Ironik

Just to underscore the point, Spidey's accelerated healing ability existed before Wolverine was created. I kind of think (but have no ready proof) that Len Wein was inspired to give Logan his super-healing power after writing or editing Amazing Spider-Man in the early 70s. In order to have a character who can stand toe-to-toe with The Hulk (Wolverine's original one-off appearance as "opponent of the month"), he needs either gadgets or something. It was inspired to make him heal at an greatly increased rate. But Peter did have the ability first.

I quite agree. I'd like both styles: realistic and over-the-top. I like the workmanlike approach of Katana or Broadsword, but I also like the balletic animations for Dual Blades. The gunkata of Dual Pistols is too over-the-top too much of the time. (I actually asked for a basic shooting style when the DP set was first mentioned, essentially porting the Mastermind animations over. I guess that got lost in the noise.)

Studios don't care too much about anything past the second week (or third, in some cases) because of their diminishing returns. The emphasis on Opening Day Returns is partly ego but also partly because studios receive a larger percentage of the box office on release day than on any subsequent day.

Conversely, the *theatre owners* love movies with legs (such as Avatar and Toy Story 3 this year) because they make the most money per ticket sold after the first month. During opening weekend, the studio takes in 90% of the ticket sales (on average). 12 or 15 weeks later that's reversed, with exhibitors garnering 90% of the ticket price. But how often does a movie stay in theatres for 3 to 4 months? Almost never. Even when they do, few people are attending those shows. Which is why so many exhibitors have gone bankrupt.

Well, he's 62, overweight and some have mentioned he has health problems, so... not a time for holding one's breath, I'd say. If he keels over tomorrow, there's probably enough for a 5th book, but there wouldn't be a proper end to the series.

Don't.

Martin has choked on this series and it resides in limbo. I think it's because he's intimidated by all the attention he got, but whatever the reason, he has the yips big time.

The first book was pretty good.

The second book was probably the best Fantasy novel I've ever read.

The third was disappointing -- repetitive and boring, but some of that is in comparison to the excellence of the 2nd novel.

The fourth book was one of the single worst Fantasy novels I've ever read. The characters were caught in endless loops, the story was simply mired in quicksand, and -- this is the worst part -- it's actually only the first half of the fourth book. Apparently no one was able to tell Martin to rein it in, because it just goes on and on ad nauseum.

The second book is so obviously closely edited to pare it down to its base story -- especially when compared to 3 and 4 -- that it zips, it hums, it zings, it sings. The thing rocks and rolls and charges to the end of the book. Martin later mentioned that the second was too long and his editors made him streamline it. Apparently that editorial control went out the window with the follow-ups because they are sprawling, unfocused and unnecessarily wordy.

The creators of the TV series will very soon have to go beyond Martin's books in order to finish the story. Look at this: the 1st book was published in 1996, the 4th in 2005. He's supposedly been "done" with the second half of book four for 3 years... yet it's still not out. I don't think Martin will live long enough to finish the series.

The only comment I recall is David stating specifically that Jay had taken a few days to create the tail and they added it to the Mutant pack. That was in the discussion of the Mutant pack's release. If it was remarked upon in the Art thread I missed it, but I didn't read that entire thread.

I have the completeness of agreeance on this. The downside, however, is that effort would be as large or larger than making Going Rogue.

Since CoH2 was registered, maybe they are looking forward to the next iteration of this game. Building creative and fun PvP (with the appropriate rewards built in) needs to be part of the plan from Day One. Tacking it on as was done with this game was effort doomed to failure from the outset. Either you have the rules for PvE and PvP be compatible from the beginning, or you have two sets of rules. The problem is: you can't really have two sets of rules in a game like this without annoying people who are connected to their characters.

Even on high-pop servers there aren't too many players in PvP zones. On servers like Guardian, there's no one. Good for getting badges and running around to hotspots, but not much else.

One of the key elements in FPS PvP is that when teams get unbalanced, you are automatically transferred to the other side. In a game such as CoH, I can't see how that would work. PvPers tend to denigrate RPers, but the point of "good v. evil" and "hero v. villain" is that people have chosen sides. I don't much care when I get switched from Allies to Axis in Call of Duty because it's just the same bag of hit points and same amount of damage-dealing with a different appearance. Some servers even go further and equalize all the weapons, so they don't resemble their real-world counterparts at all. All guns do the same damage and have the same number of bullets.

Would anyone, even hardcore PvPers, accept that in this game? Even in the name of keeping teams balanced? I suspect the answer is "no."

Especially since the tail does not fit thematically with the rest of the Mutant pack. I lobbied hard for the bushy tail, showing photo after photo of the kinds of characters we could use it for, and then it was apparently whipped up in a few days by Jay and added to the Mutant pack as an afterthought. That was unbelievably annoying.

It's such a basic element that can be used for so many toons, I think it should be a free costume piece.

If bases weren't so difficult and annoying to build and manage, I might investigate this. As it is, though, it's too much of an aggravating time-sink to be worth it to me.

This is the best solution, in my opinion. I lost one of the legacy faces on a character when the new ones were added, but on another character I was aware of it and never went to the tailor. Same thing with the loss of the Malaise pattern on the pants. By not visiting the tailor, I've managed to keep the pattern, even though it's no longer officially available.

Agreed.