Zortel

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That terrible Irth Online I beta-tested did buy some WISH assets, but it was hard to wade through all the rubbish the Irth Dev team had done to see any of that (you couldn't even walk uphill without getting stuck). In fact Irth was so bad it actually messed up my PC to the point I had to re-install everything. It could have been worse though - I could have been a beta tester for Mourning or Dark & Light

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... So that's why I got an invite for Irth Online! I was in the Wish Beta! I did try to install it, but it didn't run.

Lineage 2 was a bit to awkward control and UI wise for me, whatever Granada Espado was released as over here was buggy, lacking in character development and had rubbish translation that made the tutorial almost unplayable, Fairyland was a quite fun turn based combat MMO, Ragnarok Online was all grind and funky hats, and then more grind, Dark Age of Camelot was borning, unintuitive and ultimately confusing, Dungeon Runners a casual only hack and slash fest, FlyFF was overly colourful and pretty, but ultimately a grindfest, Maple Story was all grind and hats... noticing a common theme occuring with Korean MMO's.

Now, if someone turned these franchies into MMO's, and good ones at that, I'd be happy:
Shadowrun
Deadlands
Fading Suns
Pokemon. (Don't you dare laugh. Come on, it's the ultimate MMO!)

WISH died 9 days into closed beta.

It was to be an RP'ers dream, kind of. But the interface was poor, there was no in game documentation, no out of game documentation, a poor tutorial, it looked like Neverwinters Nights and ran even worse.

If Aero can organize a bunch of unruly congoers all clamouring for DtWT sketches, I'm sure there's all kinds of places that could use his logistical skills.

Like cat herding.

Have you ever considered cat herding? It's all the rage.

Okay, now that I've had some time to think on this, I think I can say something coherently.

Why does this bother me? Heck, why does it even upset me a bit? Apart from some direct contact at the various shows and meets I've been to (Brighton Comic Expo 05, Bristol Comic Expo 06, Memorabilia 06, NetParma Cafe 07, Memorabilia 07, Omega Sektor 08, Bristol Comic Expo 08), or indirectly through the boards and blogs and such, it's not like these guys are super special dear friends of mine that I interact with and chat to on a regular basis.

But they, through holding their stands at verious shows, and the player meets, have introduced me and gotten me better acquainted with people who became super special dear friends of mine.

As some know and some don't, I have panic and anxiety issues. And the year before the 2005 meet up, I couldn't even leave my own house, let alone go to the nearest town or city. Travelling from Norfolk to Brighton would be unthinkable. Heck, even now I still have issues with travelling and crowds. I went into a panic in front of Wild_Red at Omega Sektor, and some people at the last Memorabilia I went to.

So, after some pretty fast talking to my parents to meet people from The Internet at this show, I was on my way to Brighton with the folks. I got there, looked around the stands. And was terrified. I saw people but didn't speak to them, and waited until people I knew turned up. I got to know those people better, and my parents discovered it's okay to meet people from the internet without me getting snatched away.

So I started travelling more and meeting my friends I'd made in game, because of that event and getting to know them more, and getting the confidence to do so. Ravenswing and FFM can attest to how I locked up on that evening in the bar at the Hilton Metropole, locked into a panic that, like fear on a minion, made me want to get away and flee to safety from the whirling mass of people. And yet I took a few minutes to compose myself, and drew in the strength of will to march back down to meet up with them for dinner. Could I have done that if the community team hadn't put on that event? No.

And it's gone on from there. I've spent around... getting close to a thousand pounds now getting to these various events. I've travelled the length and bredth of the country by myself, fighting off panic at every turn to get to these events, made to feel welcome, meeting friends, heck, even had dinner with Bridger one time with a group of players.

It's been the community and the team behind it that have made me keep on playing, and getting closer to other members of the community through events they've had parts in. Heck, most of the shows I've been to, I've only gone to see the NC Soft guys, really, and of course the friends I've made through this game.

There was even the memorable time at the Bristol Comic Expo this year where I got a bunch of trial CD's, wandered out into the halls and started handing them out to people. Not only to try and get people interested in the game, but to try and push those flaws and weaknesses of mine further.

The people behind this game in Brighton have given me something more fun and more effective than a couple of years of therepy. I go to the shows and try and work through my shyness, have fun, meet people and grow closer to friends I've made.

And when I hear that the team's facing redundancies and drastic cutting back? Then yeah, I think it's pretty natural for me, as a human being, to feel sad about it, to wish people the best of luck, and to wonder what can I do, or could have done, to help.

We've had people behind the EU version of this game who aren't afraid to talk with us, joke with us and generally meet us and talk about something we all enjoy, and then many tangents and off topic subjects too. That's something that a lot of other MMO's don't even get a quater of. So now, I'm waiting for that further announcement with baited breath. To expect the worst, and hope for the best.

That's optomistic pessimism for you.

Zortel paid $0.02

A more than slightly impassioned post, but hey, what are we without passion?

... Damn. Damn, damn, damn.

Damn.

I've got my fingers crossed for all concerned in this, here's hoping things work out, or at least don't go to hell in a hand cart. Not even that worried about CoHEU to be honest. Cause it's the people behind it that helped make some of the game what it was.

Zortel passes over the Luck's, Sturdies, a couple of Insights and one or two Enrages.

Seriously... Would it help if we all went out and bought NCSoft products? Cause I could get TR and Eye of the North, maybe!

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Ooh planetside, now I do miss playing that, but CoH is way better

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Then this link might be of interest to you. http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008...netside-the-1/

It's partly the reason why I like playing Day of Defeat: Source. Struggling against the US Army/German Forces to try and win. Sure, you don't bond with your character as much, but there's nothing more fun than leaping over a bunker to go prone and start capturing a control point, while gunning down all commers.

Or, y'know, getting shot in the head by a sniper.

Interestingly, even Group-centric MMO FFXI has introduced 'Level Syncing' to try and encourage teaming more, removed the level restrictions on some equipment (Still not sure quite how that works, need more info) and made easier enemies that you have a chance of soloing give more exp. Previously, Sidekicking/exemping only really came into play with the buddy system, where you could recruit a friend and they'd have special items. When you wore them and teamed with your buddy, you'd be at their level to help out.

And now WoW's gone down that route too. With the odd side effect of being able to reach level 60 in 20 minutes. Now that's what I call power leveling.

After CoH, other MMO's just couldn't satisfy me anymore.

Well, okay, there was my spell with WoW, but my friends there were what I went for, and it's polished like a shiney... shiney... thing that shines.

GW and me have an odd relationship, it's more of a single player game for me to chill out and relax on. Granted it's the only single player game with network latency at times, but still. And it's pretty.

Tabula Rasa was exciting to consider, but it failed in its delivery to me. I think I was expecting something a little more Planetside/Exteel/Gunz than what the game was.

FFXI was just grind. Painful grind at that.

WAR... not really sure on that to be honest. I've not had much to do with the IP in any of its forms, and nothing so far has really grabbed me by the chops and screamed 'Play me!'

AoC I didn't have the money to get, and thus wanted to try it first. Part of me is glad that I didn't buy it first, and I've still yet to try it.

EVE. Excel in Space. Small fish, huge pool, lots of other small fish and shoals of other fish. Plus the UI was hardly intuitive.

The only releases I'm looking forwards to are:

EVE's Ambulation expansion. Just to see what walking about is like in the game.
Wrath of the Lich King. I've made a space for it on my shelf already.
Guild Wars 2. More idle curiousity, really.
Aion: Pretty. Flying. Pretty Flying. Flying Pretty. Nuff said.
Blade And Soul. Very pretty, and cool looking combat system. Downside is, chance of EU/US release?

Regarding EVE's tutorial:

I got through it the first time, went through it again to try and figure out what the hell I was doing, went through it once more, floated off into space kind of adrift in body and mind, did some missions and then quit. The tiny bit of RP I had was fun though. When I saw it on Steam, I decided to go back and try the trial again and see the engine upgrades.

I got to the space station and quit in the Tutorial part.

... That's a whole lot of incest on my part then. ><

I personally like having characters being able to refer to each other. It can help with that feeling of sitting on the outskirts of RP as it gives you an avenue in. "Hey, you're friend of [mutual friend]!" And such.

Maybe it's due to switching higher brain functions off at work to have them think of stories and such.

I'm sure in addition to whatever the community team can throw at us, we can whip up some community events too! Uh, such as...

Triva quizzes!
General geek gaming!
Roleplay!
Gaming-y challenge things!
Staring contest with Rockjaw! ... Okay, no, that one simply can't be won.
Bake offs!
And... uh, perhaps real life forum debates! We can all sit in the VIP lounge and caps lock at each other.

And winkey-smile at each other!

Well, they're WIP's!

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It appears may people got the wrong idea about my use of the term "open". It was meant to refer to a board where one did not have to be a member to post threads. Because this would entail risk to the content, I believed that all posts in that non-members forum would need approval before being displayed. I wasn't suggesting the whole forum becomes approval based (apologies if i've misunderstood anyone).

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I understood that last part, I was refering to the public sector of the board (As in, that which people who can post to without a game account) and the private one (those hidden and accessable only by paid users.) when I was making my post. It may have been a little vague on my count, but I hadn't had breakfast yet.

Some forum software can operate a 'guest' section that allows non members to post. Frequently you get porn links and advertising in there though. I can't recall any forum software that screens comments for moderator posting, though I know it's possible with Wordpress blogs and various journal type software.

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I thought about the 4 hour rule because IMHO I find (or it appears) that some people spend more time in the forum then in the game, and they come across as thinking they know everyline of code in the game backwards. To make matters worse these same people do not come across in a friendly manner - they appear almost aggressive.

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Regarding the aggressive part, that's possibly an internet phenomena, where the cyclical nature of events reduces peoples tolerance for what's come up again and again.

Of course, there are some exceptions. Golden_Girl for example is always fairly friendly to new folk. Perhaps it's a ploy for the Defiant Tourist board to bribe people to the server, but friendlyness is still friendlyness, regardless of intent. (Now there's an interesting discussion.)

I know I spend much more time on the forums than I do in game, mostly because it's a way for me to contact my friends, I can read stuff about the game I do enjoy (Come on, January 2005 Beta and I'm still paying for a sub. That's more than my combined play time of WoW, Ragnarok Online, Final Fantasy XI and EVE.) and as FFM has mentioned, many people check and post from work.

Heck, back in college, I used to check the forums from my laptop during lessons. Something to fill in the time when I've done typing and other people are still writing.

Perhaps people do need an attitude check at times. I can get a little waspish or militant at times, and I usually curse myself for it later. I think though, like in all things, self moderation and consideration for others would be the best course of action. Together, we can end this destructive conflict!


I'll never join you!
If you only knew the power of the Dark Side!

RE: Spending 4+ hours in game to post.

That's... ah, uh, little draconian don't you think? And what with that and pre-moderating posts for the public access boards kind of against what I consider to be the principle of 'open'.

Even when I'm in game, I'm either chatting to friends, or roleplaying, and once in a while I'll go missioning or something or join a team, or even organize something myself. I also run an entirely seperate computer to browse the forums on, chat to friends, or bring up Mids Hero Planner or Paragonwiki and Red Tomax's site.

Anyway, slight digression there.

Regarding the closed open moderated public forum thing? I'd have to say no. That's not the answer anyone's looking for, and the people moderating it would have to come from somewhere, and would probably expect to be paid. Heck, I know I would if I had to read "i dont wnt 2 by dis game an p2p it, how can i play 4 3?" and variations of as I've seen on some boards. Then they'd need office space because 1: NCSoft don't do remote, at home working positions, and 2: They also don't do community moderators. Even if some people here might take the role upon themselves.

Plus then you'd have to get someone to draw up guidelines for what is and isn't allowed, because common sense isn't that common and moderator bias happens to the best of people.

Regarding the account limitations to posting, as has been mentioned before people with lapsed accounts can't post, just send Private messages, and including the above slightly rambling viewpoint on limitations, you also should consider this:

You'd need two technical forums for one thing. A public one and a private one. Imagine if someone buys the game, finds out they're having technical difficulties, and... well, can't post to the Technical Issues board because they haven't played the game for four hours, which... well, as you can see, that would descend into Catch 22.

As also mentioned, it punishes players who might not have the time to log in. Some people use the forums to co-ordinate teams and group missions to maximise their time in game. If they can't do that because they don't clock enough hours to post, then they have to either set up/use a 3rd party forum, or messengers. Which then precludes people seeing the post and saying "Hey, I'd like in, please!"

On derailing, it's the internet.

Serious. Any time you get a bunch of people together, conversation -will- meander and teeter, lurching about like a sailor who's had a few too many cups of grog. It happens on these forums, the American forums, heck, every single forum I've been to goes off topic and derails on a regular basis. No one can stop that. Well, okay, they -can-, but really, should they?

Descent into flame wars, well, that really depends on the definition of flame wars. The last good flame war I can recall was the one that involved a third party forum and a hidden mature section of the boards where people could cut lose with being politcally correct.

If we were to have a mature or adult board on the forums, peoples definitions of mature and adult tend to differ. What's considered appropriate for one person to talk about might offend another, so on and so forth. Plus, consider the flame bait.

Do I think that people could do with some self moderation? Yup. Heck, I'm not perfect, I know I could modulate my views and post content when I post. But it's the internet, and I love a good debate. That's why people clash heads so hard.

Though it is important to remember that disagreement is not a personal attack, and on the internet a lot is lost in the written language. I've had to double take on some of the stuff people have written to me because the meaning and sentiment isn't always clear in text.

/deposits 2 cents.

Excellent, m'dear Rockjaw, excellent.

I shall look forward to it with baited breath, and scrimp and save every penny and pound ready for getting up there, getting a hotel room and staying for the whole duration. And y'know, getting some sleep and something better to eat this time. After my first period of proper sleep dep, I think I knew how an Elude'd SR scrapper feels.

Plus I must bring baked goods for friends. And a better costume.

From what I recall reading on Massively, yeah. The general concensus from what people who've been playing have said is that it still needed to go back in the oven for a few more months. Of course, now that it's on Steam for digital purchase and download, it might start to pick up some more subs again. I'm not sure what EVE appearing on Steam did for it, so I can't say if there's any possible correllation, but as a theory it makes sense.

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Not everyone starts huffing and puffing and declaring the rail system doomed when a train is late, either.

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An Interlude.

"There hasn't been a platform announcement yet..."
"... THE COMPANY'S GONE BUST! IT'S ALL GONE TO THE PRIVATE SECTOR! I'M GOING TO START USING BUSES AND TAXIES NOW, AND HELL, EVEN MAYBE CARS!"
"The Eighteen Fifty-Eight NCNC service to Paragon City is on Platform One."
"... PLATFORM ONE?! THAT'S JUST OUT OF ORDER, I'M ALL THE WAY HERE AT PLATFORM EIGHT AND THEY WANT ME TO WALK ALL THE WAY DOWN THERE? I BET THEY'LL WANT ME TO SHOW MY TICKET TOO! I'M SO GOING TO USE A BUS FROM NOW ON."

Skip forwards a week.

"Hmm, no platform announcement yet."
"IT WAS LIKE THIS LAST WEEK, THE COMPANY DON'T LISTEN TO US! WHY SHOULD WE PAY FOR THIS SERVICE? AND I BET WHEN THEY ANNOUNCE THE PLATFORM IT WILL BE ALL THE WAY AWAY AT THE OTHER END OF THE STATION! EVERYONE COMPLAINS ABOUT THIS AND THEY DON'T LISTEN! IF I WERE RUNNIN THIS COMPANY, I'D DO IT BETTER!"

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okies back for now ... subs will raise and fall, but when 2 new games get released subs will dwinnle slowly due to the wow factor of the "new" games.

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Mmmh. *Looks at AoC. 1 million subs at launch. 700k later on. 400k later on...*

The wow factor works the other way too. People go to the new games, get bored/find it not to their appeal/riddled with bugs, and come back to their old faithfuls. And sometimes bring people with them.

Most of the people I know who left CoH or WoW for AoC have stopped playing and gone back to the respective games. Wow and shine count for nothing over substance, in the grand scheme of things. DCUO isn't looking to be my cup of tea. CO isn't looking to be my cup of tea either. And that's fine. If CO and or DCUO is someone elses cup of tea, then they can think that. I'm excited about the upcoming stuff in CoH. Does me thinking that make CO and DCUO suck for everyone else? Nope.

So if you think the game isn't going in a direction you like, that's fine. Just don't put it across in a way that says everyone says this and everyone thinks that.

Regarding Offline Experience, I'm expecting it to work like it does for WoW. You gain a bonus to experience gain when you log back in for a while. Will this mean people get through the content faster? Perhaps. Will it encourage people to alt and bring other characters through the game? Hopefully. Will it be a game breaking thing that will bring on the farmers in their offline xp combine harvesters? I can't say for sure, but I'd expect probably not. When you think about it, it doesn't even make much sense anyway.

Happy Birdday to you, Birdy.

Old reference FTW.

It depends really on the character. Zortel has a pretty serious bio that gives some information known about her, while The Maintainer's is a more humourous, but still IC one. It also has a reference to the Half Life series of video games, plus some other FPS games.

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Edward J. Sawyer is a prime example of what some scientists have come to call the 'Freeman Effect', named after a popular fictional character. An example of what happens when in the course of ones everyday job, an event happens that changes things forever.

Ed was working the building sites in New Overbrook one day when he spotted the Clockwork trying to relieve a young woman of the new kitchen utensils she had bought, and anything else metalic she carried. Spotting no heroes around to come and save her, Ed did what any good American and gentleman would do. He picked up a wrench, wandered over and beat the scrap out of it until it stopped twitching. Then a little more to be sure.

Sheer grit and determination can count for a lot, and finding something else to do in his spare time, Ed picked up the moniker of 'The Maintainer' and began a side job of percussion mechanics in the name of justice, renovation and good workmanship.

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Character taking part: Zortel
Level: 50
Time's available: 7.30ish PM > Midnight

While I can add nothing constructive or insightful to this, I do have one thing that begs to be said.

...

IMPERIOUS SHOT FIRST!

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Yes, Gun Kata as it stands is a load of baloney, but it fits most effictively into a comic book genre game.

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Batman vs Cleric John Preston was a pretty epic fight, after all. And John Preston vs the League of Shadows.

Morbo wishes you a productive and conquesting spawn memorial day.

And happy birthday from me too!

I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes.

Zortel: Level 50 Energy Blast/Energy Manipulation/Force Mastery
Cindersnap: Level 37 Fire Blast/Fire Manipulation
Fusebox: Level 33 Electric Blast/Electric Manipulation
Juan Ross: Level 14 Psychic Blast/Mental Manipulation
Lyrical Cyclone: Level 7 Sonic Blast/Energy Manipulation
Quickfrost: Level 7 Ice Blast/Ice Manipulation

... Me, like Blasters? Never!

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Already existing locations that could be used would be Police Stations (Deputy or some such), shops (Sales Assistant), Wentworths/Black Market, Freedom Corps HQ, Portal Corp, Sewers (sanitation engineer), Arena, Building Site, Pocket D (raver), Vault Reserve (Security Guard), Portal Corps, Golden Giza (Gambler or croupier).

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Adding to that with the Firebase in the Shadow Shards, hopefully various buildings in City Hall/Freedom Court (MAGI, GIFT, ELITE, DATA, SERAPH), The Midnighter Club, Ouroboros, Salamanca (the town), Faultline Dam and the Vanguard Lab in the Atlas Vanguard DPO.

I'd be guessing Tifa beating up someone from FFVII: Advent Children.

But... main RP toon? What... is this 'main' you speak of? Ah, the curse of the prolific altitis sufferer.