Manoa

Oh yes!! Pretty please with a cherry on top!!

/em beg

P.S. See ya in Austin Neutra!

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Poison_Pill wrote:

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I'm going into severe withdrawal.

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No Heroes, no Battlestar Galactica, no Stan and Lou... <twitch twitch>

--NT

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Yeah, it's been a pretty dull summer entertainment-wise!

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From what we've been told by the rednames posting here, it seems to me that they *have* come up with a solution that they feel works best for their customers, and makes good business sense; e.g. not alienating potential returning customers needlessly.

It may not be the solution that you think works best for you, *personally*, but they do have a business to run, after all. IMO, the solution they've chosen is a good compromise between doing something nice and helpful for their existing customer base, and possibly discouraging returning customers.

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Look, I do understand that Cryptic and NCsoft have a business to run and that the name policy that will be going into effect is that they feel is the best solution for their customers (existing or returning). Some customers feel otherwise and have suggested solutions that they think may work better...that's okay too. There's nothing wrong with a difference of opinion. Everyone's got an opinion and the purpose of this thread is to discuss what customers think of the new policy.

What I don't think is good for the community (and what I've been seeing a lot of in this thread) is people who are calling those who have a difference of opinion "unimaginative" and "uncreative" (which I feel is the equivalent of name-calling). The purpose of the statement that you quoted was to help support my arguement against the name-calling. Please read the entire arguement as a whole, not just a portion of it!

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I did read it, but I felt it was not particularly relevant for the point I was making.

Name calling aside, aren't you contending that your suggestion "could better serve Cryptic's and NCsoft's customers" than the policy that NCSoft has chosen?

I'd argue that although expanding the rename policy to higher-level characters might be a marginal QoL improvement for current customers, the fact that it also might alienate potential returning customers makes it a bad bargain for NCSoft.

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Personally, I think the name policy is a good start and I contend that my suggestion is something that NCsoft could consider in the future should the need arise for freeing up more names. Would my suggestion better serve the playerbase...heck if I know! But again the purpose of this thread is to hear player opinion...so I gave my concerns regarding the current policy (quality of names vs. quantity) and gave a suggestion on a name policy that I would be comfortable with seeing.

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Just because someone thinks that the new policy is too lax does not indicate a lack of creativity and imagination. I think in some cases, it's quite the contrary...these individuals have the creativity and imagination to think outside of the box and come up with a different solution that could better serve Cryptic's and NCsoft's customers.

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From what we've been told by the rednames posting here, it seems to me that they *have* come up with a solution that they feel works best for their customers, and makes good business sense; e.g. not alienating potential returning customers needlessly.

It may not be the solution that you think works best for you, *personally*, but they do have a business to run, after all. IMO, the solution they've chosen is a good compromise between doing something nice and helpful for their existing customer base, and possibly discouraging returning customers.

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Look, I do understand that Cryptic and NCsoft have a business to run and that the name policy that will be going into effect is that they feel is the best solution for their customers (existing or returning). Some customers feel otherwise and have suggested solutions that they think may work better...that's okay too. There's nothing wrong with a difference of opinion. Everyone's got an opinion and the purpose of this thread is to discuss what customers think of the new policy.

What I don't think is good for the community (and what I've been seeing a lot of in this thread) is people who are calling those who have a difference of opinion "unimaginative" and "uncreative" (which I feel is the equivalent of name-calling). The purpose of the statement that you quoted was to help support my arguement against the name-calling. Please read the entire arguement as a whole, not just a portion of it!

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Any argument involving the quality of the names being freed is silly, in all honesty. One man's quality is another man's trash. If your definition of "quality" is merely only the names that you, in particular, want, and can't have at the moment, then the name-purge process would most likely disappoint you, no matter what level the cut off is, or how long the grace period is, or whatever other stipulation they might decide to place on it. Stop bringing in subjectivity into this.

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I don't know about everyone else, but when I refer to quality I'm referring to names that have numbers, letters or punctuation that don't make sense because the person who held the name couldn't get the name they wanted otherwise. A couple examples of what I would consider poor quality names include...

lceman (lower case "l" used instead of an upper case "I")
Iceman. or Iceman' or 'Iceman, etc (inclusion of punctuation)
Iceman123 (inclusion of numbers)
lceman123. (combination of above examples)

My biggest fear is that the name purge may just end up freeing up a bunch of "workaround" names and not enough "non-workaround" names. Sure, another person's junk is another person's treasure...but how many people would consider lceman123. "treasure?"

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I don't think the policy is unreasonable. I do think that anybody that thinks names are scarce is just being unimaginative.


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QFT

On my 10-15 toons If a name I was going for is taken, it isusually because it is a blatantly obvious name that suits the power sets. Once I got past that and started being creative with my names I have had no trouble with them being taken at all.

I think the people really getting worked up over this are the ones that are so imaginitive that throwing a . in their name is a viable solution.

I am so glad that I come up with names that I won't see several people running around with . versions of them

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I think that calling those people who feel that the new name change policy "unimaginative" is pretty unfair. How do you know that they have a lack creativity? How can you even speculate that they are the ones who are putting "." in their characters' names? Perhaps they just disagree with the policy because they feel that Cryptic and NCsoft should give priority to actively paying customers instead basing their policy on a hope and a prayer that an inacctive accountholder will return (among other reasons).

Just because someone thinks that the new policy is too lax does not indicate a lack of creativity and imagination. I think in some cases, it's quite the contrary...these individuals have the creativity and imagination to think outside of the box and come up with a different solution that could better serve Cryptic's and NCsoft's customers.

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Why lvl 6?

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Level 5 and below is affected because it is the least intrusive to our player base but nets the greatest number of names.

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I think my biggest concern with only freeing up only the names of characters Level 5 and below is the quality of names that will be yielded. Sure there are a lot of names...but is there going to be a decent amount of good quality names that will be yielded? Or is it going to yield a bunch of names with punctuation and/or numbers that doesn't make sense?

I too am in favor of a tiered system for the character name policy. To me, it doesn't make a lot of sense to give name priority to someone that's been inactive for a long period to time instead of a player who is an actively paying customer. Say for example you have an account that has been inactive since the time I2 went live (assuming they signed up at the time of the game's launch), this person was a paying customer for only around 2 1/2 months and has inactive for nearly three years! It boggles my mind why this person should be given priorty in name choice verses someone who is a current paying customer.

I will say that I feel that some of the suggestions for tiered character name policies are perhaps a tad bit too harsh. I'm of the opinion that if a tiered policy was put into place, the time increments should be exponential (so the time increments required to loose a higher level character is much longer than the time increments required to loose a lower level character).

I also think that all levels should be subject to the name change policy. Yes, even 50s...though the total time required to loose a name for a level 50 should be substantial (say 2.5-3 years?). My reasoning falls back to my earlier example...why should someone who has been inactive for 3 years still be able to hold onto a name just because the character is level 50? I think the arguement about a player's attachment to their character/character's name at this point is moot. If they indeed were attached to their character, why are they not an actively paying customer and playing said character? I speculate that attachment to the game and all aspects (including their own characters) likely died off quite a long time ago.

I also think that if a tiered system were put in place, there should also be a policy that would allow persons to be exempt from the name policy under extraordinary circumstances. The best example that I could think of would be members of the military who are being deployed overseas...though the exemptions shouldn't be limited to just military if NCsoft finds other types extraordinary circumstances appropriate.

Just my 2 inf...

Kudos to Frog for his mad necro skillz...this is definately a fantastic thread to bring back from the dead. Those that have influenced me the most in this game include (but are not limited to!)...

Teh Boyfriend - He's been on CO* the longest out of all of the members of my RL circle of friends and laid the foundation for my knowledge of all things CO*. When I finally decided to join up, he made a brand-spankin' new character, Isolator Helper, to help me get through Outbreak and get my first badge (he got deleted shortly after Ember finished up Outbreak, poor guy!). He teamed up with me all the time when I first started out to teach me basic game mechanics and tactics. He's also given me a unique perspective by being able to see what it's like to be a veteran without being a vet...such as sharing "in" jokes (such as UniqueDragon, "Go. Hunt. Kill Skuls," etc.) well before I was a CO* member, showing me what it's like to be a part of an old-school Hami raid before Hami got changed or explaining things from a vet perspective (such as why there are a lot of people who have to work so hard at getting the Isolator badge in RV). I really think that all this helped me become a not-so-n00bish newbie. He also had a huge influence on the majority of my RL circle of friends joining CO*, which leads me to...

My RL Circle of Friends (DBA my SG/VG) - I had tried to resist the lure of getting drawn into yet another video game when a good chunk of my RL circle of friends decided to join CO*. It got to a point that many of our conversations were so centered around CO* that I couldn't resist the lure any longer. It's because of these guys that I'm a member...jerks!

Kaiser Soze - Mr. Soze had a huge influence in helping me work through my shyness in-game. He provided me with my first positive experience with a large team (that didn't consist of my RL frineds). He's always been super friendly and has always made me feel more than welcome when he's invited me to tag along with the Pande crowd.

MissInformed - Missy has such a witty, intelligent, no-nonsense posting style. She doesn't hold back when it comes to compliments or encouraging a positive forum community, but she's also not afraid to call someone on their crap if they're being a punk. She's always warm and outgoing (to old and new members alike) and is always willing to lend a helping hand when she is able. I have to admit that she's had a huge influence on the way I post here on the boards.

Justice Forumites - What can I say other than you guys are awesome! The Justice forum is filled with so many increadibly nice people who aren't afraid to have a good time. And you guys have given me a place to let my hair down and show my true crazy side! This forum is such a positive community, which makes it difficult *not* to post. I blame you guys for becoming such a hyperactive poster!

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We'll work on getting that fixed for you. We're not quite at the stage where we can triple check every name we get, but you have my apologies.

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Completely understandable...I know that typos can happen and it's impossible to check every little detail (heck, we're all only human!). Many thanks for working on getting it fixed Lemur_Lad! I really appreciate it!

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“We brought down nine Rikti Drop Ships in total, which was far beyond everybody's wildest expectations.” One of the Heroes, Argent Amber, exclaimed after the battle, “Initially, we were crossing our fingers just to be able to bring down one!”

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Awww...Argent [u]A[u]mber?? The first time I get a quote in the 'Scoop and my character's name was typoed. Ah well, maybe there'll be fame and glory another time...

Just a heads up...Patch notes for latest patch indicate that the Rikti Drop Ships are now immune to the effects of Slow Movement powers. It may be worth setting up another raid on blueside to test out what else may work to bring those suckers down.

Looking fantastic so far...kudos Sylph and Mofeta!

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I know the dropships are probably the most interesting challenge in a while (excepting hami), but I'm still curious as to what the incentive is to taking down one of these monsters. Massive XP, Massive 'stige/inf? Massive merits? Badges? Or is it just really cool to be able to say "'cuz we could"

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The developers reportedly decided against attaching any sort of extraordinary rewards to the Rikti Drop Ships since they say it takes specific powersets to defeat them (hence, defeating the dropships isn't something every character can do). So there isn't any in-game incentive to taking them down other than a tad bit of XP (boss or lieutenant level, depending on who you talk to).

So the only incentive to taking them down is fun and bragging rights alone. They offer a unique challenge since it is probably the only time you'll encounter large-scale aerial combat in the game (I personally don't count Hami as large-scale aerial since players are still able to participate without flight). That in itself is quite exhilarating!

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Don't worry about outlevelling zones, they can just "exemplar!"

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But they'd need a partner!

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Partners...they'd both need an exemping buddy!

I always wondered what L33t speak would sound like if spoken aloud! Brilliant Hertz!

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McBeast! Ya got the love of States! How do you feel? The public wants to know!

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I'm betting that McBeast is probably getting a wicked craving to go to Disneyland at the moment...

Thanks for posting that info...it's great to see that COH made the top 5 and COV almost made the top 10!

Oh dear, I hope this doesn't turn into a battle between the Carebears and the Carebear Cousins. Anyone who's seen Robot Chicken knows how that ends!

*dodges upcoming flames*


(I would've posted a linkie to the YouTube video, but I'm quite confident that it would've been mod-smacked.)

As always, fantastic job Hertz!! So lemme guess...next episode in Perez Park with CoT?

Great story and fantastic use of screenshots!

Kudos Hertz...those are absolutely fantastic! They remind me of those old-style radio shows that they had in the 1920s-30s. I greatly anticipate the next episode!