Ninus

Stop the madness NAO! I say reduce the number of Costume Slots, but add more 'ICON Outlet Stores' for the clothes horses and reduce the price of costume changes.

Of course, this will cause the clothes horses to spend time between mishes changing costumes, which will slow teams down, cause multitudinous /kicks from teams, which will perhaps help to curb these fashionistas constantly changing clothes. It's a self-correcting action.

And so it begins. World domination is mine.

While I'm not necessarily against the idea; I stopped reading as soon as I saw "that we are entitled to". Sick of Entitlement Thinking, personally.

Also tired of people not thinking a smidge ahead to be prepared for some eventualities. No Boy or Girl Scouts amongst Heroes, I guess. Oh well.

As far as the Lower the Levels of available TO's, DO's and SO's available in some zone markets; sure.

[ QUOTE ]
I don't think it'd takes months of testing. They could really let you do it fairly easily by mixing and matching pre-existing features. They could let you plan the build respec style, let you turn on and off your powers (or assume they're always on) via a power tray, let you get the enhancements you need vendor style, and let you view your stats through Real Numbers. In theory, all they'd need is an interface, a way to save the build, and a way to look it up in-game.

Of course, practice would be a bit more complicated than theory, but technically all the tools are already there, it's just the matter of combining them.

[/ QUOTE ]

And that's where the months of coding and testing come in. What? You think they just start cutting and pasting modules together like Binary LEGOs?

And that was me being nice. Make a note of it.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Yeah, I would just LOOOOOVE to play the game then. (whups forgot to emote sarcasm... my bad) If you've been ingame this long and cant wrap your head around the time ingame... meh; lost cause.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is why I don't like posting my ideas. I love CoH/V, my ideas don't reflect things I want changed because I don't like them, I just want to help contribute positive ideas to the game I've loved for 5 years. I ask for discussion ideas or something constructive. I can understand if something isn't possible, I play the game, not design it, but I get responses that only seek to disprove and deem my ideas bad/unnecessary. Every other MMO has rain, and none of them obliterate your computer, I just wish for some more positive responses, instead of variations of "Can't be done, bad idea, what are you thinking?!" *sigh*

[/ QUOTE ]

I apologize if my snark was a smidge too blatant, but you said you had lurked the Forums for a long time, and I took you at your word.

I didn't snark all of your ideas, but gave my 'quick' opinions of them. I didn't see anything that IMHO would be the whiz bang for newbies that you said they would be. No harm.

All suggestions and ideas are from the Poster's opinion, and generally that's all. But take a step back. Just because you don't get the thrill when you first create a toon; that really is just that you've been here a long time. Personally, I do still get the thrill. And I don't know why someone new to the game wouldn't just from fledging a new Hero or Villain.

In my own opinion, you are the inconsiderate one. Because you didn't consider other players on two issues of pretty heavy importance. And I will explain it better now. No malice; just for understanding's sake.

Ingame vs Real Time:

CoX is Casual Player Friendly. That and it being a super hero themed MMO are its biggest draw and reason for subscriber retention. If you only have 15 minutes to play, you can actually do something worthwhile unlike most other MMOs. And for that reason, syncing the ingame clock to say the Central US Time Zone is inconsiderate to players who can only play from say 8pm to 9pm Pacific Time (which would be 10pm to 11pm CT). As has been stated by others, they would miss out on the sunny day skies you also touted in your OP. Can't you see that would be a bad thing. We already get people kvetching and moaning during the Halloween Event when the game is perma-night for a month. Not a good thing.

Also remember that we have people playing all over the world. When I used to work evenings, I could only play from midnight to 4am, and I met a number of Aussies, and Israelis playing. Would you banish them to the dark forever? So the dynamic ingame clock is a good thing for all, and I am sorry if it doesn't work for you, but the good of the many...

Weather and Lag:

Lag is the game killer. It is never a good thing because it leads to frustration, and frustration leads to unsubscribing.

CoX has a pretty darn robust engine for a game its age. The graphics are pretty WOW on a higher end machine. When I hear people say the graphics are not 'all that'; I know that they either don't have a machine that can handle all the eyecandy or they have the Graphics options set low. Few other MMOs can match it IMO (WoW isn't even close).
But glitz comes at a price: lag.

Not everyone can afford a high end box; even I don't see all the bells and whistles, but my wife does. I just built her a PC with an nVidia card with the PhysX hardware built in. Yeah, I'm jealous. Adding weather would cause lag on most people's PCs for that reason, and because it all needs to be rendered, and I shudder to think what the game's PhysX engine could do rendering rain.

Thankfully, the Devs are considerate, and the game can be played well on lower end machines by using the graphics controls. And that also goes hand in hand with the Devs not putting anything in game that they don't really like the look of. I appreciate that, but it has put a lot of things on hold until they can make them both 'look good enough' and 'be playable' (ie; minimal lag). Again weather effects would cause too much lag at this point. I am Anti-Lag because I want people to be able to enjoy the game as much as I do. I have to consider that when I see a suggestion asking for opinions as I am sure the Devs do.

Sorry, but that's the way I see it from what I know and have heard and guess at. I apologize for being a bit snarky, but like you, I have strong feelings and opinions.

The game cannot and will not be ideal for everyone, but a suggestion to improve the game should take into consideration the possible negative effects on majority of players. Don't you think so?

Lessee, in order for FS to be seeing purples right off the bat, I would guess that his Creation to Lvl 2 run goes. Like this:

1) Create n00 uber Flu-toon.
B) Run the Tutorial to get an easy Lvl and the Badge.
C) Tell the Pilot he wants to go to Galaxy City, but accepts Kalinda grudgingly instead.
4) Waves at Kalinda as he heads to the Base Portal.
4.5) Joins his favorite VG (ie; anything with a Porter) sometime between steps 1 and 4.
E) Ports to Base and runs to MI Porter.
6) Ports to the Arbiter in Mercy to Level Up.
7) Looks around and sez "Now what?" and "Why are there so many purples?"

Am I correct? I wanna cookie.

Actually, having started 2 VGs on the same Server from scratch a small group of people can get a decent small Base running in no time Villain side. It takes a bit of creative editting at first when you can just afford your first 'porter, but with the addition of small Group combo items to get the base running, it is easily doable.

FYI at 25 percent Health, ressing in your Base and running back to a mission is sort of a waste. So you really don't need a med bay very early.

Pad your SG to get the max Prestige Bonus (20k x 15 members) and just trundle along. It really doesn't take long and you will find that the Bases are ancillary to MOST of your play regardless.

[ QUOTE ]
I feel that with CoH/V now facing some competition in the Comic Hero MMO genre with the incoming Champions Online and DC Universe, that these things should be looked into.

[/ QUOTE ]

First off, CO and DCUO will take some people away from the game for a time no matter what the Devs do. MMO players bounce a lot. I personally dont, and I dont intend to audit either game because I am not much of an MMO player (FPS player forced into an MMO... long story). I like this one and it's the only one I play, and will play. I'm boring like that.

[ QUOTE ]
Now is a great time to make the general appeal of the game much more grander and impressive, as the upcoming City of Rogues expansion is going to draw a new player-base into the game, and put this game in the spotlight.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree. Some will stay, some wont, so what. Refer to my first blurb as explanation. Going Rogue will be yet another innovation to the MMO genre to hold players' attention, but Rule 1 still applies. For the new player (unlike you and I as jaded vets) the game will have its "new shiny appeal"... "if you havent seen it; it's new to you".

[ QUOTE ]
Opening/Login Screen

[/ QUOTE ]

Meh. As Zek said; you can change it if you wish. Who hangs around the login screen, anywho? Non sequitur.

[ QUOTE ]
First Zones - spruce up -yadayada- GMs -yadayada- programmed not to aggro -yakkitysmakkity-

[/ QUOTE ]

Standard Code Rant Applies! Whether you are a programmer or not; the programming a GM not to aggro bit is not your call. As far as I have always seen; that aint necessarily so. Possible? Ask BAB or Posi; I dunno. Either way, a n00b with a Fire Aura is gonna screw up and face plant. Might be good, might be bad. Real iffy conclusion there.

[ QUOTE ]
Weather/Days -
This is something that would GREATLY increase the natural feel of CoH/CoV.

[/ QUOTE ]

I am not a programmer, but i do know computers, and gaming, and networks, and... ARE YOU NUTZ? I am also the Anti-Lag! Dont cross me with weather. NO!!! Weather with this game's pretty slick graphics engine? Dude, just burn your CPU and graphics card with a torch right now; it'll save time. Or crank the detail down so that this "weather" looks like crud, and whats the use. Not worth the time and effort.

Now, about "real time": so those of us who can only play the game at certain times can NEVER see the changing of the day? No night times for some. No day times for others. Yeah, I would just LOOOOOVE to play the game then. (whups forgot to emote sarcasm... my bad) If you've been ingame this long and cant wrap your head around the time ingame... meh; lost cause. The rapid pass of time allows for people to see more, not less. and scheduling events is usually done with Real World time hacks. RWZ Ship Raids (hosted by Dream Team) are at 6pm Pacific on Guardian, and I am there on time, no problem for me, and I dont wear a watch. Now, if the Devs wanted to implement an onscreen time piece showing the 'ingame clock' running at the speed that time runs ingame... sure, but I wouldnt use it to schedule an event. So... /jpowerranger and no to most of this section. Changes in general cloudcover; not a problem. Rain is lag.

[ QUOTE ]
Civilians/Cars/Contacts

[/ QUOTE ]

Meh. Not so much against cars and civvies being updated, but I really dont waste time studying civvies. BTW if you ever do; they are a diverse bunch of people, but it's not downtown LA so I dont know how much change really is necessary. And have you ever looked at the average people cruising the streets in a large US city? I do everyday... people are generally bland. And the trucks. Dude, trucks are trucks. I know this absolutely. They are correct and accurate. Cars; not as much, but the cars in LA; well, we have a lot of older cars (beaters) cruising the streets. No big deal.


[ QUOTE ]
Giant Monsters -
Giant monsters really are the high point of every super hero's career. Nothing is more public and iconic in comic heroism then the hero taking down a monstrosity that is several times his own size and strength. One thing I have noted as a Badge Hunter is how static the giant monsters seem to be. Lusca should be wrapping her tentacles around a large tanker, or the Kraken smashing buildings or grabbing a helpless civilians. These monsters are threats to Paragon City/Rogue Isles and should be interacting with their respective city causing havoc, instead of sitting in one location until a bored/badge team come along and put the idle threat down. GMs should be serious threats to Paragon City and the Rogue Isles. CoV has done a somewhat better job with the GMs having them appear as a result of certain activities or events. But after appearing, Deathsurge should rampage through the city smashing things and consuming electrical energy from whatever source it can find. Giant Monsters need to a serious threat and not rare spawn badge enemies.

[/ QUOTE ]

HAHAHAHA! I play CoV primarily. GM's, even dynamically spawned GMs are usually ignored. Making them cruise the city rampaging; still meh. They will continue to be ignored for the most part unless someone wants the badge. Why waste Dev time?

What else have you got? Jaded vet players may be bored. New players havent been around long enough to be bored. Just a point to remember.

The easier question is 'what can't you do at Lvl50?'

Other than earn XP to get another level... I got nothin'.

[ QUOTE ]
how do i stop posts sometimes when i post on different forums i cant get them to stop when the question has been answered thats all i have for know help is very apprecaited and sorry if mispelled something and if you point it out itll make me

[/ QUOTE ]

Pretty flippin' demanding, Forum Neophyte, arent we? Yes. You can go to Mod08 or someone else and get a thread locked. Why? Go with the flow. Let the inanities flow a bit, and maybe join in the fun once in a while. THAT is how these Forums and the denizens therein keep their sanity after hearing the same stupid question for the 63,429 & 1/2 time, and generally keep a sunny outlook on life within the individual Fora.

And spelling, grammar and PUNCTUATION (not to mention capitalization) are part of proper communication. As are paragraphs (you do quite well with that BTW), so some are a bit more AR about it than others. Meh. Deal with it, move on and keep a smile. It's all good.

Welcome to the Forums. Dont be AR about the replies and they wont be as AR about your questions/comments.

Carry on.

Part of an AE Arc? Probably fine. Youre going to make a character to play? Probably not.

True; the act is not an absolute (why I added the link too), and in the world of super fantasy it's neither here nor there, but I wanted to give a real world rationale for the military's general exclusion. To be honest, I don't even see the need for them in the Shard or the Warzone. Aside from the obvious Stargate and War of the Worlds homages/references. Much like the PPD before CoV and Mayhems; they sorta aren't part of the story so much as the focus is on Heroes.

I really wonder at the impetus behind some suggestions made here, and the mindset behind the suggestor. Usually I think it is some sinister bent to get their own desired game out of CoH. I mean when I hear suggestions for wands and staff magic powersets, or Elfin this and that, I know we have a D&Dite or WoWser who really just wants the Character Creator ported over to those games and isn't so much into the Super Hero genre of fantasy (Dr Strange, et al aside). So I wonder with this OP. Rather have Paragon make the next BF1942 or somesuch? I just wonder.

Sorry, but being that Rhode Island is part of the United States; it is governed by Federal Law, and the Posse Comitatus Act mandates against the military being used in such a manner.

The military presences in both the Shadow Shard (not within the US) and the RWZ (a warzone thus necessitating a military stronghold against incursion) make sense and are allowable under current statute. Military in any other part of Paragon would be limited to members on leave, and thus no more notable than civilians. Any 'active' role of military would be illegal in the city, and that includes National Guard, in dealing with 'criminal' factions on an ongoing basis. Thus 'supers' deal with 'super' threats.

And thus /jranger and no.

I agree that the Ice Armer is a bit overdone, and the Fire Rocks (and other fiery shieldy things) arre a bit over the top and lagtastic. In fact, that would be my only complaint; get rid of graphics/animations that while cool, cause lag. But that's just me.

I'd say that just turning your toon a cool light blue translucent would be a lot better for Ice Armor. Actually, my old Ice Dom was a copy of my En/En Blaster lookswise, but the colors redone in flat blues (including skin) that made her look like an 'iced' version of my Blaster, and I got a lot of compliments on how it just exuded cold from that look.

Sadly, griefing a CC won't go awy if this is changed. Preteens will be preteens. Although, to me CCs are a waste of time even for the most narcissistic. And I don't RP (with a vengeance... I am the anti-RP). Other than I do RP a deaf/mute when I have to go to Virtue to play with the wife. That way I can get around adding silly characters to my chat just to make a comment or chat (grrr, stupid RPer 'rules').

And if it bothers people; sure, give us the ability to cancel Buffs.

If you get a Loading Cursor it's time for an Upgrade.

As has been stated; the Devs are unlikely to break out the Total Active subscribership information, and not just because it would say something detrimental about the game. The approximate numbers we know about say that the game has plenty of life left in it. But those numbers are fluid and change on a daily basis. There is/was a website that ran a pie chart of all the major MMOs subscribership numbers, but I heard that it hasn't been updated in a while.

As far as active AT numbers; that's not going to help much in this game due to the Global Alt-itis Pandemic. I major in MMs with a minor in Support and do certificate work in Melee ATs. Also at any given time you could login to say Virtue, and find that the entire servr has logged in with Defenders... only Defenders. It's unlikely, but if the stars aligned just right; it could happen. But that wouldn't necessarily tell you what the most popular AT is. There was a post somewhere by a Dev I believe (Castle or BAB?) stating the approximate numbers/percentage of each AT rolled. That demographic still means little because you could have rolled toons just to pad your SG membership, and the first choices for a non-played-pad toon on Villainside would be a Brute if you're just clicking the first button on the screen during creation. I know I did it during the 'Great Server Prestige Gift Padding of 07' on many Servers.

Finally, if it's only numbers that will woo people to a game; you're going to be stuck playing an Elf somewhere else, and I don't know about you but I aint no frickin' Elf!

Heroes to Paragon, Villains to the Isles; Lemmings (Elfs) everywhere else.

Trial accounts for all my men!

When you are in the Power Choice screen when Leveling up or Respecing it will be open to you on the right side of the screen.

I don't have my PC (on my PDA) to check, but if it is just a graphics chip builtin to the motherboard, I haven't seen one that is a proper graphics solution for gaming. The good things is that mobo manufacturers seem to realize this also and without an exception that I know of they provide the slot(s) for a proper graphics card.

I build my own systems and from what I do know, you will be very disappointed if you are even able to run the game on a builtin graphics solution. If I am not mistaken even an nForce mobo wiill have pipeline problems where the speed is going to be a factor. It's generally a combination of chipset, RAM, and BUS in that order that affect how well a graphics card solution works in gaming, and generally the BUS for a builtin just isn't up to snuff. That and the drivers may be the problem you are having with the card failure.

But like I said, you can probably find something to drop into the graphics slot that will outperform the builtinsignificantly for relatively cheap.

In depth solutions can be better addressed by the guys in the Tech Forum.

The seeming disparity between Hero and Villain Content is somewhat specious in that CoV was designed 'tight' from the start. In the Isles, you can pretty mcuh 'slow-level' a character from 1-50 without missing more than 2 Contacts per level grouping or Zone up to about Level 30-35. I know. I did it on my Sig Character. And as has been stated; the Story is what the Devs designed the game for. If you don't read 'em; you may as well play Nintendo (unless you are really only playing PvE in order to PvP, of course).

With the advent of Matthew Burke, it became mandatory to miss half of the starting content, but Burke and Kalinda are complimentary in their similar story lines so you effectively don't miss anything.

If you want to 'see it all'; you can pretty much do it Redside without necessarily having to 'turn off XP' if you can handle slow-leveling by running Solo at Villainous (Level 1), or if you can find another person to Level Pact with it gets even easier. Disregard most of the Unlockable Contacts until 45, along with Strike forces and Trial sand then along with Orobouros you can Flashback that Content effectively playing all of the CoV Content. But that's just one way to see things.

The story's the thing, and they're actually pretty good for the most part. There are some good suggestions already in this thread, but I just thought that I'd chime in.

Have fun.

Just a footnote to EDB's post: "Turn off XP" can be used to get unlockable Contacts while still usable during regular play, but all the Villainside Unlockable Contacts have no filler/non-Arc missions. So, unless you simply have to do their content in regular play; I'd just leave them for Flashback running later. You won't miss a bit of their content if you do them through Orobouros.

Just thought I'd mention it. I'm not sure about Heroside unlockables, but then Paragon didn't really have much 'unlockable' content before CoV. (and I said 'much' not 'none'; I'm not arguing that there has been 'some' all along)

Coolness! I appreciate that guys. Thanks muchly.

Whups. I miscommunicated. I meant the ingame sig characters for the staff members that have them. I know Mod08 has a character avatar; although, I dont know if it is his Sig Character. I know Cuppajoe played her Sig Character, as well as Cricket. I just wanted to build an Arc around The Mod Squad! Comedic but not unflattering at all.

I have been tossing around the idea of making an MA Arc with the Staff as a central part of it. Not the Sig Characters like Posi, BAB, and such; but the regular Staff like JLove, Mod08, Ex Libris, Cuppajoe, Cricket, Niviene, etc. I have pics of a few of them to work with, but no builds.

So, does anyone have any pictures and/or Builds that you have gotten of the Staff during any events?

Of course, I may just have to PM TheOcho and beg for it. I'm not above begging.

[ QUOTE ]
Oh. I accept that the game won't allow for it, right now. I'd -like- for there to be a workaround. Perhaps setting up Dual-Builds as 'dropping' the powers off the character until the build is restored, thus unflagging the 'Crab Powers?' question.

I just hate it when people tell me that all crab spiders are surgically grafted to their weapons. It's stupid to think that powered armor = extreme surgery.

That's all.
-Rachel-

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I hear ya. Like Arachnos would do 'extreme surgery'. Next someone will be saying that those tarantula chicks had to be surgica.. uh, nevermind.

Honestly... dont really like that one. Just too busy in a not-so-interesting way. Meh. Just my opining. Glad if it works for you.

[ QUOTE ]
But when I asked about changing the account name, the GM told me it wasn't allowed, and directed me to make a new account.

Also to clarify, which I should have mentioned earlier, said brother passed away.

[/ QUOTE ]

My condolences. As stated by another; it's not a bad thing knowing you're playing 'his' account; it is a way to keep him with you.

But again, you needn't have gotten Support involved... truly. Do as I said; change the billing to your name (perfectly doable, allowable, and done by thousands), change the email (again doable, allowable, and done by thousands). THAT is how one transfers a PlayNC account.

You will never have a problem unless... Matt Miller rings your doorbell and asks to see your driver's license to verify your account info. THAT might be a problem.