Cosmic_Herald

Hey everyone,
Let me first say... that I am *not* a fan of Statesman dying. I think that the developers should have told Black Pebble NO. Pure, simple, and clear cut answer to his thoughts of killing the face of the game.

Statesman is/was/should have represented the 'true hero' thing.
Alas, that did/didn't happen depending on your own perspectives.

The process of how he died was revealed through the cutscene.

More than a few people have tried to point out what could be viewed as major flaws to how it played out.

For the moment, let us presume a few things.
1. The spell was designed to rob him of his powers.
2. The location seemed important as well.
3. Wade was able to kill him while he was without his powers and a normal man.

1. The spell itself removed his powers from him.
Statesman was supposed to have possessed Super Strength. Not Kryptonian level, but still Super enough to have done the many things he has. Certainly Super enough to kill another powered person if he chose. He was also reported as being Invulnerable to a high degree. Stories of taking a Nuke and downing a Rikti ship come to mind.
Lets take a man who during 80 years has had to face off from any new villain trying to make a name for himself to Lord Recluse (per comic books often mentioned).

Perhaps.. and this is just Perhaps....
They gave him the attitude that Superman has. Being so hard to hurt, he often lets the villains take the first shot. The cynical "Oh I would always do it this way" people say that is being a chump or something along those lines.
Whatever they may think, it isn't uncommon for those with a degree of Invulnerability to often just take the first shot. From experience they have known they can take it. So perhaps that is how Statesman 'dealt with villains, letting them take the first shot'.

So, we have the spell designed to remove his powers. Wade got off the first shot which... removed his powers. Forgone conclusion it would... since it has before.

2. Location...
Many have pointed out he 'walked into the spot'. I would say, that it didn't need to be the 'exact' spot he walked into. It could have been anywhere in that temple area. As much as it pains me to say this. He was attacked in that exact spot so that it was center camera and was the most clear of debris. That allowed the camera and cutscene to play out with him 'center focus'.
This was done purely for the camera angle and nothing more. It could also as easily been done on the altar but that wasn't center shot.

It could have also needed to be that area as well. Wade if you notice sort of responded right when he was at that spot. Stopping Statesman from walking out of it. Either way.. he ended up in the middle. Both ideas work and sadly..
it still ends up with him being center focus which is what they were wanting to have happen in that 'scene'.

3. Wade was able to kill him while he was powerless and he 'just gave up'.
At first while viewing this scene.. I was thinking to myself.. States shouldn't have just given up at all. He should have said "No, I still have work to do" etc etc etc.
Then.. I thought about it from a different angle and while more philosophical it also taps into the human idea that as we are dying.. we want to know of the comfort on the 'other side'. To think or hear our past loved ones calling us home.

Take into consideration this.
At this point, it is no longer Statesman there. He is without his powers. That is Marcus Cole there now. How hard is it to kill a man? Wade drained him of life, smacked him with energy, burned out his body with weird light?? Doesn't really matter. Wade hit a normal human body with enough 'something' that it was able to kill him.

Did Statesman 'give up' or did a man in the last few seconds as his life was being drained/destroyed 'see his life flash before his eyes'???
Did Marcus Cole simply see what everyone would want to see as their life is fading from their body?
See those he has loved and think that his life is over and it is 'ok'.

Perhaps.. just perhaps that is what that part of the cutscene was supposed to say and represent.

I do not believe that Marcus Cole had any chance at all to resist being killed and 'fight back' against Wade at that point. He wasn't Statesman then, he wasn't Superstrong, Invulnerable and an avatar of Zeus wielding lightning and etc etc that he had. He was a man, who was being killed by someone wielding powers and abilities beyond a normal man.

Statesman died facing a person who he didn't know had the knowledge and power to defeat him. Marcus Cole wanted to bring him to Justice for killing his daughter and did not, could not know that he never stood a chance.

For as much as I dislike the idea they killed Statesman in this story, I can 'see' how it was done and it wasn't performed poorly or with having Statesman be a chump for doing something stupid.

Far too many people say they would never have just walked into it. They would have known it was a trap etc etc etc.
Truthfully, can you really disconnect yourself from being the person who knows what would happen and insert yourself into knowing only what Statesman would have known right at that moment in time?? I honestly believe that no, a person could not. Many who claim to have acted differently might not ever have lived long enough to get to the place Statesman had. It is easy to say "I could have done it better", but not always as easy to actually do it better.

For the record... I do not agree with the course of action CoH has taken regarding Statesman but they seemed to have tried to make him stick to the principles they have established for him.

For myself.. I would have started my conversation while 'arresting' Wade ....
from the sky with a few lightning bolts and ended it with my hand around his throat asking him if he surrendered listening as he tried to gasp out the answer. But.. I am not Statesman and I would have wanted to end his life for killing my daughter.

Statesman was written as a hero and he died being a hero. I can't fault him or the writers for that.


Cos

PS: Dark Respite... Michelle.. Great shot video you did!

I would say before you add more costume options that could end up like mix matched pieces we have now....

You go into the creator and make a match for every piece that is in there now.
Match style and texture.

Where is the 'metal' version of Neck Cover as a glaring example.
Where is the male long sleeve to match tights sleek?

Beyond that.. you consider making any new options to be fully complete.

No, you really aren't alone in not rushing to see Statesman die.

The developers have chosen to remove the most recognizable figure from the game.

They take away the Golden,Silver and Modern age hero all in one.

There are many versions of him, written different ways, different people don't like the character for whatever reasons.

But to me, they are removing the symbol of the game.
No longer really matters the 'why' or the 'how' or even if the character will ever come back.

Just seems so very odd to take the figurehead of the game out.

Maybe there was some long ago deal when Jack left that after so much time, the rights to the character reverts back to him and they are left with no choice. Who knows anymore, even if that were true, we would not hear about that stuff until it was all over.

Oh well.. Statesman is dead, perhaps some other stories can now be finished instead of sitting idle.

In my opinion...
I have to ask as to 'why' they are getting rid of the signature character. The character they have so many images and who is the 'face' of the game.

In the old days past.. he was the face we all saw on the boxes etc.
In the redesign for 'free to play' he is shown again, he even right now still shows at the top of this web page.

So, why are they choosing to get rid of him? For marketing? To say yeah we did it, we are 'drastic' about our game changes now?

Do they want to hit a tag line.. "YOU are the next legend!"???

Will they just turn around at a later time and bring him back?

Why is the company getting rid of their Marketing Face?
Irregardless of the story of 'how' he goes. Which in my opinion is not a very good story at all. To me, it leaves far too many holes in it.
The fact that no one can find him right now? Please, tell me that all the tech, all the psionics, all the magic out there and they can't find Statesman??
The idea that they have now figured a way to kill him when we have seen him survive so much before?

Then the story itself. Hmmm they apparently weren't able to put in a cut scene, a few comics panels... nothing and I mean absolutely nothing other than a few lines of text about the great loss of Miss Liberty. You would think the daughter of the most popular (in game lore) hero would have rated something more than a few lines of text. From the players perspective, it was glossed over. In the real world, a lackluster actress can get arrested for a minor offense and the media will bombard us with every detail of her life and we are forced to endure photo and story after photo and story for months at times. Yet, the death of a former heroine, one who was struck down as she was would have been considered high profile and the developers didn't put in anything other than those few lines of text we got. Wow... just .. wow.

Positron now says that removing the character from the game will have to be a full release because of 'elements of the game per say'.
SO, we are to be fed this line of story of him dying, but there is no real game change until later???

Why was this SSA not pushed back until it could be done during this 'later game release'??
DC killed Superman and they actually stopped having him be around for a while, and it was immediate. One issue he is alive and around, the next he is not.

I understand that a game takes a lot of planning, work, etc to change.
So why wasn't this planned and executed better? Why wasn't it planned to execute at the same time?? In my opinion, yet another example of a bad choice. Much as the same choice to remove the Statesman character from the game.

For as much as people like or dislike Statesman character, whether that is a like or dislike for the character or the former developer who created and installed him into the game.
All changes to the character should have been made not from the small percentage of people who use the forums, I certainly hope that they didnt make these changes because of what the forum population has said over the years.
These changes were made from the current team and I know we will probably never know 'why' those changes were made.

- Were they made because of a time limit? That after so long the Statesman name and images revert back to someone else's ownership?
- Were they made because they wanted the shock effect similar to what DC did?
- Were they made in some attempt to somehow place prominence on our characters? How is that even possible in a game where thousands play and the rest of the Freedom Phalanx is still around? How do they justify trying to tell us that we will be the prominent one when the rest of the Phalanx is still around?

Far too many unanswered and unanswerable questions remain to make these changes ..... palatable.

This is of course just my opinion and I know it matters for naught.

I usually play with a small group.
This group 'mostly' consists of people who like what they consider a 'challenge'.

To this end, from level 6ish on.. my settings are set at +2 x6 to x8.

We usually do 'okay' since it isn't about how many missions we can do but more the chaos theory in action

Now.. for certain people I will 'accidentally' bump it up to +4.
Then blame it on their inability to handle a simple couple of bosses who might be considered a challenge.

Then when soloing I will tend to forget the settings until I see the first mob....
After sobbing like a small child.. I will attempt to clear the mission or after the umpteenth time from the hospital reset to lower haha.

I have never really thought in all these years of playing to lower the bosses to LT's. Just never occurred to me to do so.
Perhaps a new thought will occur haha.

Zoning out of a mission in Talos, into the hospital.. (damn).
I have been getting mapserves since after the 16th patch as well.

Win 7 64 bit
6GB ram
GeForce GTX 260

Remember when a thread like this would pop up there would be ten pages by now of all the regular posters.

Now.. true, only 2 pages would be of remembering and the rest would be of jokes but still!

Hey all,
I just thought I would chime in with everyone else and say thanks for the update!!

Your daughter has developed quite a following which I think is pretty great.

I would like to post a suggestion for my fellow posters here.

There are times when this community can come together like no other so here goes the suggestion.

Since Wyll has teased Sister Flame about something special in RV.. I would like to suggest that the players of the server *make* it something special.

Have Wyll let everyone know when he will be letting Sister Flame on and into RV and when that day and time happens.

Have a full team of Heroes standing by to make sure no one bothers Sister Flame while she is inside. Then can them help her spawn the AV's and even help her defeat them of course.


Just a suggestion of course.

I don't want to see Statesman die for one.
He is the iconic hero, the art, the 'face' of the game.
No matter how he is written by the officials of the game, he does still represent what they wanted a 'Signature Hero' to be. Sure.. he may be an A**hat, but he is OUR A**hat!!

The way he has been written has led many to believe he isn't a good enough character to keep around. While it is always tough to write a story for the near undefeatable, if any failings have happened, only the writers can be blamed for that. Not the character itself who they have wrapped so much of the game image and art around.

Besides.. for those that want him to bite it.
He is the counterpart to the villains big guy. Not just as being a leader of a group, in power level as well.
Recluse is an incarnate and it would take raising one of the other 8 to that level to 'match' and 'keep' Recluse from feeling he could simply stomp on over.

Remember the game doesn't really recognize the players as incarnates per say. Recluse still feels he is a more powerful incarnate.
I don't see Paragon Studios removing one incarnate, and raising another up to incarnate level to keep the balance. I also don't see them just taking one out without it affecting his counterpart and I DO NOT see them doing all the rewriting needed to justify why Recluse would not launch a full scale invasion once Statesman was defeated.

Now... the idea of losing Miss Liberty and then later Statesman in the story could also be a decent story, but I doubt they would go that direction.

Bab's is the easiest to phase out as once you remove his avatar from AP he is not really used again. You could even phase him out of Galaxy without much trouble I would think.

We only have the surviving 8 to choose from and each could go but I would not want to see the big guy go.
Too much of the game is wrapped around his image and I think we have seen enough 'change' of late without having to change about the 'face' of the game.

Just my humble opinion.

I have to say everyone...
You have just made my day and it is only 30 minutes into my work schedule.

I have a ton of things to get done and wanted to spend 2 minutes checking the forums.

Well.. 20 later and I am laughing at all these comments in this thread alone.
Sometimes everyone here is just slightly away from full blown crazy and I do appreciate everyone of you for it!

Thanks guys for the laughs this morning.

Hope they fix the problems for you quickly today.

Congratulations to you both!

Here's to hoping you have many many more years to spend together with!

Tymers,
That appears to be game related and I am not referring to anything game related in my questioning.

Just pure online back up related.

Thanks

Jagged,
Yeahhhh I was going to post it there, but .. it is gone.

I know a few really good tech people visit this forum as well and so I am hoping to tap their expertise and the opinions of those who just use different ones!

So.. I have built it.. let's hope they come!

I have been doing some research on Online Backups.
Mozy
Carbonite
Dropbox
IDrive
GoDaddy

Needless to say.. there is a lot of choices.

So.. I am turning to the boards as I know there are many who are well versed in Computer Tech and have most likely experiences in this.

This will be for a small business as well as home (2 separate accounts).

Opinions all would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Cos

First..
Happy Belated Birthday Brynstar

Second...
Braxx
If by wonderful you mean...

Extreme delays in launch
Integral system not available (Paragon Store)
Laggy
Base Banners and such stuck with the biohazard symbol (thereby wiping out the player names and Supergroup name on the walls)
Not having full access to all earned Paragon Tokens
Dropping out to maintenance the forums during over extended downtime of the game
Being told the game would go down again today for 'extended maintenance' (although I don't care as I am at work)
Costume change emotes being borked (Try dimension change one haha)
and more but I haven't found yet...

and of course.. forcing the 'paying' customers to endure this garbage launch, completely unprofessional bug filled lag fest live beta test so they can have a smooth launch for the 'free' customers...

If you mean all that, then yep, something truly wonderful did happen yesterday.


Don't mind me.. I'm just irritated with how things went and the state of things in game are. I am also fully aware of how long it will take to fix the most glaring things, then down to what they would consider 'minor' and how long we, the paying customers will be forced to endure that garbage. All in the name of Freedom UGH.

The color Black for sure

The Alpha Aura

The Vanguard top

Late favorites of mine for sure.

Though cruel you may be... and in parts you are!

The latest posting have been a very good read and highly enjoyable!

So keep up the good work!