Zombie Man

TOP TEN REASONS WHY NCSOFT ACQUIRING "CITY" WILL NOT BE SONY/SWG DOOMAGE:

1. NCSoft has owned half of the "City" Intellectual Property (IP) since before the first open beta. If NCSoft 'suits' were intent on destroying "City" with botton-line, market-blinders interference, then they would already have done so.
   
2. "City" now represents their second most successful North American game, and most critically successful game. Why mess that up?
   
3. NCSoft so values the direction that the current developer team (originally hired by Cryptic) was taking the "City" franchise, that they hired the entire lot away from Cryptic. That's a lot of faith in them.
   
4. Matt "Positron" Miller has been lead designer for "City" for over a year. NCSoft has hired him to continue to lead it. The lead artist and programmer retain their jobs, too. BackAlleyBrawler, Jay, War Witch, Castle, and every single friggin developer (except one) has been hired by NCSoft. If NCSoft wanted a direction change, they would have hired other people or put their own pet 'suits' in developer positions.
   
5. The entire developer team has jumped ship from Cryptic and joined NCSoft. Doesn't that tell you something about how they feel about NCSoft? Do you think they'd jump ship to a company that will destroy their baby?
   
6. NCSoft has bought the "City" development team their own studio. Let me repeat that: NCSOFT HAS BOUGHT THE "CITY" DEVELOPMENT TEAM THEIR OWN STUDIO! Do you know how big an investment that is? NCSoft North America already owns two developer studios and an artistic studio. They could have easily moved the "City" team to one of their pre-existing locations. But instead, they want the "City" studio to be the originators of a brand new development studio (NCSoft NorCal) in the heart of silicon valley where all the code monkey geniuses live.
   
7. Robert Garriot, CEO of NCSoft (brother of Richard "Lord British" Garriott who is Exec. Producer of Tabula Rasa) [edit: I originally had the two brothers confused] popped in last Friday to assure his new studio that he's taking a 'hand's off' approach to them. They're a successful bunch already, why mess with that formula. Good luck, I'm too busy with Tabula Rasa to hang around.
   
8. NCSoft will be relocating the current "City" QA (Quality Assurance) team from the Austin studio to the new NorCal Studio. That's right, their QA gang will be able to stand up from their computer, walk down the hall, and say, "Hey, BackAlleyBrawler, found a bug with an animation you should see." How freakin' efficient is that?
   
9. NCSoft is already dropping hints of new hardware (as in new servers, as in the hinted 'one server' system (and stop worrying about how that will be implemented, they'll find a solution to names and slots)). Just another example of how NCSoft is ready to spend big bucks on "City" and continue to develop it.
   
10. No longer will the Community Reps on the boards be seen as employees of one company having to negotiate a relationship with the developers who are employees of the other company. It's all one family now. Ex Libris and Lighthouse don't report to a publisher who then speaks with the developers. They are working very, very, very directly with the developers now. Player feedback and community are going to become more intense, effective, and efficacious. Not that eveyone's pet peeve will be resolved, but player input definitely be heard more and matter more.

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I've seen this movie. The ending sucks.

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I've seen your posts. They always suck.

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It just bothers me a little that as the game has gone on we have seen some zones become less used, monsters get ignored and now respec trials might now go the same way.

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Trial Pool D recipe rewards.

You'd be surprised at how popular respec trials have become precisely for this reason.

There are three types of respecs:

1. [u]Earned respecs[u] from the Respec Trials (Terra Volta or Thorn Tree);
   
2. [u]Free respecs (freespecs)[u] which are given to players by the Devs as gifts or to make adjustments because game mechanics have changed; and,
   
3. [u]Respec Recipes[u], which are rare Pool A (kill critter) drops.* Respec Recipes essentially are the means to create a freespec for one's character.

Freespecs are not stackable. If you have one and a new one is granted by the Devs, you'll still have only one.

If you have a freespec it is not possible to craft the Respec Recipe. You must use your freespec first, and only when you have no freespecs left, then you can craft the Respec Recipe, which immediately flags you as having a Free Respec to use.

Earned respecs from the trials are stackable. You can have three earned respecs, one freespec, and as many Respec Recipes as your recipe inventory + market slots ( + alts) can hold.

Earned respecs from the trials are used by talking to a contact (Jack Wolfe in Galaxy or Arbiter Lupin in Nerva). Respec Recipes are used by crafting them which flags you as now having a Free Respec. Freespecs are used by typing /respec.

And regardless of what Positron says, 'respec' is short for respecification, not respecialization.


*Best way to farm for Pool A recipes? Large number of minions that con blue (-1 level) or green (-2) to you. (Greys do not drop recipes. Ever. And before you post to say they do, go test it again and bring back the screen shot to prove it, we've been through this urban legend hundreds of times.) So, take an AoE specialist and Go. Hunt. Kill Skuls.

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Happy Birthday!

Seems like just yesterday I was rolling up my E/E brute, then noticing and relentlessly mocking Positron's mispelled character name.

haHA (^o^)-

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You leave Postiron alone!

Aww, my little Zombie Guy is two! It seems like it was just yesterday he was killing Goldbrickers and assassinating Lord Recluse in the future. Fun times.

It was BaB's first, too!

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Castle can get away with a name like Floyd Grubb because he's awesome....

Video says I-11 Fall 2007...but I think technically doesn't "Fall" last tile like mid-Dec or Mid-Jan?

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Fall ends on Dec 21.

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Combos for Duel Blades are good idea.

But i also want to know when is i11 going to be released on live severs?

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We're still a ways away from that. It hasn't gone to Open Beta yet, which would be the step between Closed Beta (where we are now) and going Live.

As a total guess, I would say we might be looking at Late Novemeber/Early December for the roll out of I11 to Live.

Also, keep in mind that the Developers will almost never give a firm date for the release of a new Issue, and any date they do give is something to think of as a something they're aiming for, not a written-in-stone guarantee.

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Last year, Issue 8 was release Nov 28, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, FYI.

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Quoth Castle: "choose the look of their weapon in the AWESOME COSTUME CREATOR." (Emphasis mine)

Every Cryptic Dev, Designer, Manager, and Executive needs to repeat that line to themselves 20 times when they first come in each morning, before they leave, and during every bathroom or coffee break.

Then, answer these questions:

What makes the COSTUME CREATOR so AWESOME anyway?

If I work on the COSTUME CREATOR, what can I do to keep it AWESOME or make it MORE AWESOME?

If I work on another system, what can I do to make it as AWESOME as the COSTUME CREATOR?

If I make decisions about the game, how do I make sure that the COSTUME CREATOR stays AWESOME in the long term?

If I make decisions about the game, how do I plan to bring the rest of the game up to the COSTUME CREATOR's level of AWESOME?

If I promote the game, how can I best showcase the AWESOMEness of the COSTUME CREATOR?

If I promote the game, how can I use the COSTUME CREATOR to best accent the AWESOMEness of the rest of the game?


The AWESOME COSTUME CREATOR is your pony. You guys need to feed it, brush it, clean its hooves, and read it bedtime stories EVERY SINGLE DAY.

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More importantly, release the stand-alone Korean character creator with all the updated options and use it as the awesome marketing tool that it is!

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They should probably be an ambush spawn anyway, just to prevent them from hanging out at the doorway if the opener runs off. Have 'em give chase until the opener's ToT timer resets, then despawn.

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I think that would be pretty harsh on stalkers, and possibly a lot of masterminds as well. Any ambush targeted on a character removes much of a stalker's fighting ability.

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Aye, ambushes see through Hide and ignore BodyGuard on MM's

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They ignore the pets, but Bodyguard still works.

And 'proc' is short for 'process.' A process would be extra damage, or a mez.

And so, 'proc' contextually means, "A chance for a special process/effect to go off."

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How about shields as a costume piece? Does it really need to be a power?

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Clipping, clipping, clipping.

Besides, Shields is coming in either I12 or I13 as its own new Powerset with it's own set of animations to avoid clipping.

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If those glimpses from the alternate Paragon Times were meant to represent the Flashback system, does that mean we'll finally get to flashback to our Outbreaks and Breakouts? Will villains who missed it the first time at last be able to get Jailbird? Will heroes no longer have to stalk RV for Isolator? (Please say yes on both counts...)

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They have said badge and story arc missions only - so no.

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I wouldn't say not so fast. It all depends how you define "badge mission." Does that mean only a mission that awards a badge upon completion? Or what about Mayhem/Safeguard missions where there is an exploration badge. One of the tutorials has an exploration badge.

We'll see...

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But the tutorials are ZONES. Not missions.

Plus, I do think Posi said no today to revisiting the tutorials, but then he did bring up the newspapers. So they might have new missions that let you get it, but who knows.

But the tutorials are zones, not missions.

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Yes, it's a moot point since Posi said something cryptically about the tutorials. Given the the newspaper teasers, I'm betting that one of the Ouroboros' special missions sends you back to the tutorial because someone else messing with time kept you from successfully doing it.

Anyway, I'm going to quibble with you: The tutorials are a set of missions within a zone. They are not just a "zone." They have the same structure as a zone-arc, such as the Hollows, only each contact has just one or two missions.

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If those glimpses from the alternate Paragon Times were meant to represent the Flashback system, does that mean we'll finally get to flashback to our Outbreaks and Breakouts? Will villains who missed it the first time at last be able to get Jailbird? Will heroes no longer have to stalk RV for Isolator? (Please say yes on both counts...)

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They have said badge and story arc missions only - so no.

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I wouldn't say not so fast. It all depends how you define "badge mission." Does that mean only a mission that awards a badge upon completion? Or what about Mayhem/Safeguard missions where there is an exploration badge. One of the tutorials has an exploration badge.

We'll see...

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The Munitions ancillary pool uses the current Assault Rifle graphic (IIRC). Will you be able to select a different gun for that pool's powers? If a blaster has it and isn't AR/*, will they use the weapon they have picked, or will they use the default AR graphic when using the Cryo Freeze Ray or LRM Rocket?

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We don't know yet. Probably won't until beta.

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seriously does debuff in this game need IO set ?

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Someone without debuff powers can put IO Sets in just about every power. Someone with debuff powers wind up with sometimes half the IO Sets. Thus, if someone wants perma-Hasten on a Debuff toon using IO bonuses, it ain't gonna happen. And that's not fair.

Remember, the bonuses of the IO Sets have surprisingly little to do with the power they are in. So IO Debuff Sets aren't going to make the debuffs more uber. A level 50 can have the Debuff effect maxed out with SOs or HOs; IO Sets won't have a significant boost to that.

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Tell me how much sense it's going to make when someone wielding a Carnie rapier with one hand (Broadsword user) outdamages someone wielding a, let's just say, Rikti sword with two hands (Katana user). Or hell, even someone wielding that same weapon, a Carnie rapier with two-hands is going to do less damage than a Broadsword user using the exact same weapon.

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This isn't D&D.

We already have an arrow doing as much damage as a machine gun. It's a convention of the comic book genre that all attacks have the same basic damage. You might as well ask why don't villains just shoot Batman in the face.

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Quoting myself because I would really like an answer to my question- can you re-do arcs that give you a reward at the end- like the wedding bad, war wolf whistle, bow and arrow from croatoa?? And re-get the reward? Not have them stack but get another warwolf whistle after yours has expired? Thanx much.

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We don't know.

We do know that story arcs can be repeated. But nothing about renewing temp powers from those missions.

It's difficult to go on precedent since in the game, some temp powers are available in limitless supply (every time you do the Chalmer's Ballista mission in CoV, you can pick up a jet pack if your old one has expired); others are limited in number (the number of times you can pick up stealth/phase from PvP zone patrol missions; or the number of times you can pick up Summon Amy from the Katie TF); others are only once (the temp power reward from completing a successful Mayhem/Safeguard mission).

So... dunno.

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whith the dual blade customisation, can u give the weapons auras as well?

dual blades with black energy around them would be sooooo cool...

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See the link to the weapons guide in my sig. At the start only some blades will be initially tintable and have auras. Eventually, a large number of them will.

Since the Carnie rapiers already have an aura on them, if you can pick rapiers as dual blade choices, you may get your wish right away!

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The flashback system is meh... the customization is a great start... now give us dynamic faces! Quite frankly the facial textures are a steaming pile of horse manure. Cryptic should hire me, I would work for minimum wage + a weekly allotment of powdered doughnuts. :] I would give you dynamic faces with muscular movements and realistic eyes!

Vote for me! ^_^

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Take a look at these faces and these (second set have a mix of old style facial textures v. newer style for comparison).

They were added in Issue 7 in CoV (and the revised PPD in CoH now have them).

I've requested on costume request thread that they be released as player choices... but heard nothing.

Sure, they're not the dynamic faces you want, but they are better textures.

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Alright, I didn't read all 40+ pages. Anyway, has there been any clues as to where these Oroboros Bases will be situated? Will they be set up in low traffic zones like Galaxy and Skyway, or dropped into Talos like everything else?

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Nothing yet.

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This is in the faq. prepare for quotation!

"This feature would make great Veteran Rewards! Is that possible?

We've talked about this, but the tech to do it wasn't a simple thing. We'd rather have the basic functionality out there for everyone and then go from there."

Are you sure that was frequently asked?

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I've read them asking for it quite often on these boards, so, yes.

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I requested (and presumably paid for) a transfer yesterday, and it has yet to happen. Odd.

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Check your PlayNC account page and your credit card statement to see if you did pay for it. If you did, and it hasn't happened within a day (I shouldn't take longer than an hour), then contact NCSoft Customer Support.

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I am not aware if this has been asked already but does weapon customization include color?

If not... then is there at least a gold colored Axe?

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See the link to my Guide on Weapons Customization in my sig.




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Here's my question about Weapon Customization. If I've got a Tommygun in my blaster's hands, how do I use Flamethrower?

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This is City of Heroes, the answer is either:

1. the Tommygun was retrofitted with advanced Rikti technology; or,
2. a wizard did it.