Oedipus_Tex
-
Posts
3840 -
Joined
-
Amazing fish.
I'll post my cost files asap. Stuck on a work project from heck for the past, oh... 20 hours straight. I'll post when I get back to my home comp. -
Like a lot of social things we talk about on the boards, this is a really complicated topic.
Among game designers there is a somewhat well known "Interest Graph" that attempts to map out player's approach to the game. It was created by Richard Bartle in the early 90s. The graph divides players into rough categories of Killers, Achievers, Explorers, and Socializers, and attempts to explain the relationship each has to each other. IMO it's not a perfect taxonomy, but it at least gets designers thinking about people's various motivations.
I happen to own a book by Bartle called Designing Virtual Worlds. It's a bit outdated now (Copyright says 2004 but it spends a lot of time talking about Ultima Online and LambdaMOO). In it he provides very detailed opinions--I can't call it "analysis" because he doesn't exactly use a scientific approach--about the ways players interact with a game. His explanation of "Achievers" could be boiled down to saying that some players play to acquire and conquer. Even players who do content with little apparent reward (e.g. killing AVs) tend to do it for the intangible "bragging rights."
But it's a footnote about the hazards of the free markets economies on pg 305 of Designing that I always remember: "It's easy to mistake what people do for what people enjoy doing. The chances are if players tell you they don't like doing something, they're not lying--no matter what the data mining results say." That is, if you put a reward in your game behind irritating content, players will torture themselves with it. Quoting Bartle again: "Players will spend a lot of time being miserable if the reward is high enough. They'll mindlessly click on the same mining icon for three hours, hating every moment of it, if the result is that they find the the diamonds they need to give them an arrow of dragon slaying."
This doesn't speak specifically to why players avoid content that isn't high in reward, but IMO it does address it tangentially. Many players want "stuff."
Part of the reason the teaming mechanics in this game are so successful are that players benefit tremendously from it on a reward scale.
But in addition to "stuff," players also like transition. I once had a character in another MMO who got "stuck" at certain level. Every time I went up in level, the game mechanics would change, and the character ended up fighting the same enemies again. The lack of a sense of progression was a factor in my eventual decision to leave that game.
An abstract of Richard Bartle's propositions is posted on the web, by the way. You can read it here: http://www.mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm -
Quote:Originally Posted by BurningChick
Well ...
If the baseline for the shields became one hour, SB one half hour, and mez prot 15 minutes (the current ratio is 4:2:1, I think), you'd see people with second accounts furiously PLing emps, kins, bubblers, and ringers. You'd see second account toons in RWZ and Cim. They'd be buffing people for high-end TFs ... and nothing else. They wouldn't even have to be invited to a team.
The insane whackiness a coordinated group of people could get up to is nucking futs. A team of blasters could go into the ITF with /hard/-capped defense and resistance (to all but psi); unbreakable mez protection; hard-capped recharge; endless endurance; possibly silly amounts of regen (not much mention of Regen Aura in this thread, mind you). I've done kill-all ITFs on RO teams in 50 minutes. A team of buffed sonic blasters could probably do it in half that.
To combat that level of extreme power-gaming, what would the devs do?
[EDIT: Small edits to clarify meaning.]
Breaking my own rule here to correct this interpretation of what I wrote. I understand that maintaining track of who said what in a long thread is confusing, so no ill will. But, we did handle this "problem" pages ago.
I did not ask that the buffs last an hour. I asked that there be a way to recharge the buff duration without recasting. Doing this would require the buffer to still be around. You could not get a shield cast on you and then run off to go do other content. My specific suggestion was that buffs recharge if the person you buffed touches your PBAoE buff aura or AoE heal (e.g. Dispersion Bubble or Transfusion) and is currently a member of your team. Other people offered other solutions. I'm a fan of some but not others.
Second, I only asked for this treatment for 5 specific groups of powers: Force field bubbles, Sonic bubbles, Speed Boost, Thermal shields, Cold shields. These powers already have 100% uptime. Powers that are currently designed to be situational would not receive this treatment. Clear Mind, as an example would NOT be on the list to be changed. Nor would Fortitude, Forge, or any of the "rolling buff" powers that is currently not a 100% uptime power. The suggestion was only for the standard "shield" style powers, and Speed Boost. [I'm aware as I'm writing this that someone is going to seize on this and say "The whole suggestion is invalid because what is a 100% uptime power is up to interpretation." It is, and hopefully the developers are up to that task.]
The short of it: the only thing that would change in my suggestion would be that after putting shields on someone, you wouldn't have to reshield them unless they left your aura and stayed away from it for too long. The base duration of buffs would not change. People are stretching themselves to show that this would be overpowered, but they are not responding to what I and others are actually writing. Maybe there is a group of Force Fielders out there that is somehow going to overpower the game if they suddenly get some of the animation time they currently spend recasting shields to spend on casting other powers instead. But I seriously, seriously doubt it.
Ok, out for real this time. Thanks for your time. -
Yep Repel is screwed on the proc front for the reasons mentioned.
Additional random fact. Repel (and clones like Repulsion Field) is the only power I know of that has a locked-in knockback strength. Enemies that are higher or lower level than you don't fly a shorter or (I think, based on observation) longer distance. I'm not even sure enhancing it for knockback distance does anything. -
I'm hoping for muzzles, beaks, and other parts that are interchangeable the way the Sci pack face mask pieces are. I may be setting myself up for disappointment, but hope will keep us alive.
-
Quote:Originally Posted by BurningChick
The subtext to people disliking re-buffing is, IME, that they object to clicking powers that don't cause orange numbers [edit] or provide some form of direct self benefit.
The subtext is that these powers already have 100% uptime. That is the result of their duration, cast time, endurance cost, animation time, and large benefit. It would be foolish not to put them up 100% of the time. So the question is how often do you have to do it? Right now its four or two minutes. A lot shorter than most games. The benefits of the actual power are higher. What is the right balance? We all have different opinions. Obviously.
But that's the last thing I'm going to say on this subject, because once we get on the "the whole game is unstrategic" and "all button presses are exactly the same" (not stated by you--by other contributors) train of relativistic weirdness there is no sensibility left in the discussion. Pressing a button might just as well reboot the server as summon Richard Simmons in a bunny suit. -
Quote:
The impression I get from players that want to revamp the buff / debuff classes to be less intrusive is that those players want to have it all. They want to buff / debuff AND attack. They want to buff / defuff AND control. They want to buff / debuff AND Micromanage their personal army.
I seriously doubt that the developers are ever going to seriously consider a system or revamp that let's players have it all and do it all.
I am so busted. No one else could see past my scheming, but you, hero, are different than the rest. But alas, you are too late! Because once I hit Submit Reply and the Devs read my opinion about what is fun and not fun about playing my characters, I will already be on my way to becoming totally unstoppable! Nothing will ever be the same once I succeed at my master plan for a QOL change to Force Field and Thermal and Sonic Resonance. I will buff and debuff and control THE. WHOLE. WORLD.
[BRB have to go refresh shields.] -
Quote:Originally Posted by -Urchin-
My advice to players, in general, was if they don't like the mechanics of a set to play one with mechanics they enjoy.
Since you, in particular, have played four buffers to 50, presumably you liked the mechanics as they are well enough.
Otherwise... you would have played something else.
Soooo... I don't see how you felt my post was all about you, but feel free to indulge in that interpretation if you wish.
Anyway, as I see it, the issue is pretty simple.
Patient: Doctor, it hurts when I do that.
Doctor: Quit doing that.
Play it if you like it. If you don't, play something else. Applying cyclical shields isn't the only game in town.
Bring back toggle dropping at once! Scrappers and Brutes loved it and wouldn't have played the sets if they weren't 100% comfortable with every aspect of it.
In seriousness, I don't get why having an opinion about sets I actually play is viewed so dimly. I'd be a lot more wary of people who don't play them.
Maybe I'm being too forceful--I tend to have that problem. I'm not going to quit playing buff characters if the change doesn't happen. But as a QOL thing, I would love for a change to happen. Because there is no strategy to buffing. Its just something you do with the precision of a kitchen timer. (This change has happened in several other MMOs btw for precisely the reasons listed. It is also why I helped edit durations when I was a game developer for another game, and when I was building a server for Neverwinter Nights.) -
FYI Force Field makes out better against sleeps because they can be deflected with Psi Defense. The Rikti version are pure Psi attacks (at least they are if they are based on the player version of Mind Control), so Ranged and AoE don't protect you. Luckily, Dispersion Bubble has some Psi defense built in. Capping to Psi with IOs is very possible with the right slotting but also very expensive. I have a build for Elec/FF that is capped to everything but Melee, although I've never bothered to take things that far.
-
I don't get the hate. Does lip gloss somehow devalue women? Superman is used to sell boys underwear.
-
Quote:Originally Posted by -Urchin-
The alternative is at the character creation screen, where one has total control over the character they make.
There are many sets available that suit a wide variety of tastes. Not all of them require cyclical re-shielding.
It seems a bit ridiculous to choose to play - or to continue to play - a power set one feels to be tedious.
Pick... something... else...
There are many that choose shield sets precisely because they work the way they do.
Why should they potentially lose out on the mechanics and play style that they chose to enjoy when those that don't like how shields work can pick another set?
Changing the way shields work to suit the desires of those that don't like the sets as they are now could result in those that do no longer enjoying their characters.
It seems to me the easiest and best fix is for players to choose sets they enjoy the mechanics of, rather than trying to shoehorn sets into mechanics they enjoy.
Well thank you for the advice to reroll 4 of my 6 50s, but I think I'll pass. As it happens, I rolled them because I like playing a buffer. I tolerate the mechanics because if you want to play a buffer, you play by the mechanics that are given to you. -
Keep in mind that Earth and Elec Dominators are worlds apart from Controllers. They do waaaay better damage early on. Earth and Elec (and Ice) Controllers take a long time to become self sufficient. They are great for teams but soloing one is not something I recommend trying. At least prior to level 41 or so when you get an actual decent attack.
-
A second option for Aries, blending an electric wolf creature that I suggested to someone a while back but to my knowledge is unused.I picture this as Fire/Electric Brute.
-
A crack at Aries, the Ram. Tied to Mars. I imagine this as a Martial Arts/Fiery Armor scrapper.
Mini-Bio: "Everyone else gets to turn into something cool. A wolf! A cat! A bat-thing-with-razor-sharp-fangs! I turned into... a goat. Except not even a goat. A ram. That's a guy sheep, in case you didn't know. Ok, so I'm a guy sheep who can set himself on fire. My whole life was turned upside down. So I called myself "Sram." That's Mars backwards, and Ram forwards. Kind of. What's that... you're laughing at me? Watch it dude, I've got a mean kick and nothing left to lose."
-
Confused. Aren't there already jet packs? I thought the issue is that they just aren't a standard costume piece, or can't/haven't been tied to fly animations like jet-boots have.
-
Mine still says:
You have a need for other people to like and admire you, and yet you tend to be critical of yourself. While you have some personality weaknesses you are generally able to compensate for them. You have considerable unused capacity that you have not turned to your advantage. Disciplined and self-controlled on the outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure on the inside. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations. You also pride yourself as an independent thinker; and do not accept others' statements without satisfactory proof. But you have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to others. At times you are extroverted, affable, and sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, and reserved. Some of your aspirations tend to be rather unrealistic. -
Related off topic rant: I do own a d/l copy of one particular image editing program. I buy everything else.
The reason for the d/l program is that 3 years ago I paid approximately $1500 for the software as part of a suite. Two years after purchase, the entire suite stopped working suddenly. Everything would boot up fine, then at the last second shut down. No error messages, no indications of what was wrong. I called their tech support, and was informed that because I owned an "old" copy of the product, they were not willing to support it. They then tried to sell me an upgrade to the broken software for $600. I told them there was no way I was going to pay that much money for a product they would be unable to support in 2 years.
8 months later, while trying to fix another issue, I find out this company has released "license retrieval" software. Purpose: to fix broken software licenses. On a whim I decide to try it. And guess what, the entire suite works now. I spent 8 months with a broken product because the company's theft prevention software locked me out, and the company didn't even have the credibility to tell me this is what was wrong. I could have dealt with it if the product had stopped working for some technical reason, but something about it having been anti-theft software made me feel like I'd been accused of stealing a product I'd paid a very large sum of money for.
Morals of the story are that 1) whether that company loses money from pirates or no, they won't be getting money from this actual customer anytime soon and 2) if you happen to own a legal but unworking copy of this popular image editing software, which I won't name but those in industry probably know, do a search on "fix license" because this company is more concerned with keeping unpaying customers from accessing its products than from actually supporting people who bought the software legally.
Its because of this experience, and countless others where DRM software has accused me of stealing (I know everything I do about piracy from jerryrigging a legal copy of Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 into working) that I have slowed my purchase of games and software significantly. Those companies can cry me a river. Theft of their products cannot excuse the fact that they are consistently MIA when these theft devices make the products hell to use for their actual customers. And I don't buy the argument that pirates make them do this. -
My first 50 was an Ice/Therm. I find it particularly difficult to IO. IMO, a totally ideal build would have the Psi APP but still be capped to Slash Lethal. I can cap ranged but not S/L without a defense based armor.
The tradeoff is Ranged defense with S/L Resistance. Alpha slots have made this interesting. What I'd do is build toward the one that gives Endurance/Resistance AND the one that gives Recharge/Heal. When you are in a situation where Arctic Air is useful, switch to the endurance one. The rest of the time, use the recharge one.
I don't have a lot of advice about your specific build, but I will share one I made recently. To make this build, I skipped Thaw. It's actually a useful power, but Thermal has so many powers that on a Controller build something has to get skipped if you build for defense.
I have to tell you I am skeptical of Ice Control played from range. Ice Slick is a good power but eventually you'll get stuck with a Fire or Plant troller and cage-spam will negate the main benefits of slick. In that situation you're going to want something more to use than just Shiver. And Glacier requires melee-ish action anyway (I won't call it true "melee" because it isn't. If enemies can hit you, you're too close. If it's ever in question, hover with a jet pack about 10-12ft off the ground.)
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.90
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 50 Magic Controller
Primary Power Set: Ice Control
Secondary Power Set: Thermal Radiation
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Psionic Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Block of Ice -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(3), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(3), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(15), Apoc-Dam%(15)
Level 1: Warmth -- Numna-Heal/EndRdx(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(21), Numna-Heal(37), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(39), Numna-Heal/Rchg(40), Numna-EndRdx/Rchg(40)
Level 2: Thermal Shield -- ResDam-I(A)
Level 4: Chilblain -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(7), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(9)
Level 6: Arctic Air -- CoPers-Conf(A), CoPers-Conf/Rchg(9), CoPers-Conf/EndRdx(11), CoPers-Acc/Conf/Rchg(11), CoPers-Conf%(13), CoPers-Acc/Rchg(13)
Level 8: Shiver -- Acc-I(A)
Level 10: Plasma Shield -- ResDam-I(A)
Level 12: Ice Slick -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 14: Cauterize -- Heal-I(A)
Level 16: Frostbite -- TotHntr-Acc/Rchg(A), TotHntr-EndRdx/Immob(17), TotHntr-Acc/EndRdx(17), TotHntr-Immob/Acc(39), TotHntr-Acc/Immob/Rchg(43), TotHntr-Dam%(50)
Level 18: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(19), RechRdx-I(19)
Level 20: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), Zephyr-ResKB(21), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(36), HO:Enzym(37), HO:Enzym(46)
Level 22: Boxing -- Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(A), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun(23), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx(23), Stpfy-Stun/Rng(25), Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg(25), Stpfy-KB%(37)
Level 24: Tough -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
Level 26: Glacier -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(27), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(27), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(29), Lock-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(29)
Level 28: Forge -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 30: Weave -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def(31), RedFtn-EndRdx(31), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(31), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(34), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(36)
Level 32: Jack Frost -- ExRmnt-Acc/Rchg(A), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg(33), ExRmnt-Dmg/EndRdx(33), ExRmnt-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(33), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34), ExRmnt-+Res(Pets)(34)
Level 35: Heat Exhaustion -- Acc-I(A), RechRdx-I(36)
Level 38: Melt Armor -- AnWeak-Acc/Rchg(A), RechRdx-I(39), ShldBrk-Acc/Rchg(40)
Level 41: Mental Blast -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(42), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(43), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43)
Level 44: Indomitable Will -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(45), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(45), RedFtn-EndRdx(45), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(46), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 47: Psionic Tornado -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Posi-Dam%(48), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(50), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50)
Level 49: Mind Over Body -- ResDam-I(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Containment
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(48)
------------
Set Bonus Totals:- 11% DamageBuff(Smashing)
- 11% DamageBuff(Lethal)
- 11% DamageBuff(Fire)
- 11% DamageBuff(Cold)
- 11% DamageBuff(Energy)
- 11% DamageBuff(Negative)
- 11% DamageBuff(Toxic)
- 11% DamageBuff(Psionic)
- 3% Defense(Smashing)
- 3% Defense(Lethal)
- 3% Defense(Fire)
- 3% Defense(Cold)
- 26.44% Defense(Energy)
- 26.44% Defense(Negative)
- 3% Defense(Psionic)
- 3% Defense(Melee)
- 34.88% Defense(Ranged)
- 3% Defense(AoE)
- 3% Enhancement(Stun)
- 4% Enhancement(Confused)
- 5% Enhancement(Immobilize)
- 32% Enhancement(Accuracy)
- 6% Enhancement(Heal)
- 68.75% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
- 13% FlySpeed
- 57.23 HP (5.627%) HitPoints
- 13% JumpHeight
- 13% JumpSpeed
- Knockback (Mag -4)
- Knockup (Mag -4)
- MezResist(Confused) 2.5%
- MezResist(Held) 8.55%
- MezResist(Immobilize) 6.9%
- MezResist(Sleep) 2.5%
- MezResist(Stun) 2.5%
- MezResist(Terrorized) 2.5%
- 17% (0.284 End/sec) Recovery
- 22% (0.934 HP/sec) Regeneration
- 10% Resistance(Smashing)
- 10% Resistance(Lethal)
- 14.1% Resistance(Fire)
- 14.1% Resistance(Cold)
- 10% Resistance(Energy)
- 10% Resistance(Negative)
- 10% Resistance(Toxic)
- 10% Resistance(Psionic)
- 13% RunSpeed
Code:| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1597;748;1496;HEX;| |78DAA594594F135114C7EFB4534B375A84B2140AB2432985468DDB8389A80906920| |AC81350C732C0686D6B5B137D1297479F7C604D71F90A6AC4F82144A3D144BF8282| |CB8B4FF52CB7B4661E9DC0FF37F3BFE79CBBCC998EDF3AEB1662F9B4507C23492D9| |78B8FA453F96C3A99D4B3B6716DD14808BB10A2B5EC960222A309BD74DF5E317CE6| |E6C242646A49CF5ED792F1096DDED0F2463A55339A024B4FE523A51B672C0D45263| |3BA3EEFA6DB315DCB18A9450F3D9C371697F2F0E42D0DCDEBD9DC9291A93B973112| |91580E4A1A89F8B896CBEBD9DB8DB0C2A3F0BFAA08791555F1C1224450583E323E1| |3AA3F31A280A830CAE136715141AB6E8AD07589D0334DE89D644C10AE8272625128| |6140AF588167AB2C642D088C529F329E110E3C616C11AA1E13D621CB26B36C33B4A| |2AA5982F332638EE0D61871C20664D9E5F4F600154A82E59096234CD626582E69B9| |06C8BA0696475A9E2EB2D6C0F2CA1578576877BE55C61A1FC03A21B441886E123A6| |0FA1A3A81A2A5866B1FFC07F51050CB016AAD9FCFF52B2DBEF30BA1EB188CA95631| |28A940825FAEC37F8712EA971977098DF718F7F9ED3C205821AB81A7110D7813140| |5D026D9004DDC00016E800037400B3740CB1F5A471AC29BE59134F3DA55281AE4A2| |B6A093E669AD6678192E42BB9BD0E9216C81B6C90DB4ED52ED437B8C1F8C5F84F69| |F8CDF840C64757096D2C1AFB29357710346BA79C4D2BD43C13D3CD26BB5E206DE82| |F6C909FBB8E3FAB9E3FAB9C7FAB9F142DC6A21EEBF1DC81A905903FC62C2BCC730E| |F2ACC7B1CE45D0DF21EDF4356441E6AE439151A7AC1D826445F325E11DE41F8B07C| |2DC3DC8D2DEAFE87067F7089319313532B3E2B7282E598FFBA5EBB4B751C134ED02| |99418CA34CA0CCA2CCA1C8A8672052581527CB39FED3D8E0B3A817212E5148ADF07| |F21023EDF8BDB950DC281E946A142F8A0FA51625805240293A7CFBBF1BC56F50435| |12AF7FFDDE4EC563A1714FCE9D92B5B8AB24A9D32F488306C3AE290C9899A9C2326| |E7B0C9291FED5F30E13EA4| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|
-
Quote:Originally Posted by NinjaPirate
Go look up the covers of most publications from Chaos! or Broadsword Comics.
They quite frankly sometimes make be embarrassed to be male.
Apparently in the case of the Broadsword Comics series Tarot, the main contributors are a husband and wife team. Looking at the pictures, they are definitely pretty extreme by mainstream standards. However, it's hard for me to call it sexist because, at least here in New Orleans, I know plenty of girls who aspire to dress like this in a fantasy sense. Not in their every day attire of course, but as part of the sub-stream of people who hang out in the goth and industrial scenes. I think they'd more readily identify with the title character than with, say, the Invisible Woman. I think that's part of the difficulty of the situation. Some women do fantasize about being outrageously hot and overtly sexualized.
Some men also fantasize about getting all the hottest babes. In some part, this discussion seems to question whether they are allowed to. I tend to think they are. The larger concern is that mainstream comic books sell themselves as having a mass cultural appeal. They are less stories than they are franchises or brands. For the biggest selling characters, religion, politics, LGBT issues, and really anything that would threaten the ability to sell t-shirts or build roller coasters is off limits. To the degree that these issues are handled, it is usually in the schmaltziest, risk adverse way. This mass rubber stamping of imagery is I think why there is so much concern about portrayals. Sensitive issues are out, but what makes it "in" is sometimes disconcerting.
Even more complicated, the same character in the hands of many different authors and production teams can change relative positions constantly. A very complex, balanced character can be instantly undone by future editorial decisions. A character who made decisions that were intended to be meaningful at the time they were written can be rendered inane by new writers, and also (maybe especially) by the translation of the comic book to film and video games. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Bosstone
The only time "tedium" or "I don't like this power" has any weight is when statistically fewer people play the set or take the power than the devs want to see. If it can be shown that shield powersets are vastly underrepresented, and when they are played players skip the shield powers, then there's probably something to the tedium argument.
That's more or less what happened with Inherent Fitness; they saw that the number of Fitness-less builds was so small that there was probably something to the argument that Stamina-less builds were horrible.
No.
Tedium has weight when people say that it is tedious. That is the best any of us can say. I find it tedious. I don't find it tedious. That's it. There is no objective point when something becomes tedious. It's a value judgment.
If I don't actually make a comment saying that something is tedious, no one will ever know. I've made that comment. You've made a comment to the opposite. Let's leave it at that without claiming change never happens without a magic bullet from a systems report.
Meanwhile, I will be waiting for the post from Thermal Mastermind who just can't get enough of casting shields on 8 players and 6 pets.
P.S. didn't we have this exact same debate about mezzes detoggling armor buffs some years ago? Including accusations about just trying to get powerful, statements that it shouldn't be done because the devs would "make us pay for it in some way," and claims that people who didn't like it should just avoid taking toggle powers? None of that means the change should be made, but this game has a long history of "concrete reasons" being presented showing why a change shouldn't happen, followed by that exact change with few of the originally stated consequences. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Fleeting Whisper
There is no such existing power in the game, nor does Thaw do that.
Resurrect does that. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Venture
I don't think it's any more reasonable to assume there are thousands of heroes in the city than it is to assume there are literally Skulls (etc.) on every street corner mugging someone.
The only problem is, I've met them. I mean, I can see why someone would want to pretend there are only a couple of thousand heroes. But on a busy night in Atlas, there might be 100 people in that area, and I might recognize 5 if I'm especially lucky. Without actually counting, I'd guess I personally have 30 heroes on Virtue. That adds up to... a WHOLE lot of heroes over the course of a super career.
The number of super powered people in general, though, is staggering. A single mission at 0x8 yields about 16 x 20 = 320. In the space of 10 missions, I'd have encounter about 3,200 costumed minions of some kind. Maybe the whole thing isn't meant to be taken literally; but if it isn't, why are some people so worked up about other players they have to ignore and not the fact that game environment itself has to be explained away? -
Quote:Originally Posted by Dromio
The only drawback I see is END cost. The auto renew could be going off an awful lot on full teams, and that's a lot of shields. END cost for renewal would have to be made minimal to offset the possibility of a team of 8 MM's running around with no END, and no choice to turn auto renewing off. I think there would have to be an END cost, but it would have to be figured as small. Most of the shields have pretty small END costs as it is, so I don't think that would be a huge problem.
I personally don't see any reason that it should cost extra endurance. Endurance is only a minor factor in the strategy of these powers currently. The exception is Sonic, and that set needs a buff to endurance friendliness specifically. -
Quote:Well it took 3 pages, but eventually the "every button click is the same" argument had to come up. So why not just make every power take 2 button clicks? Or 3? Or 4 and a confirmation screen? And make Tankers click their armor toggles every time they start a fight? It's all just pressing the same few buttons. Scrappers and Blasters even push 5 or 6 every 15 seconds.
As opposed to pressing the same few buttons to fire attacks off?
Now, I'm not going to put this in falsely objective terms. In my opinion, the buff GUI sucks. I have nothing to back this up except that it is my opinion. It annoys me. I like buffing in other games. I like the effects of buffing in this game. But I do not like the mechanics. This is not a contradiction in terms.
Specifically, the design principals I feel clash are the "always up" buffs of the "bubble" and Speed Boost type with relatively short durations. I have dealt, in this game and others, with powers with much shorter durations than these. But those powers did not reward you for keeping the power up all of the time. It's nursing these buffs of unchanging duration and a locked-in strategy where the only satisfactory tactic is keeping them perma that causes the frustration. As I have said of Speed Boost specifically in the past, it is a power balanced by frustration. And IMO, balancing a power by frustration just means people will be frustrated.
Pointless clicking is pointless clicking whether its in City of Heroes or the Papa John's website. And Opinions about what is useful are opinions.
Although most of us probably agree that 30 point text in Sunrise Yellow detracts from the our experience. -
What I sometimes wonder about some types of roleplay is whether some groups prefer not to acknowledge being one of many thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of heroes living in Paragon. Not that that's enough to handle the crime problem--anecdotal evidence indicates that villainous minions outnumber Earth's ant population.
Anyway, in this sort of world, it would only be so long before Lindsay Lohan, Marilyn Manson, John Waters, the Octomom, the cast of Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire, and this girl ended up with super powers. Look around any major city, picture what would happen if 1 out of every 20 people turned supe, and soon you'll have a whole worth of costumed crazies trying to out-promote each other.
And that's just talking about the humans. Let's be real for just a second here. We all got to this message board via the internet. We know that technology can be used for many wonderful things. But generally speaking people who hide in their basements building robots would NOT be building war robots. What they would be building cannot be posted here but is imminently linked to the statement about the internet.
Even the "mainline" super hero comics get this and showcase it from time to time. X-Factor has a hero named "Strong Guy."
Overall point: being a hero loses its dramatic-sunset-posing when the whole population are heroes. Suddenly even regular people are running around in overtight spandex (luckily our secondary mutations also make us all smoking hot!) If you want to ignore that very realistic consequence of a "city of heroes," that's fine, but don't throw out insults about stupid names or concepts just because everyone doesn't want to throw their shoulders back dramatically while a lamenting lost planets and murdered parents.
