BrandX

Originally Posted by TonyV

I'm going to take a bit of a different tack here.

The problem I have with it isn't so much having to watch one commercial to get a shiny, it's the nature of the shiny--which is itself an advertisement.

Using an example cited towards the beginning of the thread, I don't want to see a bunch of characters running around with Swords of Omens, sporting Target t-shirts, drinking Coca-Cola, with their pet Sony robot following them, etc.

We are constantly bombarded with ads 24x7. I like that Paragon City is a reprieve away from it. I don't mind so much ads for their own products, or even a logo or two on the home screen, but the last thing I want is to be reminded of everyone trying to sell everything while actually in the game.

And yes, I'm aware of the in-game advertising that they toyed around with a while back. It wasn't so bad because it was always optional.

Originally Posted by Ironik

Jon Stewart's reaction to Lou Dobbs' bizarre rant (which had more than a few overtones of racism) was hilarious: "This takes place in the Ultimate comics line, which is an alternate universe. You can relax -- Peter Parker is still Spider-man and still Caucasian. And still fictional."

It's a bummer that they killed Peter, because USM was really the only good Ultimate comic outside of a few isolated UFF and the brilliant Galactus storyline. But on the other hand, the line has become so stupid that it needed a reboot. And what better way to signal that everything is up for grabs than by killing off the star?

Originally Posted by Arctic_Princess

But having one shield does not suddenly make a Controller/Defender a Tank, Brute, Scrapper, or even a Stalker. They plug a gap.

And as for mez protection, there's Mind Over Body and Force of Nature. The other shields don't, afaik, provide mez protection. Please do post the ones that do and I have missed though - it'd be interesting to see which powers provide mez protection for the 'squishy' classes.

And to further my -def point, it's true that Katana has a high DPS which can overcome its lower -def value. Most of the time I'm downing things quicker with my Scrapper using attacks than my Rad Blast Defender though.
I guess versus high HP bosses (especially Titans) the DPS kicks in and the -def is equal or greater than a Defender's (who may well be doing other non-damage things like debuffing).
Rad Blasters and Corruptors may have a different experience but I don't have either of them.

Also, I believe Azure mentioned that Melee characters don't have ranged until Ancillary/Patron. Claws, Kinetic Melee and Spines do have ranged powers. And technically Electric Melee and Shield Defense have a ranged AoE. Some even have soft controls (Fear, knockdown ) and others even have immobs and holds (Dark Melee, Martial Arts, Energy Melee) not necessarily good ones, depending on AT).

Originally Posted by _AzA_

Who remembers this:



lol

I would be ok with sponsored things like watching trailers and stuff but it is never that cut and dry; they want you to give your name, address, birthday, etc.. jump through hoops 15 page window questions. If it was low on the intrusive level I would be down with it, however they never are...

Originally Posted by Cobalt Azurean

So, Epic power pools aren't supposed to make you epic?

Okay.

Originally Posted by Nihilii

Hell no to the whole thread. CP alone is better than PP and Superior Conditioning together.

Trading CP for Superior Conditioning would be like trading Dull Pain for Fast Healing on a regen. You might be willing to take a huge performance hit for the convenience of having something passive, but not everyone feels the same. NO to completely unwarranted nerfs!

Originally Posted by Forbin_Project

I have to admit tho I like their TP a lot more than ours.

Originally Posted by Forbin_Project

How unusual. People in an MMO disagreeing.

Originally Posted by Unknown_User

I liked Ben Reilly as Spider-Man. I think what killed any potential he had was the constant was he or wasn't he arcs they did and the fact that the whole comic was just flooded with crappy clone stories. Had Marvel learned to keep it short, instead of just dragging the clone nonsense out. I think Reilly would have a larger fanbase.

Originally Posted by Cynical_Gamer

They fit as well as the Patron Pools do. Don't understand what's hard to accept about this.

Originally Posted by OminousVoice

Exceeeeeeeeept that her bio says otherwise.



Which basically means she took on a new persona, "Valkyrie", because the nanites in the spear, and given this info...



...we see that Battle Maiden hails from the same place as Valkyries spear. Battle Maiden's minions have a very Viking like aesthetic to them. Therefore it is logical to assume that Valkyries name wasn't some arbitrary "because-it was-available" choice, rather it was the result of a culture highly influenced by Norse myth.

Originally Posted by SlickRiptide

0-o

Your point being...? No costume element is worth doing if it was never used in a comic book before?

I'd be pretty surprised if you found any aura from the origin pack that had been used in a comic book before.

Are you under the impression that I was claiming that a Zener Card aura is a classic comic book look or something? I'm not. It was just an idea that popped into my head that, if I saw it, would suggest ESP or clairvoyance and which could also be easily adapted from an existing game element. Clearly, your mileage may vary.

If you are seeing my suggestion as some sort of assertion about comic books then I can clear that up - it is nothing of the sort. Comic book psychics are still just as murky as you originally suggested. My suggestion was aimed at a way of clearing up the murk in City of Heroes. It had nothing to do with comic books or any particular psychic/psionic comic book character. In fact, in a comic book world where psychics, psionics, espers and assorted other mentalists are an established fact of every day life, it seems unlikely that something like Zener cards would ever have been invented in the first place. There'd be no need for them. It's hardly surprising that it would be difficult or impossible to name a comic book character that utilized them.

Heck, if we were going to stick to comic book elements then "psychic" characters in City of Heroes probably ought to have radiating circles coming out of their heads or something since THAT is a pretty common comic book representation of projected psychic abilities.

Or maybe just give them an emote like this one: ;-)



*EDIT*

Don't get too hung up on comic books. They're just one medium out of many that encompasses the superhero genre. Commando Cody was on the cinema screen decades before The Rocketeer ever was drawn, inked, and colored. The Shadow appeared in pulp novels and radio dramas before he ever graced a comic. Likewise, the Green Hornet and Doc Savage and a host of others.

Hercules is one of the earliest examples we have a of SuperHero, even though the Greeks and Romans wouldn't have thought of him in the way we mean it in modern Western culture. He served a substantially similar purpose in their culture, though, that Superman serves in ours.

Maybe all psychics should wear togas and olive or laurel crowns? Maybe all psychics should dress as Gypsy fortune tellers? I'm not sure how illustrating "psychic" in City of Heroes has anything directly to do with comic books, any more than it has to do directly with film, books, or ancient mythology.

Heck, this guy would count as a Tech Hero by most City of Heroes standards and he knows all about Zener cards:



;-) He probably has appeared in comics and he's certainly appeared in a number of movies, cartoons, and video games. Film is his defining medium but it doesn't make Peter Venkman any less of a superhero for being a film-based hero instead of a comic book hero. City of Heroes is a super hero game first and foremost; not a comic book simulator. The existence or non-existence of some element in comic books is largely irrelevant to the question of whether that element ought to exist in the game or not.

Originally Posted by Vexen777

Heres what I mean. Heroes get access to both PPP and APP depending on what side. A villain only gets access to APP if he is well... a hero or vigilante. Same concept for heroes. So redside needs it's own APP version if heroes get their own version of PPP.

The end result is people would have access to 8 pools. 4 lore related or 4 easier non-lore related that are more common powers.

Originally Posted by Cynical_Gamer

Not for VEATs.

Originally Posted by Vexen777

They would have to be put somewhere else so that vigilantes can have access to them. Hence why the Patrons are in Grandville for Rouges and Villains. My suggestion is maybe a new section of City Hall or maybe a heroic super building somewhere is Paragon where the heroes are gathered. But don't put the building in Atlas, it has enough to deal with.


On another note, if this happens, there has to be a villain side to Ancillary Power Pools.

Originally Posted by Sapphic_Neko

No catears? Meh.

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow

Just for parity's sake, I would indeed like to see patron pools on the hero-side, as well, but from whom? If we broke this down to the individual characters, well... There are a zillion of those. There are the surviving EIGHT (granted, soon to be seven), the however many Vindicators, the four or so characters from City of Hero (Foreshadow and Mirror Spirit are already in the game) and so forth. To just pick and choose from those wouldn't be good enough, so I propose something different. How about earning the favour of entire groups? To this effect, I offer the following "Patron Groups:"

The Freedom Phalanx
The Vindicators
Hero Corps
Vanguard
Midnight Club

I'm not sure what any of these groups would offer in terms of powers, I just feel that we have enough entire factions to make this work.

Originally Posted by JayboH

No, that was one of my favorite movement sets - I actually had fun with the mechanics quite a bit. A LOT of stuff in THIS game can be argued as looking stupid, and yet they still exist for those that don't agree.

Originally Posted by Forbin_Project

Wrong, as someone who has had a lifetime sub since the game launched I know for a fact many people have said it looks stupid because we've talked about it. Sooo... yes it does look stupid.

Originally Posted by Father Xmas

I don't believe they ever said that the booster packs will be available at the Paragon Point store but they did say that they won't be available for purchase at the NCSoft store once Freedom goes live.

What I'm afraid of is the boosters being broken up to the point that they will cost more than $10/800PP. Until a red name or a snapshot of the full in game store is available confirms that existing boosters are available there, I'm wary.

Originally Posted by EvilRyu

No, thats because heroes get more stuff out of the game thats why. People arent given enough incentive to be villains. Seriously see all the stuff I mentioned earlier and you can understand why more people play blue side. If all that stuff I mentioned was fixed you would not see so many folks on blue side. It wouldnt be the 90% to 10% we have now, it would be closer to say 60% to 40%. While these are totally made up figures thats what it sure feels like in terms of teaming and activity in the global channels. You see stuff for hero tfs all the time but very few people doing group villain stuff.