LiquidX

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gratz on your promotion and good luck with lineage II

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Wait... Lineage 2 is a promotion? Geezus, I'd hate to see what they would do if they were going to demote her.

...Probably make her work on Horizons.

Man, now I hate Lineage 2 more then ever.

But good luck with whatever the future holds, Vy. We'll miss you.

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I'm gonna have to try those suggestions. I love my Ramen more then I love Taffy. And I'm a man who loves his taffy.

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Forgot the 30 seconds of pleasurable moaning that follows that quote.

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Yeah, but I really didn't think you guys would want to imagine *ME* moaning about anything.

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Something I like to do is get a pack of orientel flavored Ramen, boil ALL the water out of it, and then mix in the flavoring for a stronger taste.

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Much easier method that won't destroy the ramen: Boil it till it's finished. Strain it, but leave a LITTLE bit of water in. Apply seasoning and mix thoroughly... the very very very tiny bit of water helps to make sure the seasoning will actually mix instead of just powdering a few noodles. Done properly - Divine.

Edit: Works great for almost any Ramen... I have to admit I'm a sucker for the chicken.

Now, isn't it about time Cuppa makes an "Official Ramen Noodle Thread of Deliciousness" thread?

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I'm gonna have to try those suggestions. I love my Ramen more then I love Taffy. And I'm a man who loves his taffy.

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There are more. Ramen is like the greatest thing man ever invented. Next time you make it boil the noodles then strain it. Next take butter, garlic seasoning and some milk and stir it together. Enjoy.

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With all this Ramen discussion I just have to mention that there is an actual museum in Japan dedictated to the stuff. More specifically it's found in Sapporo, which I think is supposed to be the Ramen capitol of the world. (not to mention the fact that you can find ramen-yas (ramen shops/restaurants) all over the place in Japan.

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There are also fancy resteraunts that specialize only in Ramen. I swear, I don't know what I'd do without the ability to go into my local grocery store and get eight packs of ramen for only a dollar.

Also...

Something I like to do is get a pack of orientel flavored Ramen, boil ALL the water out of it, and then mix in the flavoring for a stronger taste.

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You know what I find funny? I made a post poking fun at the whole "5th Column was changed because of the Europeans" crap, and yet 90% of the replies have been from people thinking I was badmouthing Ramen.

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What I find funnier is that ramen isn't even European.

Maybe they don't have sarcasm on their planet and fail to notice if they're not concentrating.

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Exactly. Thats why I picked Ramen, Moose, and Penguins. None of them have anything to do with Europeans.

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In America today it's entirely acceptable to hate, and make racist remarks towards and against white people.

Europeans are almost universally whites (Caucasians).

Imagine if Liquid had stated that he hated Africans, or was even more specific, and stated he hated blacks?

This board would turn on him in a heartbeat.

There are certain groups with whom is it virtually a mortal sin to write hate speech about (Read: Gays, Blacks, Women).

Other groups (Read: Straight, White, Male) are under assault almost constantly. Watch television commercials, notice who is the butt of virtually every joke. These boards merely mimic the culture we live within. A culture of hatred, hatred of white men.

Many may argue that "Well, I can't be racist against whites, i AM white!". You can easily be racists against whites despite being white, just as much as it is possible to be a misandrist if you're male. (Although misogyny is a relatively well known word, misandry is not. Whereas Mysogynists hate women, Misandrists hate men).


That's the long comment. Here's the short one.

If Liquid had used the dreaded N Word, or even made it clear he hated those of African descent, how long do you think it would take before he was perma-banned?

Something to ponder.

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Actually, the reason people arn't in arms over my first comment in the thread is because they realized I wasn't making fun of Europeans. What I *was* making fun of were the people who, back when the 5th Column was changed into the Council, constantly blamed the Europeans for the change and Cryptic for pandering to the Europeans.

This is also why I never used any kind of hate word in my post (LIke the N word), and used three things that had nothing to do with Europeans.

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Every culture has it's heroes (and tasty snack treats). The heroes of Paragon have had many alliances with heroes of other countries in times of war and peace.

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And being good Americans, were going to bomb the hell out of them the moment their backs are turned! YAY AMERICA!

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So far we've got all non-European descended Americans pissed off, plus some blasters. In another thread, posters feverishly debate whether Koreans killed The Statesman.

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You know what I find funny? I made a post poking fun at the whole "5th Column was changed because of the Europeans" crap, and yet 90% of the replies have been from people thinking I was badmouthing Ramen.

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Manticore posted he wasn't dead.

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Mor Dev konspearesey!!!111

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It's to not offend Europeans. So many Europeans died in World War II that they refuse to show people dieing in the movies because it brings up bad memories.

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Darn Europeans. Their at fault for everything. Statesman even nerfed my pants just to appease the Europeans!

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Seriously? Wow. So that big jungle area where those white people came and dragged my ancestors kicking and screaming to this country was EUROPE?!

And that wide, open expanse where those white people came and slaughtered my FRIENDS ancestors, and hearded them into little reservations was EUROPE? And that place with the temples and all the rice fields where my other friend's ancestors came from so they could help build our rail-roads was EUROPE?

Wow, man, I had no idea Europe was so freaking big.

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Yup. All Europe. Who knew?

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Statesman is leaning over to rez him when attacked by Scirocco.


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Actually, if you pay attention, you'll notice he's just taking his wallet.

Statesman can be a real d**k like that.

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ramen eating Europeans.

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What's wrong with Ramen?

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I would LOVE to know.....

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Ramen: Choice of food for Bachelors and College Students everywhere.

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ramen eating Europeans.

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What's wrong with Ramen?

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That was my first thought too. Ramen goood

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I never said Ramen was bad. Only Europeans.

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After watching the E3 movie of CoV today I realized one thing...He was getting tossed around like he was dead, Statesmen tried to see if he was alive but was interrupted before he could...So when CoV hits the stores does that mean that Synapse will no longer be in the game and maybe that new guy will take his place. Dunno really just speculating.

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Well, I talked it over with a few of my inside sources within cryptic (Who shall be referred to as "NotPositron" and "MuggaTea"), and they stated that Synapse will indeed be removed from the game. Apparently, Germany has recently enacted laws that make it illegal to display anything with men in blue suits with white markings who's name starts with S, ends with E, and has ynaps in the middle.

...So yeah, it's all a ploy to appease those dirty penguin sledding, moose riding, ramen eating Europeans.

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Hey Raven, what happened to your logo

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avatar died for some reason... I'll have to look into it.

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*GASP!* zomg! STATESMAN NERFED RAVENSTORMS AVATAR!!!!!

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coincidentally... if the game was balanced... none of the discussions would be nessecary.

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Assuming that everyone could agree on what is and is not Balance, thus the strife. But somehow I doubt you want to listen to anything that opposes your own view on things...

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Ok... I get the fact that cryptic is new. so what? that just means they should actually listen to their customers more. And quite frankly... it doesn't appear that they care at all what we think. They "change the game for the better." shouldn't the customer decide what better is? I wouldn't be shocked at all if a mass exodous took place from that simple fact alone.

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And as Doc_D stated, how are they supposed to "listen to the customer" when even we, the customers, cannot agree on how things should be done? And at the same time, you completly ignore the many times when they *HAVE* listened to us.

1) Scrappers complained about not being usefull in groups. The Dev's added Criticals to help turn us into the boss killers.

2) Tankers complained about feeling like they HAD to take Provoke, a pool power, to be good Tankers. The Dev's added inherint taunts to many a Tanker power, as well as the Tankers own Taunt powers to help fix this.

3) Players complained about the Boss Changes and asked for a difficulty slider. The Dev's rolled back the Boss Changes, added the difficulty slider, AND set it up so that Boss's would not appear on the lowest difficulty setting, thus making missions a bit easier.

4) Players complained about how missions were worthless XP wise compared to Street Hunting. The Dev's bumped up the Mission XP gains.

5) Players complained about the lack of PvP. Devs added the Arena.

6) Martial Arts scrappers complained about the godawful animation times. The Dev's cut down most of the animation times, and completly changed the animation for Storm Kick (The worst offender of the lot).

7) Players complained about Katana animations. The Dev's completly re-worked the entire set of animations of the powerset.

8) The Dev's added Boomboxes and a "rave" for the heroes.

And many other changes and improvements have been added since the release of live. So they do listen to the players. Just because it's not always what *YOU* want doesen't mean they don't listen.

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Just checked it out and I probably won't touch it at all. Looks way too much like Lineage 2 for me to care about.

And your sword glows when you swing it?! Lame! Least Cryptic's working on the option to let us turn that stuff off.

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Dude, believe me. Guild Wars is *Nothing* like Lineage 2. It is far, FAR better then Lineage 2 could ever hope to be.

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I guess that kind of nullifies your 'everyone else' statement, though... I think there are more like us who are bringing up the topic, not just the min/maxers.

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Yeah, I really shouldn't have used "Everyone else", as that really came off as assuming that everyone else is a Min/Maxer, which wasn't intended. That was really a bad choice of words on my part.

Now, on something else you brought up about the Pen and Paper games (Like Dungeons and Dragons)... In a Pen and Paper game, the knowledge of Stats and numbers is actually less damaging then in an MMO. (Of course, keep in mind this is just my opinion.) The reason for this is because of the DM.

Unlike in an MMO, the DM can adjust the game on the fly, changing difficulty, making adjustments, and generally keeping the flow of the game. This, of course, means a good DM can prevent things from degenerating into a simple matter of who has the best stats and gear. Especially considering that a good DM can adapt to provide a fun experience for all different playstyles.

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IMHO, this is a critical mistake Statesman is making. He's so hell bent on protecting the virgin sensibilities of his "average" player that he doesn't see that there are people out there who simply want to enjoy playing the game a different way. I absolutely refuse to believe there is any negative to putting more information into the game, because information can always be ignored. But information can be consumed unless its there.

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To be honest, I believe there IS a negative to putting more information in. Because in a way, I think it actually causes people to feel like they are forced to do things a certain way. In a way, it tends to force people to "quantify" their fun. This is often demonstrated by people who enjoy themselves UNTIL they get to the forums, where suddendly they learn that they are "gimped" or "below average" as they become exposed to the numbers or the people wielding the numbers.

But I do see where your coming from, EG. The question now is how to balance the desire of those who want the numbers, with trying to keep things from devolving into a simple stat-fest.

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Let me try this again. Try to understand that I am speaking out of frustration because I was looking forward to the arena so much. After testing it out, however, I lost interest very quickly. I tested SEVERAL DIFFERENT CONFIGURATIONS of blasters on the test server before i4 came out.

**SNIP**


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Something to keep in mind is that the arena still is, and will be for some time, a work in progress. Balancing PvE is hard enough. However, Balancing PvP is downright insane if you want any semblence of fairness. At the same time, Cryptic is still "new". City of Heroes is their first game, and theres still a learning process going on. (Even after a year). I mean, heck, SoE still can't even pull off good PvP.

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If he really has quit and deleted all of his toons but one (and I wonder why he would save one anyway), why is he still here spewing his misdirected angst and hate all over the boards?

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Of course, one also has to wonder why he deleted all his characters BUT one, and not ALL of them?

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Cuppa's job is to try to make every one feel better. No matter how bad of a job the dev's will, could, or will ever do he will still play the same song.

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You do realize that CuppaJo is a woman, right?

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The dev's were never able to back up thier exaggerated claims. They were still determined to make the changes regardless. They were unwilling to admit thier claims were wrong and never posted alternate reasons for the changes.

I really do not see any other possible perception other than things along the lines of "the dev's do not care" and "the dev's ignore us".

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And what about all the times the Dev's HAVE listened to us? Such as fixing the MA animation times based on player complaints, rolling back the upgrades on Bosses AND setting it up so that bosses do not appear when playing on the lowest difficulty setting, creating the new Knockback/Knockdown system so that players like Tankers can decide if they want knockdown or turn it into Knockback if Knockbacks are slotted, adding an inherint taunt onto many tanker powers so they DON'T feel like they had to take the Provoke Pool Power to be good tankers, among other changes. Just because you don't agree with some of the changes does not mean they do not listen.

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If they ever actualy gave a reason for the changes then that would at least be something. Sure not everyone would agree with the changes still, but at least the dev's would have given a reason. Vague, unsupported "just because we think so and want to" gets the response they got.

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Actually, if you read the patch notes, you'll notice the dev's have actually started listing reasons for why powers were changed. They may not be what you want to hear, but they are reasons.

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If the dev's want more respect then they need to be the first to give it. They made the game, but we paid for it and continue to pay for it. If the dev's are going to make a change and they don't give a rip about anyone else or data then they should just say so, but giving an extremely vague answer and then presenting shoddy data to support it was horrible.

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They do give us respect. They talk to us, they keep us informed of things. And they don't ignore us like on certain other forums. Hell, Supermartin alone outperforms the entire SWG's team.

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Waiting 30, 40, 50 or more pages to respond is also extremely bad. The original regen thread count shot up fast and Bob only knows what the true count is if you count all the posts on many threads that have have been created.

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And have you ever SEEN how fast some of those threads shoot up in post counts? The Dev's cant spend all their time on the forums, and most of 'em actually post in their spare time.

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The dev's got the response they should expect when they ignore everyone.

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Seriously. Spend some time on the WoW, SWG, or Horizons forums. THEN you will know what Ignoring is. Or better yet, try spending time on any forum with Derek Smart on it.

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Making exaggerated claims, then ignoring people, then ignoring data and experience from people that obviously play the game more than they do, then presenting data that doesn't even support the claim and then going live with it can only be percieved badly.

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And yet the players arn't always right, either. Hell, if I had a penny for everytime someone claimed Accuracy was nerfed, I'd be richer then Bill Gates.

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Continualy balancing the game through nerfs only is very bad.

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That would imply that they only balanced the game through nerfs. There have actually been way more buffs then Nerfs. Not only in this issue alone, but since the game went live.

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As many have already posted it's getting old to hear from Statesman what is fun and what is not fun. Only Statesman can tell us what he thinks is fun. He may be able to tell us what his buddies, or personal think tank is fun, but he certainly can't tell everyone else what is fun for them; especially when many people are trying to tell him otherwise.
This only continues to support the notion that he does not listen the community. If many people are saying thier favorite color is blue, green or purple and he responds by saying our favorite color is red what other conclusion can we possibly make other than he isn't listening or that he just doesn't care?

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And as the head designer for CoH, Statesman has the ultimate say in things. And really, SOMEONE has to make that decision. And it certainly isn't easy when even we, the *community*, cannot agree on how things should be done. Just mentioning Powerleveling proves that.

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As also mentioned the dev's, including statesman himself, should seriouslly consider making game mechanic changes that the community wants to initiate. I know the possibility of players knowing more about how the game plays out more than the dev team would be a blow to thier ego's, but it's those ego's that can get in the way of the best changes in the game.

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And yet even the community cannot agree on things. Some love powerlevelling, others loathe it. Some go orgasmic when you mention PvP, others despise it. Some people want to run around with names like "TheHumanTampon" and "JewKiller", while some of us want to have those people drug out into the streets and shot.

And, as proven several times in the past, Statesman HAS made changes based on player input. A good example was the Knockback/Knockdown that was initiated months ago. Or the revamping of Martial Artists animation times. (Seriously. You should have seen Storm Kick before it was changed. The animation time was godawful). Or the addition to criticals to scrappers (To combat complaints that we were worthless to groups). Or the inherint taunt now on tanks.

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This is my first MMOG experience with an ever changing world and my opinion of it based on recent observation is very suspect.

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Seriously. Go play Star Wars Galaxies, Horizons, or Endless Ages for awhile. You wont believe how good you have it here.

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Because we are being forced to adapt constantly to a game with increasing dificulty.

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True, but in a way isn't that actually accurate to the heroing experience? How many times have the heroes had to deal with strange mutations (Spider-man), crippling Weaknesses (Superman), or sudden loses/reduction in abilities (Deadpool's healing factor)?

(Note: This is a devil's advocate response and not intended as an actual argument)