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Yawn. Loot makes your character better; Empath does nothing.

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Yawn. Decorations in bases do nothing. Costumes do nothing. Character bio and backgrounds do nothing. Standing around in Pocket D roleplaying also does nothing. Just like the Empath badge doing nothing. So glad we have an authority on what is "better" for each of us in a computer game.

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The OCD necessary to care about these badges isn't healthy. They should be removed. Or lowered to one point above the last badge so that the accomplishment is meaningless. In any event, feel free to disagree, but I don't think any developer should encourage the type of behavior I see badgers exhibit.

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You mean like the greedy obsessive attitude that surrounds loot?

I think there is a point to be made that before they were already unleashed the devs should have put more thought into the long-term accomplishment badges. If I was in charge way back when, I would have rubber-stamped Popular and set fire to Empath. The simple reasoning would be that people wouldn't have to do anything special to earn Popular: at different rates, people would be assured of earning it eventually, if only they played the same alt long enough, and conversely, there are practical limits to how much "better" any player could be at earning it: since you can only earn it via earned influence, and not transactional influence, you can only earn it faster by playing longer (or by optimizing your activities along influence-earning lines). By my estimates, it would only take a few years of completely normal play to eventually earn Popular with a level 50 alt. Its "epic" but not "ridiculously epic" for a game that was also going to offer veteran rewards for players that were around for as much as four years or more.

But empath is a bit different, because there's no such meaningful progress you can make in conventional play, even as a dedicated healer. Its not beyond reasonable for even dedicated players to be getting only a couple of ticks on this badge in a year, and that is otherwise optimal players. Non-optimal players, except by using loopholes, have zero chance of gaining this badge in conventional play any time this century.

Conceptually, I believe its perfectly reasonable, all other things being equal, to have rewards that take a long time to earn. And there's no way to prevent such rewards from enticing players to attempt to sustain that level of effort for a longer period of time than most would consider healthy. What *is* a problem, by the devs own previous statements, is shunting players into performing activities outside the scope of the game's design. Popular encourages people to play the game, even if it *also* encourages players to heavily optimize their play to earn it. Empath encourages people to not play the game. That is a critical distinction between the two, that is not subjective within the context of game design.

Having said all of that, you cannot introduce the rewards, then eliminate the opportunity to achieve them by permanent fiat without removing the existence of the rewards. Doing so breaks trust between the development team and the playerbase. It says when the devs first introduce an award, the most logical strategy for earning it is to discover the quickest way to achieve it, even if its broken, and pursue it as rapidly as possible, for fear of the devs eventually eliminating all possible ways of achieving them. I don't mind slow-going Popular, even if I don't earn it before 2009. Its always going to be there, and I'm always going to be slowing homing in on it. If the devs took the action you suggest, I would never feel comfortable doing that ever again, because I would have no faith that such a strategy would not have a good chance of being rendered moot down the road.

I *already* have absolutely no intention of trusting the devs on matters of economy. After hinting that influence was highly inflated and overabundant, and after signalling an attempt to defuse that by introducing a prestige-based economy, they eventually introduced another economy that was much more powerful, that did in fact rely on influence. I am therefore never going to trust the devs to "reset" an economy ever again, no matter what they say. Because once you prove your values are situational, they can no longer be relied upon. I'll stop caring about earning influence when I hit the trillion inf mark. And I'm not kidding about that number, because I don't trust the devs won't at some future date decide to reverses-split everyone 100-1 to reduce the amount of influence in the economy, based on the highest earners. I always intend to be one of them.

At the moment, I *do* trust the devs to allow me to play the game at my own pace, eventually achieving any long-range reward I want to, if I choose to do so at a slower than optimal pace. But they get only one chance at having that trust from me. Break it once, and they never get it back.

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Someone needs to PM this to the devs.

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I think the devs simply created a badge they only expected the most dedicated Empath Defenders to ever get and then only after years of play.

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This logic as retarded as if the devs wasting time creating an invention recipe with the odds of 1 dropping in 1 billion once every 25 years so only the most dedicated farmer might have a slim chance. Maybe he supports that kind of "bragging rights" too lol.

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To be honest, reading this forum makes me believe the people who talk about video game addiction. Badges are just a graphic, a title and making a number counter go up by one. We need to get you folks focused on something else.

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Phat Loot in this game is just a bunch of ones and zeros, maybe you should follow your own advice first?

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But, thats why I hate anaolgies.

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With all due respect, if you have a problem with that analogy, feel free to refute its logic or reasons. If you find yourself in a discussion and unable to say what is wrong with your opponent's arguements other than "you hate it",, perhaps it is time to reexamine one's conviction? I mean, after all, thats what being open minded is about right?

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Its just a matter of perspective and, in THIS situation, at least the side I agree with is being supported and validated by the Devs, <ahem> the peoples whos opinion actually matters for all intents and purposes.

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Actually changing badge requirements has been validated by the devs, see : Reformed, Zoo Keeper.

(Not addressing directly to the poster I quoted, but instead that mentality)

Imagine some guy working really hard for a couple years and finally saving enough money to buy a Ferrari. Then further imagine that a few years later, the manufacturer decided that the car is too expensive and cut the sticker price by 50%. Now this guy went to the company's headquarters with a sign, picketing and protesting the lowering of the price because he feels that if more people can get what he already has, he will be "less special". He thinks that somehow that Ferrari not only makes his [Censored] larger, but when more people can afford the car it somehow cheapens his personal feeling towards it and that is unfair and intolerable. If fact, if they lower the price why doesn't he get "compensated"??

How sorry do you think most people will feel for such a person?

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[*]Combat Logs is too weak for its huge prerequisite


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Not only that, but after a supergroup has gone through the trouble of healing 100 million points, they now have the privilege of paying TWICE the cost for a breakfree if they buy it from the combat logs instead of a regular contact or arena. This sort of slap-in-the-face makes one think the person who desgined this deserves to be smacked upside the head with a rikti sword.

/signed

THis is doubly retarded when you consider non combat accolade such as the field crafting table being exempted out due to your mal'ed combat level.

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This is to all those that now or in the future go "OMG THIS SUXX0RS!!! I'm CANCELLING MY ACCOUNT!""

Just leave. Now. Don't tell us you are leaving, don't tell us why you are leaving, we don't care and odds are neither do the developers. Until you actually don't pay them, you are just threatening them trying to get them to do things YOUR way instead of the way they are doing it. It didn't work in Ultima Online, Everquest, Everquest II, World of Warcraft, or any other MMORPGs. Threatening to cancel your account isn't the way to get the developers to listen, it's not the way to get ANYONE to listen to you.

So, do your fellow players a favor, and don't waste our bandwidth having to load up your "OMG IM QUITTING" crap, just quit and don't waste OUR time.

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If one is worried about "wasting" one's time, I wonder which way is faster? Spending 0.5 second to click on the "Back" button when one sees a post that one doesn't like, or spending 5.43 minutes composing a manifesto demanding people to not talk about things that one doesn't like. Exercising personal responsibilities. What a concept.

Ouroboros System: : A+

Weapon Customization: : A

Two New Power Sets: : A

[b] “Very Rare” Purple sets : F-

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Thwaps GFN hard in an attempt to stun him.

No bringing other things into a fun thread. Just sit there and be stunned now....

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Thwaps TerraDraconis to give him a clue.

No authority in deciding which thread should be fun or not fun. Just sit there and be stunned now...

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GFN, it's the people like you who take all the fun out of the forums. Go whine in another thread please.

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If you see a something that was in violation of the forum policy, do feel free to click on the Notify Moderator button. Otherwise, learn to accept that in a public forum you aren't guaranteed to see what you like. Exercise personal responsibility and press the "Back" button if you see something that you hate. And accept the fact that as much as you hate something that someone has to say, as long as no rule is broken any attempt to tell them to go away is ultimately futile. Deal with it. Oh, and if an act in which no rule was broken "takes all your fun away", then you have but yourself to blame.

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Hey, GFN, you all done with work? You caught up on tomorrow's work? All your housework in order? No dangling priorities anywhere?

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Will give you a full update as soon as you subscribe to my monthly services.

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Actually, they have apologized for it and many other "undelivered features" over the years, and in many cases have given at least some kind of explanation (whether it's to your satisfaction or not).


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Not calling you a liar of course, but can you link to a dev post where they have apologized for CoP/Base raid? I sure can't find it. In fact, I tried to go as far back as the forum will allow to find explanations or even a status update on its future and had absolutely no luck.

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I'm sure it's long gone by now. You'll just have to take my word for it.

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Well I found this here. Not quite an apology by most standards, but for Jack it's about as close as you'll ever get.

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Thanks. Then it should be clear to all that, that post, almost a year old, which was NOT an apology or status update, should tell us how pitifully little communications there has been from the devs regarding CoP and base raids. But yet Positron has time to post inane stuff like Photo 1,2,3 while ignoring many people's repeated requests to address missing features that they have paid for.

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I'm sure it's long gone by now. You'll just have to take my word for it.


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I only deal with facts. Again, not calling you a liar. I haven't seen it. You couldn't locate it. I have drawn my conclusion and stated it. And you have the right to make your own.

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Actually, they have apologized for it and many other "undelivered features" over the years, and in many cases have given at least some kind of explanation (whether it's to your satisfaction or not).


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Not calling you a liar of course, but can you link to a dev post where they have apologized for CoP/Base raid? I sure can't find it. In fact, I tried to go as far back as the forum will allow to find explanations or even a status update on its future and had absolutely no luck.

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You ever been hanging out with co-workers and heard one of them grumble "Lets not talk shop"? I think that's the case here. These guys are no doubt putting in serious hours concerning I11 so taking a break to interact with the community in a laid back manner is cool with me.

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This would be the case if the last 2 years have been their coffee break. CoP/Base raids were advertised features that have been undelivered, then bugged, then rescinded and remained missing for almost 2 years. The people who have paid for those advertised features have continuously asked them for an update as to the status only to receive silence. It is an embarrassment to Cryptic and to the devs, and their unwillingness to communicate just exaserbates the situation. How long should their "break" be? How much time does it take to type : "We are sorry, we acknowledge that there is a major advertised feature that we haven't implemented and fixed 2 years since it was sold." But of course, dodging their responsibilities and talking about Photo 1, 2 and 3 is so much easier.

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Ok, but I can't talk about Issue 11 or beyond... but that's pretty much what you guys WANT me to talk about so we are at an impass.

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People have repeatedly asked for a clearer explanation on what the recent ignore_spammer command does. Why don't you talk about that?

People wanted a status update on Cathedral of Pain Trial and Base Raids. Why don't you talk about that?

People asked to be told whether numerous issues with bases, such as bugged Robo Surgery Units, bugged Energy Curtain, base plot costs, base item costs, influence to prestige conversion, clumsy editor and many other concerns, etc. etc. Why don't you talk about that?

If all those things are too complicated, how about simple stuff like when will the i8 badge graphics be fixed since they are missing for a year? Or the Force of Justice accolade? The missing Fabricator progress bar, or whether you still think Empath is a good idea. Why don't you talk about these?

Please don't pretend there is nothing to say, when there are many important issues other than i11.

Edit : True to fashion, he skipped right through the questions asked by many people, and continued to talk about inane things below. Obviously he has the time to post about trivialities, but choose to show he doesn't give a damn about all the legitimate questions that people asked.

The broken CoP and IoP system is an utter EMBARRASSMENT for Cryptic. There is nothing more pathetic than an advertised feature that is still non existent 2 years since people paid for it. And the continual UNWILLINGNESS for them to keep us posted on its status is inexcuseable and deplorable.

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Why do so many people think Empowerment Stations suck?

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Cost != Benefit

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However, we hope everyone can appreciate the history behind this older content and also appreciate that, in the larger scheme of things, we have our designers working hard to bring out exciting new content in a timely manner and not spending too much time optimizing the experience of dated content.


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Lets see what else is older content :

Arena...bugged since before my time.
CoP Trial...bugged for almost 2 years.
IoP/Base raids...non existent for almost 2 years.
Bases - bugs with being kicked/robo surgery unit/borked editor/interface...screwed for almost 2 years.

Why don't you fix your OBLIGATIONS first, such as delivering advertised features like CoP and Raids before piling on more.

Finally, you are essentially sending the message that bugged content made today and tomorrow may also very well be ignored in the future with your business approach. Wonderful.

<QR>

Moving base item during edit mode. When dragging and dropping an item, why the heck is the editing character often teleported INTO the item, causing the item and the character to both be stuck?

Why is the base redrawn whenever someone puts an echip into storage?

Why does the Scorpion Surprise have 10 aux connections but the hero's version Rikti Plasma Turrets have zero?

Why does the Auto-Doc buy everything except CAB, Awaken and all levels of Breakfree?

What force of nature prevents SG members from accessing their own storage during a base raid?

Why can't the owner of the Turbine Generator click on it to see its health, like one can do with a Basic Generator? Why is only the Turbine Generator untargetable by its owner?

Why does a destroyed teleport beacon not automatically re-attach itself to the teleporter after an instant base raid is over? Why make us delete and replace them manually?

Why does a base raid not end properly, causing the base to be locked out to all coalitions, if the defenders of an instant raid are no longer online when the raid times out after 60 mins?

Why has there been virtually zero communications from Cryptic regarding this and the many other listed issues with bases?

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These polls REALLY need a 'none of the above' option.


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QFT

The trainer in PI, the new Train stops, the store in KR and the fix to base kick = better than all the loot/bidding crap.

Costumes would have been exciting had I manage to find one, which I still haven't.

STF is ok, we still have AVs that break the game's own rules in the name of "challenge". At least the Flyer isn't bugged.

The Hami raid is finally designed so it is not worth the time, effort and debt to get yet another high probability of more Centrioles.

Personal Storage, looking at the poll, is obviously a failure. Wonderful concept of course, borked implementation. Where is the personal storage for enhancements, for inspirations, or recipes? Of all things in i9, this gets a F grade.

Funny the poll didn't ask how people like :

1. The personal invention salvage storage limit.
2. The personal recipe salvage storage limit.
3. The reliability and responsiveness of Wentworth.
4. The reliability and stability of the game as a whole in i9
5. Drop rate for rares and costumes.
6. The various measures the devs have used to "encourage" people to use the auction.

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Maybe if the people who lost multiple-many-millions would have WAITED until the market settled down, and the weekend was over so the servers didn't have so much strain, you wouldn't have LOST all that.

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Let me get this straight...

If a bunch of people go to a brand new mall on the opening day, and the credit card system got hacked and they lost their money, it is the fault of those people who chose to go on the opening day?

/em boggles

Thank you.

*Respect*