Lothic

Yeah, in fact based on them being the ones on Test I assumed that when 19.5 went live that those would be the first official ones.

I look at this addition of the rare and very rare alphas sort of like how the Devs originally slipped in level 40-50 content into CoH and CoV. I think they are going to treat it as "seamlessly" as possible and semi-pretend it always existed in the game. Six months from now it'll be like there was never a time when there was only "half" of the alpha slot in the game.

They may have arbitrarily decided to wait until the non-IT types decide to shuffle into work today. But it's the guys behind the consoles pushing the buttons who would ultimately control this kind of thing. Our new weekly goal is to find out who these people are and blackmail them into starting it ASAP.

So I'm stuck at work and just have this thread to go on.
I'm assuming there was no obvious announcement of what the WTF is?
Is this thing supposed to be a mystery every week perhaps...

I called today as a strong possibility for at least a week or more and mentioned that in various posts here over the last few days.
All the evidence just kept pointing to it. Glad to see my Magic 8 ball still works.

You keep saying things like "players like goals" then turn around and try to dismiss Vet awards as things that "aren't going to alter that equation enough to matter". If they don't matter that much then why not give future awards intended for the Vet system out for "free" as you said (or as microtransactions as I said)? As long as you keep trying to have this thing both ways there's not much point in reasoning with you about this. *shrugs*

I'll conclude this line of relatively unproductive discussion with the following:

Sure the game should try to make ALL players happy to play this game. I'm just making the point (that for some reason annoys you) that as a 81 month Vet I don't keep playing this game in order to get elitist toys every 3 months. If you think you're entitled to that kind of thing that's your deal, not mine. If the game ever decided to rethink that increasingly broken system let's just say I wouldn't be bothered by that.

If you believe it's become MY crusade to see the Vet system of this game reformed into something that doesn't solidify a "have / have not" culture then I guess I'll be guilty as charged on that one. Vaguely accusing me of this (given my general posting history) is somewhat laughable, but if it makes you feel better to label me that way then knock yourself out with that.

P.S. Here's a bit of a hint for you: since I AM an 81 month Vet I can safely act as a Devil's Advocate for this issue because I know that if nothing changes I'm still going to have all the Vet toys ASAP regardless. It's easy enough for someone like me who benefits from this elitist system to be sympathetic to those who are going to be screwed by it. At least I won't ever be accused of being an intractable defender of entitlement in that regard.

As other people have said if it annoys you enough just avoid Atlas (on any server) and you'll be fine.
I spend almost no time in Atlas and I can't remember the last time I saw spam for AE farms. *shrugs*

Heh. I live in Florida, so I'm just rofling all over the place. We have 3 seasons: HOT enough to melt lead, rain, and a couple of not-so-hot weeks in January. 50ish degrees is heavy multi-inch thick jacket weather (excluding running out to the car to quickly turn on the heater, etc.). I usually never bother with pants/sleeves unless I plan on staying inside awhile.

Actually you sort of missed my point. First you discount Vet awards as things players don't care about one way or the other then you vaguely imply that they are pretty much the only thing that keep long time players playing. Pick a side with this.

If the overwhelming majority of players playing this game are NOT 81 month Vets (or even close to that) then why should the Devs keep giving those few people cool awards like the upcoming Remote Auction House award - an award that clearly more than a handful of older timers like you or me might care about?

As a 81 month Vet I'd gladly give up my elitist position of getting my horde of "goodwill" prizes every 3 months in favor of letting newer players have access to cool things that might motivate them to keep playing. I'd rather have lots of people happy to play the game to help it keep it going than have the Devs pander to a few old timers like me. The game isn't making its money off a handful of older timers like us - it makes its money off newer people who might decide to leave because they realize they have years to wait to get cool awards and decide it's not worth waiting. *sigh*

P.S. I realize you had more of an interest in the whole merged market thing but for the record I never really cared much one way or the other about that issue. Much like these Vet awards that was never a "personal crusade" of mine. It's just common sense - as time goes on the Vet system becomes more a comical bunch of things most people won't ever have rather than an enticement to keep the oldest players around. The "success" you talk about is slowly becoming a symbol of old guard elitism that this game doesn't really need.

Yeah I've never really quite understood the loose start/stop times either. I've learned over the years that things tend to start and stop more when the servers come up and down, not when any arbitrary time passes on a clock.

At this point it sounds like they are just going to let 2x run on until tomorrow when they bring the servers down to push Issue 19.5 live. That's right, that's -exactly- what I said.

Disclaimer: My prediction of Issue 19.5 going live on February 1st is based on reasonable evidence but it's just a prediction.
If doesn't happen tomorrow it'll likely go on the 8th. Enjoy.

I guess they justified the 1 hour timer because not only does it Rez you but it gives you the effect of the same set of large inspirations you get when you level up. Apparently those effects are worth an extra 30 minutes. *shrugs*

The mental image I just had of The Joker anchoring on the Weather Channel was priceless. Thanks.

Two words: colored contacts...

Yeah I think I saw those pics a while ago - I'm not going to bother looking at them again.
I think this proves a point though: even if the new guy is not perfect for the role they could have always gone with somebody worse.

And this guy won't buff up for the role as well? Please...

I ultimately really couldn't care less how this new guy exactly stacks up to any of the other actors before him but seriously do you actually think he's that significantly different measurement-to-measurement from those other guys? Do you really think they are going to be letting him look like a beanpole in a major motion picture despite what silliness JMS is currently doing to "Twilightfy" the character?

Dang, and here I thought people got worked up about who might be playing Wonder Woman.

I suppose this is just a matter of perception and perference. The "source material" they are actually drawing from appears to be many of the previous live action actors who've played the part. If you feel that none of the previous live action actors ever lived up to your mental comic book image of the character then ultimately that's your problem, not mine. YMMV of course.

My point clearly was that a guy who's got superpowers based on his alien DNA does not really have to look like a non-green version of the Hulk to be believable. As long as an actor is fit and "in the ballpark" comic book image wise it'll be doable. I'm quite sure the magic of Hollywood is quite good enough that even Paul Reubens (a.k.a. Pee Wee Herman) could pull it off if given half a chance.

Of course there'll be people (like me I guess) who'll argue that Superman would not have to be a super-huge Hercules looking guy to be believable. It's his "powers" that make him super-strong, not his basic muscle mass.

Put another way would you argue that Supergirl



has to look like Chyna



to be acceptable? I didn't think so.

They control access to the CoH universe, and that's close enough for many people posting here.

This scenario bit me last year when I was traveling and made the silly(?) mistake of trying to use my PayPal to pay for the Mutant Pack while I was overseas.

I've been paying for annual renewals of my main account for years from my home in Florida. But I happened to be in Japan for a few weeks last year and decided to buy the Mutant Pack while there. The whole thing got so messed up with the "automatic fraud alert" system that my main game account got BANNED for the better part of ten days, costing me that much Vet time for the game. I would (and should) have the 81st month Vet award right now but because PayPal screwed me over I get to wait like another week for it.

Like others have said I understand the need for NCsoft to consider the whole fraud problem. But honestly when a system can hurt legitimate customers like this so easily something ought to be done about it.