Keen Stronghold

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If someone only plays the game for 3 years, why should they give a hoot about what someone that's played the game 5 years gets?

Either stay and get it, or leave and don't worry about it...

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The highest veteran rewards will be limited to few people, and it seems, to me, that it is one of the main purposes of the VR system. However, while I understand the idea of awarding long-time players, isn't 5 years enough "veteran time" that, at some point, more players will be able to get the ultimate rewards?

Knowing that I'll get rewards for being a loyal subscriber does encourage me to keep playing, but at the same time, frustrates me to know I'll hardly ever be able to get those rewards that are just announced. I'd think that setting a hard limit would encourage more people to achieve some kind of "ultimate" veteran time and cast those frustrations away.

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I suspect this sounds bitter because you're bitter.

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I am a 3-year player. To get 5-year rewards, I'd have to keep playing for 2 more years. And every time I see a new VR announced, it's still 2 years away from the moment they announce it. [u]There will be 2 years of new stuff that I'll never be able to get[u]. It's a never-ending cycle. This, indeed, makes me bitter, and I apologize for the way my comment came out. I should have stated that I'd "prefer" that VRs just stopped instead of making it a question. It would probably sound bitter either way... just not so much.

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In order to work at my current company for 50 years, I would have to stay there until I'm in my 90's. I can never and will never get that recognition. Therefore, that recognition should be abolished??

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Given the above analogy, I'm just saying that working at the same company for 50 years *could* have the same recognition as working there for 40 years. If a recognition is available at such point (50 years), what's the good of having it available to the (probably very few, if any) people that were there when the company started, since (given your example) they would probably own it themselves anyway? It does not compare very well to playing a game.

In this game, Veteran Rewards are exposed in a public way that makes everyone want to get them by being a subscriber for many years. But 5 years can already be a long time for quite some people. While it will not make people NOT play the game or stop playing it, it will cause frustration. While a hard limit will, on the other hand, upset the people who started playing the game since first beta (because they'll stop getting rewards past the hard limit), there will be less upset people if you compare the numbers to new players. If you see it in a cold way.

Personally, I don't find the 63-66 rewards awesome. I find, however, the 60-month one very appealing (travel powers at level 6). I hope I can play long enough to get it. I'm 2 years away from it, and I'm aware it can take a long time. But what if some new, uber-cool reward is announced in the future? My frustration and anxiety will just... reset back to 2 years. =P

This is just my opinion on something I find disappointing. It does not, however, makes me want to stop playing or anything. Given the current state of the game, I can see myself playing it, like, forever. I just wished certain things were different.

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I'm mostly disappointed because I was hoping that vet rewards would eventually stop at some point. 5 years seemed the best place. As it is, there's no way I can ever catch up to get the new rewards. I've been around since release, but I had no way of knowing at the time that if I stayed subscribed I'd be able to get stuff.

[u]Makes it worse when new stuff comes out and there are rewards I actually WANT, but I can't get, and will NEVER be able to catch up to.[u]

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This, emphasis mine. This will sound bitter, but can VR stop already? For many people, there are only so many years they can spend in a game, also for different reasons other than growing tired of it.

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when GR comes we won't need Proliferation. We'll be able you take whatever power and switch sides

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I thought about that for a while.

I want to play with Radiation Blast, but I don't want a /Rad Defender. A Rad/* Corruptor would be a little more interesting, but I want a Blaster with that, because I want to play with Blaster damage level. Corruptors are not the same, even with Scourge considered.

I really hope that GR doesn't "cancel out" Proliferation just because you can, allegedly, side-switch.

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I don't want COX to copy COs combat system

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Amen.

6pm EST on Saturdays.

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Energy Blast: Black
Energy Blast: Grey 12
Energy Blast: Grey 31
Energy Blast: Grey 34
Energy Blast: Grey 45
Energy Blast: Medium Silver
Energy Blast: Silver
Energy Blast: Light Silver
Energy Blast: White Smoke
Energy Blast: White

Energy Blast: Red Chocolate
Energy Blast: Dried Blood
Energy Blast: Medium Dried Blood
Energy Blast: Maroon
Energy Blast: Dark Red
Energy Blast: Medium Red
Energy Blast: Red
Energy Blast: Fire Brick
Energy Blast: Indian Red
Energy Blast: Dusty Rose

Energy Blast: Dark Chocolate
Energy Blast: Milk Chocolate
Energy Blast: Raw Sienna
Energy Blast: Darker Orange
Energy Blast: Medium Orange
Energy Blast: Orange
Energy Blast: Lighter Orange
Energy Blast: Bisque

Energy Blast: Dark Olive
Energy Blast: Medium Olive
Energy Blast: Dark Gold
Energy Blast: Dirty Gold
Energy Blast: Dark Goldenrod
Energy Blast: Bright Goldenrod
Energy Blast: Yellow-Orange
Energy Blast: Light Goldenrod
Energy Blast: Goldenrod
Energy Blast: Bark


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It would be like that in the current implementation. I personally think it would be a very stupid idea anyway, in every possible sense.

I think (my fanboi mind says "pretty sure", though) the current implementation will be changing in GR, so we can have a color-tintable effect system to make PC work in CoH. And to make sure the above quote doesn't ever happen.

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Another bugfix not mentioned: Chat Binds no longer add in the key you bound it to at the end of their beginchat text. However, standard "Press enter or / to open chat box" functionality still has a tendency to give you "wwwwwwwss dddeee/b www w ww qqqqqq" syndrome.

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I think the fix was partial. I was in Cap a while ago and still saw stuff like 11122111112<message> in broadcast. Probably someone spamming powers then hitting enter to start chatting.

Ex,

any idea of when the new pack is hitting LevelUpGames (Brazil) reseller? Like, maybe, tomorrow?

Thanks.

Got it. Thanks for the clarification.

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The information in the Combat Numbers window is generally reliable (if you know how to read it), but when you're looking at reported Recharge rates you're actually using a "Power Info" window, and those are unfortunately not always reliable, especially when it comes to things like Recharge. Just look at the reported Recharge for a power, activate Hasten, and see if the number changes (it does not). On the flip-side, [u]look at a pet power slotted with regular Recharge enhancements, and see if the reported Recharge rate changes when you change that slotting. It does, but the *actual* Recharge rate does not.[u] Basically, the Power Info for pet powers always gives false positives for Recharge slotting, so it's not in itself a way to notice that slotted Recharge has in some cases been carried over to pet powers.

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Yeah, when I slot common recharge enhancements on my Fire Imps, the Combat Window would report enhanced recharge rates for their one power. I never noticed if they were attacking faster or not, though, but wasn't it the case for LS as well? Or LS bolts were not affected by recharge slotting but only by the player's global recharge bonuses (including Hasten)? Given recharge enhancements (IOs or not) were "enhancing" (in Combat Window numbers) Fire Imps' attack rate, one would figure it would enhance LS bolts' recharge as well, which could lead to the assumption that recharge being carried over to pet powers was, in a general sense, "working as intended," and hence they could invest their bazillions of inf on slotting for recharge. The only exception would be MM pets, which powers, by design, do not accept recharge slotting, except through one purple set.

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Meanwhile, we have a long standing 'bug' that we cannot fix:

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That says it ALL right there.

I don't even play PET classes and this still disgusts me. I'm through accepting THAT answer for all the things wrong with this game, Castle.

Sorry as hell, but I'm sick of it.

Cal2

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The bug is the whole SYSTEM.

There have been quite a few things affected by limitations of the current architecture. Just to list a few:

<ul type="square">[*]Taunt auras unable to slot Taunt IOs: implemented because of a "bug that cannot be fixed." Feature is taken away from players.[*]Peacebringer Photon Seekers' reduced damage and increased radius: implemented because of a "nasty bug that cannot be fixed" (exact words here). Damage possibilities are taken away from players.[*]Last change to costume detoggling process: implemented because cast times are tied to animations (system limitation). Playability (working with binds, macros and trays reliably) is taken away from players.[*]Self-heal powers like Reconstruction don't benefit from Heal IO set bonuses because Heal's "strength" is shared with powers that increase damage and resistance (or something like it). Feature (of having self-heals benefiting from heal IO set bonuses) is denied to players.[/list]
And now we have this new "bug that cannot be fixed", which takes away the ability of players to slow most of enemy pets' recharge rates. I understand the devs' vision of taking recharge enhancing away from pets, but taking away the "debuffing" nature of this effect (recharge) is an equally nasty side effect, which does not compensate for the fact that LS and other recharge-enhanceable powers were so "broken," as Castle said the change is aimed to fix.

That said, I don't believe LS is going to get a compensating buff, ever. If the initial intention was to all pets to not inherit recharge bonuses, they are not getting changed to "compensate" for anything. It was still an error from the game designers to allow such thing for so long, and it really surprises me that they only knew about it *now*. Powers like LS, Fire Imps and such were always enhanceable with recharge and whenever it happened, the Combat Numbers window would report enhanced recharge rates for all pet powers. I do not believe the devs haven't noticed THAT, in all seriousness.

This change is not affecting me much because my two Storm characters haven't got LS yet, and I'm not annoyed by the fact that they'll perform poorer compared to the current Live build, but what irritates me is exactly how this whole SYSTEM is so limited that these "fixes" are becoming annoyingly common these days.

My only hope? CoH 2, so the current design/architecture (and all the limitations it has) can go away, and the devs can use their creativity better. Until that, we're going to have to deal with those "fixes".

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Really...much ado about nothing? The more I think about it, the more I realize that only my teleporters will see a benefit. Any of us that know the joy of Combat Jumping/Hurdle are not giving that up. I have Hasten on exactly one character and she isn't giving that up. (I hit it after Dull Pain) Hover isn't going away on my fliers.

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I find it awesome on Scrappers when you don't want the single target taunt and wants something actually useful at level 12, for example. Perfect chance to get a travel power and saving level 14 for Health, hurrying up your way to Stamina and getting cooler choices at levels 16 and 18. All that still getting the pre-requisite of your preference (Hover/CJ/Hasten).

So even picking a pre-requisite, I think it's a nice and convenient option to have.

Create a newbie, get a free recipe from merit roll, transfer recipe to another character, delete newbie, rinse and repeat.

Sell and profit.

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Suggestion: I think it would be better to reward 20 merits at L57 (1 free recipe roll), and remove the 5 merits from L60. (haven't read the rest of the thread, apologies if I am repeating)

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No way. That would lead to infinite rolls.

I was wondering if the hands and feet can be changed using the ragdoll code. They always seem to be in a default position.

(QR)

Nice. Now update the whole game UI to reflect the changes.





... just kidding!

(Although I'd like to see a revamped game UI...)

Just a follow up,

I had reports of brazilian friends who got to buy several packs through LevelUpGames a few days ago.

Thanks again!

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Wait a second...if someone is doing a leveling pact and the other is logged out gaining "rested" xp bonus. Does this eat away at the logged off character's "rested" bonus while the other plays?

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My guess is that it does not. Here's what I think it is:

When a logged off character is earning XP through the Leveling Pact, he'll be getting the "blue bars" due to being "On Patrol." Once he hits 8 days of inactivity, he'll have 10 blue bars (a full level). These blue bars just stay there and do not affect the offline XP he gains through the Level Pact.

When he logs back in (and his partner logs off), he'll have one level worth of double XP, and this amount will be split in half (edit: once he starts getting XP through normal play), thus benefiting the other (logged off) character.

If that's the way the system will work, I see people doing the "only play every other character every 8 days" to get the full benefit of this. Which is, not so big of a deal, IMO. It's just one level worth of double XP and you can only have it once every 8 days. Seems reasonable and limited enough.

Thank you for the news. I can sleep better now.

My only concern is:

Will we be still able to receive topic replies by email on a REPLY BASIS?

I mean, currently, for every reply on a topic we get one email. I really love this because I can read entire topics in my inbox (I don't care to be sent a bazillion emails/day if the topic is hot) and that saves my time going to the boards. Not to mention it works nicely for people that have trouble reaching the boards (firewall and the like).

I know all those big forum systems have a "Notify by Email" feature, but they're poor because most of them just sent a notice with a direct link, and don't send any more emails until you read the topic again. That would not work nearly as well as receiving full replies by email. Some systems will sent the full reply on the email, but they will still stop sending new replies until you view the topic again.

If the new vBulletin has the feature the same way we have currently, I approve this move.

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Our Quartet, meanwhile, is also providing +60% damage and (maximally slotted) +63.2% ToHit.

The Boys' Team doubles those, to +120% damage and +126.4% ToHit.

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If each of the "Boys" go double-assault on a 8-soldier team, that's a whooping total of 240% damage. Almost two build-ups and a half. That's what amazes me the most about SoA teaming possibilities.

But yeah, SoAs... yuck. People even said WS/PBs were better than them!

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Yuck? Try fighting a group of eight of em and say that...with +80% Base Def and massive AOE/AssassinStrikes/whatever

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Sorry, I was referring to this yuck. And apparently, my sense of humor sucks.

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Our Quartet, meanwhile, is also providing +60% damage and (maximally slotted) +63.2% ToHit.

The Boys' Team doubles those, to +120% damage and +126.4% ToHit.

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If each of the "Boys" go double-assault on a 8-soldier team, that's a whooping total of 240% damage. Almost two build-ups and a half. That's what amazes me the most about SoA teaming possibilities.

But yeah, SoAs... yuck. People even said WS/PBs were better than them!

Not exactly a reply to the above, but even non-ingame items would catch my interest in having them. Even that I'm not in North America I'd probably buy the T-shirts and whatnot if the option is given to international users.

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So, explain this to me then:

Why is okay to hand out things like exclusive bumper stickers, T-Shirts, and other items, but not in-game options like badges, costume options, or non-game affecting temp powers?

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IMO, handing out ingame items affects the game experience, may it be badges, costume options or non-game affecting temp powers. T-shirts, bumper stickers and etc, do not. Players have a desire for a costume power because it's going to make their game more fun, thus affecting their game experience.

I like the $5/power-costume idea above.

I wonder if the devs don't want to see large amounts of PPD hardsuits as players in the game, so they're giving them out in tiny amounts.

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This is a permenant version of the temporary power you can earn during the Halloween event. It simply changes your appearance into that of the PPD Hardsuit.

It is not a set of player costume pieces and it required very very little time to create as the PPD Hardsuit was already made and the power to change you into it was already made for the Halloween event.

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Even that it's the Halloween version of the costume, I'll be quite disappointed if it doesn't make its way (eventually) to those who can not attend to those events.

I -am- already disappointed and overreacting enough, but I don't want to give up hope just yet. Seems like some people are willing to -pay- for it, after all. Myself included.