Madadh

Yes, that was pretty unwise. It was a choice I made based on relative positions on the globe, but doubtless I'll suffer for it. The fact that I'm from the EU, or personally love Fiji, both the climate and the hospitality of the folks when I visited, I expect will be irrelevant to many, I'm sure. And I'm sure many will use that as a reason to not look at the analogy as a whole and look at the sentiment intended. I clearly should have just said, "A theoretical population located appx 1/3 the distance around the globe, and with a smaller player base." Feel free to substitute that in for then, for Fiji, and then re-think about the analogy.

Why would they want to do that? If I said, "Expect things to suck for a while, a month or so," that would be a very unwise business move. Especially if the down times ended up being small or non-existent.

We may not like it better this way, but it's much smarter business.

Valid point. However, the people that are tired of hearing it, have also paid their subs and can complain about people complaining. And then others can complain, about those complaining about the complaining. And then yet more others can... Etc. You get where this is going. Nobody expects people to be happy about downtime. But complaining is really fruitless on this particular topic. So it's a frustration to have to hear it again and again. And I'm in the same boat as everyone else about being far from thrilled about yet more down time. I just realize that (after a calming breath or two) that my complaints serve no purpose, and just grate on the people that have to listen to them. That being said, I do acknowledge everyone's right to complain via this medium as much as you like. If it becomes too much for me to bear, instead of telling anyone to stop complaining, I'll just stop reading. But, bear in mind, the Dev's may take my approach, too. So pick your battles..


I pretty much said all I can on this topic above. I'm sorry you're disappointed, and yes, perhaps some folks should have been more tactful. But, it is hard for many folks (myself included) to be as tactful as might be best in situations where the complaints seem unreasonable, and unending. All of us here, I think, would love for your reason for complaining to disappear. And not just because that would mean that my downtime problem would go away, too. But I and everyone else here, is powerless to help you. So the complaints, coupled with the powerlessness to do anything about them breeds a frustration that can easily have people lose their tact, and just beg for the complaints to cease.

You are right, the forums would explode. Everyone knows the forums would explode. That is exactly why they don't schedule the maintenance for the peak time for their largest player base.
If there were a theoretical MMO you enjoyed and paid for based in Europe, that also sold subscriptions only, in say, Fiji, and the servers were based in say, Berlin, and that company scheduled maintenance in the middle of the prime playtime for the European players (in the process making local workers come it at very odd hours local time) to accommodate and demonstrate to the Fiji players that the weren't second class citizens, what do you expect the general response would be?

True, but for the most part, those people inconvenienced have already been compensated above and beyond the value of the downtime. NCSoft knew that server upgrades would be warranted in anticipation of F2P. They also knew that this would lead to downtime. I don't know for sure their reasons, but I can speculate. It was about this time that NCSoft announced that people that maintained subscriptions up to the beginning of Freedom and F2P would accrue Paragon Points even before the official system begins. So, if you've been about during the whole time you've already got at least 800 PP. Which, if purchased, have value of appx $10. Which is the equivalent of 20 days worth of sub time, more or less. The downtime, while admittedly starting to stack up, hasn't yet reached 20 total days. I think it's safe to assume and read between the lines that the reason NCSoft offered these free goodies was compensation for the problems and inconveniences that would quite likely arise during the transition to F2P. They did not, in any way, have to offer free Paragon Points prior to the launch of F2P. The very people getting those free points are the ones that are having to put up with all the downtime. I think it adds up, but I can't prove it. But, even if that wasn't the reason, regardless of why, all the folks here are getting extra value above and beyond what NCSoft had to deliver, and that is something that should at least be remembered.



30+ hours sucks. I totally agree, but as I said above, they've given everyone one of us that paid for a sub even if just 1 month the equivalent of at least 2 days (48 hours) worth of compensation. It does suck that NCSoft might have lost new customers. Perhaps you might explain that stability during a transition is the exception, and certainly not the norm. They can then try it again at no cost (and if they didn't uninstall, they won't need a huge download, just a patch, too) and see if the stability after the transition meets with their approval.. I don't know if it will or not. I don't even know if I'll be happy with the way things turn out, but I think we all know that they based their judgement on a non-standard section of time.

Well, as always, feel free to disagree.

When in doubt, I know I plan to. I will be getting the barbarian weapons though, as soon as the store isn't borked up..

Good advice, but it doesn't exactly work in all instances, but it will in many. If you buy a bundle of costume pieces, it doesn't give you an individual run down so you can't check it in this way. If you're trying to buy a specific individual piece, though, it should work perfectly as you describe (but it is still kinda a hassle).

Old Hat:
1) old-fashioned; out-of-date (note, that this doesn't mean obsolete, just not current or bleeding edge)
2) well-known or familiar to the point of being trite or commonplace

SOs are not the newest. They are commonplace. So they are pretty 'old hat' if you accept the above definition, which I found in an online dictionary (but the note was my addendum).

But, many folks do still use them. A lot of folks use them extensively in their builds, I'd wager. I don't think many folks use them exclusively, as I think the majority of players will sprinkle in a proc, or a cheap global, and a few generic IOs at the least, but that's just my guess.

I most all of my alts (and there are many) I use SOs almost exclusively while leveling up. I'll grab the Numi +Regen/+Recov and the Miracle +Recov, and a +KB protection if my alt doesn't have some other way to get it, and maybe another IO here and there, but almost all SOs the rest of the way. I think there are probably many folks that do likewise, and maybe incorporating some minor franken-slotting.

The number one method of being effective prior to end game is know how to use your sets, know how the enemies work, know how to work with (not against) your team and it's strengths. After that I'd say next is power selection, more than slotting.

That's my experience, at least.

Note: if you plan to farm via tailored missions in AE all the way to 50, that obviously changes. In order to leverage the most advantage, many folks there do IO a lot more, depending on the set they are self PLing. The best farming ATs/sets obvioujsly don't need to, but some combos really do.

If you're running Pugs, and TFs, and regular content, and solo-ing some arcs, really all you need is to know what you're doing, and SOs. Heck, if you're really skilled, DOs might be fine.

And items as an attachment in the inbox can only be claimed once, ever, too.

Yeah, I dropped the ball somehow and forgot to get the Atlas prior on one of my rogues, so I've gotta make that round trip shortly myself... I share your pain.

Yes, you certainly can, if not careful.

I think so, but am not sure.

Don't blame ya at all. I'm happy to share with the rest of the forumites the results form my experiment so you don't have to.

I didn't specifically test these, so I don't know for sure. When I bought a costume set I already had, I got no error at all. And I've spent (on things I actually wanted and didn't have) the points I used for 'testing' now, and don't feel like hitting my credit card at the moment, so I'll leave this test to others. Or I'll do it later, perhaps...

It doesn't. At least, not consistently, not yet.

I intentionally tested it. It *WILL* let you buy stuff you already have. I /petitioned it, and a day or two later, got my points refunded. That said, I don't know if they intend to fix it so that you can't in future, but for now, just be vary careful.

If you don't know if you do have it, you wouldn't know to petition, so you could easily waste points and never know. So, research carefully first before a purchase.

It does sound that way, but the game time card is a brilliant plan! Good luck if ya end up trying it.

It wasn't drastically. It was made easier (smaller enemy groups, mostly). They made some contacts easier to find. They added a hospital and a trainer in zone. And added a repeatable mission contact.

I feel that it made the zone too easy, and removed the thrill from the zone, but it was pretty dead before the revamp, so I can't honestly say they 'killed' the zone. But I for one feel like they did put it out of it's misery by removing the thrill of danger it used to have. Obviously others disagree with me, and that's fine. However, the changes certainly didn't breath a lot of life into the zone, but there sure are many other potential causes for that then revamp.

All that said, it is different, but not a lot different. They story content isn't changed at all. Don't let my opinion stop you from checking out out, though. You may find you like it a lot more.

You Sir, win!

I don't see 22 merits total for 10 minutes of missions as being = to "really isn't all that good."

What do you usually run to get 22 merits/10 minutes solo?

I'll grant that a Hero or Villain merit is a better choice, but I certainly wouldn't consider the merits as in any way bad, or even average. It seems above average to me.

The one that fits your play style. OR fills a hole in your build. Or the one that fills a hole or offers team wide synergy on the team you usually group with. Or the one that makes a good thematic choice.

There is no wrong answer. All will offer benefits in some areas. None will be drastically game changing.