Cathulhu
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Posts
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Joined
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The zone you want for all practical purposes exists. It is called Warburg and most of the time it is deserted. So much so that a few weeks ago I spent some time in this PvP zone opening Christmas presents so as to avoid fighting over presents with players in PvE zones. (Now thats Irony)
It has 2 of the three groups you want, fighting it out for control of nuclear missiles. It has confusion where anyone can be against anyone. It is unused and unloved by most of the players and if not for the Free Nuke Temp Power and badges I doubt I would ever see anyone in there. Unless there is some concrete evidence that by adding a third faction we will suddenly see this zones population boom, I don't think the Devs will feel it is worth taking resources away from developing parts of the game with proven demand.
If you don't believe me about Warburg being the zone you describe, I simply changed a few names in your description (Statesman for Cole, Rouges for resistance, Hero for Praetorians) and as far as I can tell we have a near perfect match.
Quote:Originally Posted by Lulipop
Why not throw in confusion? Make it a Villains/Heroes zone that all two factions can enter with a possibility to attack each faction? What if the Rouges that are part of the Dangerous side to the extremist are wanting to seize control during the chaos? What if Statesman believes his might and militant strength is enough to suppress this other worldly threat so sent out the call for any Loyal Heroes to secure the area (ulterior motive not withstanding.) Recluse (as seen in the comics) decided to send in the Villains to do as they wish and capitalize off the situation, and of course the Heroes who tighten up their spandex, done their capes, and rush in to save the day while dealing with the constant threat of being invaded and other factions wishing to do as they will? Add some excitement, and yes I know I'm suggesting a PVP type environment (OH NOES!) but it'd be something different. -
Quote:The Devs and I respect your diligence in working hard to buy more stuff and support the gameOriginally Posted by Benchpresser
That's what I've been waiting for.. for those who are stuck at work, what is the price on the flying rug?
Flying Carpet is 600 points.
Rocket Board now 450 instead of 600
Mission Transporter 450 instead 600
Hope this helps
Now back to work. -
Quote:I may be wrong, but I believe that Personal "Decorative" items that may be in your base can not be remade if you delete them, unless you have that veteran reward. Examples of this would include "Longbow Flyer" and "Comic Book Wall Art." Haven't dealt with base editing for over 2 years though so I may be wrong.Originally Posted by Ronin_Edge
I am now an SG of one. Since I am the only person in the SG, I wanted to make some changes, but am concerned about the availability of items in my base. Will I encounter any problems changing things around in my base now that my primary base designer and unlocker of base related items is gone?
All the basic functional items should be fine (TP, Med Bay, Enhancement bins, etc.) unless that has changed in the last few years. -
Quote:Your idea sounded interesting, but upon consideration I don't think it is valid in the PRESENT tense. Bases were released over 6 years ago, and while "Moore's Law" is at best an approximation, I would be surprised if the cost has not dropped by a factor of 10. Bases have seen little in the way of upgrades since 2005 that would require more power. If anything with the illumination of PvP, which was origionally in bases, they are even less of a drain on the system. Even if bases in 2005 took up $5 of resources per player It is tough to imagine that they would require more than fifty cents in 2011.Originally Posted by Electric-Knight
Bases may eat up a significant amount of resources to allow them to be made by premium accounts who spend $2 for it (which could be a significant number).
Every damned account that makes x amounts of bases could start eating up a large amount of the database and resources.
So, that could be a sensible reason for limiting them.
It's just a possibility. I'm curious about it, really.
However the Devs seem to be doing at least some work on bases, and if a major overhaul is in the works than your statement may well reflect the future issues they see. Instead it may be a case that "Bases WILL eat up a significant amount of resources... "
Likewise if they are releasing new and improved bases in the future they certainly would not want to set a low price of say $2 for the current base system, then have to endure the flames when they raised the price for the NEW base system to what they are hoping to get, say $4.
Admittedly we are both speculating here, but I do hope their is base love on the horizon
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Me and a friend are Interested in the 4PM run...
@HP Lovecat as HP Lovecat Lv 50 Ill/Emp controler.
and
@Tabitha Fae as Tabitha Fae Lv 50 Plant/Storm -
Quote:No I have not forgotten, and it is one of the reasons for my HQ proposal. When that player returns after 5 year they will still see their old beloved base and home just the way they remember it instead of finding it burned to the ground and replaced with Generic Base 2.7b.Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
You've forgotten to consider SG's owned by players who are not currently playing when and if the changes get made. How much time should the devs give absent players to return and get their affairs in order? Or should they run two completely separate base systems indefinitely.
By all means run it indefinitely.
*Why close down a base that some artist has spent years building and crafting?
*Why force players who hate to build bases and want to do missions to build a new 2.0 base when the old base that a former SG member built does what they need?
*Why risk all the problems of trying to close down and MERGE an old fragile system with a new one?
YES! Run 2 separate systems! The old system works well enough for many players. Don't throw away something that works.
My proposal doesn't allow each player in an SG to have their own separate base. An SG can have 1 base and one HQ. A Character can be part of one SG. At most this proposal doubles the storage capacity of an SG. Considering how much extra storage players have been given access to in the last few years I don't see why this would be a major issue. Between the Vault, Wentworths, email, and added storage slots I can hold close to 500 inspirations and 50 enhancements and 100 or so pieces of salvage. That's equal to half of what a base can hold.Quote:Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
From the resistance the devs have been putting up over letting players make solo SG's/bases, I doubt the latter is likely to happen.
If the devs are truly concerned about doubling the storage potential then they have at least 1 option that for the most part is already coded, tested and working and would maintain most of the advantages of the system I propose.
Simply put, IF a SG wants to build an HQ then the leader goes to City Hall and chooses to turn the old base into a "Historical Monument". This would set the capacity for all storage bins to 0, or a low enough number for Dev comfort. You could remove items, but not add any more. This code already exists and is in use too this very day with the current Salvage Storage bins. Most people don't know that salvage bins used to hold 1000 items. I have one with 922 items but a limit of 30 (922/30)
With my proposal this won't happen because my system does not involve ever getting rid of bases. That's the beauty of it. Those who like the old system can keep it.Quote:Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
On top of them there will be the procrastinators who will screw themselves over by putting off cleaning out the loot from their old bases before the system is removed, and they'll come here with their rage quit posts about how unfair it was, and they didn't know the deadline, yadda yadda yadda.
There's all kinds of variables to consider. -
Quote:"rip out the old base code and add the new stuff"Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
Fine start from scratch with a completely new system and when it's ready rip out the old base code and add the new stuff. Then give the Super Leaders of existing bases credit towards however the new feature works on base building so they don't lose years of accumulated resources that were spent creating their old bases.
A better solution would be to have a new sort of base, let call it an HQ for this discussion. A SG could have both a base and an HQ. The HQ would have functionally the same benefits as a base (TP to zones, Med Bay, Storage, etc) as well as possibly new benefits for example; Personal storage lockers, 100% health Resurrection bays, A single Transporter that can handle all zones instead of just 2, PvP and so forth.
This solves the following problems that a forced change over would create.
1) Loss of 100's of hours of art work in fantastic base designs. For some the current base system is a canvas for their creativity and just as some artist refuse to make a transition to newer and 'better' mediums some base builders will refuse to do so.
2) Loss of stuff in storage. If the Devs try to transfer items in storage bins to a new base then they are just asking for a train wreck. Salvage bays would need to take into account the fact that some still have up to 1000 "base salvage" items in them. Permission levels to keep new members from taking enhancements must be maintained. Billions if not trillions of influence could well be sitting in some of these bins. A single error could well cause either loss of items, Duplication of items, Item access granted to those who should not have it, or loss of access to those who should. An HQ system would allow the SG members to move the stuff when, and where they wanted it.
3) If any MAJOR BUGs crop up in the first few weeks the new HQ system goes live, then shutting it down doesn't cause a major problem for the players. They can continue to use their old base with no QoL decrease. Such bugs could include HQs locking people out, HQ items attacking people, transporters dropping people into random PvP/Hazard zones, and Storage Bins that allows players to duplicate items. And yes, most if not all of these bugs have occurred in the past. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Winterminal
I have absolutely no problems losing data, as long as I have the options with which to recreate that data after changes have been implemented. In other words, if I have to lose my entire base in order for the system to be streamlined, made more functional, and improved overall, so be it. But I would expect to have the same amount of gross prestige available (perhaps even a bonus since rebuilding would take time), as well as all of the existing item options and perhaps more.
Similarly, as you (Oz) said about the costume creator: I would be annoyed by having all my costumes reset on me. But if it meant improving the system for moving forward (layers, asymmetry, more anchors, fingers, etc.), and all of the current costume parts were going to be available at (or within a couple weeks) of launch, I could stomach it.
That’s why I suggest a dual base system. The Original Base system remains for those who want to keep their base. HQs can be built with the same functionality of the Original Bases as well as new features, but possibly with different design and looks so as to allow for simpler coding and more details and options.
This way they don't need to try to incorporate every hacked worked around detail used in old bases into the new system ("Hey there water doesn't give the same effect as the slow field I was using, I want that effect added!")
This would allow them to not worry about transferring inspirations, salvage, etc to the new base. The players can do it if they choose to get a new HQ.
By adding HQs along side Bases instead of redoing the Base system you eliminate complaints that X has been removed from the game. The most that can be complained about is that HQ's don't have X which is easily responded to with "X could not be added to HQs because they use a different code/methods then Bases. You can still do X in the Bases."
A side benefit is that if the HQ system has any big undiscovered bugs, the players still have there bases to use and you avoid POing every player. If you try to change Bases to Bases 2.0 you risk an issue such as "What do you mean players don't have access to bases for 3 weeks because all weapons have AV level attacks at 50+4, and the transporters have a 20% chance of putting a player into the UG trial." or "What do you mean all SGs storage bins have had the access set to 0 and even visitors can access them." -
Compared to some of the other upgrades I don't think anything needs to be given up to improve the curent base system.
Bases don’t need to be destroyed for a better system to be added. Simply develop a system for making a feature that we will call Headquarters (HQ). HQs could have features such as Individual footlockers, NPCs that can speak dialoge, a single zonetransport unit that lets you select all zones, Group storage areas, Full health Med Bays, Danger rooms(SG A.E.) and so forth. Once developed add portals to the HQ from zones in the game. (Maybe use doorways that currently don’t have mission access or use the SG base pillars.) Now add this new system to the SG group options so an SG can have both a BASE and a HQ.
By doing this there is no need to destroy the beautiful bases already built, It allows for those who don’t like change to gradually use the new system or to never use it, as well as allows loot to be ported from the bases to the new HQ by the players and be sorted the way they want. And it is a system that does not need to have any code from the current "Base system" to be accessed or touched so the "house of cards" remains intact.
If the HQs system is well done then most SG’s will gradually stop using bases and instead use HQs yet the old bases will still be around for Artistic and Historical reasons. -
Quote:I would not worry about this. His statement refers to the present tense.Originally Posted by Dispari
So every Transformation power is a preview of costume parts we're never going to get?
No. I mean that we won't sell Transformation powers that CAN BE easily replicated by the Costume Creator.
In the future they may well stop selling Transformation Powers and then start selling the pieces. That would still make the above statement true. All he is saying is that at the time a Transformation Power is released you will not at that time be able to make it in the costume editor.
To mean what you seem to be concerned with he would have needed to say
No. I mean that we won't sell Transformation powers that WILL EVER be replicatable by the Costume Creator.
For those afraid of being locked out of future costumes and other stuff AND those who expect exclusivity to last forever all one needs to look at is the number of items in the past that were limited to a certain set of customers but are now easier to get.
These Costume pieces being the first example. Available exclusively when attending a Convention. Then available for $20 at any number of conventions and as prizes for contests. 2 Days ago available for $7. Now for $5. Sometime in the future it will be free with the purchase of a costume pack containing all the item pieces for $4.
Dozens of Badges available only if you did X. Now available if you do 1/100th of X.
Villains. Only available if you paid $50. Then only available if you subscribed at $15/month. Now available for FREE.
Capes. Only available at level 20+. Now available to all.
Rule #1. CoH lowers the requirements needed to obtain pretty much all content, sooner or later. -
Blame the Devs.
They designed the feedback system with neither guidance to the reviewers, nor proper rating categories and to blame players for the way they rate stories (Excluding Griefing) is ridiculous. When given a scale of 1-5 to rate something on and NO information as to what or how it needs to be rated why is anyone surprised that people will rate things differently.
When rating a persons looks on a scale of 1-5 most people will be rated a 3, with some at 2 or 4 and a very rare individual at 1 or 5. This is normal human behavior. Unfortunately if even a single player uses this system for rating stories it quickly puts adequate stories into the black hole. However this is in no way the raters fault as this is a perfectly valid and common method for people to rate looks, movies, books and even games. I tend to agree since moving the curve so most stuff ranks out as a 5 reduces the value of my opinion and winds up ranking the great with the average and spreads the below average across 80% of the spectrum. (In reality I just don’t bother ranking anything less then an honest 5 stars so as not to discourage the artists.)
If anything it can logically be argued that the average story should only get a 2 and above average 3-5 so as to more easily distinguish between the top stories. After all there are 100,000+ stories so why do I care about the average ones. Give me the top 5% of the stories and that is still enough to last for 1000+ hours of gaming. Why play anything that isn’t in the top 5%?
Likewise if you ask most people what they think of X they will base it upon what THEY think and feel. Not what they think OTHERS think and feel. If I ask a smoker to rank restaurants in Lake Tahoe then I shouldn’t be surprised if she gives those that ban smoking a lower grade. Even if the city banned smoking, she is still likely to compare them based upon her experiences before the smoking ban or when going to neighboring cities that allow smoking.
The restaurant may not like the fact that a lower review was given and the non smoker may find the review to be less then helpful. However many smokers will find the review to be spot on, and will look for restaurants elsewhere, or stay home and eat. Thus the review is accurate and valid.
And if you think that a sign out front will make the smoker enjoy the restaurant more, it won’t. All it will do is keep some smokers away. However those who still come in because something on the menu sounded good, will still rank it lower then the restaurant in Reno that allows smoking.
Blame the Devs for having a single star system with NO DIRECTIONS, as opposed to a questionnaire with NO STARS, or at the very least directions. Blame the devs for changing the system and forcing the artist to choose between their creative ideals and their desire to get a good ranking, But blaming a reviewer for giving an HONEST opinion is idiotic and just as important will accomplish NOTHING since the reviewer is unlikely to enjoy your story more after you chew them out.
HP Lovecat -
Quote:That's a load of bullsh t. transf r d from V ctory to Fr dom th s morn ng and no on cam by my hous .Originally Posted by Calash
I hear that if you use the server transfer to move from Victory to Freedom a dev will come to your house and forcibly take the E, I, and P key off your keyboard.
Then they kick you and take your lunch money. True story..
H. . Lov cat -
Quote:Don't worry, it's not an exploit.Originally Posted by Karl_Rove_Man
I'm hearing reports that there is a way to change the name with server transfers, but I haven't seen the method or heard if it is considered an exploit.
From the official NC Soft Site
http://help.ncsoft.com/cgi-bin/ncsof...p?p_faqid=7616
"If you do go through with a Character Transfer and there is a name conflict on the destination server, the character's name will be appended to have a numeral at the end and be issued a free rename token. When you next log that character in, you will be able to use the rename feature to obtain a new name."
Theres alot of other good information there that may help answer questions.
Also the Official Discusion Thread is here, in case us helpful folks on Protector fail to help
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showt...=202526&page=4
Hope this helps.
HP Lovecat -
Quote:Why do I want him to post what the Devs said? Because that would be an official number from the best source available.Originally Posted by macskull
Why? You didn't when you posted. By your logic his numbers are as good as your own.
By my logic that would make his numbers SUPERIOR to my numbers as long as he can provide the source. I would love to have the best information and numbers available. My numbers come from a random sampling of characters, and while better then guessing it is nowhere near as good as the Devs numbers, which would come from an exact count of ALL players. An exact count beats out a random sample. So i asked him, If possible, to provide further information.
HP Lovecat -
Quote:I have never seen that statement, and I have discussed this on the PvP forums on 5 previous occasions. You are the first to say a Redname made such a statement but if you can please provide a link to said statement I would be quite gratefull. I said "best estimates were that...." and it is just that. Estimates of under 10%. Please, Please Please provide cold hard Dev statements of more exact figures and I will be very grateful and happy to use such numbers from here on out. I have an intelectual interest in PvP, Coh and gaming and would like to have the best information possible.Originally Posted by black_barrier
way to make up the %s on the percentage of pvpers.
i believe it was ex who surprised everyone by stating that around 30% (I THINK, NOT SURE) of players regularly pvp'd.
now take that. my word vs. yours.
HP Lovecat -
Omigoddess. IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE IN THIS MESSAGE PLEASE READ THE NEXT PARAGRAPH as it may solve much of your frustration.
PvP IOs Bonuses are NOT affected by level. Slot a level 50 PvP IO you got in RV and go to Bloody Bay and the set bonuses will still work. Exemplar to level 5 and the set bonus STILL work. That is one of the BIG reasons PvP/Purple sets are so much in demand.
Quote:1) Most PvP IOs are not selling in the BILLIONS. They sell for millions. Glad Net 11-75 Mil, Glad Strike from 85-600 Mil.Originally Posted by Omigoddess
It does not seem to matter what you do, currently the market does not have any or very few pvp IO's and those that are there are selling for billions, since the returns for farming are now innefective, and the PVP zones are dead, at least on Pinnacle they are dead. You can not even buy a PVP IO.
2) As for "the market not having any" every PvP IO with the name Gladiator has had multiple sales this month. Most have had 5 sales within the past week. If you mean that when you look for ones for sale there are none at that exact moment, that is quite possibly true. However that doesn't mean you can't get them. Simply place a bid 10% higher then the last 5 bids and in most cases you will have what you want within a few days.
3) You SEEM to imply that because you are on Pinacle that you can't find IO's on the market. If this is the case then be aware that Wentworths spans across all servers and thus items sold from Freedom are available to Pinacle.
Your claim that their are none or few PvP IO's and that those that are available are in the billions is mistaken.
The market will work if you use it. You admit you have gotten IO's just not ones you can use. So sell the PvP IO's you have gotten and buy the ones you need.Quote:Originally Posted by Omigoddess
I spent huge amounts of time doing PVP, more solo than teamed, My claw regen was just about invulnerable, and I have never got a single PVP drop that I could actually use.
PvP IOs Bonuses are NOT affected by level. Slot a level 50 PvP IO you got in RV and go to Bloody Bay and it will still work. That is one of the BIG reasons PvP/Purple sets are so much in demand.Quote:Originally Posted by Omigoddess
To effectively slot a toon for PVP I need to slot with specific IO's and PVP IO's that are functionable in every PVP zone, thus doing pvp in RV does not reward drops that are functional in sirens.
You didn't get the Merrits? Then send in a petition and a GM will get you your reward. Real easy.Quote:Originally Posted by Omigoddess
I recently did a TF for merits the other day, I got a level 50 training enhancemet for my trouble.
CoH NEVER had several million. The highest recorded Subscriber numbers I am aware of were in 2005 with, I believe, 194,000 people. The average from 2004 to 2008 was 150,000 or so. (I got these numbers a year or so ago from NC Softs quarterly reports.).Quote:Originally Posted by Omigoddess
And Merits are hard enough and very time consuming to get now that the player base has dropped from several million to under a hundred thousand.
As to your claim that we have less then 100,000 people, while this MAY be true, please provide a source since you seem to be in error on many other numbers. Even if it is true that the game has gone from 194K peak to say 90K current that is hardly an "O MY GODDESS" moment for a 5 year old MMORPG. Most MMORPGS drop over 66% from their peak numbers within 5 years and many are out of business after 5 years. With the current recession a 60% drop in subscribership from PEAK 2005 prooves nothing.
Furthermore by the most generous standards PvPers at the peak (2005) made up less then 10% of the player base, and by 2007 serious PvPers made up less then 1%. So even IF the changes caused every seriouse PvPer to leave, and sadly at times it seems like that is the case, that still means that the game lost less then a thousand or so subscribers due to the I13 debacle.
And what is this PvP IO that you can't find?Quote:Originally Posted by Omigoddess
One of the ones i need has a history of not selling since May 2009, and i need multiples of that one.
HP Lovecat -
If you see HP Lovecat, or Cathulhu on send me a tell and I will assist.
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Your post seems to say "Bills reasons are from over a year ago so they might not be valid."
He gave numerous reasons why he felt a server merge was a bad idea yet you have failed to show that his points are incorrect. If you can't even find flaws in the "one year old post" then I think it shows that Bills argument is still valid. If you can find some flaws then feel free to share them.
As for the population having changed feel free to show how that affects most of Bills points (Name duplication problems, Super Groups, Some people CURRENTLY still like the low pop servers, etc).
You may have a valid argument for merging servers, But you have yet to show how Bill's arguments are invalid.
HP Lovecat
Quote:Originally Posted by GuessWhosBack
Just because Bill posted something a year ago doesnt make it relevant now (other than its on topic, it might not have been right a year ago and/or it might not be relevant now). If this game isnt as popular/populated as it once was... Then it makes sense to talk about options like this. This is a community, but its a divided community. Makes sense to me to find ways for us to play in the same sandbox. A sandbox that isnt any laggier or prone to bugs than our current setup. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Tokyo
Best thing that could happen to PvP (in my opinion) is for people to just... not participate. Then maybe the devs would get the go-ahead to make the necessary changes to bring it back.Quote:Originally Posted by Aura_Familia
Unfortunately, if folks don't participate, the devs won't get the go-ahead from the higher ups to spend money on pvp.
I doubt either is the case. The game has lost around 90% or so of it's PvPers since I13. The Devs are not going to look at the hundred or so remaining PvPers who do choose to play and go, "Hey LOOK, I13 was a success." And if they are so delusional as to do so then they will make that claim even if only 2 badgers are in there fighting over who gets to kill the "Blue Ink Man".
Likewise a few more people playing won't get NC funding of PvP. Its not like Positron is going to say to NC soft, "We just doubled the number of people who PvP in the last quarter so that proves PvP can be successful and deserves more money. We'll Yea That means we now have 123 people who now play PvP. Well yea, we had 10 times that number before I-13. Well Yea that's less then 1/1000 of the player base. But please give us money."
Any decisions on PvP are most likely to be influenced by
1) Will it draw a good percentage of the 100,000 PvEers in and keep them playing longer.
2) Will it draw PvPers who used to play, back to the game.
3) Will it draw new PvPers to the game.
No matter what the hundred or so dedicated PvPers who are left choose to do. It is unlikely to change the decisions of the Devs. If you really think otherwise, keep in mind that 10 times as many PvPers were unable stop I-13.
Instead do what ever you will have fun doing.
HP Lovecat -
Quote:1) The Devs never said any of those things were impossible from a practical level. This however MAY, please note the MAY, be impossible for various hardware/ software/ speed reasons. The devs have made sure that older computer systems as well as slower internet providers can still run the game. The fix to change this may be impossible from the perspective that the ONLY way to do it involves a patch that decreases the speed of Wentworth access by 2 to 10+ fold.Originally Posted by AgentMountaineer
The thing about these things that are supposed to be difficult and/or impossible is that the Devs are doing them regularly. Wasn't power customization supposed to be difficult/impossible? How about critter customization? The thing that seems to be constantly overlooked is that our Devs have done difficult things. It's just a matter of convincing them it would be good for the game.
Yes I am sure they can do a market merger if they wish, and in fact I am for a merger. However they may not be able to raise the 2 billion influence cap. That may truly be impossible for all practical purposes and even if not impossible, changing variable sizes in a massive program with an active data base makes adding neat power customization look safe and sane by comparison.Quote:Originally Posted by AgentMountaineer
Shoot, there was even a handful of threads about a borked drop rate that they needed a helluva lot of convincing about before they admitted there was a problem. It's just too bad we can't prove with hard data that a market merger would be the best thing for the game. I know they can do it if they decide it should be done, nothing impossible about it.
A bug in a graphics routine will likely be found in beta testing, and if not all you have are a small group of players who have a lag issue for a few weeks until you put in a patch. The absolute worse is that a particular power/color combo will make 5% of your users systems unplayable until the update is rolled back in 3 days and cause people to have to redo their power colors when it is repatched. Oh Woe is me.
If you have a bug in a financial data base which is exactly what Wentworth is, it can be VERY subtle and easily avoid being caught, as an example it may ONLY pop up when someone bids 65536 on ONLY the old base salvage and winds up with the seller recieving 2 to the 63rd power in influence.
Imagine the effects on the market if a player suddenly found he had 10,000,000,000,000,000,000 on a weekend sale. He starts buying up everything. 1 Billion bids on LotGs, but also 10 million on common salvage. 12 hours to a week later he has flooded Paragon with 100 times the influence previously in existence and the devs finally catch wind of it and shut the market down. Now what? Take away the money from all those who legitimately sold items and are happy that they are billionairs? Undo all sales? Yea lets PO 1/2 the player base. Or leave the money and watch as rampant inflation takes over and anyone who didn't manage to hit it big is left with devalued influence worth 1/100th what it was before?
I suspect Milady is right about the single bit for designating hero/villain and that can probably be changed relativly easily. What I think Milady may have failed to consider is that the 2 billion limit is due to the way the variable was declared and is not simply a number that was selected at random that can be changed by simply changing one variable.Quote:Originally Posted by AgentMountaineer
I don't know all of the mechanics of the game, but if Milady's is right about it being a matter of a single character or field that determines which system you're on, it shouldn't be too difficult to change. Aside from a hard programming obstacle, every other excuse for not merging the market hits you like a gust of flatulence.
In computer speak the line of code saying InfluenceLimit = 2,000,000,000 isn't the problem. It is the 342 declarations of "word", or whatever language variable declaration is they use, being changed to "doubleword", and the side effects from said change.
HP Lovecat -
Quote:While much of what you say may be true, You may not realize that raising the influence cap may be far more difficult if not impossible, at least from a practical point, to do with the existing program code.Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
That's an entirely different situation. This is simply merging two identical systems that have been working properly as far as mechanics go since I10. The largest concerns would be those folks that have more than 2 billion stored in WW or the BM by bidding on items that don't exist. The devs would have to cancel all bids, cancel all posts and refund the listing fee (this would do nothing to stored/for sale items except remove the offer. Slots are finite the goods would just sit there until the next time their owner logged on to repost them.) They'd have to increase the inf cap (at least temporarily) to account for those players that have more than the current inf cap tied up in the market.
The number 2 Billion is significant to programmers since it is the upper range of a 32 bit signed number. That is 2 to the 31st power with the remaining bit used to denote positive or negative. Depending on the program and the language it can be a nightmare to convert not only the database, but the program itself to handle 64 bit numbers. It can involve lost data as well as unintended bugs and consequences to change 32 bit to 64 bit numbers. Likewise such changes would slow down database searches as well as double the amount of data that must be sent for all Wentworth’s price queries. You know that lag many people experiance when doing price searches. That may go up 2 fold, 4 fold or even higher.
Not that NC Soft is unique in this issue. Microsoft, Adobe and many billion dollar corporations have been blind sided by this exact number resulting in untold millions if not billions of dollars in lost data and productivity due to the 32 bit limitation.
When CoH was first developed I doubt anyone really thought that players would ever save up more then a hundread million influence, let alone surpass 2 billion. Back then 100 million could purchase 3000+ SOs. Yea us for meeting and exceeding expectations!!! Where is our end of year bonus checks?
HP Lovecat -
For all those concerned about PvP messing with your bases, it shouldn't.
Not unless the devs fail to realize a simple solution that everyone would enjoy, or what I consider to be a simple solution has a major flaw.
Add a second PvP base slot.
This would be the same as a second costume slot in many ways and should comparatively be piece of cake from a programming level.
The rules for the second base and ONLY the second base would be as follows.
1) Uses PvP pathing/Stacking etc rules. since it is a new slot no one needs to change their current base, nor loose any neet base editing features. Yea!
2) Can’t use any object deemed to induce serious PvP lag such as torches.
3) Can’t use more then X items in the entire base or Y items per room. X and Y = maximum number of worst case items found to induce lag.
4) Prestige. Add a new catagory PvPrestige and simply duplicate the prestige level from base 1 to PvPPrestige. After all their is already code to calculate the total value and amount of prestige if I remember how earlier base rent was calculated.
5) If, and I say, I say If boy, the Devs are concerned about market abuse then they can make storage items not work. Most aren’t even need or can be worked around in PvP raids. Enhancements would be obvious, after all why do you need to access enhancements during a base raid? Salvage would be another because while Empowerment stations might be used for a raid, since they last longer then raids are likely to you can simply empower in the PvE base before the raid starts. Inspirations are the only one that I think they might need to leave in and they could limit those to only 3 per base. And this only needs to be done if they feel having 18 inspiration bins would break game balance. Heck our SG can't empty 1/2 a bin before are anal retentive memebrs start filling it back up with larges.
Advantages.
Twice the building potential for baseaholics. Thus it will keep them playing the game longer. Thus more money for NC.
More objects for bases. After all any new objects made for PvP bases (As a quick example Prison cells, Manacles, Mobile medical units and Damaged items) can easily be made also available for PvE bases. In fact if base PvP is succesfull under such a system consider that every call for new items by PvP basers, is also a call for new graphics for PvE bases
Current bases will not have to be modified.
More interest in base building. Non PvP base builders may find themselves in demand by at least some PvPers looking for Style as well as substance.
Negatives.
The only one I can see is that some of the awesome PvE bases won’t be seen by some PvPers since they won't be creatable in PvP, but I don’t see that there is any solution to that.
2 more upgrades which would probably make most of you even happier.
1) They MIGHT even be able to add a PvP/PvE switch for the second base. If flipped off then the second base would be a second canvas for all base builders albeit without storage ability but with unlimited stacking. How would that grab you. A second whole canvas to explore your artistic desires!!!
2) This goes with numer 1. A "copy base" feature. Would copy your PvE base to PvP, BUT until you make the changes that comply with PvP rules it would stay Pv only. This would make many nice bases easier to move over, though if the number of items in base PvP is to low it would probably not be worth it.
Think positive. Base PvP may well add lots of good options for you folks.
HP Lovecat -
Quote:While true, that’s not the full story.Originally Posted by Computer
While I can't think of a PvE example that shows a comparison, I remember back when there was an Open Beta event to test out the new zone, Recluses Victory. There were multiple iterations of RV due to the sheer number of people that came to PvP. As I recall there were more than a dozen (I wan't to say middle twenties?) RVs.
Good times...
If your trying to use this to show PvPs popularity then that would be like me claiming that Star Trek: TNG is the most popular CCG because there was a tournament in L.A.where over 10,000 people showed up to play.
And leaving out the fact that ALL the major actors from the Star Trek played in FULL Costume, and took on all comers, and signed autographs. It was also the night that the LAST episode of the TV show was being shown at this premeire event before being released to television. And did I mention the event was free?
The event your mentioning had Statesman, Miss Liberty, Back Alley Brawler, Positron and many other signature characters, being controlled by the major Devs and GM’s, fighting the players. It was the final night of the Open Beta test and thus also a fairwell thank you party for Beta, and any of the 150,000+ CoH players could attend for free weather they had any real interest in PvP or not. Even given all that less then 5% of the game population showed up for the event.
Likewise using your logic and the same event we can claim that RV is the most popular zone in CoH because it has had the most instances spawned, Yet such a claim would be good for little more then a laugh.
HP Lovecat -
I'm having the same problem. 3 standard minions lv 1-54. and 1 Custom minion. Only the cutum shows up. If I make a group with out him the 3 standards show up. The minute I add the custom it's no go.
HP Lovecat -
Same problem here as of Sunday morning.