Marshal_Valor

I have to disagree about rage for stalkers also. Quite honestly I think Rage would be absolutely amazing if anything else. As was already pointed out, Rage can be used without notifying your enemy that you're using build up. Another nice thing about Rage with stalkers is that hide comes in handy whenever Rage does crash. I would so love love love to see this in game. I'm actually surprised that the devs haven't proliferated this a long time ago. I could still build a street fighter/thug type character as a stalker with willpower as a secondary, by just taking the melee attacks alone.

I know we're probably never going to see a street fighting powerset, so I figured this was the best thing. I would just kill to play an SS stalker. It would be so much fun, especially coupled with Willpower.

Did the dev's ever say anything about this coming with powerset proliferation ever? I am just wondering because I would *LOVE* to see Super Strength for stalkers. That coupled with Willpower would make the ultimate thug. Haha, you could rename Assassin Strike to "Sucker Punch" Something like this would be ALOT of fun to play.

LOL Freedom is so underrated as a server. Good PvP, good people, and I've met RP'ers on the server too. I also team, just avoid AE teams because I don't like farming. I'll do an AE mission though if people are interested in doing story arcs.

Man I so want to make a Super Strength and Willpower stalker. Just think about it, Super Strength on a stalker would make for the ultimate punk thuggy type of character. It would give all new meaning to "sucker punch" haha. The only thing that would suck is that the real hook for Super Strength is Rage. Since stalkers all have buildup I wonder if the actual Super Strength power would need to be changed much.

Ok, is the 5th Column only back for just I15 or are they actually back and staying back. Part of the reason I ask this is because last time I looked on test Striga isle was still full of the Council. I thought that odd for a group that was supposed to be "back in the game".

I'm working on an arc and using one of the normal villain groups. I don't want to give away too much because I plan on publishing the arc and don't want to ruin any of the surprises. Suffice it to say when I added this villain group to one of the missions and then tried to add a boss fight. When I went into the boss fight I selected the same villain group that I was using for the mission and then tried to add one of the archvillains that was available from the villain group as a boss.

I found that I could not add them as it kept telling me that their levels did not match up. I have found this and still find it very confusing. I'd love to use the AV's from this villain group. If I could find a way to add them separately and import them to a custom group as a workaround I would but I can't do that either. I already tried. When I made the custom group the AV's didn't even appear on the list of importable villains for custom groups.

Anyone know what I'm doing wrong? I'm really flustered and confused.

[ QUOTE ]
I have not tried i14 beta, but i seriously doubt this is fixed. You can test it pretty easily.. throw something with a DoT on a mob then placate them.. if they can still attack you its still broken.

I know on live its still broken as its something I complain about in PvP all the time.

I also know its been broken since i6 as my first lvl 40 villain was a spines/regen and I always had the issue with my spines damage over time breaking placate.

-Kiri

[/ QUOTE ]

Anytime you're hit, it breaks placate, sadly that includes the DoT from spines. That's working as intended. In I14 it's back to working where you can hit with with other stacking effects such as EM's stun, which wasn't working previously, for quite some time now. I've yet to see if it's working in PvP yet as I can't find anyone to test it with just yet.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I just saw that report and it was a PvE related issue.
PvP testing hasn't been found yet.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah that was me that made the report. If anyone would like to help me test it please PM me. I would like to find out for sure if it's working or not. We can setup some arena duels to find out. I've got my 50 stalker on test already. My schedule is also pretty flexible.

[/ QUOTE ]

I can confirm its still broke. What breaks placate is any lasting status effect such as Spirit Shark damage over time, spines damage over time, EM stuns, etc...

It has always been broke, and will never be fixed because it will require a major rework of the PvE UI.

Sorry not gonna happen for lolPvP. If you are aware of the problem you can time your placates for maximum effectiveness.

-Kiri

[/ QUOTE ]

You've tried this since they put I14 on test in PvP?

[ QUOTE ]
I just saw that report and it was a PvE related issue.
PvP testing hasn't been found yet.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah that was me that made the report. If anyone would like to help me test it please PM me. I would like to find out for sure if it's working or not. We can setup some arena duels to find out. I've got my 50 stalker on test already. My schedule is also pretty flexible.

Wow I still can't believe this is busted. Two years and no fix? :/ As far as Placate goes, I still use it. It's good IF you know the weaknesses of the power. As long as you keep that in mind, I've found it very useful. But to be honest I think the powerset that benefits the most from it is probably claws.

“Leave my kitty alone!” the little girl cried, tears streaming down her pig tail adorned cheeks. The cat was perched on a branch higher up in the tree where beneath it’s limbs a few members of the skulls were having fun at the little girl and pet’s expense. “Hahaha this is great”, one of them jeered. “I want my Muffin back’, the little girl cried out again; her voice wavering with sadness. The white cat still perched up in the tree let out a soft sad sound as stones were lofted up into the tree by the gang members. The sound of booted footfalls drew ever so closer… but they were too busy paying attention to the cat to notice.

“I think you should stop what you’re doing and get the cat down. While you’re at it, I think you should apologize to the little girl here.” The three members of the skulls turned around, eyes peering through their blackened trademark masks on the hero that stood before them. He wore bright shining armor, like a knight from an old fantasy movie mixed with cables and other technological wonders that adorned it. His cape hung loosely and was adorned with stars along the edge. A pair of eagle wings shot off the sides of his helmet and arced up, while his glowing green eyes were cold and unmoving as they gazed upon the three members of the skulls.

“What are you gonna do about it cape? Or are you just gonna stand there and stare some more?” the skulls member laughed, picking up a stone and lobbing it into the trees branches again, to terrorize the cat some more. Beneath the helmet the unknown hero only grinned… this was his favorite part. There was a flash and a whir as the cyber sword ejected from his forearm and elongated into a fully sizeable blade which he now held in both hands. The swords blade glowed with an eerie green light and seemed to be almost completely comprised of energy.

Two of the skulls drew knives and took one step close while the third reached into his jacket for a sawed off shotgun. For the two skulls that stepped forward with knives, that would be their last step. There was a whirring sound that filled the air as the sword crackled and hummed on its way towards its two targets. Screams filled the air as both of the gang members hit the ground with a thud sending their knives skittering across the ground, the smoke rising from where the blade impacted their chests stunning them into unconsciousness. Nearby the little girl, watched and hid behind a parked car, her eyes keeping out to watch.

The last remaining skulls member was now visibly shaken. He looked down at his two friends who were now laying at his feet and looked back up at the hero. The hero, grinned under his helmet, and stifled a laugh. He enjoyed putting down the criminal element of the city. He enjoyed dispensing out justice and dealing with the “scum” of the city that preyed upon the week. There was nothing he loved more then putting them in their place. He looked over at lone skulls member with the gun. “You have two choices, my way… or the hard way.”





There was the cracking thunder of a shotgun as it went off point blank at the hero. The blast from the gun hit the hero’s armor solidly, which instead of being marred and crumpled, remained perfectly in tact. Only a moment later, the sword passed through the air a second time… only this time it wasn’t set to stun. The remaining skulls member gasped and dropped what remained of the haft of the gun as the blade cut it in two. The hero turned the sword and dropped it under his chin. The lone gang member could feel the heat of the weapon against his skin as the hero now stood overtop of his fallen friends, his cape blowing back in the light breeze.

“Get the cat out of the tree.” The lone skulls member did nothing at first, only standing panic stricken with his arms in the air. “NOW!” the hero shouted. The gang member spun around and quickly climbed the tree’s limbs and retrieved the cat. The little girl laughed and smiled, taking her cat from the gang member and stepping away. “Aren’t you forgetting something?” the words rang out cold and hard from the hero’s helmet as he faced the lone skull. The lone skull looked to the little girl, nervous, eyes glancing down to the glowing sword and then back to the hero. There was an uneasy silence before the hero spoke again, colder and more steeled then before… “apologize”.

There was a groan as one of the gang members started to stir. The hero only held the sword in his hands and drove a boot to the ribs of the downed skull. The lone skull turned and looked at the girl “I’m sorry, I’m really really sorry!” he sputtered out. “Now get out of here and tell you’re friends I’ll be coming to pay them a visit too.” The hero stood, holding his sword in a poised stance as if ready to strike at a moments notice, yet remained unmoving. The lone skulls member took off running, never looking back, leaving his two friends to whatever fate awaited them.

“Thank you mister” she said, holding her cat swooped up in her arms. There was a whir, a hum, and a flash of green light as the sword withdrew back into its forearm casing in the armor. The hero reached down and rubbed the cat’s head which only meowed softly in the comfort of the little girl’s arms. “You’re welcome, just remember to be a good girl and listen to your parents”. He grinned under his helm, and turned to leave. “…and make sure you take good care of Muffin.” The little girl full of surprise and amazement turned to say something but was cut off by the hero as he turned in the sun before bounding off, “you’re wondering my name? aren’t you? It’s Valor… Martial Valor” and he was gone… disappearing off into the embrace of the setting sun.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Hahahaha. God those were the days. The best MMO ever to date, hands down baby. Which tells you, the state of the gaming industry is just sad when an old game on EGA graphics outdoes games run on modern technologies. Man do I ever miss the PvP from that game and all the times spent fighting in the shack and in the sewers. And perma death PvP in the DM Room baby!


[/ QUOTE ]

Something has to be said about bias here. I have a sneaking suspicion you like that game now because you liked it then. I looked at it and I've no doubt I'd want no part of it. In the same vein, I like and play Captain Comic to this day, but I have no illusions - compared to contemporary games, that game SUCKS. I just have such fond memories from playing it.

But that's one thing. You ALWAYS have fond memories of playing a game that was good back in the day. Except when you go back to it years later after not having played it for said years, oftentimes you realise that your memories are not of WHAT the game was like but rather of what YOU felt when you were playing it. I've had so many instances of that I've learned to spot it a mile away.

Curious example from a few years ago. My mother was arguing that the old, 1980s (or were they older) Spider-Man cartoons were so much better than the new 1994 version they were showing on Fox Kids. I forgot how that discussion started, but she was adamant about it. Up until I found a copy of an old Spider-Man cartoon and ran it. Instant proof of just how UGLY those cartoons were and she conceded immediately. "But I remember them being so good" she claimed. And they were at the time. So she remembered them being good. Nowadays, they no longer are, but out memory keeps impressions, not fact.

[/ QUOTE ]

Comparing me to say your mom is like comparing apples and oranges. I've made my decisions off of logical progress and evolution of the industry. I know of others I've spoken with regarding the subject that feel similiarily as I. If NWN was around now, I'd still be playing and so would quite a number of people I know. Yes we're fans, but the game itself is genuinely fun. To be honest I miss the turn based combat and the PvP was unlike no game out there.

There's actually a number of the fanbase that went and made a psuedo NWN game thats a combination of the original NWN and Dark Sun Online. Although in my opinion it's not quite up to speed as the original NWN. The original NWN was superior in many ways, one of which was the way they handled guilds. Guilds weren't just formed by one guy that talked to an NPC somewhere. Their was a process you had to go through that lasted a whopping six months and they were held accountable for the actions of their membership.

I also know another group thats trying to bring back Multiplayer Battletech, only unfortunately they aren't having much luck with that as it's a group of private developers with no cash flow nor any support from the company. Not to even get into the licensing issues that killed the online form earlier when EA was poised to re-release MPBT 3025.

Quite honestly I'm really fed up of all these games that are pretty but have no guts to them. I'm also an old school table top gamer, so thats my measuring stick. NWN pulled it off, so did many of the other old school games. It's just a pity that none of these more modern games can own up to that. One thing that Jack did state on many times was that how the roots of MMORPG's are found in table top games.

Very true, and a point we agree on. However, after say the old games, I just don't see their influence any further. It all seems to be a cookie cutter EQ'esque styled game to me, thats all just really rather vanilla.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
the earliest version of Neverwinter Nights came out six years before that!

[/ QUOTE ]

What game is that? NwN isn't that old

[/ QUOTE ]

Ain't no school like the Old School!

Six bucks AN HOUR, baby!

[/ QUOTE ]

Hahahaha. God those were the days. The best MMO ever to date, hands down baby. Which tells you, the state of the gaming industry is just sad when an old game on EGA graphics outdoes games run on modern technologies. Man do I ever miss the PvP from that game and all the times spent fighting in the shack and in the sewers. And perma death PvP in the DM Room baby!


[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

It began with the first MMO, EQ

[/ QUOTE ]

No, not NWN, 50 players at a time isn't really Massive IMO, or UO, the first was Meridian 59.

That game sucked, but was hella cool back then. You can still play it btw...

edited for clarity


[/ QUOTE ]

It was a few hundred actually, not 50.

NWN on AOL was the first MMO ever. Followed by Shadows of Yserbius & the Fates of Twinion on TSN/INN, then Multiplayer Battletech on GEnie. Then Meridian 59, and then the Ruins of Cawdor on TSN/INN, the Realm, Dark Sun Online on TEN (which I believe is now Pogo), and then UO, then rest of games as we know it.

My god, what I'd give to be able to go back and play those games. They rocked so hard.


As to the article, I find myself not often in agreement but sometimes in agreement with Jack. However this is definitely one of those times I do find myself in agreement with him. Definitely have to go look up that article for certain.

I can honestly say if the system goes in as implemented I know myself and others that I know will all be gone. Forcing people to do content is not what I call fun. We already have to put up with that from the badges and the accolade powers. Already not fun to myself and others whom I play with regularly. Too much work in something thats supposed to be a game.

All drops should have a chance of dropping off of an appropriate level mob. You may not want to have farming happen, casual players would like a chance at playing the game you've all made. We enjoy playing a game, not being forced into something that feels like a second job to us, or something that forces us to play X amount of hours or under coniditions X, Y, or Z.

While you may not want to institute camping and farming you say, in a manner of speaking, thats exactly what you're doing. It's just another parallel of it. I already played EQ and WoW, I refuse to pay money to play either with a super hero skin on it.

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for the support!

To be honest, criticism comes with the job. I'm not fond of personal attacks, but I understand that people are passionate. Heck, I worked in a comic book store (yep, I was comic book guy), so I understand the vagaries of working with the customer. One thing is tantamount, however - you guys are the PAYING subscribers. I might not like the feedback, but everyone is entitled to an opinion. Admittedly, honey is usually more effective than vinegar, but I always try to look beyond that...

[/ QUOTE ]

I honestly wish that you had more control/influence over the CS with CoH. Sure the in game support is fine... but any support via email is absolutely atrocious. I'd have to say in fact it's probably the bottom of the barrel in terms of quality. It seems that the CS guys just don't want to work. All they do is send out form letters, give vague responses, and do not address issues. It's truly just deplorable.

SG Name: 1st Fist of Light

SG Leaders: Martial Valor, Professor Pulsar

SG Website: www.1stfistoflight.com

SG Recruiters: Martial Valor, Professor Pulsar

Teamspeak/Ventrillo Server: We use Teamspeak from time to time, also we can occassionally be found in the Justice Radio TS server as well.

SG Perferred Recruitment Method: Read and agree to the charter on the official website and speak with an officer or leader. Global contact is @Marshal Valor as well.

SG Peak Hours: Evenings, Weekends

Other Info: We were formed in February of 2000 in EQ and have played many other games since together. We've been here since beta and will likely be here for a long time to come. We're an RP SG and we don't care if someone is new to role playing or has questions. We're not judgemental or cliqueish, we enjoy making friends, and having a good time.

The story/backdrop for our SG is that we're the 1st Hero Brigade (from the CoH story) that was brought out of mothballs by Uncle Sam to face the re-emerged threat of the 5th Column. We were billed as a paranormal anti-terrorist special ops team and stationed in Paragon City, where we remain to investigate the loyalist movement and front of the 5th Column operating out of the Rogue Isles that mockingly refers to itself as the Fist of Hate.

[ QUOTE ]
I wanted to chime in to 1) show that someone reads your goodly threads 2) let you know that PvP issues are not completely forgotten 3) re-iterate that I do want to do some organized PvP stuffs (like organize a tourney with players, etc.) and lastly (ok here comes the bad stuff) 4) let you know a little about PvP from the dev side.

So, as you all know, City of Heroes was developed as a PvE game. As such, PvE changes affect everyone that plays CoH, unlike PvP which only comes to affect those who chose to engage in it. Long and the short of it, while there are some small PvP thingies getting some attention (like _Castle_ posting about Brute Fury in PvP a few days ago) there are not any big PvP issues on the nearer term feature lists.

However, we still really appreciate the great feedback (and when you guys aren't hazing each other ). Hopefully you can understand the reason and rational behind that.

On the tourney issue, I really want to set one up, but looking at the schedule I'm not sure where in the near term we can cram one in (darn holidays and some travel!). If any players are interested in helping to set one up (or setting it up and having me do a bit of promoting for it) please feel free to PM me on the forums or write me at Lighthouse@ncsoft.com

[/ QUOTE ]

This would be cool.... if PvP was functioning properly. With all the exploits in the game and imbalances, it makes PvP just awful in CoH/V. Perhaps even some of the worst I've ever seen, which is truly a shame since the combat engine is just beautiful. I'd love to see PvP fixed, and then I'd be all over these kinds of events. As it is, PvP just seems to leave a big question mark.

Hood's clip with robes, and badly. The lower hood seems to clip the least if at all, but you'll notice the regular hood and the new thief hood definitely have clipping issues with robes (all robes that is).

Wow, this sounds less "raid like" then it was originaly sounding. It actually sounds like it might be alot of fun! I'm looking forward to trying this out.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Another twist. I'm a novelist. I'm a writer. I write novels for a living.
What if I want to write a novel of my character, or are in the middle of writing a novel and decide to remake a char in CoH/V?

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't do it.

Basically, Cryptic/NCsoft owns all characters/names/images that appear in CoH/CoV.

If you were a special case (say you were Warren Ellis, and you wanted to make Spider Jerusalem in the game, and you contacted Cryptic, and they gave you the nod), it might work out (and there would probably be lawyers or at least some serious paperwork involved). But those instances are nebulous and so few and far between, it's not worth risking.

Keep your CoH/CoV characters seperate from those you plan to sell, and you should be fine.

cheers,
Arctic Sun

[/ QUOTE ]

Thats interesting, because the U.S. Copyright offices said otherwise about this when I brought this up on the phone with them. According to them the minute something is given an "official copyright notice" it belongs to that person and that person only. So that in turn would force NC Soft to delete that persons character in accordance to their own policies. So the question becomes how can you prove that the character is yours? If someone else already has the character created and then copywritten, which according to federal law the minute a character is put "into print" it's a legal tender for copywrite.

NC Soft can say that it owns "name x" but proving it owns name x is something altogether different in court. Even in an EULA is a sticky thing, because while it is enforcable by law there are various other contract laws that govern this sort of thing every time. I.E. if I didn't sign anything in writing, it's going to be awful hard for them to say that content I created for example is something that they own.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Oh and in beta you USED to be able to change AT's through the Terra Volta trial. So the tech is in place to change patron powers. Just like the tech is available to do name changes, etc.

[/ QUOTE ]


Actually that was the original, on-paper, plan for Terra Volta. The Strategy Guide went off the on-paper plan and said that is the end result of the trial. Thus there is no "tech in place" for this. The Terra Volta trial was not in the COH beta, it was issue 2, I believe, that it made its debut. Changing ATs has never been in the game, it was never programmed.

Hopefully that clears that up.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not according to your testers. Hate to say it Posi, but I just don't believe a word you guys say anymore when you say you're all going to do something.

The infamous SG Cap being a prime example. Everytime you turn around, you have a new excuse for why the cap allegedly exists. When I see so many repeated inconsistancies by a company, it's just hard to believe anything they say as truth. In the last ask Statesman for example, Statesman repeated this trend of saying one thing and then being proven wrong with material directly from the game to do so.

Oh and as to the "Tech" you guys claim is interestingly enough never in place... tell me why every other MMO has no problem at all doing such things that parallel items that could be doable yet everytime the "Tech" isn't available. Unless you guys coded this game in something like Cobol and then used a bunch of AS400's for your server systems, you can't tell me the tech isn't available.

Does anyone else just feel that Patron Powers are uncomic book like? This game seems to be following a disturbing trend and becoming more like a bad MMO then a comic book environment online.

Positron says the powers will be well documented. I'm sorry, but I believe that like I believe the powers are accurately documented as is, just like I believe the excuses about the SG cap that changes regularly like clockwork. This game is the most poorly documented game that I have ever played, MMO or otherwise.

Oh and in beta you USED to be able to change AT's through the Terra Volta trial. So the tech is in place to change patron powers. Just like the tech is available to do name changes, etc.

Honestly, this just is not good story in my opinion. As someone whose been an avid fan of comics from when I was a kid... I can't recall any villain or group of villains that got their powers from other villains and had them mimic them really in that aspect. Not who also had their own identity anyways.

I know because of this (being an RP'er/comic book fan) I'll probably never get Patron Powers ever. They just seem anti-genre.

[ QUOTE ]
Hey gang,



We are going to implement a couple changes to make this better. The early brokers will only require 3 missions and 1 heist to introduce a new contact. In addition, if a group completes a broker mission everyone on the team will get credit toward a heist that will lead to a new contact introduction. This should help keep you from leveling out of content. Just like in City of Heroes, if you start a Story Arc in City of Villains you will always be allowed to finish it—even if you outlevel it. If you miss a contact entirely, you can still Exemplar with a less experienced hero who has the correct Story Arc assigned to him or her in order to hunt down any pesky badges you may have missed.



Cheers,

Sean

[/ QUOTE ]


Still not much of a help really. I outleveled all of my Cap Au Diable contacts... ALL of them, just playing through arcs and what not. It's nuts.

I'd rather have the ability to go back and do the content, even if grayed out. Why can't we do that? I'd rather be able to do just that. It would make life so much easier.

All I can say is that I'm very dissappointed. They put badges on some of those missions...and guess what...now, you can forget about the badges.

They really need to do "something".