Ghostcrafter

ugh. It's always so frustrating when they obviously put so much money and effort into something, and then miss so many easy opportunities to make it perfect.

In this case, I only have a small complaint about this new cyborg package, but I'll bet that everyone reading it will say "Of course! Why didn't they think of that?!"

My one small complaint is simply that the classic comic-book cyborg-type character, more often than not, has a divided face, split into a right and left side with one half being mechanical and the other half being organic. This is a powerful design element, and it also can symbolize the character's divided nature.

Off the top of my head I'm thinking of Deathlok from Marvel and Cyborg from DC, but I know there are many other examples that I'm just not thinking of.

It would have been great for them to have included such a look with this package, because the rest of the set is pretty decent. It's not really the best designs I've seen from them, but I would have bought it if there had been a half-face option.

All very good points, darn it.

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By the way before you ignore them make sure you send a tell back to them explicitely telling them to stop spamming you and that you are reporting them. Maybe some spammer out there has a conscience, uh yeah, right.

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I suspect that these creeps use an automated system of some sort so they can annoy--I mean reach as many of us as possible before the Devs shut them down. I still send them a tell anyway, advising them that I will never give my business to a company that engages in such inconsiderate practices. You never know; maybe someone IS paying attention over there.

I know this is going to sound petty and childish, but I must confess, I've actually started spamming the spammers. If I receive a spam, I start sending the tell: "Hi! I’m going to spam YOU over and over again! How do YOU like it?" over and over again 'till they block me.

It probably doesn't really accomplish anything, but it feels so good.

I mostly just skimmed my way down to here, so maybe I just missed the answer to this question, but what exactly is the point of this?

Is it just so that people can find new people and contact one another, or does this feature offer a more useful service that I haven't figured out yet?

I think that with a little organization this could be really great!

With a little bit of planning, this could really allow players to "customize" the environments on various servers so that people can play the sort of game that they want.

In other words, if all the people who are really into "pick-up" games, for instance, move towards a certain set of servers, then they will have little trouble finding teams.

People like me, on the other hand, who only play solo or with groups of Real-Life-Friends or with the other players in a particular Super Group, will settle in other servers; servers where I am not constantly wasting time declining tells from people begging me to bridge them.

Likewise people into heavy role-playing can move toward the same servers, as can people in similar time zones if they like. I'm sure there are many other factors the could come into play here.

The various servers could potentially develop very distinct personalities. That sounds very interesting (or possibly disastrous) to me.

Wouldn't the best way to deal with these creeps be to make their real-world company name known, show the connection between their sleazy business and their sleazy business practices, and encourage a game-wide boycott?

If they get punished hard enough, not only by NCsoft, but by the players as well, then wouldn't that discourage other people from trying this?

Heck, I wish that hackers would quit trying to infect innocent computer-users with viruses, and specifically go after jerks like this, who deserve it. I would call THAT using your power for good instead of evil.

I've got to admit, I don't know a lot about how this works or honestly what they're even selling; influence? How do they generate influence to sell? Do they sit around playing the game to raise influence? That sounds stupid, so I must not be getting it.

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The people who don't bother will probably be happy with whatever they're given. If they cared, they'd be here.

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I <3 blanket assumptions.

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Apparently so:

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We kinda seem to be the vocal minority.

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That's you assuming that the percentage of a group surveyed somehow won't reflect the opinions of the majority. All I'm saying is that you can't make people get off their butts if they don't want to, and I say that if they don't want to, then they get what they get. I am all for the majority getting representation, but everyone who logs on to the game sees the link to this forum, what more do they need?

This is the first time I've ever logged on to the boards myself, and I did it because I was interested in the results of the survey. I posted my opinion a page or so back. Nobody held my hand and sent me an email telling me to do it.

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We want to make sure that the stuff we bring you is actually desired by the players as a whole, as opposed to a vocal minority.

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This statement confuses me. If they don't want the thoughts of the vocal minority, why post on the forums? We kinda seem to be the vocal minority. For example, there are over 100,000 registered users for the forums, but typically fewer than 500 will actually be on and browsing this topic. That is less than 1%. I'd hardly consider that more than a minority, just as I am sure that all the people who play the game do not read the forums. Some are not even registered.

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Well, they can only work with what they've got. They can't call up the other 95,000 players and make them vote for a power. They'll have to assume that if the power Growth, for instance, gets the most votes on the boards, then that percentage also reflects the wishes of the others. It's not like the posters on the boards are a unified group that all want the game to go in a particular direction. The mix of opinions found here aren't likely to be very much different from any random group of players surveyed.

Actually that might not be true. The people on the boards are probably more interested in the direction the game is going. That's why they're on the boards. The people who don't bother will probably be happy with whatever they're given. If they cared, they'd be here.

I still can't believe how certain classic powers of the comic book genre are being overlooked.

Yes I would love to see growth introduced. Growth is a power long overdue, but so is stretching. Whether the character has rubbery limbs or mechanical tentacles or hands that turn into mace-like weapons, stretching heroes and villains are an enduring archetype in comic books.

Now the argument could be presented for having a ranged hand-to-hand attack such as stretching assigned to the blaster or defender archetype (and maybe a variation of the powerset could be designed for them as well), but I feel that if most of the attacks are fairly short-range (with one or two longer-ranged "sniper" powers) it would be more appropriate for a melee concept character; a scrapper or tanker. A secondary powerset for blasters or controllers might include entangling/constricting effects.

Stretching would also be an appropriate defensive power, with the character's malleable body absorbing or avoiding attacks.

A stretching power pool would be a welcome addition as well, with a bouncing defensive power (hard to hit), a rubber-skinned defensive power (hard to hurt), a stretching movement power (reaching and pulling yourself across great distances), and perhaps a temporary invulnerable form (similar to phase-shift).

And this doesn't even touch the other powers I'm waiting for: Shrinking, Wall-Climbing, Grappling Hook/Web-Swinging, Multiple Limbs and Prehensile/Bludgeoning Tails, Swimming (along with underwater environments), and Tunneling to name a few.