Lady Athyna

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Aside from disabling the Vet reward triggers, I'm not sure if they could have split things up without creating even more work and risking more bugs. Without knowing how integrated or modular the features are, it's tough to see if it could be done piecemeal or if it was an all-or-nothing deal.

Even if it could be released in phases, that adds additional workload behind the scenes--a lot of additional workload. Which, in turn means resourses get tied up, and other things in the pipeline get delayed, and furture schedules get slipped or have to be seriously reworked. It's a godawful mess when you start mucking with content at the tail end of a development cycle, and you don't want to go down that road unless you have no other choice. Since a delay will not adversely affect sales, and will likely only marginally affect subscriptions, there's probably not much to be gained by phasing the release just to placate the concerned subscribers (which may be only a small, though vocal group, relative to the entire player base anyhow).

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Ok... It was just a random thought.

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I might be wrong, but hasn't the time between "New issue on test" and "new issue on live" been greater than normal?

There are a number of things that, when drawn out to their maximum, can be that much more pleasurable when finally occuring. However, if drawn out too long any additional pleasure is lost as a result of the frustration.

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Yeah, but when unforseen crap comes up, would giving us one bit, then another bit, then the big bit be better than just posting on the forums and taking a break from the game itself until the issue finally hits?

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I don't have a problem with I8 being a bit late, but going from a hoped-for September date to one nearly in December is more than a bit late.

But there's nothing we can do about it, really, except to voice our concerns and hope the devs can deliver new updates in a more timely manner once I8 is out.

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What if, when it looked like it was going to be late, and let's not kid ourselves, someone knew it wasn't going to be a quick fix. When it looked like September just wasn't going to happen at all, would it have been acceptable to you (lurkers, you guys answer too, ok) if Cryptic came out and said, "I8 will be released, but we can't get all of it done. We're releasing this part now (insert something, costumes, safeguard missions, whatever isn't totally fubared right now) and we'll release the rest when it's ready."

I guess I'm playing dev-fangirl here and trying to find away that they can placate us.

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We remember when Posi said they wanted to get I8 out by September right? Who would've been ok with a slight delay, like early October?

I'm just wondering if it's the fact that it feels late or if it's the amount of time that it feels late by that's getting some of us a little frazzled.

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I... I.... I am confused.... Does this count as threadromancy? Should I sound the war horn...? This almost has the air of a last minute save, not the dark arts....

*Sits confused with her Otter Army*

=@ @=

A Hickman pet though would be seven different kinds of awesome. I would just hang out in Mercy or AP slapping him with the Carp Emote. I would of course need a carp emote. Hmmmm.... And emote of pulling out and slapping with a big wet stinky fish.... >.>

=. .=

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Uhm... err... might be my fault... maybe... not sure though...

Yasee, there's this thread down in the Training Room asking if anyone's seen the vet pets so, I... uhm... I posted a link to this thread. It made sense at the time.

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They're not an exact copy. But yes, it looks like this will be a six month delay rather than seven, as I7 was.


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Point taken....although not one I would hang my hat on if I were the devs

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Cryptic haven't lost any staff, they've taken staff on. NCSoft have lost staff, which may or may not have had an impact on QA.

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As pointed out, Cryptic has lost staff (Zeb and Shane). The "lost staff" quote was directed more at NCSoft, as support for the feeling that BOTH companies have diminished interest in advancing this game.



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Perhaps they've merely neglected to grow their staff at the same rate as the game has grown?

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Heh, you're durn tootin it's not a scientific poll. Not when the PvPers started a thread to drum up support to come over here and pad their votes...

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I'm not sure what the point of doing that is, to be honest.

Somehow I don't think this poll really matters in the long run. It's like the random polls I see on Slashdot. In that case, why bother padding? (Not a rhetorical question.)

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Not just that, but if your trying to pad the vote to any one topic, Lighthouse and Cricket are NCSoft folks, not Cryptic folks. There doesn't seem to be much point to padding anything.

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Hi gang,

I just wanted to comment that this isn't a scientific foray into poll making Cricket and I have been talking more about doing more regular Forum Polls and we put this one together to see how things would go over.

Looks like it started up some good conversation. I'm sure we will be doing more polls in the future!

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This wasn't to calculate who gets how much of a holiday bonus?

*pays EvilGeko 5 influence*

...

No, seriously, great idea. Keep 'em coming.

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OOoo! Almost forgot to mention, events! I love events. Contests on test, unannounced dev sightings... surprise stuff.

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Your favorite overall game aspect may not be listed, but please, choose your favorite from the list

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The list is incomplete.

Powers, Powersets, Builds, Leveling ... advancement, progress, unlocking new capabilites ... whatever you want to call it. To some people, like me ... that is the -content-. Its what we play for.

I'm disappointed it was overlooked.

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Like others, I suspect they picked the specific items for a reason. They've probably got a handful of ideas cooking and want some input on which one they emphasize, and an answer of "PvE combat" or "Levelling", while accurate, wouldn't actually tell them anything they want to know.

Othwerise I would've picked "Super Powers" hands down.

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Yeah... I'd have picked global friends/channels, the sk system... lots of other things. But, on -that- list... eh. I guess costumes.

Uhm...

Oh dear... decisions, decisions...

Well... Costumes. Friends and stuff isn't up there so I picked my runner up.

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what...not artists from here!?....fergettaboutit.......

...although, have to admit...would be cool. heh~

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Hmm... maybe if I'd posted this as a reply to Lighthouse's thread asking for ideas about the whole art community...

I have to admit, this would be coolness if they did it stateside as well.

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What, no Jomaro Kindred??!?

Oh well... looks like I'm staying home.

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You're in England?

Cool!

... doesn't know why yet.

Up in General, there's a thread. There's a link to the EU site and a gathering over yonder... staring GW and Ms. Lib. But that's not what killed TA... no. It was the following quote taken from the announcement.

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A host of famous comic artists will be on hand to provide one of a kind sketches of your heroes and villains in return for a donation, including John McCrea (Batman, Judge Dredd, Hitman), Phil Winslade (Spider-Man, Daredevil), Andrew Wildman (X-Men, Transformers) and Mike Collins (2000AD), not to mention Jamie Sims, Simon Davis, Dave Taylor and Mark Dos Santos.


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Good and well thought-out analysis, Cathulu, especially on the reasons that makes PvP very unpopular. It doesn't take many bad experiences in a PvP zone to make people go very negative on PvP. (And it is in the PvP zones players first meet PvP, not in the Arena, especially with the dragged-by-the-nose approach to the PvP zone contacts.)

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Just want to throw an alternate thing out there. My first PvP experience, ever, was in the arena. The day they went live, my husband and I took our level 50's and wanted to see what is was like. He was a spines/regen scrapper, I was a ice/rad controller, both 50. Looking back, I think our problem was that the two guys we went up against had been trying the arenas on test for awhile and were way more aware of how the whole thing was supposed to happen. We died... a lot. Let me think... I think it was a 10 minute match... after about 3 minutes we quit. Never went back. Hitting the rez button, running over a hill and hitting the rez button wasn't that much fun for three minutes.

And, there may have been a few bugs... I couldn't summon any Jacks after the first three died. This was back when Jack was slotted for recharge so I could have four. It just wasn't fun.

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Still, these zones are very nicely done, with lots of atmosphere. It's real fun to explore them, do the missions and collect the badges during off-hours, when you are sure to avoid PvP:ers. You are reasonable sure to be able to avoid them during primetime too, as low-populated as they are, but why take the risk?...

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Back in CoV beta, the devs announced PvP events, first in Bloody Bay. Test the zone and all that. Bloody Bay was FFA then. I didn't want to go. I hadn't tried anything remotely PvP since the first day of the arenas and had no desire to change that. Well, over on the beta forums, some folks were truly exited about these events and the possibility of the devs being in there. Who would turn down a chance to PvP a dev? Figuring it was beta, and at the very least being there would add to server load, I went.

My gods that was fun. Huge battles, sure I died, but I did more than just die over and over. I helped others win, I think I got one or two kills myself. There was more than just hitting the rez button over and over. Those events, the dev hosted, massive battles were a blast and a half. I think there was 15 instances of Bloody Bay going.

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And, shouldn't this thread really be in the PVP forum?

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Depends. Do you want just those that frequent the PvP forums to comment or do you want the General crowd? Which section has more viewing? I'd leave it here, but if you want it moved, pm Lighthouse and ask him.

I agree with the sentiment that bugs should be fixed regardless of what's bugged. The whole PvP versus badgers versus bases... I don't want to touch that. Lots of folks love different aspects of the game. I'd rather not state if any one aspect is more or less important than any other aspect.

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....

What was THAT??

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One reason why we're keeping him.

Birthday *huggles* for Jesse!

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Ask and ye shall receive.

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Heh... What's the search title? "Being HeyTiny"?

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Uhm...


Ok.

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Heh, sorry. A reference to the movie "Being John Malkovitch".

Link-fu

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No worries. Then again, I was tempted to use either Boobah or the Backyadigans as a search title before posting that link.

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Ask and ye shall receive.

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Heh... What's the search title? "Being HeyTiny"?

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Uhm...


Ok.

Ask and ye shall receive.

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... I don't want to see a scene in which Darth Vader is dancing in a pink tutu and smearing jam on himself ...

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Then sTaY oUt oF mY BRaiN!!

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Ok, we'll leave. But, the webcom that hooks into youtube is staying.

Ok, fine. Our beloved LiquidX has started a suggestion thread for new pets to be added. Come help it grow.

Red link to thread

Blue link to thread

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I don't see most people really going the extra mile to make a cool rationalization like any of yours. What we are going to see are hundreds of superheroes running around with demons fluttering along behind them for no reason other than that they look kinda cool. ... The fact is, taken at face value, these pets do not make sense and are immersion breaking.

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Yeah, but you can't really blame Cryptic for a player's lack of creativity.

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I can and will blame them for building an environment that requires creative rationalization to make any sense or fit with the previous world concept. By your logic, Cryptic could give a veteran reward of fresh fruit costume pieces, where you could turn your character into a giant flying pineapple, watermelon, or bunch of bananas, and it wouldn't be immersion breaking because a sufficiently creative player could explain it away. It's their world and they can do what they want with it, but introducing nonsense and inconsistency, and making me work that much harder to suspend my disbelief, is not a good way to keep me invested.

Heroes are good guys. Having them hang out with demons from Hell is a very powerful strain on my immersion. I can make it fit if I scrunch up my forehead real hard and puzzle it out, but wouldn't it be better if it just fit, right out of the box?

That said, I will repeat that Castle's post reassured me a lot. If all the descriptions do that good a job* of dealing with the issue, I'll be completely satisfied with VR pets.

*And it isn't even that brilliant. "It's not a real Red Cap, it's a hologram of one!" It's kind of along the lines of, "Whenever anything like that happens, a wizard did it." And yet it answers my problem quite adequately. If all the VR pets are described as "just holograms", I'll shrug my shoulders and say, "OK, fine, that works. It's weird, but it works."

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Until Castle posted the info on the RedCaps, I figured I'd just say one followed me home from a mission or something. Like one was confused or bonked on the head or something. And now it's my puppy... uhm.. err... whatever.

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Obsidius wrote:

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Yeah, but you can't really blame Cryptic for a player's lack of creativity.

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The American court system proves otherwise. Many users have sued manufacturers/providers for reasons arguably out of their control. And have won.

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This from the same court system that ruled in favor of that lady for spilling hot McD's coffee on her own lap
(looks around for the rolled-eyes emoticon)

The American court system is the perfect measuring stick for the LCD (Lowest Common Denominator).

But I digress. Pets! More discussion!

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So... you want itty bitty lawyers following you around?

Sounds nuts but hey, whatever floats yer boat.