Zombie Man

Ebil-o FTL June-21 & Feb-22-2010
  • Posts

    10412
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  1. [ QUOTE ]
    ... wait. These things give a buff to you AND YOUR TEAM?

    So what happens if a team of 8 people get together, all running their buffing pets?

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    LFT, 48 Vets only!
  2. Therefore, Regen should be buffed... at least threefold.
  3. [ QUOTE ]
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    The easiest way to use the /ignore_spammer command is to reply to the tell and then arrow over to replace /tell with /ignore_spammer.

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    can we PLEEEEEASE have a shorter slash command for this? I'd suggest: /igspam <name>

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    "/spammer" or even just "/spam" would be easier to remember, but I'm willing to bet that setting up alias commands is easy enough for both (quite a few commands have several aliases).
  4. [ QUOTE ]
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    If there is ever the case that there is more than one Accuracy modifier (not even sure if it would ever happen, but if there were to be more than one Accuracy modifier) then it would stack multiplicatively.

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    Maybe so, and that's basically what Arcanaville is talking about adding, but the fact remains that as it now stands, every single attribute that can stack with itself does so additively.

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    No, you're not understanding.

    Even without the proposed Elusivity, if there is ever a case where a player/power has multiple *Accuracy* (not Anti-Accuracy) modifiers, then they would stack multiplicatively. That's the way it is *right now*.



    [ QUOTE ]
    As I've said, I think that additive stacking is mechanically poor, and is conducive to poor design, but that's where we are right now, and I wouldn't make any assumptions about the feasibility of changing it.

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    The current Chance to Hit mechanic already relies on human developers to manually balance each power. After adding Elusiveness, then the Chance to Hit mechanic will still rely on human developers to manually balance each power, only now, they'll have on more tool to tweak, one that is not as heavy-handed as additive Defense bonuses.

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    I'll discuss this more later, but my complaint isn't with the need for human input into balancing. It's that I don't think that giving them more tools to tweak is a good thing: ToHit is too complicated already. Rather, they should have different tools. Simpler tools. Tools that are less likely to cause things to break.

    My point here was simply that a good set of game mechanics is one in which the game designers can do whatever they want (within reason, obviously) without causing pernicious behavior -- i.e., it should be robust. The current system -- and, I would argue, any system which includes additive stacking -- is just the opposite: there's a fairly narrow set of parameters which don't cause bad behavior.

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    Hunh?

    I think you keep saying 'additive' when you mean 'multiplicative.' Because you are arguing against multiplicative stacking... right?


    Anyway, your point about the need for the formula to be simple and elegant just simply doesn't hold water. Simple mechanics doesn't necessarily lead to balanced or deep or fun mechanics. In fact, I'm sure you can think of mechanics that are extremely simplified and then imagine just how inadequate that would be to combat mechanics. Perhaps that's suited for Toon Town, not CoH.

    If you want to make that point that simpler is better, then, you've made the point. No need to keep hammering away at a tweak to a mechanic you think is already broken for being already too complex. Start your own thread in forum suggestions asking the Devs to simplify their already-too-complex Chance to Hit formula; or, start your own thread in Players Guide with your fix to defense: "My Simple Chance to Hit Formula Fix." Don't blame Arcanaville for the current complexity or for wanting to add in an obviously (once it's pointed out) missing part of that complex equation. If the complex equation is going to stay, her suggestion makes complete sense. If you don't like the complexity of the equation, take your beef to the Devs.
  5. [ QUOTE ]
    Just started playing a Willpower tank, that thump thump gets old real quick...

    Heart_loop.ogg in Powers

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    It's *supposed to* fade out.

    Also, you should have heard it before the internal volume of it was turned down (from Beta).
  6. [ QUOTE ]
    Nothing in the game that I am aware of stacks mltiplicatively. Nothing.

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    If there is ever the case that there is more than one Accuracy modifier (not even sure if it would ever happen, but if there were to be more than one Accuracy modifier) then it would stack multiplicatively.



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    If you don't want game design considerations to enter your development of the mechanics, then neither should you rely upon the mathematical acumen of the designers to ensure that the mechanics remain stable: the distinction, if you want to make it, should cut both ways.

    [/ QUOTE ]

    The current Chance to Hit mechanic already relies on human developers to manually balance each power. After adding Elusiveness, then the Chance to Hit mechanic will still rely on human developers to manually balance each power, only now, they'll have on more tool to tweak, one that is not as heavy-handed as additive Defense bonuses.
  7. [ QUOTE ]
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    Sister Flame, Hero 2 and BabyMage, COH:The Next Generation?

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    You left out Positot.

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    And BAB (back alley baby)

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    Wait... Does Chris even have a kid?
  8. So basically, this is a supersymmetry theory for "Chance to Hit."

    <ul type="square">[*]ToHit = Additive increments in the Chance to Hit. A 20% ToHit Buff on the base Chance to Hit of 50% = 20+50 = 70% Chance to Hit.
    [*]Accuracy = Multiplicative scaling in the Chance to Hit. A 20% Accuracy Buff on the base Chance of 50% = 1.2*50 = 60% Chance to Hit.
    [*]Defense = Additive increments that are subtracted from the Chance to Hit. A Base Chance to Hit of 50% v. 20% Defense = 50-20 = 30% Chance to Hit.
    [*]Anti-Defense (Elusiveness) = Multiplicative scaling reducing the Chance to Hit. A Base Chance to Hit of 50% v. 20% Elusiveness = 50/1.2 = 42% Chance to hit.[/list]


    Arcanaville, are there any cases where the Base to Hit is over 100%? Because that would make Accuracy and Elusiveness start to become much bigger buffs than ToHit or Defense.

    And are there any cases where the Base to Hit is under 5%? Because that would trivialize the effect of Accuracy and Elusiveness.
  9. [ QUOTE ]
    Negative accuracy would basically work just like accuracy, but with different sign. If the attacker has +33% accuracy, and you the target has -33% anti-accuracy, the net chance to hit would be: (1+0.33) * (1-0.33) * 50% = 1.33 * 0.67 * 50% = 44.56%.

    [/ QUOTE ]

    It took me a while to parse this sentence until I realized that 'the target' is an apposition of 'you' and should have been set off by commas. I was then going to suggest an alternate wording that emphasized 'your attacker' and 'you, the target,' and 'chance to hit *you* would be....' But then I realized the simpler solution would be to remove the 'you' completely and just talk in terms of 'the attacker' and 'the target.' In fact, that would clean up a lot of the phrasing throughout all the examples. Just suggestin'.
  10. [ QUOTE ]
    This thread gives me baby fever...








    ... please don't tell my fiancé.

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    If he's a CoH gamer he may not mind.

    In the old days, a man liked the idea of many children, especially sons, with the fantasy that he can front his own basketball / hockey / baseball / football team.

    And so, you can present this to him: "Honey, how would you like your own SuperGroup that can farm the Statesman Task Force?"
  11. [ QUOTE ]
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    Scary or Shocking? Not for my girls. Some little ones may be afraid by some of of the mobs, but Flame just groans at the "puking zombies" cause they dish out some nasty damage and she finds the Freaks funny.

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    If she thinks Freakshow are funny, she's going to love this fan video: Thank You. (Looks good at full screen size.)

    Totally kid safe. She'll probably torment you by making you play it again and again.

    Then she'll want to know how to do all those emotes.


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    OMG!! I've seen this one on YouTube bookmarked it even and still get a laugh out of it every time. Now I have a copy of my very own. Thanks Zombie_Man!

    Thank you for the time...

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    You should go to the new multimedia forum and check out the thread, Fan Videos. Many of our favorite, old CoH Vids are now hosted on sites where you can watch/download uncompressed versions.
  12. [ QUOTE ]
    Scary or Shocking? Not for my girls. Some little ones may be afraid by some of of the mobs, but Flame just groans at the "puking zombies" cause they dish out some nasty damage and she finds the Freaks funny.

    [/ QUOTE ]

    If she thinks Freakshow are funny, she's going to love this fan video: Thank You. (Looks good at full screen size.)

    Totally kid safe. She'll probably torment you by making you play it again and again.

    Then she'll want to know how to do all those emotes.




    [ QUOTE ]
    That reminds me. She wants to go Frostfire... again. She likes the slides. You think doing a 3+ hour taskforce is rough? Trying sliding on the ice slides for 1/2 hour to entertain a six year old!

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    HEY! There's *nothing* wrong with spending half an hour sliding around in the Frostfire mission!

    &lt;looks around&gt;

    I do it and I'm in my 40s.
  13. [ QUOTE ]
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    "Why do Skulls hang out in Perez Park?"

    "How come the Clockworks don't attack cars or make nasty cars to attack people?"

    "Why are Trolls green?"

    "Where do the Outcasts get their power?"

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    She should be lead dev for this game.

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    That's Hero 1's job (the new story bible guy). He just had a baby, so he should be a sucker for these questions...

    Okay, Hero 1 (if you do vanity searches for your name like the other Devs, you'll see this), would you please answer the child's questions? If you can't, then she can rightfully claim your job.



  14. "You Can't Pull With TP Foe!"

    Watch me: Thwunnnggg. &lt;kill tp'd foe&gt; &lt;wait&gt; &lt;crickets&gt;

    "How did you do that?"

    Easy:

    1. Slot for range. The further away from a spawn point you pull a member, the less likely the others will agro.

    2. Actually TP from farthest range possible. I've seen lots of failed TP Foe pulls because the TPer was withing spitting distance of the mobs. Not only do you have to be far away, but so should the team.

    3. Break line of sight: You can get a lock on a target and then move out of line of sight and still TP Foe the target.

    4. Move to a new level. Go up or down stairs or ramps seems to confuse the mob's agro ability. You can TP from a much close distance if you're at a different level than the mob.

    5. Use snipe rules: Grabbing a foe that's away from the others or not being looked at by the other members of the spawn means that it's less likely the other mobs will notice the pull.



    "You Can't Pull a Boss/EB/AV With TP Foe!"

    Watch me: Thwunnnggg. &lt;nothing happens&gt; &lt;wait&gt; &lt;Boss/EB/AV shows up&gt; Attack!

    "How did you do that?"

    Easy:

    1. Attempt to TP the Boss/EB/AV and there's a good chance that will create aggro.

    Did you know that TP Foe creates a pseudo pet that, according to City of Data, does "20 Taunt to Target for 1 seconds (50% chance)"? {PvE only}

    So, it might take a few attempts, but eventually you can land that 50% chance of taunt on that AV standing right next to a Nictus Cyst and separate them cleanly from a long distance away and out of the line of sight. I've used TP Foe to successfully pull Hro'Dtohz and the Honoree in the Lady Grey TF. And to pull Lord Recluse's lieutenants (AVs) in the Statesman Task Force.



    Fun With TP Foe!

    1. When you TP Foe a mob, you can queue up an attack while waiting for it to animate so that the moment the foe pops in, you're attacking. Air Superiority works great as well as a hold.

    2. TP Foe can target the air. That's right, why give your foe the ground space it needs to start attacking back. TP the foe above you, so that as it's falling, you can attack.

    3. Rooftop too small to TP a lieutenant away to deal with it solo? Then TP it *off* the rooftop. Let it fall and take damage and take time to get back to you as you clean up the rest of the spawn.
  15. Zombie Man

    Guide to Guides

    [ QUOTE ]
    Dead link:

    VI. COMBAT MECHANICS
    DAMAGE &amp; EXPERIENCE &amp; REWARDS &amp; LEVELING
    &lt;a href="/showflat.php?Number=1629976" target="_blank"&gt;Leveling Chart&lt;/a&gt; (AnotherDeadHero) [I2]

    [/ QUOTE ]

    Thanks for the heads up.
  16. [ QUOTE ]
    You want the suggestions forum, several floors down. But wear an abestos suit when you go.

    Quick rundown of your hijack:

    1. Meh on the merger, and it might be more trouble than it's worth for ranking people remaining to hav the star

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    Actually, players often bring up a "Looking for more" tag which is more likely to be implemented and help two half-teams find each other.



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    6. They already said tying Khelds to 50 was a mistake.

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    By 'they,' do you mean the Devs? Because then that's the first time I heard that.
  17. [ QUOTE ]
    Oldeb's link needs to be removed. On my PC clicking it once results in a neverending stream of new windows being opened up showing the post by Castle. Whether this was his intention or not I don't know.

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    Behaves for me on Firefox.
  18. Zombie Man

    Guide to Guides

    Thanks Blargeth and Storyteller. When the upper posts get updated (usually around each new issue), your guides will be added/updated.
  19. ORRRR......

    The statement from the EU head honcho was spawning wild rumors on the EU boards that was starting to infect the US boards and so the US head honcho is basically saying, "We got plans but we're not confirming anything, so, anything you hear is a rumor."
  20. [ QUOTE ]
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    ... to places you've been wanting to go, but thought not possible.

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    Moon Zone please.

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    Underwater Zone please.

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    Underwater Moon Zone please.

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    Underwater Moon Zombies please.
  21. [ QUOTE ]
    Her daughter did the Synapse TF. Still not a walk in the park, but not Positron.

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    If you read the thread before replying to it, you would have read how TFs were originally meant to be time consuming, multiple play session events that were meant not for PuGs, but for groups of players who knew each other in real life or formed a stable Super Group.

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    With all due respect, we *have* a stable supergroup; two of them. I belong to two stable villain groups as well.

    Know what? We still won't have the time to commit to something like this.

    Perhaps you come from another MMO, where time-consuming grinds are the meat and potatoes of the game. There's a reason people like us do not play those games. It's because we enjoy gaming but we can't commit to that kind of time. That's one BIG advantage that CoX has that other MMO's don't.

    I don't know how many task forces you've done,

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    With all due respect, I have never done a SuperGroup-only TF. Maybe about 20 that were half supergroup members and the rest pick ups. That leaves, by my rough guesstimate, that I've done about 300 PuG TFs/SFs/Trials.

    Less than 10 failed due to incompetence or drop outs. And all were completed in one sitting.

    Yes, that meant 5-6 hours for some of them.

    Of all people, I'm in the position to say, "Suck it up! Even the old, long TFs can be done in one sitting by PuGs." But I don't. I'm criticizing the old-style TFs and have lobbied for them to change. Even though I can complete them with PuGs in a relatively timely manner, they're still too long and boring and tedious.

    So, I don't know why you're attacking me... we agree. You have to read past my first paragraph. I wasn't defending the rationale of the original TFs, I was explaining what it was and why they're like that. And because they're still like that (unfortunately), they are not PuG friendly. That's a fact. It should change. We agree.
  22. [ QUOTE ]
    Er, Zombie, he's talking about the Synapse TF, not Positron.

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    Oops. Sorry about that.

    Synapse isn't as bad as Positron, but, it's still the old model of TFs -- way too long. Nothing like the handful of missions that you get with Katie or Lady Grey TFs.
  23. [ QUOTE ]
    ******* News Flash*********

    Miracle+ recovery sells for 100 mill
    Lotg+ rech sells for 100 mill


    These are record prices. If you dont believe me go check the BM sales logs.

    Thanks Dev's . Good job!!!!!!!!!!! I applaud you for killing the lifeblood of an already anemic BM. Way to go!!!

    Less than a week with this change and its ALREADY happenning. ARGH! I had hoped to pick up a few for a piddly 60 mill and resell them later for 200 mill a pop. If you have funds on redside? Now is the time to scoop up pool C uniques and sit on them for a month. Don't delay or you will miss out. AS stated above they are already at 100 million as oppossed to 40-60.

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    And those prices have nothing to do with the inflation of double experience weekend where people were pulling in tens of millions of inf every few hours?
  24. [ QUOTE ]
    I'm afraid that I'm going to have to agree with everything said here. I love this game and the devs, but... I don't like getting punished for what a minority of the game is doing.

    My daughter joined a Synapse TF group when asked, and apparently it was a PuG. They started with five around 4 PM. By 9 PM, they hadn't even gotten halfway. I insisted on my daughter logging off as it was getting too late and she had been attached to the computer for 5 hours give or take without having even gotten her homework started.

    The group disbanded with an agreement to meet up at 5 pm the next day to finish.

    Sounds good. Except... Only two of the group even showed up. ...
    I seriously hope you reconsider the changes that just gave a huge slap in the face to PuG TF's that have to deal with team attrition outside their control.

    [/ QUOTE ]

    If you read the thread before replying to it, you would have read how TFs were originally meant to be time consuming, multiple play session events that were meant not for PuGs, but for groups of players who knew each other in real life or formed a stable Super Group.

    Positron's TF is the poster boy for that bad design theory. If there is to be such a creature as described above, it should only have been accessible through a SG's base, like Silver Mantis' Strike Force.

    Positron and some of the Shard TFs are known for being way too long and tedious. Sorry your daughter got caught up in that. Knowing what TFs are and their time commitment, your daughter should never have gotten involved in one (at least, not Positron's). In the end, she became part of the problem because she didn't have the time commitment to finish it in one go (though she gets praise for coming back at the appointed times).

    Over time, the Devs learned their lesson and created TFs that were shorter and more PuG friendly. They *should* (and we've been begging them) go back and re-do all the TFs into the new model. But, that was a time commitment Cryptic/NCSoft didn't want to make or couldn't with the resources allocated. Now that NCSoft is throwing development money at CoH, we hope this changes.

    For now, your daughter should avoid Positron's TF and read up on the other TFs here before deciding to join one. Always ask the leader of the PuG how long they expect it to take (there *are* some pros who can do the Positron TF in under 3 hours because they've done it several times already) before committing.

    [Edit: Oops, I confused Synapse TF with Positron TF... sorry. But it hardly changes my point, they both of the same old-style mode and Synapse's TF is too long, just like Positron's. -ZM]