Memphis_Bill

It proved to be too much of a haddock. And expensive, to the tuna several thousand man-hours.

>.>

(Note, no extra info, just being a smartalec.)

It hasn't become a species/subspecies yet. It's still considered a mutation of the primary species. Heck, redheads are considered (in various ways) a mutation for humans, for example.

If I'm remembering it right, we go from (roughly) mutation -> variation -> species. I'd probably start calling it "natural" in game at the point of being a variation, where there's a discernable population breeding that trait true.

Don't recall right offhand if reproductive compatibility is the definition for "species" or not (could Mutant and Baseline Human reproduce = variant or related versus different species,) think that's considered a bit vague - but so's the definition in game.

Basically, I'd look at it this way - taking two made up character bios:

Mutant:
They considered it destiny they'd found each other - though in honesty it was the unusual ability they shared calling to each other. They didn't know of anyone else who shared their ability to hear others thoughts the way they did. They'd learned to hide it - and tried to teach that to their son after the neighborhood kids started avoiding the "freak."
He hid the gift, and nurtured it, using it to soothe others (or stop those that would do harm in their tracks.) Still, he wondered if there was anyone else out there to share the gift, or if he was the only one besides his parents...

Natural:
They'd rounded the freaks into the valley, the priests and the special police forcing the "unclean" out of their city. Before they could "cleanse" their race of the "disease" they'd quarrantined on the isle, though, their attention was drawn back home. The war they fought entered a new phase, more bitter and ferocious than the last few years.
The gifted were forgotten. Even the isle, erased from the maps, wasn't revisited.
It was two hundred years before the rest of civilization recovered enough to leave their blasted cities. Two hundred and fifty before a small trading boat stumbled on the forgotten island.
Two hundred and fifty years of the gift breeding true in the growing, now crowded population - which chose him as their leader as they returned with the ship, exploding onto the continent with two hundred fifty years of repressed anger....

At one generation - no, it's still a mutation.

If we're looking at several generations (and a growing population) down the line? Then I'd start leaning toward natural, essentially a new race or species/subspecies coming into being.

If you're using those numbers, might as well split between "Asian" and "Non asian" MMOs.

IIRC, over half the Gorilla's subs are in Asia. Lineage 1 and 2 are - asia. Aion? Asia. The specific gameplay (and grind) tends to appeal over there for whatever reason.

The COH gameplay - lacking that grind/dependant on group for almost everything/etc. gameplay - shut down in what, a year in korea?

Can we get the VEAT arcs rewritten to (a) give them some substance and (b) get rid of the Statesman Speech at the end (mentioning another bit that should be forgotten?)

It's not a question of "get XP." It's a question of "Being able to team with anyone and do anything without those boundaries."

Yeah, that's one consideration.

There are some places I'd love ebooks (with the proper reader, full notation, etc.) - school, for one, would be *ideal* if textbooks (which could be updated) went to an electronic format. And if they're cheaper, it's better for the student, after all.

SOME reference material is good that way, as well.

BUT...

When I sit down to read something - well, I like having a *book* there. It's the whole experience - sliding a finger on a screen (or mousing through somethign on a desktop or notebook, which is worse) isn't the same as paging through a book. The whole "paging through, sitting back, relaxing" bit is important to me (or, "laying in bed reading" or whatnot.) For some of the references I use, I like having them laid out (and printed fairly large, depending on what I'm doing, especially when referencing markings and such.)

Don't think I'll stop buying physical books... well... ever, even if I do start picking up more ebooks.

Besides, it's a lot like VHS/Beta or BluRay/HD - there are so many readers with their own formats, or not reading these but only those, that I'd want that to settle out before buying an actual *reader.*

The same marvelous one that's been cancelled a few times?

Since people keep mentioning "oh, access to higher level zones could be sold" and the like - let ME point out that we've been steadily REMOVING those restrictions from the game as is, especially when SSK was introduced.

Hazard zones? Used to have a level to enter, now - no.
COV? Used to be a separate "game," now - no.

Suddenly reintroducing "Oh, your (subbed) friends can SK each other and team that level 8 with the level 32 and the level 15 to go beat on some Rikti with the level 45... but guess what, you can't, pay up!" wouldn't go over so well with *either* side (free or subbed,) I'd think.

*snort*

Right. Because everyone will start at 50. You DO know there's the rest of the game to consider, right?

Because I have control over who I do and don't want to buff. There are reasons not to buff, I don't like having to wait for the whole thing to refresh if I miss someone - I don't *like* the AOE buff idea in the slightest.

That aside from potential changes in things like strength, END cost and the like.

"Easier to use and more fun" is solely an *opinion,* one I do not share.

I'm also including those who would go "Hey, remember the "We're not changing powers again" from jack? You did it again." /quit. And there are some who would do it on principle.

I personally may not go that far - but it would possibly lead to that end for me, as that sort of change would make some of my favourite characters very un-fun.

No, that's his position. I'm pointing out that's not the only one, and that the change would be *detrimental* to those who enjoy playing them currently.

Personally, I think we'd see a net *loss* of buffers.

Doesn't invalidate my point. If there IS no other MMO that can be named as a truthful answer to the question, forum rules don't matter. If forum rules prevent me from saying "Flugelhorn," and someone asks what my favourite type of fish is, "Flugelhorn" would not be a valid answer to begin with and the forum rules would have nothing to do with my lack of saying "Flugelhorn" as an answer.

And yet you want to point at other games and use them as an example.

It doesn't work that way.

Truth prevents you from being able to name another MMO as a direct answer ("Divest yourself of..." and "financial loss" are not words that equal "Success.")

And they were around JUST as long as COH... no, wait, they weren't.

Find a game with a similar lifecycle, duration and playstyle as COH that did it successfully.

Becaue I have 11 servers full of subscription account characters and don't want their playstyle disrupted. And you're making a big assumption about "F2P = big influx!"

See also server-merge-copypasta.

Do post your numbers and sources. Unless your source is the one supporting you on your chair, which I suspect to be the case.

We also had them on full accounts that were stolen. (The RMTers will try to be rather stealthy on their "legitimate" full accounts they're farming on and such.) They're also the primary reason that trial accounts have the restrictions on them now.

The first point, as far as "committing to something being somewhat of a throttle on behavior" (not so much "lol, noobs") is one thing to consider. It's what sticks in mind with a lot of the "I don't want/would leave if the game became F2P, because it would go down the tubes."

F2P? They open a new server specifically for it. All F2P characters are isolated there. Paying customers can go there if they want, but it's isolated - like test, it has its own market, AE and the like. (Actually, I'm tempted *not* to let paying/trial customers go there - just because it opens up an RMT pathway.) Of course, that makes the transition between F2P and real subscriber difficult (in both directions.) Allow transfers (free if current, fee if not) from the live servers to the F2P one.

And then we hit the second point, too - what gets *charged for* on this F2P? Our current packs and such just don't do very much for a F2P model, and splitting the game... eh. I don't see it working very well, or doing anything more than slowing updates.

Yet it would make it more stressful for me, who likes the current style,

Sounds like you've just found people who aren't good buffers - or decide, due to your role on the team, that you're not a priority for buffing (plus, see reply to (a) )
You assume. Some people don't want to roll defenders/corruptors because they're "squishy" and not generally high damage. Some people don't like playing any sort of support. Some people prefer the generally more forgiving Brute/Scrapper (IE, high HP, higher defense/resistance, mez protection, higher damage) playstyle. Making these buffs PBAOE isn't going to make a whit of difference to them - and will annoy some of us that DO enjoy them currently, to where current defenders/corrupttors/controllers (who do, after all, have a buff/debuff secondary) don't get played. You'd be working *against* your assumed end.

And yeah, I'll add my voice to those not seeing this so-called "City of Brutes." I see a fairly reasonable mix of characters.

"Alien" is the other one that crops up - and it's always more of a bio item than an actual origin, like what I mentioned before, as all it describes is "Not from this game's version of Earth." (Yes, Praetorians and Kheldians, both in game, would fall under a proper description of "Alien" - and you can see their *powers* fall right in range of natural, science, mutation, tech, magic.) So "Alien" doesn't quite hold up as an origin suggestion when it gets brought up.

For yours, I'd either keep Magic (requires a sort of training and preparation with a focus on abilities not "native" to them) or, if it's something someone could just stumble on because of innate ability in the race, "Natural." But magic is generally more fitting for the description you give, I think.