Memphis_Bill

I'm pretty sure, being on a trial, you'll need to upgrade the account before playing further. Which means either a retail edition (which around here *can* be had for $10-$20, and comes with a month of game time,) or the $20 Game Card Aggelkais and others mentioned.

Once that's done, Paypal, time cards, prepaid credit cards, regular credit cards, *other* editions (IE, you get Good vs Evil, you add the full Architect edition, etc - can't stack the same edition) will all add time.

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Ian's right. The reason there are no AS sets, is because the only things you can slot in AS are accuracy, damage, endurance reduction, and recharge. You can get all those things in standard melee sets, so there's no need for special AS sets.

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I was going to go into how an AS set could be weighted and proc'd differently than a standard melee set - but I can see the same (say, recharge reduction) being useful in a standard melee set for some of the bigger attacks anyway. Which really just leaves procs. I want something Sting-of-the-manticore-esque in my AS. Give me toxic damage too! >.>

(Honestly - I suggested at one time being able to add a small damage "type" to an attack via enhancement. I believe it was pre-IO, though, and we got the "not really possible" answer. Give me a generic, non-set proc with a decent chance of going off for each damage type - fire, cold, dark, smashing, lethal, energy, neg. energy, all part of the same 'set' and the same 'slot' so you can only fit one in per attack - and I'll be happy.)

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Now that I never realized, or did and totally forgot about (More probable than you'd think...). No interrupt reductions allowed, huh?

I really don't see why not. AS and Snipe are two breeds of the same animal. If my Corr can slot for interrupt and throw Snipes in his normal attack pattern, why can't my Stalker do the same with AS? It's not as though it's a huge deal out of Hide, the damage is quite comparable to Snipe. Very odd, IMO.

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Same here. I wasn't thinking about interrupt at all... My guess is from the Stalker having defenses usually (and at the very least, some beefy AOE defense in Hidden state, even in non-defense secondaries like Regen.)

Edit:

If one player has turned of experience earning in options, they will not earn experience for the pact. However, the experience earned by their partner will go into a "bank" of sorts, and will be awarded when the player turns experience earning back on, bringing the character up to their partner's experience level.

Source : wiki

(Seriously. Bookmark the wiki. I've gotten to where I go there before asking things. Quite often it's there.)

I'd put money down you're going to get people coming in saying "And while you're at it, put in a prompt for...." (Add your favourites to the list. Grant invis, speed boost, ID, any buff.)

Autoaccept makes sense. Autodecline - I'm a little more iffy about with TP and Rez, but I'd be fine with on the Fortune, as long as the caster gets a message saying "Player is set to auto-decline (buff,)" just so the caster doesn't waste time (and, depending on the other buffs that will inevitably be suggested, END) trying to re-cast it.

There are already slow *resist* IOs out there... Some of these, I *believe* (I'd have to go digging) had already been covered by the devs as "not possible at this time," though. (Like I said, I believe that's the case with things like your knockback reduction. Not 100% on that though.) Others are part of powers or IO set bonuses.

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"Champions Online is new so it will kill CoX"

I got tired of hearing it too. Most of this seems to come from people who left here bitter, or others who mindlessly jump onto a brand new bandwagon every time it starts.

It was an interesting post, however.

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For the past five years, CoH/V has had no direct competition targeting its thematic demographic. For the past five years, the rather more positive/optimistic individuals of the forum have pointed to CoH/V's subscriber stability as a testament to the quality of the game itself.

Could these be coincidental? Could the former be causal to the other? I feel both situations are quite plausible. There is no way of knowing how direct competition will affect the subscriber base. It's entirely possible that with not one but two upcoming major titles targeted at CoH/V's niche demographic, we could start to see significant population dropoffs. It could just as easily facilitate a much more unstable population, leading to more rapid and more linear population decline working over a period of years rather than a single quarter. And of course, CoH/V could indeed be unique in its high stability and high retention rate, and neither game will so much as dent the subscriber base.

The point is, we don't know. It's a bold claim to say that the game will remain stable. Moreover, it's wishful thinking. I sincerely doubt any subscriber base has foretold its own death knell. Sooner or later, this game will die; whether in a year or ten years, it will die. Do you really think any of you people will admit to the truth when the time really does come, even with direct evidence staring you in the face? My guess is: not likely.

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Thematic, perhaps, but it has had other competition. Say what you want about loot, but the lack of the Swordy Soulbound Sword of Slaying +32 is a turnoff to some. We've lost people, but gained people (either new or back.) We've got a good "churn."

The claim I'll make about COH is this - we can remain profitable for some time. We've got a cushion there, even with the threat of other games in our little niche. Unlike Tabula Rasa, we didn't have our numbers plummet right after launch. We're also getting exposure, had a mac client (yet another little niche,) and are getting an expansion out - and are getting advertised more. CO and DCUO have to worry about that initial membership and any drop off - they'll be far more sensitive to it for that first year. Survive that, and they'll be around. We can handle a population cut for a while - they can't right off the bat (well, perhaps DC can.)

Will we see a drop when those two games come out? Obviously. They'll be the new shinies. People will go check them out, they'll juggle finances and take a break from here. The fact they'll be able to play on a console may be a big draw for some - and they'll have that bit of the market all to themselves. Of course, that's also where they'll be fighting each other quite a bit (and where I think DCUO will come out ahead, just by name recognition.)

Some people will stay there. Some people will get sick of CO and come here. Some people will do just what they do with issues here - come play it, go there when something new happens, go to the third, and come back. We'll have rotating memberships for some folks.

The point is not denying the game will, at some point, die - we've had enough carnage around us to be well aware of the fact that games die. Auto Assault and TR from the NC stable, Hellgate: London, Mythos, and the long-awaited end of the Duke Nukem Forever farce (even if ti's not an MMO) - games die. What's being argued against is the whole "CO WILL KILL COX!" that gets bandied about.

CO isn't for me, from what I've seen of it. I'll still possibly run their open beta... but really, I'm just not grabbed by it in the least. I don't wish them ill, no matter what I may think of some of the staff or tactics they've used. I think the console market is going to be their strong suit. But I'm not crying out predictions of death of them or COH. There is room for both. And I can hope for a long run for COH without denial that, sometime, the servers will be shut down for the final time.

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I tried reading as long as I could before I died of sheer boredom. And that was just the tl;dr section.

Edit: Whoa, M_B... that search tip in your sig is a life-changer. I never knew that.

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heh. You need to read my cut-paste replies. I tend to put "How to search on this" at the head of them (well, just after the disclaimer, now,) and that's in there as well.

Glad I could help.

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Relic, first off, please learn to spell. Hooked on Phonics did not work for you.

Secondly, while I personally enjoy CTF in real life as well as in other video games, the highly variable nature of mobility in CoX would make CTF games less interesting than you might imagine. One of the basic hallmarks of CoX PvP is that, even with all of the nerfs to player mobility, it is much more kinetic and mobile than most other systems out there. The only way to really balance it out would be to have a no transport powers and no teleport tag activated for the zone and/or arena map automatically. It gets even worse whenever you start factoring in the ability for controllers and other debuff heavily characters to create zones of highly limited movement. Immobilizes (thanks to the mez tweaks) and -spd zones and effects (Siphon Speed, Quicksand, etc.) applied to the flag carrier would make it almost impossible to get away, creating an unfair tactical advantage to builds that are capable of such considering the importance of mobility to CTF games.

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This is true... I'm wondering just how much work would have to go into this. I'm thinking of other games, such as (yes) Guild Wars, UT2k4 (with their "football" variant,) Kill the Guy With The Ball (Myth/Myth II) and others. With a touch of... what was it, Team Fortress that had the escort/assassinate missions?

It would, I'd think, *have* to be a team setting just by the nature of it. (Actually, I think we'd have to start out with it being an arena match versus zone.)

Person with the flag/ball/etc can't activate travel powers, has a default speed which can't be debuffed as long as he has the ball. Of course, his defenders *can* be. With current rules, I don't think a snipe or AS would be a threat, but there'd have to be some way of getting it away from him... maybe just defeat. *shrug*

Essentially turn the flag carrier into a limited, but un-slowable/un-mezable character. Can't attack, defenses all come from the "flag" (ball, nuclear device, whatever.) Choices being go straight for him or strip his defenders away.

... yeah, a lot of fleshing out to do on this. But it still, perhaps, would be fun.

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There were comments regarding three similar events in this thread already. Memphis described something as happening "many times."

Besides, if it's happening because of a recent change, I may be the only one that's commented so far.

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Just to clarify - by many times, I'm specifically talking about holdovers with newspaper missions when a new issue is released.

Related to what you're seeing? I don't know. I haven't seen it, but won't say you didn't since I wasn't there. *shrug* I won't discount it, since the devs have been tweaking mobs, and maybe some odd information came across in the mission.

It's a good thing you know force fields... I think you'll have a lot of incoming from the tl;dr folks.

That said, I may just riff off your farming section for one of the (infamous) cut-pastes. It's honestly a good starting place.

Your bit about playstyles - specifically, 'send a tell, not a team message," is echoing a recent conversation about another pug, for me at least. Stone tank that had, but wasn't using, Rooted... versus Striga cave full of Vamps. Yeah, I tend to use /tells to mention stuff - that said, the "other" side of team messages should be taken into account - it could just be done in a hurry, or on accident, without intent to embarrass the recipient - so read for intent before getting upset (and try to defuse it if it's taken wrong.)

Overall an interesting read. Not sure if it'll stay around - I rather hope it does, though I think the discussions will get bad at points. Still an interesting read.

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Heh.

Still have that one around, too. >.> Felt the need to change, though. Full piece here. (Just because the artist's easy to work with and cheap... I like pointing people to him.)

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Nice.

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Yeah that full piece is awesome.

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Like I said, I like to point people his way. He impressed me, he does good work, and is "good people" in general.

Cartel approved! *stamp* >.>

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Romans don't Mez.

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And mezzers don't roam?

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Zerge is right. Don't use them like a PB would, use them like a MM should.

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/nitpick

Due to the utterly stupid AI Photon Seekers have been hampered with for so long, most PBs learn to summon theirs into the middle of melee as well.

... so, yeah, use them like a PB would.

Heh.

Still have that one around, too. >.> Felt the need to change, though. Full piece here. (Just because the artist's easy to work with and cheap... I like pointing people to him.)

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Bill, you changed your Avatar!

NEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!



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Yes, yes I did. More of a buff. From unleashed-mutation strong guy surrounded by fire to dragon-kin controlling both fire and storms...

*nod,* though Wormhole does that already. But that is why I said a few sets.

There is... but we don't have it.

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And besides. If she's been dragging around a big honking sword for 40 levels, she's probably pretty fit.

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... honestly, other than ceremonial swords, most swords really aren't that heavy. And they're balanced to make use much easier, typically with the balance point at the hilt. Claymores, I see a weight (doing some quick searches) of about 5 lb. Broadswords, 2-4 lb. One link.
Now, USING it... that I can see. >.<

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Well, unless you're super-strong and deliberately use an intentionally over-heavy sword. I mean geez! Plus, Broadsword attacks all look like they have a couple of tons behind them. The first thing I noticed when I returned to this character was that the way she swings that huge thing around is VERY impressive.

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... or cumbersome, especially with a smaller sword being used. It's one of the things that bugged me about BS (and one of the reasons I rarely dust off my 50 BS/SR.)

I've wanted AS sets - or the ability for AS to use Snipe sets, even if the Range can't be buffed - for a while.

As far as TP Foe...

For some reason I was thinking it took ranged sets. >.< There are builds enough to use it - anyone with the pool power, any Grav Dom or Controller with Wormhole, and of course Warshades. I wouldn't argue with seeing a set or three for them. Preferrably with a damage or hold proc. Not sure what it'd do to PVP, though.

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•Auto-Rez anyone whom returns from an Arena match or AE mission that has been defeated. Its mostly inconvenient for people whom have died returning from an arena match, but for AE it just plain doesn't make sense O_o (Unless your virtual reality gives you a nightmare and send you into a coma)

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Auto-rez or just send to the hospital (which is right nearby, of course.) Essentially the same thing. Just a question of if they can or not, I think.

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•During the "preperation" period before a match, around where the player spawn points start, make some "practice dummies" appear, that are affected so that one could recieve buffs from them, or build fury/dom off them, etc (ala WS eclipse, anything that requires mulitple people. As well as maybe having the option to have random defeated corpses that don't dissapear until used in an arena map. (complicated I know)

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Ehhh... Part of me wants to say "sure, makes sense, and would help," part of me wants to say "That'd be ridiculously overpowered at times." (Team with, say, a pair of kins, say, all who hit FS just before a match starts? Ow.)

I'll throw that under "balance concerns."
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•Go over some of the lower level, and in general fairly useless in comparison IO sets that exist (though never get used) and gives them decent bonuses, remove all debt/xp and mez resist bonuses (or buff the mez ones up some), and add stuff like small ToHit bonuses, def debuff/tohit buff resistance, range, etc etc, so some items that are currently pretty measly people will actually start going for.

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Lower level? Why do my upper levels want 1.5% debt reduction? Or even less than 1%? >.< Some of them just need going over in general.

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Now, since Geko has effectively threadjacked this with his complaints about people being given instructions on how to search, let's see what he has to say about the rest of the cut and paste, with the arguments that typically come up.

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I've removed your commentary for space but I am responding to it under its subject heading:

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1. Movement.

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Super-cars.


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Expand. That doesn't say much... we're picky about things in this game, after all. Cars doing perfect 90 degree turns, moving side to side, etc... I just don't think would fly. (And I don't think a flying car would, either...)

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2. Movement, part 2.

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I can't just run over jay-walkers?

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Only redside, but redside doesn't have many roads (that aren't filled with garbage, giant potholes, or just drop off into nothing.)
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3. Terrain.

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Again, super-cars. See e.g. Pole Position cartoon from the 80s'. Wiki on Pole Position. Cars with jet skis!

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... which, frankly, would look silly, IMHO. And what about the shard? Getting about in caves? (Remember, you're mentioning *cars* here.)

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6. Making "sense."

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In comics, something makes sense if you want it too.

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That's a cop out. :P And even discussions among comics fans will bring up the phrase "That makes no sense!" (generally with retcons, or having the seventh writer on the series start messing with things.)

I'm still, frankly, of the mind described in the last portion - as a temp power here and there, it might work, with limitations. As a travel power... not so much.

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One time when I was in band camp...

Ahem, I mean.

One time, right after Crimera was released, I had my level 20ish Nrg/Dev blaster in Talos and I run up a radio mish. To my suprise, when I walked in the mish the critters where level 40 Roman Legionaires!!!! In a Talos Island Radio Mish!!!!

I logged off and tried the mish 3 days later...they were still there!!!! So I got a level 40 to SK me and we did the mish. Good XP.

I've never seen Roman's in Talos ever again.

That HAD to be a bug. I don't remember if it was a hostage or a glowie mish, I think it was a glowie...the mission text didn't have a name boss in the mission description, just so everyone knows.

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Many times, if you have an old newspaper mission when a new issue drops, the appropriate enemies get changed into something else. I've had them turn into Storm Elementals, Siren's Call Ghosts and other things. Often very, very purple to me, with predictable results.

(That shot, btw, is from when we went from bank heists to mayhem missions... so it's pretty old. 04/22/2006.)

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I hope no one who thinks developers don't use "god mode" for a portion of the testing cycle ever goes into game or level design. You would never see a finished product.

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The devs don't use their god mode to exploit the system in order to get rewards for no risk.


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Actually, if they're even semi-competent as developers, they better do exactly that. They should be trying mightily to see how the system could be exploited and having god mode can help with that.

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Nice try but you fail. They try to prevent exploits, not use them to get an advantage over other players.

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Have to disagree - again, depending on what they call god mode.

Let's take the old Comm officers map. Now, if you're just looking at "God mode" being indestructable/I win button, then no, it doesn't help. If you throw more dev tools under that - exact copy of a good, say, Fire/Kin build, and the ability to spawn a map for 8 while being solo? That would.

That's not doing it to get an advantage over other players. No, they don't use it to exploit it to get advantages over players... but they certainly *can* use them for testing, which would (in theory) help prevent exploits from hitting live. (Obviously they don't catch them all.)

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I hope no one who thinks developers don't use "god mode" for a portion of the testing cycle ever goes into game or level design. You would never see a finished product.

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The devs don't use their god mode to exploit the system in order to get rewards for no risk.


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Actually, if they're even semi-competent as developers, they better do exactly that. They should be trying mightily to see how the system could be exploited and having god mode can help with that.

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Depends on what all you throw under "God mode."