Melancton

To: The NCsoft Team
@"clearlyfakeaddress@ncsoft.com"

Having the evident receipt concurs, were viewing the reputed actions so I took the measured response. Identification dominantly as orginally owned. Please jump/leap/plunge vigorously into the lake ("www.jumpvigorouslyintothelake.com") as soon as possible. I regret this inevitable recourse, with malice toward none.

Myself

According to the CoH comic, across the street from the statue of Cyrus Thompson in Kings Row there is a Jamaican coffee shop called "MON GROUNDS." Many folks have been agitating to see it there in-game.

((To the OP: This is also part of the "Troy Hickman Thing." It was an in-comic nod to his Eisner-nominated trade paperback of "Common Grounds." Lest it be too obvious, a speech balloon obscured part of the name on the shop so all that could be seen on the building's sign was "MON GROUNDS." It was Troy himself that quipped that it was a Jamaican coffee shop.))

I also greatly like Peterpeter's idea that periodically Hellions will run in for a stick-up and be greatly dismayed. Golden idea.

The Anzacs did noble service in the cause of defending democracy, for which I, as a free American, am grateful. Good on you all.

I will relate this anecdote: An American in EnZed was asked about the 4th of July by his Kiwi co-workers... why the big celebration? "It's the day we celebrate whupping the Pommies!" he responded. An impromptu party promptly broke out, with the Yanks and Kiwis hoisting toasts. I was bemused by this story.

It is appropriate for all freedom-loving peoples everywhere to celebrate. "God Bless America" and "God Defend New Zealand"!

That is pretty much where I am. I am waiting to make the heroic Mastermind and not have to run villain missions. Perhaps the heroic Stalker as well.

This of course raises the Oxymoron Alert level to Orange, what with villainous Defenders and heroic Corruptors, but Oh Well.

I am glad to see that the devs have worked out trading of inspirs, etc., between factions now, especially since the factions now are going to range all over the Archetypes.

The only question is how well my computer will handle the increased demands. Ah, me poor bairns! (Star Trek reference, not a misspelled Zombie reference.)

"Crime does not pay."

In all seriousness, though, it makes one wonder when folks just take off and do their own thing when part of a group. What is the point of being on a team, then? It is a puzzlement.

Organica, this is the flip side of the coin.

I have been invited to TFs where the leaders are just GREAT. The Crimson Order on Liberty runs very helpful TFs where they generally give folks a heads up on what is expected, and I have been on some (dare I say it?) WONDERFUL PuG TFs that were a sheer pleasure to run because the leaders actually led.

It is like anything else in CoH: if the team communicates and works to each other's strengths (and a deserved compliment for good play to those doing a great job goes a long way when expressed in team chat) then the group will roll right along. Folks will give you wakies when needed, pop you a fast heal if you are on the brink and pull baddies off of you when needed and you will be doing the same in return. I always hate to have to log when I am part of a team like that.

I have run a lot of TFs on PUGs but I have not memorized the "optimal" way to do things. So when a couple of folks take off down the hallway without comment in a mission, I am left to wonder what is going on.

Are they going to the end and TPing everyone in? Are they going to a particular place in the mission? Should I follow? Sometimes they don't say.

I am a team player, and I play as smart as I can. I always look over the team composition and determine the best way to use my powers in light of what other folks have going, ie, I will not drop Rain of Fire unless someone else had dropped Ice Slick, Freezing Rain or an AoE Immob, etc. But I am lost if I am supposed to "know" to "run past baddies" like they are doing and somehow know where to go. And as you have noted, very often they have stealth or are Tanks, so THEY can get past the mobs... and when I try, I look like Swiss cheese before I can get four paces.

Unfortunately, there seems to be no way around literally telling the team what to do at each point. It may be the 47th time someone has run the TF as a leader, but unless someone tells me which tower to assault or which mitos to defeat, I will not be on the same page as the leaders.

Speaking of radio missions, I have run a couple Safeguards with two or three folks, all of whom immediately departed the bank when the message came that the baddies were "getting away!" Mind you, the AV was right there, wailing away-- it was very difficult trying to type a message telling my teammates not to leave while the AV suddenly had no other hero to pay attention to other than ME. But the message that they are "getting away!" confuses folks, and it is hard to explain it in the midst of a fight. I just could not pull it off, since you cannot move while you are typing a message, and I doubt my team understood what I meant by "Dont leave AV is ssssssssssssssswwwwwwweeeeeeeessssss" in any event. But I did have plenty of time to explain it post-mortem. That sort of learning curve just happens.

PS-so I now explain it beforehand to any safeguard groups I lead

It's contagious! This is the only MMO I have ever played, so what should we be yelling?

a) PLAGUE!
b) Burn the witch! or
c) I DO believe in spooks! I do, I do, I do, I DO believe in spooks!

Did the ol' LOL at this. It all depends on what Epic is modifying. Nicely played.

I have indeed had ambushes in assigned missions, like rescuing Mr. Yin (although in that mission, if you run fast enough, you can often beat the ambushes to the door! )

But I have run radio rescues from their dawning, and once the path was cleared, it was cleared... until this evening. Holy Moly!

So unless I have just had Amazing Luck until tonight, it was my impression that the ambushes were not a working feature until now in radio rescue missions.

The Eternal standard is fixed and immovable. Agreeing with it or not is not the question, it is there and the lines are drawn.

As far as Melancton goes, he knows the standard, and he, like every other human, has fallen short and requires redemption. He is hardly above reproach. But the standard is known.

It has been very interesting to read the answers in this thread. This is a game. No one actually gets harmed. Given that, for those that play villains, how far would they go in being Evil?

Hence all the woes and the surge of power... AND the HUGE wave of thefts in Paragon City.

It must be noted that it is Irrefutable Proof that a Parallel Universe Double that has a goatee will be Evil.

Which always made me wonder why neither Tyrant nor Reichsman has one. I mean, come on.

Just remember the "I Wasn't QUITE Dead" and "I Had A Miraculous Escape" memes of comic books. He could pop up any time, alive, well and ready to rumble. Comics are pretty shameless that way.

I never heard if the specific problems I ran into a few times (Reichsie gets to a sliver of health and stays there) was related to other bugs that got stamped out or what. When the problem recurred even in the face of -regen being applied (and I was the /Rad doing it,) I tried to watch and see if that issue was officially addressed (I /bugged it each time.) I know there was a bug with the special weapons that got fixed, but I dunno about any others.

The problem is that you won't know if you have a problem until you have been pounding on His Naziness for 30 minutes, at the tail end of the TF. If so, the whole TF goes down the spout, and that gets a lot of folks leery. That is not to say that it is not possible to simply fail a TF for whatever reason: I have been on some ill-fated Statesman TF runs that did not have the right personnel, could not get past the 4 AVs or what have you. But the Kahhhhhhhhhhhn! TF was so rocky for so long that there simply may be some reluctance now.

Not a comment about the thread; I just like the pun.