Flaming1

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The complaints from X people for Y issue are met with responses from Z people for Y issue.

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Well, it depends on the specific rhetoric involved.

The complaints against Issues (and the counter-arguments offered) vary in scope and logic, as predictable as some of those patterns are.

Over the course of the game's update cycle, we've rehashed some of those patterns so well, that there's bound to be overlap. The OP's complaint about I3 is made that much more ironic, partly because he's working from a sampling of precisely three issues to compare -- and moreover, that we know in hindsight that some of the most popular zones in the game were introduced in I3 (Striga and the Hollows).

Ultimately, what gets really draining on these forums is seeing the same insubstantive arguments -- conspiracy theory and the DOOOM! argument, among others.

The problem being that there aren't really any more pertinent points to be discussed (if there were any at all) on those themes; if you really believe the Devs are so malicious to be designing their game explicitly to annoy players, then you're not likely to be convinced otherwise. Odds are, it's a visceral, emotion-driven reaction that's not likely to be reasoned with.

Now, that isn't to say that we can still have pertinent conversations about the specific merits or problems with a given Issue. Amidst all the doom-crying, there was still substantive debate about ED, for instance. However, moving that discussion beyond the realm of discourse into soapboxing doesn't do anything to move that dialogue forward; it enters the realm of venting, just to vent, contributing nothing. The problem is that as important as venting can be, it confounds and obscures the rational discussion, which gets lost amidst the usual whining and politic.

Seriously, doesn't everyone know that Paragon is in RI, as opposed to Florida, to get around European law?

I'm trying to get retronecro on this [censored].

We'll get back to thread-streaking later, perhaps in the warmer months.

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This archetype will be changed during that Issue and people will respond disapprovingly!

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DOOOM!

I'd like to point out that I was totally right about Issue 14.

Good god, that nerf to Incarnates was a kick straight to the jumblies.

Yaaay!

...

Now take it off!

<starts waving dollar bills around>

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Who needs a bandwagon..? I have cuteness!

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Clever & creative beats cute.

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Marsie, been meanin to compliment j00 on that one.

Bah.

Show off some pile and then maybe you'll have an audience.

Bucket seats with good lumbar and lateral support.

<looks around for someone who's done this one>

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This Bandwagon is crowded...

Hey! Who touched me there?!

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Oops. Sorry.

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>.>

<.<

Heart -- yes.

Heart.

>.>

<.<

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You're a failure to lazy people everywhere.

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I'd cry, but I'm just not feeling like doing much about it right now.

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What kind of symbols?

I think they tell you all the ones you can do on the site...

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I suppose there's an outside chance they support expanded ANSI unicode: © מ ڳ Д Ψ and the like.

Someone else wanna test it? I lazy.

EDIT: Just tested - they don't.

v.v

Fine, fine - I'm aboard.

Orko'll just haveta sit it out.

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The majority of their defense come from their Precognitive abilities. The Stealth doesn't add anymore than three slotted Stealth would for a player. The Smoke Grenade, on the other hand, is brutal if you are lower level than they are.

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Hey, big guy?

You might wanna take a look at how excrutiatingly painful Smoke Grenade stacking is, especially since it's an AoE. Full team with quad-stacked Smoke 'nade? Yeah, no.

Love you guys, but Texas -- really. Texas.

I was in Dallas for conference last year; gotta admit, it wasn't the most exciting destination I've ever been to. At least the hotel had a wireless network.

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DDO is more for PnPers? Sign me up!

Seriously, my D&D-gaming friends are talking about getting this and forming a party for one night a week. I'm hesitant as I'm one to hate paying the subscription fee (Runescape was the first for me to pay for, but $5 a month is cheap enough... now CoH is making my wallet scream at me but I've tuned it out.

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Well, in all fairness - it is qualified as a rather severe generalization. However, since the NDA lifted, the mixed reviews have been noticeably falling into two camps:

Those for DDO seem to most be PnP players who were hopeful that the game would adhere as closely to the PnP game as could be reasonably expected.

In contrast, a rather vocal dissent against DDO mostly seems to be coming from traditional MMO gamers.

There are, of course, exceptions -- but it does seem that Turbine went out of their way to play mostly to the guaranteed fanbase of established DnD PnPers. The forced grouping, overwhelmingly instance-oriented, no PvP and the like.

So, instead of generating another EQ/WoW knockoff -- they played to their strengths, it seems. It's definitely an approach that makes sense; as more games roll of the development line that look, taste and sound like EQ/WoW; games like CoX or DDO stand a better chance of attracting players who'd like to experience a different kind of gameplay.

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Yes. One of the people at White Wolf is trying to keep Uwe Boll from going psychotic on the Hunter property. While I don't have much faith it'll work, at least they're trying.

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I suppose the truly disheartening part is that there's probably a developer out there who's just itching to expand their franchise, that's in a position to throw another fuel rod onto that particular Chernobyl.

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Kindred wasn't all that bad, but that was their first real licensing experience. I think they learned a lot from it.

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Babysteps, to be sure.

Though, with all the high-hype MMO projects slated for the next few years; one fears they might miss out on an opportunity at this juncture.

<shrug>

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Well, White Wolf is ultimately the publisher of both the games I cited above.

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Oh, I'd noticed.. White Wolf's PnP properties, independent of those licenses, isn't anything to sneeze at.

To take a gander at Stratics, so many MMO concepts don't seem to make it very far into their initial development phase; for such a competitive, niche market, it seems like potential developers are still very far off establishing anything resembling a true "formula" for reasonable success.

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I would be surprised if they weren't interested in marketing the WoD or Exalted games onto other platforms. Obviously, Hunter and Vampire have had console and computer (respectively) iterations, Werewolf had a failed game (for various reasons), and Exalted was licensed to Interplay before it went bankrupt.

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It does say a lot about the company. I was actually introduced to the WoD (never PnP'd in my life) through the first VtM game, and was gently enamored of the premise. It seems like their priority is protecting the integrity of the property, aborted TV series notwithstanding.

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I can't really say as to CCGs, but Everquest has been a PnP RPG for four years or so now, and Warcraft has had two iterations as a PnP RPG (D&D Warcraft and World of Warcraft) for about three years. So, no, City of Heroes isn't the first.

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RPGing itself seems to be kind of a genre unto itself, whether it starts on paper (as in D&DO), or on computer.

If SWG and MxO are any indication, going cross-franchise into RPG/MMOing seems to have all kinds of difficult propositions attached to it -- in no small part because of the potentially exorbitant and contradictory expectations of both the customer base and licensing agency. Take note of that, DC, Marvel and Star Trek.

So, it kind of begs the question as to who's going to be the next big thing. The initial reports from D&DO seem to be pretty conflicted -- good for PnPers, bad for MMO-experienced gamers. One wonders how Warhammer Online is coming along, and if White Wolf is getting their [censored] in gear.

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9) William Shatner - Common People

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This is just a hilarious tune... he's practically spitting at the chick in the song. Shatner reinventing himself has got to be one of the most overlooked celebrity comebacks.

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Seriously -- if you liked the Shatner cover, do yourself a favor and look up Pulp's original. Jarvis Crocker's sneering delivery is perfection -- especially since too many of the poor straight boys in my life have this nasty habit of always falling for the spoiled little discontent rich girl.

<teh eyeroll>

Oh, and while I'm at it:
1) Daddy's Favourite - I Feel Good Things For You
2) Johnny Cash - the City of New Orleans
3) Placebo - Twentieth Century Boy
4) David Bowie - Space Oddity
(Good gosh, aren't we all cryptohomorock this morning, iTunes?)
5) Harry Belafonte - Turn Around
6) Peggy Lee - I've Got the World on a String
7) the Rapture - Killing
8) Philip Glass - Glassworks
9) Kraftwerk - Elektro Kardiogramm
10) Smashing Pumpkins - Perfect

SuperSpecialRareImportHiddenBSides
A) Sonny & Cher - I Got You Babe
B) Billie Holiday - Good Morning, Heartache
C) ABBA - Take a Chance On Me
D) Fischerspooner - Down Up
E) Tony Toni Tone - If I Had No Loot

ZOMG!

It liiiiives!

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Finally, today is _Nomad_'s last day with us - she has moved on to be the CC for an upcoming NCsoft game.

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Awww -- who shall I go to for help deleting ill-considered posts of mine now?

<places hands and chants over iTunes>

1) Mel Torme - Puttin on the Ritz
2) Missy Elliot - Gossip Folks
3) Portishead - All Mine
4) Belle & Sebastian - Electronic Renaissance
5) Social Distortion - Ball and Chain
6) Sigur Ros - Svefn-G-Englar
7) Doug E. Fresh - the Show
8) Nina Simone - Here Comes the Sun
9) William Shatner - Common People
10) Tony Orlando & Dawn Knock Three Times

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We just received tech that will allow players to pass buffs onto certain powers (such as Blizzard).

[/ QUOTE ] Um...what does this mean exactly?

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Blizzard apparently doesn't benefit from +dmg buffs applied to the user - so, Build Up, Aim, Fortitude, Fulcrum Shift, etc, don't do anything for it.

I could be mistaken, though.

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Nope, that sounds about right.

If I'm not mistaken, I think most all of the "rain"-type powers are similarly unbuffable. That part, I'm less sure of.