Nethergoat
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Posts
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Joined
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Quote:They have exactly one option when it comes to "restricting what players are allowed to do": specifically code it into the game.Originally Posted by Venture
No, but developers do get to dictate what players are allowed to do, and they should.
Unless they're willing to back up their rhetoric with code it means nothing and the playerbase will happily ignore whoever's up on the soapbox shouting about the type of fun they're expected to have.
This is comically wrongheaded, even for someone with your track record.Quote:Lots of people think lots of things are fun for them that are actually bad for the community and game as a whole. Farming has done nothing positive for the game in general and helped destroy MA in particular.
Every time you use the market you're benefiting from the largess of farmers.
Or do you actually think all that surplus junk comes from Captain RP & Lore Lass running story arcs? *eyeroll* -
Quote:Wisely.Originally Posted by Megajoule
Guess I'm just that naive, then.
And I still think farming is wrong, though I have no power to do anything about it. Positron did, but he didn't follow through.
Persecuting farmers makes about as much sense as persecuting RP'ers.
Less, actually, since farmers provide material support for the game by fueling the market. -
Quote:it only needs one thing, a vastly more robust, flexible search interface.Originally Posted by dugfromthearth
I think from the responses that AE could be revitalized with 2 changes
1. Wipe all existing arcs. This may require notifying players to save their old arcs. Or it could just be a wipe. Players who have their arcs saved could republish them. This would remove the backlog of old, broken arcs.
2. Have a setting for missions for type of mission, at least dividing between farming and story. I am thinking: story, experience, challenge, roleplaying. With roleplaying being personal/SG arcs that they do not intend for outside play. You can only set the arc to be one of these.
imagine if you could set up a filter like this:
EXCLUDE invalid arcs, EXCLUDE farms, INCLUDE lowbie friendly INCLUDE stock enemies
etc etc.
A good search interface would singlehandedly wipe out most complaints on the player side.
On the author side the situation is more complex, but really should start with the gangland execution of that ridiculous word filter. -
Quote:Something a lot of people in this community don't understand (including, apparently, devs) is that you don't get to dictate what other players think is fun.Originally Posted by TonyV
Instead, what we got was farmapalooza....
And now that the AE system isn't as exploitable, people have left it. Which isn't a bad thing--I don't WANT these people using it!--....
You can wish the game only allowed "the right sort" of player, but that kind of segregation doesn't fly when a game operates on the scale of this one.
Releasing MA with the expectation that players who enjoy farming weren't going to use it to farm was naive on a level that would make Pollyanna shake her head in stunned disbelief. -
Had a spare 30 minutes earlier while my son took an unexpected nap.
One thing I've always liked about this game, you can fit it into whatever spare time you happen to find lying around.
Lizardroid was closing in on 15 and had a healthy wad of patrol XP banked, so I decided to run a radio & see what happened. Stole File X from the clockwork (who I still dislike on principle, but no longer hate and fear thanks to inherent stamina) & didn't quite make it, so I found a good sized spawn of Outcasts, red & orange, ate a couple of big defenses and went to town.
GRATZ'ed right before the last guy went down & bounded over to Valkyrie to level. Figured I didn't have time to run anything else before he woke up, so I headed to my second favorite in-game timesink, Icon, to do some costume fiddling.
A bit ago I discovered my graphics were turned waaay down for some reason (probably farming related- my aging machine can make the game look pretty as long as there isn't too much going on, but suffers vapor-lock when exposed to farm-sized masses of foe unless I flatline the graphics). Turned 'em back up and Lizardroid was a much more attractive fellow. I'm an inveterate tinkerer with most of my costumes- a few I nailed right out of the gate & have never touched, but most undergo a process of evolution over the years.
Here's his latest iteration:
trying to work in more of a robot vibe over the lizard core. Not totally happy with his feet yet, might give those little robot claw feet a try.
Called up Twinshot and got the next mish in that storyline, hopefully I'll be able to play a bit more tonight. -
Quote:EVE seems to be doing just fine.Originally Posted by Energizing_Ion
Actual MMOs that were designed from the ground up to be a "pvp/free-for-all" type of MMO never last long...
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Quote:Who here is even making that argument?Originally Posted by Yogi_Bare
To say there hasn't been is just being dishonest.
Nobody. -
Quote:I did not know about that filter, and that is possibly the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.Originally Posted by UberGuy
As a producer of content, its the limited audience (I have limited interest in creating something no one will see) and the idiotic filter that was added.
For those not aware, that filter means that words that are trademarked names are barred everywhere, not just as names. For example, you cannot use the word "apocalypse" anywhere, because it happens to be the trademarked name of a character. Think about how many words are used as names like that across the major comic publishing houses.
So much for my notion of writing an arc based on a longtime Paragon hero returning to the city after a lengthy hiatus! -
Quote:I love MA.Originally Posted by dugfromthearth
To make arcs or to play them?
I do try to play AE arcs. I find that the ratings in the game are useless - 5 stars typically just means a farm.
So I have to search for SFMA (story focused mission arc) in the in-game search or go to the AE board and look for arcs people have posted.
There are a lot of great stories in AE, it is too bad that more people don't play it.
For me the main reason I don't play it more is that it isn't good for teams. I am torn between wanting to play mission arcs, read the stories, read the clues and really get into it, and joining a team that just blasts through content.
It's great for farming & it can be a fun change of pace from 'real' game storylines.
IMHO the one and only problem with it from a player perspective is the search interface- not nearly flexible or powerful enough to empower efficient discovery of what you're looking for. It was a mess when it came out and it hasn't improved any that I can tell.
Great farms are easy to find, level-appropriate story content that won't completely humiliate a regular, non-optimized character isn't.
That's the main failing of MA.
Given the frustrations of the interface, I stick almost entirely to Dev's Choice or HOF arcs.
Plus my farms, of course. -
As a longtime afficianado of FPS games (started with Doom II deathmatch modem to modem, continuing with most major genre iterations up to MW3 when my aging hardware lost its ability to keep up) I'm a potential PVP recruit. I dabbled a bit in That Giant Fantasy MMO and had fun- wasn't good, didn't have l337 gear, but enjoyed running around like an idiot on the team objective maps.
Why don't I pvp here?
One, it's a lifestyle.
When I play an FPS, I'm in that competitive mode. When I play CoH, I'm not.
When I dabbled in that other game, I'd finished all the content, wasn't interested in making an alt (never the case in this game) and didn't have the time or inclination to 'raid'- it was another reward path to explore, one that was more congenial to my schedule than their 'end game content'.
Two, it isn't 'built in' to the game.
It was tacked on after the fact, and has always felt like an afterthought. I have no position on the I13 changes- I didn't like or enjoy it before the revamp, and while the changes didn't inspire me to play neither did they seem to degrade the experience.
Three, it has conceptual problems.
It started with the arena and added some zones & team play, but the heart of the experience is still in the arena. If there were arranged battles I could just drop in on ala 'that other game' I'd be much more likely to participate. The way things are, you end up wandering around an almost deserted zone until someone you can't see ganks you.
When they announced the system, my first mental picture was a gatefold comic cover pitting the X-Men against Alpha Flight.
What we ended up with was a system predicated more on stealth than gaudy displays of superheroic might.
Four, population.
More than any other game component, PVP needs a concentrated population to sustain it. Even given all of its problems, if somehow magically *all* the PvP enthusiasts in the game were gathered together in one zone, I'd drop in to check it out ever so often. I used to have fun in Bloody Bay if there were a bunch of people there- not doing anything organized, just a lot of us running around trying to keep each other from accomplishing anything.
At this point I'm not sure it's salvageable- they took a big swing at it in I13 and only succeeded in alienating the players who *did* enjoy it without drawing in any new blood. -
okay, unexpected free time this AM. Son still asleep, so I popped in game.
Headed for Faultline, but wasn't high enough yet. Didn't want to retrace my steps & hopped into the AE building to run something.
Found a suitable Dev's Choice arc, CTRL-ALT-RESET by Bubbawheat.
Really liked it- fun story, entertaining manipulation of game tropes, and most importantly from my perspective STOCK ENEMIES with no ridiculously overpowered special creations.
Ran the whole thing in a half hour, picked up most of a level. Very enjoyable return to AE.
Why don't more people do relatively simple, short arcs like this one?
Hit it and quit it! -
Ran a quick radio last night & hit 14.
The whole inherent stamina thing + power pool liberalization has really made a massive difference in the low level game- instead of all your early power choices being basically dictated by the need to fit in stamina & get a travel power, you can take whatever you like.
I settled on Build Up, as I don't need my status protection quite yet.
I was running a little low on funds, my stockpiling of large Defense insps having eroded my early windfalls, so I'd decided to check up on one of my favorite methods of lowbie enrichment, flipping crafted generic IOs.
Back in the day you could always count on crafters dumping stock to pick them up cheap, and sure enough my 60k bids on high level acc IOs had all filled. Re-listed them for a bit over half the 'going rate' of 400k, and when I checked this AM they'd all sold for 400k.
Bonus surprise, I had a couple of extra level 10 damages from early on and those had sold for 100k.
Not bad, pulling 100k for something I picked up for a few thousand.
Should be able to make 15 & more Twinshot tonight. -
can't wait to play City of Staves!
Might make a new character just to check out the carnage. -
Quote:a useful label for such stories is "space opera", where SF futurism provides the setting & props but the story proceeds willy-nilly without concerning itself overmuch with the mechanisms.Originally Posted by Arcanaville
But I think a really great example of a story that is dropped into a science fiction setting is Battle Beyond the Stars. Its Seven Samurai in space. Is it best described as science fiction or fantasy, even considering its setting? I think it exists within the DMZ between both, and strong cases can be made both ways.
My favorite example is the Mageworlds series by Debra Doyle & James MacDonald.
Definitely SF, but definitely more concerned with swashbuckling adventure than the minutia of how star drives work. The whole thing could just as easily have been a historical novel set on the Spanish Main, or a fantasy set on some Pern-like world, or any number of other places.
But the authors wanted spaceships, so it's SF. -
Quote:i dunno if this affects other folk or just me, but my forum account regularly fluctuates between F2P loser & VIP stud.Originally Posted by Carnifax_NA
You've gone a funny golden colour! I'd see a doctor about that.
(well I say golden, it's more of a dirty yellow)
The bouts of VIP-ness don't last long, but while afflicted I can see things I'm not supposed to see and post places I'm not supposed to post.
Quite disconcerting! -
Quote:As stated in Clarke's Three Laws,Originally Posted by Kitsune Knight
The OP explicitly was talking about "magic/mysticism" (an exact quote), not fantasy in general. I'd argue that scifi is just a subset of fantasy (hell, with how most authors use "scifi", it's basically magic with electrons).
Quote:Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
And in any case, as noted by others, the "comic book" genre is rotten with pure, straight no chaser magic. CoH's universe doesn't seem any more polluted with the stuff than either Marvel or DC. -
oh and just in case I can't hook on with a Posi run, what content would y'all suggest checking out in the level 13-15 range?
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freak tank.
an oldie but a goodie! -
Quote:Okies- if you change your mind, lemme know!Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
Thank you for the offer, Nether
To be honest, if I had any choice in the matter, I wouldn't mess with a new Incarnate any time soon. I have a few I could take down the path, but I just don't want to mess with builds again. It's not fun in the slightest and I have a whole bunch of lowbies I should be playing, including the entirety of my F Squad. I'll do what I can for Kim until I run out of steam, then we'll see. -
Quote:co-sign!Originally Posted by Zombie Man
I think it would be nice to open up all their seasonal events for a week or at least a weekend on the 6 month anniversary. After all, the seasons are offset by 6 months for all our antipodal friends.
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WANTS.
Hasten's aura is really bugging me on Lizardroid, for some reason.
I wish I could make it green. -
my approach is the reverse of how I approach most spawns- ignore the grunts, take out the bosses. Those -rech's are rough, plus as noted once the brains of the operation are down the rest are easy enough to dispatch.
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players have the freedom to build their characters any way they like.
teams have the freedom to ignore characters that have eschewed important key powers in their builds.
Somewhere between the two extremes lies a happy middle ground, unriven by strife and conflict... -
Quote:I did the Posi's right before my hiatus- they'd just come out and everyone was having a blast, so I check it out. Great fun- I'll see if I can budget any time for a run, that would be a good way to get to 15.Originally Posted by kusanagi
Now that you're 14, do yourself a huge favor and give the new and revamped Positron Task Forces (yes, forces, plural -- they split it up into two much more easily manageable parts during the revamp) a try.
They let us get those at 14 now?Quote:Originally Posted by Ulysses Dare
Also now that you're 14 be sure to get an Oroboros portal.
Huh!
Will wonders never cease!
No time for anything last night, expecting to have at least a sliver of playtime this evening.
This is another thing I like about being a FTP'er.
Paying a sub is like having dinner at an all you can eat buffet- if you aren't absolutely stuffing your face you feel like you're not getting your money's worth. What made me let my sub lapse in the first place wasn't so much my lack of playtime- objectively, I was still getting my 'money's worth' just running my market games and running occasional missions.
But I felt oppressed, paying a fee for spending so little time actually playing the game. In the old days I'd play a few hours a night, more on my days off- probably 40-50 hours in an average month. At the end I was spending at most an hour or two a week.
Still having fun, but my perception was "why am I paying the same amount for a tiny fraction of the play time?"
So far being FTP is fantastic. Practical limitations aside, there's no pressure to justify a subscription by logging in- if I have time I get on, if I don't, no worries. -
Quote:I doubt we'll get any kind of 'full access' anytime soon- the main selling point of GR was an involved alignment system, after all. They're unlikely to scrap the whole system at this point.Originally Posted by EvilGeko
Break down the walls between the sides. Allow all characters to team for all content. Remove the silly restriction that heroes can't go to the rogues isles and vice versa.
If heroes want to be naughty sometimes and villains want to be heroes sometimes (they spend most of their time post-35 saving the world anyway), then so be it.
Which doesn't mean they shouldn't liberalize access, or even install some sort of "mission to the other side" deal. I'd really like a story arc where I could take Nethergoat to Paragon, but as a villain with every hand turned against me (every NPC hand anyway- let's ignore PVP for the sake of everyone's sanity), or vice versa, take one of my heroes on a desperate mission into the Rogue Isles- not as an instanced map, but into the Rogue Isles.
As the inevitable and only solution for the redside market problems was a merger, pooling both populations, so will it be for redside teaming. Not necessarily "now you're all on the same team!", but some sort of mechanism beyond co-op zones and the other half-measures currently in place.