Lothic

Your "extra slots" argument might have had more weight before inherent fitness. Now, with inherent fitness, I suspect there would be a much stronger motivation to gain access to a "flying super speed" despite having to slot for a tier 4 pool power to get it. The Devs limited Fly's speed on purpose to make sure Super Speed and Super Jump would remain viable alternatives against it. I simply do not believe the Devs would ever decide to change their minds on that by giving us an unrestricted power that "broke" that balance.

I've often seen this suggestion given as an alternative for Group Flight. The only problem with it is that no one ever seems to realize that the Devs will never give us a version of Fly that's as fast a Super Speed without some significant limitations. If "Hyperflight" worked as you suggested here the fact that it'd be a tier 4 pool power would likely not be "enough" to balance it.

The only way they would make a version of Fly as fast as Super Speed is if they put some kind of timer on it (i.e. only works for 15 seconds) or if they made it so it was almost impossible to turn while Hyperflying. They would do something like this to make it not quite as cool as "Fly that's as fast as Super Speed".

Basically if they ever gave us "Flying Super Speed" without any limitations then almost no one would ever bother with "Grounded Super Speed" anymore. In fact that's pretty much why Fly is slower than Super Speed and Super Jump is right now. It keeps those powers from being completely pointless.

This is pretty much what I'm planning on doing with my currently useless billions. It'll be nice to finally have some big new influence sinks in the game that'll actually give me something more than extra Prestige I don't need.

Yes I basically understood that was your point of view on this. Pretty much anyone who argues for something to be made "account-wide" in a game like this comes at it from a non character-centric point of view.

Sadly MMOs rarely, if ever, ascribe to that mindset. I'm not telling you your point of view is technically "wrong". I'm just saying that more often than not the Devs of this game are not going to favor your style of play and you're just going to have to accept that you are always going to be "fighting against the system" on this.

Well I do know it's safer to assume that "some" people probably use their iPads as their main machine of choice now instead of other computers than to assume NO ONE has done that. Basically my hypothetical case is much more likely than your statistically absolute one. Just because YOU have not seen it happen does not mean it NEVER happens.

As someone who's played "character-centric" games for well over 30 years now I still find it fascinating that there are people out there who would ever think character-based achievements would ever make sense to be made "global" across multiple characters. It almost doesn't even have anything to do with strict roleplaying - it's a mindset that runs completely counter to the fundamental player-game dynamic.

To me it's almost like asking, "If I go to college to get a 4-year degree why can't my sister who didn't go to college also have the same degree?" She can't have the same degree because guess what?... she DIDN'T go to school. It's really just that simple folks. I find myself wondering why that line of logic is really so hard for some people to grasp. Is it a runaway sense of entitlement or laziness that prompts people to believe they can have things in games they don't deserve?

It really just boggles my mind that these kinds of questions would ever pop up in a game like this.

Really? As I implied I'm still amazed -anyone- would ask a question like this. I'm all for free speech and for having your own thoughts and opinions on things but... really. Please give some thought as to why you haven't seen anyone else talking about this. The reason this subject has probably -never- come up before should eventually become completely obvious.

The only thing I find vaguely silly about attempting a no-death type Master run is that if it happens to fail (because someone gets killed) it'd be nice if the "no temp power" restriction could be lifted for the rest of the run. It's a very minor annoyance to be sure, but if everyone decides to finish the run despite the failure then why should we still have to put up with the "no temps" restriction?

Obviously I have no real expectations that this'll be changed and I'm not seriously suggesting that it should be. But I honestly think this is a more annoying consequence of Master runs than the one Ashlocke is worried about. Frankly I can easily tolerate not being able to use any "tactical death" tricks during the relatively tiny amount of time I run Master runs.

Never underestimate Apple's ability to "sell" their products. I'm quite sure there are some people out there who love their iPads so much that they would never even consider using one of those big clunky, old-fashioned "computers" (laptops much less desktops) again, if ever.

Remember Apple gears itself towards being "easy to use" for people who don't really know anything about traditional computers, so to those people their iPad is probably now their "main" machine of choice.

Yes there was that time when many people technically "cheated" the Master badges with that -1 difficulty thing. But then again many people are now enjoying the Incarnate level shifts which have pretty much "legitimized" that exact simplification of earning those badges. Imagine just how relatively easy it'll be once many people are fully decked out in all the upcoming Incarnate abilities.

Frankly the deathless Master badges are simply not going be as "meaningful" in the future the same way my 1 billion HP Empath badge is not as "valuable" today as it was a few years ago when I earned it. Many badges are simply easier to get than they used to be for whatever reasons - I see no reason why the deathless Masters would be any different. *shrugs*

I think the "deathless" Master badges and the newer Apex/Tin styled Master badges both have a place in this game. I like them both for different reasons. Ultimately I wouldn't mind if the Devs experimented with yet other different kinds of "Master" badges that involve other types of requirements. Who knows, maybe they'll even make a Master badge that requires you to die in a certain way to make folks like Ashlocke happier.

I understand some people in this game like to use character death as a "viable tactical maneuver" and obviously there's a subset of powers (such as those spelled out by Snow Globe) that make that possible. Also I can see where the no-death Master badges directly prohibit people from exercising those strategies.

But seriously, we are currently only talking about 6 badges that require you to go (briefly) deathless during their respective TF/SFs. Most people I know who dislike the deathless Master runs usually dislike them because they think making sure they don't die is too hard/stressful for them. But this is honestly the first time I've ever seen anyone complain about them because they PREVENT you from using any death power tricks. YMMV of course.

I personally didn't really enjoy the successful Masters runs I've been on while I was doing them. But I did enjoy the rush of excitement and feelings of accomplishment I got AFTER I completed them. So to me I didn't really totally love them or hate them - I just saw them as yet other badges that had to be earned one way or another even if they were a bit more stressful than I liked.

Bottomline I would never advocate that the no-death Master badges be changed or made any "easier" regardless.
I might not like them too much, but they are perfectly valid as far as challenging badges go.

Many hand-held electronic devices get invented because there's a need for them before they actually exist. Forty years ago people wanted relatively cheap/portable devices to solve math problems with so the first electronic calculators were introduced that met that need. They first cost hundreds (and even thousands) of dollars but eventually the technology for them got so cheap that they've now become virtually disposable.

On the other hand the iPad is an invention that existed on the market before most people really had a need for it. It's for all practical purposes a fairly expensive computerized toy. Now that's not to say -some- people aren't beginning to use them for serious/useful tasks and I have no doubt that as time goes on they will become more and more significant and worthwhile. I'm just saying as of today, March 2011, the concept of a "pad computer" is still mostly a very expensive and functionally limited toy.

I have very seriously considered buying one, but I honestly can't really justify it yet even though I can in fact afford one at their current prices. For the things I would use it for I can easily wait another year or two for the technology to get faster/cheaper/better. I basically consider anyone who buys them now to be my indirect "Guinea pigs" that'll help make them better for me in the future. For that service I thank you.

If the "expansion pack" for these upgrades also included a way to get many more costume slots per character (like say at least a dozen instead of only 5) I'd pay $50 for it in a heartbeat.

I don't have any serious expectations this'll happen.
I'm just saying I'd have no problem paying for it if the Devs were willing to provide it.

I agree they could maybe tinker around with the animations until they're "not exactly" like the examples given above. But I still doubt this'll happen for the same reason we will probably never get a "Newspaper Reporter" Day Job badge. Even something kind of close might get taken by another company as skating too close to copying the look-n-feel of an established character. I'm sure our Devs would rather play it safe than sorry.

I realized it would not be "difficult" to do something along the lines of what you suggest. But it would be at the very least 'counter-intuitive' for them to give us a "you got all the Day Jobs" accolade and then turn around and keep giving us MORE Day Jobs after that. We really should do everything in our power as players to NOT suggest the Devs get in the habit of periodically changing badge requirements - they already do enough of that as it is.

Besides the confusion about the SG beacons discussed in the last few posts points to the idea that adding more badges to a group after you already introduced a "have them all" type badge was problematic at best.

Yeah it was said so fairly directly in the annoucements. Besides think about it: Why would the Devs put this much effort into pushing this thing if it was just going to be optional?

I set it up last night and really had zero problems/trouble with. In fact it made things better with faster DLing and fewer shortcuts. *shrugs*

[EDIT] In fact it states it in the very first sentence of the announcement thread:

Actually it is pretty darn funny to envision our Devs as pirates with devious little Depp smiles when it comes to things like this.
Lord knows they've always treated a whole bunch of things like "guidelines" anyway.

I'm sure people will be selling cosplay versions of it on eBay by tomorrow.

Then it's doubly-amazing that I never heard of it because I love all things Python and/or British-styled comedy. I've been into things like Fawlty Towers and Blackadder for decades now. I love people like Cook, Moore, Sellers, etc. but I must admit I haven't seen much of their earlier 60s era material. I guess I'll have to track this one down then.

Actually I strongly suspect this is not a "one time exculsive" but rather something more like "we were going to toss this new aura into I20 anyway so let's make it an early preview to encourage people to try the new launcher now" deal. This was likely something everyone was going to get anyway.

How can you say no to those tall, firm mountains jutting majestically upward and those deep dark caverns leading to hidden treasures? Oh my!

Does it matter? Pick one...

Sure the LotR movie trilogy was something like 10 hours long back-to-back (and was pretty well done I might add). But there was so much cut from "source material" that they could have probably easily created another 10 hours worth of finished movie without even trying very hard.

Suffice it to say we can have have our opinions/debates on how "good" these movies are forever. But it's really hard to argue against the idea that movies based on literature are almost universally "less in-depth" than their source material. To say a given movie sucks because it's a mere shadow of its source is like trying to be upset with water for being too wet.

And let's not confuse what a good screenplay based on a bad book can do. Even the good screenplay is going to leave/edit details behind compared to the source material.

I never knew the Bedazzled from a few years ago with Elizabeth Hurley was a remake. Then again I'll bet if you dig far enough you'd find that just about everything now-a-days is a remake of something. Heck, even this Wonder Woman show itself is technically a remake of sorts.