Creole Ned

So, is the move to vBulletin scheduled for 2012 or what? I suspect it's going to be used to announce the launch of the City Vault. :P

Good luck, Ex!

Thanks for the welcome back, Ex Posilibristron!

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Y'all should send out some e-mails; I only found out by checking out the boards, wondering if I should re-up for I13.

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Same for me, no e-mail (yet, at least), I saw the announcement here on the forum (even when I can't post, I can't pass up reading all the drama here ).

Rather late to this due to my account being inactive, but take care, Lighthouse. You did all right by the CoH community.

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Does the reactivation weekend mean that all of us with paid accounts will get 5 days before being billed, or is this still just giving free stuff to people who won't reactivate after they get their 5 days of play in?

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QFE

I wondered about this too. Do we get 5 days tacked onto our accounts? Or is this just giving stuff to lost players in the HOPE that they comeback and current paying people be damned? Also noticed redname skipped answering this question to takel the hard one of how many free custume slot you get (which is answered as soon as you log on to your toon.)

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The re-activations are a promotion to lure back players with lapsed subscriptions. That's it. Expecting to get free time added to an active sub is missing the point. Be glad that NCsoft makes the effort to bring back players instead of ungrateful that you don't get compensation that was never intended for you.

After over four and a half years without letting my subscription lapse, I've finally become one of those "lost" players. If I enjoy myself enough over the next few days, I'll resub and that's more money for NCsoft and another player added into the game's population. That's a good thing.

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I run FireFox and the menu bars on the left hand side of the screen don't work for me.

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Which version of Firefox and what if any addons are you running? I'm using Firefox 3 and the site displays fine for me, including the menu bar.

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Just putting in with my agreement that dropping powers from the game and plugging in new ones is not something I'm in favor of. I don't care if it takes another six months or even a year longer to sort everything out, I'd happily see these changes delayed in order to do them in a way that is the most fair to players.

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Problem is.... they dont have 6 months to a year... they just have until CO or DCUO comes out.... think their nervous?

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I think they are mindful of the competition but I do not think they are building their game schedule around what other developers might be doing.

Just putting in with my agreement that dropping powers from the game and plugging in new ones is not something I'm in favor of. I don't care if it takes another six months or even a year longer to sort everything out, I'd happily see these changes delayed in order to do them in a way that is the most fair to players.

Seems a bit odd that 3+ weeks after the announcement marketing can't come up with *anything* to show off about Issue 13. No screenshots, no details on any of the already-announced content, nothing at all.

I'm only hoping the new merit system will not be used as a reason to not update the overly long, flabby TFs that populate the heroside of the game. Yeah, you can earn "bunches" of merits running Quaterfield's TF, but it's still a numbingly long and monotonous slog. Making the prize at the end better won't change that.

Any word yet on which fancy NCNC people will be going to PAX this year?

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Hey Ex Libris,

Can we get a new thread to keep discussing the Meet and Greet?

This one has clearly been relegated to the ninth plane of hell with all the whine and flames.


Thanks.

Love and Kisses,
Cobaltix

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Speaking of which, was there ever a final decision on where to meet up? I confess to have skimmed over the 200+ posts of kvetching over a costume power.

I'm neither disappointed nor disgusted.

At this point the vet rewards shouldn't be uber powers or anything, just nice little additions. Both the 51 and 54 month rewards qualify, in my view, although the pre-order helmets should have been offered much earlier.

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Wrangle in Double XP for an Entire Weekend!

That’s right folks, starting on Friday July 18th, 2008 City of Heroes and City of Villains will be giving away double the experience through Sunday July 20th. Check out our Official July Calendar for the listing and other important dates.

Rally together as super teams and discuss how you will be spending your Double XP Weekend in this topic.

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Please edit this post to note that infamy and influence are also doubled to avoid the inevitable people asking if they are.

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Nice announcement.

3 other Villains helms to complete the collection in icon. as for the question of the recycling of prievious Vet powers vs adding new and or the natural being uber with two ranged attacks, Um No.

Being able to select Axe over Sands was always an animation issue both are great powers.

Staff is for Natural Tech and Science to get bonus

Wand is for Magic and Mutant to get bonus

Natural doesn't get to double dip any more than any other AT set who could chose both for ranged, but only one of the items would get the bonus damage for matching your AT.


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Actually if memory is working right:

Science/Tech/Natural =Nemesis Staff buff

Mutant/Magic/Natural =Black Wand Buff

So yes Natural can "Double dip"

Edit: here's the text from the Vet Reward Page for the 33 month badge that offers Nem/Blackwand choice:

"The Nemesis staff is a steam-powered staff that shoots bolts of energy that deal damage, and knocks back foes. Characters of Science, Technology, or Natural, origin get a bonus to their damage when using this power. Damage: Moderate. Recharge: Long.

The Blackwand is a black metal wand that feels cold in the hand, and glows with dark arcane energies. It decreases the chance enemies will hit you when they are affected by it’s magics. When used by those of Magic, Natural, or Mutant origin, it increases the potency of its attacks. Damage: Moderate. Recharge: Long."

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Wow thats interesting , however the Vet announcement page is actually wrong and wasn't fixed. screenshot as of today of the ingame text.

33 month Vet Reward

It would have been cool if you could, as I have too many Natural Style Heroes. sorry guys thems the facts.

Valor

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The in-game text is actually the one that's incorrect. The Vet Reward website is correct.

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The TA/Archery redraw bug is still with us.

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I believe BAB said this was fixed but wasn't ready in time for today's patch. It should show up soon, though.

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No, and such speculation is pretty silly if you know anything about how RMT operations work.

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Well considering that I (thankfully) know absolutely nothing about how RMT operations work I'd say that my speculation is just that. Speculation. Nothing silly about it. If I knew anything about RMT operations then I wouldn't have to speculate now would I? Perhaps you, with your boundless expertise on RMT operations, could inform me as to how RMT operations work. I'm also curious as to how this knowledge came to you as well.

I do think it's kinda funny that a lot of these trial accounts, registered within just the last couple of days, are posting on the forums now. All of a sudden. I haven't seen this many new accounts on the board ever.

And it's also kinda funny how a lot of these supposedly new people seem to know a lot about CoH/CoV. For example: one guy who registered just today in his very first post used the term CoX. Now if he's really new to the game, new to the forums and on a new account (and not an regular forum poster on a trial account or an RMT spammer) then how does he know to use that term?

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I'm sorry if you found "pretty silly" dismissive or condescending, it wasn't my intent to belittle you. It's just that an RMT operation is unlikely to use the forums in the way you describe. A far less sinister explanation is that trial accounts have been retroactively hit by these changes and people are coming here to complain or share problems that have come up as a result of that.

As for getting information on how most RMT operations work, I'll let Chase field that. He loves to talk in-depth about these sorts of things whereas I'm far too lazy to.

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Is it just me, or does it seem like the RMTers are really upset about the new trial account limitations?

Upset enough that they just might be using those brand new trial accounts to make brand new forum accounts to post on the forums in hopes of getting the trial limitations reversed.

Hmmmm... we may never know.

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No, and such speculation is pretty silly if you know anything about how RMT operations work.

At the very least trial accounts ought to be able to reply to /tells, even if they can't initiate them.

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Firebase Zulu: Portals and store contacts for selling were added to the four Shadow Shard zones around Issue 5 (August 2005). More was promised but has yet to be delivered on. A quasi-addition to the zone is the massive Nemesis base added for a villainside story arc (but is only available there).


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It appears in the RWZ arcs as well. (Dark Watcher IIRC)

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Thanks for the correction. I haven't run Dark Watcher's arc yet and hadn't seen any discussion of his Shard missions.

And for those asking about Faultline, it was in the game at launch in a vastly different state. Check this ParagonWiki article for a look at the zone pre-Issue 8.

This is actually a rare necro-post that's interesting. The original post was made in January 2005, shortly after Issue 3 launched.

Let's look at the zones Shubbie mentions and compare to where we are now, three and a half years later.

Rikti Crash Site: this was revamped into the Rikti War Zone in Issue 10. The Vanguard portals made the zone much easier to access, it got all-new contacts and story arcs, a ship raid and was opened up to co-op play for both heroes and villains. The physical zone also underwent some reworking, although the overall feel remains the same.

Firebase Zulu: Portals and store contacts for selling were added to the four Shadow Shard zones around Issue 5 (August 2005). More was promised but has yet to be delivered on. A quasi-addition to the zone is the massive Nemesis base added for a villainside story arc (but is only available there).

The Hollows: Well, they didn't shrink the zone by 100% as Shubbie might have liked. But we just got a complete revamp of the zone's spawns and mission doors in Issue 12. A trainer, hospital and contact with repeatable missions rounded out the improvements to this zone, although the core content/story arcs remain unchanged.

Peregrine Island: Issue 5 brought a (now removed) portal to the Rikti Crash Site. But apart from adding rotating spawns to the ships at the docks and a trainer, nothing else has really been done with this zone.

Faultline: This zone underwent a dramatic revision in Issue 8, with a large section of the map flooded, better access in the still-destroyed section and a newly revitalized area at the Skyway entrance. It lost its trial zone designation, got contacts and new missions, introduced Arachnos as CoH zone spawns and finally opened up the area behind the dam.

Talos Island: Shubbie liked Talos but complained about its interconnectedness. The addition of a Vault Reserve and Wentworths (near the tram, no less) has probably not done much to keep it from becoming what he called "Lagos Island". They haven't connected it to any more zones, though!

Overall, the developers have been pretty good at revisiting and revising zones. It's taken years in some cases but they still eventually got around to it.

The next question would be: What zones still need a re-do?

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I will be inordinately unhappy if that's what the launcher turns out to be. I do not play Valve games, and Steam factors significantly into why. The CoH launcher is lightweight and, frankly, easy to skip. I want nothing to do with the downloading of patches or other data "streaming" in the background at times anything other than of my choosing.

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The PlayNC launcher only streams updates in the background if you let it. You can configure various download options in its settings -- everything from auto-updates to no updates at all. You can also have the launcher set to exit after you launch a game so it doesn't tie up any resources when you're playing. It's not invasive at all (I used it for Tabula Rasa when I played).

As for voice comm, love it dearly -- with people I know. Using it with pick-up groups? I'm a bit more leery there but I'm sure any implementation that might eventually come to CoH will be optional, so no big deal.

I doubt many people are overly attached to characters under level 6. I actually have no problem with the system as is, even though it does penalize absent players. It's a mild penalty. I don't see a reason to make it more severe.

I know three people who lost character names because of the policy that was in place when it hit any character under 35. None play the game now but all three had resubbed to find character names wiped out. I'll ask them if the name loss was a factor in any of them quitting.

I am still of the mind that with millions of combinations of names out there and the already in-place policy of purging lower than level 6 names on inactive accounts, nothing more need be done. It's up to the player to find a name they like and can live with.

It's just not a good idea. Don't make me Jranger you!

If you really want to free up names, maybe a better idea would be a voluntary retirement system for active accounts like so:

Joe Gamer has an active CoH/V account. He has a billion alts spread over many servers. A lot of them are under level 6. After 90 days of inactivity, Joe Gamer will get a prompt:

Character [Name X] is below level 6 and has not been accessed in 90 days. Would you like to release the name of this character so that another player may use it? This will only remove the character name, it will not affect the character in any other way. If you choose to release the name, [Name X] will be issued a free character rename token the next time you log the character into the game.

YES, I will release the name of character [Name X]
NO, I would prefer to keep the name of character [Name X] for now

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This puts the onus on active players to stop sitting on names they aren't using and there can be no hard feelings because the system is voluntary -- they can just say no and be done with it.

Penalizing former players when they come back is never a good idea. You don't know why someone stopped playing, you don't know if or when they might be back. You can't presume what their motives are.

I give this news eight thumbs up!

Nice work, NCNC.