Hyperstrike

[ QUOTE ]
but find one that's successfully put a virus on OS X.

[/ QUOTE ]

Okay

If you insist

[ QUOTE ]
It hasnt been done....yet.

[/ QUOTE ]

Please see links?

[ QUOTE ]
There are 0 active viruses currently infecting OS X users.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is true, but misleading. Yes, there are zero ACTIVE viruses CURRENTLY infecting OSX users.

Why? Because after infecting a number of users, the OS has been patched to close the loopholes that they used. About the only ones that can't be closed are ones that rely on the social engineering aspect (stupid users).

As such, I stand by my original statement.

The problem is, even your terminology isn't correct.

"PC viruses"

A Mac IS a PC. It's a personal computer.
What's more, it's an x86 Personal Computer. Same platform as a "PC".

YES, the OS is a *nix-based OS. That, in and of itself doesn't make it proof against viruses. It makes them proof against viruses targeted towards the Windows OS.

[ QUOTE ]
99.99999% of viruses are written on PCs for PCs and therefor can only affect PCs.

[/ QUOTE ]

Again, this is relying on obscurity. Which is NOT "security".

The reason most of the viruses are targeted towards Windows PCs is because it's the most pervasive platform and has been studied extensively. If a virus writer wants maximum propagation, they go after Windows systems. Not because Windows systems are so much horrendously less secure. But simply because success infesting even a small fraction of them will give you a larger work base than you'll get from successfully attacking Macs.

[ QUOTE ]
Find a hacker anywhere that uses a Mac.

[/ QUOTE ]

As a white-hat, and one who has had dealings with both grey and black-hat hackers (including putting several in jail), I find this laughable.

Also, "hacker" is not the same thing as a virus author. There are myriad reasons for authoring virus payloads. Only a few of them have anything to do with the hacker subculture.

Also, do a little bit of research. There ARE viruses that propagate on the Mac platform. Several of them have actually been discovered in the wild.

Security through obscurity isn't security. It's wishful thinking.

Okay, is there the POSSIBLITY that you could get a system compromised SOLELY from playing CoH?

In short? YES.

Is it LIKELY?

In short? NO.

First, a machine belonging to someone at Pagagon would have to be compromised.

Second, it'd have to be compromised in such a way that the attacker could use it to "leapfrog" to a machine used to alter the code used for the game.

Third, the attacker would have to come in, bypassing network security restrictions, at a given time when the compromised person was in a position to make the "work" machines vulnerable.

Fourth, they'd have to modify the game code in such a way as to be non-obvious and to completely miss cursory code checks and bypass automated scanning of the code, without breaking something horrendously.

Fifth, this code would have to get by Q&A before being implemented in a patch.

Sixth, likely this code would be run across a system with a virus scanner on it without tripping the virus scan.

Seventh, the code would then be propagated by the updater to everyone, which, depending on AV solution used, could immediately begin throwing virus notices.

Eighth, it would then touch off another round of Q&A and getting AV vendors involved, to determine that it's a false positive.

There's probably several more steps involved. But I'm kinda muzzy-headed right now and the generic things I've outlined so far should give you an idea of what you're dealing with.

There's no such thing as "risk free". Anyone who tells you different is trying to sell you something.

HOWEVER, the likelihood of acquiring a virus through the game is so low as to be virtually nonexistant.

The worst you're likely to see is the aforementioned "false positive", where an AV scanner mistakenly identifies harmless code as a threat. This has happened once or twice in the last year. Usually, at worst, it takes a couple days for the AV vendors to figure out that their product is at fault and correct it.

You're talking to someone who's completely disassembled and reassembled his base countless times to get "new shiny".

I "wasted" an entire evening a week or so ago after finally being able to place an AES and getting it "just so".

Well, he could drop a few alts in there for the bonus. That could get him a decent chunk of the way there. Though, if he's dealing with only one or two accounts, that might be a bit difficult if he's involved with other SGs on his alts.

But yeah, I see what you mean (and I still remember what it was like being dirt broke prestige-wise.

IIRC, the actual conversion of inf to prestige is something like 50/1 when you are earning it. If the devs reduced the conversion rate to that level, I'd have ZERO qualms about throwing a few hundred million inf at my SG.

Or, when in SG mode, give the toon a slider to determine their inf/prestige ratio. Default is current half inf + prestige. Allow for quarter inf and 1.5x prestige. And allow for zero inf and 2x prestige.

A lot of the time at 50, most of the drops are worth more than the piddly amounts of inf you rake in per-mish anyhow.

[ QUOTE ]
is there a guide that explains everything i need or am i just supposed to know this stuff?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes

Essentially, once you outgrow the combo unit, you have to switch over to dedicated control and power units, each necessitating their own room.

Base Power items

Base Control items

So you're looking at:

Basic Generator/Power Crystal: 200,000 Prestige
Mainframe: 50,000 Prestige
Database (Probably at least two of them to exceed control of the Combo Unit): 50,000 Prestige each
Control Room 1: 100,000 Prestige
Energy Termina 1: 100,000 Prestige

Total: 550,000 Prestige

Essentially this is the entire prestige output of a single toon levelled 1-50 running missions on Heroic.

Bah. Just go play a Quaterfield. It'll be shorter...

You could always coalition with a larger group that has all the teleporters.

[ QUOTE ]
He wants to delete all level 50 characters. To prevent farming.

[/ QUOTE ]

1: Have a senseless hate-on for farming
2: Come up with half-baked idea to "prevent farming" that wouldn't
3: ????
4: PROFIT!

[ QUOTE ]
And if you wanna get into PvP

[/ QUOTE ]

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

*GASP*GASP*

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

*GASP*GASP*

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Sorry, WHAT?

(Disdain for LOLPVP: Communicated)

Good form old bean!

*Falls on floor laughing hysterically until the nice men in white coats come and take him away...again...*

Okay, here's what I've done ON my first 50 since I got him there back in October of last year.

1: Hamidon raids
2: Statesman's Task Force (And Master)
3: Rikti Ship Raids
4: Various invasions
5: Booted MAJOR behind of every conceivable type of enemy during the Anniversary event.
6: Tested the high end of my Mission Architect arcs
7: Imperious Task Force
8: Badges and Accolades I missed on the way up.
9: Ouroboros missions of arcs I missed on the way up.
10: Been an available heavy hitter when someone needs a huge brick wall (Inv/SS Tank)
11: Working on pimping my main build for ultimate scranker-dom.
12: Working on pimping my second build for max defense that rather gently degrades back down into the low 30's.
13: Worked on my SG base (my primary ALONE has over 2.5 MILLION prestige sunk into the group.
14: Worked other toons I've wanted to work. I now have another 50 blue-side, two 50's red-side, and I'm currently pushing a Controller through as many arcs as I can on the way to 50 (currently sitting on 359-ish merits on that one alone).

Lotsa stuff to do.

*Bangs fists on monitor*

Lemme in dammit! Lemme in!

[ QUOTE ]
Hyperstrike is probably thinking about the proc in force feedback, while early girl is talking about the recharge set bonus after 6-slotting with kinetic crash.

[/ QUOTE ]

Whoops. My bad! Forget I opened my mouth.

*Attempts to dislodge his own head from someplace dark and fecal-smelling*

The only problem is that the Kinetic Crash proc is malfunctioning right now.

[ QUOTE ]
Personally, I think being able to turn off experience is a inane idea. What sort of sense does that make?

[/ QUOTE ]

As has been noted, it's there to stop you from outlevelling content you want to play through.

I've used it a couple times for short periods to finish mission arcs so I could also achieve a contact's badge mission too before the contact shuts down.

And I find it odd that one of your main grips is that people who PL and endlessly farm the same mission miss a lot of the content in this game, yet you fail to grasp the genuine utility of the ability to experience more of that content before leaving it behind.

I currently have two toons who've been going through contacts specifically for mission arcs and badges. They haven't actually done any flashback missions. But, when you go through mission-review at the pillar, you see that (depending on level) they usually have between 40 and 90 percent of all the mission arcs open to them ALREADY COMPLETED.

[ QUOTE ]
I like the notion that Heroes, like anyone else, might age, or move on, or just die.

[/ QUOTE ]

I like the notion itself as well. HOWEVER, this is also a GAME. And you'd be removing a resource that I spent a huge amount of time investing in. Is it any wonder knives are coming out from under togas for this, and an "et'tu Brute?" is hovering on your lips?

[ QUOTE ]
But see, for me

[/ QUOTE ]

This is why you fail young padawan.

This game is NOT ABOUT YOU! Nobody else cares about your play style unless you try enforcing it on them. At that point, is it any wonder someone's trying to garrote you with a Gadsen flag?

[ QUOTE ]
I'm not looking to make a Uber-hero who's got every badge, and who's got ever power tweaked to the ultimate level of efficiency -- because ultimately, what then?

[/ QUOTE ]

That's nice. Other people, however, are.

Some reasons?

Better efficiency when teaming.
Better efficiency during zone raids (Hami, Ship, etc)
Better ability to safeguard lowbie heroes.
Inspiring others to step up to their level.
PVP.

I can go on.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
How in heaven's name did this even come about? What possible worth could taking people's 50s away from them serve, other than to irritate? I mean, sure, if people want to give up their 50s and say they ascended, good for them. Let them. Why take MY stuff?

[/ QUOTE ]

The OP has stated in another thread that the only reason he can't find people to team with is because they're all SK'd to 50's who are farming. The obvious solution in his mind is to delete everyone elses 50's. That way people will finally play with him.

That's some truly interesting entitlement issues in my opinion.

[/ QUOTE ]
Well, this is really the heart of the matter.

You are absolutely astute in your perceptions. I do feel farming is a problem.

[/ QUOTE ]

The problem is, the devs don't agree with you. Nor do many within the player base.

[ QUOTE ]


I do feel that removal of level 50 characters would essentially make farming obsolete.

[/ QUOTE ]

No. It won't. As has been pointed out to you, it will simply create a new "maximum" level at 49 as farmers turn off XP.

[ QUOTE ]

I have to admit, I had no idea that you could turn off experience (the idea seems ridiculous to me) and that really throws a snag in my concept.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why does it seem ridiculous? People want to continue tweaking their toons. Simply achieving 50 doesn't mean you've finished pimping your character out.

[ QUOTE ]

I felt that if players saw that their character had a limited life-span, they'd choose to make the most of that time by doing something more diverse and enjoyable. Like our own lives, they'd seize the opportunities out there, and explore more.


[/ QUOTE ]

No. You'd essentially be saying that the act of getting to 50 is a waste of time, and penalizing those who do.

[ QUOTE ]

I did post that before, because I feel that the game has dramatically changed from the first few years I played it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Nothing ever stays the same. Try harder at finding a team (or *GASP* building your own) and play the way YOU want without trying to enforce your idea of "proper play" on others.

[ QUOTE ]
It has become VERY difficult for casual players to find teams that are not Farm based.

[/ QUOTE ]

1: Nothing good ever comes easy.
2: Try harder. It's not rocket science.

[ QUOTE ]
This was not always the case. Finding pick-up-teams used to be a very easy task.

[/ QUOTE ]

There was also significantly less content in the game at the time.

[ QUOTE ]

You'd set your LFT option, create a bind expressing your interest, and look for similarly leveled heroes, offering your services. Or you'd form a team of your own, and pick up other stragglers and make a group.

[/ QUOTE ]

News. This still works. You just can't be as passive about it anymore because there are more things that can absorb random idle players.

[ QUOTE ]


That doesn't really happen any more. The majority of players, especially in the heart of the game (levels 20-40) where there's the most options for content are unavailable for teaming. They're on existing farming teams, invested in supergroups, or soloing.

[/ QUOTE ]

Again, get over your overblown sense of entitlement. There's over 100,000 people in this game. If someone doesn't want to team with you for WHATEVER reason, move on!

[ QUOTE ]


From my perspective, the only way to play in a team format, is to have an existing group of people you team with (and that's become my only recourse, teaming with a group of real life friends). I miss meeting new people, seeing their heroes, managing a new balance of powers, and hitting the streets.

So yeah, I'm sorry if I feel that I'm entitled to that. I guess I got used to it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Again, not everyone plays the same way as you. I solo a lot. By choice. If I'm forgetful, and don't set my status, I REGULARLY get team tells whenever I'm not in-mish. I also rarely have problems picking up a team whenever I want one.

Try re-reading some of the original posts pointing out that people still regularly utilize their 50's, and that this would NOT solve the problems he's having (as they're problems of HIS OWN MAKING).

The minute the devs pull something like "auto-retire" at 50, this game is done. Period.

[ QUOTE ]
<QR>

Anyone notice how the OP is avoiding the fact that we have the ability to turn off xp and we could use that feature to keep our characters at level 49.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah. Pointed that out earlier. He asked about it once, then fell back into his rhetoric again.

/lolcantteam?

"Ah ha. But even in a choose your adventure book, you still don't read the same page over and over."

No. But at times DEPENDING ON YOUR CHOICE you pass the same page again and again.

You also completely sabotage your own point.

[ QUOTE ]
books have beginnings, middles, and ends.

[/ QUOTE ]

Your proposal would remove the "end".

No. CoH is NOT a novel.

CoH is a "Choose Your Own Adventure".

Stop crying because people choose an adventure other than the one YOU would choose for them!

I'm sorry. Your analogy is broken. WAY broken.

While farming isn't the best way to experience a broad swath of content in the game, it's not required that you do that anyhow.

Also, whether you learn the rest of the game's content or not, or even learn the play efficiently against multiple types of enemies, you STILL reach teh end-game content.

As such, your book analogy fails a parity check.

[ QUOTE ]
Farming has a negative effect on the game for one very simple reason. It encourages players to do the same thing over and over.

[/ QUOTE ]

*Lex Luthor* WRONG!

Farming "encourages" NOTHING. It's merely one of several styles of play within the game. The REWARDS of farming are not "encouragement" either. Merely the byproduct of that particular play style.

The perception that farming brings things more EASILY than regular mission hopping? THAT could be construed as encouragment. However, that's not the fault of farming in and of itself.

[ QUOTE ]
As far as I'm concerned, all the proof you need is a level 31 Warshade asking other players where Striga Island is

[/ QUOTE ]

Your problem here is POWER LEVELLING by less experienced players. This is one TYPE of farming. But it is not the whole of farming. And farming is not to blame for these "pro newbs".

Please understand what you're arguing for/against here. There's already enough confusion as it is without you adding your own.

[ QUOTE ]

All your precious level 50's cease to have meaning when players who've been in the game for less than a month, and who've only explored 1% of the game content, have multiple characters of that level.

[/ QUOTE ]

And what, pray tell, is the "right" speed? Several people here took YEARS to hit their first 50. I've been playing 10 months. I have 4 (and 2 more within 10 levels of the goal).

And NO, MY toons don't "cease to have meaning". Why? BECAUSE *I* made them, not some power leveller. I played them. I advanced them. I learned how to operate their powersets. While, on the surface, this might not be visible, once I'm in-mission, the difference will DEFINITELY be noticeable.

[ QUOTE ]
But, I repeat, this was never meant to be a discussion of whether farming is good or bad. I'm presupposing that it IS bad, and based on that assumption, I'm suggesting a possible resolution.

[/ QUOTE ]

Again, your assumptions are WRONG. The devs do NOT have a problem with farming. They don't particularly care that the game is played that way, but they aren't looking to kill farming. What they're looking to do is kill EXPLOIT farming. Their problem is with the EXPLOITS portion, not the farm portion of the equation.

This has already been said in the past. It's been repeated ad nauseam. A few seconds of searching, even on this forum's broken search utility, would have turned this up.

Stop shopping around a "solution" for a "problem" that isn't.

[ QUOTE ]
Well, this shows a pretty limited view of the game.

[/ QUOTE ]

No. This shows that some people want a choice between characters and myriad levels of the game. Including their L50 world-beaters.