Doc_Endeavor

I have the same problem. I just returned to the game after a few year hiatus and felt like a bit of nostalgia.

Downloaded the brand new MAC client today and upon entering game everything looks great except for the cursor.

It is 2 bit colored and has a flickering black box around it. Going into windowed mode at least stops the flickering black box but leaves you with the 2 bit cursor.

I'm running OS X v10.6.8 completely updated.
ATI Radeon HD 5750 for graphics
COH version is 2100.201109290250.1.0
NCLauncher version is 1.0.20110913.0

I dont know.. maybe Im just a bit weird but back in the day some of my supergroup's fondest memories were our outtings to boomtown and faultline.

We had a couple of places in each where we could just run a circuit in a nonstop battle and would laugh and joke the whole time. It was like our own private levelling ground and the 4-5 of us never had the problems that others seem to have. People who joined us often begged to return or asked us when we were doing it again.. and it became a staple when levelling baby alts to take them out there.

Of course we levelled in the far reaches in the late teens so everyone had some form of travel powers.. and the areas we hunted due to all of the LTs offered really great xp.

I would love to see some objective oriented missions, but I would hate if they did away with Faultline's unique architecture. I have to agree with the earlier poster; I just wish they had placed in some real world physics so on some of the steeper buildings you slid a lil; or had a few windows you could climb in and gain access to the interiors of the buildings.

I think it would be easier to simply make an NPC mirror of the hero that follows an NPC AI.

The hero would not incur any debt by the defeat of his mirror.

Hero logs off and upon logging if ((Hero1 == Supergroupmember) $$ (Supergroupbase ==1)) calls the HeroMirror.object into creation which simply copies his primary/secondary powers and enhancements, gives him random or prechosen base location, a random movement set fitting the location and inserts an NPC UI.

The HeroMirror goes through it's movement set unless the base is attacked at which it follows the NPC UI similar to AV bosses.

The hero gains no debt since he is not really logged on..and the base gains his defense during the off hours.

However this very same code could be exploitable by larger organizations.

If this proves too difficult I do concur with the concept of being able to purchase NPCs as security gaurds, maids, trainee heros, mentors, etc with influence who can aid in the base defense while the offline heros "attend to other matters."

Okay ive noticed ZERO increase in the number of 5th Column around that couldnt be attributed to normal story arcs.

I am beginning to think this is more of a case of people "looking" for something they desire.

Kinda like noticing a color in a room... You really do not recognize the presence of a specific color until you tell yourself to look for it and note each one.

I feel it is more of the same here. People want a "grand buildup" to the issue 3 release that they are looking for reasons to see 5th Column in every shadow, under every bed, and in every ambush.

I would have to agree... Through the Looking Glass implied entering a new world with new rules...

Follow the White Rabbit is a second Lewis Carol reference.....Statesman with his literary and historical background would most likely follow the Victorian age reference.

In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.


JABBERWOCKY

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

`Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jujub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!'

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum gree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wook,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

`And has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Calloh! Callay!
He chortled in his joy.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

And if the grave Jabberwockey is not released from within the 5ths lairs on All Hallow's Eve...

I would make sure to avoid eating tarts, cakes or mushrooms you may come across.

Perhaps you will find a small door that opens to a garden; Eden's own description (a garden of living plants could be taken directly from the books themselves.)

Carol frequently focused on the concept of physical changes and Identity...we could see some fun with a change of form if the game follows suit... Want to play dressup on Halloween? Imagine logging in to find yourself looking like 5th Column (since their numbers ARE growing) or Tsoo, or Devouring earth.

the rules of Looking-Glass World are often inconsistent or incomprehensible.

I think we are simply speculating based on insufficient information but Im banking on a mild bit of GM fun come halloween.

First of all...labelly people cowards is precisely what Im talking about...people are complaining that their is an imbalance between the work and the reward... and if stating a dislike for a change is cowardly then name calling is immature.

Noone is complaining about the challenge persay except in those cases where the game has become grossly imbalanced against a comic book genre battle (perma rezzes etc).

Yes heros oft have to flee when faced with greater adversity, but NOT EVERY FIGHT.

The solution so many offer is run back to your contact and stock up on inspirations (prior to your travel power and perhaps a full zone away) It is like spiderman having to run back to refill his webfluid after taking on every minion, not just simply the boss.

The game has become City of Supervillains where the villains have infinitely more powers than the level dictates they should (we are talking sub 20 villains with level 32 plus powers), may use them with unlimited frequency, hit with unerring accuracy for maximum effect) and this illustrates the grave imbalance. Especially when the mob awards a trivial amount of experience... How long can you say whew..fun fight...and then realize you got a whole 25-50xp for a 15 min battle.

My primary contention with the game is not an increase in difficulty, but the increase of work for little gain.

Because you enjoy taking the 50yd dash in the 40yd gym doesnt mean everyone does...and regardless of YOUR experience the instance someone experiences the game contrary to you..both of your opinions are negated...so get off your high horse you do not have the moral high ground.

"It's easy to solo"....My FF/Energy defender...blah blah blah...

Lets see resistance to both melee and ranged attacks of lethal, smashing, energy..and with one of the most damaging secondaries of the entire defender line...

Your basic failing is you look through the game through your personal bias without regard to anyone else...and try to claim it as truth...and when anyone refutes you...rather than give a substantive argument you resort to namecalling....

Your arguments are of the form: "I made it across the expressway blindfolded...so everyone can...."

bah go play in traffic some more...

Hi, Im Gravewalker and Im an altoholic (/me pauses for traditional greeting).

I have been playing the game since commercial release thus my capped level at 32 thus far on my main... I consider myself an expert on levelling alts up to about 20 and then deleting them simply because I enjoy the process of making new heros.

The game has become substantially more difficult beneath level 20.

Is it unplayable, no. Is it less enjoyable, yes. But only in part.

I do not mind the increase of mission difficulty. I have found the mission challenge a welcome change to the disgusting walkthough they were previously.

However, the average groups of street mobs abilities have increased beyond an enjoyable challenge. The work (effort over time) you have to put into defeating the average even con does not balance to the reward for doing so.

For example...

I held off levelling my Lvl 14 martial arts/regen scrapper "Bug." pending the patch. Now a typical group of 3 white mobs and 1 yellow can be defeated, but rather than wade into the midst and carefully balance out my inspirations and use of healing abilities, I have to use a sytem of hit and run tactics to take them down. I can accept this based on the mob difficulty descriptions.

The length of time this takes however for the comparative reward has exponentially lengthened the time it takes to level.
I primarily use street sweeping as a means to to make tough missions achievable (by outlevelling an unbeatable mission) and the slow down is terrible.

Many people say take on blue LT/Bosses but I do not see a fair return for the time invested. 4-12 xp per mob is painfully slow and makes soloing drudgery.

To which many say "Go find a group!" This is not always a viable option. Because some of the player base can afford to sit around a half hour or longer until they get a group does not mean everyone may do so... This is a very self-centered and self-serving argument rather than a solution. I know many of my friends who only have a limited amount of play time a night and to waste 1/4 of that time finding a group is an unfair request.

I agree all of the content should not be soloable. Not every mission should be able to be accomplished alone. This is a Massively MULTIPLAYER game. It does not mean only playing with others, it means you MAY play with others. By the book a team is only a temporary alliance.

The game in general should be fun in all aspects of play. Currently a large number of the playerbase have found a portion of the game to be difficult or unrewarding. They are expressing their concerns. Not all of them may be the as judicious in their choice of wording, however many people in the forums would represent themselves better with constructive arguments, advice, or through simply ignoring the commentary than by lowering themselves to facile attacks.

Part of empathy is placing yourself in the viewpoint of another. It is the easiest way to gain understanding of their situation and to provide insight to a problem.

If your goal is to drive people from the game by being a butthead...good luck..but some day you may find yourself alone and the game you enjoy simply a coaster on your computer desk.

Great this is the bad news.....

Now the good news is Jack is going to show up in Atlas park and announce how he saved a ton of money on his car insurance by switching to Geico!

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Too bad all 3 of you are wrong... define "bug" then.

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I believe I already did...in actuality the quote from the support webpage defined it and Ill reiterate it again; as something that grants the user unnatural or unintended benefits

Gaining experience (knowledge or skill resulting from observing or acquaintance with facts or events) through inactivity is unnatural and thus the definition is achieved.

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The fact that a players receives XP while being on a team.. and in same zone is and was the design of the devs proves your whole theory wrong.

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Unfortunately friend it is my opinion you are mistaken. Simply because code exists does not mean it is unflawed. If that were the case they would not have provided the ability to make bug reports. The reason the developers created the bug reporting process is due to the fact that they understood that developmental and mechanical errors in their system would be brought to light through game play and they required a means to observe and correct them.

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A bug would mean a flaw in the code or something, there isnt.

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If you take another look at the developers own words of how to gain experience (posted in my previous post for your convenience) standing in the train station dancing for 4 hours is not listed.

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Logic would require an understanding of definitions and the english language. Please try a little harder next time.


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Actually I provided my sources and definition of terms for clarity, I illustrated how powerlevelling without risk is contrary to the developers definitions, your inability to refute them with equivalent support means perhaps you should adapt your own advice.

IAW COH Rules of Conduct:

You will not exploit any bug in City of Heroes and you will not communicate the existence of any such exploitable bug ( bugs that grant the user unnatural or unintended benefits ) either directly or through public posting, to any other user of City of Heroes . Bugs should be promptly reported via 'Ask A Question' at http://support.cityofheroes.com.

It is my opinion to gain experience without risk is unnatural and is therefore a bug in the game mechanics and should be duly reported. I will accept from many that while the devs have not deemed it an exploit yet (operative word here) it is something that Ill simply report and included in the report a viable solution that experience should not be gained beyond a set distance from a defeated villain.

IAW COH policies and support section of their website:

Heroes can earn experience points in two different ways. They are:

By defeating as many villains possible. The more difficult the villain, the more XP your hero will earn. Your hero can earn XP defeating villains solo or in teams with other heroes.

By completing the assigned mission. Not only will the hero earn XP from defeating the villains in the mission, upon the completion of a mission, the hero will also be awarded additional XP for completing the mission. Missions can be attempted solo or in teams. XP earned from completing missions will be adjusted based on the level of the hero and the villain as well as number of team members.

So in order to gain experience you must defeat villians either solo (or on a team) or complete mission.

This is not a passive activity since the definition according to websters of a team or team work is:

Team /teem/ n. Two or more persons working together.
Teamwork /teemwerk/ n. Combined action, cooperation.

Simply being on a team does merit the reward. You must be be bringing some form of action to be considered part of the team, otherwise you are taking advantage of a "bug" within the game that grants you an unnatural benefit.

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It's easy to avoid area/cone attacks.

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Really? Do you play a defender? Since a forcfield defender must stand relatively close to provide maximum cover, and a defender must position himself in the center of a group to maximize healing aura the moment of power activation they are attacked often by the very same attacks you claim are easy to avoid.

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Threat level (aggro) is not random.
Proximity, damage, status effects and taunt all effect your threat level on a mob... healing does not.

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I concur, healing may not draw aggro but the instance your character is within a specific range other factors come into play. Simply not attacking does not remove you from being attacked in a general melee. We may get attacked less...but we are still exposed to the risk which is the issue.

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And you have yet to produce any examples or proof that would indicate that the developers (or any MMOG) are so ignorant of powerlevers thet they would make changes to game mechanics or content based on an accelerated rate of advancement.

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And the theorized increase in HP and lowered XP of certain mobs is in response to what? (Although I will state Ive seen numerous evidence to suggest hp/xp has not been changed by those that have datamined it themselves on test)

The game is also only 4 months old. With the initial patches dedicated to immediate balance and power issues, to demand evidence is a little premature. However having played numerous other MMORPGs I have seen the precedence which leaves lower and midrange areas ghosttowns while content is driven towards higher level zones... In games which are years since inception this may be acceptable...we're not quite there yet.

Before responding to things I see above my opinion is that powerleveling (defined as gaining experience without risk) is an exploit of the existing game mechanics.

No powerlevellers do not affect me directly, however it is their indirect impact to the game that detracts from the genre.
It may yield to skewed development of the game mechanics and content, inexperience players, and overall immersion in the genre.

I agree to the solution that others have recommended that you should not be able to gain experience unless you are within a defined range (in distance) of a defeated villain.

As to some of the points mentioned above:

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If I want to invite and sidekick a lower level defender/controller to 'duo' one of my missions, they should forefeit all their XP because they have no risk?

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Miir I feel your argument is flawed. Since by their mere presence they your invited teammate does have risk...although you feel that they are not in jeopardy the game is coded such if they get too close to any mob they can suffer an attack..and if the level disparity is too severe they may fall in one or two shots. Playing both empathy and FF defenders I suffer random attacks often even though I do not attack in combat. I have found that damage aggro is not 100 percent reliable nor is a tanks taunt/provoke abilities. Also damage mitigation can never defeat the minimum chances established by the program.

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So anyone that gains XP faster than you persoanlly think they should, must be exploiting or cheating?

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The rate of experience gain is not in question but the method. There is zero risk for the reward. Gaining experience by standing still in the security of a safehaven defeats the game's premise IMHO.

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How can you objectively define risk in COH?

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Simple. Facing opposition to attacks against a villian or being subject to their attacks.


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A provoke spamming tanker removes essentially all the risk from the rest of the team. When I duo with my tanker buddy, I never get hit or draw aggro. Should the tank be the only one who gains reward?

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Except you ignore the fact that the power is NOT 100 percent certain. You can outdamage a tankers aggro and you can defeat his provocation by drawing to close to a villain in combat. It may only be for one attack before the tank resumes aggro, but the chance remains.

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A non blasting Empath defender draws no aggro from heals.. they can heal from range thus putting themselves in no risk.

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This argument also ignores the fact that you are subject to random and range based attacks.

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A bubble defenders bubbles do not draw aggro and do not create any risk.

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See above.

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Once a controller has a group locked down, the risk threat sinks to zero.

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Except the operative word here is "Once." Controller powers like many others are not 100 percent. Many of the AOE controller powers depending on your level may only remove the threat of melee attacks leaving you vulnerable to range attacks. the controller also gains an appropriate amount of aggro in the attempt exchanging a measure of risk to themselves in mitigating it for the group. Yes the may mitigate some of the risk but they do not remove it entirely.

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1-shot sniping mobs out of attack range is zero risk... should there be no XP awarded for that?

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Again this becomes more difficult at higher levels where mobs awareness may increase...it also is not 100 percent effective. I have also seen blasters attempt the buildup one shot and miss, drawing aggro. Or hit, knocking the enemy to a sliver in underestimation of his enemy.

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Once again, I'll ask how does powerleveling negatively affect yours, or anyone elses enjoyment in playing City of Heroes?

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It has been stated previously. The rate that players level and total character levels are data points that the devs use for analyzing game content and mechanics. If the developers make changes to the the content to limit the rate of advancement or skew zone developement to favor one caste of player over another it holds the potential to negatively effect others.

I have to agree. After 20 years of tabletop roleplaying Champions is by far my favorite game for the genre.

Once you get used to character generation it really doesnt take THAT long....although admittedly at first it can take a while unti you are used to the system. I feel it is simply a matter of trading tedium for flexibility..you can overwhelmingly create ANY matter of hero within the framework of the game...and the combat system is great..