Remidi

One thing you can consider re: the duo vs. quad-core question is to do like I did when I built a new rig after Christmas. I bought a duo-core CPU, but bought a motherboard that can handle quads so that later when the quads come down into my price range, I can upgrade without tearing my whole PC apart.

The CoP/IoP/base PvP concept as originally designed will probably never be back, simply because it is meant for a style of play that CoX has precious little of. In many MMOs, it is nearly impossible to do really well in the game unless you belong to a big active group. Solo-friendly CoX, however, makes it easy to have very small groups that perform all the functions of a big group. So there just aren't that many mega SG/VGs around, compared to the ones like I'm in, that has over a hundred alts but only five actual human beings in it.

However, I do foresee that someday there will be some sort of SG/VG-only mission named Cathedral of Pain. I don't know if Items of Power will ever be back, but if they are and still have the PvP requirement, I doubt many groups will bother to get them.

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They were already whining during the Rikti raids about people leaving the AE building to fight the invasions. And while I was on one of my lowbies in Atlas, halfway through the big fight the team leader ran to the AE building, set a mission, and said, "Okay, it's time to get back to my arc." And then complained when nobody came. I wonder if it surprised him when a bunch of us quit the team as soon as the all-clear sounded.

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Didn't you tell this exact same story in another thread? I just got this serious case of Deja Vu....

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I posted the story before, but I came back a while later, and poof, no thread, the devs had wished it into the cornfield. So I figured not that many people had seen it the first time around.

They were already whining during the Rikti raids about people leaving the AE building to fight the invasions. And while I was on one of my lowbies in Atlas, halfway through the big fight the team leader ran to the AE building, set a mission, and said, "Okay, it's time to get back to my arc." And then complained when nobody came. I wonder if it surprised him when a bunch of us quit the team as soon as the all-clear sounded.

Then what you are saying is that everyone who is on a lowbie toon should have to wait until they are high enough for, oh, say, Steel Canyon before they can take part in invasions? Hey, don't worry if you aren't high enough level for the Halloween events, you can just wait a whole year, or hope you're in the right place when a random one is triggered!

If the invasion bothers you, go to another zone. They only last for a short time, so it isn't like you're locked out of the zone for hours.

I think part of the problem is that new players think that the mid to high levels will have the same rate of healing as the low levels. They don't realize that the higher they go, the more their teammates have their own defenses and abilities that make them far less fragile. The team doesn't need full-time healing anymore, and they are just setting themselves up for boredom.

I have a long, long list of tweaks and changes I want to make, but the first to get an overhaul will be my emp/energy.

First the energy blasts will be made a darker blue or a dark gray, whichever I decide looks best.

Then for empathy - HA and HO colored to match my blasts.

Fort and CM - as invisible as possible to get rid of Glowy Head Syndrome.

Rez - as bright and flashy white as I can get it.

The two RAs - Really bright blue and really bright green so teammates know which just got fired off.

AB - still deciding on that one.

I would love a 'none' option. My main is an empath, and for some reason Fortitude completely wrecks my duo partner's graphics, turning it into a screen full of pink splinters. When I'm in a group I go by the icons rather than pink glowie heads, so I'd never miss it if I could turn the FX off.

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I predict a lot of Dennis Learyesque rants about "whatever happened to fire-colored fire?" And pull up your pants!

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Those rants will be balanced by those who are looking forward to finally getting electricity-colored electricity.

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*Electrocutes himself investigating the closest outlet with a screwdriver*

I'm sorry, electricity isn't wanting to show its true color right now.

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*laughs* You've never seen lightning?

All joking aside, I've been close enough to a lightning strike to have been blinded for about a minute from it, and I've been in a house that was hit by lightning and saw electricity jump out of power outlets (one hit my mother's uncle and knocked him unconscious, and left a nasty red burn in the shape of the outlet on his skin).

What I saw in both instances was white with a faint hint of yellow. And that's the color I intend to use for my electric alts, rather than an odd purple-blue.

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I predict a lot of Dennis Learyesque rants about "whatever happened to fire-colored fire?" And pull up your pants!

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Those rants will be balanced by those who are looking forward to finally getting electricity-colored electricity.

Part of the issue is that most of us just don't understand what was so horrible about two guys playing as females. So what? Other than the fact that if you met them IRL you couldn't get into their pants, what difference does it make?

The only possible difference is that because you thought they were female, you didn't behave the same way towards them that you would have towards male players. And that means that you burned yourself with your own gender stereotypes.

QR

Going back to the earlier part of the thread, all I can say is wow, most guys get past the gay-cooties stage by the time they're out of their teens.

There seems to be some odd confusion in WA's mind about people's RPing vs. their actual sexuality, with all his remarks that put the word 'boys' in quotes. In my mind, his two SG mates who played as lesbians were probably perfectly average straight as a stick guys, but had found a productive way to milk the SG's sexism for all it was worth. Pretending to be female just made for a great manipulation tool, and obviously it worked well.

For the rest of us out there, there is no relationship between our characters' sexualities and our own. Now, I'm not a heavy RPer. I mostly solo or duo with my regular gaming parter. She and I are both middle-aged women with husbands and careers. But when we play on TFs or in pugs, we tend to play our characters to a certain extent.

For example, we have a regular team of my female toon and her male toon. When we team with others, we play them as a couple. We don't make any big deal of it, we just throw in little remarks here and there that are the sort that a couple would, and I know a number of people we've TF'd regularly who would swear we were SOs in real life.

Carnies are one of the more seriously creepy groups in the game. Forget the women, has anyone taken a good look at the men? Each has his entire back covered with whip marks. Vanessa must get her jollies in some decidedly non-teen rated ways.

The person was probably talking about having Healing Aura on autofire, also known as spamming heals. Doing that is annoying to teammates, a waste of endurance, and just about the most useless thing you can do. The person is probably used to 'healers' who don't really understand the strengths of the empath set.

Because *somebody* has to post it...

http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/comic.php?d=20060513

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It has been stated more than once that doing so would jeopardize any further escalation of the issue.

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Then, to be blunt, the person you should be angry at is the OP. He's the one who showed up here yelling that a great injustice had happened to his friend. He was demanding sympathy and outrage for a story that did not add up when compared to the experiences of, oh, pretty much everyone else this has happened to.

When presented with a situation that is far outside the norm, naturally people are going to want some sort of proof or explanation as to why his friend's genericing was treated in an unusual way. Getting huffy over it makes no sense, since the OP asked for it. If he didn't want his story to be questioned, then he shouldn't have posted it.

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Well, Irish came to deffend his "friend" with 1 post.
Would i be wrong calllin' this a case of shizoid paranoia?

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I have no idea what you are talking about. I was talking *to* him *about* the original poster (OP, i.e. the person who started the thread). I never said he was the OP. And I replied to his sixth post, not his first. So... huh?

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Thanks, it'll be a while till i build the wings, but I will favorite this thread so I can look that up when I get it ^-^

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A word of warning, so you don't get to the tailor and get disappointed. Both wings and capes are 'back options' and you can't use them until you do the cape mission which becomes available at level 20. (An exception is in place for capes from a PURCHASED booster pack, like the Valkyrie/Mac pack.)

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Wings don't count as capes. I have them on lowbie characters that can't wear capes yet. And I mean ordinary drop-recipe wings like the insect wings, nothing special.

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It has been stated more than once that doing so would jeopardize any further escalation of the issue.

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Then, to be blunt, the person you should be angry at is the OP. He's the one who showed up here yelling that a great injustice had happened to his friend. He was demanding sympathy and outrage for a story that did not add up when compared to the experiences of, oh, pretty much everyone else this has happened to.

When presented with a situation that is far outside the norm, naturally people are going to want some sort of proof or explanation as to why his friend's genericing was treated in an unusual way. Getting huffy over it makes no sense, since the OP asked for it. If he didn't want his story to be questioned, then he shouldn't have posted it.

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Once you've built the wings, you'll have to visit a tailor to add them to your costume. There will be a small charge for that.

Tailors are located in the North-West area of Steel Canyon, or there is one near the King's Row gate to Independence Port.

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And be aware that when you craft a costume part, it only shows up at the tailor for the character who crafted it. So don't have Character A craft it when you want to use it on Character B.

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I'd strongly advise against Mind/Empathy if you ever intend to solo. While Mind isn't the worst soloing set, Empathy probably is (mind you, I know people who leverage it well solo but that's with very specialized builds).

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My main is an Emp/Energy, and she spent an awful lot of her trip to 50 solo. Along the way I learned a lot about using knockback to my advantage (they can't shoot you if they are flying through the air or flat on their backs) and using IO sets to add boosts to my powers. But I'll admit it would be rough for someone new to the game.

I don't mind helping newbies at all.

Last week I was hovering in the Atlas WW and another player asked me how I could fly when I didn't have wings. The smart alec in me started to toss off, "The same way Superman does," but I checked and saw that he was an L4 with no vet badges.

So I patiently explained to him that unlike many other MMOs, your powers and costumes were two different things. I told him about the power pools, and that he could choose any movement type he wanted. When he thanked me for the info, I asked if he had any other questions. I think we talked for almost half an hour, talking about how things like taskforces worked and slotting enhancements. He certainly wasn't one of the "PL me nao!" jerks you run into. I hope he's out there having fun now.

I love the new stuff, my only "Dooooom!" is that most of the pieces I really want for my female characters are listed for the males. Boo.

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You are looking at most 2 recipes per power using merits.

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Three, actually, at least if you are slotting the whole six-piece set. There are a handful of sets that include two TF and one trial recipe.

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QUESTION: How will you be looking at merits for story arcs with PUG teams.

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Can anyone explain to me how this is different than the current setup with the reward window and the arc bonus XP only going to the mission owner? This is what they made shared missions for. (now, some aspects of sharing mission completion don't work as well as they could, I'll grant you...)

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Look at it this way. Let's say your boss said, "Complete this goal and I will give you..."

If the bonus was a McDonald's Happy Meal, you wouldn't mind helping your coworker so that he got the bonus rather than you because, dude, it's a cheeseburger.

If the bonus was coupons towards, say, diamond jewelry and you could add up enough coupons to get something free, would you be as quick to give up your time to let someone else get the goodies instead of you?