MissInformed

I could see altering the content, but removing it? People are always crying "more content!" Removing any content would be an error, especially when the new GR content is an unnecessary paid expansion. Removal of content seems like an extreme conclusion and I can't find any reasons or evidence that makes me want to take that leap with you.

If you haven't done it yet, I'd advise doing the first one slowly and tracking everything on paper or in a hero planner, like Mids. Make sure you check everything before you accept and start slotting. It's very easy to miss something or forget to take a power/power pool you really wanted or to get lost and forget what level you're on, taking a power way earlier/later than you intended. After you do a few, it's easier because you remember the pitfalls, like having to accept power pools twice before they "take."

That's what I recall as well.

They're professionals who do this for a living in many different games. They don't need ideas from us. They've likely been thinking about alternate methods for months or years now. I'm betting there is nothing any one of us could come up with that they haven't thought of already. It's their livelihood; they have to. They are always three steps ahead.

But accusing them of stealing = better demonization and more fun!

You could find sites selling influence, power leveling, etc before I9, yes. They weren't aggressively after people in the game, but they had websites up. I think they didn't do much business before I9. I remember checking out one site because I couldn't believe anyone would spend actual money for influence. They listed the servers influence was available on and the pickings were pretty slim. That was before City of Villains was out, so before I6.

Early on in the game, one guy was even busted by players for selling his Hami raiding "guide" on ebay. That had to be around I3? Something like that?* People also sold Hami Enancements online back then.

I guess we shouldn't be surprised, really. In a world where people pay for dirty underpants, it's pretty clear there's a market for anything.

*Edit - I remember that the Hami raid on ebay guide thing happened before Hami was defeated on most servers, including Justice. Maybe Q, Arwen, or some of the other longtime Hami raiders would have a better idea of when that was. The players who busted the guy were apparently mad about two things: 1) he was selling a Hami guide on ebay 2) he claimed it was his method and others said he didn't contribute much to it, someone else deserved credit for the strategy, AND this guy was the one selling it and claiming credit.

I just wanted to highlight those two points. Also, for those who haven't done events like this before, please do not cancel at the last minute. The restaurant will charge for what they prepared, not what they cook. If we have a lot of people coming, much of their prep will be done in advance. If Red books for 30 people and 20 show up, those 20 will be paying for food for 30. Red, I'd encourage you to post a cancelation date and time as well based on whatever Bucca tells you. Most places need at least 24 hours, but they may give you more or less time.

Anyone who doesn't make the official list in time, you may want to send Red your contact info so he can contact you if someone else does cancel at the last minute. Anyone who does need to cancel at the last minute, please find a way to let someone know. Planes get delayed, things happen, but I do hope everyone shows up. Plus, I'll worry about you if you don't let us know you can't make it. I look forward to seeing you!

~Miss "My Back-Up Plans Have Back-Up Plans" Informed

When you make a purchase, the only thing you're entitled to is what's promised on the box and in the EULA. You already have that and you're entitled to nothing else.

If you buy a car today and tomorrow they have a sale and include a free DVD player with a purchase of the same car, you're not entitled to a DVD player. It wasn't a part of what you purchased. In your case, it's not even the same car, it's a different car/model year.

I've never been to Dragon Con. What would a "CoH-related" panel be?

Right. I wonder if they have people who go check the markets to see if things are worth selling or if they delete everything without knowing. Maybe they have one team "Mule" they trade all the $$$$ stuff to and he goes and sells them all.

I am, too. Though they likely won't say because then the behaviors will get modified and they'll have to start all over again.

Granted they're more transparent than most, but it's still after the fact (and for good reason). Do you have a window in mind for how long after the fact something still counts as transparency? The article was posted about two months after the Unholy Rage date. (I love that name.) It really does remind me of the "national security" stuff the govenerment keeps talking about. How much information can/should they give out without putting the actual operation at risk? The EULA protects them in ways it doesn't protect us. In terms of a "right to know," we have none - we sign it away as soon as we click "Accept." As it is now, we don't nearly as much as I want and I think most companies underestimate how much we feel a need to know in terms of feeling things are fair and under control. It's good customer service to have some transparency. It's hard to trust any entity when you have no idea what's going on. I don't want to know everything, but I'd like to see enough information that I can get a general idea of what's going on, why it's going on, and what the results are. I think EVE did a good job of that, but I wonder what their forums looked like while it was happening and before this posting came out.

I actually care far less about what it's doing to the internal market than I do about some other things. I don't really have an issue with players who are farming for themselves, but I do have a problem with the RMT people. They take up resources that someone else could be using to actually play the game for fun. They send me spam every day. They forced the Devs into a corner where they put extreme limitations on trial accounts to help prevent the RMT people from sending us annoying tells, spamming broadcast, etc. If they can be weeded out and actually banned for good without catching genuine players in the net, I'm all for it.

Just as a reminder, you can't use the portal until the character gets to level 25. I earned it around level 21/22 on my Warshade and can't use it - though I can open it for others.

And many new players are playing it that way every day because it's new to them. The game hasn't changed, but you have. The game play has become about the destination to you because you've been on the journey so many times. You assumed that you've "been there, done that" and seen everything. The other day you chose to believe differently.

You have almost total control of what you do in this game, as I think it should be. If you've seen it all before, you don't have to stop to look at it all again if you don't want to. If you're new or just feel like doing it, you can spend hours just taking in the sights. I've played games that force you the long way through everything and it's a giant waste of my time when my play time is limited. I love that in this game, I can wander though as slowly or as quickly as I want. I can spend my time doing missions and not exploring when that's what I want to do, or explore when I'd rather do that.

We don't need more exploration. The only thing we need is to remember that we have other choices.

There's still a mad/angry emoticon:

It's just not nearly as cool as the old petulant mad face we used to have. That one was a riot. It wasn't, "I'm mad!" it was, "I'm mad, I'm stomping my feet, it's all your fault and I demand to be appeased... now!!!"

I miss it.

Agreed. I haven't noticed any of the things the OP mentions. I also haven't ever noticed that I miss more often after using one tier one accuracy inspiration.

When I looked into the accuracy inspiration thing for a friend who said they made him miss, I spent an afternoon killing bad guys over and over, kept a spreadsheet (since deleted, unfortunately) and could find no evidence to prove his perception. Even after all that, he still insisted that for some specific bad guys, the ones I didn't kill that day, it was still true. He even said maybe it was only true for specific bad guys and his powersets. I suppose that's possible, but I really don't think it's plausible. Perceptions are hard to let go, no matter what actual evidence may exist.

It's very common for CoH contacts to send you to multiple zones, with the exceptions of contacts in The Hollows, Faultline, Croatoa, Striga Island, the Rikti War Zone, and Oroborous. Those were all added or updated later and the contacts there give arcs that are specifically about the zone they're in or have ways to "teleport" you to the mission.

As Kitsune Knight mentioned, in CoV it's far less common for a contact to send you outside his or her "home" zone. CoV also has far fewer zones, which also cuts travel time significantly. CoH does send you from place to place, but the travel time is still significantly less than some other games since travel powers allow you to move faster and the trains/ferrys/portals just zap you from city to city without making you sit through the ride.

No reason it has to be an "instead." On the blue side, both Jurassik and Babbage spawn via Task Forces (Synapse and Numina) and as GMs outside in their own zones (Boomtown and Crey's Folly - I'm not positive about CD for Jurassik).

Stheno, as an AV, is inside a mission that comes with a warning to bring friends and the ability to downgrade her to an EB. If you run around a corner and right into her, you knew she was somewhere in there and you're supposed to defeat her.

GMs are entirely different. The announcement comes up when they spawn, but you could be offline at the time and miss it. No one specifically warns you to go to travel the area with an armed entourage because there's a GM on the loose. You have no way to downgrade a GM because you're solo. You also have no travel power to evade one. You don't even get a temp travel power until you move on to Port Oakes.

There are no GMs in Atlas Park or Galaxy either and I think it's for good reason. The first GM you see blue side is the Kraken, which is in a hazard zone. I think more GMs on the red side is a great idea, but I agree that Mercy isn't the place.

You may want to join the global channel "Australia." It was created by/for Australian players, but it's also used by many people in the US who play at off hours.

I know that server maintenance goes on in the mornings, but I don't know what times and I couldn't find it on the official site. (It's no longer on the server status page.) While you may not encounter the server downtime, if you do notice it, it may well be the regular maintenance and not a crash. General forums get serveral posts a month from people reporting crashed servers or account problems from people being unable to log in during the maintenance window. I really wish they'd put the times somewhere on the website. Here's what Paragon Wiki says about it:

I don't know, but I bet it's linked to the reason so many like to blame the people who report them instead of saying, "Yeah, I guess I shouldn't have done that."