Lothic

Even though I didn't mention it because I thought it would be obvious I would assume that any measure of "activity" for badges like these would NOT include any power set for auto-firing. I know the Devs are dumb about things like this sometimes but I don't think they are that dumb.

What I was talking about was the game's ability to detect "legitimate" manual button-pushing from players, an ability I was implying the game probably does -not- really have at the moment. *shrugs*

Yes -she- did have a point.

But you're right about how the Second Build feature makes dealing with this soloing situation even easier. The Vet power option has been around for years, but now that we have Vet powers -and- Second Builds the apparent need to muck around with the workings of individual powersets like Empathy is greatly reduced.

[sarcasm]
Seriously? You mean there are people who -haven't- been playing this game since April 2004?
Tell me more...
[/sarcasm]

I believe you ultimately missed my point here so I'll attempt to be a little more clear about it:

I am reasonably sure the Devs do -not- have any problem with the idea that there are some powersets which are not solo-friendly. Not every set is supposed to be easy to play. I do not agree with the idea of "tinkering" around with powersets that have been established for years just to fix a supposed problem that for all intents and purposes doesn't really exist.

I do not think the game in general would benefit from making every powerset perform well in all situations. Empathy has its strengths and weaknesses just like any other set. If you don't like the weaknesses then either don't play with the set or realize that any buffs to the powerset would have to be balanced by nerfing its strengths as well.

When I offered the solution of Vet combat powers I told you there'd be some who would not like that answer precisely because I knew full well that some people don't have access to them yet. So what? There are plenty of people who have played this game for years under the "harsh" conditions of not having Vet combat powers to help them. If you decide you really can't handle or don't like the challenge of Empathy then maybe you could put Empathy on the shelf and play something else until you do have the crutch of Vet combat powers to help you.

Buck up little campers. The game should never be nerfed to make it easier for a minority when the majority doesn't seem to need it.

As far as determining what the "appropriate" leveling speed is I would leave that to the Devs to decide.

Besides the Devs gave us the "earn no XP" option to allow us to level as fast or as slow as we want.

Well for what it's worth I believe I understand what you are saying.
I'm just not convinced the downside to this is as bad as the benefits.

I see these changes ultimately bringing a stabilizing influence to the excesses AE created.

As I understand it you'll be able to physically go most anywhere you want but you're still going to have to team up to fight high level critters wherever you go.

At this point in the aftermath of AE anything that encourages people to go to different places around the game and team up with each to do it is probably a good thing all things considered.

I agree we'll have to see how this all shakes out. But I'm not quite sure how this is leading to an "insta-50" button when the net effect of these changes will ultimately slow down the most abusive exploit-ish method of PLing in the game.

Yes some of these changes make general leveling easier, but it also slows down the "bad" ways as well so the net effect seems to be a polishing of the whole game mechanic to me. *shrugs*

I still enjoy playing this game very much and having a lifetime subscription option would be convenient to me as a player.

But as long as there's a chance that I would still be playing this game -after- I'm technically playing it for free then it would ultimately be taking potential profit away from the folks who make this game.

I like to save money as much as anyone. But I actually don't mind paying a premium for something that is actually -worth- it, and to me I feel this product is worth its continued existence for me.

If they offered a lifetime sub offer at this point (which is very unlikely all things considered) I probably would -not- opt for it. I am content paying annually as I have for the last several years so far.

Was anyone surprised by this?

I'm glad somebody got the reference I was going for.
I never knew they spoofed it on Magnum P.I. but it still counts I guess.

Basically the Devs allowed PL bridging to happen, they finally collectively said "What have we done?!?" and now they are setting about to blow it up.

There are several TF/SFs you couldn't solo anyway because you'd need multiple people to simul-click clickies anyway. *shrugs*

Well Posi did mention the possibility of reviewing current badge requirements and adjusting them for all of this accordingly. I'd be willing to bet the mentor badges are among the ones he's talking about.

For the health of this game I'm willing to accept -never- having a lifetime sub offer for it. *shrugs*

I think it will make PLing easier to set up.
But it's going to remove the hyper-huge XP advantage/exploit that bridging provided.

At best it'll be "easy to set up slow-poke" PLing instead of "hard to set up super fast" PLing.

An interesting minor consequence of this is that the only Day Job badge that will now be "level gated" because access to certain zones are restricted to lower level characters will be Predator.

Oh well, always something to look forward to.

I always wondered when the Devs were going to pull a Colonel Nicholson and blow the PL bridge in this game. Better late than never I guess...

Heh... Coincidentally enough I have both alts who "really need" animated tails AND other alts who "really need" costume-based rocket/jet packs. In fact I have one alt whose entire character concept was practically built around the presumption that we would have had jet packs years ago by now.

So I'll be very happy whichever of these two they do first.

I'd certainly agree that the Devs should prioritize which upgrades they focus on. Basically some things are always going to be more important than others. For instance that probably explains why we had to wait until Issue 16 to get Power Customization. Sure lots of people have wanted Power Customization for years, but clearly there were other more important considerations that kept it on the proverbial "backburner" until now.

People have been 'suggesting' having animated tails in this game for over 5 years now. While it can be argued that getting them is not going to make or break this game a person could also easily raise the opposite question and ask just how long are QoL improvements like this supposed to -remain- on the backburner? Is something like animated tails such a completely trivial desire that it's reasonable for the Devs to keep putting them off forever?

The problem with implying that animated tails are too trivial to ever see the light of day is that the history of this game has shown us that the Devs have been able to solve a whole series of other related animation challenges. We now have capes, trenchcoats, wings, Ghost Widow hair, buttcapes and so on that we didn't have when the game first started. Why should animated tails be the one thing our Devs can't figure out? Why should animated tails be the one thing our Devs decide not to bother with after all those other arguably "unnecessary" animation improvements?

I'm not going to sit here and say the Devs must give us animated tails or I'd consider this game to be a failure. But I will say that after years of steady improvements if the Devs were to ultimately -not- manage to offer animated tails then I'd consider it a disappointing missed opportunity at the very least. Unfortunately the Devs are victims of their own success with our expectations for this.

Here's hoping we can read something promising into BAB's slightly highlighted use of the word "IF".

Those are equally valid suggestions but they have more to do with the Devs' willingness to allow likely clipping situations than the idea of basic tail animation.

The Devs have always been mindful to prevent as much costume item clipping as possible but unfortunately that has led them to be perhaps a bit too conservative when it comes to "overprotecting" us from things we might not like. I tend to think the Devs ought to be a bit less restrictive in these situations.

The Devs should allow long tails to work with other costume items like trenchcoats and belts and let -us- decide if they look too clippy to use or not. I suspect that some of the combinations would in fact look crummy, but others would be acceptable enough to be usable.

It's hard to say if we could ever convince the Devs that we'd be willing to trade off having potentially -more- chances for bad clips into order to gain new opportunities for combinations that actually work. *shrugs*

Eh, it was either in one of his tweets or in an interview he gave recently. Either way whatever he might have said about it (or where he might have said it) doesn't really matter at this point.

You're the one who seems to want to prove this Issue -won't- go live as close to September 1st as possible to offer us Power Customization around the same time Champions Online goes live. Remember this is the same game that rushed its very short open beta to release I12 on the same day Age of Conan went live to give us the new "swords and shields" zone of Cimerora.

Why don't you go waste some time trying to prove why that -doesn't- make any sense...