Night_Fyre

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I could understand a game like Manhunt getting folks riled up... I never even saw the finale of it. Quit when I got to pigboy.

The game depressed me. There was an actual, negative, physical response to it. Took a while, though.

Regardless, I'm glad I live in a country that allowed me the RIGHT to play it and make my OWN judgement about it.

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Perfect example. The game you wanted was available to you. You tried it... didn't like it... and stopped playing. You made the choice for yourself.

Every politician needs to know that this is what responsibile people do. When they don't like something, they avoid it. They don't sue. They don't call the FCC. They say "I'm changing the channel" or "I'm popping-in a new game".

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I'm extremely disappointed that an image of Statesman would be used in such a way. I know that we designed City of Heroes to appeal to "children of all ages." My proudest accomplishment with the game is that many parents (including my brother) play with their children...sharing, I hope, the same joy for the comic book world that I've had ever since I was 8. I cannot express the shock that I felt seeing that a character created by Cryptic would be used in the same sentence as Columbine.

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This trailer definately gives the impression that the film is a scare tactic and propagates the idea that comptuer/video games are bad. Period.

Being that the first step of the practice of healthy moral judgement is the effort, first and foremost, to understand, the fact that they have so clearly skewed the issue with half-formed opinions and twisted information is terpitude of the highest order.

I'll be seeing this movie. I will rent it and watch it so that anytime someone points to it like I banner I can educate them appropriately.

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I don't think any of us will be seeing this movie. No distribution that I can find. The thing seems to be dead in the water.

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So stop being disappointed and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. You won't allow the radical Christians/conservatives etc. to sander your creation without responding with your own comments on how flawed their logic is, will you?

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I should point out, if someone has not already, that the man in the video is a liberal democrat and is Jewish. Do not bash religions or political affiliations as you can find nuts on either side of the fence.

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Not only can you find them, you do find them. A lot unfortunately.

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But of couse, States...neocons and theocons are like that.

"We are what we pretend to be, therefore, we need to be careful what we pretend to be" - An opinion asserted as fact and then a moral position based on the opinion asserted as fact. What a complete load of crap.

That sounds just like "Dad's against D&D" to me. Same people, just back in 1988. Notice only 25% of America supports George Bush now. Guess What? THAT IS THESE VERY FOLKS RIGHT HERE pounding out this drivel.

Showing Joe "Self-Censore yourself...OR WE WILL" Lieberman means instant discredibility in my book. Or in other words, "Do what we think is right or we will make you do what we think is right" Lieberman is evil and capricious and has no integrity. He's just as dishonest as Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell.

It's all about the domination politics. Undermine free will and people will stop standing up for themselves. If they stop standing up for themselves...then no one complains about warrantless wiretapping, lack of habeus corpus, signing statements, torture, using Jesus to justify bigotry and hatred against gays, minorities, women, and anyone that doesn't fit in "the plantation" plan.

It's also the reason all the Gingrichian neocon republicans got their butts tossed out of power in Congress in November of 2006. To use Stateman's iconic image as a tool for neocon oppression is downright dishonest and disengenuos.

It's also the same argument that "Adult Videos increase assaults on the opposite sex..." garbage argument. The video had no facts only assertions and vague inuendos and all flash and no substance. But that is what rightwingers do, they have no argument, all they have is whining and harping: they are harpies and ghouls. Reaganites don't buy this crap...morons do.

I reject the entire argument and the entire video and EVERY LAST ONE OF THE PEOPLE THAT STAND BEHIND THIS KINDA DISHONEST MEDIA. I'm not buying and the neocons can shove it up their aperature.

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Good Lord..

Are you a plant for the vast right wing conspiracy/Neo Cons/Christian Oppressors posting here to supress free speech by getting the thread locked?

...I mean, wow. Just.. wow.

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"I know that there's no vast right-wing conspiracy, because if there was I'd be part of it."

Anybody?... Anybody?

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Reactor, don't drag your politics into this. Joe's a lefty, not a "neocon." Nor is Hillary Clinton or Tipper Gore a bunch of Bush-supporters.

I'm not saying the right's hands are clean (the "theocons" as you put it, are quite the type to support this), but the left "Morther Government knows best!" types tear after video games just as hard.

Be pissed off at the neocons and those elements in the right for what they do that you don't like. Don't ascribe everything you hate to them.

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Well said but I'd add "Don't ascribe everything you hate to any other single group."

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I'm extremely disappointed that an image of Statesman would be used in such a way. I know that we designed City of Heroes to appeal to "children of all ages." My proudest accomplishment with the game is that many parents (including my brother) play with their children...sharing, I hope, the same joy for the comic book world that I've had ever since I was 8. I cannot express the shock that I felt seeing that a character created by Cryptic would be used in the same sentence as Columbine.

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But of couse, States...neocons and theocons are like that.

"We are what we pretend to be, therefore, we need to be careful what we pretend to be" - An opinion asserted as fact and then a moral position based on the opinion asserted as fact. What a complete load of crap.

That sounds just like "Dad's against D&D" to me. Same people, just back in 1988. Notice only 25% of America supports George Bush now. Guess What? THAT IS THESE VERY FOLKS RIGHT HERE pounding out this drivel.

Showing Joe "Self-Censore yourself...OR WE WILL" Lieberman means instant discredibility in my book. Or in other words, "Do what we think is right or we will make you do what we think is right" Lieberman is evil and capricious and has no integrity. He's just as dishonest as Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell.

It's all about the domination politics. Undermine free will and people will stop standing up for themselves. If they stop standing up for themselves...then no one complains about warrantless wiretapping, lack of habeus corpus, signing statements, torture, using Jesus to justify bigotry and hatred against gays, minorities, women, and anyone that doesn't fit in "the plantation" plan.

It's also the reason all the Gingrichian neocon republicans got their butts tossed out of power in Congress in November of 2006. To use Stateman's iconic image as a tool for neocon oppression is downright dishonest and disengenuos.

It's also the same argument that "Adult Videos increase assaults on the opposite sex..." garbage argument. The video had no facts only assertions and vague inuendos and all flash and no substance. But that is what rightwingers do, they have no argument, all they have is whining and harping: they are harpies and ghouls. Reaganites don't buy this crap...morons do.

I reject the entire argument and the entire video and EVERY LAST ONE OF THE PEOPLE THAT STAND BEHIND THIS KINDA DISHONEST MEDIA. I'm not buying and the neocons can shove it up their aperature.

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Ummm... Doom?

As a Conservative, a Constitutionalist, and an Originalist, I fully respect your right to have any opinion you like and your right to express that opinion, as well as your rights to play any video game, raise your kids as you see fit, hate any politician you want, etc.

As a human being I'd ask you to take some time and have a conversation (not a shouting match) with someone who possesses different opinions from yours. Your little rant against the "right" reminds me of my brother who never reads/watches/listens to anything except opinions from the "left".

Try talking to someone with a different opinion before you group everyone who disagrees with you together. This ofcourse is meerly a suggestion. Do what you want.

Oh, back on topic. Ummm... video games are cool

My favorite quote was "We don't want the government regulating video games, but we've told them that if they don't do it themselves... we will." or something like that.

This is not a Conservative/Liberal, Republican/Democrat, Christian/non-Christian issue. It's an issue of some people feeling that they've been empowered to tell the rest of us what's good for us. It's an issue of some people thinking that they know better than we do, how to run our lives and raise our kids. It's also an issue of some people trying to get famous and jumping on an issue that they feel they can ride to popularity.

This is the same thing as the government getting involved in the steroid issue in baseball. The chief responsibility of a government is to protect it's people from foreign forces. Where in the blue-hell does it say that the government is supposed to spend tax dollars trying to figure out what Barry Bonds is doing? Oh that's right... in the same place where they're supposed to be worrying about video games. That place where they tell us that we can't take care of ourselves so they need to do it for us with regulation after regulation after regulation ...

And btw, I'm a Conservative. Please don't lump all of us together. I don't give a flying-frigg what video games you play. That's your personal choice, or the choice of your parents if you're very young.

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What they need to do is somehow modify the endurance usage of critters so that being drained hurts them more, so they don't need to be totally zeroed out before you notice any effect at all.


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I agree. I don't understand why mobs don't use the same rules for endurance use as players. Hell, even give them all Stamina, just make them use the same endurance costs as we do. On top of that, if the Dev's think that that would make long fights too difficult for a mob, give them a Freakshow-like power that when they hit a certain point on the End bar they pop a CaB. That would even the playing field and make End drain much more viable. Ofcourse this is only 1 Blaster's opinion.

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Night_Fyre,

I see your point, but to be fair, we already have those instances of massive overkill with debuff from other AT's. 8 Accelerate Metabolisms, Lingering Radiations, Radiation Infections, and Enervating Fields wouldn't be as powerful as the example you gave? Or worse yet, Controller Primaries. Not only do they stack, but Containment is triggered off of each other Controller's stasis powers.

Like I said, I understand your point, but if the Devs balanced this way for all AT's, then they missed quite a bit in the process.

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Absolutely right. My belief is that multiple instances of the same powerset on a team was/is a balance consideration for the Dev's. Now is it a just consideration, or does it seem to be applied universally through the game? No, I don't believe so. I'm fully on the side of designing powers as if for solo or "one on a team" play. If my original post didn't convey my personal feelings correctly then I apologize. I was more writing what I believe happens, not what I think should happen.

My main is a Fire/Fire blaster and I'm actually very conserned about these "improvements" because the only thing we know right now is Blaze is getting more range. For all we know they'll reduce the damage to "compensate". I really hope not though. I'm just worried about my fun factor with this char that I love.

As for Electric, I'm of the belief that when the Dev's try to consider balance they have to factor in what a full team of (insert powerset here) would look like. Imagine 8 Electric blasters if Short Circuit did 100% drain, or if every attack drained 25% End (these numbers are just to make a point). They would be un-killable even on Invincible.

Ofcourse then logically the next comment is "but you'd never see that many Electric blasters together". And I believe that this is correct, and where the Dev's thinking (not confirmed, my opinion only) breaks down. People will continue to make characters that are not considered the "best", and some people even do it for expressly that reason. You can see it from all the "FOTM" comments on these boards.

Alot of us think in terms of soloability though. The problem is that the game is not made for our powers to scale down when in teams, and rightfully so. Why join a team with another Electric blaster if it means both of you now drain less for "balance"? So they have 1 formula for each attack, teamed or not, so they must consider what a big team of that powerset could do. This can unfortunately make a char a weaker solo'er though.

I don't have an answer, just my observations.

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Well, what about Blazing Aura? I don't think I've even seen a Blapper with that power, but I could be wrong. The only possible use it could have would be to keep enemies away, but since it doesn't have a fear effect, all you accomplish is getting them to attack you at melee if you get close enough to hit them with it.

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I took Blazing Aura on my L42 Fire/Fire/Fire. I wanted an extra aura. It's not even good at that.

But in response to _Castle_'s words, I have to say, again as a Fire/Fire Blaster, WOO-Hoo! MORE POWER!

Just a quick "messin-around" kinda thing in Illustrator, playing with some of the pre-built brushes. I was going for a very simple, flat look as if a painter just grabbed a brush a quickly threw some strokes on a canvas.

http://home.comcast.net/~rdelaneyjr/NightFyre.jpg

That's my L44 Fire/Fire/Fire blaster, who wears black and blue. Just thought I'd share. It's my wallpaper now (he's my favorite char anyway).

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I think there's some misinterpretation here - or my speech wasn't clear.

Let's take a look at costume creation. It's been embraced beyond belief by players...we have in game costume contests and events organized by you the players...Some say it's the best part of the game. The single most requested item in CoH is to make the costume creator standalone...

Intestingly, costumes have no gameplay value. They don't boost damage. They don't boost resistance. They don't boost defense. They're only for show.

Now, let's take a look at bases. Take away the teleporters, take away anything game related.

As just a resource for expressing something unique, base creation is on par tech wise with costume creation. Admittedly, there's not quite the same amount of textures, colors, etc., but there's still a lot of versatility. And the layout possibilities are endless.

But what's clear from this thread - and from many, many posts - is that bases are "too expensive". To me, that's interesting (as it is to the Serious Games crowd). Costume changes come with a minimal cost that no one really complains about, but we complain about the costs of bases. Evidently, the costs exceed the perceived value of creating one's own HQ (btw, I confess that many other games have the notion of personal property, but aside from Second Life, I don't think they offer as much customizability as our bases).

Let's turn to the idea of an architect. We foresaw that some people would feel alienated if they weren't the architect. That's why some things (Personal Items) can be "crafted" by individuals and placed in the base. But even if there's an architect: many super groups have a member who designed a single costume which all then use. In other words, they're more than willing to accept someone else's opinion in the group identity for their avatar appearance. Again, the primary difference is cost (I think).

That's what the point of the talk was. I completely agree with many of the suggestions raised in the Base Construction forum, as well as one's mentioned here, would improve Bases to some degree or another. Posi and I go through them at length; really, it's just a question of time & resources. Some things would take astronomically long to do - or perhaps there's something else even more requested or popular.

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1 - Costumes are a big form of personal expression for our characters. It's important for us to play a character that looks a way we like, but also represents an idea about our character to others. Why do so many people hang out under Atlas? To be seen. As others have stated, very few people get to see the inside of other people's bases.

2 - To fix this I think there should be a simple "Invite into Base" list that works just like the friends lists. If someone accepts the invite then they can get in, but not do anything. Ofcourse there should also be a "Not-accepting Base invite" option as well to prevent base invite spamming.

3 - We don't complain about the cost of costumes because influence is fairly easy to come by after a while. Prestige is not. Don't get me wrong, I believe that a high level character paying >1mil influ to change their costume is completely absurd, but it's a more tolerable absurdity than hyper-inflated base costs.

4 - For me a HUGE thing about bases that bugs me is the rediculous base portals. Talk about something that breaks immersion! What, we can't have a real door??? Get rid of them. Take 20 doors per zone that never work except for special events (preferably doors to large buildings to foster the notion that multiple bases could actually occupy space in it) and make them Base entrences. The door will be randomly selected by the SG leader that buys the base, when the base is bought, in the zone specified.

There. Problems solved

This is a webpage that I built YEARS ago (like 10 years maybe), with alot of digital art I did in college with PhotoShop, Illustrator, and the then-DOS-based 3D Studio. I'm surprised that it's still up since honestly, I left that ISP about 9 years ago

*WARNING* Inline music content. If you don't want to be really annoyed very quickly, or if you're at work and don't wanna draw attention, turn off your speakers now.

http://www.surfbest.net/~mindghost/

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This is just a little piece I did one weekend while painting my kid's room...

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Why would you make yor kids look at all that naked?

Well, they say most geniuses are crazy...

Both are awesome. I think I like the pencil more just because the Atlas Park in the background takes my eye away from the character a bit. Great stuff.

Wow, that's awesome!

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Some people get all the breaks, congrats on the free art, great quick sketches guys, its scary the amount of talent you have.

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Hey it never hurts to ask, right? The worst thing that could happen is that you get no responses, hence no art, which is right where you were when you thought of making the request

That is very nice.

Pretty cool.

Pose is nice, ofcourse we'll need more detail but I'm sure you're working hard at that.

Wow, nice hybridization.

Here's mine.

Nothing like scaring-the-crap-outa-people to get their attention

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[edit: D'oh! Didn't realize Mistress Vine was a lvl1 Dominator on Victory. Definately not her home server then.]

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<,<
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ummm...yeah....see...ummmm.....I was running to Pocket D and I got lost and....ummm... suddenly I was on a different server....yeah....but somehow I became a lvl 1. So I....ummm... figured why not go ahead and do the costume contest anyway. And then when I was leaving Pocket D, it all happened again and I was on another server......yeah, thats how it happened.


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What?!?! Its a true story! Honest <crosses fingers>


(I swear I was only there for the free drinks!)

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I don't see why it would be a problem entering a character on one server that "lived" on another, as long as you weren't doing the same character over and over and over again. For instance, what happened if you missed the time for your server (for whatever reason), so you went and made your char on a server later in the contest. The original contest was going to be on the test server anyway, so servers weren't even going to be part of the original plan.

And BTW, I'd like to thank the Dev's for breaking the Character Copy Tool last week . NO WAY That many people woulda fit into Pocket D at one time. There woulda been like 12 instances of it on test, hehe.

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I want a big red ball.....this has to be one of the best ideas I have ever seen.

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I agree, this would be awesome!

Until the full development of the BRB, the Devs should give us an emote where we toss the BRB up in the air and catch it again. Maybe another where we drop-kick the BRB and it just "flies-off" into the sky.

Hell, if we can turn into pumpkins what would be the harm of a few BRB emotes?