MissInformed

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Otherwise the Chat UI should start out pretty big and easy to read by default.


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"Easy to read" is pretty subjective, actually. My monitor is set for 1280 x 1024 and I played in Windowed mode. I think the text default for that is 12, maybe 11. I always bump mine up to 13. Can I read it if it's smaller? Yes. But I don't consider it easy.

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How is the best way to use the Temp Power, or does it even matter?

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It's less about the temp power than the team build. The first time I did this, it took us nearly 3 hours, most of which were spent dealing with that final mission. We had only 6 people instead of 8 and the team wasn't terribly balanced. We were unable to take on each new AV without wiping and/or having Reichsman regain all his health. We tried to take on both AVs at the same time to keep him from regenerating, but it wasn't going to happen for us. We had some shivans, but eventually 4 of us went and got more shivans and we finally beat him. It was an exercise in tedium and not fun.

The next time I went with a more balanced team of 8 people, including a second tank. It made a huge difference and we completed the TF in just over an hour - an hour 15, I think.

It's less about powers - Temp, Rad, Kin, any of them - and more about a balance of offense/defense. And while two tanks is normally overkill, it really came in handy that second time we did this TF.

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Personally, (and I know this is not going to be a popular idea) I think you should reroll, and start from scratch. Play each level with actual game content and NO AE. This will help you learn how to use your powers, and figure what kind of circumstances work best for what kind of attacks, and what enhancements to buy. There are stores to buy enhancements other then Wentworths. Some are origin specific meaning they sell enhancements specifically for your origin.


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Or do the AE content instead of "actual game content," because if it's in the game, it's now "game content." BUT yhu would need to do it differently.

The AE is not inherently evil and there is nothing wrong with doing AE missions. Doing AE missions isn't the problem. The problem is doing them exclusively to level quickly, not training as you level, and not slotting (including FILLING said slots) and playing with your new powers as you go. Teaming with people only doing AE missions and letting you go along for the ride without pulling your own weight is also part of the problem. (And if you teamed with anyone, you were clearly not pulling your own weight becase now you're getting you butt handed to you by Tsoo, which max out 20 levels beneath you.)

Anyone you teamed with probably thought they were being helpful, but they did you a disservice. Find some teammates who allow you to be challenged and teach you how to rise up to those challenges.

I've been playing the AE missions on only my level 50 characters and there are a lot of really good and fun missions in there - some I did last night rival anything the Devs have published. Please don't assume the problem issues directly from the AE or even the AE content. It's not all farm missions and some people, myself included, have put a lot of time and effort into actual story arcs and missions. Last night I played @Wrong Number's Have a Blap, Blap, Blappy Day Kids! arc and @fuzon's A Day in the Life of...Dr. Aeon arc. Both are creative, well-written, and a lot ot fun. I would highly recommend them to anyone, new and vet players alike. (Though I think they're both over level 25.)

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To be honest, I don't think many people will take this rigorously, since there are many variables that can speed things up, like vet tp, mission tp, vent/ts, shivans, purple enhancements, vengeance stacking and tier 3 insps. I think it's just a fun way for people to show how much they can push the limit without being refereed.

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I had forgotten the "best of" option on the times! That and the allownace of all the things you mentioned above do make it much easier. Most of those either didn't exist or weren't allowed in the Time Force events.

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ITF: different map layout of 2nd mission


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How different are those maps? I've not noticed a significant difference any time I've done it.

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Without second guessing what Toona wants to do with this I would suggest 5 different TF/SFs that can be chosen, all of which can be run under 45 mins.

<ul type="square">[*]Statesman's Task Force [*]Lord Recluse's Strike Force[*]Imperious' Task Force [*]Lady Grey Task Force [*]Dr Kahn Task Force[/list]

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I would eliminate the Statesman TF and the LGTF from the list for fairness because of the key drop on the STF and the hostage placement in the LGTF. Sometimes it seems everything is right up front and you get the key or the AV spawned right away and other times it seems like every mob needs killin' and every nook and cranny needs searchin'. Those variables, to me, don't make it an even playing field for each team, regardless of the total completion time.


When PoJ ran the STF as a Time Force event, they had a judge on each team who stopped the clock at the "Mission Complete" ding of the mission before you have to find the key and restarted it as soon as they key was found. They automatic in-game timer provides a nice screen shot and means you don't need a judge on each team, but it leaves the issue of some teams getting luckier than others.

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Now if I could only understand why my work laptop occasionally sets my spell check to French...

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I have a PowerPoint presentation I got from someone else and three of the slides had notes which consistently acted as if they were in German. I reset the spell check to English and deleted German from the list and it didn't help. Finally I had to recreate the slides by pasting the graphics in new slides and taking the text and pasting it into a .txt file in Notepad, then back into the new PowerPoint slides.

I have no idea why it was only three slides, why it was only the notes sections of the three slides and not the text on the slides themselves, and why it didn't seem to affect anything else. Another women in my group has the language problem only in MS Outlook.

Ah well, better than old office environment, which would toggle the "Sticky Keys" shortcut back on every 4-6 for everyone in my building.

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I submit that bikini 1 and eden bottom and top used together may well be a guy, but it may be a female on the other end of the line also.

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And I submit simply this: Anyone who thinks you can determine the gender of the player based on the way the pixels are arranged on the screen is a fool. But I guess it's easier to sleep at night when you can convince yourself you know the gender of the person you just cybered.

Justice has several global channels and an entire forum to advertise for teams on. There's a channel called Justice For All and some others I don't recall the names of. Do a channel search for "Justice" and join channels with the most active/online users. (Also do a search for the word "Chrome" since there's a Chrome Family or something channel out there you can find teams on.) Then head to the Justice forums to meet some people who may be online when you are, have characters of similar levels, etc.

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This tool that's being touted as the greatest MMO innovation since...well I can't really think of any truly great MMO innovations off the top of my head. In any case...its a VERY limited tool. And that means that what people create with it is also VERY limited. User created content isn't supposed to stifle creativity and limit options. That's why I mentioned before that I was very unenthusiastic about MA in the first place. I saw this coming.

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Of course it5's limited. You'd have been a fool not to have seen that coming. Don't you think even the developers think the engine is limited? Everyone is working with limitations and no one is out to get you or screw up your arc in particular. I'm sorry that the things you wanted to use broke your story arc and caused you to make changes you didn't want to make. I'm sure that's frustrating. It doesn't justify acting like a diva, though. Lots of arcs were affected, even more weren't. There's still a lot to work with and the removal of a few maps doesn't make the MA less innovative.

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Anyone can write a story. Some people are better than others...but what really distinguishes yours from mine in MA? Have you used a map that no one has seen yet? Do you have an NPC with powers that no one else can access? Do you have some tough and clever puzzles in yours that I didn't think of in mine? We can't even branch story arcs...so failing a mission means jack squat!

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This is ridiculous. Do you really think that if there's a map that's seldom used that you're going to be the only one to use it? There are far fewer maps out there than there are players. If you expect the MAP to make your story stand out, then you are always going to be disappointed. Anyone has access to any map and that map is not going to make you look different. An NPC with powers no one else can access? That's another crutch and imagine all the people who would cry because they can't have it. If you need to rely on things no one else can have instead of original ideas and clever writing, that's your own flaw and not a flaw of the system.

I've been playing quite a few of the MA arcs recently and every one of them had access to the same system, the same maps, and the same characters and powers. Yet some stood out far and above the rest. None of them relied on a super secret special map or powers no one else had access to. If you think that's what makes a good story, you have it all wrong.

Most novels, with a few notable exceptions, are printed in plain black text on plain paper. Some are amazing and stand out over others and some are complete trash. The authors of books who don't do well don't get to blame their failure on limited fonts and mechanics. Low budget films can be better than movies with millions of dollars in the budgets. If your work is solid, it should be able to stand without the bells and whistles supporting it.

Are bells and whistles cool? Sure. Do they make people "ooh" and "ahh"? Certainly. They can enhance a good story and make it better. But they aren't a crutch you should count on to support something that can't stand on its own. Finding a way to stand out and be exceptional is up to you, not the technology.

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If you don't have much influence, you could be placing lowball bids on the auction house for a few levels ahead for either SOs or IOs (but check percentages, because IOs do not necessarily equal better for level). You shouldn't be using TOs past level 12, when you can switch to DOs. Switch to SOs at 22. An alternate route is to do missions for tickets in AE, and use the tickets to buy your enhancements. This is the technique I've been using with my toons and so far it's worked out well.

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Agreed. I only slot TOs that drop on me and sell everything I don't absolutely need. As soon as I have a few thousand inf, I lowball bid on the basic pre-crafted IOs I want. (I usually start bidding on 15s while others wait until higher levels.)

Start bidding as soon as you can so that you can wait and not spend too much because you're impatient to get something you need ASAP. As you level up, bid on more things that are a few levels higher than you are now. Since IOs can't be outleveled, you will always get a bonus for them, even if it's smaller than one of your current level or higher. Bid to fill new slots and only replace things that really need replacing. (Accuracy is a big one for me, as I hate missing and I know that I can't damage what I can't hit and I'll waste endurance trying. Damage and Endurance come second and Accuracy always comes first for me.)

I like to roll Magic based heroes in Galaxy and take the mission arcs with scores of Hellions missions (Luck Charms!) Then I go to Perez and get more Hellions (and more Luck Charms!). I don't level as fast as a sewer team, but that also means I don't need to pay for enhancements I can't afford yet)

I basically start every new character out with no twinking and do it this way. The only thing I ALWAYS twink for is a KB resist enhancement of any kind for any of my characters who won't have decent KB protection without one. I bid on that at level 3 and usually slot one into Hover or Combat Jumping as soon as I hit level 7-14.

With one level 17 character, I twinked her over 70 million and all she did was craft basic IOs to get the memorization badges and then craft base salvage until I got the workbench accolade. (Whatever it's called.) That way she had the crafting table temp power to pull out whenever it was needed from level 17 on up and got way more use out of it than any of my level 50's would have by getting it at 50. It worked out really well. I also listed the crafted IOs on the market cheaply because I knew I'd be helping out all the lower level players who were using the above method to buy IOs.

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I prefer the small, fairly frequent free updates with a fat paid expansion in the pipeline over infrequent but more substantial free updates with nothing else happening.

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I absolutely agree.

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I16 contains power customisation, difficulty customisation and more power set proliferation than many of us know what to do with. Small? Are you bloody insane?

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It's all about perspective. To those who don't really care about any of those things, I'm sure it does seem small. Just like they could add three new zones and 4 new Task Forces to the Villains side and one new TF to the Hero side and some of the people who only play Heroes would say it was small. (Exactly as they did when Issue 7 - I think it was 7 - came out and added the level 40-50 Villain content, Grandville, and the Recluse Whatever/Whatever Recluse PVP zone. Undoubtedly that required loads of effort and resources, but it seemed small to anyone who wasn't going to utilize the bulk of the additions)

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I actually thought about doing that to burn off my cash. Then I thought not many people on this server run for speed and it would just end up me giving money to the same people i play with.

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It's possible the outcome would be as you say and you'd see the same old-same old people. But speaking as someone who put together the winning team for the first big timed TF contest on the Justice server, there's a big difference between running for speed all the time and doing it for a contest. I don't do it frequently because it's not much fun for me. But I participted in both the Pagagon's of Justice Time Force events and they were loads of fun.

I think the contest would be a great idea. You may want to have categories for different groups to run in and that way you can separate the the people who usually run from speed and those who usually run for fun. You could even have a runoff between the winners of each category.

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The only better name "generator" would have to be picking up a dictionary, thesaurus and heading over to a translation site, to type in alternate or foreign words to use.

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Agreed. Hebrew is great source of names because they have such great terms to describe things. I have a Sonic/Sonic corruptor named Lashon Hara, which means "evil tongue" or someone who spreads gossip. There are loads of other great names you can get from languages which use really visual descriptions for terms.

I also like to come up with a concept and then do a search for the gods of those powers. You can get great names from the pantheons of all kinds of cultures that are less commonly used than Greek/Roman/Norse names: Hawiian, Aztec, Egyptian, Indian, etc. Sometimes I combine the names of large or small dieties to get a name I like.

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No, I AM BACKALLEYBRAWLER!

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prove it

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Ig, I do not now, nor have I ever, felt the need to prove anything to you.

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No, I AM BACKALLEYBRAWLER!

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you are missinformed

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Dammit! You're right!

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What's a Meow Farm?

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Meow teams, meow missions...whatever the code word for 'farms' in the MA was.

All I remember as a bunch of people standing around in AE broadcasting "Meow?" "Meow?" "Meow LFM!"

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*shudder*

As if role playing catgirls didn't freak me out enough already... seeing that spammed everywhere would have driven me to hide under the desk in a fetal position for a month.

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Would have? I thought THAT was why you were out of game for a while!

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Hahahahaha!

No, I AM BACKALLEYBRAWLER!

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Except more of the elderly people than teen-aged boys woud probably have a valid physiological reason for not hearing you clearly. Plus, when there's money involved, especially if it's the only income, I think people are already so on-edge that it doesn't take much to push them over. Mess with my rent or food money and I'll have my cranky pants on, too.

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A strong argument can be made that the huge amount of hormones running around a 19 year old male's brain like their pants are on fire is in fact a valid physiological reason. One recent study has likened the hormonal influx during the teenage years to cocaine addiction.

God knows at 19 I wasn't fit to be let out of a house or near a means of communication. Or popcorn for that matter.

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Eight speaks the truth. It really is biological.

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Then y'all need to stop putting that thing in your ear!

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What's a Meow Farm?

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Meow teams, meow missions...whatever the code word for 'farms' in the MA was.

All I remember as a bunch of people standing around in AE broadcasting "Meow?" "Meow?" "Meow LFM!"

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*shudder*

As if role playing catgirls didn't freak me out enough already... seeing that spammed everywhere would have driven me to hide under the desk in a fetal position for a month.

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It's a bit unorthodox, but could end up being a win-win for everyone.

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This. I really think so. Yes, it has potential for problems, but I think it has more potential to be a really good solution.

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I bet Hellfire would flip if i called and tried to order a pizza.

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Actually...

There's a pizza place somewhere in Alberta or somethign that has a 1800 number similar to ours as well, so we get the odd call from their customers as well, but they're very, very rare.

But those people are alright, they at least pay attention to my phone greeting and realize right away they misdialed. I have no problem with that. It's the stubborn old goats who want to argue with me, as though by simply insisting that they're right that they can somehow alter reality.

Huh... that description is oddly reminiscent of 19-year old boys, as well, now that I think about it.

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Except more of the elderly people than teen-aged boys woud probably have a valid physiological reason for not hearing you clearly. Plus, when there's money involved, especially if it's the only income, I think people are already so on-edge that it doesn't take much to push them over. Mess with my rent or food money and I'll have my cranky pants on, too.

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I16: Now Quit Yer Bi***ing!!

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Hahahhaha! I like that it was almost called "When Pigments Fly."

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PI will be the Nicest place for all you people who want to team up, you wont see SPAM.

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Except now people will be spamming for teams because all the teams will be 8-man teams of one.

I do think this is a really nice addition for people who want more challenging missions.