Nethergoat

Suggest away!

But it is a terrible idea that won't happen as per Dev statements.

this one?




No worries, it came through loud and clear.

it's an old prestige grinding 'pal' from back in the day- if you remember a rather contentious thread about how UNFAIR it was of us to burn inf for prestige instead of "earning" it like a REAL sg, you'll know who.

=)

You post, I reply.

If that's not working out so great for you, maybe re-think what you're saying.


Not sure why you're surprised slapping at a porcupine gets you a hand full of quills.

You never miss a chance to play the victim, do you.

I agree writers shouldn't mess stuff up out of ignorance or laziness- anyone writing for a game should be conversant with the applicable universe.

But when that happens....it doesn't bother me particularly. I never notice it in-game and probably wouldn't notice it at all save for the indignant forum threads.

yes, not getting as many Paragon Points as you want is such a tremendous insult.

I'm not sure how you endure the indignity.

True.

While Dev has many shortcomings, a lack of thematic synergy isn't one of them. "My utility belt holds many wonders!" is a concept with wide application.

And while I agree that it falls short performance wise, that hasn't stopped *anyone* from using it over the years. These days I do see more /traps players thanks to proliferation, but /dev is far from a rarity.

While I wouldn't kick about a little damage in Web Grenade it is a terrific little power, by far the best of the single target immobilizes at higher levels. The recharge slow and the -fly are quality secondary effects.

Caltrops is a fantastic power with an appropriate animation- I see no need to change anything about it.

I'd love it if they did this, but only if they first made Taser worth wasting a power choice on.
I have it on my ar/dev, but only as a set mule.


TD has always been a good power, with the changes in I24 it becomes a TERRIFIC one.
I don't see it needing any more help.

Smoke grenade is underwhelming as is, a little bit of a team buff for it beyond the -perception would be nice.

I24 makes it terrific again.

I am not a fan of trip mine and don't have it in my ar/dev's current build, but saying it ISN'T THEMATIC is ridiculous- it fits in perfectly with the whole 'gadget' vibe of the set.

It is also a very effective power that many people quite like- I ditched it not because it doesn't work well, but because I got tired of the gameplay style it imposed. But you can do some crazy things with trip mines and any crusade to get rid of it or materially change how it works is going to run into a stiff headwind from annoyed players.

Time Bomb is pure, hot garbage.
Happily, a recent Red Name post informs us a change is on the menu possibly as early as I25.

Gun Drone doesn't suck any more, but I'd hardly call it "fine".
Eliminating the cast time made it worth taking, but it still does piddly damage and self destructs way too fast.
I could go for leaving the damage as-is while adding a -def & increasing duration, or even just making it a better aggro magnet- give it a little taunt and a few extra HP or something.

It's 'okay' right now, but could use a little something to make it shine.

Kirby is as close to divinity as a comic creator can come. I didn't like him when I was a kid because I had a misguided hangup on guys who drew "realistically", with Neal Adams being my gold standard. Nowadays I respect his line and his style nearly as much as I respect his unbelievably prolific creativity. But I can understand not digging his style- it's very personal and he took it all the way to its logical conclusion.

The weird thing about Carmine is that while I absolutely hated his superhero stuff my buddy who owns a comic shop turned me on to some of his western comics from way back and I was really impressed. At some point he consciously changed his style, and it's that adopted style I always hated.

One thing about all those old school guys- even ones I disliked like Infantino, Gil Kane, Curt Swan....they flat out knew how to draw, and they knew how to tell a story. I flash back to the comic racks of my youth every time I run across one of those "hot new talents" who use lots of lines, lots of computer shaded coloring, and who have absolutely no idea how to convey a story in a sequential way, no concept of human anatomy, no notion of panel composition.

Hey, at lest when I post threads I manage to get them in the appropriate forum.

The pretense that these kinds of minor 'lore' alterations have any impact on the playerbase beyond a tiny minority is ludicrous, and yes that does offend my sensibilities.

By all means sound off about it, but don't expect me to rise and cheer your vital commitment to upholding the ONE TRUE WAY as embodied by Jack Emmert's grease-stained folder of original notes.

The notion that current developers should be beholden to 'canon' in any but the most general sense is silly. Silliness surpassed only by the notion that anyone cares about this stuff enough to quit teh game over it.

Please note that I am not saying storytime frou frou isn't important to the ambiance of a game world and isn't one factor in the greater accumulation of Player Enjoyment. It is.

But if strict adherence to 'canon' made any difference to the bottom line the devs would pay MUCH closer attention to it.

They don't, so I'm comfortable with continuing to assume that reality skews in favor of my position over the lore contingent.

Sorry, I've got enough imaginary friends of my own to keep in line.

Yeeeeeeeah.....sure they couldn't.

Uh huh.

Well, your personal motivations are yours alone to know.
It's more plausible than your previous two assertions, anyway.

It's great how people keep people keep pretending I've said things that I've never said.

Yeah, well, except nobody's saying that.

Window dressing and storylines are important.
They are vastly *less* important than structural game systems, and much more flexible and resilient. They can tolerate major changes without the bulk of the playerbase even noticing.


And I'll opt to continue not buying your highly implausible story about the "multitude" of friends who "just can't get back into the swing of the game" because of how deplorable the writing has suddenly gotten.

As if it's ever been Pulitzer material.

a slotted up FF defender turns a blaster into a tank-mage.

I'll co-sign the fire/fire/fire damage machine.

I googled it and it was JUST as stupid as I thought it would be.

As someone old enough to have followed most of those characters in their own titles (other than Shade- I hated Steve Ditko's art with a passion back then, ditto for Jack Kirby....what can I say, I was young and stupid), let me just say UGGGGGH.

Then maybe save it for them?
I generally try to restrict the context of my replies to the person being replied to.

I've a well developed sense of humor, but I'm not much of a mind reader.

I suggest entertaining the notion that a "joke" requiring an encyclopedic knowledge of your post history is perhaps slightly too obscure.

Again, your interpretation skills are questionable.
But you're super talented at making things up and pretending someone else said them!

My definition is spot on.

Let me repeat:

Nobody who doesn't enjoy the gameplay will stick around only because of the story.

Are you sticking around only because of the story?
Are the "several posters in this thread" sticking around only because of the story?

No.

In a game, gamplay is primary.
The devs can do pretty much whatever they want with the Skulls, or Hellions, or Rikti, or any faction, without losing a dime over it.

Since metaphors seem to confuse you, let me state it in less abstract terms:

Structural elements are vastly more important than cosmetic ones.
While they may enjoy and appreciate the cosmetic elements, people decide to stay or go based on the structure, not the appearance.
The cosmetic elements are therefor much less important and more malleable to the creators than structural ones.

They don't need to be "concerned" to keep an eye out for ways to improve the value of being a VIP. The system's been in place for a while now, and with an MMO everything is in a state of perpetual flux and (hopefully) improvement.


I agree #1 isn't likely.
#2 is also unlikely for the reason you note. Points are basically $$$, and the stipend amounts to a discount on your sub. It seems quite generous to me already, I'd be surprised if they fiddled around with it.
#3 will certainly happen just by evolution. It doesn't even need 'new features' other than the ongoing expansion of incarnate content. I see the Incarnate system continuing to grow until it become a whole other game beyond the VIP gate. Right now the incarnate system is at an early stage of development, rather like CoH in the early days- it doesn't constitute much except grinding to get your junk so you can grind more more and get the next level of junk, etc etc.

The DA revamp points a way forward- new or repurposed zones full of incarnate story content, filling out a 'new game' beyond the VIP firewall. When that vista becomes grand enough it will be a magnetic draw for subs.