Retrogression

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* Not every level has all four pools (early levels don't have Pool D, the Trial pool)

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Well, in THAT case...

... why not just remove the Story Arc pool from levels 45-50, and assign all the relevant rewards to trials and TFs, since level 45-50 characters can do ANY trial or TF from anywhere in the game?

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very nice - simplest possible solution.

OR, another idea - make that set 45-49, and make another set that's 50 only that has just Trial/Taskforce/Enemy pools and not Story Arc pool. Equivalent in power to the 45-49s, just another one level. Or move all existing ones up slightly (30-36, 36-42, 42-49, 50 only).

That way the folks who do story arcs still get that chance for a bonus good item.

OR - turn the task force/ story arc pools into one pool and give one task force / story arc item for either completion. 3 pools still gives motivation to do the longer things.

Wrapped stilettos. They were back, now they're missing again!

See my graphic - this was fixed and EVERY boot had every texture; now it's returned to the status I recorded here (there are a few changes... new items... but the things that are missing here have gone missing again, wrapped stilettos among them.
(see link at bottom)

Wrapped stilettos were BACK on 12/08 - the thread isn't there anymore but here's (see link at bottom)

Oh - and the new Heart pattern is missing from smooth boots under Pants (females). It's available under all the other smooth boots. Smooth boots under Pants are also missing the newer Stripe options like thin stripe 1, thin stripe 2...

female boot texture graphic showing missing wrapped stilettos and more

google cache of thread where I posted wrapped stilettos are back

It used to be you could change your title only twice: at level 15 and level 25 (or once, after each of those levels). Now it's also level 35, 45, and as many times as you want at 50.

Empowerment station buffs now last 1 hour and the salvage cost is way down of what's quoted in this thread - the only one I've used enough to remember the recipe is knockback resistance, which is only one material now. Most are about 1/5 to 2/7 of the recipes shown, for a longer duration. It also remains on you after you die and go to the hospital.

They're cheap and easy to place, I see them in a lot of bases lately.

quick reply: There's no way currently live or test to have no belt on a robe or on the Toga. (mostly on females) I'd like to be able to keep this look, which I have on more than one female, of a beltless Toga or Robe.

Cool Misspellings vs Dumb-looking Misspellings

There is no real guide to this, as it's all in the perception, but there are a few rules I'd like to share with you.

The most typical cool misspellings are:

1. replacing a C with a K or S (whichever it sounds like in that circumstance) or even a Q - or an X for ks or cs or cks

2. replacing a vowel with a Y in the middle of a word - or replacing a Y at the end of a word with a different vowel

3. replacing an ending with "gh" in it with one that's pronounced the same but has no "gh"

Also, you can do the same one twice in the same name, but it's better not to do two of the above rules in the same name. So, 'Brite lite' is doing number 3 twice, but 'Lite Kyss' would not be recommended. 'Misteri Girl' would be ok because you're changing 2 Y's to I's and one of the Y's is at the end of the word.

Let me give you some examples of these 3 ways to do Cool Misspellings

1. C -> K or S or even Q
Konkrete (see above)
Mirakle Maid
Sellophane
Qute Qorruption
Sharp Stix

2. Y -> vowel or vowel -> Y
Enemee One
Icie Blast
Myldew
Concryte
Kyss or Kyll

3. gh -> no gh
Brite Lite
Tuff Tank
Thru Train
Enuf

Note: It is still possible to make not very cool misspellings using these rules. There's an additional rule - the word still has to be recognizably what it originally was. You can't change "Recent" to "Resent", that's a new word; similarly you can't change "Beeline" to "Byline", also a new word. Also, advertisers know these rules and sometimes the new word is associated with a brand that is not particularly cool ("Tuff" or "Icee" or "Lite Brite" might already be examples of this, depending on your perception of what makes for coolness).

Dumb misspellings: That's the ones where it looked like you just didn't know how to spell the word right. Prime examples are misspellings of words like "Assassin" or "Arctic" to name two commonly misspelled words found in CoH or CoV names. L33t also looks dumb to me, though many people like it, I would not recommend using it unless it's part of your character concept (Freakshow or hacker backgrounds, for example).

yay he said I could hug *hugs*

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something weird I noticed

The detail on the sinister top and sinister bottoms are of different resolution- THe top is signifigantlly lower rez. This may or may not be just on my computer:



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I am having this issue (lower resolution on tops than on bottoms) with all character types and all costume options - but only on test!

My best guess is that at a certain resolution(s), it's using the 'world' resolution instead of the 'character' resolution for tops only?

Comparison side-by-side

Notice how there's two color-patterns called Sinister - this is confusing. Having both is GREAT but having them with the same name, that's what's confusing. My suggestion was to call the one that colors the spider but not the straps, "Spider" and leave "Sinister" as the name of the straps+spider one.

The below quoted information is incorrect.

There are TWO sinister patterns available for all "sinister" textures.

One is in alphabetical order and is JUST the spider - it is also available on NON sinister textures.

The other is at the bottom, only available on sinister textures, and includes the buckled straps AND the spider.

Examples in this picture:
Straps different color and this one Spider is colored, straps not

These both are available on males, females AND huge.

I would say that the only issue is that they have the same name, which is confusing -- maybe Sinister for the strap one since that kind is ALWAYS the same name as the texture, and Spider for the other one?

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The coloring for the Sinister pattern on the Sinister top differs between male model and female/huge model.
Example

The male version looks the best with the neck and the straps on the sleeves changing with the secondary color that is also the spider pattern color.


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Costume bonuses inventory:

- Justice/Sinister tights top and bottoms texture with any pattern (dots/tribal/tiger/etc), including a matching Justice pattern (at the bottom of the list, or hit Reset).

- Justice/Sinister boots and gloves in two formats, with and without plate/pad. No pattern option on gloves or boots.

- Justice/Sinister top and bottom armor, with any pattern, etc, as Tights top and bottom.

- Justice/Sinister shoulder item for tights and armor categories, maybe in others (I didn't check).

- Sinister ONLY - Baggy top and Tucked In bottom texture with any pattern, including a matching Sinister pattern.

- Sinister ONLY - Pattern available on Tights top, Tights bottom, Armor top, Armor bottom, Sinister top, Sinister bottom. So you could have shiny tights with a Sinister pattern; or Medieval armor with a sinister pattern, etc.


Missing: no Justice or Sinister belt, helm, or chest symbol. No Justice or Sinister cape design.

One of the belt items shown in the screenshots for Kilts was a belt that looked like it belonged in the Sinister set - a bunch of overlapping belts: This picture which also definitely features the Sinister boots. I wonder if the belt will be in issue 8?

Alien face really IS missing from females now. I checked Standard, Mask with Hair, AND Full Mask; the face isn't there.

Female face selection: Missing Female Alien Face UI shot

Male face selection:
Male with Alien face UI

Male -- Armored -- Chest Detail -- "Anarchy" appears twice

"Sinister" texture is available for tucked in (as an alternate to baggy or cargo) -- but Justice is missing (from tucked in). Also, the Sinister pattern can be applied to non Sinister texture.

Maybe we could just call our in-game fictional representations "guys" like various people have suggested. And I do like "pip" - both have the advantage of being only 3 letters long instead of 4.

Another possibility is, in a similar way to how Forum Names have become "Cuppas" in the honor of CuppaJo, our dearly departed forum liaison (departed to Tabula Rasa) - we could call our charatoonvatarains "Jos"

I made a new Jo today
How many Jos do you have on this server?

And only two letters, for the ease of the typing impaired!

avatar, av for short - emphasizes that the thing referred to is the representation of the player in the game-world. Has complimentary, respectful overtones from its primary other usages being deity-related.

cartoon, toon for short - emphasizes that the thing referred to is an animation. Has humorous or belittling overtones from its primary other usages referring primarily to a broad, jokey sort of cartoon. "Cartoon" implies not only animation, but simplification, in many of its older usages it meant something like "sketch."

character, char for short - emphasizes that the thing being referred to is a fictional person. Connotations are neutral and roleplaying-inclined. Probably the most common choice.

hero/villain - emphasizes the role of the thing being described in its particular gameworld. The most specific to CoH/CoV, not ported in from some other multiplayer game or virtual world. The equivalent in some other games might be "adventurer."

alternate, alt for short - emphasizes that the thing referred to is one of several; neutral connotation, but can have a similar/possibly confusing meaning as "an avatar/cartoon/character/hero/villain that is not the one I primarily play" (whereas the one primarily played would be the "main" )

just to see how many I can remember:

@Felisse on Champion
Retrogression - 47 kin/rad defender - W
Retrograde - 38 sonic/kin corrupter - WV
Gamma Radiant - 36 rad/psy defender - W
Kung Fooey - 32 dark/regen scrapper
Crystal Siren - 29 storm/dark defender - S
Cruarch - 26 fire/fire tanker - S
Mercurial - 24 energy/invul brute - SV
Photon Phreak - 21 ill/ff controller - W
Schiavona - 15 br/sr scrapper
Countess de Winter - 14 ice/cold corrupter
Katt A Ract - 12 ice/emp controller - (Katt theme sg)
G'Amok - 6 necro/dark mastermind

G'Amok and/or Katt A Ract probably are getting deleted ... I'm going to make a kheldian and/or an electric brute on Champion. But for now, they're still around. Retrogression still has a few months to go till I get to 50 at my usual leveling rate (or the next double xp weekend will do it ) It's so hard to find teams in the high 40s. And I hate soloing her, even though she doesn't suck at it anymore

Then on Infinity:
my claw/regen scrappa is 48! She isn't getting to 50 till Retrogression does, though, I'm going to make it so they make Hero of the City on the same day
Dark's Star - 24 dark/elec defender
Neutrino Lynx - 22 emp/dark defender
Phosphorescent - 15 rad/rad corrupter

On Virtue:
Waterlily - 24 spine/regen scrapper
Dzur - 22 ice/energy blaster
Absinth - 17 fire/dark corrupter
Photovoltaica - 12 energy/kin corrupter
Midwinter Daydream - 8 ss/en brute

On Liberty:
Zecromanda - 27 fire/rad controller

There's others but I think that's all I usually play or really care about PM me if you have any questions/comments

It's an excellent guide -- but one caveat; some people will find the process works for them as described, others will need to ... change the order around a bit or something. For me, the process of playing with costume ideas often gives me character background ideas, so I usually do that. But most of the time, I end up creating a character who looks cool and has fun sounding powers, a name I can get, and only then I start to think about, what kind of person are they? How did they get these powers? I often write the bio when I'm doing the first series of missions for a villain, or teaming up with the first group in Atlas or Galaxy with a hero. Who *is* this girl who goes around dressed in kitty ears, green and black stripes, and a jack o lantern face with radiation powers committing crimes? Why would any one do that in the first place? Why does she have a friend who does almost the exact same thing except in an orange costume? What's the kitten on her shoulder? Somehow these questions in my head bring up more creativity than looking at a blank list of powers from Hero Builder for me

My characters on Virtue get the most attention when it comes to making up back story, because they're the likeliest to ever get to actually Roleplay, but all of them eventually get a bio and a basic concept.

I think this is a bug: the tailor is not letting me put the Toga on without a belt anymore. There's no "none" selection. Same with Robes -- but it used to work, and Togas look fine without belts (not sure about robes, but it should be allowed to have no belt).

If I get time, I'll add a screenshot of the beltless Toga and one of the UI not allowing you to do it anymore.

Look at the guy's middle with a very pointy shape at the mid chest, and the top of the waistband clipping:

Another weird geometry (screenshot from test) as well as belt clipping issues on Male and Huge forms (females seem almost clipping-free now, hurray): screenshot

On the costume request thread, Desmodos wrote:

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Why was the Ampules belt removed as a costume choice?

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I just checked up on the Ampules belt and here is my report:

- Ampules belt is available on Females for top selections of Tops, Tops with Skin, Shirts, Baggy, Armored, and all 3 of the various robotic arms top options.

For the similar of the above found on Male and Huge (Tops, Baggy, Armored, robotic options) Ampules is also available. Under Baggy in both Male and Huge, the Names are not fixed, so Ampules are still known as Tech 1. screenshot

Ampules are NOT available in any body type under Jackets, sleeveless Jackets, Robes, or sleeveless Robes.

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I wish yall would fix it so I could finish contacts.. just gimme no exp. I hate when my contact bar is in the middle and the stupid person wont give me anymore missions. If I outleveled them fine, keep the exp. But I would like to be able to finish the content.

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The last time someone asked for this we got the current hero side "you must finish all story arcs of all contacts you ever talked to" problem so that you end up being FORCED rather than ALLOWED to complete a bunch of outleveled content.

I hate doing outleveled content. I'm not a completist. Please don't make this problem worse A way to view a list of currently open Story Arcs + drop ones you no longer want to do (they should be re-offered if they are not yet outleveled, in case you do this by accident) would be above dropping missions in my list.

well, there is one:

http://boards.playtr.com/ubbthreads.php?Cat=0

but it looks like a locked down beta board (and only 13 registered users) -- maybe it'll open up on Sept 1 and that's why NCSoft is transferring CuppaJo?

Anyway... sadness.... I will miss CuppaJo.

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Patterns on skirts are broken. Some (but not all) are coming out as "blank" (solid primary color only). Here are the ones that don't work for me:

Blend, Camo, Celtic, Checker, Circles, Circuitry, Dots, Fade Line, Flames, Fire Stripe, Holes, Isles, Lightning, Lines, Magic, Mesh, Pattern 1, Psych, Scales, Sharp, Starburst, Stars 1, Stars 2, Stripe 1, Stripe 2, Stripe 3, Tribal

Note that while Blend is broken, Miniskirt 1 -- which is just Blend with a different name -- still works.

Note also that this does affect existing costumes (one of my characters has a Pattern 1 skirt that is now blank).

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I checked, yes, my skirts with patterns no longer work as of this morning's patch (this appears to be a reversion bug, we had this bug before, I hope it stays fixed next time!)

Miniskirt 1 is not actually Blend renamed; Miniskirt 1 blends horizontally, and Blend blends diagonally (when they work again, look carefully).

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That's a very defeatist attitude, and wholly ignores the fact that major bugs have repeatedly "squeaked" through QA, only to be caught almost immediately by the playerbase on Test, then often to once again "squeak" through to live.

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This happens because bugs reported only on the forums are prioritized below all bugs found by QA - apparently this is required by NCSoft and was noted in a Dev post recently (I think it was Positron's, yep, found it). They basically have to work on their lunch hour or on a weekend to fix anything players find, it seems...

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The Blast Chest and legs do not use the skin tones in the patches of costume that have been torn away, and instead use the costume colors, unlike the Blast mask which shows your characters face. as seen in the images below. Oh and Jay is sexy.

Before
After

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That doesn't seem like a bug...

You can make the mask show a secondary color by choosing a head in "masks with hair" or "full masks" that has two color choices (like Ninja), then choosing Blast over it.

You can make the blast pattern show on skin on the Top on a Male by choosing Bare Skin for the base instead of Tights.

I don't think you can make it show skin on the legs for a Male, though; that'd be a bug/request. for a Female you could, on Bottoms with Skin.