Comfort

I see you advertising your SG in general chat, spamming it over and over. You're the top X guild on the server or world or who knows. I don't even know why your guild is the top X guild. Did you get a bajillion prestige? More randomly placed items in your base than anyone else? Did you kill something that required more than everyone on the team doing all the damage they could while someone else healed?

From what I've gathered it's because some book in some office somewhere in the game says you are in the top guild. I'm sure some intelligent forum goers know exactly why this is, but I don't care enough to search it out.

Perhaps it's WoW mentality, I'm a returning player after all. In WoW when you said you were the top guild you actually had done something no one else had before everyone else did. Not having a life so I could be in the top guild was something I hated, looking back on it. I hate most of the people in the top guilds.

So I tentatively join one of these so called top super groups. There must be some reason for the popularity, right? It turns out it's one of these offshoots from some other supergroup. There's no one in this super group that talks but in some other super group they're spamming 4chan memes as hard as they can via something called coalition chat. The chat where people who are in worthless super groups can get together and SPAM HOLY HELL THE SPAM

I shouldn't say no one talks. There's one level 50 player who immediately tells me to get into SG mode. Farm prestige for the super group. I know as a lowbie this really doesn't hurt but the idea of giving to some nameless entity because somebody I don't know (but is higher rank than me in the grand scheme of supergroup pyramids) tells me to. I figure he'll give me a few minutes before he kicks me for my lack of constant flow of prestige so I go check out the superbase. After all, the superbase is what joining a SG is all about really, isn't it?

Inside the superbase is a bowling alley, some sort of maze of trees, endless piles of workshops and labs. It looks like super walmart met disneyland and I wonder to myself what's so super about it. I got lost inside this base in the maze of corridors. This must be to what all my prestige I haven't yet earned is going to, this massive bloated sprawling nightmare complex.

Oh this guy is telling me I'm not in SG mode yet. Demanding now that I switch. /sgquit
He would've kicked me when I wasn't on anyway in the next few days.

I understand I can teleport around the city at certain locations... I can do that anyway, it's called a train, oroboros, wentworths teleporter, vangard, pocket D, midnighter club, or possibly other ways I can't think of.
I have friends, great friends, they're on my friend list and they don't spam me, but they do help me find teams and I help them where I can.
I like having tons of influence and not giving a percentage away so some yahoo can practice landscaping some virtual garden.

I almost feel like the whole concept of a super base needs to be examined again by the devs, to make it something more than a creepy customizable rat maze. To the point, we have these great little packs for mutation, magic, science, etc. Why not breathe a little life into super bases with a pack like that? Exterior superbases? Superbases in caves!

Is there anything else I really need a SG for? I can't seem to understand the point of them in City of Heroes. I feel like I must be missing out on something great since everyone I know is in a SG, but every time I join one it's either completely dead or it's the same scenario as above.

These are just my thoughts as I declined to join the #1 guild again.

Sooo....

Did we figure out the black screen flicker?

I'm using NVIDIA 9600 and when I scroll through a window everything goes all crazy. I suspect it's somehow related to some occasional very bad lag I get while superspeeding (which isn't gpu related as I can run the same course 15 minutes later and not miss a frame).

I've tried min settings, max settings. I've updated drivers as well. CoX was working beautifully before i17, now it's poo.

Is this actually some sort of new shorts model or something?

I have to wonder why the devs need to focus their efforts in this game on making shorts when it takes less than 2 minutes to do with the old pigg editor no one is supposed to talk about. Balance issues? Do they need to playtest shorts first?

A whole thread here and no one has pointed out the obvious. Hmm.

Fly/hover is easily the most powerful travel power for versatility. Any character of mine that isn't a front line fighter has it and I have no complaints at all with it's current 'usefulness' post ED. With three SO's in both Fly and Hover, movement is a non-issue and switching back and forth isn't really that hard, my only complaint is that supression doesn't switch over to hover automatically (meaning you're still taking the end penalty for Flight when suppressed and you don't move at your hover speed).

If you want an example of why Flight/Hover are fine right now try this. Go into a mission and use ANY other travel power to avoid melee entirely. Don't take a single melee hit from any mob while the power is active. It makes you immune to knockdown, resistant to knockback, and immune to ground effects like caltrops and certain stomp attacks. Kinda hard to do all that with superjump, superspeed, and teleport isn't it?

Do you really want the devs to start mucking around with the power that give you all of that in addition to being one of the most reliable travel powers?

I hope this silences the complaints in this thread.

I'd like to quote Statesman's actual response to me as to why powers like this haven't been fixed after all this time:

"If a defender feels less effective than a scrapper, then scrappers must be nerfed."

See, that power is working perfectly, that's why they haven't changed it since beta. It's all the other powers in the game which must be nerfed until they are the same. THOSE powers are clearly TOO powerful. Black Hole is working as intended.

I think that MMO's are just the newest genre of game. If you look back at all the games way back you started out with the text based rpg, then along came the side scroller, then you move into 3d with first person shooters. MMO's are just the next leap in 3d games to add in a way for people to socialize via the internet.

For awhile, that advance alone was enough to boggle the mind. I still remember how amazed I was playing Ultima Online for the first time (and subsequently griefed and pked).

Since then though despite the popularity of MMO games, not much original has been done to them. There's always a few new features to any game, but the mechanics stay the same. CoX took an original idea, of comic book villains and heroes, and wrapped it around the very basic, standardized, MMO. Though it's not required to play as a team, you have your standard warrior (tank), rogue (scrapper), mage (blaster), cleric (defender), and bard (controller). The names and looks change, but the game stays the same.

I went into EB games a few days ago, and as I usually do, I looked for the most original game I can find. It honestly looks like the game developers have just run out of ideas now that they've fully tapped into using the internet to make multiplayer games.

Look at most MMO's that come out today, and even older ones that have been updated. In nearly all you have some sort of circular map in the corner, a set of action buttons (usually 10 with breakaway additional layers), some sort of HP bar, some sort of mana or energy bar. You have to talk to NPC's and get quests, then you have to do the quest, then you have to return it for your reward. The engines change, the graphics differ, but aside from those aspects they could be clones.

Now lets limit it to just fantasy MMO's. There's Ultima Online, Dark Age of Camelot, Lineage I & II, Final Fantasy, Everquest I & 2, Worlds of Warcraft, the soon to be released D&D Online, Runescape, and about 10,000 other fantasy games that are all MMO's. How many times are they going to rehash beating up some dragons with some elfs and magic and crap?

I guess when things do become popular I move on, but not because everyone else likes them. I want to see games continue to push limits and boundries of what games are capible of, not just see the same games updated and remarketed year after year. City of Heroes was original enough to bring the superhero genre to MMO's, but hasn't pushed the limits of what MMO's are since then because they're just going with what works and what makes money. They don't have to push the limits either, seeing as how they still have the only superhero game and if anyone wants to play a hero they will have to come to Cryptic. Sadly though, that is making this game quite stagnant, at least in my eyes.

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Not sure where it went, but I've updated it a hair and I've made a few changes... I saw it mentioned in a thread a few days ago and dug it out of the "1 million things you started but never finished" folder...


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An Idiot’s Guide to RP in Paragon City

Congealed by an Idiot


Prologue:
So you’ve decided to give this Role-playing thing you’ve heard so much about, a shot. You’ve played City of Heroes for a short time and you know that you enjoy the game, and you want to become one of those players with a nifty back story that other players know and remember. Well you’ve hit the right place. Over the next few chapters I will try to put this all together from an Idiot’s point of view… Mine! So stick with me and we’ll get through this thing together.

Chapter 1: Getting Started

1.1 Pre-development

There are basically two ways that an RP character evolves. One requires luck and flexibility, that method being that you create a character and allow it to evolve naturally. Without defining any quirks, issues, shortcoming or strengths until they spill out from RP. This method is generally used by the RP Professionals, and I, not being a professional, have never had much luck with this approach.

So to keep things as simple as possible we’ll go with a formulaic approach that has worked for me.

Well Thought-out History + Relevant Costume + Memorable Issues + Glimmering Personality = Recognizable Character

We’ll hit each in order.

Well Thought-out History:

Not everyone is capable of sitting down and writing out the complete and involving back story of how their character came into being. But every player that wishes to enter into the realm of RP should at least have 7 basic facts ironed out prior to character creation (using the formula above, those that use the luck approach need to plan nothing)

Your basic facts include:
• Where you Were
• How you came to be in Paragon City
• What are your abilities
• Where your abilities came from
• What is your purpose in Paragon City
• What your character personality is
• What are your “quirks”

Let’s work through an example here. One that will follow us all the way through the process. As of right now our character has no name, no costume, it is simply an empty character slot on the log in screen.

Let’s Begin:

When answering the facts above it is always advisable to through in a little “Game Spice”, these are tid-bits of information that will help engrain your character within the world of CoH.

Things that revolve around the golden age heroes like Galaxy Girl, or the modern champions like Statesman are popular. But even more so, are those that revolve around the corporations, companies and villain groups. These groups are often utilized by role playing heroes. Companies like Portal Corps. and Crey Industries are very useful resources when filling in the back data on your character. As are associations with the more nefarious of the villains in CoH, The Carnival of Shadows, The Circle of Thorns, Hellions, Sky Raiders, etc. Latch on to one and utilize it’s in game story line to advance your character. Most of these mobs you will end up fighting throughout the mid game so it will allow you a plethora of Role Play opportunities.

Think it through a little bit, then jot it all down on a sheet of paper, these are the most basic of limitations for your character. What you place down here is not set in stone, but it should also be followed very closely. These seven facts make your character who they are.

So let’s put one together.

Where you were… Paris in 1920

Putting a location that is well known and an era that may not be will add a certain flair to your creation. Multiple layers are a good thing in these instances, but remember for the purposes of this segment try to keep it short and simple.

How you came to be in Paragon City… a Portal created by The Circle of Thorns opened, in front of you and you were sucked within it.

At this point we have just established the characters main influence, the Circle of Thorns, this will open the way for items on down the listing. However at any step within this process you can insert who you face on a regular basis.

What are your abilities?... This character is a Dark Melee, Regen Scrapper

Let’s face it, you are playing a game that is driven by the dynamic of the character’s powers. Any power set you want to play should fit within the outline. While it has been done, it is very difficult to get other players to suspend their disbelief enough for you to RP that your Electric Blast power is really a Blast of Sand. If a sand character is what you were trying to create the better option might have been an Earth Controller, or a Stone Tanker. However it is easy to get other players to suspend their disbelief enough to believe that the Energy Blast set is actually Water powers instead of Energy (i.e. the character Kelp Plankton on Virtue). Try to keep your powers in line with your character. It does, in fact, make your RP easier. And when in doubt use a more generic power set, each AT has one. Tankers have Invulnerability, Blasters have energy, Defenders have Empathy/Force Fields, Scrappers have Martial Arts, etc.

Where your abilities came from… The Circle of Thorns performed rituals that gave this character their powers.

This part is where the main skill of all RPers comes into play… creativity! You could be experimented on, they could come naturally to you, you could have mutated, they could be made available to you by some form of machinery that you have implanted, or they could be granted to you by a god/goddess/magickal object. When in doubt here, turn to the origins available in the game for some ideas. But also understand that you are not limited by them, just use them a base from which to progress.

Common sense does play a part in this though. If your character was granted their powers by the Fire Goddess Pele’ it might not make sense for our powers to be ice based or water based. There are always exceptions, but beginning in the process of RP you will find it easy if you keep it as simplified as possible.

What is your purpose in Paragon City… to defend the populace with all the powers at this character’s disposal.

Here is the place to begin mapping out the reasoning behind them “Staying” in paragon. You may be tracking down someone that kidnapped your family, or trying to learn all the magicks you can to defeat a big badguy in your homeland, you may be in search of something. There are a myriad of reasons to remain in Paragon, but the above example is by far and away the most simple.

It will be a reason for you to always remain in Paragon. Choosing some of the other options like, “My Purpose here is to Defeat the Envoy of Shadows, because it was the one that turned me” while dramatic, and inclusive of content, means that when you hit level 30 and get invited to defeat the Envoy… well you’ve met your character’s goal… now what are you going to do? Think through the life of your character. You get to play God and the Fate’s all rolled into one here. You are mapping the destiny of your creation…

What your Character’s Personality is… this character is a sultry yet dark female, she is flirtatious, and slightly mean spirited

This is the most fun portion so far. You need to simply indicate what your character’s basic traits are like. A neat trick for this is to find 2 characters that you somehow relate to, and merge them together. In the above example I thought about Rue McClanahan’s character Blanche from the golden girls, and merged her with the Demi Moore character from Charlie’s Angels 2. Doing this should help out immensely.

Try merging some totally opposing characters for comedic value, like the Stapler Guy from Office Space, with a court jester from King Authur’s court. Or say a Nun, with an alien postal worker. The boundaries are limitless (unless you cross the line see Chapter 2 for details)

What are your character’s quirks… Being French she is just now beginning to understand English, she speaks with a very thick and heavy French accent, and has trouble with American Slang/Jargon

Speech abnormalities are very common among the more memorable of the RP communities within CoH. Feline characters often have a gravelly/purring sound in their speech, some characters have lisps, some even have their very own form of English (I will refrain from naming names, but um… Rowr-Speak, Kitsy-speak, and Whale-speak are very good examples of this). And there are a very few characters that don’t even speak at all.

However quirks are not always about speech, they include any number of physical activities, actions, or thought processes that a character might struggle through. You’re character might be addicted to cigarettes, and chain smoke. They may be hydrophobic and will not go in the water. They may even be allergic to bee-stings. All these quirks will aid in making your character more enjoyable for those observing your RP. And by making it more enjoyable you will find you draw more players to you.

So that covers the basic outlining process. Just remember that you are forging a character that you will be playing on the stage that is City of Heroes. If your character is not entertaining and thought provoking then no one will tune in to watch your show.

1.2 Character Creation

Now for the fun Part! Hours upon hours of time can be spent in the character creation tool, with so many color options and costume pieces, there are literally over 12 million possible costume combinations… for the female characters alone!

However, with this process being so much fun it is incredibly easy to get carried away.

Let’s get started with the easy part.

Thanks to the outline above, we already know that the character will be Magickal Origin, Scrapper, with Dark Melee, and Regeneration. Look to the CoH boards for what powers to choose for whichever build you find yourself making.

We have already decided her to be female.

Size and Musculature will vary. These are really artsy choices, however my personal suggestion is to look towards your outline to aid in this decision. If you character is 8 years old, you might not want to put her in a 8 foot tall, 450lbs body. Use common sense and discretion. For the purposes of this character I made her the default sizing.

Now we’re moving into the fun but dangerous part of choosing your first costume.

Take a little time here to think about what your character might be wearing. If they are a normal/average Joe turned super hero does the idea of an all spandex uniform work best, or would they be the type to take on bad guys in just a tank top and a small mask? Ask these questions as you put their clothes on.

If they were a color what would they be?
Is armor necessary?
Do they need a tail more than a belt?
Based off their origination, what kind of hairstyles would they have?

Any other questions that you can ask yourself and answer reasonably will help in leading your character to a more enlightened and fitting appearance. Your dark and gloomy character might never be described by others and bubbly and Neon Yellow. They are more apt to describe her as brooding and grey. So take those words that describe the character’s personality. A dark and gloomy character that is incredibly envious might work out well in green.

Sometimes the powers are also a good choice to lead you to a color scheme. This reason alone is why so many Radiation defenders actually look great in neon green. Align them to what you will be wielding. It will aid in making your character more memorable.

However with the costumes, all the rules are made to be broken. So long as there is a purpose behind the choices. So when you are asked, “Hey you Mr. Dark Dark Defender, why are you dressed up like the sun?” you can respond with… well, with whatever logic drove you to choose that costume. Ex. I have been blessed by both the Dark Goddess and the Sun God, my powers from the Lady, and my magickal raiment from the Lord… etc.

So now you’ve gotten the perfect tights, and belt, and boots, and gloves for your character, on to the hardest part of character creation… The Naming.

The Naming of your character will be the first line in your RPing with other characters in most cases.

Often initial interactions with others begins with the following…

“Hello stranger, I am Lord Bannion, Have we met before?”

to which you will normally reply

“I am<insert name here>, we have not met in person before, but your exploits are legendary…”

Now your character may not talk like that, or use correct grammar, but you get the idea. Having a name that “fits” and is memorable goes a long way in your interactions with others.

L33T D00D names are pretty much a no-no. Try to refrain from using names that utilize this mode of online speech. As are names that are rip-offs of trademarked characters, like the Inflatable Hulk, and the Whyte Queen. These type of names are not often taken as serious RPers.

Be warned. If a name sounds very imperial and awesome, chances are it is taken at this point. Names like “Griffon” and “Paindealer” will more likely than not be unavailable.

Originality while remaining in the context of your character is pretty much the only way to go. A French woman from the 1920’s, that has very dark powers and healing ability might have some knowledge of the occult because of the Age of Investigation that swept through Europe during this time. Many men and women dabbled in the occult, or located old legends to begin study on the paranormal at this time. Focus was placed on the Afro-Caribbean religions during this time, so she might name herself “Peristyle” after the center piece of the Vodou Altar.

Now, how did I know that? Am I an uber researcher? Not at all. I went to google.com and searched for some morsel of character spice. Searched “Women in 1920 Paris”, then found a small bit on the vodou connection and searched that. See? Just a little bit of detail goes a very long way, when RPing.

Now that an interesting character is fleshed out, it’s time to enter Paragon.

Chapter 2: First Contact

2.1 The Rules of Engagement

First up, let’s talk about where to go and how to get started in the actual interactions with other RPers.

Various servers have their RP hot spots. On Virtue (The Unofficial RP Server) the three main locations are Under Atlas in Atlas Park, Gemini Park in Galaxy City, and the Paragon Dance Club.

Take your well thought out and planned character to one of these locations to meet new individuals. Or to introduce your new character to old friends.

There are some things that you need to understand before getting started that will help keep you from getting upset. Your character is an unknown at this point. Not everyone will react to them immediately.

You will have to take the first steps at interaction. If individuals don’t see some form of bubble form above your head they often think that you are RPing a character that is unseen or that lurks in the background. So speak up!

Two ways to do this without actively interfering in the RP of others is to walk up to the area where the other are and say, “Greetings, I am Peristyle, and I am looking to make friends. Might I join you?” Now I know that seems corny, and hokey, and odd, but it’s a sure fire way to get folks talking with you. Now it can always be simplified to meet your characters personality. Try using “Is this seat taken?” when in the club, or use clever /em’s to generate the first interactions. /em Curls up on the outskirts of the small crowd, not wanting to interfere, but wanting to listen… is fairly effective for your shy characters. Again use your imagination.

Once you have started the conversation there are a few rules that you should pay careful attention to. Ever RP community has it’s own rules around how RP is conducted. The same is true for not only CoH, but also for Supergroups within CoH. So what I am sharing here are the generally accepted Rules of Engagement when involving yourself with RP. These make up the majority of the things that will cause your character to get on the /ignore lists of many of the RPers.


• No Powerposing/God Modeing/Run-way RPing.

This is defined by RPing actions that affect another player without their permission. Actions that involve the killing of another character are part of this as well. Ex. /em reaches into the chest of Hero X and squeezes the life from his heart. While that example is graphic other more subtle actions can still be called Powerposing. Ex. /em sings a song of such beauty and purity that it causes all within its sound to fall under her spell.

• Stay in Character

Nothing will break immersion in your character as fast as breaking character while RPing. Try to keep your character’s thoughts feelings and reactions at the forefront of your mind at just about all times. And should the need come up for you to gain some clarity on a situation, or something the others said always indicate when Out Of Character, or OOC, by using either the (( )) approach, or the more complicated OOC: approach. You will see these quite frequently about Virtue and on the Forums.

• When in doubt, Ask!

No one’s character has ever been hurt by sending a /tell to the individual(s) that you are RPing with asking an OOC question about something you want to do with or near their character. If you want to cast a pool of dark energy on the ground and you want someone to act frightened so that you can have your character, make it go away out of compassion, ask them to help you. Use /tell’s like you would a dress rehearsal to see how all the pieces will fit together.

• Share the Friggin’ Spotlight!

This one is pretty easy. Just like in Real Life your character will not always be at the epicenter of all the RP activity. Be mindful that if another is at a particularly dramatic or difficult point in the active RP around you, it may not be the time to figure out why your magickal watch is saying “Eat Fried Beans”. Be willing to share the spot light with others and they will be willing to share it with you.

• Foster the Community

If there is an event, that is available to all the populace of Paragon, try to make it a point to attend when your RL allows it. When you have become more comfortable RPing, take someone else under your wing and show them how it’s done. Any activity that is supportive of the RP community is a must to for most RPers.

However the reverse of this is also true, so nothing that will create a dislike of the RP community as a group should be engaged in. RPing a rabid monkey that spreads Rabies to everyone, even non RPers, reflects poorly on the community as a whole. So be mindful that your reactions are reflected upon all RPers.

• Suspension of Disbelief


Part of successful Roleplaying, is being able to dispel your disbelief. We all do it even if we don’t think we are. By logging into the game we automatically forfeit a small piece of our disbelief. If you really analyze it none of our powers exist, none of our characters exist, and Paragon City itself doesn’t exist. Upon entering the game we make the world around us… real. That being said …

Over the course of your character’s career in Paragon, you are likely to encountered characters with histories and stories that may seem implausible based upon currently held standards of belief. You may meet gods and goddesses with vastly different backgrounds (you might even meet the same god/dess in multiple forms while in Paragon), you might meet angels and demons that have nothing biblical about them, and you will even meet characters from far off galaxies, tied to other existing cultural mythos (living urban legends, etc).

Here’s an example. For a short time there was a character named Bobby Kringle. He was that little brother to Kris Kringle. He just wasn’t as famous, and did a lot of RPing about living life in his brother’s shadow. No where in the mythos of Santa, does it say that he had a brother. Nor does it say that he doesn’t. This character was enjoyable to everyone around him, simply because everyone had suspended their disbelief, and involved themselves in his world. The world where Santa had a brother.

Successful RPers will allow other players to indulge in creating their own stories, even if it means allowing something that doesn’t appear “plausible” based off past knowledge. My tip with this, swiped rather blatantly from the more successful RPers I’ve met, is to think of Paragon City as a nexus to multiple realities with multiple truths. If you adopt a similar thinking then suspending your own disbelief will be a cinch. Be respectful of those with stories outside your beliefs, and you’ll find that you’ll be included more readily in the community and have a much better RP experience within CoH.

Those Six Rules will last you through out the game, no matter where you are roleplaying. There will be additions to the listing, but those will mainly reflect the individual needs/wants of your RP partners and/or Super Group.

2.2 Storylines – How to make your Character Come Alive – (Content by Spandexman)

A major part of RP comes after the initial introduction. Once you have made your entrance into the community and have decided to move up to the next step then you may well want to give an RP Storyline a try.

An RP Storyline is an interactive story that not only involves you, but those around you. It takes a good bit of planning, and some well thought out activities to make it a success.

You will want to start out with story that you want to share with the community. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, maybe something general, like your sister has been kidnapped.

You’ll then need to decide who you need to help you out. If it’s been a magickal kidnapping, maybe you need a powerful magick user, or if it was a mercenary type of kidnapping, perhaps you’ll want some muscle to help bust them out. Just choose the basic bare bones of what you’re going to need to make the rescue/story a success.
Your next step would be to contact the individuals you would like to have help you, send them an OOC e-mail or PM and ask them if they would be able to help out with this. In this same e-mail/PM it is always a good idea to see what their availability is like. After you hear back from the major you can set a date and time to have everything begin.

Next I would suggest writing up a brief intro story that you can share on the CoH forums for your server. So that all those that are involved can know, and you can announce to the rest of the server what is happening. You’ll be surprised how many people will want to help with the story, and will reply to your post. Try your best to include those that would like to help in some way, but also stay true to the original purpose of the Storyline. It’s great that 1500 heroes want to help save your sister, but if she’s been kidnapped by a group of mercs then it might be better to take a small team in to get her.

Here’s a short list guide written by Spandexman (Virtue) to help you keep up with the basics. <To Be Expanded Later>

• Keep the story simple .
You don't need to have it completely outlined or anything, but have a good idea of where you want this story to go, but be flexible enough for on-the-spot changes.

• Have a workable solution,
something that can be guessed without a lot of research. If it's something impossible or some really quirky piece of lore that only a Left-handed Half-Elf from the Planet Nadox can solve, you'll lose your audience in a hurry.

• Give out clues!
If there's any way to give out clues, do so. If not, again, you'll lose your audience.

• People Involved.
If you're going to have other people involved, make sure they have their cues as well. Maybe they're the clue-giver or whatever.

• Time.
Here's the tricky part because I don't want to rain on anyone's parade..errr...story. If you plan to involve just yourself and a couple of people, drag it on as long as you want. But if you plan to involve the park, reduce it considerably. Two to three days (real time) is usually sufficient.

However, if the story is going to be long, keep it to our forum boards and give updates, with the occasional hint in the park. And for gosh sakes, whomever you have giving the hint, tell'em to keep away from the angst. Be concerned, whatever, but don't go on about it. We're intelligent people, we'll get the hint.

• "Fights"
...*sighs*...this is perhaps something that can be the silliest thing done since quite often we've had Lvl 2s challenging Lvl 20+. In reality, the Lvl 20+ people would smear those of Lvl 2 all over the landscape and maybe use the Lvl 2 for a washrag afterwards. If you must stage a fight, there should be some rules set up in advance or something.

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No idiot could read all of that. The title of this document is misleading.

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His one posted test involved using the broken version of Invincibility. He also completely glosses over the fact that when buffed, any AT can Tank, so what then is so special about Tanks?


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The goal of the game is to make sure there isn't an ideal team composition. So, yes, a Scrapper, with buffs, can tank, but not as well as a Tanker. Why? Because 1) a Tanker starts with higher resistances/defenses and 2) he has Punchvoke and thus can manage the aggro better.

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Here we have the guy who made this game, yet who does not know what the hell he's talking about because he's never played a tank. Oh sure, he's made a char once, toyed with it for a few minutes, but he's never played a tank (1-50).

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Re (1): doesn't matter, Defender and Controller buffs are so strong, and the differnece between Scrappers and Tankers defenses is so narrow that when viewed in terms of buffs that can be applied, the difference becomes a non-issue. When it takes just as much buffing and/or healing to keep a Scrapper alive to accomplish the same task, which is where the game is right now, the difference in initial values and caps become meaningless. So the Scrapper becomes the better choice because they can contribute more damage.

Re (2): But the question isn't does he manage agro better, it becomes does the fact that the Tanker can manage agro better matter. And the answer again is the fact that he can becomes meaningless.

It is true that pre-I5 a Tanker may have overshadowed both Controllers and Defenders too much. But now Controllers and Defenders overshadow Tankers too much, and are also capable of making other ATs overshadow Tankers too much.

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Here we have a player who's taken the time to actually investigate almost every aspect of tanks, who knows what he's talking about, yet is consistantly ignored by devs because the devs think they know better. They designed the game, but their egos blind them to realizing that players like this one know the game better than they do.

And so the unrelenting frustration of trying to get Statesman to see past his own nose continues.

Response to Jack Emmert's post:

NO.

This just isn't enough... or at least isn't done in any concievably working fashion according to these numbers. You have to die before you defense works? Just like blasters have to die before they get a .5 second window to use their quarter bar of Defiance? What happened to powers we could actually manipulate through enhancements anyway? All of these new stupid 'constant' class powers suck for CoH yet they seem to be great working fine in CoV where you actually get some use out of them. Oh, you'll probably nerf those though.

Of course you'll tell everyone to try it on test first, then when it gets to test you'll ignore the pages and pages of complaints that it sucks, then it'll go live... so why even bother posting this crap here Jack? Really, you must think the people that play this game and respond here are dumb not to see all of this coming.

Here's a better idea: Fix the code for the streak breaker so people can't auto-hit players with high defense.

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No Patch note is an oversight, nothing more.

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Amazing how often you see this exact same thing posted. Over and Over and Over.

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Maybe because it's the truth?

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Then maybe they need to get their act together. They are supposed to be professionals right?

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After I5, some people were saying the same thing..."the game is a ghost town"...to which my reply was, "but we're gaining customers..." Naturally, my reply was dismissed.

And yet then good ole' SirBruce posted his MMP numbers - and City of Heroes was shown gaining subscribers. Odd, isn't it?

;-)

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There's also more people on the planet every day. You fail to make a valid point. Paragon City has turned into a "ghost town" in many aspects.

The game does seem like a ghost town now that everyone is split between CoH and CoV, plus the little add in hazard zones which occasionally see use.

I know that the server population bars don't show the same number of dots as they once did. Freedom used to be packed full, now it's rare to see another hero anywhere aside from a train station, gate, or a store in a zone.

I don't even recall the last time someone got into an arguement with me over KS'ing. That was at one point fairly commonplace.

Care to comment on that Statesman?

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Personally, I'm a fan of shadows.

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YES CITY OF SHADOWS!

All shadow effects currently in game will be nerfed over the next 6 months to high noon!

In the expansion you will be able to add shadows to everything from capes to heroes to trees to that bench over there, EVERYTHING!

In the new zone there will be no lighting at all, just hundreds upon hundreds of fences and steps that lead up and down hills wedged between buildings. The new area will also feature a remake of the classic 'warehouse' with -Shadowy Lighting- effects never before seen. Make sure you've got the latest and greatest PC under the sun because you need it for all the shadows you're going to have to render!

Shadows: ENABLED BABY!

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Just for the record, making risk=reward is definitely one of our goals - we're trying to add spice and reward to bring people to the harder/underutilized zones.

One of the trickinesses of having a largely "loot free" game is trying to make rewards interesting for such things - obviously if characters are motivated largely by XP+influence as the major rewards it makes things a bit tougher for the designers - many players tend to go and do whatever the easiest source of XP is and ignore most everything else. And we like the lack of loot, generally.

But I know Jack & co are thinking on the issue, in any case.

-jg

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The rewards for just about everything aren't good enough. I hope you take this into consideration. It seems to me like the rewards for collecting a large number of badges is something akin to recieving a sticker for slaying hordes of mobs, a reward more suiting for a good week of preschool.

While the idea of keeping loot out of the game may be good, you have to reward players the most for their hardest to achieve efforts. The first time I saw a Crey Cryo Gun, I saw something cool looking but in actual function was pretty worthless or superceeded by another power for almost all of my characters. When I saw all the things required for the Archmage badge, I thought for something that difficult the reward must be pretty nice. I found it dissapointing yet again, as the power granted was only a slight tradeoff.

To have rewards that keep people interested and don't require giving out loot, you need something that has some kick to it. Rather than handing out a cheap little freeze gun (which is loot, already proving you've invalidated your principles of not giving out loot) I would suggest a power like buildup that boosts certain enhancements. Though somewhat weaker it would offer a way for you to do different quests that allow new types of boosts from endurance reduction to hold durations. If you collect all of them you can get one power that boosts all your abilites by a certain amount. This is something that every class could use at some point and is a reward.

Not a cheap trinket like Archmage or the Cryo Gun.

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I'll drop a hint: the name of an upcoming Epic Archetype.

Incarnate.

Heck - I'll do another....

Coralax.

Happy Saturday!

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Jibber jabber jibber jabber...

Here, let me post some even more distant names

Kalortpor!

Invasflam!

Injuxhurylem!

I can make up words too. I could do Statesman's job blindfolded!

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I'll confirm something - Positron has written an absolutely kickin' design doc on Arch Foes that I'm really happy with....BUT that doesn't mean that this feature will be in soon...

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Thanks for confirming that you know nothing, while giving Positron some meaningless praise. Lewis Carol would've been astounded by your jibberjabber.

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Best I can say is...soon.

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How about you start telling us what IS in the next update since everything I've heard about being in it has been pushed back?

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ok, so i just read the update on the epic power pools, and i have to say i think they will be very very bad.

the impression that i got from the given descriptions was that they are undoing the weakness of the classes. granted, this doesn't happen until level 41, but still.

giving blasters force shields and other defensive powers?
giving controllers damage dealing powers?
tankers and scrappers with ranged attacks?
defenders with... very vague description...

who thought it would be a good idea to try and soften or even nullify the biggest weakness of the classes?????

issue 2: group or die
issue 3: sorry about issue 2, now your character can do everything, no need to even speak to another player

allow me to say i love this game. i love the content, the graphics, the sound effects, hell i don't even mind that the game seems harder after issue two. and i've been super excited about epic and prestige stuff.... but these new power pools, seem destructive to the games social structure, and seems like pandering to the powergaming munchkins that think their toon should never have debt.

heck i'd rather see an epic power pool have lame powers with cool story/rp elements than this. like a light power that allows you to see better in caves, or a radar power that lets you know where mobs are. but i firmly believe that a blaster should never have a force field on him unless it was put there by someone else, and i never wanna see beams of energy coming from tankers and scrappers. these just seem poorly thought out

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Actually, you've got it backwards... the new Epic AT can't do anything unless they are in a 8 man team. Their powers are directly linked to how many people they are grouped with.

They don't promote soloing, they force teaming...

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Let's sing the song of Doom!

Doom.Doom.Doom.Doom.....

(shameless Invader Zim reference)

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That's just embarassing...

Appearantly even Statesgoon now flames people who post on these boards. Advice: come play WoW with me.

Regeneration is a concern?

Look, the only thing people are whining about is the fact that regen scrappers get stun and hold resistance, which has been made undeniably vital by this game as the devs increasingly add more and more holds to each new mob they come up with. When have the added a mob like Freakshow, Nemesis, or 5th Column? Everything has to have some way to hold the player, the ultimate game breaker that kills players who don't have a constant supply of diciplines handy. The point is the regen scrappers, who were originally one of the weaker classes in this game, have consistantly been unaffected as these new cheesily and lazily added holds have been handed out to new mob types.

Is regen more powerful than invuln? NO. Obviously not. I've seen tons of evidence to prove it as well, from my friend's invuln scrapper who soloed a taskforce from the second mission in to the finish. I've seen video posted of spike/invuln scrappers rounding up 50 or so red minions and killing them all off solo. A regen scrapper would die under those circumstances Regen is good for fighting a single mob that is above your level. What people seem to forget is that with any sort of numbers (thereby increasing the number of attacks that land) a regen scrapper dies quick even against even leveled mobs. For a invuln scrapper, it's no problem mitigating the damage of even 5-6 monster class creatures at once.

Do I even need to mention that while all invuln powers are useful to some extent that several out of the regen line aren't even worth taking?

Please remember that when you're handing out nerfs for those who continue to play this game Stategoon.

I already told you about my experiences in editing this game and gave you a rough idea of how much time it took.

I think the person you should be questioning is Statesman. Ask him about his programming experience, how much has he done to be able to post his 'LOL'. Last I checked that wasn't his line of business at all, he just runs things.

And maybe you could ask him if he is laughing at me or laughing at you. In true Statesman form, he said something, but did it really mean anything?

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Well, I never looked at it like that before, Comfort...

I guess you win! Congratulations!



Can I have your stuff?

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Actually, If I had stuff to give, yes.

Sadly 'stuff' has yet to be implemented in CoH.

I guess I will log on before my account expires and give you all of my inspirations if you like.

You don't even know me, so I don't think you can say that without making some pretty big assumptions (such as my love for Unreal Mods... I don't even play Unreal).

And I'm sure your tune would change if I was powerleveling you or some such other helpful activity in game. So Freakshow, why don't you chill, because I'm sure CuppaJo's already had her finger on the thread lock before you showed up to troll along.

Flame on flamer.

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Comfort's next gaming project: City of Trolls.

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I would've never guessed Freakshow had an insult to throw in. The pot calling the kettle black.

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I am more apt to believe he found what you said funny for the misconception it implies.

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And that's just what he likes. Good little players who pay their $15 and don't ask questions about where the missing half of the game is or why it takes so long to do such simple things.