier in the thread, much more briefly. But to explain further, Twilight Phoenix (the OP) represents something in this case that is larger than himself. For every one person who complains, I wonder if dozens could have turned away silently. When there are spikes in the number of people who are complaining, that wonder almost becomes paranoia.
Maybe I'm still biassed so many years later, but I don't consider telling a player to just leave or that he's worthless to the company and the community, or even just making that player feel bad because he or she isn't doing "enough" to be a good or even a smart thing. I know City of Heroes isn't a true F2P model game. That's what the developers went with, that's what we have. But to tell people that "if you don't want to pay, you're not worth the bandwidth it costs to support you" is not cool just the same. This is our community, people. Do we really want to make it seem hostile, greedy and unwelcoming?
OK, it's a business. The publishers have to make money. Players are expected to pay for what they want to have. That's fine, we can work with it, but a player coming back to play purportedly for free and finding the bulk of the game locked away should not be greeted with contempt, but rather with sympathy. Such a player shouldn't be treated as a freeloader or an ingrate because, shock of all horrors, he came to "Play for free! FOREVER!" like the promo video says. Yes, that's not possible for business reasons, but our recourse really shouldn't be to try and make that person feel unwated because he isn't paying enough.
When Freedom was still being discussed, one of my biggest fears of it was exactly this attitude - that it would create a "class divide" where some people would end up being told that they're not paying enough and so they're worthless and the game should never cater to them. It's not the reality of the situation so much as this attitude that I think is outright terminal for the game. Even at its peak of popularity, City of Heroes was a niche game with a limited audience. The LAST thing we want is to chase away legitimate players. Even if what they want for free will never be free, there are better ways to get that across than "If you're not paying, you're not worth the company's time." -
Quote:Once upon a time, we were told that server transfers and renames were done manually. I can't confirm that this was ever the case, but this dates back to the original "Test Server character transfer tool," which took hours, sometimes days to transfer characters over and had the habit of just breaking down whenever if felt we didn't hug it enough. Even if it was a manual process at one point, it's been automated ever since the services came into being. I believe it was actually said that this was released as a paid-for feature exactly because they found an automated way to accomplish it.Originally Posted by NuclearToast
One thing I thought of that's not considered by the "it's only data" people is to remember we're dealing with a software system created a decade or so ago. I imagine it originally had to do with the character's name being the database key for the character record. When you change keys, the database recalculation and replication is affected. Especially when you factor in cached data and server farms. Changing data is simple, but not always without implications or impact.
What I'm saying is I don't think this is a mechanical limitation that makes server transfers and character renames so expensive. We've never gotten any comments to this effect and I've never heard of those failing. No developer has ever commented on their pricing, leading me to believe said pricing is a result of an unreviewed legacy decision. Transfers and Renames were priced at $10 when everything at all was priced at $10, and when Freedom came out, they simply recalculated that into Paragon Points and left it at that. I really don't think technical considerations were ever a question.
Here's my reasoning for this: When Freedom was being tested, the team did a LOT of things to reduce server load and save resources. The low-level game was robbed of instances to reduce instance clutter from abandoned lowbies, Masterminds and Controllers were locked for Free accounts to limit their numbers and so forth. They told us about pretty much every decision they'd made to limit the game in order to cover the overhead of Free players without having to tax paying players more for it. Renames and Server Transfers never came up in those talks, not even as an off-hand mention. I'm not saying they're safe or easy or fool-proof, I'm just we really have no official evidence for it. -
Chapter 2: Unknown.
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Ren: Commanders journal, 2 hours after incident. An unscheduled time jump deposited me at the bottom of a small fresh-water lake, waist-deep in the silt. Clearly something has gone very wrong with the jump. Chief Engineer Gax and Chief Specialist Seth who jumper with me are missing. I searched the lake and the surrounding area and found nothing. I hope theyre OK and have just been deposited elsewhere, but most of my equipment has ceased to function so I have no way to contact them remotely. With night falling and a storm brewing on the horizon, I have no option but to find shelter. Ill look for my squad in the morning.
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Ren: Commanders journal, 18 hours after incident. Ive been forced to forage for food and water from the local environment. The immediacy of the temporal asynchronicity event forced us to jump entirely unprepared and with a squad of just three. I am now paying the price. My telesthetic transceiver came back to life earlier this morning and there is enough subquantum gel in the tank to run it, but I still cannot establish communication with my squad. I hope I am simply out of range and they have not been deposited in a different time period. Right now, my only option is to look for civilization and try to appropriate local resources to aid in my search, provided such exists in this time period. If not... Ill think of something.
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Ren: Commanders journal, 2 days after incident. I worry about my squad, Tamika... Specialist Seth, in particular. If the time jump disabled her mech like it did most of my equipment, she would be in real trouble. Gax can survive without his cybernetics, but Seths near complete neural fibre degradation is manageable only with augmentation and life support. With no power to her rebreather, I dont know how long she could last. I need to find civilization, and soon. Ive been following a river for the last two days. If there are human settlements in this time period, this should help me find it. I dont know how I would speak with them, but Ill cross that bridge when I get to it.
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Ren: Commanders journal, 3 days after incident. I dont know how far back in time we jumped, but it has to have been a big jump. Possibly bigger than weve ever attempted. I keep running across plants Ive only seen in books, and Im sure at least one of those went extinct half a million years BNE, thats... I dont know how much AD, but...
Communicator: *garbled voice*
Ren: My communicator!
Communicator: *garbled voice*
Ren: Sentry, trace... Great! Unknown person on my com link, this is Commander Tarara of the F Squad. Your signal is breaking up. Stand by. I will attempt manual retuning.
Communicator: *garbled scream* *garbled shout* ...mander! Please help!
Ren: Unknown person, communication has been established. Identi...
Communicator: Commander, its me! *gasp* Seth! Im in big *gasp* trouble, you have to... *gasp* You have to help me! *gasp* Please! *gasp*
Ren: Seth? Whats your status?
Seth: My power *gasp* is out! *gasp* I cant *gasp* I cant breathe! *gasp* My life support... *gasp* *gasp*
Ren: OK, calm down. Can you activate your mechs emergency transponder? I can track that.
Seth: Cant! *gasp* All systems *gasp* are down! *gasp* Help! *gasp*
Ren: OK, Seth, I need you to calm down and work with me. I can help you.
Seth: Commander! *gasp* Cant *gasp* breath! *gasp*
Ren: Seth, Can you describe the area around you?
Seth: Cant... *gasp* Cant see outside! *gasp* Please *gasp* hurry! *gasp*
Ren: OK, uh... I have an idea. Seth, you need to break the seal on your mech and climb out of it. I know itll be hard, but this will activate an emergency depressurisation beacon that I can also track.
Seth: Cant *gasp* Cant move! *gasp* I... *gasp*
Ren: Seth, listen to me, you need to do this so...
Seth: *sob* *gasp* Help! *gasp* Please, I... *sob* *gasp*
Ren: Tamika. You are not going to die.
Seth: *sob* *gasp*
Ren: Youre my best mech pilot by far, and Ill be damned before I let you go like this.
Seth: Commander, *breath* I... *breath* I cant... *breath*
Ren: Yes, you can. I know you all too well, Tamika. Youre the stubborn little girl who put doctors, veterans and war heroes to shame. They all told you to give up, but you never did. Because youre better than this.
Seth: *calm breathing*
Ren: Youre not just some frail, crippled child, Tamika. Youre a proud member of the F Squad and the finest soldier Ive ever served with. You can do this.
Seth: Yes, Commander. *calm breathing* And... Thank you. *calm breathing* Ungh...
*ping*
Ren: Tamika, I have your signal! Youre about two kilometres from me, Ill be there in five minutes! Hold on!
Seth: Wow... *breath* The trees here *breath* are really green. *breath* I always wan...
Ren: Tamika, are you OK? ... Tamika, answer me! ... Damn it! Dont you dare give up on me now, girl! Do you hear me? Do not give up!
Seth: Ren... *breathe* Im sorry... *breath* I don...
Ren: NO!
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Ren: Commandets journal, 4 days after incident. I located Specialist Seths mech. She was forced to break the separate environment seal and disconnect her life support system in order to trigger an emergency beacon. Seths neurological degradation condition makes it nearly impossible for her to move on her own, or even breathe unassisted. I ran as fast as I could to reach her as soon as I got the location of her beacon, but...
Seth: Commander?
Ren: Hey, youre awake. How do you feel!
Seth: Like I have a mech brigade tap-dancing on my chest. So, alive, in other words.
Ren: Heh. Thats good to hear. You really scared me back there.
Seth: I... Dont really remember anything after I disconnected my rebreather. What happened?
Ren: Well, you were hypoxic and unconscious when I found you. I did what I could to stabilise you with stim packs and my one medkit. For all the items I forgot to pack, Im glad I brought that along.
Seth: I thought I was going to die...
Ren: Not on my watch, Tami. Not if I have anything to say about it.
Seth: *sob*
Ren: Oh, hey, calm down, theres no need to...
Seth: Commander, if I may... *sniff*
Ren: ... Go ahead, Specialist.
Seth: I must apologise for my conduct. *sniff* I broke my discipline and it nearly cost me my life. Ill never...
Ren: *hug*
Seth: Commander, I...
Ren: *release* Tamika, I know Ill hate myself for saying this, especially now that youre finally acting like a soldier, but... Please forget protocol for a minute and just talk to me.
Seth: ...
Ren: I know I can seem cold at times, but Im here for you, Tami. What you went through isnt easy to deal with. Trust me, I know. So please, if you want to talk about it, just speak your mind. Theres nothing to be ashamed of.
Seth: I... *sob* I was so scared, Ren! And... *sob* After what you said, I... *sob* I dont deserve to be in the squad! *sob* But Ill try, Ill...
Ren: Wait, what are you talking about? Do you think just anyone could have done what you did?
Seth: What, getting out of a mech? *sniff* Yeah, I think anyone can do that. Its the first thing they teach you. *sniff* I know, I teach it! *sniff* I dont deserve to wear this uniform...
Ren: Now thats just not true! Listen, Tamika, what I told you on the radio is true. For as long as Ive known you, people have been doubting your abilities and predicting your death, yet you just laugh in their faces and prove them wrong. Youre wrestling with a genetic condition that would cause most people to give up and die, but you keep fighting it every day. Dont sell yourself short.
Seth: But... But... *sniff*
Ren: But what? You cried? So what? Thats nothing to be ashamed of. You were scared, as you should be. Anyone would be scared in that situation. Hell, most people wouldnt have lasted a day in that situation, but you lay in that mech for three days and you still had the will to survive. Tami, its normal to be scared. What matters is you beat that fear to save yourself, and Im proud of you.
Seth: Ren, I... Ugh, just dont tell Gax I said this. Hell never let me live it down, but... I have a confession to make: Ive always wanted to be like you, and I dont mean just strong and... Well, healthy. Oh, sure I want that too what girl doesnt? But youre always so... Fearless and determined. Even when it looks like were completely screwed, youre always the one to pull us back and pull us through. Me... Bleh! As soon as the going gets tough, I break down and start crying. Im so pathetic...
Ren: No youre not! Tami, I get scared just like everybody else. I just cant afford to show it. Its part of being the Commander, I suppose I have to stay strong for the sake of the team. But that doesnt mean I dont have feelings. When I heard you fading out on the comm., I was scared witless!
Seth: What, seriously?
Ren: Yes, seriously. Look, I know Im tough on you, Tami, but I care about you, both as a squad mate and as a friend. I know were supposed to put the integrity of the timeline and the consistency of the future first... I wrote that in the codex myself. But really, the squad always comes first. You are my friends and my family, and to think that something might happen to you? That scares me more than I care to admit.
Seth: Ren, I... Never knew you felt that way. I mean, I knew you cared, but to hear you say that... Why havent you brought it up before?
Ren: Honestly? Its awkward to talk about. Ive been so caught up with being the F Squad Commander I sometimes forget to be a real person, too. Its really draining, but the squad needs the authority. I cant afford to be just another person, its my duty to be a role model. Yes, you and Gax and Lexxy and the others I can trust, but can you imagine talking like that to the cadets?
Seth: Fresh out of the academy? Hah, yeah, I can see your point. Those freeloaders need to be whipped up into shape before they can be part of our family. We have a 99% dropout rate for a reason.
Ren: That reason being that you ride new recruits too hard.
Seth: Hah! If a crippled little girl can make the Squad, so can they. Besides, you know the kind of missions were sent to. I have to be tough on raw recruits and send them through the wringer or else they just wont survive. Isnt that what you told me, Squad Commander?
Ren: I suppose I did, didnt I? But, hey, its nice to see you perking up a little.
Seth: Well, I do feel a little better, but my head still hurts. ... Ren... Thanks for saving my life.
Ren: Dont mention it. So, are you grateful enough curb the attitude, then? *smile*
Seth: Woah, lets not get ahead of ourselves here. Youll need to save my life at least two or three more times for me to be that humbled.
Ren: Ha ha ha! OK, fair enough, Tami. Fair enough.
Seth: You know... Its actually kind of weird to hear you laugh. And I kind of like it.
Ren: *sigh* I have been all business lately, havent I?
Seth: Well... Yeah. I mean, I know you go through happy and irritable stages, but its been years since Ive seen you crack a smile. Political trouble with the higher ups?
Ren: I really dont want to talk about it, but yes, you can say that. Its just been so frustrating and I ended up taking it out on you and the Squad. Im sorry, I should have handled it better.
Seth: Eh, we love you anyway. Youre pretty much the only person who can get things done. I mean, remember that time you were away with injury and Gax had to fill in as Squad Commander?
Ren: Id rather not, actually. Gax is an amazing scientist and engineer, but the men is such a terrible commanding officer. I dont think even he wants a repeat of that.
Seth: I dont, either. Honestly, for all our fights, youre still the only one Ill call Commander. Oh, that reminds me what do we do about protocol?
Ren: Good question. Until we find Gax and get an actual update on our objective, were still on an official mission, so we really should act like it. Do you think you can work with that?
Seth: Yes, Commander. I mean, itll be awkward being all prim and proper, but hey you saved my life. The least I can do is behave, right?
Ren: I appreciate it, Seth. Speaking of that I noticed your mech has suffered extensive damage. How did that happen?
Seth: Fall. Gaxs time jump spat me out in mid air probably a few kilometres up. Above the clouds, at any rate. Gunny shut down completely as soon as we jumped, so I more or less fell out of the sky. I hit somewhere up that slope over there and rolled down to where you found me. Now Im glad I asked for those unnecessary extra passive shock absorbers.
Ren: And Im glad I relented.
Seth: Well, the fall still sucked with no direction control! Say, did your gear get messed up when we jumped, too?
Ren: Yes, I lost everything Thanix-based. The only items that still work are my subquantum tank, though the generator for that is dead, my telesthetic transceiver and my music player, of all things. Well, and my medkit, but thats expended now.
Seth: What about Sentry?
Ren: She wont respond. I dont know if shes just offline or if her holomatrix is damaged, but her whole module is unresponsive.
Seth: I hope shes not damaged too badly. I mean sure, I know Sentrys just very complex systems manager programme and not a true AI, but I still like her. Shes a lot of fun to speak with.
Ren: Seth, Sentry is programmed to agree with everything you say.
Seth: Yeah, thats what I mean!
Ren: *head shake* Listen, I think I have an idea about bringing Gunny back online.
Seth: Thatd be good, because I really cant move without him. Im not sure what we can do about the damage, though. Gunny lost all power when we jumped, so auto-repair is out of the question and wed need a machine shop or a nanoforge for manual repairs.
Ren: Actually, I think we can bring that module back online. I have nearly full subquantum tanks that I can hook up to Gunny as an auxiliary power supply. There should be enough gel in there to run a full auto-repair cycle. If not, Ill need you to interface with your mech and focus power on strategic repairs.
Seth: I can do that, yeah, but what would it accomplish? Well power Gunny, maybe fix him up, but then he runs out of power again pretty quickly. Your tanks cant possibly run him long-term.
Ren: Thats why well focus on fixing your mechs kinetic batteries and generators. I should have enough subquantum gel to do that, after which Gunny should be able to generate power on its own and continue the fixes autonomously.
Seth: Hmm... Yes, that could work, actually. Wed still have to deal with the damage to the locomotion system bleeding the capacitors, though... I may be able to seal that. If I put Gunny in standby mode, the entire locomotion system will lock up, which will disconnected it from the main grid. Yes, this could work! But... What about your gear? Wont you lose power if we use all your gel on Gunny?
Ren: Most of my gear isnt operational anyway. The only thing I have working thats actually useful is my transceiver, but Gunny has that secure broadcast antenna I asked you to install, Right? That should give us ten times signal range anyway I have, so that it should compensate.
Seth: Great! So were all set, then! Can we just, uh... Wait a couple more hours? Maybe until morning? My heads pounding like I have a sonic emitter inside my skull. Id like to just lie down a little more if thats OK. Im still kind of drowsy...
Ren: Of course, of course. Lets say we wait until dawn then we work in daylight. How does that sound? Seth? Heh... Good night, Tamika. Pleasant dreams. -
This is a very smart video, and I applaud it for being as positive as it is... But at the same time it strikes me as REALLY trying to change people and in so doing it really replaces one problem with another. One of the deathbed regrets was "I wanted to be more like myself instead of what people told me I should be," paraphrasing because I closed the video tab. Well... The thing is that some of those things are squarely aimed at making me like what people say I should be.
"Social resilience" is the subject that really rubbed me the wrong way, because it actually tramples the difference between an introverted person and an extroverted one, assuming that an extroverted person is one "true" state, as well as that introverts are just extroverts that need to be helped to see the light. Drawing strength from the people around you is a key trait of an extroverted personality, and placing an introverted personality in that situation is a recipe for disaster. I say this, because a lot of introverted people draw strength from being alone and then expend this strength to be in a group.
Now, I consider myself an introverted person. It might seem hard to believe given my posting history and the stern tone of this very post, but I've been off the forums for a week now, so I'm well recharged. Moreover, trace my posting history and you'll note that it is, by and large, impersonal even when I get angry at people and devolve into childish bickering. Ways to handle social interaction for people whom social interaction drains exist, yes, and some allow us to focus enough strength into limited interaction to where we appear assertive, aggressive and dominant. But what you don't see is the recovery process. You don't see me coming home from work, shutting the door and refusing to speak with anyone for at least an hour. You don't see me typing up two-page posts, then changing my mind and closing the tab without actually posting it.
Why I say the above is I've tried. I've tried being social, I've tried shaking people's hands and hanging out and being part of a group. I tried that for years, and for me, it just doesn't work. I can manage it when it's the exception to the rule, only occasional enough to where I can enjoy it without it becoming too much of a drag. But to think that this would be my actual personal relaxation time? That would actually make ME want to die. And I'm not saying that lightly, because I went through that before I realised just what extended socialisation does to me. Even at its most benevolent, such as teaming in a game, it stands a good chance of making me not want to play.
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Funny thing about "don't stay still," too. I realise it's bad for physical health. Just like the food I eat and the habits I have. There's no denying that. Yet at the same time, this is what makes me - and you're not going to believe this - one of the calmest, least irritable people I know. Yeah, I get fired up over forum posts, sure, but when forced to wait an hour and a half in front of a doctor's office or go through a mind-numbingly repetitive process at work, it rarely bothers me. Stillness of body helps encourage stillness of mind, and that helps with patience. While my friends will fidget, walk around and lose patience, I can just sit down and simply wait.
Again, I know it's not a good thing, because activity is healthy. But jumpy mindset that can't sit still for more than an hour seems to bring more stress than it relieves. And I'm honestly not sure if the extra 10 years are worth the stress. I'm not sure if extra years of life are worth many more years of uncomfortable habits to earn them. Someone mentioned the irony of earning people 7 more minutes of life through a presentation that's 20 minutes long, and that's kind of what I worry about, as well. Is it worth devoting years to a lifestyle that doesn't make me happy in exchange for having more time to be unhappy in?
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Really, I'm not criticising the video. It's entirely positive and I endorse it heartily. I just think it's a bit TOO positive and a bit TOO aggressive in its attempts to "fix" people. -
Quote:Then please, do nerf Hasten.Originally Posted by Shadowblaze
Ha, I think if you nerfed Hasten, the forums would EXPLODE.
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Quote:I brought this up with Tunnel Rat earlier in the thread, she checked with the artist who made them and reported this was working as intended. I'm with you, though - I don't know why that is and I don't get it.Originally Posted by Starhammer
Ok, maybe I'm ignorant of an anime reference or something, but are the Mecha Armor wings and backpack supposed to stick out of the back on a giant peg like a poorly engineered action figure accessory? I think they'd look vastly better if the inner plane of the "mounting surface" (those bits that would actually be pretty epic looking on their own without the wings or warp nacelles) was flush with the back. Does it need to be that way to accommodate some of the beefier "chest option" pieces like PPD armor?
Here's the thing: I know it's impossible to have a flat static plate be flush with the characters' back both because the back isn't flat even at rest and because it bends greatly when animating, both forward and back. However, this doesn't seem to prevent Tunnel Rat's own Retro Sci-Fi jet pack from being flush with the back, so it's obviously doable.
Furthermore, I know that the Mecca Armour jet pack was designed to work with an armoured top - the actual Mecca Armour top only came in armoured form initially - so the pack would naturally be set a bit back. However, I believe this is a mistake. Designing parts to only look well together is a problem in itself, but even generally, BABs created a solution to this with Shield Defence - the shield would offset itself based on the glove model used with it. This should be usable for backpacks, too.
In general, I agree that having the backpack sticking out of the character's back on a gradient-colour, no-shader girder looks BAD, and it looks bugged. Why make what is for all intents and purposes a mounting plate and then hang it on a peg? I really wish something happened to those packs to mount them better. -
To my mind, the rename and server transfer costs are a relic of the *** backwards pricing model the game used before pricing was considered to be a "thing." Want something? $10. Want something else? $10. Want anything at all other than your subscription? $10. Doesn't matter what it is, that's what it costs. In a time before microtransactions where people actually sat down and considered pricing, marketability and advertisement, everything had the same cost.
Paragon Studios had to learn the hard way that "consumables" which cost too much do not get purchased. They started off trying to maintain their old model of "everything is expensive" and found out that consumables, especially fairly minor ones, did not sell well.
Character renames are a consumable. To my eyes, the only reason they haven't been reduced in price is there's almost no demand for them, so no-one has bothered to sit down and work on an alternate pricing model. The system is no longer manual, as evidenced by the fact that it's instantaneous despite the messages warning it might take time. Price it lower and people will buy it. Price it at $10, though, and people will figure they can live with a misspelled name or, you know, do the "ghetto rename" transfer trick since server transfers were seen as SO worthless subscribers get them in our junk mail.
I think Steam has proved that high prices don't always generate the most revenue. On the contrary, they've shown that LOW costs generate considerably more. It may be time to re-examine the prices of renames and transfers. -
Most of my best characters are based on a rotten memory for details. I don't have exact examples (rotten memory for details), but I've had multiple instances where I set out to explicitly rip off a trademarked character for kicks and giggles and in the end came up with something wholly unique. Why? Because I misremembered what the source character was like - story, appearance, powers, etc. - and it turned out that what I'd created was original because I'd misremembered thing in just the right way that the creation didn't actually match anything else I was aware of at the time.
So I'd say that's less of a fail and more of a win. So your character isn't a ripoff of a song's lyrics. That's a good thing from where I'm sitting
-
Pricing aside, I don't get why we need even more achievements that are unique to a platform not everyone uses. I use Steam, personally. Quite a bit, as a matter of fact, as I consider it to be one of the best services on the Web right now. I don't, however, run CoH through it, and I'd rather not have to.
Then again, given how much I care about achievements (on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd call it -100), "have to" may be an overstatement. -
Chapter 1: Asynchronicity
***
Facility: Access denied. Lockdown in effect.
Ren: Sentry, assume control and authorise access.
Sentry: I am unable to comply, Commander. The Thanix Headquarters facility has entered emergency lockdown and my systems lack the necessary clearance level to gain access.
Ren: Do you have clearance for any facility systems at all?
Sentry: Yes, commander. Emergency lockdown protocols have removed security checks on a number of systems deemed important for the preservation of facility personnel. Based on the current situation, accessing the unsecured emergency communication channel seems prudent. Shall I assume control of that system, Commander?
Ren: Yes. Search the building for Engineer Gax and patch me through to him.
Sentry: Yes, Commander. I have located the Chief Engineer and established a connection. You may use channel 7.
Ren: Gax, this is Commander Tarara, responding to your emergency message. Whats your situation?
Gax: Commander! I dont have time to explain. I need executive level access to the facility mainframe ASAP, or were looking at a major disaster!
Ren: Understood, Gax. Stand by. Sentry, enact emergency override protocol EX1381, on my authority. Authorise.
Sentry: Yes, Commander. I am confirming your identity...
*Name: Commander Ren Tarara
*Species: Human female, pureblood
*Born: 1 010 736 AD / 1035 ANE
*Age: 176 standard Earth years.
*Designation: Commanding officer, F Squad Temporal Defenders strike force
*Clearance level: Absolute
*Authorisation complete. Clearance granted.
Ren: Assume control of the facility and grant full clearance to Engineer Gax.
Sentry: I am unable to comply, Commander. I cannot confirm the Chief Engineers identity over an unsecure channel and clearance cannot be granted to unconfirmed agents. You will need to establish physical contact with the Chief Engineer or procure a secure connection in order to proceed.
Gax: Commander, my situation is critical! Whats the status on my clearance?
Ren: I cant do it remotely, Gax. I need to come into the facility, and it looks like its sealed in a static bubble? Is it safe to break the seal?
Gax: Yes! Well, no, but its a risk well need to take. But listen: You must not override the security lockdown! Temporal stabilisation is currently in effect, and breaking containment can collapse the entire bubble. Theres an isolated lock near gate C, access hatch number... Give me a moment... C18. You can use this to enter the facility. Hurry, Commander!
Ren: Understood, Gax. Stand by. Sentry, locate access hatch C18 and assume control of it.
Sentry: Yes, Commander. I have located the exterior emergency access hatch C18 and displayed it on your HUD. Accessing security protocols... Accessing... Accessing... Access granted. You are now authorised to use access hatch C18, Commander.
Ren: Good job. I need you to find floor plans of the facility and... Can you locate Engineer Gax?
Sentry: Yes, Commander. I have already located the Chief Engineers tracker beacon and calculated an optimal route. Directions are on your HUD.
Ren: Great. Thanks, Sentry.
Sentry: Of course, Commander.
---
Gax: Commander! Just in time! We have less than 60 seconds and Ill need time to reverse the process. Please, I need access to the mainframe immediately!
Ren: Sentry, grant full clearance to Engineer Gax on my authority. Authorise.
Sentry: Yes, Commander. I am confirming the Chief Engineers identity...
*Name: Engineer Tillin Gax
*Species: Human male, cybernetic
*Born: 1 010 800 AD / 1089 ANE
*Age: 112 standard Earth years
*Designation: Chief engineer and historical technology expert, F Squad Temporal Defenders strike force
*Clearance level: Absolute
*Error: Absolute level clearance cannot be granted. Defaulting to Executive clearance level.
*Clearance level: Executive
*Authorisation complete. Clearance granted.
Gax: Finally! Please let there be enough time... Please let there... Yes!
*rumble* *zap*
Facility: Emergency protocol EE3354 enacted. Shutting down temporal compensators. Warning! Warning! Temporal instability detected! Activate temporal compensators immediately!
Gax: Cancel that alarm. Phew... That was cutting it too close... Commander, Im so glad to see you!
Ren: Im glad to see you safe and sound, Gax. Your emergency transmission had me worried.
Gax: As well it should. We have a BIG problem, Commander. Has the Squad assembled?
Ren: Ive sent the order, but itll take time for people to return to base camp. This was supposed to be our first extended vacation in years so everyone is scattered about.
Gax: Im afraid time is exactly what we may not have, Commander.
Ren: Tillin, please forget protocol for a moment and just talk to me. Whats going on here?
Gax: I dont know... I just... I dont know!
Ren: Calm down, Tillin. You can figure this out. Just start from the beginning and tell me what happened.
Gax: I... I responded to a basic asynchronicity alarm. I thought Id come to the facility to do preliminary tracing, but I found the Temporal 5-dimension Accelerator working at full power. Then something happened, ripple feedback, I think, but worse than Ive ever seen it. It overloaded the main machine with so much force the static anchors were shifted out of time altogether.
Ren: And thats when the facility went into lockdown?
Gax: Yes, exactly. Without the anchors, the Temporal Accelerator itself was subject to time stream fluctuations. This kicked in a very, very old defence programme that I didnt even know existed. The facilitys computer tried to employ emitters to try and correct the past remotely. And we both know what that means.
Ren: Irreversible timeline corruption.
Gax: Yes, but it gets worse. The emitters are designed to affect a static bubble from a dynamic environment... Theyre designed to work from the outside in, as it were. Using them from inside a static facility could collapse the entire bubble on top of a temporal rift, and the consequences of that are... Unthinkable. Whoever designed that safeguard better hope I never find him!
Ren: Focus, Gax. What caused all this? A temporal disturbance?
Gax: Yes, an asynchronicity event, to be precise, and this ones big. Its also... wrong. The energy levels are completely out of scale with what a temporal event should produce and their pattern is, err... New to me. I cant begin to explain what were facing here. It may even be a temporal reset for all I know!
Ren: Gax, thats impossible. A temporal reset is impossible. You proved this.
Gax: Ren, no asynchronicity event, no matter how powerful, can phase a static anchor. This is something entirely unique, and we dont have much time. The facilitys static bubble can hold for now, but the events feedback is growing more energetic at a geometric rate. It will overload the bubble within the next 15 minutes, if that. When that happens, our timeline may be lost.
Ren: I see... What do you suggest, then?
Gax: That we do an emergency time jump immediately. While I was waiting for you, I traced the source of the asynchronicity event with an accuracy of 20 years or so. If we can resolve this event and restore synchronicity in the past, then the energetic load on our Temporal Accelerator in the present will lessen as of the moment of our departure.
Ren: Are you really suggesting that we jump with just the two of us?
Gax: If necessary, yes. I hoped that the squad mobilize in time to do a full-force jump, but the anomaly grew much faster than I could have predicted. By my calculations, we have roughly 10 minutes before the facilitys static bubble emitter becomes permanently damaged, and I need a few minutes to set up jump coordinates, so... Realistically speaking, itll be just you and me unless someone shows up this very moment.
Seth: Thanix Facility, this is Chief Specialist Tamika Seth responding to an F Squad priority alert at this location. Is anyone there? Come on, people, pick up!
Gax: On second thought, maybe it should be just you and me...
Ren: Gax! Thats out of line even given the circumstances! Sentry, patch me through to Seth.
Sentry: Yes, Commander. I have located the Chief Specialist and established a connection over Thanix Headquarters emergency communication channels. You may use channel 13.
Ren: Seth, this is Commander Tarara. Are any of your squad-mates with you?
Seth: Of course not. We were supposed to be on vacation, remember? Whats going on in there? I can see blue energy shooting out of the dome roof.
Gax: Seth, were facing a massive asynchronicity event. We need you inside immediately!
Seth: Oh, great. Whatd you mess up this time, Tillin?
Gax: I didnt mess up anything, child!
Ren: Enough! Both of you! Gax, prepare the portal. Seth, find access hatch C18. Itll let you through into the facility.
Seth: Ugh... OK.
Sentry: Commander, if I may.
Ren: What is it, Sentry?
Sentry: The Thanix Facilitys exterior emergency access hatches can only be programmed to respond to specific individuals. I programmed access hatch C18 to respond to your biometrics. It will not respond to the Chief Specialist.
Seth: Yeah, Ren? I found the hatch, but it wont open. Access denied. Can I just smash it? It looks pretty flimsy.
Gax: No! Whatever you do, you cannot damage the integrity of the facilitys superstructure. If you breach containment...
Seth: Got it, dont smash the hatch!
Gax: *sigh*
Ren: Sentry, clear Specialist Seth for access hatch C18.
Sentry: I cannot comply, Commander. The static interference has severed all hardlines to the facilitys exterior subsystems and exterior emergency access hatches cannot be accessed wirelessly. I would suggest granting the Chief Specialist executive clearance as a means of allowing her to override hatch C18 manually. I would, however, still require a secure connection to confirm the Chief Specialists identity.
Ren: Understood. Seth, does your mech have the secure broadcast antenna I asked you to install?
Seth: Gunny? Yeah, you bugged me about it for three months, so of course he has it. Im not that lazy. Do you need me to establish a secure connection?
Ren: Yes, and keep it open until I contact you again.
Seth: Right.
Ren: Sentry, I need you to grant executive clearance to Specialist Seth on my authority. Authorise.
Sentry: Yes, Commander. I am confirming the Chief Specialists identity.
*Name: Specialist Tamika Seth
*Species: Human female, augmented
*Born: 1 010 894 AD / 1193 ANE
*Age: 18 standard Earth years
*Designation: Heavy weapons expert and Chief Mk. 9 SuperTerran heavy assault Battle Mech platform pilot, F Squad Temporal Defenders strike force
*Clearance: Executive
*Authorisation complete. Clearance granted.
Seth: Oh, sweet! Now I can sign up for the male-only super robot fight club! Thanks, Ren!
Ren: Stay on target, Seth. We only have a few minutes left.
Seth: Dont sweat it, boss. Im already inside the building and making good time. ETA a few minutes.
*boom*
Gax: Seth, we dont have a few minutes. Ive established a stable portal, but at this rate of decay, it wont last more than 60 seconds. Be here in less than a minute or were leaving without you!
Seth: Im here! And whats that about a stable portal? Are we making a jump? With, like, the three of us?
Gax: Thats the plan. Get in position!
Seth: Are you out of your minds? Do you even know where were going or what we need to do? We need a full squad, we need supplies, logistics...
*crash*
Gax: 30 seconds! The stabilising rings are coming apart!
Ren: Seth, we have no choice. If we dont jump now, we lose the Accelerator.
Seth: ...
Ren: Tamika... You can do this. Were counting on you.
*boom*
Seth: ...Damn it! This is such a bad idea! Time?
*zap*
Gax: 10 seconds! Were losing containment!
Seth: Im in position!
Ren: In position! Go!
*whirl*
Facility: Temporal Accelerator charging for jump. Warning! Warning! Systems overload detected! Deactivate Accelerator immediately!
Gax: Cancel that alarm!
Facility: Confirmed, cance... *loud explosion*
Gax: I hope this works!
*whiiiiiiiiirl* *zap*
--- --- --- --- ---
*darkness* *water* *drowning* *struggling*
Ren: *gasp* *cough* *cough* Gax? *cough* Seth? *wheeze* Sentry... *cough* Sentry, locate Engineer Gax! Sentry? *cough* Sentry, respond! *sigh* Where the hell am I? -
My mind has been idle for too long, and I think that's a large part of why I got burned out on City of Heroes. In hopes of remedying this, I'm doing something of an experimental story, and I wanted to post it here. It's nothing too major and it is just dialogue for the most part (it's much easier and faster to write), but I think it came out well enough.
Please, let me know what you think. Any feedback is well appreciated. I'd love to hear what you make of where I'm going with this. -
Quote:Trouble is, that's a level 38, or at the very least a level 30-ish power, and it'll be a cold day in hell before I play a character I don't like until I start not liking it less. It's the same with me and Dominators - I know they can be amazing, but I'll never last until the point where that happens since I can't play a character I don't enjoy. Yes, it is a personal preference, but to me, a character isn't playable if that character isn't fun right away and isn't fun the whole way through. If I start having to skip levels or rush for levels, that's just something I'd rather skip altogether.Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect
Not liking them is a matter of preference, I'm just pointing out that half of the things you don't like about them are solvable with little to moderate effort. The damage scalar and too many powers we're stuck with though.
-
Quote:And that, really, is a problem. It had the potential to be an amazing, wide-spanning world. It was being built as one in the 1-20 story arcs, with intrigue, politics, world history and ideology. Sure, it was a SMALL world consisting of one city, about five factions and a handful of plot points, but it was a start with ambitions. Then nothing. Sure, we got First Ward, but that more or less disregarded Praetoria proper, just like the iTrials did. At the end, it turned out exactly like you describe it - a story arc on steroids, that ends in permanent destruction and abandonment.Originally Posted by Fista
Well you've hit the nail on the head. Praetoria isn't a starting place like the Rogue Islands or Paragon it's a story arc on steroids. Which is too bad. Don't get me wrong. I like the arc I just think it would have made an interesting world on it's own.
This kind of makes sense of a problem I noticed even going through Praetoria a couple of times - it has exactly enough "canon" to support the actual stories in there and not a smidgen more. See, City of Heroes proper isn't like this. When Rick Dakan and crew wrote the original City of Heroes canon, they created a LOT of backstory, indeed many times more than could fit in the game, or in any game at all. You have a history of the city spanning back to the 18th century, you have numerous historical events that shape the city but don't have stories made after them, you have villain groups with long histories and hero groups who went underground, you have politics, social questions, ethical questions, many zones and many people of history. You have, in a sense, an entire world that the actual game highlights only a small part of. It really does feel like we're only seeing one part of one city out of a whole world.
Not so with Praetoria. There have been people arguing if there even ARE other cities on Praetorian Earth, and the place has only the storylines needed to explain the missions. It really does feel like a larger version of something like Croatoa or Cimerora... And it really shouldn't have been. That's not what was promised, nor indeed what it looked like we were getting. If it was just going to be a few zones and a few story arcs... Why let people start there? Why let people be FROM Praetoria? Well, I guess the answer is "Yeah, why DID we do that?" in the form of the Freedom tutorial. It honestly feels like Praetoria is being abandoned as a fictional world. We'll likely get enough content to get missions there from 1 to 50 and that'll be the end of it, but I don't expect the actual world to ever be expanded into, you know, an actual world.
But at the very least, we can save those characters who are salvageable, can't we? Marauder is a blockhead and a bully, but he feels like he could be good-natured if he was given some better direction. Like a watchdog, he's fierce and dangerous, but can still be pointed at the right bad guys and he'd be an asset. Anti-Matter maybe a whiny *****, but he's an unmitigated genius, a hard worker and a responsible person, at least as far as his work goes. Manage his rotten personality and his science can be directed towards a greater end. The man pretty much thrives on positive reinforcement, so he might actually be a worthwhile asset.
Or don't make them heroes. Turn them into Requiem style villains who hide out in Paragon City and work on their own secret agendas. If rotting man Dr. Vahz can stay hidden, why can't loudmouth Marauder? -
Quote:You don't know how stubborn I can beOriginally Posted by Tenzhi
Hogwash. All it takes is the proper lever and fulcrum.
-
Quote:My problem actually isn't Stone's visuals at all. Not even on Granite. I mean, the visuals ARE bad, but on a decent set, I can roll with it. Being able to turn them into crystal or magma actually makes this one of the more versatile sets, and you're not supposed to run Granite all the time.Originally Posted by rian_frostdrake
you know, my problem with stone is , outside of it's mezz protection slowing you to a crawl and granite doing the same, that it looks really cool with all the layered armor sets, i loved that..then you get the last power and it just turns you into a visually unimpressive member of an old villain group. but the utility of the power is too much to ignore it so yu are kind of stuck.
...At least, you SHOULDN'T be supposed to run Granite all the time, but that's not how it plays out, is it? What I absolutely hate about Stone armour first and foremost is a complete lack of in-set consistency. It is often said that you can't just take one power out of one set and compare it against a similar power against another set then claim they're not equal. They aren't supposed to be, because sets are supposed to be balanced as a whole, and Stone Armour REALLY isn't balanced as a whole. It's actually balanced as two completely separate sets.
It's also old as dirt and suffering from problems that date back to its inception. Once upon a time, Stone Armour's various armours did not stack. Want protection from fire and cold? You have to toggle off your protection from poo... I mean, your protection from physical damage. Energy hurting you too much? Turn everything off and turn THAT on. Stone Armour, in essence, was a set of tradeoffs. You were expected to deduce which damage was hurting you the most (a laughably unwieldy task without encyclopaedic knowledge of the game), which is why Granite Armour was so good. Granite Armour, unlike the rest of the toggles, protected you from everything at the same time, but at the cost of slowing your movement and killing your accuracy.
Then came the changes. Toggles became stackable, so the old poo man went away, then Rooted stopped rooting you to the ground literally and just started slowing you down and Granite Armour traded its to-hit debuff for a recharge debuff as Tankers complained they couldn't tank if they couldn't hit. What we ended up with was a set of far too many toggles in a world where "toggle juggling" doesn't work by virtue of so many of the newer enemy groups doing all types of damage at once, and a world where Stone Armour existed for more than just Tankers whose apparent "job" was to take damage and not deal too much. Only Rooted didn't lose its slow when Unyielding lost its defence debuff, can't forget that.
What we have now is a set that costs too much to do too little, with a damage aura that costs more than any other in the game, and with a T9 power that essentially replaces half your set. I honestly feel that Dink and Synapse need to sit down and tear this set apart so that idiots like me who don't go perma-granite don't feel so stupid. I honestly don't even feel that "perma-granite" should be an option, but if it WERE, it shouldn't come at the expense of not even taking the rest of your set.
*edit*
As for Peacebringers, I just plain don't like them. Not enough hit points, not enough status protection, not enough of a damage mod, plus too many powers to slot. -
Quote:Because it's stealing from Jack to pay Jill, essentially. I don't disagree that characterising the existing Primal Phalanx is a good idea, but no good story should come at the expense of chucking another potentially good story down the drain. In fact, that's the greatest tragedy of Praetoria - it had the potential to be a REALLY cool new entire world with its whole host of storylines. But no. The glut for death, destruction and misery saw that entire world tossed in the bin, making me wonder why we even bothered with it in the first place. Why, really, do we bother with any of the Loyalist and Resistance actions if the end result is everyone dies and nothing matters? Win lose or draw, it all ends in unmitigated disaster with all of the storylines essentially cut short.Originally Posted by Xzero45
I wouldn't want to see any of them redeemed. Instead of having Anti Matter become important, or Dominatrix, why not invest that effort into Positron or Miss Liberty and keep our Primal Heroes relevant and show them as competent?
When I say a story is a waste of time, what I mean is that none of what happens in it matters and everything is eventually rendered null and void. It may seem cool on the first play-through, but knowing where things are going to go, it's very hard to find motivation to bother, aware as I am that my choices will eventually be rendered moot. It's why I'd like to see as many of the Praetorian Phalanx survive and continue to have additional stories, either as villains or as anti-heroes. -
Quote:Honestly, that's a big part of where I think the disconnect lies. You seem to value achievement, and I personally really don't. Not for myself, not for others. I've always treated games more like toys than like a sport. This is my action figure simulator where the bulk of my fun is contained within making cool characters and having them do cool things. The "game" aspect of it, by which I mean the part where I as a player oppose the system, isn't terribly interesting to me. It's useful in the broadest sense, in that it gives me a much-needed direction, but I find no satisfaction in "beating" the system and "winning" the game. I mostly find satisfaction in playing around with the system.Originally Posted by Nethergoat
Ideally game achievements should be rewards for game effort and only game effort.
I don't mind Performance Boosters because they let other people achieve more than I do. That's not even a tangential issue. I mind performance boosters because of what they're likely to do to my own experience. On the one hand, I should really like them since they give me greater control over the game world and my own experience. However, on the other hand, they're clearly meant to be consumables, and I HATE depending on consumables. It's too easy to get used to them and too common to NOT have them when I need them most. I'm already running behind the curve as it is, with my reluctance to use many of the new, better methods for character building and "kitting out." I really don't want more of that.
That said, this iteration of "pay 2 win" is not that bad, and it actually shouldn't be a problem. But that doesn't really justify the greater concept. Provided the development team can resist pushing this too far and designing around it, I don't envision this being a problem. Maybe an annoyance, granted, but not a real problem. But the concept of "pay 2 win" itself is still a very dangerous prospect that has the potential to unravel the entirety of the "game" part of this game. And for as much fun as it is as a dress-up doll, City of Heroes still needs to be a game to have any lasting appeal. -
Quote:No, I'm saying that I like to ride pink bunnies through a sunlit moor on bank holiday while Yankee Doodle plays on a record-player that I have tied to the back of my head with giant zip-ties. No, seriously, re-read my post, I'm sure you'll find a way to claim that, too.Originally Posted by Coyote_Seven
So you're saying that you're not happy unless you have something to complain about. That's fair.
Congratulations on debunking an argument nobody actually made, based on an intentional misreading of what people are actually saying. It's surprising to me that the issue of Performance Booster is causing people to become such cynics that they will openly change what people have said to suit their straw man exaggeration, all for the sake of insulting people's intelligence. You'd think it'd be the people who dislike Performance Boosters making the hyperbole claims since they actually have something to lose, but to have people essentially browbeating those trying to show a reasoned, logical, elaborate concern about a legitimate subject? That surprises me.Quote:Originally Posted by Coyote_Seven
I think this whole "Pay to Win" debacle is a non-issue. The real issue is with the people who've built it up into such a big thing in their heads that they don't want anyone else to play with it or, gods forbid, actually have fun with it.
The problem isn't "other people," but I guess you know what people are thinking better than people themselves and are capable of reading subtext in their posts that they never intended to put there, so feel free to proceed with your armchair psychology. My pink-bunny-riding self is apparently not smart enough to logically address your baseless straw man and my arguments just serve to give you an excuse to reply with "So you're saying something you're not actually saying? OK."