GreyDog

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I'm pretty sure I saw Terra Volta's name stenciled in over the giant door, yesterday

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That is its real name.

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I'm sure the devs must be in love with the characters they created, but those should only serve as the backdrop for the characters that players create.

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This is an EXCELLENT point. The player characters should be in the spotlight. Grey Dog lives and works in Paragon City, but he certainly doesn't see himself as subordinant to The Freedom Phalanx.

Statesman may be more powerful than my character, but he's my PEER, not my boss.

It just seems like villains don't ever get to be independently mighty. (Sure you don't HAVE to do the new content or take the new powers, but I don't HAVE to play the game at all.)

It comes down to this:

The Villain Patron Pools look good, if you can get past the thematic visual ties to the patron.
But, Hero Epic Pools give you more varied choices.

I don't really like the direction they've taken with the Patron Pools. In a couple months, I won't care as much, but I still won't like it.

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-- Before the game's release, Cryptic claimed they were aiming for an 'E' Everyone rating. Many followers of the game were worried the game would become too childish. All in all, going for an 'E' rating for an on-line game is a pipe dream and very little was actually changed in an attempt to get the lower rating. Of course, City of Heroes has a 'T' Teen rating.

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I think this was intended to be a general design philosophy rather than an acutal goal. They know that the subject matter of the game makes an E rating impossible, but they want it as clean as they can get it.

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Patron Powers are truly permanent. This powerset, once chosen, is as much a part of your character as your Name, Primary Powerset, Secondary Powerset, Body Type, and Origin.
There is currently no way for us to let you re-spec out of them and into a different one. This is because it is tied to specific content for that Patron.
Because of this, hard numbers are given, in-game, about the powers and what they do before you even choose which arc you wish to partake (and will most likely be available on the website as well).

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I like this game. I play it all the time. As a rule, I think the developers know what they're doing, and have a well thought-out reason for decisions they make. They've done things that I don't always agree with, but I know they did so with the intent of making the game better.

But, they HAD to have known how upset this would make many players. Sure, they want to tell a good story, and if the patron powers are inescapably tied to it, fine. That's their decision, but I don't think it's a good one, from a game design perspective.

Heroes get access to a new set of powers when they get to 41st level. Doing a little internet research, you can find out exactly what all the Epic powers do, and which ones would probably be the best fit for your character. Later, you can change your mind and respec, if, even after all the number crunching, the set doesn't meet your expectations.

The Patron Pools, as we understand them now, break a valued precedent, and for no gameplay reason - only for a story one. That's just not cool.

Thanks. I think I'll try the 6.2 drivers with Fast Writes OFF.

I turned Fast Write off (in addition to the other tweaks you mentioned) and I've been getting lock-ups as well. Have we talked to any CoH technical people yet?

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Can Permission be set for each Storage Container?

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Probably not.

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This empowerment station sounds nice but how are smaller supergroups going to be place one? I'm not talking about cost factor so much as there isn't enough room in the basic superbase to be adding 4 X 4 rooms when try to have an Energy Room, Control room, entry room, infirmary, workshop and Meeting room (btw can we get a smaller Meeting room please?!) . How about putting this station in the Infirmary?

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This has come up already. There's no reason to think the "empowerment stations" are entire rooms, or even require anything more than the space some other easily available furniture items take up.

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So, Finishline and his mentor. Are these player created heroes? If not, why not? I know there is a contest to enter your hero to appear in a comic, but man, there are plenty of characters floating around to use....

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A while back there was a contest to feature a mentor/sidekick duo in the comic. These guys would be the winners.


Manticore is the super-impulsive member of the group. He's done something totally insane where it looked like he was betraying everybody before...

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Still on back order.

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Sigh. At least it's an answer, even if the answer is "no."

Good write up. Excellent story. I read the plaque before, but never felt it come alive like that did.

Great work!

This is a really old thread. Where'd it come from?

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Actually, the captain can be summoned with any combination of elements, but his powers will differ (for example, without "air" he cannot fly). Extented time without an element in his makeup will begin to change his personality.

In his origional incarnation, Captain Planet was created with the four elements, earth wind water and fire. The resulting personality was downright dangerous, and could not see the value in life. The modern Captain Planet has the "fifth element" of heart to add a more human personality.

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That sounds REALLY cool. I don't remember ever seeing that one.

I always thought the Outcasts were all mutants.

He's a lot older than I thought.... like 43 or so?

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Totally agree with BB here; not scaling prestige with level is RIDICULOUS. A <10 brute can go around beating the snot out of whites for at least 1 prestige per second. Granted, you don't get the big end-of-mission bonuses at the higher levels, but when 500 inf = 1 prestige, it doesn't get much easier than that.

This mean that to get a lot of prestige, your group must either:
<ul type="square">[*]Make loads of alts and repeatedly play to level 6-10, wash rinse repeat... or[*]Invite newbies like crazy, farm them for their prestige, then boot them and find some other hapless shmuck. People to scam will be in ample supply since being in supergroup mode doesn't adversely affect them at their level.[/list]
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Low-level characters don't get any more prestige than high-level ones. I don't see the point of doing this.

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To those who haven't gotten the idea, already... a crumpet is what we, in the US, call an "english muffin."

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Actually, they're a bit different. You can find crumpets in the US, if you look hard enough.

The CCG winner's hero had a great backstory. One thing puzzles me, though. It mentions the "Blood of the Black Stream." Was the writer privy to some inside information, or did they just use the name without knowing what the BotBS really is? Can I also be privy to this inside information if it exists?

http://www.cohccg.com/

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-- I know a lot of people won't agree, but I'm a little annoyed they say they're "exclusive" items when they're really not. Sure, they'll be exclusive for a couple months, but then everyone gets them.
This brings up another question, however. ...

-- If I buy CoV and add it to my CoH account, will my villains be able to use the Prestige Sprint powers from pre-order CoH?

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First issue: I'll bet that to get one of these helmets in-game without preordering involves joining the appropriate sub-faction, so pre-orderers will be distinctive by having the hats available at character creation.

Second issue: This will not happen.

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I'd very much like an angelic ring-halo. They give us Horns... a goatee and a hooked tail... but nothing to counter that.

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As is often the case, evil is the quick and easy path. If you wait 'til level 30 you can get a halo.

Violet Lullaby
Champion Server

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Why consent to a base raid? Your only opprotunity is to LOSE what you're trying to protect. The benefits must be commensurate with the risk.

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Not meaning to offend, but I don't think you understand how it works. Simply having the item in your base means that you have already consented to a base raid. If a rival group determines a time they will attack your base, you can't tell them no.

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Every other MMO has base raids and such without the need for this appointment booking system. Even SWG had the solution of bases only being vulnerable during a 3 hour window each day at the same time which is kept secret and could be altered by placing the base again.

All I'm saying is that there are far better and less silly solutions than notifying the enemy that your going to attack at a certain time.

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If done right, I don't think that an appointment booking system is any more silly than an arbitrary 3-hour window. Like I said in my previous post, the in-game description is what makes something believable or not.

What's the difference between:
"Your base will be vulnerable to attack between 3 and 6 o'clock every Thursday."
and:
"The lei line energy of this particular base spot leaves us vulnerable to attack when the stars and weather patterns are right. In human terms, this translates to the 3rd to 6th hour every Thursday"

Mechanically, not much. But the second at least gives you a mental image of why it should be.

I am sure that the in-game announcement will not read:

The Super Justice Squad would has made an appointment to raid your base on Tuesday at 4 pm.


It will be more like this:

Your base supercomputer has just intercepted a secret transmission. It would appear that the Super Justice Squad is planning to attack our base! Preliminary reports indicate that the raid will most likely occur on Tuesday, probably around 4 o'clock. All members of the Vile Injustice League should try to be there to defend our item of power!


The game is filled with things that don't really make sense within the context of the world, but are that way simply because it's a game, and not a reflection of reality. Missions and Task Forces are described by the in-game text as your contact's (and your) reaction to events that have occured. "Rescue the kidnapped So-and-So." Of course, those events have not really occured. The mission starts when your click ACCEPT MISSION and no sooner.

The development team wants the base raids to be big SG on SG battles with as many members present as possible. The only way to do that is to schedule the event ahead of time. These are real people with real lives and jobs. I know I can't drop everything to defend my SG base if it gets raided (even though my in-game hero can and would).

The in-game fudges for real life concerns will be, and always have been, given flavor text to help you suspend disbelief. I know that I'm not racing against the clock to save some lawyers (in a non-timed mission) but I pretend that I am, because it's a game, and games are supposed to be fun.