SailorET

Mentor
  • Posts

    267
  • Joined

  1. SailorET

    Originality

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Master_Armantus View Post
    I always thought my concept of Princess Frostworth was original, until after several months had passed and I started piecing together almost blatant similarities between her and other popular comic/fantasy characters. To be brief, she comes from royalty in a Dark Realm (Princess Kitana/Outworld from Mortal Kombat?) and ends up banished to live on Earth (Thor from Marvel Comics?). Anyway, the longer I live the more I realize that anything I think may be original has been done a thousand times before. My philosophy is I treat this game as a community, and as long as you can be original within those confines, that's all that really matters. You can't avoid being unoriginal when you take on a much broader approach.
    I had a similar experience to this in a tabletop RPG. My GM had the rule that all characters had to have a non-adventuring profession skill and a set amount of points in defects. As I was creating a mage, and not being familiar with the system at the time (Fantasy Hero), I chose my defects to be "poor eyesight" (bad enough to be blind without glasses), "allergies", "proper grammar" (compelled to correct any error, which is great roleplay with a dwarf in the party), and "lust for knowledge". I also made him a librarian, and most of the spells I took for him were purely utility and support-level. I had "Levitate", "Produce/Smother Flames", and "Protection from Rain", but not a single offensive spell.

    Years later, I became a fan of "Stargate: SG1" and realized that I had unknowingly created Daniel Jackson as a mage. The GM and I shared a good chuckle over that.
  2. Quote:
    Originally Posted by dbuter View Post
    Wow, if that's true, that's some incredibly bad code planning. It's a wonder this game hasn't self-destructed if something that simple was screwed up so badly.
    Standard Code Rant applies. We have no way of knowing how the code for the game was written, but since the devs are still adding new stuff 7 years later and the game does not implode, it's reasonable to think it's not that badly written.
  3. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Vanden View Post
    NO IT WILL BREAK EVERYTHING somehow
    Despite the humor, I can see this actually being the issue. That's why the apparently "easy" changes haven't already happened.
  4. SailorET

    Magic Staff

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Lord Rahvin View Post
    I like the idea of new power animations for all powers. I think its just as important, if not more important, than costume pieces.
    IIRC, the big issue according to the devs is that for every new animation they have to make one animation each for the three body types. If there's any other circumstances involved (such as permitting a different item in each hand) then you need three more animations. Flying typically calls for a different animation (since the feet are positioned differently) so double all those animations. Multiply all of these across 9 powers for a set and you're dedicating so many resources that you might as well just make a whole new powerset. Especially with the release of Freedom, where you can put it on the market for 800 PP and get enough extra capital in to hire a new person to do all of these animations.

    That's why we got Street Justice and Beam Rifle instead of new alternate animations for the older sets.
  5. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Rodney_ View Post
    OK. I can see there are technical issues and interest levels to this idea. But, a 3D desktop is just a matter of time. How it will look or behave is up to whoever can come up with it. Frankly, all the comments describing how it won't work seem thought restrictive rather than solution based. A twirling globe of shortcuts might be the desktop. Flying through clouds might be it, too. But for computer geeks, no shouldn't be the answer. Look at this for the fun it would be, that's how many great things start.
    Actually, the desktop of the future is likely to be something like the iPhone or the Kinect menus. Contrary to this proposed CoH desktop, these systems are clean, quick and intuitive. Over future development, keyboards and mice will probably take a back seat to motion-tracking and voice-activated control, and something you can navigate with a wave of your hand is just more efficient than running and jumping an avatar through a virtual city.

    Think of it this way: You load up Atlas Park. You run down to your character's office to put the finishing touches on your presentation, then leave there and head down the road to City Hall, stopping by Wentworths to check on an eBay auction you've got running. You get distracted by looking at other things and realize you're almost late to your meeting. So now you're rushing into City Hall, trying to find which room the meeting is in and hoping you don't accidentally turn the wrong way and end up in Recluse's Victory instead. Thankfully, you made it... hope you brought that presentation with you, or it's a long walk back to the office!

    I, on the other hand, tap one icon to pull up my presentation, put it together as I wanted, and then squeeze my fingers and it's back where I left it. Touch the auction icon, look at my auction. Oh no, I spent too long... wave my hand and that's gone. Reach out, grab the virtual meeting icon, and I'm there. Oops, forgot my presentation... wave, tap, there it is!
  6. SailorET

    LFT Channel

    Isn't there already a LFG channel that is already entirely ignored?
  7. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tyger42 View Post
    I'd hate 'em too if I were a dev. You buff 'em just a hair, they quickly become overpowered. You nerf them just a hair, they quickly become wusses.
    So two hairs is the only difference between stalkers being overpowered or wusses?

    STALKERS ARE JAY'S FAULT!!!
  8. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Rodney_ View Post
    We know that millions and millions of people live in a 3D world hours a day, some spend more hours there than in real life. You probably could ask anyone to close their eyes and imagine that world the play in and it will be as real as anything to them. I cannot be the only one who wants the 3D immersion to be beyond the confines of the game.
    I live in a 3D world 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It's more real than anything I've seen in game.

    I'm sorry, I can't get behind this idea because I enjoy leaving the computer on the desk and living real life. This game is great, but it's a game. I'm just as happy pulling the plug and going for a run, heading out to the beach to enjoy the sun, or spending time with my nephew or my dog. I don't need a computer to help do that.

    Let's keep fantasy where it belongs.
  9. I don't quite understand how people think bug fixes are something you can stop and focus on, like balancing your checkbook. A closer analogy might be altering your lifestyle.

    We've all got bad habits, and some might be obvious; take smoking, for instance. You can identify exactly what the problem is, and fixing it might seem a small change. But there are ripple changes as a result: anxiety, overeating, irritability. Those are other, smaller "bugs" that require other actions to accommodate. Then, there's more subtle "bugs" in your life, like shopping without a list. You might not realize it's an issue until someone else (i.e. friendly advice, reading an article somewhere) points out that changing that could be beneficial. And then, of course, there's "bugs" that cause major issues but have no obvious cause. These might be deep lying problems that take years of work with a psychologist to uncover, and even more time to completely work through. Let's not forget that it's a life, and so "content" is always being added. A seemingly unrelated change can bring up old bugs; for example, losing a parent may drive a recovering alcoholic back off the wagon.

    Relative to our game, this could be a simple difference of "{" instead of "[" buried in 4 GB of code, and pretty much the only way you'll find that is by accident. Of course, your issue could also be caused by something more like the infamous "Y2K" bug, which required that miles and miles of code be rewritten in order to change the listing for a year from "xx" to "xxxx". Rewriting older areas of the game could bring back old bugs, as we've seen examples of with the release of Freedom, because the bug fix was in the rewritten area and the undiscovered, actual cause of the bug may have been somewhere entirely different. Occasionally, bugs are found and fixed by the creation of new content, as the unseen cause is wiped out in a rewrite, or the dev who happens to be working on the code sees the original error while checking their own work.

    I know, this analogy isn't a perfect example. But it might be a little bit better to visualize the game, especially its code, as more of a living entity, always changing and growing in different ways, instead of a book that needs editing. It seems to me that in recent years the devs have done quite well finding and clearing some VERY old and major bugs, and have been fixing more and more issues all the time. If you don't believe me, just take a look at the patch notes for the past year; a majority of patches are bug fixes for this and that. Assuming Paragon Studios is built with some level of logic, they have a QA team who regularly checks new patches for stability, and is also searching through the old code troubleshooting the longer running problems.
  10. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Black_Light View Post
    Yes I knew all those restrictions, I just assumed, yes assumed not read every sodding patch note that when the game went Free to play, you could play the game with some restrictions on ATs, zones maybe, and other little things.

    For me I would rather have my friend restricted to low level areas and being able to communicate with me and my friends than being able to go lots of places but not being able to communicate with us. For me communicating is the most basic part of the game, it's why I tried to bring a friend here.

    I tried to get a new player into the game, I am sorry to have bothered the almighty forum gurus that only seem to be interested in telling me "You should have known that" and "If she doesn't pay she can do without" , with one exception the Friends channel I missed that, thank you.

    I think I shall skip City of for a week or six, if this is the attitude we have to getting friends into the social parts of the game.

    Edit: I started this, in this part of the forum to indicate why my friend probably won't join us in Paragon city hoping that I could get help to overcome the obstacles and get a new member. Instead I'm feel like I'm told off, when I try to get a friend into a game so that we can play together when it went free to play.
    I'm sorry you have had such a negative experience on the forums. Many people here are tired of people complaining about restrictions on free accounts a month after Freedom went live, and are frustrated by explaining time and again why free accounts don't get the same privileges as Premium and Free accounts do. Their frustration and anger is not directed at you specifically.

    That being said, there have been some options presented to help your friend have a better experience. Five dollars gets your friend to reward tier 2, which will get your friend the ability to use tells and join supergroups. Before you say, "But it should be FREEEEEEE!!!" you should remember that we're talking $5 here. That's the same price range as a McDonald's value meal, a pack of smokes, or a gallon of gas (in certain areas-- YMMV). All of those things are consumed in less than a day, but $5 for premium gives continued access at no extra cost for the life of the game. That's not a bad deal. If that's too much, there's still this option, previously offered, which costs less but may increase when shipping is involved.

    Again, there are many options on the table for you and your friend to enjoy the game, but please don't just ragequit because people on the forums said, "Didn't you read the sign on the door?"
  11. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Necrotech_Master View Post
    im hoping to find a coh dvd collector edition for cheap somewhere so i can get the badge and prestige slide from it
    Good luck on that one, the DVD CE's are becoming increasingly rare, and most of the ones I've seen these days are close to $100.
  12. Quote:
    Originally Posted by gameboy1234 View Post
    We'll be able to combine two Favor of the Well into a Big Wet Sloppy Kiss from the Well.
    I was thinking Phone Number of the Well.
  13. SailorET

    Win Is...

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Bloodspeaker View Post
    On a similar note, burying Maelstrom's feet in a dozen trip mines before talking to him in the tip mission.

    "These? Oh, don't mind 'em. They're just... security devices... to ensure our illicit meeting isn't disturbed. See the little laser-sensor thingies?.."

    ...

    "Now then, you were sayiB-B-B-B-BOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!***^%$&^$#%@#$&^#@$#"

    The new method of storytelling with on-the-spot ally-enemy switching has generally made trip mines so much more awesome and entertaining.
  14. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Pitho View Post
    http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/microtransactions

    Players are content.

    Granted, with the way CoH is currently setup, I'm not considering it a real free to play game, even though they've announced it becoming one. More like an elaborate free trial.
    I challenge you to find one time the developers said CoH was becoming a "real free to play game." Every interview I've ever read, they are quick to subtly correct their interviewers that it's a hybrid business model. Most people take the "You can play for free" to mean "The game is free to play" but in reality it was never released or marketed as a F2P system, but more of an "a la carte" gaming experience where each player can decide the level to which they want to pay for their own play experience.
  15. I'm not going to be there because the devs hate the east coast, despite setting Paragon City there.
  16. SailorET

    Win Is...

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Sailboat View Post
    When a foe flees in terror...onto a Trip Mine or into a Burn Patch.
    Alternatively, Trip Mining the crap out of an ambush map, then triggering mass explosions and hilarity.
  17. Diamagnetic Interface is currently listed on the known issues page and is being worked on.
  18. SailorET

    Revamping Claws

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by dbuter View Post
    Does anyone else get the feeling that many on these forums don't want any changes, no matter what is suggested?
    Not really... but most of us would rather see a zone revamp or new content (which we could see with any or all of our characters) than a new animation for a 7-year old powerset. Especially when the devs have stated that it takes as much time to generate a new powerset than to revamp animations for an old one, we're far more likely to go for the whole new experience.

    Also, the devs have more reason to generate a new set. Consider our newest set, Street Justice. The whole set could have been a set of alternate animations for Martial Arts with a few changes. Instead, they developed a new set that they can put into the market for 800 points. Instantly, a large chunk of the player base runs out to buy the new set and make a new character. Every player drops 800 PP to access the set, which means at a minimum they've thrown out an extra $10 to Paragon Studios, unless they used their VIP points which brought their payment down to, at max, $30. At this point, why exactly would you spend so much time building alternate animations to hand out for free?
  19. I can easily explain Pyronic Judgement from a nonmagical source with a handheld one of these.

    I can accept the others, although I would ask to avoid using obvious targeting graphics (i.e. Warworks Orbital Lance crosshairs), in order to prevent the issues for non-technical origins that we currently see for non-magical ones.
  20. Can I make a simple suggestion?

    Stop pressing the ESC key.
  21. You want to look lower, in the "For Fun!" section. There's a whole area dedicated to forum games. Enjoy.
  22. I agree completely. One possible other way to handle this is to work an extra mission into the new starting arcs that actually sends a new player into KR to get a police band radio. As long as it happens before Twinshot's "Go talk to the trainers" mission, it won't interrupt the new players.