MrCaptainMan

Hi.

I'm currently unable to login, so while I wIt for my new 'puter, I'm planning my next arc.

I don't want to give anything away, but I'm staring at a plot flowchart right now, and I'd just like to tell you that it's best described as Insanity gone mad on a rampage of Barmy, arrested by the Crazy Police, locked up in the Bonkers Asylum for twenty years and fed a strict diet of Barking and Doolally with daily injections of WTF on the orders of Doctor Derangement.

Much like Kubrick (lmao), I am slooow to create, so it'll be a while till publication even after my return to the game.

Thanks for listening.

Eco

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Stop looking at pling , or farming as a bad thing. I personally have "payed my dues" with getting 5 characters to 50 doing teaming and soloing and all that. So my last 7 that I got to 50, I did pling and tfs. THIS WAS NEVER A BAD THING TO ME and was AN OPTION THAT I WANTED! I pay for this game just like everyone else, and if I don't want to spend months grinding a way to get a toon to 50 then I shouldn't have to.

I get on the forums and all I see is "farm bashing". Im grown and have 2 jobs. I dont wanna spend the remaining hours of my day getting 3 bars.

Farming allows me to put sooooooo much on the market. And I put it there for cheap too. It helps me help the economy of our game. Pling isn't bad. Any "character builders" know that getting a toon to 50 is pretty much just step number one. The recipes are the next step. Of the which, recipes are impossible to afford if a player just runs through contacts. I just did it with my ma/shield scrapper. After a month I was lvl 16 running in the hollows. Grinding out missions is for people that are new and people that actually prefer to run stories. It should not be the only method of game play.

one


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The fact that you have posted this rant shows that you have absolutely no idea what is going on. Farming isn't the problem. Heck, powerleveling isn't really the problem. The "problem" is doing both of these things in the Mission Architect.

In the run up to Architect's release, at the time of the Architect's release, in the release notes, and in the tutorial, we are warned that the Architect is not for farming. Those that persist in using the Architect to create farms will suffer consequences. That consequences have been handed out is the source of the current firestorm.

It is fabulous that you have "paid your dues." I fully support your desire to powerlevel past the "boring stuff." Before the Architect, if you wanted to powerlevel, you went to Grandville or Peregrine Island. It used to be that a new player would not be exposed to powerleveling unless they sought it out. This was a workable system.

Now, people are out there advertising powerlevel farms in every single zone, especially the beginner zones where it is easy to build a team of 8 and reap tons of XP. The problem is that new players are being drafted into these teams. You may be sick of the Hollows, but by inviting a new player into a powerlevel farm, you don't even give them a chance to see whether or not they like it before you take them past it. You have handed them a tray full of powers that they don't really know how to use.And once they learn to use them, they have all of our rich endgame in front of them. Part of the problem is that our "rich endgame" consists of two raids and four, soon to be six, taskforces, and going back and doing the things you missed in Ouroboros. You have taken them to the level cap and given them an easy button before they have become invested in the game. This quickly leads to boredom and a short subscription. Powerleveling new players is bad, and may the fleas of a thousand camels infest the armpits of anyone who powerlevels a newbie straight out of Outbreak or Breakout.

The other negative effect of farms in the Architect is that they clog up the system and make it difficult to actually find stories.

There is no witch hunt against farmers or powerlevelers. It is a very targeted hunt against farming and powerleveling through the Mission Architect.

And really, a month to level 16? On a Scrapper?

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I do not need to read any more of this thread. Win. OP, read this and then go to PI or GV.

Eco.

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The local copy of your arcs, custom characters, and custom groups are saved in the following folders:
..\City of Heroes\Missions\
..\City of Heroes\Custom_Critter\
..\City of Heroes\CustomVillainGroup\

Any chat logs are saved in:
..\City of Heroes\logs\game\

Scrrenshots are saved in:
..\City of Heroes\screenshots\

Personalized default setting files are:
..\City of Heroes\keybinds.txt
..\City of Heroes\options.txt
..\City of Heroes\wdw.txt

Other personalized files are located in:
..\City of Heroes\"your_login_name"\
..\City of Heroes\data\
( and any non *.pigg file located in ..\City of Heroes\piggs\ )

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Thanks v much, MB. You're a diamond.

Eco.

Can we get this thread up to 50+ pages too please? The forums don't have enough I15 Badge Changes Rage yet.

Eco.

Which local folders do I need to copy if i want to uninstall my CoH game client and re-install it? I haven't tried that yet, but I don't want to lose my AE local arcs etc.

I guess a better phrased question is which folders will the new install include? I can just delete those ones then.

I'd ideally like to dload a new copy of the client before I uninstall the old one, but the updater won't let me.

Eco.

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I'm glad to see these arcs are getting more plays! I'm looking forward to trying the ones everyone else is listing here too

Here's a few additions to my list. No Arc can appeal to everyone, but these are ones that have stood out to me lately:

~~ HEROIC:
<ul type="square">[*]The Audition by @MrCaptainMan (#182289)
I know its hard, but don't die while trying to sing along! (like I did )[*]Turg Fiction: Ghost in the Machine, Act II by @Turgenev (#174557)
Sequel to the Dev's Choice arc...hurry up and write Act III!!![*]Astoria in D Minor by @The Cheshire Cat (#41565)
Very dark horror (not for everyone).[*]Fames in Victus by @Copse (#6467)
Humorous with many a pun.[*]Amazon-Avatars by @FemFury (#5909)
Has some great boss fights and interesting use of mythology.[/list]
~~ NEUTRAL:
<ul type="square">[*]Wicked, Wicked Wonderland by @AncientSpirit (#1224)
Alice and the Queen of Hearts![*]Paradox: Crisis on Infinite Girls @Paradox Girl (#97027)
There's so many of them! Amusing arc with some great mission designs.[/list]
~~ VILLAINOUS:
<ul type="square">[*]Assault on Aru Prime by Aisynia (#174586)
Very dark and evil sci-fi (not for everyone).[/list]
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Thanks for adding The Audition! I currently can't access CoH so I won't be able to respond to any in-game feedback until I get my new PC, probably at the weekend, but if anyone wants to leave feedback in my thread on it here , that would give me something nice to help pass the time till I can login again

Eco.

I just uninstalled everything connected to my soundcard, in case that was the cause.

Nope.

Two good side-effects of this disaster are that:

1. I'll get a spanky new high-end rig to play with, even if I have to give up CoH.

and 2. my ex-girlfriend will get my current PC, which still runs Toontown Online fine.

Every cloud, eh?

Eco.

Bah. Not only do I have to wait till the weekend for my new PC to be ready, but the %$##@^%$ing forum just ate a medium-sized post explaining the current state of affairs of my problem.

It never rains, eh?

Eco.

CoH Helper's been running for 5 mins now and the little alien just keeps dancing. What's that all aboutk, then?

Eco.

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Qr - i'm going to attempt a radical solution. Will report if it works.

Eco

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How will you be able to post from the Tibetan monastery?

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Lol. It's still doing it today. Starting it in Safe Mode makes no difference.

My solution is twofold.

First, I'm going to buy a new computer. In about half an hour.

Then, after I've re-installed the game and faffed around etc getting it set up, if this problem still happens, I'll uninstall, cancel my account, and paint the wall behind my head with grey matter and bits of bone.

Eco.

Qr - i'm going to attempt a radical solution. Will report if it works.

Eco

QR - I just updated my creative drivers and my nvidia drivers anyway, in case they were to blame.

Still crashing as I described.

I'm getting really depressed now lol.

Eco.

Qr - well, I'm glad that's been sorted out now.

It looks like a cool arc. When coh let's me back in I'll give it a go.

Eco

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I know this is a no-brainer, but I can't resist asking anyway..

Have you tried messing with the Playerslot.txt file at all? I know you were doing some editing in your playernotes.txt the other day. I'm just wondering if you accidentally messed up the other file somehow. If you temporarily move it to another folder or delete it, do you still have the problem?

As for verifying files.. it will do that after any client crash. If you wish, you can skip this process by making a shortcut similar to the following (substituting your own directory):
"C:\Program Files\City of Heroes\CityOfHeroes.exe" -project coh

That will load the game directly without loading the updater program. Keep in mind you'll still have to verify files the next time the updater runs, and you'll have to run the updater next time there is a patch anyway.

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Just tried moving the playerslot.txt to another folder temporaroily. Same problem.

I also deleted the checksum file and let it checksum again. No help.

Eco.

QR - Ah, apparently I had directx9.c. i'm dling directx10 now. hope that works.

Eco.

EDIT: It didnt work

RRG!

CoH was working fine this morning. Tonight, I start it up as normal, get the updater, get to login screen, enter my passwrod, get the server select, click a server, and 20 seconds pass and then the crashdump window. It's doing exactly the same thing every time I try. I've been trying repeatedly for an hour now. Afterwards, the updater has to veriufy the image etc again. It's really annoying.

I havwe up-to date drivers for everything.

Any ideas?

Eco.

telescopes. Rawr.

Eco

Qr - this review thread is excellent. I really like your attitude and style. Your humor and the good humor with which you deliver your criticism really tempers any negative feedback you have. I'm even considering submitting one of my arcs to your eye LOL, which says a lot!

I'll check out your arcs anyway-if your writing here is indicative of them then I'm sure I'll enjoy them.

I'll post my comments here when I've played them, plus a request for a reView if Im brave enough.

Eco

QR - apropos of nothing in particular, I used to hate ambushes during boss fights, but now I look forward to them, as long as the minions are maneagable. It often makes thematic sense for the bosses to shout for reinforcements and can make a final boss fight a tense frantic affair - saying that, the number and strength needs to be set with some care. In this arc, i have used boss + ambushes, but the EBs have no ambushes as I feel they're hard enough on their own. I want the Player to succeed as much as they do lol.

Eco.

QR - Thanks v much for playing it and for the feedback.

A lot of the issues you raise are caused by the fact that the arc is at exactly 100.00%. I edited it over and over to get it down, and the phrase 'focus noeds to destroy' repeated 4 times for example had to change to 'destroy focus nodes' - it was that tught. in the clue before they spawn, it does say '...if only I could destroyu the four focuse nodes...', but to add that four letter word I had to remove 4 characters elsewhere. I tore my hair out over the briefins and debirefings. initially, they were all a few paragraphs longer, and I think flowed better, but, well, I'm sure people know what I mean lol.

Cheers for the typo heads ups. Ive corrected them now.

Thanks again for playing. The arc was up for a week before I got any feedback at all, and it was getting a bit disheartening. I really appreciate the time and input of everyone who plays my arcs.

Eco.

Has this been republished under a new Arc ID number, WN?

Eco.

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Sb in a channel asked if anyone needed the Baphomet badge (Demon Slayer, it turned out to be) and i wasn't sure about it but it didn't ring a bell, so I figured i'd do it anyway. Got Demon Slayer and the gladiator, went to info to see what it looked like, and there I am at 601 badges! Fantastic!

Another milestone along the road to 1k!

Eco.

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and when you got rogue you will lose most like 80 of them lol welcome back to the not 600 club.

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Did you not read the rest of the thread? This point has already been raised and responded to.

Eco.

Uber, I also assumed this. Unfortunately, lots of people see a thread called 'the devs plans for Custard' and their response is 'whats this about cabbage, then?

Eco

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So defeat badges are grinding? Then all of the defeat badges should be removed? I dont think there was anything wrong with most AE badges but some needed to be changed or removed but not as many as they are doing. Does everyone not want to work for anything anymore want everything handed to them?

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Yes they are lowering the bar so that everyone can wear a badge. Making the meaning behind the badge valueless.

Why remove the badge to rescue 50 hostages? That takes some time but certainly a lot less time and energy than killing 200 toxic tarantulas. They are making MA badges meaningless because everyone will have all of them. Most players dont badge so trying to find and kill 200 toxic tarantulas isn't important, but MA is super popular so all of a sudden those badges must be very very easy to get so everyone playing MA will have them.

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So you're one of the 'I have X, you don't: I'm happy' people then.

Eco.

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There are many sorts of people.

Some people say, "Hey, I got X. I'm happy."

Others say, "I have X and you don't. I'm happy."

I personally don't want the latter sort of person to be happy.

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Thats every bit as bad as the person who is happy because you can't have something he has.

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Yeah, but that's cancelled out by all the cookies wanting Ulli to be happy.

Eco.