Forbin_Project
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Posts
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Quote:Well sorry for misunderstanding, but when I saw changing it from characters to globals the GW setup was the first thing that came to my mind. <shudders>Originally Posted by Beef_Cake
Yeah, I would agree that was a flaw in that mechanic. But this wasn't what I was suggesting at all. And I agree that would stink, I wouldn't like it either. -
Quote:First off if those names aren't attached to a global how do you send them stuff?Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
Yes, they have. They're just pre... whatever issue globals showed up in. (4?)
I have five names on my oldest Blaster that predate globals. The players are 50, but left before globals were implemented. (Try "Sir Whiteknight" on Pinnacle.)
Second I'll concede that some names may not be attached to a global but there are still millions of possible names that have never been used in the game. -
Quote:That's pretty much what I meant from day one, otherwise I would have seaid since the day CoH launched.Originally Posted by LISAR
Before that I'm told.
People who played in the WoW stress test supposedly came back to CoH beta to say how this game was going to fail.
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Quote:Gee I remember reading posts like his as far back as 2004. The Doomies have been screaming "The End is Nigh!" from day one.Originally Posted by Nethergoat
it can decline for quite a while and still be worth NC's while to keep around.
I've been seeing posts like yours since probably the middle of 2005.
I expect I'll be seeing them still in 2015. -
Quote:/signedOriginally Posted by Memphis_Bill
Preface:
This is not "I can't get a name." I can't think of the last name I couldn't get. But I tend to like either "real-ish" or somewhat odd names, apparently. This is m more of a surprise that this hasn't been done somewhat to coincide with GR's release and in how long it's been since that script HAS been run.
That said -
The script to free up unused/inactive character names has not been run in years. I can say this with 100% assurance. See, a few years back, NCSoft offered a prestige grant for each character in a SG (I believe it was with the merge of COH and COV "officially" into one game.) I, and many others given in game and forum chatter, snapped up some trial accounts - which weren't restricted at the time - and poured in characters with such fascinating names as SGPG-0001 through -0100 (or however many were made.)
I made a check character at the time on Pinnacle, one or two with "name" names. Name? "That guy with bots," a level 1 mastermind. Temporary account, never activated after the 14 days, shoved into the SG and forgotten.
His "Last logged on" time? As of today, 1170 days. 3.2 years. (Or 3 years, 2 months, 15 days, if you like.) Anyone who'd like can go to Pinnacle and try to make a character with that name to see if the script has been run, by the way - as of today, it has not.
So, just as a general cleanup/maintenance suggestion - how about running it again? It's been a while.
I would, however, suggest a small modification or two to the name script:
- Instead of level 6, up the "this level or lower" limit for inactive names to level 14. This is done specifically to coincide with the upper limit for trials - if someone hasn't converted a trial account in 90 days, they're not likely to, and there's no threat of lost revenue - NC's not making money from them in the first place.
- Purge accounts and characters banned for RMT activity. I'm assuming they'd fall under the first point *anyway* except for some of the oldest characters.
Of course, plenty of warning should be given - 30 day lead in email with a reminder at 15 days for any non-trial account that would be affected by this. -
Quote:If the names aren't attached to a global they haven't been used in the game yet.Originally Posted by Lightslinger
I would even support a much more drastic purge, free all names not attached to a global. Anyway to open more names is good.
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Is this the 4th or 5th thread on this topic that's been posted this month? The search tool is your friend.
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Quote:Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
Actually, yes I do. It hasn't been run in over 3 years.
Quoting myself from another thread - on the same subject, and today -
Thanks for posting that Bill. Now I remember that thread. I had completely forgotten that you have been checking. -
Quote:I'd settle for them removing all melee attacks from any henchmen that does healing. I was fed up with watching my merc medic run into melee and get killed the third time it happened.Originally Posted by Anti_Proton
...all that is holy, please give us a range/melee option for our pets.
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Quote:And those conversions can rise and fall several times during the year.Originally Posted by Leandro
Historic conversion rates: http://www.oanda.com/currency/historical-rates/
Even after the conversion to USD, you also have to take into account inflation. Convert everything to 2010 dollars.
Inflation calculator: http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ -
Quote:Wrong. The devs did the datamining and found that most of the names that were freed up were in the range of levels 1-6.Originally Posted by Atomic_Woman
When you consider that any character over level 6 (if memory serves) is exempt from name purges, I suspect there are quite a lot of characters collecting dust and keeping names tied up.
They also came right out and told us that most of the names that were freed up were garbage names that no one would want anyway.
Names like
SGFiller1
liqdfvipqeuv
generic hero 09090000099
***insert name***
And if the day were to come where the devs felt it was necessary to increase the level limit they can do it just as easily as they did when they lowered it from 36 to 6.
Furthermore none of you have any evidence that the software that frees up character names isn't being automatically run everytime they do a server maintenance. They are under no obligation to tell us how often they run the software.
The problem some people have with coming up with new names lies solely the biological interface that is located between the keyboard and the chair of their computer system and is not the fault of the game. -
Quote:They've already done that more than once, and on two occassions they told us they were doing it. So the long inactive accounts aren't tying up any names.Originally Posted by Jawbreaker
The only downside I could see to more slots is people scarfing up more names, and leaving the game after awhile for good. I'm all in favor of more slots, but right now I'm much more in favor of a name purge on long dead accounts
If they do have names then they aren't long inactive accounts because someone would have had to reactivate the accounts in order to get names for the characters. -
Quote:Now this sounds like a fair compromise. I'd gleefully pay a larger monthly fee for extra pages of slots to unlock from the online store.Originally Posted by Emberly
The cost is not the problem.... I'd happily pay per slot and then maybe another five bucks a month to get access to another three pages of character slots.
Call it the advanced package or something.
The basic $14.99 gets you 12 free slots with the option to buy 24 more per server.
Upgrading to the package costs $20 bucks and grants players the ability to buy an additional 24 slots per server.
They could then allow players to buy more than one upgrade and if the need arose they could also allow players to downgrade their accounts back to the base $14.99, but when that gets done they lose access to play the characters over the basic limit of 12+24 purchasable slots.
DDO does that to it's customers. F2P players get "X" character slots and subscribers get more but if an account goes back to F2P they can't play the characters on the extra slots. But they do let the players decide which characters they want to keep playing before they restrict access to the extra slots. -
Quote:And that might be why some players decided there is no reason to keep their second and third accounts active all the time and only reactivate them for a month at a time when they decide to play a couple of the characters for a change of pace. And while they are on that other account they let their primary account lapse.Originally Posted by Silver Gale
Which might be exactly the reason they stopped at 36 slots per server.
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To run all Ultra Mode options at once in 1680*1050 the starting point is around a AMD RadeonHD 4850 / Nvidia Geforce GTS 250. These have the respective theoretical throughput rates of
10,000 MegaPixel / 25,000 Megatexel
11,808 MegaPixel / 47,232 Megatexel
For the AMD architecture then, cards that will run Ultra Mode include:
RadeonHD 4770
RadeonHD 4850
RadeonHD 4850x2
RadeonHD 4860
RadeonHD 4870
RadeonHD 4870x2
RadeonHD 4890
RadeonHD 5750
Radeon HD 5770
RadeonHD 5830
RadeonHD 5850
RadeonHD 5870
RadeonHD 5970
RadeonHD 6850
RadeonHD 6870
RadeonHD 6950
RadeonHD 6970
For the Nvidia architecture these include:
8800 GTS*
8800 GTX*
8800 Ultra*
9800 GTX
9800 GTX+
9800 GX2
GTS 240
GTS 250
GTX 260
GTX 260 216
GTX 275
GTX 280
GTX 285
GTX 295
GTS 450
GTX 460
GTX 460 SE
GTX 465
GTX 470
GTX 480
GTX 570
GTX 580
*the Geforce 8800 series has the shader and texture power to execute Ultra Mode Code, but memory counts of 256mb and 512mb of local video memory really cuts into the ability of the cards to render Ultra Mode in high resolutions
The list of mobile cards that can render in ultra mode is significant shorter:
Mobile RadeonHD 4850
Mobile RadeonHD 4850x2
Mobile RadeonHD 4860
Mobile RadeonHD 4870
Mobile RadeonHD 4870x2
Mobile RadeonHD 5830
Mobile RadeonHD 5850 GGD5
Mobile RadeonHD 5870
9800M GTS
9800M GT
9800M GTX
Quadro FX 3700M
Quadro FX 3800M
GTX 260M
GTX 280M
GTX 285M
GTX 460M
GTX 470M
GTX 480M -
Quote:Yeah he was definitely the best. I will say tho that Peter Stormare did a decent Satan in Constantine, but he's no Viggo.Originally Posted by YouWish
Yep! ANd Viggo as Satan was the best portrayal ever i think
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Quote:Gotta love Christopher Walken as Gabriel.Originally Posted by YouWish
" I'm an angel. I kill firstborns while their mamas watch. I turn cities into salt. I even, when I feel like it, rip the souls from little girls, and from now till kingdom come, the only thing you can count on in your existence is never understanding why."
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While I would like to be able to change a couple of my SG names I have to ask how you would feel if you couldn't log into the game just long enough to get demoted due to a real life emergency and when you came back you found that you were kicked out of the SG you spent so much time and effort on and you couldn't find it anymore because the name had been changed.
Yes we've had that happen in the past where a "trusted" member of several years got control of the leadership, kicked everyone and stole everything for himself and created a new SG. -
Quote:Yeah but there's a big difference between paying a one time fee to unlock extra slots and paying additional recurring fees for a second or third account.Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
They call that "A second (or third or fourth) account."
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Quote:I am calm. I'm just pointing out that this is the only time in 7 years they'll be releasing something that's focus is solely on animal related content.Originally Posted by Xzero45
I meant the community focusing on other suggestions that aren't animal related. Calm down.
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To be honest I've never heard of any cons for upping the limit, I've just heard the devs say they weren't going to do it. Personally I'm all for adding more slots.
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Quote:While I was aware you were teasing me I wasn't sure if you knew about the names of our naval enlisted ranks which can get confusing. There are 5 basic ratingsOriginally Posted by Techbot Alpha
I was joking. I personally find Political correctness bloody stupid and useless about...oo...all the time? Due to the people who insist on it being the same idiots that bleat on along the lines of "Won't somebody please think of the children?!" when the kids could do with a damn good clout and being sent outside in the fresh air...
Yes, Im English. Im 19. And I'm a bloody old man already!
Seaman - Deck and Admin
Airman - Aviation
Fireman - Engineering
Hospitalman - Medical/Dental (In 2005 the Dental rating was merged with the medical rating)
Constructionman - Seabees
I hoped you might find it a useless but interesting piece of trivia.
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Quote:To be honest I wouldn't care if it were "box purchase only" or a "monthly fee" like we currently have. I'd rather see them devote resources to an entirely new game engine than convert this engine over to F2P.Originally Posted by Gangrel_EU
Agreed, and would be interesting to see actually. I think it might just work as a "box purchase only" game, but design considerations need to be considered as well.
Doing a new game engine would let them do things like design a workable PvP from scratch, Super Group Bases and personal secret lairs, design a new costume creator that has a lot more flexibility, redesign an easier to use respec system, more in depth power customization, etc. -
Quote:And that's my point. NCSoft has a track record of shutting games down when they cease being profitable rather than trying to extend the games lifespan by changing the business model.Originally Posted by Gangrel_EU
TR and Auto Assault were never profitable from the get go, and F2P still had stigma around when AA was closed down.
TR i believe they wanted shot of one way or another... the financials were the writing on the wall though just after 6 months of being live.
Personally I'd rather see them follow the Guild Wars plan and develop a CoH2 instead of going F2P. -
Quote:No. It's actually the US Naval enlisted ranks for deck and administrative ratings and has nothing to do with political correctness.Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha
Shouldn't it be 'Seapersons' to be Politically Correct?
E-1 Seaman Recruit
E-2 Seaman Apprentice
E-3 Seaman