Ravenswing

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Oh dear god now need one for Leah, any help those that know her/how she acts?

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I have two!

This one's a bit cruel, but it is a cute video: Airhead

And the nicer one: Hyperactive

Both by Thomas Dolby, yes, I'm showing my age and roots - I wasn't always a heavy rock fan.

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That way, you get a slot for SG's that you only get when you're IN an SG

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No, but only because it's just an extra costume slot. It costs nothing to make an SG, so you get to level 10, and you make yourself an SG, and you get an extra costume slot. They might as well just hand out a slot at level 10. It would use fewer resources.

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The point is that's it's a limited slot. Sure, for 1 man SG's it's another slot, but for people actually in full SG's, it's not. It's merely a slot that is for the SG costume only, but they can choose to use it or not. It should use prestige to set it up and change, and any minor customisations made at the character level would cost inf.

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Now, FFM, I know you know a bit about programming, so a specification like the one you gave there should probably make you cringe.

What, exactly, is 'minor customisation?'

I'll tell you what it is, too hard to define in a meaningful way, that's what it is.

No, either this slot is for a fixed, SG costume, which means it's useless for any SG which actually puts some thought into it, like Zortel has done with the NV, or it's a changeable costume slot, in which case you may as well just hand out a free slot at level 10.

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That way, you get a slot for SG's that you only get when you're IN an SG

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No, but only because it's just an extra costume slot. It costs nothing to make an SG, so you get to level 10, and you make yourself an SG, and you get an extra costume slot. They might as well just hand out a slot at level 10. It would use fewer resources.

Well... once again this sounds great, but in practice doesn't work because it's too simplistic.

Let's take as an example, the Unity Vigil. There is no UV 'uniform' as such, but the junior branch of the UV, the New Vigilants, does have a uniform. So, that's some of the SG has a uniform, some doesn't.

Then, the NV uniform has three options for 'glasses' a jacket with and without sleeves, and the option of two different types of leg-wear, depending on whether you prefer tight or loose.

It's a bit like all those Secret Identity set ups. It sounds great until you start realising that you are mechanising something which can be better done by human intervention.

Totally off-topic: Actually, yeah, I think I finally cracked it. I've finally written down the difference between what rolepaying is and what it has come to mean in CRPGs. Only taken me about 5 years.

This is what I've been trying to get across. 'RP Tools' built into games tend to mechanise things to such an extent that it fails to fit character concepts. This is mostly, I think, because games designers aren't roleplayers, no matter how much they claim to be. 'Roleplay' in a game usually means 'the game defines a role, and you play it.'

The offline version has been suggested recently too.

From my point of view, I'd have to say that it doesn't terribly appeal since, for one thing, I'm never going to see it, am I? When I'm online, my offline persona is not going to be wandering about the city.

Besides which, my characters generally have fairly well defined routines which they go through when I'm not there. Using Nitoichi as an example: her mornings are generally spent working at the Wizard's Well at Gemini Park, then she goes to Vigilance Tower in the afternoon for training with the New Vigilants' trainers, or her own team. And then she'll generally head over to the War Zone (even if I don't) to slot up Rikti. She doesn't have time to be wandering past some random hero congratulating him on his victory over Dr Blarg!

Second page headline, Paragon Post, 17th December 2008
Evidence of Terrorist Dirty Bomb on Train

Kansas City, Missouri. An Amtrak passenger carriage on an overnight train from New Mexico was taken out of service early this morning and several passengers treated for radiation poisoning.

Inside sources in Homeland Security have stated that there were high radiation levels found in one of the sleeping carriages. No one was registered as occupying that carriage, and no one was found there, despite the radiation. Homeland Security and FBI agents are currently on alert for potential targets, and citizens have been asked to be on the lookout for strange objects left in public areas.

All the passengers are expected to fully recover.

Well, this Wednesday morning brings a mix of snow, sleet and rain. Expect that to go to just rain, easing off into showers as the day progresses. With a high of 6C, it's not the warmest of days, but we've had far worse recently.

Tonight those clouds will start to clear late on giving a cold night with a low of -2C. That will probably lead to a cool day tomorrow, but less wet than today.

Yeah, as has been mentioned, I kind of grabbed Indestructible by Disturbed for Nitoichi. (I'm going to get the story written soon. Really.)

War Crow gets Adrenaline by Gavin Rossdale, because that's why he does the hero stuff these days, fun and excitement.

Though rather melancolly for him, The Islander by Nightwish has sort of become Jason Caine's theme.

And for Velvet Vengeance... hmmm... I Don't Need a Man by the Pussycat Dolls?

Racing against a clock is, technically, non-competitive...

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or superman

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First movie: he catches a bullet meant for Lois. I can't imagine the comic book version hasn't done something similar. He's always invulnerable. He doesn't become as easy to hit as a normal human when he puts glasses on.

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So limiting people to brawl, a baseball bat or a revolver and normal walking/running sounds like normal useable powers.

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So, no, that doesn't seem reasonable.

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I like the idea about not having any powers until you blow your cover (which should be bad)

I like the idea of getting mugged (cost you a bit of inf in most cases)


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I like those ideas too... but not exclusively. The primary problem with systematising this kind of thing is it makes everyone the same and they aren't.

Let's take my current main, Nitoichi. Stick her in a dress and she's another civilian. Her 'powers' are training. If someone attacks her in the street, they got a horrible shock. War Crow was a magician steeped in magic designed to keep him alive in combat, he's never 'unpowered.' The current system doesn't really work for either of them, but systematising a mechanism which turns them into civilians to make mobs react differently isn't actually any better.

Some form of real mechanism to handle the variety of 'secret identities' the heroes of Paragon have would be enormously complex and take a lot of development. It probably isn't worth the time to develop, when it comes down to it. Not unless it were included in a game from scratch.

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"We are building up until Christmas and then polishing until launch"... whatever that means.

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It means someone was dumb enough to set Christmas as a content completion deadline. This means various developers will be in on Christmas Eve at 7pm desperately wanting to go home, but also desperately needing to get that last little thing working. They will fail.

No one should ever set Christmas as any form of deadline, for anything. I should know, I have been the idiot setting the deadline, and the idiot trying to meet it, at the same time.

Anyway, don't go believing what developers say about roleplaying. Most of them don't get it. If the developer concerned had been a Live RPer and was saying that they were developing areas especially for roleplayers, then I'd have hope. An RPG roleplayer... less so.

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(As a side point, interesting to see what CO does about this. Jack Emmett was massively against Secret IDs, but he's making a game based on an RPG which had specific rules for handling how your secret ID affected your heroic life. Personally, I suspect that's one of the aspects of the RPG that will be quietly dropped.)

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I did fear about RP in Champions until I heard they have designed Millennium City to have specific places for Heroes to gather, RP and socialise, that was a quote not from Jack but from one of the Devs responsible for siad design who was and is a big-time fan of the boardgame. Damned if I can find the dev blog quote though.

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*cough* Yes... they thought that was what the PDP was there for in CoH. Don't get any hopes up until you see what's actually implemented. (WAR had several sections of it ripped out a week or two prior to release because they couldn't finish them. RP areas are likely to be very low priority, and so subject to removal if, as they now will, they come under pressure to release early.)

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Side note, hope I'm not the only one who smiled when I saw mention of CoP - WooT!

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Probably you weren't the only person, but I think it's reasonable to suggest that you form part of a fairly small minority.

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Which, if you click the link beneath it saying 'read more', you'll see:

"By simply logging in between December 15th, 2008 and January 4th, 2009*, players receive the following..."



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Never a good plan - people don't read anything more than the headline. It should be "Winter Event Live"

"Soon" works only as a teaser and it should be updated when the event goes live.

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If it had said "Winter Event Live" it would have been wrong, since the Winter Event was not live on the 11th. Not your day today, Scarlet.

There's really no point in saying "Winter Event Live" on the forums or web site, since you'll know soon enough when you log in.

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You miss my point.

It should have been updated today, to say "Live"

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It now has...

To be honest, while I would like to see some mechanism for transforming into a normal person...

It doesn't enhance the roleplay. We can make level 1 alts, or just use a costume slot for a civilian costume. In plenty of cases, a hero/villain (especially villains) has no mundane identity, so this is just a waste.

It does not 'enhance playing the hero/villain' because it's actually not 'playing the hero/villain' it's playing a mundane character who may, actually, be nothing to do with your real character, seeing as your real character is a non-shapeshifting alien from the planet Blarg, not a guy who no one recognises when he puts a pair of glasses on.

So, this would really have to go so far down the priority list it's untrue.

(As a side point, interesting to see what CO does about this. Jack Emmett was massively against Secret IDs, but he's making a game based on an RPG which had specific rules for handling how your secret ID affected your heroic life. Personally, I suspect that's one of the aspects of the RPG that will be quietly dropped.)

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... not enough gain to actually justify it (yet) while there are still some rather nasty things that need fixing.

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Well, there's no rush. They should certainly fix the other stuff first, this is more a "someday" sort of wish-list item.

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Actually, it's a "suggested so often that it's boring" wish, combined with a "the developers have specifically said they will not do it" wish.

Really, we get this once a month. And, really, the developers have specifically stated that they will not implement such a system.

Aye, standing beside her now. She's very new. She wan't there before I13, I think.

Let me know if you find him. I went looking for one too.

Frontpage headline, Flagstaff Gazette and Post, 16th December 2008
Terrorist Destroys Newsstand

Dateline Flagstaff Arizona where terror has come to our great desert community. A terrorist destroyed a newsstand at the Amtrak station, killing the news vendor and injuring twelve other people. Reports indicate that the man exploded some form of suicide bomb after being challenged by police, who were among the injured.

Homeland Security have not commented on the incident.

This story also appears on the second page of several newspapers in Paragon City with an addendum to the effect that it is difficult to believe that anyone would want to suicide bomb anything in Flagstaff.

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Which, if you click the link beneath it saying 'read more', you'll see:

"By simply logging in between December 15th, 2008 and January 4th, 2009*, players receive the following..."



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Never a good plan - people don't read anything more than the headline. It should be "Winter Event Live"

"Soon" works only as a teaser and it should be updated when the event goes live.

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If it had said "Winter Event Live" it would have been wrong, since the Winter Event was not live on the 11th. Not your day today, Scarlet.

There's really no point in saying "Winter Event Live" on the forums or web site, since you'll know soon enough when you log in.

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There's also the misconception that setting your difficulty to "Invincible" is just... better. Pff to that, I say! It's all just a false economy. Fighting higher mobs just means slower XPPM, and a far higher ratio of deaths, which further slows XPPM due to debt...

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I'm tired of arguing that on skype. Some people even think that, if the mission owner has got Invincible reputation and you don't, you'll get less XP bonus upon mish completion. Amazing how people who have been playing for years are totally deaf to some basic facts, it's easier to blame everyone else upon team wipes.

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The popular and delightful misconceptions people hold to be true in MMOs really would make an excellent book. It might even be amusing for a game developer to start incorporating some of these ideas into games so that you do get more XP while wearing a red shirt, or while the moon is full, or when the mob is standing in a river, or...

The really funny thing is that, even when a developer posts something explaining why some popular myth is rubbish, you still get people arguing until they're blue in the face about it.

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I only had one map server error this weekend but overall my net's been sluggish.I suspect it's more to do with UK networks

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Always pays to read to the end before replying, Scarlet.