Doc_Reverend

Yesterday I ran into this at the Pocket D on Virtue.





Yes. That's a bird. It talks too. It uses the same NPC gossip lines as NPC civilians (like "I'm not so sure about those Vanguard *CLICK* LORD NEMESIS IS WATCHING YOU, $charname *CLICK* guys, are you?"). Other times if you click on it, it gives the time. So it's an NPC civilian.

Except it's a talking seagull sitting in the middle of Pocket D next to DJ Zero. Just sitting there, doing nothing... and talking sometimes. Weirdest/coolest thing.

But I wanna ask... can we keep it? Pleeeeaaasssee? Null the Talking Pocket D Bird is awesome!

Last night on the Virtue server, a group of about 30 people attempted to run a Mothership raid using the League system. We were almost instantly hit with crushing amounts of lag as our powers took forever to fire. You'd hit an attack... and it might fire several seconds later. You'd see groups of people gathered around the pylons doing nothing as they waited to make at least one attack. It was terrible.

For the second run, we broke the League and went with the setup of just several teams. No League formed, no League chat, etc, just a handful of teams communicating via Broadcast, Local, and Request. The lag encountered in the first raid? Non-existant this time around. Same with the third raid. No League, no lag.

I've encountered similar lag on Trial runs, especially with large Leagues, such as 24 man BAF runs. On smaller Leagues, those with less than 20 people, lot less trouble. There's still some lag with the powers, but not the situation where stuff like your Mez protection click is taking longer to fire than it's duration.

This makes me think there's something with the League system that's causing this lag. Because everyone on the raid had the exact some problem, and when we broke it, everyone said things ran smoothly. I hope this helps bring this problem to the dev's attention and it gets fixed soon.

My guess here is that you're attacking a group of enemies. The location AoEs like Rain of Fire, Frozen Rain, Ice Storm, Sleet, etc, seem to roll if they're going to hit or not in a round, and then roll if they're going to hit each guy. And since the Rains make numerous attacks a tick, you get a wall of misses.

Or something like that. It's odd. Rains have odd mechanics.

Like others have said, a lot of these are really rough on newer players who are still learning how to play (my first character in CoH was a blaster I solo'd to 30. And I hadn't learned about "Fitness" until around, oh, level 25 or so. I died a lot), people who solo a lot, squishies, and when you run into rough content. I mean, can you imagine if our enhancements all degraded with each death and running the Apex, especially when it first came out and we were all "Holy crap, that blue stuff HURTS!" and were still figuring out how to not die? It'd suuuuuuuuck (for reference, the Apex is one of my favorite TF's in the game).

I admit that things like decreasing equipment durability/performance and the constant money sink of repairing all your stuff is a major turnoff for me. It's a game mechanic that always annoys me, since durability degradation always seems to be based around your gear being made of paper.

Heck, just playing a squishy period would be a nightmare. Squishies are squishy and blasters are called the Floor Inspectors Union Local 437 for a reason. Now imagine if every time you got splutted, your enhancements decreased in power and you had to pay to repair them. Or you had to run back into the enemy filled area and retrieve your carcass. Or you had a long lasting debuff that seriously nerfed your ability to be useful. It'd be un-fun.

I joined the game around Issue 12, so I didn't see this myself, but I'm told that back in the day XP Debt could pile up to the point that you'd have to repay multiple levels of debt. I like the way it is now, where it's at most a minor inconvenience and a way for the game to say "Try not to do that again," plus a way to get progress on badges. Works pretty well, I think.

For those of you who want the recorded version, here you go: Linky!

Chad, the reason people are posting is because the switch seems to be flipped for some people but not others.

While I'm sure it ties into the ongoing story somehow, and will in all likelyhood be a co-op zone... I am secretly hoping the zone is "Boomtown is being invaded by giant radioactive ants with laser eyes! Use the [Buick] power to defeat them!"

Because that'd just make my day. About 50 of my days. Consecutively.

Okay, I'm seeing some people with the badge and little robots and whatnot, but a lot of people also don't have it, myself included. I KNOW my account hasn't gone inactive once between February and now, because I bought six months of time. What's up?

Wow. You're doing a heck of a job with the details on the robot there.

I have a question. We hear the mention of the "Nuclear 90" as a group of 90 children born around the world in a single year who all have a similar mutation that turns their hearts into natural fusion reactors. Fusionette is the one we hear about the most, and more than a few players have used this idea as backstories for their own characters. What year were the 90 all born in?

Judging by Fusionette, I'd place her at somewhere in her mid-20s, so my personal guess is 1986... since this also, by happenstance, lines up with another nuclear event, but that's my guess. Anyone know the actual date?

Ride with the devil, hide with the lord
I got no pistol, ain't got no sword
I got no army, ain't got no land,
Ain't got nothing but the stone that's in my hand

Fly. Flying is fun. Wheeeee
Super Jump. There's something thrilling about leaping around and trying to aim for bits of the environment. Ledges, power cables, etc.
Carrior Creepers. Spikey death!
Stalagmites. Stomp and spikes everywhere!
X-Ray Eyes. Because laservision rocks.