Eiko-chan

The technology to implement this solution would likely require the same technology to allow cross-server teaming, and thus also likely use the same technology to eliminate servers altogether (going to a model closer to Cryptic's other superhero MMO). It also introduces another name problem - both for Super Groups and for their Members (as right now, two servers can have separate versions of both.)

This is probably the easier solution, though either one requires programmatic solutions. (b requires server-communication programming, while a requires database and interface programming. I'm not sure which PS is more equipped to tackle, nor which is actually a larger hurdle.)

My Security+ certification agrees with this stance. Ideally, you never want a single point of failure security system. Especially not one where that single point of failure means "economies of scale" have been compromised. It's one thing for Cisco to fail and for Cisco's information to be compromised; it's quite another thing for Cisco to fail and for five-hundred different companies' information to be compromised.

I don't think this game has ever had a problem with players not devouring new content. That's pretty much what players do. You don't have to give them any bribe other than "look, new thing!"

I can run around the city gathering pennies, but no sane person would view that as making progress towards buying a car.

No. Level shifts don't count; you can still fight 50s as a +1 and get shards.

The proper response to "It sucks" is "Well, I like it, so I don't think it sucks."

The proper response to "It sucks" is not "until you have a successful game, your opinion is invalid".

Yeah; the loss of Net Neutrality (which would have to precede such a thing) would probably destroy the Cloud too, but I see that as less likely than hacking.

The Distinguished Competition comes pretty close, actually. The only thing it doesn't cover are missions designed to be soloed anyway (though sometimes those end with encounters that it'd be nice to have a partner on.)

Keep that stance. The "Cloud" is going to last until Cisco, Google, or one of the other big companies is hacked, and then it will die like the fad it is. And this isn't an "if" - it's a when. One of these companies will get hacked, and everything in their "Cloud" will be compromised, and then everyone will realise that we keep control of our own data for a reason.

I, fortunately, work at a place where I can wave around HIPAA and get people to cool down on fads, but corporations have to deal with tech-loving IT heads like your boss, so it's them that will take the bite on this one.

This argument is petty, small, and pointless; it takes more to "make a game" than having well-founded and solid ideas on what should go into your entertainment. You do not have to be a professional (meaning "get paid for the work"; the amateur/professional divide is a paycheck, and nothing else) to have a valid point; a great deal of our technological and scientific advantages have been made by people that were not paid for the time they put in making them. Do you think Arcanaville doesn't have a deep and solid understanding of this game's mechanics, having never received a paycheck from NCSoft?

For that matter, getting that paycheck, and thus being a "professional", does not necessarily mean you know what you're doing either. As I recall, Castle is on-record has having admitted that Arcanaville understood certain things better than he did - the "amateur" teaching the "professional".

It's still true, however, that, as a rule, MU*s are text-based. There have been some experiments with graphical interfaces for a MU*, but all that I'm aware of have, overall, been failures.

If you don't understand that four minutes of high-stress, high-exertion activity would be desirable to skip, then I think you should go play sports instead of video games.

Also, if you don't think those 4 minutes would be high-stress and high-exertion, then you need to try harder to understand the differences between introverts and extroverts.

Facebook/Twitter is the new avenue of player interaction that the CS team is pursuing. You're going to have to get used to information not being released on the forums. I tried fighting for something otherwise, but like so many times before, I was told "too bad".

So, my comment was actually completely relevant to your post.

And since I'll be gone next week, I doubt you'll get a chance.

You really don't want to get me started on that.

Get used to disappointment.

That's probably because that's not what his stance was at all.

Back when I was doing my base building with the new tools unlocked in i13, I used to give people some interactive tutorials in-game, showing them the tricks I learned to do some fancy things like multi-level rooms and such. You probably just need to ask around a bit.

You show me a circus monkey that pulls those moves off (I'll even forgive the "hitting a target" part that the DP set actually manages) and I'll show you a monkey with super-powers.

This may be the single best argument for why Dual Pistols uses the visual style it does. When I watch my DP Defender use those animations, I don't think "girl with guns", I think "girl who trained her butt off to be that good."

Because Epic pools were tacked on after the fact, thus why they were originally all four powers, which coincided perfectly with the four new power picks gained when the developers added levels 41-50.

They'd have to completely redesign the levelling system to change anything now, and when you make changes like that, you start having to call it a new game.

By game design, skipping a travel power is "doing it wrong", albeit a "doing it wrong" now so common among the playerbase as to no longer be called out. The fact that there are now so many non-pool methods of acquiring rapid travel is an artefact of the game's age, and not part of the central design (which has not, in fact, changed significantly in seven years.)

So, yes, when considering your character's design, everyone will have to consider what (not "if any") pool powers actually meet the design. As many have mentioned, there are a plethora of pool powers that will fit nearly any concept (any character I could conceive of that would have no legitimate excuse to pick up any of the physical attack powers, for instance, really has no excuse not to pick up a couple leadership powers.)

As I recall from my historical readings, the Victorians were actually obsessively enamoured of colour, almost to the point of garishness.

Note that this design allows you to have all your primary, all your secondary, and all your epic powers, plus the two pool picks to get a travel power. This is not an accident.

I want tattoos. I have a character who won't be complete until she can have the tattoo-sleeves males can have.