Garielle

I am not fond of money sinks in MMOs. They tend to be priced well above the actual "value" of what is received when compared to the actual market. WoW is classic example of this, with money being spent every time you train, large amounts being expended on mounts, massive amounts being invested into guilds in the form of guild bank slots, 1000G just to unlock a second slot, increasing amounts spent for respecing, etc.

All of these are very effective money sinks, but they also make certain things difficult (or impossible) to attain for the casual player. I respect the fact that NC Soft has done all they can to make the game as fun and interesting for the casual player as it is for the addicts. I have no desire to see it turned into anything even resembling WoW.

That being said, one thing I have seen done is dynamic vendor pricing. It takes quite a bit of tweaking to get it right, but once it is done, it is quite effective in keeping the player market inflation in check.

A simple form of this would work like this. You go and you sell something to a vendor, the price of that item increases. You buy something from a vendor, and the price goes up slightly. This is especially handy if you allow the vendor a temporary "inventory". Say you sell a basic salvage to a vendor. The vendor then has 1 of that item to sell to someone else. You sell 10, and the vendor has a limited quantity of 10.

Now the temporary inventory would be vendor specific, however, the vendor pricing would be server-wide. This means you wouldn't be any better off selling 10 of the same salvage to 10 different vendors than you would be selling them all to one. This also ensures that it is impossible to create a situation where you can buy from one vendor and sell to another for a higher profit. The fact that this can already be done with the BM/WW is NOT the same thing. The BM/WW has a limited quantity of items available. Vendors (as they are now) have a bottomless supply.

A more complex method of the system would involve monitoring the flow of influence on a server. As the amount of influence in circulation increased, vendor pricing would increase, as it decreased, vendor prices would drop. This could even be done cross server, but this may unfairly hurt the servers with smaller populations.

I have always thought NC Soft should lease the in-game billboards for real advertising. Would be non-intrusive advertising, so much more consumer friendly than spam mail, pop ups, edge blocks (the silly ads that occupy space along one or more edges of the screen, obstructing the user's view), and other methods. It would provide good exposure for the product as well.

As for corporate logos on costumes, if it were done in the same "non-intrusive" method and was a matter of choice, then I'd be cool with it. I wouldn't want some company's logo showing up on my costumes without my consent though. There are some companies that I just don't believe in endorsing.

As for in-game faction logos, ummm.... those already exist (Crey, Vindicators, Council, and a few others).

While one would assume that more merits in circulation would lead to reduced demand (and hence reduced prices on the market), this is not the case. More merits would mean less things to spend influence on. Since people would have more influence to throw around, it would be like monopoly money and they would be bidding much higher than they already are on the market.

This can be seen by the noticeable increase in prices after AE tickets were introduced. You would think people would use these tickets to buy salvage and salvage prices would drop. That has not proven true though, has it?

Why? Because they use tickets for DOs and SOs. That means the only thing they have to spend their money on is IO recipes and Salvage. They have more to use, so they make use of it.

I would like a review of Arc# 300379 (A Twist of Destiny). It is posted on CoHMR and the forum post is linked in my sig. It should be noted that this arc is set for level 1 to 15.

Thanks

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome. I have joined the VU2009 channel and, thanks to Sandolphan can even speak, so I am certain I we will be seeing much of each other.

There is one hope and I am afraid it doesn't offer you any immediate resolution to your concern. Back when they introduced levelling pacts in I13, they stated that once they had a chance to examine how the pacts were used and what impact they were having they would consider possibly expanding the level cap during which they could be entered into. In addition to that, they mentioned the possibility of more than 2 characters being able to be in the same pact.

I haven't seen or heard anything that would indicate one way or another whether they have dismissed this idea or not. If they haven't, then perhaps at some point situations like yours will not be so permanent.

Hello, Virtue!

Just wanted to take a moment to say hey. While I have been a CoX player for quite some time, I only recently started becoming active in the forums. In fact, of the 90-some odd posts to my credit, over half are probably within the last week. People who have been around for quite a while and remember the old W00t Radio that used to broadcast from inside of CoH/CoV (Mostly CoH) may remember me as the sinister DJ Zod (a name which, sadly, I can no longer use in CoX).

I also recently made the move to Virtue about a month ago. It is my new "home", and pretty much the only server I play on now. I have a couple of mid-level toons on the blue side (a Emp/Mental Def and Fire/Kin Controller) but mostly play on the Red side (Level 50 Crab, and a low level MM).

If you want to send me into a complete and uncontrollable rant, good topics include Politics or CO. Seriously, don't bring up either to me unless you really want my opinion, cause I won't be able to stop myself.

Yes, I am opinionated. In fact, I admit I have very strong opinions on many matters. I, however, always respect a person's right to have their own opinions. I respect that person even more when they show that same quality to me and others.

As for my age.... Over 39 and under 99.

In the real word, I am a Network Engineer. Be warned, if you ask me how to fix Vista, I am likely to just tell you to install XP or install LINUX, depending on my mood.

Anything else... well... you'll just have to ask.

I almost always leave feedback. If I 5 star an arc, it is likely to be something brief. Whenever I give less than 5 stars, I always leave feedback indicating what I liked and what I didn't.

I know someone asked about character AE badges, particularly the Day Job badge, but....

Do any of the accounts have account wide AE badges? It could be that one of these has an "unintended feature" which boosts the drop rate.

I base this on the fact that someone said they have seen this happen with any character on his wife's account.

Bah! Was gonna give Steelcaw some more Rep for this one, but I have given out too much. Probably for the best. I am still laughing so hard, I could accidentally hit "Disapprove" and that would be...wrong. Hey, can someone else hit the guy with some rep for me please?

While I am quite sure it was not the OP's intention, he has given me a marvelous idea. An idea I am sure will never see the light of day, much to my dismay, but an idea nonetheless.

What if, instead of a universal entrance just behind the contact, AE missions pointed to REAL entrances located in a level appropriate zone. Think of it.. all those arcs that push all members to 50 would be forced to go to Peregrine Island (on the Hero side) or Grandville on the Villain side. To make it even better, with the new super side kicking. If the team leader was some level 10, wanting to be power levelled.... THE ENTIRE TEAM WOULD HAVE TO MAKE THE RUN AS LEVEL 10's UNTIL THEY MADE IT TO THE MISSION DOOR.

MMMMMwwwwwwahahahahahahahaha....

The longest TF (of any kind) that I have ever been on will come as no surprise. It was.... wait for it....you know it's coming.... you already know I'm gonna say....Positron.

The final time came in at just over 18 hours. Yes, you heard me correctly...EIGHTEEN hours.

I think I have run that TF one other time in the entire time I have been playing the game, and that was just because I wanted the bonus for Task Force Commander. It has to be the most agonizing TF in the game. Maybe it's because it is 2/3 Kill All missions. Maybe it's because of the lack of good strong powers at that level. I dunno, but I always dread that TF.

I drive the person beneath me to commit suicide by stuffing them into a time loop so they must hear Rosanne Barr singing the American National Anthem for all eternity...

If you have ever asked, "Hey! What's that train for?"... You might be an AE baby.

If you're a Kheldian, and you ask, "What's a Quantum".... you might be an AE baby.

If you think ANY AE arc is the "original farming mish".... you might be an AE baby.

If you've a Villain above level 10 who has never heard of Port Oakes, or a Hero above level 10 who has never heard of Kings Row... you might be an AE baby.

If you have read any reply to this thread and said to yourself, "I don't get it"... you might be an AE baby.

You are going to be putting your name on this. Speaking for myself, I can safely say I want something to be up to a certain standard when I put my name on it. I believe in quality over quantity myself. If you need to cut corners to save time, perhaps you should look at the number of issues rather than the quality of the issues. Even then, you need to be careful not to cut anything which is crucial to the story or which makes it more difficult to understand why something is occurring in the story.

When they announced the availability of server transfers some time back, they included a disclaimer that would lead me to believe it is at least something they have considered. I wouldn't dare speculate as to when or if it ever becomes a reality or what the mechanics of it might be, though.

I remember quite a few issues back (several YEARS ago), when I was with the W00t Radio staff. We (I was on a panel with Jester and some of the other staff) were interviewing, then Community Relations lead, CuppaJo for an episode of Jester's Court prior to an issue release. One of the questions submitted by a listener was in regards to the possibility of one day seeing Customizable Powers. At that time, still under the Cryptic banner, it was something they had looked at, but was simply not feasible. Now... here we are.

So anyone who speculates that it can not be done is underestimating the creativity, innovation, and ability of the staff currently working on the CoX product line.