Memphis_Bill

This is probably the biggest issue - between things not getting fixed, pages (and HoFs) of farms and the griefing, I'd think trying to get it going might be... rough.

(Plus, though I've wanted to get into a few, I've got... er... arc'ers block, which is irritating on its own.)

As someone who actually *plays* on all the servers, let me say:

No, it doesn't.

OK, *farming* goes on, but the Atlas-broadcast-full-of-farm-spam is pretty much the smog of Freedom (and one of the reasons my alts there are among the least-played of any of mine.) And the "Pay to join" bit is, from what I've seen, exclusive to Freedom (well, as far as its acceptance, it gets laughed at if anyone offers it elsewhere.)

/this.

Taser's "homeless man crying doom" analogy is really, really apt in this case.

Quite honestly, I'd have put some sort of statement like this into an announcement - "We understand there are some concerns, yadda yadda..." without bringing attention to someone's "Yet another I quit" post.

Years too late for that.

I'm fairly certain they outright *invited* some of the devs and ex-devs over there. Sooooo.... yeah.

*raises hand*

Need I reiterate my general image of the dev team's attention span?

He referred to it that way elsewhere, too, so I didn't take it as claiming Westley was shouting, more a poke at the ALL CAPS WALL OF TEXT *crits for 9001*

Oh, didn't you see the "But if you chaaange this...." bit?

But.. but I NEED to know who's playing a Natural versus one of those dirty Mutants! >.>



/signed

I think you have an old copy (or edited out a bit of discussion,) as the OP - other than having the attacks there - is fairly close to an addendum I put in there where I mentioned "this might work as a temp power" bit.

Oh, and - not that I'm trying to pick on you, Forbin but...

Just the other day I finally saw a Council ambush. It's probably the first ambush I've seen spawned by a mission in months. We've had a means of safe travel that avoids those... well, since game release, in the form of the power pools. If the ambush isn't spawned *right* by the door, there's a good chance it'll be missed by anyone not AFK after the mission.


As far as the OP, the temp power attacks are probably the biggest issue. For the Kheld forms, for instance, I have a tray set aside and macros set to use. I don't think I'd do that for a temp power.

The walker...

There was a thread that survived many forum purges, finally falling victim to one a few years ago, called the "Mecha EAT." The walker sounded like its baby brother but it sounds like something that would have to be a powerset as opposed to a temp power or a pool.

Some of these I could see working *as part of a mission arc* more easily (similar to Shelley Percy granting you some Nictus powers.)

Actually, I doubt we'll see crowding - if anything, I think we'll see *less.* (Seriously - go to Icon, Steel Canyon, Virtue any time there's an issue with costume parts or a new pack released - you can't GET to the tailors.)

I mean -
Atlas - Trainer, Icon
Mercy - Two trainers

... to take care of the lower level 'crowding' (*lifts drink to Galaxy*) Heck, Cap will have three "tailoring" spots - two trainers and the Facemaker. And the folks in other level ranges won't have to go to Cap/Steel/IP/St Martial/Founders/Pocket D. They'll be able to hop right to the trainer in THEIR zone.

The Celestial armor is the first batch (apparently) of the "rotating" VIP-exclusive Tier 9 tier.

This, I could get behind.

I could also get behind an expansion of recipes - while removing some that just aren't used/just don't sell from the drop pool entirely, having them sold (for those that want to frankenslot) from the vendors. (See also Executioner's Contract, Calibrated Accuracy, etc.)

For instance, get rid of ... well,e very snipe recipe drop but Manticore, replace with one other - and decent - snipe set that drops, move the rest to the vendors/stores. Set price, if you *really* want that CA recipe - go buy it.

Yes, it's called ignorance. The OS/platform wars were boring and insipid back in the 90s (and before) when there was reason to argue about platforms (DOS, WIn9x, the separate NT line, OS/2, budding Linux - which really wasn't a contender at that point, BeOS, etc.)
Would that be the i3/i5/i7 processors they use that aren't up to snuff? The Radeon HD graphics? (Mac Mini has either the newer Intel integrated or HD 6* series, the iMac uses HD 6750/6770/6970, for instance.) The multiple gigabytes of RAM?

I'd call it a fairly safe bet some of the macs you can go and buy *right now* would blow the PCs some people use to play this game out of the water. I know they put my secondary system - which runs COH just fine, though not on "ultra shiny" settings - to shame.

(My other system: Athlon X2 5600 2 ghz dual core, 2 Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce 9500.
Current main system: Intel i7-860 quad core, 8 Gb RAM, Radeon HD 5770. Yeah, my *main* system, other than RAM, is roughly equal/just ahead of the iMacs. The higher end Mac Mini blows my other system out of the water.)

... and as the entry of Steam, for instance, into the Mac space should show, there's more interest in getting them on the Macs. Plus, as an aside, the 800lb gorilla's maker has pretty much *always* released any game it made on the PC with a native Mac client. More are going that way, too.

There's greater interest than there has been in releasing games for the Mac.
So, they need gobs of memory, a fast processor, decent graphics and an accurate display? Sort of like... what a gaming PC would ideally have?

Think it's time for you to reexamine your assumptions. Admittedly it wasn't very long ago that Macs were using PowerPC processors, having trouble keeping up with PC-side raw speed - and having what I understand to be a vastly-more-difficult-to-port-because-of programming environment because of how that processor dealt with data. That's no longer true.


... oh, just for the record, no, I don't own a Mac. (Well, VERY technically I do - a 1990-era Mac Classic - but it's not really relevant to the discussion.) You're having a PC guy point out how wrong your arguments are.

And when someone does, you'll come back with statements such as:

and not bother expanding.

/golfclap.

Nothing I said was "Forum PVP" or "Deriding your opinion," unless you're one of those who think "Disagreement = derision." At least until your non-reply quoted just above - and even then, only the first line of my reply, which was far *nicer* than you're proving yourself of deserving.

So, thanks for answering the last statement:

where you prove you AREN'T interested in discussion, just sniping, and that Fulmens has precisely the way of dealing with you.

Goodbye, from someone who *did* want to see just where you were getting the various impressions you were arguing from. Borrowing your own phrase, I'm no longer silly enough to believe YOU may actually want to discuss the matter.

Alternately, if you hit 30 and still don't have it (or possibly can tag along on the mission, not sure if that'll count or not,) the Science store contact in Brickstown will award it.

(Though I wouldn't say it makes "the whole disabling XP option obsolete.")

<sarcasm>Thank you *ever* so much for the permission, Your Grace.</sarcasm>

I note you have nothing to say in actual *response* to those, though, even to illustrate where YOU'RE trying to come from. Even when I flat out ask a question, and give you the point I'm answering from (first point on meeting expectations.) Or the third, where there's a very simple "So what?" to the "Sub-100k" comment, with an explanation on why it does not matter at this point. Yet you don't give your OWN idea of what would define "successful" or even "meeting expectations."

Is that saying I *wouldn't* like there to be more people? No. But it is (a) pointing out flaws in the argument I quoted (as the rest of the post you made had nothing to do with it,) and (b) showing you where I'm standing to make the counterargument.

Now, are you interested in actual discussion, or just doing your best to emulate Golden Girl, but without the smilies? Because, quite frankly, your position that "City of Heroes has not done well" is a *very* hard one to defend - just from the fact that it's *still here* after all this time when the MMO landscape around it is cratered with bigger titles that crashed and burned spectacularly. That's not an opinion. That's a verifiable fact - proven by the fact I can fire up the NC launcher and log in right now, just like I could back in Issue 3 when I started.

And before you throw me in with anyone - to use your earlier terms - "Cheerleading" or "Defending it to the death," I'll point out I'm *highly* critical of the developers. My usual comparison is of the dev team to a hyper little dog in a room full of Superballs, getting excited over one that bounces in front of it, catching it, and then turning to the next one that catches its attention, leaving nothing but a sad, slobbery ball with a few tooth marks behind (see also AE, PVP, "Don't want to bring old up to speed, just want new" comments, and last but not least - bases.) That's not the sort of thing you're going to hear from someone blindly defending the dev team or the game.

THOSE problems, though, more than powerset respecs (which, honestly, isn't going to get new people in or many - if any - old back) are what needs to be dealt with. They need to stop abandoning systems and keep the *entire game* polished and at the same level. They can't "raise the bar," to use Melissa's overused phrase, in one area and leave it lying around rusting in another. It looks sloppy and unprofessional.

As for you? The only thing like a position I've seen from you is that "they haven't brought in subscribers." And that's, quite honestly, false. I've seen new people continually (and I do mean on a fairly regular basis, not "I saw one this year." I seem to be answering basic "how to" questions continually on the help channel.) - and I tend to play on medium-to-low population servers. (I tend to toss them a recipe or two to sell or some INF, if I'm not on a lowbie.) Could they have brought in more? Absolutely. But I place that *squarely* on the feet of the piss-poor advertising this game gets. Really, when's the last time you saw one of the seemingly hundreds of comic book or superhero-inspired movies with a COH ad? Or even a comic book? Last ones I can think of that had a COH ad were - the COH comic books. (See also "Preaching to the choir.") And given our rather mild slope downward over *years,* we're bringing in people to replace those that leave for various reasons... even in a hostile economic climate.

Some of it, honestly, is also all the *differences* between this game and World of ConanRingiage. We don't have "gear" - the enhancement system is quite different. There's no "Turn in the Sword of Somewhat Damp Paper for the Sword of Mildly Stiff Cardboard at level 3, then get the Armor of Aluminum Foil at 5... oh, that changes your appearance, by the way." Our ATs are generally *not* like other games classes - running in Aion, for instance, I had a fair expectation of what I could expect from a Ranger, Assassin, Chanter, etc. You could swap them out like swapping socks. But here - is that Blaster going to stack holds and a nasty placed AOE (Ice) or do nothing but damage (fire) to me? Is that Defender going to be a Stormy, Empathy, Sonic, Cold - all of which are *vastly* different. How about that Controller? Honestly, the most predictable are (IMHO) Stalkers and Masterminds - you know what they're bringing. And that's a serious culture shock compared to many other games. There's no "one" (or two) "true ways" to build a certain AT - and some people don't like that.

(The other issue with those highest pop games, of course, is... Asia. The way they count "subscriptions" over there is - odd, to say the least. And City Of's gameplay doesn't mesh well with what they seem to like - large (and I don't mean 12-20 people) coordinated group raid-loot-fests. We've only recently gotten anything close, really, besides Hami and the Mothership, and those by comparison are... not rough. If you want to say COH crashed and burned *at all,* you can honestly say it about the Asian launch.)

So, go ahead - expand on *your* position. Because in all this thread, you really haven't. I'm curious to see if you'll provide your reasoning, or just snipe away.

I'll say I benefit from having a decent player, no matter what they're playing - and yes, i'm one of those who will scrap on a Stalker. Hell, on mine, I charge into packs of Rikti drones. "I'll give you something worse than my stealth to try to ignore!"

The lack of stalkers on my team is not from not wanting one invited - but from people feeling like the above, really. "What do I bring?" And deciding the stalker's a solo AT.

The *benefit* is depending on the player - if all they can do is AS - placate - hit - run away, they don't benefit me any more than a "healer" Empath with one unslotted attack. If they fight and don't act like twits, they benefit the team, IMHO.

None of the above is to say I wouldn't like to see some tweaks/buffs to the AT, though. I wouldn't mind seeing the "Uninterruptable AS," personally - snipes, at least, have the benefit of being out of melee/aggro range, typically. Something interrupts the AS, it's also yanking you out of hide and making you *everyone's* best friend.

... no. The only thing that gives a penalty is Tin Mage and Ajax (where it "costs" you four levels.) Everything else in the Incarnate trials cons higher to you, yes, but it does not apply a penalty. (I've run them with unslotted Alpha slots and nothing else unlocked.)

Edit: ANOTHER log out WHILE POSTING. Dear devs/web team/NC - FIX THIS DAMN FORUM ALREADY!

(Side note: newest Alpha unlock - sonic/sonic defender. All SOs, still. Few inspirations for the Vanguard/Honoree fight.)

Problem with that (for many items) is something I mentioned before:

I need to make X many recipes (let's go with another usually-high-priced one, Luck Charms, and I'm making a bunch of Accuracies for the SG bins/badge/whatever.)

Why would I spend *any* INF on it when I can run a quick mission/arc/farm in AE and just burn tickets getting salvage? I've gotten 10-11 LCs, ASilvers, etc. in a single haul, after all. What could equal several million INF... for the low low cost of nothing.

I'd basically be evading that sort of a sink.

Now, no, that doesn't apply to purples and the like that don't show up that way - but I can get those other ways (grind trials, hero merits, etc.) anyway.

A few things:

1. Look at common IO recipes. Go compare what they sell for at the tables - you'll see they (sometimes) sell for more on the market.

2. Common salvage. I've been making money on a lowbie lately running in AE and burning tickets. Dropping Alchemical Silvers on the market for 6 inf. People are (were) paying 300,000 for them. (They're down, or were, to 15-25k.) They're available cheaply - literally for *nothing* (but time, and not that much) And yet people were paying that much for them...

3. Pay for AE? Pay to vote? INF for dying? Absofreakinglutely NOT. Not everyone is multi-billionaires - not even some of those that have been around for a while (I've been here since I3.) You want to drive people away, that's a very good way to do so. And account wide INF cap? No. Not only is it a bad idea (especially for those of us with lots of alts,) but those that HAVE that sort of money know how to sock it away.

INF sinks have to be (a) something people don't mind paying for (or ignoring,) as opposed to punitive, and (b) worth the price. Base INF to Prestige conversion comes to mind - I'd LOVE to give SGs a boost once in a while, but the 500:1 ratio... no, it's not worth it. Cut that in half and even with the non-huge piles of INF I have, I'd still burn it once in a while. The flip side of that? One of the things I *hated* in AIon (and a few other games) was the constant feel of needing to grind for gold - for training, for weapon repair, to "buy back" the chunk of experience held by the Soul Healer for dying (and in a PVP-based game, well....) I *despise* those kind of INF sinks - they feel like I'm just making money to give right back to the game, as opposed to stuff I'd buy/burn INF on because I *want* to.

And sometimes in strawberry banana, too.