Gargoyle_KDR

Today at 1pm there will be more details provided on the Mission Creator. More information to follow.

The tricked out characters make for an interesting play experience. A few I remember seeing off the top of my head are a MA/SR Scrapper, a Psi Blaster, a SS Brute, and a Crab VEAT.

A few of the 8 PC's are setup so we can log into our own characters (they have to already be on the Training server though). It's fun to be able to let others see our characters from our viewpoint (especially the enhancement slotting screen).

- B.

The M&G was fantastic! What else can you say about it when 105 players, developers, and community support folks come together like that? Throw in a marriage proposal (congrats Nomme and Gorbified), tasty home cooked cookies (thanks again Cende ), and some swag (many thanks to Ex Libris and Amy from Tabula Rasa for those) and it sums up a recipe for a fun.

It was really great to see and chat with people that were at last year's M&G, and to have the chance to meet so many new fellow gamers. Healing Kit, who had 2 badges printed in her name, made me laugh when she turned to her male companion and said, "you get to be me for tonight." Another chuckle came when Hero 1's wife wittily changed her badge to read "Mrs. Hero 1." It's the little things like that that make these types of events special.

My thanks goes out to everyone who had the opportunity to participate this year. You are the ones that made the M&G such a success.


- Bayne

Yes, a last moment person can still get into the Meet & Greet. There is plenty of room available.

The pre-sales for the event last until 7pm PT Thursday.

After the pre-sales ends you can purchase a ticket at the door on the night of the M&G.

So far there are 80 people signed up meet and greet.

It's great to see such a fantastic turn out for the event. With the recent announcement of I13 - Architect I think it will be one to remember!

A quick correction to the Appetizer list:

Hot Appetizers:

Lump Crab Cakes
Shrimp & Chicken Pot stickers
Southwest Egg Rolls

Due to the number of Vegetarian, Pescetarian, non-beef, etc. dietary requests from the folks signing up the lump crab cakes replaced the chicken wings on the appetizer list.

The Lump Crab Cakes are pan-fried with Asian Slaw and Cajun Remoulade.


- B.

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Excellent! Is it ok to bring my children, 6yr old and 1-1/2 yr old, and if so, would I need to purchase tickets for both of them as well?

BTW, the PPD Hardsuit looks great!

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Yes, it's OK to bring your kids. All ages are welcome. It says that right on the event description at the ticket website.

You probably want to ask Ex Libris via email if tickets are required for your kids.

- B.

Signed up.

See you there!

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Walk-in? As in "here but not eating?"

I ask because I will still be working in Expo until the M&G's about half over, yet I would like to come by and hobnob with people.

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That probably falls into the "walk-in" category. It wouldn't hurt to send Ex an email about it.

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Is there a deadline for registration?

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Will Call sales on Brownpapertickets.com end 12 hours before the event.

Walk-in arrangements will need to be made directly with Ex Libris by emailing exlibris@ncsoft.com, and will be available on a first-come-first served basis.

- B.

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always in seattle

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At least until 2010. PAX: East Coast is coming.


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And then it will be always in Seattle and also in an east coast city.

- B.

The PAX schedule shows a 1pm panel event on Saturday titled NCSoft is kicking @r$e at PAX. Is there any information on what is going to be discussed?

- B.

The Gordon Biersch Brewing Co. has a space that will seat 60+ that is available for a group reservation. The restaurant is 1 block from the convention center (it's Pine near 6th). They would require us to have a group menu due to the number of people we might have.

Not only is it a Friday night meaning busy restaurants; the 5th Avenue Theater also has a performance of The Shreck Musical that night. That's why The Rock Bottom is hesitant on large party reservations outside of their booked rooms. They are directly across the street from the theater, and they get a lot of business with the theater crowd.

As for the Red Robin, the farther the distance from the convention center the higher the chance we will have fewer folks participate. If we go to a place that is closer it is easier for everyone.

It's down on Pier 55.

1101 Alaskan Way to be exact.

That's 8 blocks West and 5 blocks South from the convention center. It's too far away in my opinion. There are closer options.

- B.

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Do we have an approximate number of people that would be attending this M&G? that would have a huge bearing on where we could meet.

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We've had between 40 - 50 the last two years. Without an RSVP the best we can do is guestimate about the same number for this year.

- B.

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Hey Ex Libris,

Can we get a new thread to keep discussing the Meet and Greet?

This one has clearly been relegated to the ninth plane of hell with all the whine and flames.


Thanks.

Love and Kisses,
Cobaltix

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Speaking of which, was there ever a final decision on where to meet up? I confess to have skimmed over the 200+ posts of kvetching over a costume power.

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I'm having a tough time finding a venue that will host us for dinner without doing any contract negotiations.

If anyone has suggestions I'm all over it, Rock Bottom Brewery just let me know that we can try and stop in that night but they will not hold the room for us.

Thoughts?

Ex

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I'm checking on an option. More information later tomorrow.

- B.

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I may be heading up for this one, depending on the timing of some things going on right now.

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You should definitely come to PAX. We're gracious and nice in person, I swear. And if anyone tries to harass you about "nerfs" I'll hit them with my stick!

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It's a trap!

Put the stick down, I was kidding!

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Alright but I'll be annoyed if BaB comes all the way out to Seattle to hang out with us, and someone wastes all his time whining about the hover animation or something.

See for the typically Seattle experience, we should waste his time with, I don't know, maybe discussions of microbrews, and our pets, and a ton of geeky stuff.

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Like the importance of layering. Or perhaps the "correct" ratio of milk to espresso in a skinny grande double almond mocha with chocolate whip.

- B.

The Exhibit Hall closes at 7:00pm on Friday.

The RBB is about a 5 minute walk from the convention center (West 2 blocks and then South 1 to 2 blocks).

The folks working the convention probably want a short break for an attitude adjustment (bio break, smoke, don't-ask-don't-tell, etc.).

I'd say 7:15 - 7:30pm as a start time would work. People who go directly there after the Exhibit Hall closes could either hang out in the bar or the general restauraunt area before seating in whichever room they have for us.

- B.

I think the Rock Bottom Brewery would be a good fit for something on Friday night.

The Rock Bottom Brewery in downtown Seattle

They list several rooms that would fit a large-ish gathering.


- B.

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The place we met at two years ago (when PAX was still in Bellevue) was pretty much perfect. ...Elephant and Castle was too tight....

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2 years ago we met at the Rock Bottom Brewery.

I agree the Elephant and Castle was a little crowded for the room size, but it was a space that was able to be reserved for the meet-and-greet.

Are we talking "walk-in" or "make a reservation for x people" here?

- B.

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And this was my point in regard to Vigilance. That it is not balanced across all Defenders -- some sets will benefit significantly from Vigilance (especially if they are trying to get the most out of it) and some sets, by their nature, will see very little benefit from Vigilance. ...Defiance 1.0 proved that basing an inherent buff on health is a bad idea. Well that's exactly what Vigilance does too. And there is no indication it's going to be revamped any time soon.

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I am in agreement with this viewpoint. Vigilance, as designed, does not benefit all defenders equally. Proactive sets like FF function in such a way that they negate Vigilance from activating.

With my FF character I have become accustomed to the fact that for all practical purposes I have a disfunctional inherent power. Teams I particpate on simply do not get damaged with the regularity that makes Vigilance anything more than another "snowball temp power." It looks good in concept but it doesn't hold up well when put to practical use.

- B.

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...maybe a better way to put it is "proactive mitigation" and "reactive mitigation". Because even when an FFer is playing reactively by using Force Bolt or Repulsion Bomb when things start to get a little hairy, they are both powers that mitigate damage proactively, meaning they frak up your foes so they can't attack.

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I'd say that FF responds to damage taken by a teammate by proactively protecting them from further damage through the use of the other 6 powers in their primary powerset.

The one power in the FF set that I consider to be both proactive and reactive is Dispersion Bubble. The Mez protection can be applied reactively to others simply by moving the AoE into range of the affected person.

- B.

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The FFers job (as is the Sonic's) is to prevent the team from taking damage. That's why it's called a proactive set.

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You may call it that. I don't..

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I have to chime in here, P., because I agree with the first poster and not you. FF is front-loaded team protection. Sets like Empathy are rear-loaded team protection. Both provide protection in terms of Hit Point mitigation.

FF provides the mitigation by exclusively applying the power before damage from combat takes place. How you ask? Let's look at it...
[*] DS, IS and DB all add to defense so the attacks miss instead of doing damage.
[*] Force Bolt knocks down a mob before it can activate an attack that can do damage to a team mate or our own character.
[*] Detention Field outright prevents attacks from happening so there is no concern about incoming damage.
[*] Repulsion Bomb knocks down mobs before they can attack AND renders a percentage of them unable to attack for a period of time thus allowing the team to avoid damage.
[*] Force Bubble forces mobs into 1) temporary melee animations, 2) aggro on the Bubbler, and 3) knockdown. All three prevent damage by shifting it away from the team members.

I could go on, but you get my point.

Damage is fundamentally mitigated before it happens through methods designed to prevent it from being applied to a character, after it happens through HP regeneration, or during it's application through damage reduction. Three fundamental methods of prevention apply to ALL defender sets. FF, along with the sets that add -ToHit mitigate by preventing damage. Sonic mitigates by reducing damage, and sets like Empathy mitigate by rapidly removing damage after it happens.

Therefore FF is proactive. It can only prevent damage from happening. There is NO argument that can state FF removes damage after it takes place (which is the realm of a reactive defense set).

- B.

Thank you for showcasing The Defenders of Paragon base.

Since the time the photos were taken we have done a little upgrading to our base. Below are updated screenshots showing the revisions to The Defenders of Paragon base and a slightly better shot of our Medical Bay.

- Bayne

The Overview

The Power Plant

The Medical Bay from a different angle

Amazing stuff. Thank you.

Since it was brought up, how much time _did_ you spend with demorecord to get the scenes right?

- B.

It will be good to see the CoX folks there again. I look forward to it.

- B.