RemianenI

Ah, that Talen. Always the visionary. He knew what he would rate the arc before it was even written!

I dunno about this. Take a look at the people who write many of the antivirus programs everyone uses religiously. Many of them....are former hackers. Can't really teach the mindset that comes with being a malicious (or just curious) tinkerer.

It's not going to matter. If there is an open beta stage for GR, there will be a multitude of exploits that will be found by those folks and many (if not most) of them won't be found or reported by the "good guys".

While true on the face of it, the effects of Trammell on UO shouldn't be ignored. For many old UO players, 'Trammell' evokes the same reaction as 'CU/NGE' does for players of another game. It's also not a good idea to ignore what occurred afterward (with a new competing title basically relegating the venerable title largely an afterthought). While admittedly not likely to occur, there is a new shiny (with a good deal of financial backing and name recognition) on the horizon that could create a similar phenomenon. Removing rewards from AE, while seemingly the easiest, simplest alternative to the constant changing and patching that currently goes on, would make the feature largely an afterthought in the minds of the vast majority of the playerbase (which is a guess on my part but probably not far from true). If they didn't wipe the system, you'd still be left with the problem of obsolete farms clogging up the system so 'stories' don't get seen anyway.

I'm disappointed the fix is being put off until July but not really all that surprised.

???????

Which is it?

Among them Curt Schilling, who in several interviews has stated he has a 50 MA scrapper (I think it was MA scrapper, same name as his monk in EQ if I remember right).

This. While I'm not rockin' a borderline ghetto setup, the primary PC I play this game on is about 3 years old (and wasn't cutting edge when I built it, though it wasn't far off).

While I admit some of the bugs are just mindbogglingly elementary (stacked items), crunch has to end sometime. When the issue has to be out the door by a hard date, not much you can do, really. I don't think anyone denies that if stacked items were duping themselves (basically the opposite of what's currently happening), the servers (or at least the market) would come down NAO.

But if you think you've been "shafted" by the issue, I can only suggest you politely request to have your money refunded.

Oh wait...

Seconding these (and Gail Simone). Removed R. A. Salvatore because I don't think he could (damn 38 job! ).

Adding:

Rob Liefeld (what? Who doesn't like watching a car crash?)
Patricia Briggs
David & Leigh Eddings
James Patterson
Dean Koontz
Andrew Vachss
Amanda Conner
Weis & (Tracy) Hickman
Douglas Niles
Mary H. Herbert

Wouldn't be the state that executed him/her (Patterson probably couldn't even see him/her). At least not in THIS state.

D&D isn't failing. It's actually been doing quite well since the 'Unlimited' relaunch. Not really my cup of tea but credit where it's due, Turbine did very well in bringing it back from the brink.

This doesn't surprise me. There are many people who have no idea about present day lingo. Do you honestly think they'd know, or even be vaguely familiar with, the language as it was spoken in the days before even their parents were twinkles? For what it's worth, I thought it was a great touch. If you want, I'll balance those 3 stars with fives from my pair of accounts.

Yep, this is the basic form my search comments take as well.

The 'my level or higher' thing is valid and can be for any of a number of reasons. Personally, even with SSK, I don't like exemplaring. Within the 5 levels is 'okay' but in almost every team I've joined under those circumstances, at some point, the team winds up doing missions for the lowest member of the team (who is often outside that 5 level range). I have enough characters split across enough ranges to almost always be able to provide one without exemping outside the 5 level range. That's what I prefer to do.

I wouldn't go to the trouble of typing out the 'not looking for team' thing though. I'd just set my flag to 'not accepting invites' if it's an absolute type of situation (like when I'm playing at work). Otherwise, I'll take my chances and just continue turning down blind invites. Though I have noticed that there must've been an influx of newbies or something because I get 'lft?' tells when I'm on a team.

Common sense.

The devs tend to find anomalies via datamining primarily. Find a "method" and publicize it and it becomes much easier to spot (due to activity). Most people, even farmers, aren't particularly hardcore. One person doing a particular mission five times a day may not be enough to sound the alarm. Thirty people doing that particular mission five times a day, is a totally different story.

Players have always been more resourceful than developers. Add to that unlimited time and motivation (which 99% of developers don't have) and unlimited resources (which 100% of developers wish they had) and you see how the problem can never be completely fixed, only bandaided (and oftentimes, not in a timely fashion. These fixes have to be done AROUND the rest of the game's continuing development, after all). It can take days or weeks to get a "fix" through the proper channels and into the game. The longer you evade detection (by minimizing exposure to the datamining tripwire), the longer you can benefit from these things.

I use the word "method" because exploits are determined solely by the developers. Reward rates (and what is "proper") is only known by them. As long as there are missions in the base game that offer extreme levels of reward for those capable of taking advantage of them (which is everyone), players will never be able to truly figure out the metrics used to determine "proper" reward rates. Plus, players are emotional ("He's producing more stuff than me. He must be exploiting!") so a player's definition of out of whack reward rates can often be called into question.

Star Wars in an underground environment is not Star Wars.

To explain further, sometimes stories require a particular setting. If that setting is only available in one map (or two or three), you have to accept the possible deficiencies of those maps and go forward. OR, you could change the story to fit the deficiencies of said map(s) but again, in some cases, that would be like setting Star Wars underground (or underwater).

Forgive me if that sounds patronizing, especially given the forum section, but I thought someone needed to point that out.

Here's your answer. If you truly think you need to be psychic to vet potential groupmates, I don't know what to tell you. Maybe this is your first/only MMO, I don't know. But there was a time in MMOs where people only grouped with other people on their progression 'tier' or higher. There was at least one game where you had to be in a particular guild/progression tier to even have access to certain zones. Thus, birds of a feather flocked together to the exclusion of those of different playstyles or ability levels. That was a form of vetting. If a person was even able to ENTER said zone, it was a pretty good indicator that they're not a clueless n00b (notice I said 'pretty good'. It wasn't perfect. "Casual player" spouses of people in these "hardcore" guilds often found themselves flagged but ill-equipped to handle the increased challenge level).

There is a reason why some (or many, if some folks are to be believed) people only team with people from their SG or coalition or trusted global channels. Bottom line is, it's possible to reduce the number of moron teammates you wind up with, the best way being to put the team together yourself and only invite people you know are competent. Is this preferable? Probably not to most people who prefer to be lazy and passive and do what someone else wants to do but still reserve the right to whine and not do anything to remedy the situation. I notice all these posts about "I can't find a team". I haven't seen nary a one about "I can't find people to invite to my team".

You want to be passive, then accept the downside that comes with that. You'll constantly be at the mercy of "luck" and popularity swings. When I play the MMO with easily the most idiotic player community on the planet, I have zero trouble putting together teams that raze the "toughest" challenges in the game. The same thing happens here. I ask in my global channels first, then check my friends list, then run with whoever/whatever I happen to get. I don't need an 8 man team to get xp/drops/have fun. I also don't subject myself to clueless morons all the time (sometimes it's fun to team with these people for laughs).

I suggested it as one way to vet the undesirables. It's not perfect (no method is, outside of only teaming with close friends/family/people you know can "ball"). Not touching the PvP thing since, while not high and mighty, I only tend to get into zero sum PvP (which is why I play EVE and L2) so don't really like it here. But I see your point, though what's "more important" is a personal choice (or a developer's decision). There are people who have been playing this game since before Archetypes who couldn't tell you the most basic information about their powers (because numbers are inherently evil and a "powergamer" mechanism ).

See, here's where the disconnect lies.

Tedium is in the eye of the beholder. There are people who feel the very act of leveling to 50 through existing content (not MA) is tedious. Are they wrong? No, because it's opinion. There are many people who believe that WoW is the shining example of what a casual MMO should be and that it is devoid of tedium. Are they wrong? No, but if they've never seen the other side of level 70 (and let's not even talk about 80), some folks might call their opinion uninformed. I've played MMOs for going on 15 years now (The Realm and Meridian59 popped my cherry) and MUDs prior to that (Gemstone, among others). I've seen all the various ways developers try to come up with to slow player progress (because not even Blizzard has the funds to produce content at the rate in which players consume it). Some are infinitely more pervasive, obvious, and effective than others. CoX has little in the way of blatant timesinks, pretty much everything is optional (as you alluded to).

However, I have this self-reliance thing and I also realize it's far cheaper overall if I control as many aspects of the supply and production parts of the equation. I don't look at it in absolute 'it takes 5 minutes to buy SOs but far longer to buy IOs' terms. It's business. An investment made now pays dividends down the line. If I can produce IOs myself, I'm never subject to market forces and am actually in position to take advantage of beneficial shifts in the market (like inadequate supply faced by overwhelming demand). I've made a good chunk of change last weekend into the early part of this week with folks overpaying for generic IOs. To me, it's all part of the gaming experience. I don't log in just to make stuff fall down and go boom, that's just one part of it. I don't play to win, I play to succeed, in whatever ways I choose to pursue or by any definition I set for success. My characters are IO'd out (to an extent) because it's easy (for me) and I find it beneficial to my play experience. That's it. I'm not trying to outdo anyone (this game isn't nearly as competitive as even say an old guard title like EQ1). But unlike my Shadowknight there needing 6.5k AC and 40k+ hp to do her job in appropriate content, as Part Troll pointed out, you can function properly naked here (since enhancements are the closest equivalent to gear here).

I consider the march to my first Field Crafter the same way I consider the march to my first 50. It's a journey and I didn't do it in a single day (or a single month, it took about 8 months, in fact). Every subsequent one, to me, is just like chasing accolades (or, more specifically, acquiring a badge specifically for its role in an accolade). I'm not a badge hound at all so besides cool names that fit concepts or requirements for unlocks (Master/Mistress of the Airwaves, for example), I don't concentrate on getting them at all. But being able to pop out an invention table at any given time, is a convenience that I often take advantage of. So I go after those badges for that accolade. It just so happens I play on multiple servers so have a "need" for multiple characters with that ability.

This. But if blame has to be placed somewhere, it's with the team leader. S/he should've checked the defender's info if something specific was desired. If not, s/he should've informed the team that any build would be welcome (to flush out the uptight types who believe X AT should always take/have Y power). There are going to be people on the team who believe in full optimization and maximizing efficiency, regardless of how casual the game is in general. Full disclosure by the organizer/person holding the star would prevent this from being an issue, I think. Too much information is far better than too little when making any decision (regardless of importance).

This post is awesome! But in their defense, many people consider some things 'necessities' when actually they're not. Like many people consider 'broadband' part of the 'basic utilities' section. Hell, I know I do but I also know it's a luxury when it comes time to tighten the belt. Heck, I pay for DISH's top package and the only reason I even want HBO or Showtime is for Dexter, Inside the NFL, and Real Time and if someone does a comedy special or something. I have one former guildmate in EQ who decided to cancel his account because he couldn't afford it.....because his cell phone bill was always too high. Turns out he was using the basic, entry level plan which didn't fit his usage and hadn't upgraded because "I don't need all that extra stuff". Moron, you need the additional minutes and the data plan! Instead of paying $30 more a month for the higher plan, he is/was paying $150+ more because of his data usage.

A cheaper plan isn't going to help that many people. Honestly, if $15 a month is the difference between you eating and/or getting evicted/foreclosed on, that's not NCSoft's problem. Even wanting to play a game while in such dire financial straits is daft to me.

But je_saist, while your later points were correct, I kinda think you're preaching to an uninterested choir. If I remember right, Venture has quite a few characters (non-AE'd 50s as I recall) on Virtue, Freedom, etc. I do think he might sit on the 'more is better' side of the fence, though I'd disagree with that in this game. One of the reasons I consolidated my villains on Infinity was population (or lack thereof). Infinity + redside = a lot less people than blueside on Virtue. Low pop lovers and 'critical mass' types both have servers that fit their preferred environment. I'm not so sure that taking one away for the benefit of the other is such a good idea.

About the only notable thing I heard during the weekend from a returning player was from someone who quit in I6 due to ED and being "tired of Statesman lying to the players". For a delicious piece of irony, he also mentioned having played Champions from open beta through launch.

It is for me.

For this reason.

I have at least one Field Crafter on each account (I have two) on each server I regularly play on (Infinity, Virtue, Victory). I start using common IOs on every character at level 7 (L10s). This is because the Field Crafter accolade is a goal for every one of my characters that reaches or exceeds level 30. Thus, I tend to have lots of common IOs in stock. Plus, as a result of my market activities, I have a rather large backlog of set IOs (hero base on Victory has 9 complete sets of Thunderstrike and 4 of Detonation. Villain base on Infinity has 5 Crushing Impacts, and more than 8 Steadfast Protection Res/Def IOs. And so on). So moving up to sets in the 30-35 level range is fairly common for my characters. I also tend to keep the salvage parts for well used IOs in stock in the bases (luck charms, Alchemical silvers, Spiritual Essence, Scientific Theory, Spell Ink, Spell Scroll, Masterwork weapon, Ancient Bone, etc). Basically, any of the IO types that I tend to need in large quantities (accuracy, damage, recharge, end redux/end mod) I can usually make at a moment's notice. At first I did it because I hated having to replace SOs, especially since they often went red at the absolute worst times. Nowadays, I do it because I can and to keep the base's stock turning over.

I can definitely understand and respect folks who just don't want to be bothered though. I'd be in the same boat if I didn't decide to get it over with once (which turned into 'get it over with' eight times and counting). Understanding the system wasn't an issue (heh I've played EVE. CoX is a walk in the park in comparison), it was the initial tedium that bothered me. But then, every MMO is tedious in some way so it really didn't bother me that much (though I don't like what that says about me ).

Yes it should, since the default setting is 'For Sale and bidding'. So unless you specifically change it to 'All', you won't see it if there are none for sale or being bid on.

Yep, filter better. This is no different from any other MMO. Just because someone is max level does not mean they're knowledgeable about the game or their class/AT. Especially in this day of 'solo to level cap' gameplay, that clueless 50 doesn't have to be an AE Baby. They could very well be a casual type who leveled to 50 over the last four to five years and just doesn't know what "common knowledge" at their level might be (though it's more likely to be an AE Baby, admittedly).

Then again, I'm an old vet from the EQ era where people at max level knew their (stuff) and heck, even being present in some zones suggested you knew more than Joe Casual (had to raid to get there and had to be competent to get into a guild good enough to do those raids).

But seriously, who doesn't at least check the badges on potential groupmates. That's no guarantee either but it's a lot easier to see an AE Baby coming by doing so. That "everything you do in an MMO affects everyone else" line of thinking is a slippery slope. When exactly does it end? Does my selling a ceramic armor to a QM/NPC hurt the populace by depriving the market of supply? Is my soloing depriving the populace of people available to team? Exploits are bad, no one's arguing that. But not everything is an obvious exploit. Demon missions on a fire tanker or brute, exploit or smart gameplay? I am SO banned if that's a 'sploit.

I dunno which RPGs you played but I heard 'DPS' in Meridian59 and in EverQuest and that was well before the 'mid-2000s'.