Rubberlad

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Clearly, that customization, as well as the several gameplay benefits that the base provides hasn't been perceived to be worth the cost (i.e. Prestige/time played)...hence, Posi and several others (including myself) have taken a spin at making bases more accessible at an earlier stage.

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Well, a lot of the base customization items are nice to look but players can't interact with very many objects (and to do so becomes The Sims which isn't the point of the game).

However, I'd use the base more if I knew an SG computer was the only way to access hidden zones in the game....

Did I read somewhere that the trams were fixed? I tried the one in Atlas last night and its still not working like it used to. Hand doesn't come up for a bit, gotta double click to actually get in the train after choosing next stop, etc.

Otherwise, thanks again for the Top Issues update. It really helps.

Sorry to see you go, Cuppa. You are an awesome community rep - best in the business I suspect. Rest assured we're in good hands as Cricket takes the helm.

Any chance of a CuppaJo community send-off event in-game before you go?

Hey Jay,

Cricket said I should post here although she's passing word along to QA.

The recent patch notes specify that Tech Crey would be added as option to hips (I'm assuming that means "tights") along with gloves, boots and chest. The last three options are on live, but the pants aren't - can still only get to them via Pants Armor.

They're also supposed to be available under normal tights for pants, correct?

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If they lost a writer and Arcitc_Sun is still around then it was, sadly, probably Gilgamesh. Sorry to hear it, Gil!

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Or Captain Mako. He did a lot of the writing for CoV, and sadly we haven't heard from him in ages.

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Yeah, where is Captain Mako?

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You know i was wondering about this today.... States has taken a step back, Posi is our leading hero for now... But where has the Legendary Manticore gone??

/em grabs the fashlight arrow and says: "come out come out wehre ever u are"...

BTW manticore if u see this my villian side would like to know how many damn arrows u can shoot out of that little bow for your rain of arrows attack :P (just so i know for when i defeat you:P)

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Actually, I'm waiting to hear what happened to Geko. _Castle_ does a great job, but i swore Geko was the man in full charge of designing powersets, and he's not posted since January.

Gone, long gone?

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Hi Jay!

A few places where the Head seems to clip with the hair/hat on Huge and Male heads can be seen here: Assorted Head Clipping

Specifically, Huge->Head->Hats->Do-Rag and Stocking Cap, Male->Head->Standard->Spikey, and Male->Head->Hats->Swabby. These screenshots were all taken with no changes made to the Shape Sliders.

And of course, Jay is Sexy.

EDIT: Woo! First post after a Redname!

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Definitely want to call attention to this one. Also an issue with the backwards baseball cap on men as well.

Also Cricket said in PM she was going to check on what happened to the Men's Pants Mesh pattern that vanished from COV Beta. Would love to get that back to accompany the mesh-pattern for chests.

Thanks!

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Oh yes. Thank you very much - whoever you are. Do you know Zeb? You have a lot in common. We miss him too.

If the only way I can get timely, new content in the game these days is through the "dedication" of off-hours coding by someone in his/her free time, one wonders if I8 will even release before the end of the year!


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Uhm... ok? I was just trying to offer another point of view but ok then. Never mind. I'll beat the drums so you guys can start whipping them more. M'kay?

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Everybody play it cool please. Y'all are just asking for this thread to be shut down....

Seriously, we've been round and round in conversations regarding "the waiting game" and I go back to my original point - this is nothing new we haven't seen before. Play this game, play another game if you have to, and be ready to come back when it goes live. Or help speed up the process by jumping on Test and debugging the damn thing so the fixes come about faster.

The debugging process can only move as quickly as the number of hands on deck to help make sure everything's working as it should.

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Shouldnt matter if this is a holiday or not....I7 has been long in the making and theyve been putting this off for way to long. They need to get in gear and get it on LIVE ASAP. Some of us are tired of waiting and others are trying to make their vacation times around it and cant when they keep putting it off. Come on guys....lets get it moving already.

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Broken != putting it off. If stuff doesn't work yet, it won't do anyone any good by rushing things.

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No doubt. But if you don't know when something is going to be released, don't say "It'll be out this month".

Positron: "I7 to live is simply "this month"."

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yep tired of being teased.

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Gang, this is the first time in a *long* time that a Dev has stated a proposed released date. Hard to make a claim of "being teased" quite honestly. If anything, this type of backlash makes the Dev's case that it's better NOT to ever share projected release dates. Let's keep it cool.

And I can't imagine anyone making vacation plans around the release of an expansion pack. Suppose it's possible, but why would you?

Folks, we've never seen an Issue expansion drop on live prior to a major holiday weekend. Cuppa's announcment really shouldn't really be a surprise to anyone, should it? If anything be glad, that they *tried* to get it out in time for the holiday, and give 'em credit for having good sense not to push a flawed product out over a holiday weekend (imagine the chaos!).

The flip side is folks can play it on Test in the meanwhile. So it's not really a big loss.

Thanks Cuppa, we can deal.

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We do know that Villains can't make Kheldians, and there has been no word that they will be able to once they can reach 50.

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Not in I7 no, but I'll put good money down that they'll appear in I8. We didn't see Kheldians until I3 remember - and they came after the lvl 50 content was put into place.

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Isn't it obvious that the next expansion is going to be the City of Soon(TM)

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Actually I'll take a serious guess on the title: Perhaps "City of Conquests...?" It's gotta be something all-inclusive to heroes and villains.

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Personally, I'm not very excited about buying another box. CoV I can kinda see because it introduced so much new stuff, but "yet another box" seems more like a blatent money grab to me.

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I disagree - Circle gets a Square.

Bring on 2007 - I'm hotly anticipating a new retail box of content! Despite all the free new content we've seen (which I'm more than grateful for), I have to say there's a lot more "back engine" mechanics we need that can only be gotten from a box CD resource. And if that's what it takes to make for a better gaming experience, then I'm all for it.

Woohoo! This is definitely good news to celebrate Year Two (and boy am I glad to be here for it!).

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If I were to wax philosophical for a moment – I wonder whether it’s the genre (super heroes), the medium (City of Heroes) or the nature of the internet which has led to a greater demand for individuality.

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The internet's the new American Dream (TM) - a virtual dreamworld everyone can escape to and be the outstanding individual they always wanted to be in real life.

The "real world" experience has become gentrified - we all have the same work experience, the same shopping experience, the same everyday human existence. So we strive to break out and *feel* different. It's hard to be different in a world that governs everyone to live life in the same way so they become easier to manage. That may be the ethics of the universal workplace but life isn't supposed to be run like a business (alas the catch-22 of social herding instincts).

Sadly, it takes a computer game to make our dreams of individuality and existential grandeur possible in this day and age. So we pay to play and ride the COX wave to our dreams while we can. If you can continue to evolve COX in a direction that helps players feel more exclusive through their heroes and villains, the better off NCSoft and Cryptic Studios will be for an ever-growing membership base in the long run.

Also good to know, thank you concreteshift.

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So once again. If you want to write/draw superheroes in a commerical enterprise, make sure they are original and don't exist in CoH/CoV.

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Understood. I still have some concerns with point #2, but I can be more vigilant when creating my in-game concepts in future.

Thanks Arctic!

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Just out of curiosity, have you ever checked to see if any of your fans have created a Rubberlad on any of Cryptic's servers?

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Nope, but I know it's possible for any toon. Names reserved on one server aren't reserved on all servers, and why should they be? If my concept for "Rubberlad" involves an energy blaster on Victory and someone else's involves an earth controller on Virtue called "Rubberlad" its not the same toon because that wasn't my concept.

Marvel didn't have a suit because someone created a toon called "Wolverine" who's a Sonics-powered superhero. Or a toon called "Criss Cross" who was claws-wielding mutant. They're issue was having someone log in and create "Wolverine," a claws-wielding mutant which was their idea. That I get because there were multiple components there plagiarizing their trademarked creative concept.

It's the same reason why DC Comics (who owns Green Arrow) and Marvel (who owns Hawkeye) can't sue each other for copyright infringement because they used superheroes that employ bow and arrows - sure they're both archers but it goes way beyond *just* being archers to say someone is stealing a creative concept.

And for the record, Rubberlad isn't the toon I'm referring to. I'd be a fool to say publically which one it was but Cryptic can research my account if there's a concern (and I'm happy to comply and change the name if there is). But again I'm not worried about my concept toon that's protected. I'm worried about the other concept toons that are *not* protected - like Rubberlad.

So what's my incentive to log in and create my concept idea for a toon that Cryptic ends up owning?

If Cryptic assumes "contractual governance" of the toon to protect against anyone else in the game from stealing my idea and profiting from its sale/use for whatever duration of time my account is active, then I'm 100% ok with that.

If the account is cancelled or the toon deleted, then its outside of Cryptic's purview to protect unless I've gone the extra mile to copyright it outside the game. I wouldn't be trying to use Cryptic as a Copyright office but I expect my original ideas to be protected when I log into the game and still remain my ownership rights for so long as I keep the account active.

Would that be a fairer way to look at it? Honestly not trying to be a jerk here and I realize Artic's trying to advise in the player's best interests but this interpretation just floors me, and I'm just like anyone else - I'm passionate about the ideas I create in the realm of this playspace.

At the same time, as much as I love the game, I love my ideas more and I'm not sure I'm ok with passing ownership over to Cryptic permanently when I log in to create them if Artic's interpretation holds true.

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Marvel tried this already. They created a Wolverine clone in the game and then tried to sue Cryptic over allowing the character to be created.

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This I can 100% appreciate. But in lieu of the settlement, can't the EULA be updated to recognize previously trademarked ideas that players self-own and recreate in the game? That's totally different to what you're saying when a player logs in and recreates a toon that *someone else* owns.

Granted, I don't want to see someone create a 100% identical toon like "Rubberlad" and rename him "Tennis Ball" but at least it's not "Rubberlad." But to say Cryptic owns "Rubberlad" the minute I log in and create it even if the toon never existed in the game prior to my logging in, that's just ridiculous.

That would assume the same mentality as corporations who own their email and IT storage systems and own exclusive creative rights to all the work created by salaried employees and contractors they pay to work within that system and create those ideas which would be incorrect.

As a consumer, I'm not paying Cryptic to take ownership of my ideas but to provide the environment in which I can make my ideas possible and enjoy them. Next it'll be Microsoft suing me for ownership rights of a novel because I created and published it in Microsoft Word (even though I paid for the software to make it possible to create and publish my ideas).

Sorry but it just doesn't work like that.

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This is (IMO) clearly spelled out in the EULA. Given that, Arctic Sun's warning hardly seems "too late".

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Not that Artic Sun's warning was too late, but that I (and perhaps others) already have a toon they've marketed and/or sold prior to recreating it in the COX universe. Artic's interpretation of the EULA suggests I couldn't go on to continue marketing my idea because I made the mistake of recreating it in COX and that I have a problem with.

A classic example would be the "Statesman" toon. If Jack Emmert ever became disassociated with Cryptic Studios and COX universe, would he still retain the rights to the Statesman toon he created years beforehand? If he signed away creative ownership of the toon specifically in the contracts written in order to make this game possible, ok then. But what if he didn't?

Stan Lee is another classic example of someone who created a great idea as an artist but lost ownership to the corporation that made it possible (Marvel, Inc.).

Again, the irony of this statement to these examples and Cryptic and Marvel settling the lawsuit just amaze me.

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Another twist. I'm a novelist. I'm a writer. I write novels for a living.
What if I want to write a novel of my character, or are in the middle of writing a novel and decide to remake a char in CoH/V?

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Don't do it.

Basically, Cryptic/NCsoft owns all characters/names/images that appear in CoH/CoV.

If you were a special case (say you were Warren Ellis, and you wanted to make Spider Jerusalem in the game, and you contacted Cryptic, and they gave you the nod), it might work out (and there would probably be lawyers or at least some serious paperwork involved). But those instances are nebulous and so few and far between, it's not worth risking.

Keep your CoH/CoV characters seperate from those you plan to sell, and you should be fine.

cheers,
Arctic Sun

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I'll say it in two words: "too late."

I 100% disagree with this interpretation. If I have created and instituted the creative template for "Rubberlad' prior to City of Heroes being created and published for a public mass-consumer market, I would argue that I don't have to be "Warren Ellis" to protect my work in the event I then sell it off down the road regardless of whether or not I "recreated" my own copyrighted material in the COX mmorpg universe.

Is the issue of previously created player-owned images specifcally dealt with in the EULA? Is this an "in name only" issue or name and/or image - in which case, isn't Cryptic at risk of assuming Marvel's position in that recent lawsuit where they lost their bid to defend their copyright "images" if not certain trademark names?

Sorry but this response totally blew me out of the water. I can respect creative enterprise and copyright for Cryptic so it can protect it's creative style and patent for the game, but I would assume that only goes so far as NPC, written materials, and game engines/environments are concerned. At no point should Cryptic have a say over a player-created image that involves boots, gloves, a chest harness and face mask made in a certain color, etc. Cryptic may offer the tools but the players still own their own ideas regardless.

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Hey, things change in this business. Projects come up and interesting opportunities present themselves. But despite all the shifting and shuffling, know that CoH/CoV is in good hands and will remain that way. So no fear.

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Thanks Gil, but I think the common misconception is:

Mega Dev Re-org = Corporate Faith Waning in COX Product

Which is TOTALLY not the case. Corporate re-orgs happen all the time. I think we're all spoiled by that first year when a ton of Devs posted on a daily basis whereas now its become very sporadic by a select few, and the posts are few and far between lately.

Staff changes happen and Lord Recluse's exit-stage right made some players insecure about COX future.

I'm sure it's all good, and as _Castle_ said the other day, there are a ton of folks working behind the scene that don't have an assigned red name (as yet).

The lack of Dev responses shouldn't signal paranoia to the players - but I think it'd be nice if a team of Devs could pop in once a month to say hi and tell us what's going on, how they're seeing the game progress with the players, etc.

And congrats to Statesman on the new arrival - between the baby and the Prima Strategy Guide, I totally understand why he's posting sparingly (9 to 5 job, writing, fatherhood are major timesinks).

I will ask though: Are Geko and Manticore still around? Talk about two names I never see anymore.

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Skills are shelved.

Inventions? :-)

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Sounds promising, but how are inventions relevant to heroes? Is the idea that folks can invent temporary powers through technology, science and magic? Or are we talking making unique enhancements in lieu of unique temp powers (which I'm assuming is near next to impossible given how long it takes to design a temp power's effects).

Since the "inventions" concept is out there, can we *please* get a 1-2 sentence brief on the general concept? Or is this a big-kept secret for the next shelf-game: City of Tinkerers?

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another thing that isnt so archetype related that might make its appearence in I7 is switching sides.

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It's not happening - not for awhile yet.

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Neither are in I7 (fyi)...BUT Geko and I have talked a little about Shields. We're thinking that Shields would be a Primary AND a Secondary Power Set for Tankers - and a Primary Set for Scrappers...but this thinking might change. I'd imagine the set is mostly about Defense, but again, nothing has been designed yet.

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Tankers - oh god PUHLEASEE tankers!!! Defenders already got compensated with sonics and archery. Don't give them another powerset when Tankers need some fresh blood desperately!!!!

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Wow. Did you even bother to think about what you were saying? How the hell would shields even be a DEFENDER set?

To clarify - He meant defense as in the Tanker primaries.

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I know what he meant and you didn't need to clarify (or be condescending about it). My fear is I definitely can see shields becoming a primary or secondary defense powerset for Defenders especially because Defenders are all about physical group defense as well as buffs.

When I read this, I thought a primary shield powerset would be melee-driven (with solo defense capabilities for the hero) and the secondary set more group-targeted (variants of the group bubble shields used by controllers or a particular boomerang effect that can rebound and take down several foes at once).

If either powerset is assigned to tankers, there'll be more emphasis on damage, taunt and confuse (perhaps a rebounding knock to the head creates dizzying after effect as well as drawing aggro), and resist damage.

If either is assigned to Defenders, there'll be more emphasis on defense, knockback and to-hit debuffs and that just seems like a waste if shields are given over to Defenders.

In comparison, I think Defenders are way overcompensated right now with new powersets - namely Sonics and Archery. To be sure, 4 of the original 5 AT's benefitted from the two new powersets. Tankers were totally ignored and there really needs to be more incentive to play them.

if anything, I recommend restricting the use of shields to tankers (possibly scrappers, but I think new melee powersets would be better suited for them as an exclusive primary) and ignore the defenders this time around. Secondary shield powerset could be shared with blasters to help stall for time until defiance (*cough*) builds up and kicks in.