Luminara

And they have guns and alien weapons. Unless they're cannibals, their hunger is their own fault for wasting money on weaponry instead of buying a burger. If they are cannibals, they're criminals who need to be apprehended on sight and with lethal force if necessary. Even if they aren't cannibals, they are still criminals because they kidnap other people for <OMEGA CLEARANCE: CLASSIFIED> and attack heroes on sight.

In real life, gang members don't freeze people in blocks of ice, vomit fire all over the place, have ties to the netherworld which allow them to suck the life out of someone or exhibit the ability to summon giant granite mallets out of thin air, either.

Furthermore, even in the worst areas of the United States, gang members don't indiscriminately attack everyone who comes within forty feet of them. There is no aggro code in real life. In Co*, if you're seen (and within an appropriate level range), you're attacked, period. Doesn't matter if you decided to attack first or not, those gang members are coded to attack you just for walking near them.

Paragon City isn't a real world friendly suburban neighborhood, it's a fantasy war zone, and you don't need "evidence" to defend yourself or the local populace.

Different stars. The old software had stars for posters, similar to the Jolly Ranchers we have now, as well as stars for threads.

...

Spines/* theme team, all blond, identical face and body scales, wearing skimpy swimwear and named some variation of Barbara. The Anonymous Barbs.

Go!

Jumping.

Using KB and KU on -49 enemies.

Screenshots, like amusing ragdoll positions of defeated enemies or visually appealing moments.

Playing my main, even if it's just wandering around aimlessly.

Seeing really awesome costumes or bios.

Going to a certain pool under a certain waterfall in Eden and using the /e throwrice emote, just to see if any ducks spawn.

Slowing down and checking those pay phones in Croatoa, so I can catch the Firbolg puzzling over them when they spawn there.

Sliding.

Tea parties.

Watching my TA or Archery characters in action.

Screwing around with physics-endowed things, like leaves or bullet casings.

Air dancing (strafing left and right in time, while flying) to the zone music for The Crescent in Brickstown.

Zombies.

Sitting inside things like chimneys or boxes.

If the Q1-2010 release says Co* generated $2,900,000 (number borrowed from that other thread linked in this thread), and the author believes that only 40,000 subscribers are represented...

(40,000 subscribers * $15 monthly fee) * 3 months = $1,800,000

And booster packs are $10...

40,000 * $10 = $400,000

Where did the remaining $700,000 come from?

For that matter, why would 40,000 people suddenly decide to buy a booster pack in a quarter when no booster packs were released? O_o

Am I missing something (i readily admit that i lack any real understanding of financial data... i can barely follow my monthly checking account statement)? Would pre-purchases of GR account for the $1,100,000 difference between the estimated subscriber numbers and the actual revenue (can't convince myself that the booster pack theory holds any water)? Or is that 40,000 estimate just... well, bat-poo crazy?

Then we've already moved away from "none at all", haven't we.

If that were the case, you'd be getting rained on inside stores, under bridges, etc. The server would track you and where you were in relation to the weather. It would also have to coordinate your client's weather with that of every other client in the zone, else you get the "rain here, snow three feet away, clear as a summer's day behind me" problem. And it would need to keep track, and updating clients, of the weather's movement through zones. It would be ridiculous to have a blizzard going on in Skyway City and every zone around it clear, or worse, for random weather to simply happen in random zones while adjacent zones have totally different or no weather, so you'd have to have that kind of load to add to the server, none of which can be done client-side.

And what of those persistent effects that I brought up? You know there isn't going to be rain without puddles, and you know those puddles aren't going to be there for one player and not there for the next. That's not how our developers roll.

So would puddles, and snow drifts, and wind, and obstacles which provide shelter from the weather... and the weather itself, unless it's just random rain and snow in random zones, and frankly, after the lengths I've seen our developers go through for things like power customization, the AE, Ultra Mode, new powersets and everything else they've done in the past couple of years, I honestly don't see them being so lazy and short-sighted as to do that. You should know as well as I do that they wouldn't implement a weather system if all it did was "make screen look wet in random zone X", it would be exactly as I'm describing, a persistent, game-wide system that affected multiple zones at once, left behind artifacts for players to experience (like puddles or snow drifts), followed realistic weather patterns and probably even kept track of what season it was supposed to be in the game and adjusted accordingly.

No, sir. I do not accept that weather in this game would be little more than a little icon representing a flag that turned on a shader in a zone, no different than the -50% Debt power in the RWZ. That's far too simplistic. Even if it were as simple as that to make the effect occur, it would require more resources than you're admitting to make it work properly AND not look ridiculous.

And moving in weather would still require not only tracking the player in relation to the locale, but also tracking the player in relation to the weather as well as tracking the weather in relation to the zone and world.

And the server would double-check it, and verify or correct the client. If you don't believe me when I say that you can't move one inch without server interaction, PM a developer. Whatever graphical effects would be displayed would have to be coordinated with the server, or you'd have rain indoors, snow inside missions, etc. Again, that's why people experience "rubberbanding", and powers giving the "not recharged" hum when they look like they are recharged and other anomalies, because the client was not coordinated with the server. And weather would be no different, the server would monitor the character's location, speed and direction, and the type of weather, speed and direction of the weather front, everything related, and issue corrections on any client-server mismatch. You can't do a completely client-side system in an MMORPG, it always has to communicate with a server, even if it's for no reason other than to prevent exploitation/hacking.

In this specific case, the server would have to maintain control in the same way it does with movement, at the very least, just to ensure that you wouldn't be standing in a snow drift while talking to the SG Registrar.

Power customization is one of two things, either a short series of numbers to represent colors, which is cached and called on only when those powers are used in line of sight, or a short notification to a client that Client X is using Animation Y for Power Z, which is also cached and called on only when those powers are used in line of sight. You don't see a difference in performance because those calls are rarely made. You aren't seeing hundreds of players using their custom powers within your visual range, you're seeing your own, a few when you're cruising around, a few when you're teamed, a few at the market...

Weather, however, would be a persistent, constant graphical effect. Not only would the effect be called, the accompanying sound effects would be called as well (which you don't hear on powers unless you're close, therefore impacting performance even less), and they'd be on all of the time. That will have an effect on performance.

The client always has to send data to the server. Again, the client can't allow your character to take one step, activate a single power, do anything without the server's verification and permission.

You've been mapserved, right? Can you move when that happens? Activate a power? Do graphical effects behave properly during the period between being mapserved and either reconnecting or being booted to the login screen? No, no and no. Without the server, the client doesn't work. And without sending data to and receiving data from the server, in regard to weather effects, that weather doesn't work either.

Your client updates the server constantly, even if all you're doing is standing alone inside an instanced mission in the furthest point in the game world, it's not going to make a special exception for weather. That weather would be checked constantly server-side to ensure that the client wasn't displaying it when and where it shouldn't, was displaying it when and where it should, that the correct weather was being displayed, where you were in relation to that weather, which direction you were moving in relation to that weather (because, for example, having rain coming from behind you continually when you were turning in a circle would be cheap and unacceptable) and a more things than I can think of off the top of my head.

There is no such thing as "one check, then forget it until later" in this game, with the client-server model it uses.

No, I'm not confusing anything. I said that weather would impact performance across the board, for the servers and the clients, and gave the old Hamidon raids as an example of how that would occur. The graphical effects would stress clients and cause anomalies, just like they did at those Hamidon raids, and the constant monitoring and control of the weather effects would degrade server performance to at least some degree because it would affect everyone in a zone or series of zones, just like what happened at those same Hamidon raids. I kept my initial response brief and as straight to the point as possible, rather than go into intimate detail on how a client-server model works and how a persistent graphical effect would affect both.

Just like everything else, the client keeps the server updated on what the character is wearing, including cape or no cape, type of cape, colors on cape, pattern on cape, just so the server can update other clients when it needs to. And that does impact server performance. It's a minuscule amount, certainly, but it does occur.

That "something similar" would also include the server verifying the state of the cape frequently in order to ensure that it could deliver a timely update to all other clients which requested the information.

Hello, effect on server performance. One feather on the scale.

It would impact both.

Not quite. What caused the server degradation was having 100+ players moving around and activating powers all within visual range of each other. Simply having the same number of people in the same zone, all moving and using powers, doesn't reduce server performance to the same degree. And having a single player, or small number of players, with continual graphical effects of using a lot of powers doesn't do it, either. It's a combination of proximity and constant updates on all of those clients near each other that caused that problem.

Which is what would happen, on a smaller scale, with weather. Graphical effects being rendered for everyone, server being stressed with the additional load of monitoring all of the necessary data to ensure that the effects were displayed appropriately, just as if everyone were hanging out together and spamming powers. Not as bad, because it would at least be a single effect or a limited number of effects, but it would definitely add load to the server and reduce overall performance, and it would get old-Hami-raid bad when more than a certain number of people gathered together to do something, such as participate in a Rikti invasion, or fight a GM, because they'd be adding their own load from being in close proximity and using powers to the load inherent in the weather system.

If done poorly, it could be so completely unworkable as to make the game unplayable for even a single player, because critters in this game use the same graphics for powers that we do. Even if done well, it absolutely would reduce the maximum potential number of players who could work together, because the additional load from the weather would be like adding X number of players to anything. Every zone would have to be limited in the same way the Hive was, to prevent the server from spazzing out, and keep the clients' ability to render everything within a tolerable range.

And what would be the effect of a zone- or game-wide area effect with multiple checks (player location, player direction of movement, player orientation on compass, player speed, player proximity to objects which might block the effect, effect direction, effect intensity, effect location, etc.) and displaying a continual graphical effect for everyone in the zone, in addition to the overhead from their own characters as well as other nearby players and foes?

Server, client and engine all stressed and displaying symptoms of old-school Hamidon raid behavior, that's what.

You referenced fog earlier. Fog is just there. It doesn't do anything, it's just there. It doesn't matter if you're under a bridge, or flying, or standing still with every toggle you can possible have activated, it's just there. It doesn't even actually have a graphic, in fact, it's an old rendering trick used by games to reduce graphical load by obscuring things further in the distance. It's just a gradient reduction with a set luminosity and color. Rain and snow aren't just there, they have graphics (even if they're nothing more than sprites), they have a direction in which they fall, they aren't supposed to fall under bridges, they should be obstructed by things like skyscrapers if they're properly animated and rendered to show them coming from a specific direction, etc. All of those things, and more, have to be monitored by both the client and the server, the graphics have to be rendered by the client... it's not like a setting to turn on fog. It really isn't, even if the implementation is as relatively simple as the sepia fade in Ouroboros missions.

Then they wouldn't be done at all, because they wouldn't be persistent from player to player. That was the same reason given why the Big Red Ball wasn't feasible. If they're going to do things which affect or can be affected by everyone in a zone, they want them to react and display the same way for everyone. Without server interaction, there would be nothing to tell the clients to display the same weather effects, so you could have ten people standing next to each other and experiencing ten different types of weather, which you know as well as I do that the developers aren't going to consider acceptable.

Ergo, any weather added to the game would require server resources to make them zone-wide and persistent from player to player.

Furthermore, in an MMORPG, there simply is no such thing as "have no effect on the servers at all". Everything is ultimately controlled by the server, even client-side calculations. The server checks and verifies everything the client does, and if it doesn't match, the server overrides the client. You can't even move without the server's consent, which it only gives after checking where you were when the movement command was issued, checking where you're moving to, checking your speed and ensuring that all of them match what it says is right. And if the client is wrong, you get "rubberbanded" when the server corrects the client and forces it to reset your location to where it said you should be.

So yes, even client-side weather would require server resources. When you moved, the server would have to ensure that the client was adjusting the visual effects correctly. When you zoned, the server would have to send the client the updated weather for the new destination. Et cetera, multiplied by the number of players accessing any given server at any given time. It may not have a tremendous or catastrophic impact, but it will have an impact.

Here we have Castle unilaterally vetoing a suggestion on how to change Vigilance because of the performance impact it would have on the servers. Should we ask him what the result would be of having the server perform checks on every server tick to verify player location in relation to the weather, weather pattern, weather location, wind direction, type of weather, where puddles are on streets, where snow is or isn't, timing on weather and residual effects, and so forth? I know his response wouldn't be "No effect on the servers at all". Sure, some of that information is already available, like player location in the game world, but it would have to be run through another filter, which would add to the server's load, and other information would be new, adding additional load, and it would affect performance to some degree.

Graphical limitations weren't the sole source of lag, but they were a very significant source. If that weren't true, BAB wouldn't be posting things like this (a good costume contest can pack two or three times the Hive's current limitation into an even smaller area, without performance degradation like what was seen in pre-I9 Hamidon raids. it's not simply having that many players in a confined location that reduces performance, it's having that many players activating powers and taxing the graphics engine and server that causes problems) or this.

There was a reason people were asked to show up at old Hamidon raids "naked", meaning with minimal costumes, no capes and no auras, and it wasn't because the raid leaders were horny.

I didn't say that no multi-player game had weather effects, only that there are limits to what can be done, and weather doesn't seem like something that can be done in this game, due to the complexity of existing animations and the way the engine handles them, in concert with the limits of the available hardware on both sides of the game.

There is no such thing as an unlimited budget, not even for graphical effects in a game.

What happens when you get a lot of power animations going off on the screen at once?

Things start disappearing, powers stop animating, framerate plummets, etc.

That's what I'd expect to be the result of weather in this game. And I'd rather not see entire servers start behaving the way the Hive did during old-school Hamidon raids, at least not while we still have mandatory street hunt missions in story arcs.

Single-player games get away with heavy weather effects because there's a single player, not eight or sixteen or fifty seven, so there's a known maximum number of effects that need to be rendered at any given time. Developers of those games build their weather around those limitations. It doesn't work as well in multi-player games because, while the engines are designed to support more graphical effects being rendered at the same time, there also has to be a point at which they say "no more", or the entire game slows to a crawl for everyone involved. That's why old Hami used to disappear, and powers stopped animating, and something as seemingly simple and harmless as a cape could cause the framerates of an entire zone's population of players to drop into the single digits, etc.

Additionally, the engine could be given higher limitations, but the hardware, both server and client, can't currently support them. That's why we have a fifty player limit for the Hive now, because the servers simply couldn't handle the stress from higher numbers, despite having been upgraded multiple times over the years, and the majority of the clients couldn't handle it either. Nor would offloading some or most of the work to the client be feasible, because the only people who would be able to experience the effects would be those with the absolute top of the line vid cards. That's not an option for the majority of players, and when you're working on a multi-player platform, you target the lowest common denominator, not the highest. The work involved to recode the engine for that would probably grossly outweigh any expected return on the investment.

It just doesn't seem to be feasible, or something which could be made feasible with the current state of technology. Maybe in a few years, with more advanced server hardware which can support a more robust graphical engine and faster clients with more advanced hardware and faster connections, it might be more likely. Now? I doubt it.

The problem is server timing, it affects many other powers and it may not be fixable without rewriting the relevant code from the ground up.

No.

Integration has two Regen buffs. One is a fixed 50%, which isn't affected by enhancements, the other is a base 100% which does increase when you enhance the power for Heal.

In your case, you've got Integration slotted for 108.6% +Heal, which is 96.3% after ED is factored. When you remove the Triage IOs, the enhanceable Regen buff drops down to +65.1%, and you've also lost the 4% Triage set bonus, so the total +Regen you're receiving from Integration drops from 288.3% (50% unenhanceable + 196.3% enhanced + 4% Triage bonus + 20% Numina's unique + 12% Numina's bonus) to 247.1% (50% unenhanceable + 165.1% enhanced + 20% Numina's unique + 12% Numina's bonus).

And there's your missing 40%.

You're only seeing ~1% difference on the Info tab because of the way Mids' displays information when fixed and enhanceable buffs are mixed in a power. Click on the Effects tab and you'll see the correct numbers. You can also check the Enhance tab to see exactly how much enhancements are affecting powers.

The I17 version is using the correct unbuffed-by-other-heals calculation for +Regen. Tested on my Fire/Elec scrapper last night, both with and without the Numina's unique in the game matched perfectly with what Mids' was showing me for my slotting and power selections.

Caltrops is supposed to make everything run. It has a very high mag Avoid/Fear. Unless it's immobilized, it's going to run if it's standing on Caltrops, regardless of critter type.

It comes back after changing zones.

That Clockwork face is round, youthful. Those cheeks still have digital baby fat on them, even. SHODAN's face is sharp, angular, the face of a woman. World of difference in the eyes, too. SHODAN doesn't have a look of wide-eyed wonder to her, her eyes are cunning, suspicious.

And that smile is entirely too innocent to pass for SHODAN. Not even a hint of sneering arrogance or smirking superiority.

Yes you can. APP/PPP power selection is functionally identical to pool power selection, any two powers taken unlock the tier 3 power.

Out of context? There's a good context for snide, derisive comments like "wanna-be blaster" and unfriendly sentiments toward defenders who blast? Like you were actually complimenting defenders for attacking, and I just twisted it completely around to make you the bad guy?

Yes, that has to be the answer. I "just don't get it". After over 4.5 years, after playing every AT, after hitting 50 with several different ATs, after burying myself up to my eyebrows in the mechanics of the game, after writing several popular and widely read guides, I "just don't get it".

You've also said "why should defenders be asked to do their job" (in context, buff you), and "you rolled a defender, not a blaster" and various other things which contradict that. You make snide remarks and veiled implications about defenders who attack, then you turn around and insist that it's just dandy.

In your own words, you don't want your defenders blasting when the team is in trouble, yet half of the defender primaries have limited or no means of disaster response, and of those that do, it's a gamble using them because they might result in the defender being yelled at for doing the only thing he/she could (such as Phasing foes). So what do you want them to do, stand around picking their noses?

No. Get a dog.

And you created a scrapper, or a tank, or a controller, or a blaster, or a Kheldian, each with options to improve survivability. Use them once in a while and you may find that you don't need a defender to keep you alive.

Furthermore, we create characters with the tools available. By design, AT has been relegated to little more than an identifier and a method of differentiating between strengths of effects. This is not WoW, EQ, SWG, LotRO or even the City of * of five years ago. Everyone can buff, debuff, control, deal damage, heal, tank, etc., and no-one is expected or required to fill a "role" or "job".

No, actually, they aren't. That's the kind of thing the developers expect us to do, and they encourage it. The more we expand game play by doing things differently, the more they can expand game play by challenging us in different ways and creating new and different options.

How you imagine the game would be if you were in charge isn't the way the game really is.

Or it could be someone who hasn't fleshed out a build fully yet, or someone with a specific concept which couldn't be fulfilled by any other option, or someone who realized that having 40% more base HP provided sufficient mitigation to allow him/her to work with less defensive measures, or any number of other things.

Or what I said above could apply here as well. Who are you to decide that someone who enjoys playing a blaster in melee range is wrong? Are you paying that person's subscription fee? Are you on the development team? Have you even contributed anything to this community to foster a change for the better?

Yes, I'm one of those evil, spiteful people who exercises creativity and designs characters without regard for AT. Unfortunately for you, I not only have developer approval for my actions, but I may have even inspired them.

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=114451

Kinetics Melee is coming out with Going Rogue, four and a half years after I made my Kin scrapper.

The KB discussion happens almost weekly here, and the overwhelming majority of posters have no issue with KB. Personally, I love KB, even when I'm playing melee characters. I've never heard one complaint about KB when I was in a team, not about my KB or anyone else's. I've even prevented team wipes and completely reversed disasters with KB, and ended up with numerous in-game friends as a result.

So, should we expect Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster to swing by and support your statement about players hating KB? One good myth deserves another, after all.

The tank and other melee characters will live, longer thanks to that KB, and all they have to do is hold down the W key for 1s or use a ranged power, like Taunt, Confront or an attack to regain aggro, or switch to a different target and allow the person who knocked the other one(s) back to deal with it (them). It's called "adaptability".

Players. People with brains and wills of their own, running away in different directions and not paying any attention to each other. Not critters being knocked a few feet to a completely predictable and typically easily reached location.

Broad side of barn: missed.

Or pool powers. Or temporary powers.

Traps, Storm Summoning...

That occurred seven pages ago.

Look, honest advice: talk to your teammates. I have social anxiety disorder, so it's extremely difficult for me to talk to people. But I make it a point to talk to my teammates so I know what they need or want from me, and so they know what I'm capable of doing for them. You need to do that, too. You need to communicate with your teammates. If you don't tell your defender that you want Speed Boost (there are a surprising number of people who don't), or that you'll come to him/her for Accelerate Metabolism (few things are as irritating as informing your team that it's recharged, then waiting twice as long before you can use it because some jackass was three miles away and ignoring team chat, but whined and moaned when he/she missed it), or whatever, then you have no grounds for complaining when you aren't getting buffed. Yes, there are inexperienced players who don't know what those buffs do, who to use them on, etc. Yes, there are players who get tunnel vision and forget to buff. Yes, there are players who actively avoid buffs. But by not speaking up, you are as much part of the problem as they are.

Talk to your teammates. Blowing off passive-aggressive steam on the forums won't solve anything.