Hallowed

Very interesting, and very disappointing.

Looks like the example set by what happened to LH has had the effect NCSoft wanted.

Not that this is a good thing...

Yes, since GR, I have more lag (though only a few temporary map servers and one full disconnect). However, there are a ton more people playing now than have been for quite some time, and I rather suspect that's the reason.

I think he gets his rants "Le Carte" [sic], just like he wants his powers.

I think the term you're looking for is "a la carte", AA.

All kidding aside, if nothing else, it would be nice for every issue to include at least 1-5 new items for base-builders. Of course, I'd want every issue to have at least that many (ok... if I'm really honest, double that) of costume pieces first.

The perceived value of the wedding pack really depends on your ability/desire to integrate the costume parts there with other parts, not simply use them by themselves. If you only make "wedding outfits", then their value is certainly debatable.

However, for me just the "with lace" patterns for some of the female costume pieces are almost worth the entire pack. I also find myself using some of the suit options for males. Ironically, i did just use the bridal veil piece to make The Jade Bride the other day, but I feel pretty comfortable in saying she's in anything but your typical wedding-themed costume.

In certain instances, I would, as would any number of people here. There is a beauty in simplicity, especially when used as a bridging piece between more complex costume parts.

Emphasis mine.
Well, you got one thing right.

As evidenced in this thread, a lot more than just "some" people would not like it.

I will never support the removal of any costume options, even if I personally may never use a piece, or think it's ugly. No matter what the devs do, or how pretty the individual parts are, you will still have ugly-looking costumes. There is an art to making a good costume (and some of the best I've seen are very simple). Some people just don't have the talent to do so on their own.


P.S. Yes, I realize that David has already decided what his recommendation is, and that to some extent the discussion at this point is moot, but the above post is almost completely counter to my thinking.

Ditto. I've had to completely re-do characters because certain shoulder options (especially Resistance single shoulder) don't work with Robotic arms.

Uhm... good for you?
<shrug>

That's completely asinine. Anyone I see doing that will get a nice lil note, one star, and never invited to any team I'm a part of again. Heck, i'll probably report them (which is something I rarely do), as it's a clear form of harassment.

Anyone who likes the pack as is, and thinks it's worth the $8 bucks to them, should be allowed to do so with no repercussions.

Actually, I'm really enjoying the game again after a period of a few months where I played minimally. Not only that, but I purchased the GR boxed set for 4 of my friends and am re-organizing my SGs regular gaming night. So... wrong.

Which is not what I said. I said that if I continue to see content-poor and over-priced packs, then I will consider going elsewhere. The fact hat you can't comprehend that, does not make me any less rational.

Which is precisely what I'm doing. Voting with my wallet. And if this ends up being the direction the game takes, I'll be casting my permanent vote with my wallet, by giving it (well, some of the contents thereof) to someone else, who gives me better value for my dollar.

I'm not. I'm concerned this is potentially a bad precedent and how badly this reflects on the game I love. I am, perhaps, a bit irritated at the lack of communication, which has traditionally been one of the strong points of the company/game/devs.

Good. I hope you are right. But the Mutant Pack was light (compared to previous boosters) and this one is downright anemic. Bad trend.

Given that I am one of those people who will consider leaving if we see another pack like this (by which I mean too few items at a high price-point), your statement is blatantly false.

Don't assume you know anything about people's motivations and willingness to act upon their convictions.

While people are unlikely to quit over one bad pack (I know I won't), the pack, and Paragon/NCSoft's handling thereof, have already made some long-time players consider leaving (in the future if things like this continue, if nothing else). In some cases, it's the last straw, in others it's the beginning of a bad trend. For every player they lose now, or in the immediate future, as competitor's games launch, they will have to sell roughly 2 Party Packs per month to break even.

Just the fact that this release is making loyal/long-term players even think about leaving, within a month of their first paid expansion in 4 years is anything but a "good business decision". In fact, that alone puts it into the category of "marketing disaster".

Vega, thank you for the link (and the translation for those that need it). I have to ask Avatea however, why the [WARNING EXPLICIT LYRICS] was this not communicated to the entire player-base?!?

Also, quite frankly, that's simply a "we're making people aware of it" comment. Not for one moment did I (and probably most of us) think that Paragon/NCSoft was not aware of the problem.

How about something as simple as "We have read your concerns regarding this pack, both for its content and pricing, and will take it into consideration when making future packs."

I think that's the bare minimum acceptable standard. I'd obviously prefer a "We made an error in judgment in making/pricing the pack" and a promise that they will add things to it (when time permits), but I understand that's unlikely.

Also, it's not just about what I (and many others) want them to say now, but the fact that this should have been addressed a while ago.

The Devs/Marketing/Community team had ca 2 weeks and over 50 pages of overwhelmingly negative posting in the initial announcement thread that they never responded to either. PMs too.

At this point I will be (pleasantly) surprised if we get any red-name response, which is a damn shame, because Pragon has usually been very good about communicating with the player base.

Michelle, you and I usually see eye-to-eye on things, but not this time. I think the first 2 reasons are perfectly valid reasons for you purchasing. Makes complete sense to me. However, the last few?

If you don't want to see this trend continue, don't buy it. Every person who buys it endorses the decision Paragon/NCSoft made to sell us a pack for $1/emote.

The more people that buy, the less likely this experiment fails, and all they will learn is that the can, in fact, nickle & dime enough of us.

Absolutely.

I've bought everything else one can possibly buy for this game. I will not buy this, because it's a bad value and leaves a bad taste of "let's see what we can make the suckers pay" in my mouth. Reinforce that feeling in the future, and I will go elsewhere. I vote with my wallet. The decison not to buy was the first vote. The second will be the loss of a 75+mo vet, who has sunk thousands of dollars into this game. Think about what you stand to lose when you make a money grab.

I'm sorry, but this is completely failed logic. If you liked it and thought it was a good value, I'd have no issue with you buying it, however, our justification is just... silly.

Did you say "I will buy any emote-only booster pack Paragon puts out, regardless of how many emotes are in it, or what the price is?"

No?

Then what the heck are you talking about?!?

Conceptually, there is nothing wrong with an emote-only pack. If it had "enough" emotes, and ones that largely appealed to me, I might even buy it (even if I don't use emotes too much... costume parts are far more useful to me).

But releasing a pack with 8 emotes for 8 dollars is not Paragon listening to their customers. It's a bad value, and at least gives the appearance of price-gouging, which is something to be avoided at all costs.

It's commendable to want to honor your "word" and to put your money where your mouth is. But saying you would pay for something similar, does not obligate you to buying something that you yourself perceive to be a poor value.

This has already been discussed and disproved by concrete examples earlier in this thread. Stop being paranoid.

Since you seem to think that you have a point here, show me the math.

Show me how spending 4 slots on Fitness Pool powers now leaves you with a different amount of available slots than spending 4 slots on the some powers once they become inherent powers.

I actually really enjoyed that clip.

Not relevant to the discussion, but definitely amusing.

Flawed argument. If I counter with choosing Stealth, Grant Invis and Phase Shift, you now (arguably) have no reason to add more slots.

The argument/statement is that he will have less slots to spend, not a harder time making his decisions. Of course being able to add 3 more powers has the potential to make slotting decisions more difficult.

But if he spends 4 out of his 67 earned slots on powers from the stamina pool now, he has 63 slots to use amongst his Primary, Secondary, Pools and Ancillary/PPPs. And when the Fitness pool becomes an inherent, and he decides to add 4 slots to the same Fitness powers, he still has 63 spots to spend, exactly like before.



P.S. Munki, "tight build" has always had a negative connotation on these boards (e.g. "My build is so tight I have to skip this power"). Thus the change making builds "tighter" will be interpreted as a negative statement. Now, you have been very specific in clarifying that you were talking about the slots to powers ratio, but that's not the argument that was presented by others. Of course, effectively adding 3 (or 4, depending on how you look at it) more powers to every build will naturally lower that ratio, so I'm not really sure what point you are trying to make with that clarification.

I too am running a 260, and have most graphics turned up from very high to max with no problems whatsoever (other than an odd flickering in Nova Praetoria). How much memory are you running?

Yes. We all get (after respec for existing characters) free Swift, Hurdle, Health and Stamina.

All will be slot-able just like now, and this will free up another pool power set choice (as the Fitness pool no longer counts towards your limit of pool power sets). You will gain free access to these powers at lvl 1 or 2 (Castle can't remember which... but does it really matter?).