Hertz

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Although when I had the title, I invariably got one of two responses when filming in PvP zones.

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Maybe what you need is to get a rabbit.

Someone goes into the zone and announces "I'm just here to film!" and draws all the PVPers to a part of the zone where you're not... then elsewhere, you film in peace?

They're announcing the thing early next week.

They're taking the forums down on Monday.

Coincidence?

Even — the announcement will be for an upcoming multimedia contest
3:2 — somebody will complain about it, no matter what it is
3:1 — the announcement will be for multimedia support (staff, web space, multimedia server, etc)
5:1 — the announcement will contain freem
6:1 — the announcement will be on a Monday
15:1 — the announcement will be the results for a contest we haven't had yet
50:1 — the announcement will be for another upcoming announcement which will announce what it's announcing

All bets are final.

One of my volunteers has turned in her lines. I have yet to try to clean it up and add it into the mix, so some lines might need to be re-recorded. We'll see.

The other volunteer has been preoccupied, but I hope to hear from her about this soon.

Meanwhile, I'm writing #30, and it's... complicated.

I feel at this time I should direct Stan and Lou fans to Ask Otto #6, which is a video podcast that DJ Mindscythe works up over at w00tstudios. Give it a listen, if you're German enough.

Airman, if the objective is to make certain that badges are earned then there are much easier ways to ensure that: for one, if you aren't within 4 levels of the enemy, then the "defeat" doesn't count for you.

Then you won't get level 5s earning their "defeated 100 Paragon Protectors" and you won't get level 50s street-hunting for Hellions. There will be an outcry, yes, but the solution would work without exception.

I don't know if I'd agree with most of your other suggestions, either. I'll take them one by one, but first, we must define terms. What is "higher level?" At what point do these behaviors kick in? A level 50 against a level 1, I can see that; a level 50 against a level 30? against a level 40?

What if the cutoff is (for instance) 15 levels. What if you've got a level 30 hero, and a bunch of 15s and 16s in combat. Do only half of those enemies vanish?
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1. Spawns automatically surrender.

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Surrendering will have to be defined and its terms and conditions spelled out before I fully understand this. Do you mean they just put up their hands and despawn instantly, without XP bonus to anybody?

If the enemies were half-defeated already, and a level 50 walks up, do the combatants get rewarded a partial allotment of XP for the work they did?

If an enemy surrenders does this mean it can no longer be targeted by anybody?
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2. Spawns cower in fear.

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I suppose I could get behind this, but it'd be a really cheap way to power-level people. Get a level 50 to stand nearby, and suddenly all enemies cease to attack. Your lowbie buddies can attack with impunity.

If you made it so the Fear breaks the instant a lowbie attacks them, I can get behind this.
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3. Spawns automatically run away, in fear, to the nearest door/tunnel they can find.

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Mmmm... okay. I can see this behavior. It might bog down the server too much if you were to Superspeed through Steel Canyon, dismissing every spawn in the zone, so the question is, can this be done economically without burdening the computer?
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4. Spawns attempt to fight you as best they can.

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I have no problem with this either, but if the objective is to stop the "exploit" of gaining badges without risk, then this doesn't solve that.
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5. Another possibility is that ALL spawns under your level con as 'whites" in difficulty, with no xp/influence awarded however.

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This would require that an enemy have different effective levels to different people. That level 10 Hellion wouold con +3 red to the level 7 Hero, but giant-monster white to the level 40 standing nearby. I'm not sure the engine would support this.

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I know the suprise but it really hurts not to tell ....

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Gee, that's cryptic. It's no wonder that nobody has guessed.

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<Quick Reply>
This is fantastic! I can't believe I've never heard any of these!

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You'd better start at the beginning... you might miss some of the jokes.

#30 will be in Siren's Call. I think I can get the background sound effects I need without bothering too much — I mean, it's annoying to sit in a PVP zone with all your toggles down so you can get a clean record, but I don't need that much of it. I'll just go late at night or something when there's nobody about.

So, did they win?

Suppose, just hypothetically, that I had finished Stan and Lou in Dark Astoria. And suppose that it was posted on YouTube already.

If you were the kind of person who would go listen to #29, I'd want to remind you that we skipped #28 (because my lovely volunteers are still working on recording their lines).

If you are the kind of person hates spoilers and wants to listen to them in order, stop reading now.








Are you still reading? Good. Then you must not mind knowing the plot ahead of time.

To recap the plot:

#27 Stan and Lou in Striga Isle. Stan and Lou go shopping for temp powers and pick up a Warwolf, whom Stan names George.

#28 Stan and Lou in Croatoa (not completed yet). Stan and Lou round up some more temp powers for their fight with the Guy In The Hat.

#29 Stan and Lou in Dark Astoria. Our two favorite mooks finally take on the Guy In The Hat. Do they win?

Update: I might not get the pieces for #28 together until this weekend or even later. I must wait for two lovely volunteers to record their lines now before I can put it all together.

On the other hand, Stan and Lou in Dark Astoria is complete.

The episode after next is all recorded, completed, and tidied up. I just have to upload it. The consensus so far (if any) is that I shouldn't post it until #28 (in Croatoa) is done, but heck, I might just post it to YouTube on my lunch break anyhow.

Okay, I'll record S&L #29 and greedily withhold it, laughing maniacally all the while. Well, until #28 is done, anyway.

Just an FYI to the thread: I have recorded all the voices I can personally do for Stan and Lou #28 in Croatoa. Since it might be a few more days until I can get it all put together, I'm now working on Stan and Lou #29 in Dark Astoria. The script is already written, in fact; it just needs to be recorded.

The question is, do you want #28 first and then #29, or do you care if they're out of sequence?

*whistles innocently*

Man, I can't believe that jerk hasn't posted more Stan and Lou yet. What a bum!



...what?

Did you not read the big red spiky box that popped up, the one that said "Warning! Lark's Vomit!"

Wait, no, it said, "You are adding slots to VIRTUE and you will not be able to move them!" Did you see that bit?

Forget about the lark's vomit. False alarm.

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The number of actual PvPers is small enough that this would actually have a negligible impact. However I'm ok with locking the probationary/duressed character out of comms from their native side. In fact, I'd even agree to going one step further and /Hide them when probationary/duressed.

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I don't know if I'd say that — but it does bring up an interesting question. Can a Probationary/Duressed character see /tells from the other side at all? What happens to the setting "show/hide Hero/Villain chat" under these conditions?
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/Ignore solves the first problem, and base permissions set to allow team leader's team mates solves the second.

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I dunno, I think I'd rather see a toggle for "automatically reject all cross-faction recruitment." That way you can still be invited to missions on your own side, and still get /tells from the other side (if that option is on), but selectively reject invite spam from the other side.
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I remember before TFs autoexempted the player, this was an issue. I feel that if this is implemented that as long as you are on a team with members of the opposing faction you should be allowed into the opposing zones, much like the auto exemp function works for TF/SF now.

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But then you're cutting off probationary/duress characters from doing Strike Forces or Task Forces for the other side, aren't you? That's not a very good solution either.

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Frankly, I would handle it a bit differently: instead of going automatically into the Sponsor's team, he would go into the Sponsor's supergroup at the lowest level. A Duress or Probation character must not already be in a Supergroup, and cannot be promoted above the lowest rank.


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So all SG Leaders or other high ranked charcters (e.g. base designers) are banned from these type of missions? What about those who like to keep track of how much Inf they have earned for the SG? Are they forbidden as well?

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Yes, and for good reason. Allowing access to hero-side chat channels while still a member of villain-side opens up a number of potential problems.

Join Supergroup. Get recruited for the opposing faction; enter PVP zone. Use supergroup chat to instantly tell all your SG buddies where the villains are hiding. That's the first thing that occurs to my mind — and there may be other abuses which would come to light.

You could bar the /recruited person from PVP, of course, but that just presents your same dilemma from a different camp: "so all PVPers are banned from these type of missions?"

Also, allowing any team leader to sponsor a person from the opposing side leads to spam and abuse. "Hey, look, an Empath! /recruit, /recruit, /recruit the unwilling Defender!" Making it part of a Supergroup function raises the bar — if only slightly — while giving the /recruited player a villain-side chat channel (VG) and access to base teleporters.

Temporary induction into an opposite-side SG or VG makes the transition more stable as well. If you're only on the opposite faction because of a single person who sponsors you, what if they lose connection, if they have to change a diaper, if they have to answer the phone, if there's a storm? What if your Internet goes flooie? You'd have to do the reconnect-re-recruit dance all over again.

Ah, how fickle is fandom.

For years we have taken comments like, "Gosh, you know what would make this game better? Voice! Just like that Other Game has." Now that it's coming, we get complaints of doom and assertions that voice is unnecessary and threats to quit.

Kinda reminds me of all the requests for Brute weapons over the years. Now that we're getting them, Brutes say, "Unfair! Nobody wants those! What we really wanted was Ice Armor!"

It is the nature of gamers — and people — to crave that which they lack. One day we'll have orgasmic full-sensory virtual reality MMO gaming, where you can spend 14 hours a day having fun while a computer induces your body into doing all those things in your absence that you hate, such as work, exercise, eating properly, etc., while you frolic in the virtual tropical waves with a bevy of six-breasted octuplets. On that day, all the gamers will be saying, "You know, I really miss Pong."

Excellent idea. I agree that the two-level restriction seems harsh, considering the number of level 50s who would love to visit the Other Side.

Frankly, I would handle it a bit differently: instead of going automatically into the Sponsor's team, he would go into the Sponsor's supergroup at the lowest level. A Duress or Probation character must not already be in a Supergroup, and cannot be promoted above the lowest rank.

If the player is then kicked from the Supergroup by any ranking member of that SG, they are kicked back to their home world.

This means two things:
a) you can stay on the Other Side almost indefinitely and return by hitting Quit SG, and
b) you have multiple ranking members in the SG watching over your behavior instead of just one team leader.

I would also arrange it without the insta-teleport back to the home side. Once the Sponsor cuts you off, then the next time you load and/or zone and/or hospital, you're back on your side. That way there's no free teleports — and no insta-side-switching in PVP.

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Yeah, I agree with Talking_Monkey. People need to scale back their expectations. Maybe in the future, we will get to play with some sort of map editor and place spawn points and do cool things.

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Editing spawn points? I wouldn't even get my hopes up that much; those are tied to the map segments.

If anything, I'd expect a base-style mission editor, where you can grab large rooms and plunk them down in some configuration. Hallway T branch here, Warehouse room here, Conveyor Belt room here. And that'd be about the limit of the customization I would hope for in my wildest dreams.

Actually placing the glowies and putting the hostages where you want them? I highly doubt it: you'd end up with missions that are 10,000 XP per glowie, ten of them, stacked right inside the mission door.

Actually placing the spawn points? You'd end up with missions of dozens of Easiest Thing to Herd standing in clusters of 17. And they'd be casting -Perception powers on each other. Standing next to Blue COT Crystals.

I agree: don't count on being able to design the specific location of mission items any time soon, if ever. If it doesn't happen you won't be disappointed; and if it does, you can be pleasantly surprised. It never ceases to amaze me how many players accuse the developers of "betraying them" when what happened, in truth, was that the player himself imagined something so amazing that it couldn't possibly be delivered outside the Penthouse letters.

If we can do cutscenes...

"Stan and Lou: the Mission."

That is all.

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I'm just pointing out ways in which I watch to see if names are in use. Of course they're not 100% accurate.

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That's an understatement on the magnitude of "Mission Accomplished."

Do you want to know exactly how far from certain your methods are? Let's do some math.

Assume you play 10 hours a day in a continuous bloc, and assume you pay attention so closely that you will never miss if the target name logs on. That means for 10 hours straight, you log in and stare at the chat window, don't eat, don't blink, don't go the bathroom, don't even play lest you miss their login.

Let's assume that the player you're watching plays for 4 hours/day in a contiguous bloc, 5 days a week. He's pretty active.

Let's say he's got 24 characters, each of which he plays more or less randomly on any given day, but he plays one character for all 4 hours of his time. Let's also assume he's on Hide about half the time.

Your odds of seeing that guy log in are 0.714 x 0.0416 x 0.541 x 0.50, or about 0.8% chance — and I've been extremely generous with the starting terms! Chances are very good that you do NOT meet the assumptions in the formula, never missing any time he logs in, never eating or running to the bathroom, never looking away from your Friends list.

It's more likely that you play about 6 hours a day, 5 days a week; and your target has 48 characters instead of 24; and he might play 2 hours a day, 4 days a week. Know what your odds are then of seeing him? About a tenth of a percent — if he's never on Hide! That means you could watch your Friends list for about 3 years and still only have about a fifty-fifty chance of spotting him. (We're not even going to try to calculate what happens if that player is like most — who get a character up to about level 35 and then lose interest, moving on to a new character. You might be diligently waiting for him to log in his level 42 Fire/Fire Tanker that he hasn't played since Issue 3.)

And you say your system is "not 100%." It's about as far from 100% as you could make it. As mathematical proof, the methods described are about as reliable as balancing a feather on a soap bubble.
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I would still love to hear a valid explanation for why someone who has been inactive for the entire duration of the game's life to this point deserves to maintain the names - not even the characters themselves, just the names - of any character.

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That's a strawman argument. I don't think anybody here has said that somebody who logged in once and has never returned in four years deserves to keep their names. I'm certainly not going to step up to defend an argument I never made.

I'm all for having narrowly targeted names removed from the database after a suitable delay. I've never let my subscription lapse (to date, cross fingers), so any name deletion policy would only benefit me rather than harm me, but I simply don't see the vehemence of the users here who absolutely insist that because they sent 1 email and checked 3 times for the user login, that the name they want would and must be affected by any name purge. The logic is faulty. Just do the math and you can see how faulty it truly is.

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The people who've left the game *are already the destructive force*. They are worthless in this equasion. Entirely. They who have no intention of coming back - those who freeload, are equally of zero value in this equation.

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Fair enough. How do you narrowly target a name purge only of the customers you describe without harming anyone else? That's the tricky part, isn't it?
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But a LOT of times, those names ARE NOT taken by active accounts...

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How do you know this?
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It's entirely based on the circumstance of how long they've been unpaid, unplayed, and what the likelyhood is of their return. Anyone who understands trends in things can see patterns.

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On which demographic data do you draw this conclusion? You're certain that the names people want are, without exclusion, all contained in idle accounts? How do you know this? Why would you assume this? Why would you blindly propose systems based on wild-[censored] guesses?
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People who are paying, who are good for coming back on-again-off-again (every 2 or 3 months they cancel, or lapse, but return again due to finances, etc) they're not in question here. They're not the ones who simply *never come back*.

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Then, once again, how do you design a name purge system that narrowly targets the never-come-backs without getting the may-eventually-return-agains?