Melancton

The problem is that recruiting now occurs everywhere and for all levels for all sorts of things, so I was leery to join up when I was invited. I did not want to be on the team and have to excuse myself.

There is ample opportunity to be confused at the moment. The contact for the Abandoned Sewers Olde Trial is also in Atlas Park. All sorts of level gateways for zones, Travel Powers, Pools and Ouroboros have been changed or dropped, so I dunno if I would be prevented from getting into the old one now or not while playing a lowbie.

Hence, when I get a tell, "Want to join Sewer Trial?", I will respond, "I will join Death from Below." If the invite window then pops up, I figure I am good to go.

When I heard of CoH:Freedom, I NATURALLY ASSUMED this would be the case. Wipe the playerbase, wipe the issues, start fresh.

It is Distressing News that this is not the case!

If having "a hundred or two" available respecs "only" would "feel stifling," well, you are right. There is no help we can give you and the game is not for you.

Respeccing is washing the trashcans or cleaning the gutters to me. Sometimes it has to be done, but it is not any fun to me at all. (Even after Inherent Fitness, I am only respeccing any lvl 50 heroes I am actually taking out and playing for more than a mish or two because it is such a pain in the rear.) Wanting to be able to endlessly respec a character over and over and over and over totally blows my mind.

Excellent summation, ZM.

With the ease of emailing Respec recipes and salvage between your characters, and the availablity of Respec recipes, a respec above and beyond the freebies is a snap. If the point is to run a build and change it just a hair to experiment (move a single enhancement slot, etc.) then such "temporary" builds would seem ideal for the Test server.

For me, respeccing is such a pain that I try to avoid having to do it. My power trays get trashed, I have to sort through my enhancements and get them back to the right powers... blecch. It is like wanting to straighten out your garage; I do it when I must, but never on a whim.

Exactly so. I have not seen an official announcement of a date certain, nor any advertising.

When I wondered 3 weeks ago How Much Notice Will We Get For CoH Freedom?, the reply was

Now, perhaps they are doing this sort of under the radar, with the VIP Headstart, then the reactivated accounts and then just throwing the switch for Free players without much fanfare, just to see if the servers and software hold up. (The evening of VIP Headstart was VERY problematic, and the Forum Lockout Bug took a week to squish.)

Then, once they are reasonably certain Scotty will not be hollering, "They canna take it!", perhaps at that point there will be a big public announcement and advertising.

As it stands, they are being awfully quiet about things.

There is a very nice lady I know named Man. She was born in Korea, so it is just one of those things on how words in English and other languages relate.

I have always been bemused by the thought of French visitors wondering why stores in the US proudly proclaim "DIRTY!" in banners and ads on a regular basis.

(The French word for "dirty" is "sale" )

Some people give their children some interesting names. Johnny Cash could tell you all about being a Boy Named Sue.

Now it all makes sense.

Obviously, people in Primal Earth have been haxxoring Praetorian cableboxes to get Praetorian channels and shows for free.

The Invasion by Cole is the application of the anti-piracy warnings that everyone has ignored.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHT: The irony here is that Everyone ignored the warnings and Nobody took them seriously, yet Everyone will claim that Nobody actually watched the pirated content. Somebody is going to have to face the music, and though Nobody really wants to, Everyone will end up suffering.

These parallel universes are most confusing.

This will be All The Rage in the Rouge Islands.















(But if I must explain: funny how the typos involve the color red, eh?)

Yes. Yes, I did. My parents are totally down with it. They also gave me permission to buy a car on credit and purchase liquor and tobacco for them as well. Trust me, I absolutely asked them and they said Yes. Cross my heart.

What?

This is one of those things that 50 courts could interpret 50 different ways. I rather doubt that a minor's inablility to contract gets trumped if the minor then asserts that the parents are okay with it.

On the other hand, the Supreme Court has routinely engaged in logical gymnastics that would embarrass a kindergardener, so who knows? The actual answers to questions about being overbroad and unenforcible will likely be provided after extensive litigation.


Example: When I went to rent an appartment in order to attend the university, someone had sued a landlord for the filthy conditions that allowed cockroaches and other vermin to flourish. The state supreme court had just ruled that every lease had an unwritten but implied Warranty of Habitability: the landlord was promising that the premises did not contain any conditions that would undermine your health and that the premises could be occupied safely. So my lease stipulated in about six places (which I had to initial) that I Happily, Freely and Without Coercion was WAIVING the Warranty of Habitability and that was Just Swell with me.

About the time I graduated, events had progressed to where the state supreme court ruled further (after extensive litigation, etc.) that the Warranty of Habitability could NEVER BE WAIVED, and anything purporting to do so was ABSOLUTELY UNENFORCEABLE. Coming years later, as it did, probably was not a lot of help to those whose cases had been dismissed under the voided clauses.

There is no way to exactly tell where this will wind up, but I would expect that if NCSoft took any of the extreme privacy-busting actions that have been suggested, ie, with no relation to CoH and they looked at your private stuff, that the EULA would not protect them a bit. I would not be surprised, however, if some of the anti-botting measures stood up. But where the lines would be drawn and how far NCSoft would actually be allowed to go, I have no clue. We will see where the courts rule, as I would guess that provisions like these will get litigated.

*5 curtain calls for Richard III voice*

By Grabthar's hammer, by the sons of Warvan, you shall be avenged!

*gets his Mak'tar on*

Soon? ™

Let the record reflect that my position on the Steelclaw Tourney has always been "If you are having fun, you are doing it right."

I know some folks who LOVE playing Tanks. I do not; I mostly play Controllers and Blasters, and every one of my heroes takes Hover. Your Tournament is just you playing what you like to play the way you like to play it. All of us are doing it right.

Oh Yes. When you saw that, you were toast.

My introduction to Grendel's Gulch was while trying to cross the Hollows as a total lowbie newbie AT NIGHT, my map blacked out, not knowing anything about where I was going and triggering a spawn of Trolls. I could hardly see in front of me and I was juking madly while fleeing the Trolls. I found the Gulch when I FELL INTO IT.

I never figured out if the 387 boulders that hit me were from the Calibans chasing me or the Igneous I landed on.

Extra Bonus: back then, you got debt at level FIVE!

Ah, memories.

And God Bless the Taxibots.

I came in during i3, with no travel powers until lvl 14, etc., etc. Mostly you are correct, except for the Hollows. It seemed that every mission I had to run past a banner that said "WELCOME +10 DEATH MAGE CONVENTION" and there WAS an EXCELLENT chance you would fail to reach your destination. The most irksome time was getting to 73 yds of the door at the top of that bloody mountain in the NE only to be buried by boulders flung by the Convention.

Nowadays, that "challenge" is gone, but back then, unless the beloved Taxibots gave you a lift, you needed to have your best ninja infiltration skills at work or you did not arrive alive.

Ah, memories.

Of course that brings us into "These Young Whippersnapper Heroes Have It So Easy Nowadays!" territory and the shooing of children off of the lawn.

As I understand it, the concept of the game was that to a certain extent, they needed some timesinks to prevent folks from rushing through the content and subbing out. Hence all of the FedEx missions and the Go And See So-And-So missions and the coyness with phone numbers. It also manifested itself in Defeat-All missions on maps with a zillion nooks and crannies, as well as that @$%^&%#%# maze in Perez Park.

I am happy to see all of the timesinks going the way of "Your hero is the equal of three minions, period," and I will not miss them.

Loved it. As far as the time of night you did it...

You're a maniac, Steelclaw!

Wait, you live in Maine...

You're a maniac Mainiac, Steelclaw!

True enough, Chase, and that is what it comes down to. It is putting fingers in ears and saying, "LALALALA I can't hear you." It just stinks that the official lore now requires that.

The loosey-goosey way it was before the Devs imposed the meta-concept was far better.