PerfectStorm
-
Posts
237 -
Joined
-
This isn't particularly good from a marketing standpoint. Marketing is trying to bring in new players and GR is supposed to be one of the tools they are using to market to new players. If new players are using GR's Praetoria as their starting zone, as one might expect they would, then they will never be able to unlock an Epic AT until such time as they level a new alt as a hero or a villain.
Other games unlock special character types by levelling a character of any origin/alignment/faction to the specified level. Honestly, I don't see the problem (from a game play standpoint - programming is obviously a different issue) with unlocking both types of EATs when you've levelled one character in either faction to the appropriate level. When the level was still 50, I had multiple PB's and WS's blue side, but because I didn't play red side often, my highest level character there was only approaching 30 so I didn't qualify to get a VEAT.
Ah well. It would be great if they change this mechanic completely (allowing you to create a hero or villain EAT once you've levelled a character of any faction to 20. But, barring that, they need to make it clear right when starting a Praetorian character that this character will not qualify you to unlock Epic Archtypes for either hero or villain factions -- and then also remove the "Epic AT Unlocked!" message when the Praetorian character reaches level 20.
Just my two bucks.
Storm -
Quote:Not a problem for me - it was already in use in my case and fit fine - just changing out the motherboard won't make a difference to that - and, from the specs I've read, the GeForce GTX 460 is about 2 inches shorter than the GeForce 9800 GTX+ that I have in there nowOriginally Posted by Call Me Awesome
I've used that unit in a couple of builds including my current personal machine. It works well, it's quiet and keeps things cool. The only drawback is that it's rather large, and sometimes that's an issue in smaller cases.
I decided to go with the eVGA superclocked model. I have the money at this time, so why not get a little extra?Quote:Originally Posted by Call Me Awesome
I've had several eVGA cards over the years and they've been good performers.
While I have my case open, I've cleaned everything out and off - there was some dust in the case. My new graphics adapter and supplies are ordered and should be shipped out tomorrow hopefully to arrive by Thursday or Friday at the latest, and I got word that my replacement motherboard was shipped out late Friday and should arrive by Wednesday or Thursday. Hopefully by Friday night I will be up and running for my three day holiday weekend... with a graphics adapter much more capable of running Ultra Mode with ALL the bells and whistles (assuming that the driver issue I read about on another thread has been worked out!).
Oh - and, while I do love their products, dealing with Asus (pronounced, in case anyone cares, "uh-soos" with the emphasis on the "soos" part - kinda like a sneeze) has been a tiny bit of a challenge. They do not publish their product support phone number on their website as far as I could see, and they never answered my support email at all. It's a good thing I am a little bit impatient, or I'd still be waiting for a return email
I found a phone number listed in a customer review on the newegg website (if I recall correctly) which led me to the correct phone number so I was able to call. When I called, the person that answered told me that all of the technical support people were busy on calls and what was my name and number so someone could call me back - but nobody called me back that day or the next. So I called again and got through to a technical support specialist who opened my ticket... but apparently didn't get my email address correct, so I had to call AGAIN that night to talk to another person who was able to correct whatever was wrong so I could get the RMA process started. I got the form faxed back to them the next day (Thursday) and then called today to verify they had received it. They gave me the FedEx tracking number and told me the replacement had shipped. All in all it's not a horrible time frame, especially considering the months long warranty issues I had with Olevia for my lcd tv (BEFORE they went bankrupt).
Thanks for the input - and for reading my mini-novel!
Storm -
Quote:Yeah - lapping my heatsink is not something I'm able to do. I do have a good heatsink, I think. I've never had an issue with a Zalman product.Originally Posted by TargetOne
... while the thicker ones can help fill gaps if you aren't able or willing to lap your heatsinks. But as long as you use a good brand of compound together with a decent heatsink, the viscosity shouldn't matter much. (We're talking a difference of a couple degrees here.)
Good to know. That'll save me a couple of dollars.Quote:Originally Posted by TargetOne
As for cleaning off old thermal compound, that Arctic Silver stuff will work, but in most cases you can do the job just as well (and cheaper) with 90% isopropyl alcohol and lint-free cloths.
Warranty would be it. The Zotac and the superclocked EVGA offer limited lifetime warranty, where the Gigabyte is only 3 years. Now I just have to figure out whether the 10-13% performance increase will be worth the extra $30 - I've never owned an EVGA product before, but they seem very popular.Quote:Originally Posted by TargetOne
In the end, any of the GTX 460s will do you just fine. If you can afford a factory-overclocked one, go for it (that Gigabyte is only $10 more than the stock-speed Zotac you linked to); if not, the standard models will still be plenty fast with a good chance you can overclock them. Which one you pick may depend more on non-performance related criteria than anything else (e.g. bundled accessories, extra features, warranty).
Thanks for the info and the thoughts!
Storm -
Thanks for the opinions! Very helpful.
Quote:I was surprised, too, as I've used Asus products in the past and been happy with them. When I did talk to tech support, though, I got the impression that this model might have had some problems - they never even asked me what I did to troubleshoot it, just started the warranty return process. I'm used to being asked to jump through troubleshooting hoops to prove a particular product/part is defective.Originally Posted by Call Me Awesome
Another vote for Arctic Silver paste here; I've been using it for 10 years I am surprised by the Asus MB failing on you though... I've had probably 6-7 of them over the years and all are either still working strong or were retired in working condition.
Ah well, once I actually got to talk to someone (their US tech support is in the US), the process seemed to go smoothly - however, I faxed the necessary form to them around noon eastern time yesterday and they have not put a hold on my credit card as yet. So I hope they got the form... I will have to call and get an update on my case
Storm -
Quote:Actually, I wouldn't touch an "open box" deal with a 10 foot pole, because they do not guarantee that it has anything but the main product in the box - if there were adapters or extra cables or manuals - no guarantee they are there at all.Originally Posted by Father Xmas
Open box means someone bought it, opened it, played with it, and sent it back. No idea if the previous short time owner played with it's guts, installed "bad" software or messed up the system in general. All they are guaranteeing, and that may be an exaggeration of the word, is that it turns on and has all the parts on the packing list.
Exerpt from Newegg's Open Box Refund Only Return Policy: "If you purchase an Open-Box product Newegg guarantees only that you will receive the product itself; accessories MAY OR MAY NOT BE INCLUDED with Open-Box products. Newegg will not send you a missing accessory, even if the missing accessory is required in order to properly make use of all the product’s advertised functions."
Storm -
Quote:When I was in the beta, I had not disabled MissionObjectives on my map and had this problem. They were apparently disabled by default (at least on MY install) and I simply had to click on them in the drop down to enable them.Originally Posted by Arbiter Oates
On your zone map, have you disabled MissionObjectives?
Storm -
Not quite getting the connection between your problem and video drivers, either, although Tex may know better than me...<shrug>
The updater is failing at the start of "Verifying Image"? That looks to my not-quite-expert eye as if you have one or more corrupted game files or a corrupted updater. You mentioned that your CD rom drive is acting up ... is it possible you might have some corrupted memory or perhaps your hard drive might be also experiencing some issues? Does your system have any diagnostic programs that allow you to test your ram or hard drive?
If everything checks out, then imnsho, somehow your game files have gotten corrupted and you will probably need to download and reinstall.
Storm -
Got a couple of things I'm hoping some of you may be able to offer advice and/or opinions about.
My motherboard went south a few days ago (under warranty - YAY!) and Asus is sending me a new one shortly. Of course this means removing the cpu from the old mobo and reinstalling it.
For you system builders out there, what is your recommendation for thermal paste? I've used ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound in the past, but I need to buy new as I have none left. Also, would this be good to get for cleaning the old stuff off: Arctic Silver ACN-60ML (2-PC-SET) Thermal material Remover & Surface Purifier - OEM ?
Also, since I was looking at picking up a GeForce GTX 460 soon, I figure that I might as well do it now while I have the system all apart. EVGA makes a "superclocked" version and a standard version, and I was also looking at the ZOTAC, which is a little better, pricewise (I've had a ZOTAC GeForce 9800GTX for the last two years and I like it so far, but I'm looking for a little more performance). My question really is about the superclocked vs non - is it going to give me much of a noticeable performance increase, and if so, what kind of increase in performance would I notice?
Thanks in advance for any advice you might have.
Storm -
I've raised the floor under my 'porters without the use the desk fake floor thing - however, at the time (and this may have changed, since I did it before the pathing changes), I had to move my 'porters somewhere else in the room to do it. I generally use a lowered ceiling and a raised floor for my 'porter chambers (I use the arcane porters - size, at one time at least, was an issue as they didn't have a "square" footprint).
Storm -
The only drawback in building your own is that YOU have to deal with the manufacturers (plural) if parts go bad during your warranty period. Like my Asus Rampage Formula motherboard just did - submitted an email to tech support but haven't gotten anything back. Will call tonight. It's going to be WAAAAYYYY bigger of a headache than it would be to call Dell, jump through some hoops and then get the part sent to you to replace ... even packing up your machine to send for repair might be faster than getting this taken care of... (anybody ever deal with Asus for warranty repair/replacement?)
So - your call. Plus, if you haven't ever built a computer from scratch ... it's a little scary the first time - and you can fry stuff on first power up if it's not hooked up right. Not trying to talk you out of it, just letting you know that there are some downsides to it.
Storm -
Quote:The problem with this logic is that it is also NOT happening to many other people running the game. If it were strictly a programming issue, it would happen to most or all other people running the game.Originally Posted by Durakken
How is that a good suggestion? It auto shut downs to prevent harm,,,why would i want to shut that off and how does that solve any problem? It's clearly a programming error or a driver/hardware problem. Considering it's not the latter because other people are having the same problem AND It doesn't happen with any other program... it leaves the former. In other words, there is nothing I can do to fix it. It's a programming issue.
If you would like assistance in alleviating the problem you are encountering, it would be very helpful to see the reports requested by Kitsune Knight. It might also be very helpful to see the actual text of the blue screen error, since you've paraphrased part of it above - as ElectroHawk indicates, disabling the auto-restart on blue screen will not be harmful to your computer.
Storm -
Quote:What you would like to see happen from a technology standpoint and what IS are often - and definitely, in this case - two entirely different things. People learned to have no confidence in Vista, and because of Vista, are very wary of Windows 7. The college where I work has been purposely buying computers with Windows 7 licenses downgraded to Windows XP for compatibility to the software we run and teach - and you know what? The major computer vendors (Dell, HP, etc.) have been allowing this.Originally Posted by NobleFox
Yes, it's dead. There's no polite way to say it: anyone who has components made in the last 3 years and is still using XP is either ignorant of what's going on or stubborn to the point of ignoring what's going on aorund them. There are, plainly put, limitations to what XP can DO, and if you've bought a recent computer, XP 32 is foolish. XP 64 even more useless. It doesn't matter that 1 in three people have their craniums buried in their rectums. Technology _has_ to move on.
If it were MS's take on it, would they still be supporting Windows XP SP3? They will be for several more years.Quote:Originally Posted by NobleFox
And frankly? If you're not even willing to pay for your OS? I'm not concerned with backwards compatibility for you and this is probably Microsoft's take on it as well.
Full versions of new OS's are not cheap to buy. Upgrading (as opposed to nuke and pave with the new OS) can sometimes (often) give you nasty little issues depending on your configuration - and is generally not something the average computer user is comfortable with.
Remember - it's not the l33t tech heads they have to sell new things to - it's the average Joe.
Storm -
Quote:I guess I look at it this way: NCSoft and Paragon Studios have no legal obligation to tell us anything about what it is they fixed or changed ... patch notes are a courtesy, and if they don't show up until later than "expected" I'm not going to get my panties in a bunch about it. I'm glad they share what they do share with us, and I'll be patient until they put it wherever they decide to put it. <shrug> Your mileage may vary ...Originally Posted by MadisonDan
I understand that delays can happen in the updates, but they were published in the discussing forum 10 hours after the update was loaded and yet they still are not on the patch notes page on the website. It is not a matter of approval or completion of the information, just someone not doing their job to maintain the site where the company intends for us to look for the information.
Storm -
I'm guessing that the people who write the patch notes are not the same people who are programming the patch. Therefore, delays can occur, and sometimes the notes are not complete. This happens. While I understand people being frustrasted about not knowing what was in a patch for various reasons, I think that some of the level of expressed aggravation has been just a tad over the top.
Back when I first started playing this game (I7 or so?), it might be days before you saw patch notes - or you might not get them at all. I'm not saying that means it is ok to go back to that, just that, well, 10 hours is really not a long time to wait for notes. It may even be that they DID have to wait for an "approved" version - maybe there was something in there that was sensitive enough that there had to be discussion as to whether or not to include it.
Remember, patience is a virtue (no, not THAT Virtue!)...
Storm -
Quote:Proof that no matter what they do, someone will complain. If they'd not said anything about an anticipated APPROXIMATE release timeframe, people would have been complaining about that, too... <sigh>Originally Posted by geeque
"NCsoft and Paragon Studios are proud to announce that players will have the opportunity to walk the line between good and evil (or cross it), on August 17th, 2010 with the release of City of Heroes Going Rogue. City of Heroes Going Rogue is the second paid expansion in the City of Heroes® franchise."
....So they are PROUD that GR is delayed? I would not exactly use that word when telling eager paying customers that a product already paid for by many is not coming out on the original date specified.
Storm -
I just want to know: Where is Evil Ryu?
Oh ... and I think this is a great move that will make it easier for the casual villain to remain villainous. What happens to the market after the merge is anyone's guess. I don't know that much about economics other than the whole supply/demand thing, but I know that the in-game economy is not the same as real life, so comparing it to real life economics is probably not all that great... In game, I don't pay out more than half of my monthly salary on rent and utilities. I do pay a fee for the privilege of using Wentworth's facilities to market and sell my goods - but I don't have to pay banking fees, I can't borrow inf from a bank ... the list goes on and on. Applying real-world economic rules to the market may not be all that accurate. Just sayin'.
I'm going to do what I always do - share the riches of my higher level characters with my lower level characters (only I can now do it without the involvement of a third party, AND I can send my cousins in the Rogue Isles some extra inf so they can buy some of their own necessities -what? Not EVERYONE who lives in the Rogue Isles is a villain - not my cousins... although, now that you mention it there was that time that one of them inexplicably came into some inf and was very vague about winning it at the casino or something). I'm going to use the consignment house to sell what looks like it will sell for above vendor price plus fees and vendor stuff that will not make what the vendor will pay me. All of the changes MAY eliminate my current practice with a new character of buying significantly low priced items at the consignment house and re-selling them to a vendor for a 100% or more profit, and in doing so will result in those items remaining in the economy.
All in all, seems like a win/win for me and people who play like me (there ARE some others out there - I know some of them).
Thanks, Devs!
Storm -
Quote:This ...Originally Posted by Bill Z Bubba
... However, come close to GR golive, I will be one of those making damn sure that I have nothing on the market one way or the other.
As a sysadmin, I do not leave anything to chance when it comes to database migrations.
<shudder>
Storm -
This is a vague thought that I'm not sure is applicable, but ... is there any chance that the SATA drives may require a 3rd party driver in order to run properly? (i.e., one that the OS's you've tried do not have as a standard HDD driver)... I don't think it would actually blue screen with that situation (it shouldn't get that far) but ... who knows?
However, what Bluemeanie says is what you should try ... boot to safe mode, disable the Automatically Restart on error thingie, and see what the BSOD message and/or code is. If you google the code or title of the message, you might find some more ideas.
Good luck!
Storm -
Quote:Email expires in WoW, including email that has items attached. The expiration period is 30 days. The difference is that WoW very clearly indicates how long until the email expires - if you look in the mailbox.Originally Posted by Stratos
In short, don't depend on email to store your items. I do that in WoW and its never been a problem. CoX though I don't trust the system and use it to xfer items/inf as a last resort only.
Storm -
Quote:Link please? Not arguing, just want to see it.Originally Posted by je_saist
Again. CoX currently says AMD is best for the game.
Thanks.
Storm -
Quote:Yesterday, from midnight Pacific for approximately 24 hours, virtually all the WoW realms WERE taken offline for hardware upgrades and other maintenance in preparation for their upcoming paid expansion. I'm not sure what that has to do with her account getting hacked ...Originally Posted by Aquila_NA
My niece just did have her WoW account hacked this week. She says that something like 70 or so WoW "realms" have been offline for "maintenance".
There are a lot of ways for gaming accounts to get hacked - they don't, first off, really get "hacked" in the classic sense. Nobody is "breaking into" these accounts without already having the usernames and passwords. They get these primarily by phishing emails like the ones discussed here: They trick you into emailing them your username and password or trick you into putting the username and password into a web form somehow (for WoW, they have in the past actually spent money to sponsor google links to fake WoW Armory sites where they require that you input your credentials prior to either being redirected to the real WoW Armory site or redirected to nowhere). Sites that don't require any login information may install malware onto your computer such as rootkits (generally invisible to the user and used to hide other malware) and keystroke loggers. These little gems will collect ALL of your login information as well as the URL's you've visited so they have a nice little list of all of the websites you visit and the credentials used to access secure features. This means they not only have your gaming account information, they also have your banking username and password, and possibly your credit card information. It may take months after they've collected this information for them to actually use it, but someone will use it. At the very least, they will use your game account to sell game currency to other people... which then makes it even harder to get your account back and reactivated.
This information is worth TONS of money - they use the stolen gaming accounts to farm saleable items and game currency and sell the currency for real money to people who are too lazy to actually play the game and earn it themselves, and they may also sell your stolen account to someone who wants an account with high level characters on it. And, if they've gotten any other personal information like social security numbers, credit card numbers or banking information, they simply sell your identity and leave you to clean up the mess... it's a big mess to clean up, too - takes some folks years and years.
Aion and WoW are probably the most in demand as far as game currency and account purchases, simply because of their popularity. There are, unfortunately, a large number of people who believe that it's ok to "buy" their progress with real money... as long as there is a demand for that type of stuff, there will be accounts stolen. Aion has recently put out an update which makes levelling easier and gives better rewards in an effort to help prevent some of the real money transactions in the game. I play both games as well as CoH and I have seen an upswing in the number of gold-seller chat messages in WoW - Aion was actually a little better this last time I played (after a month or more break from it).
I have no respect for people who purchase game currency or power levelling services. My personal opinion is that they should be punished as severely as if they had stolen the account themselves. Having a game account stolen sounds trivial, and is when you compare it to other horrible things that can happen to you - but it is traumatic and leaves you feeling violated. It doesn't help that you must then prove to the powers that be that YOU are the "good guy"... not that I think they shouldn't make you jump through hoops a bit so that the real good guys get their accounts back and the bad guys are at least prevented from keeping them ... it's just a little like salt in an open wound. And, yes, this HAS happened to me - in January, I had my WoW account stolen - apparently some months before I was the unwitting pawn in a web-based phish - I realized that I had fallen for the WoW Armory login thing.
Anyway - off my soap box. I only get up there in hopes of keeping others from having bad stuff happen to their game and other accounts.
Storm -
Heh ... Well, I'm fairly certain that they do not do anything to "examine" your account for possible compromise. If you report to them that your game account has been compromised, they will suspend it immediately until you are able to provide proof that you are the legitimate owner of the account.
I will note, however, that the techniques one might use to tell a real NCSoft support email from a phish don't necessarily work, as it appears that responses to /bug reports show these paths in the headers: cgp-f2.av-mx.com, mailgwca05.rightnowtech.com, access-wc.rightnowtech.com, webwc04.int.rightnowtech.com and rntca125.rnmk.com. This would make it VERY difficult to just look at the headers to tell if the email was legit. Not a fabulous setup, there, NCSoft...
However, one should always be able to hover the mouse over the link in an email and see where it is REALLY going (not just what displays in the email). If the true URL doesn't go to something.NCSoft.com (not .net or .org), then it is absolutely fake.
Typically, game support does not initiate communications with a subscriber. If one has not recently tried to contact support in some way (including /petition or /bug in-game, contacting support via email directly or from the NCSoft website or opening up a ticket on the NCSoft support site, one can be fairly certain that the email is a phish and should be forwarded to support directly and promptly deleted.
My personal first rule about URLs in emails: NEVER click on anything in an email. If you think the email may be legit, navigate directly on your own to the site of the account in question, or, better still, CALL the company on the telephone directly. Ask about the email you received. Act accordingly.
Storm -
Um... Email is for ... well, SENDING messages and now, items and influence. Sending is not even close to the same thing as "storing". The market is for buying and selling - neither of which are close in meaning to "storing".
If you use those systems for purposes other than those for which they were intended, you do so at your own risk. I am not certain that NCSoft has any obligation to replace lost sums of inf.
That said, is it documented anywhere that there is a 30 day lifespan for emails with attachments? If there is not, and there actually is a 30 day lifespan for emails with attachments, then it should be clearly documented somewhere.
Storm -
Keep in mind that if NCSoft really suspected that you were engaged in illicit game related activities such as "the controversial game currency transaction" they would simply suspend your account and would not warn you about it. They would NEVER ask you to verify your information to 'prevent account suspension'.
Storm -
Quote:What server is your character on?Originally Posted by Lord_Spawnus
I've been leaving my main charactor Lord Spawnus in Talos acouple of times and twice now the game has refused to log him in and had to have a GM move him out of Talos.
Has anyone else had log in problems with Talos?
Storm