Defenestrator

Looking forward to both of those.

I'm actually intrigued with how Mass Effect 2 will work with the saved completed Mass Effect game on my hard drive. Apparently just about every decision you made in that game will have some effect on the plot in Mass Effect 2.

Examples:

I let the captured Rachni Queen live.
I let the jerk council heads die in a fire to concentrate on stopping the big bad guy threatening to destroy the universe.
I flat out executed that encampment of biotic extremists instead of negotiating with them (guns are a form of "negotiating").

To some extent the red side content does get better, but it still all boils down to your character being shoehorned into some megalomaniac's organization and falling into subservience under one of the "patrons." (Though if you follow the patron arcs, you get to the point where you are no longer their lackey.)

I think that was the real problem with the villain content, along with the issues you mentioned above. Are there some really good red side contacts? Absolutely. Westin Phipps is awesome. The crazy evil scientist dude (can't think of his name currently...not enough coffee yet) is awesome. Television is...odd...but awesome. Johnny Sonata is pretty cool.

On the other hand, a few of the very worst contacts in the game are still in front of you. Kelly Uqua's arc is hands down the worst. ("Go find this spy that's out there somewhere even though it's blatantly obvious that I'm the spy and I'm covering my tracks while playing you for a sap." Mama Defenestrator didn't raise no fool.) Hardcase is a big party pooper, too.

--------------
Back on hand to the original topic, this game is five years old and probably needs some updating and polishing to keep up with the times. I also really wish they could retool some of the old content (i.e. get rid of all the "go to this hazard zone and defeat a bunch of guys" missions as they're completely outdated and outgrown by the game).

I also don't believe that CO is "CoX 2.0." The game is entirely a different species and, frankly, not very good. I'd even wager that there are currently more people working on CoX than there are on CO (if Cryptic's history is any indication, most of their staff are already off working on STO).

Any super hero game that comes out is ultimately going to be compared to CoX since they were here first. I'd say that these new games are the ones that need to distinguish themselves from CoX in some way. THEY need to innovate and bring something new to the table that would make me want to try them and leave behind over 5 years of gaming.

Hint: check the tags.

This is true. There have been games that have tried to rein in out-of-control economies and it only made it difficult for the new players to get going. I think when WoW started the Fishing skill actually had a chance of producing a "rare item" that you'd hook and haul up from the depths. This quickly got squashed and it only benefited those who had active accounts those first couple of days the game was live. There are other examples, of course. I don't see them adjusting INF rates of defeats at this stage, as a lucky recipe drop can easily dwarf INF from defeats.

The nerd rage on the forums would be mighty if this happened. I can't see it happening, either.

Are a lot of people really storing tons of cash this way? It's a great idea that I'd never thought of, but I also don't have any characters near the INF cap. Frankly it would probably only impact the wealthiest .1% of players, and even then it would be like fining Donald Trump $10,000 for something.

I can't see yet another new currency being invented. And as far as "real" economics goes, this isn't it. Any system where currency can constantly be created without a sufficient sink is going to drive increasingly higher prices for the rarest items in the game. (But we already all know that.)

I believe the next best option is something of an INF sink, but if it's a matter of losing a percentage of your INF before you switch sides, people will just run a transfer before switching (as you mentioned). An additional currency merely confuses matters.

I can't see them tinkering too much with the economy. The dev team has done little (or nothing) to adjust anything in the game. Honestly, I think they've added alternative ways to get some of the more desired recipes, but you're still a victim of random numbers to get those.

I'm really curious to see how Going Rogue is going to work, though.

HA! A few weeks ago I got 13 million for a BREAK FREE.

No, I'm not making this up and this is not a typo.

Since it was on a character without a decent cash reserve, I did a happy dance.

(Good score on the Prophecy, though.)

Take it easy. These kids were in grade school at the time, and as for me... I'm not a fighter, I'm a lover.

If you get the day off, it's a real holiday.

(I don't get the day off.)

Frankly it's pretty normal to dismiss something like that. "Ultra rare" and the randomness of random numbers can generally be pretty cruel. I can count on one hand the number of purple drops I've received while they do seem to drop like candy for other people.

During the last (and pretty much every) double XP weekend, someone on our server runs "Endless Borea" missions (or as I like to call it "Endless Boring"). 8-person groups for every waking hour he was on during that three days -- not ONE purple dropped for anybody this past x2 XP.

No, but you attacked someone else for "not having numbers."

Since you're playing an Empath, should I assume you're the type of clod who puts someone on follow and auto fires your heal?

If you're on a team with sucky teammates, find a real team. Or let the tankers who run off on their own faceplant a few times. They'll learn.

I've tested at a variety of settings, and the drop rates are equally shabby.

Synapse: This is not a "perception issue" as my numbers back up the other findings on this forum.

I'm also beginning to see some data that suggests the "lag = borked drop rates" theory may have some credence, but I don't have nearly enough data on this yet.

And you have no numbers to back up your "most tankers are about themselves" wall O'text rant. Bad players are bad players, regardless of AT.

It's "Bacon Lung."

Your theory interests me. Over the weekend I ran some sweeps on The Wall and in RWZ and experienced the same pathetic drop rate I'd been getting solo and indoors. I'm on Victory, so it's an East Coast server. (Unfortunately, I'd accidentally shut down Hero Stats, so I didn't receive hard numbers to do the math with.) During that span I received about 50 salvage and only 5 recipes. Based on the math of the rates of drops for both, this is a heavy disparity. (It should be about 3 salvage for every 1 recipe, not 10 to 1.)

I'll see if I can do some testing on a West Coast server this week.