Samuel_Tow

Or what? Quit? Pardon me if I don't warm up to this idea. How do you "toughen up" if your build does not have access to status effects or knockback? Respec? Play another character? "Get help?" Yes, I'm sure having someone else beat Trapdoor for me is surely a great demonstration of my power to... Wait, what?

Yes, I realise that. I'm not saying I should suddenly become this unstoppable juggernaut of destruction. But since when are MALTA tough enough to one-shot punch me? Like I said - I'm doing World Wide Red now, and I'm kicking their *****, yet all of a sudden I can't even beat up an Operations Engineer? Why? Why are THEY so strong all of a sudden? Why am I so much weaker? Even in Reichsman's TF, that Grim Falcon guy isn't THAT insane, and he's supposed to be the made-up leader of the Malta Group, and all of a sudden this guy is god damn Super Man?

The War Walkers I can get. Bobcat I can sort of get. But Malta? Since when are their Minions so damn strong? The game can scale a Hellion up to level 54 and stick me with a -4 level debuff and that Hellion will indeed be very difficult to fight, but it won't make the thing feel more epic. All it would do is make me feel more like a loser, like the rest of the TF didn't do a good enough job already.

Yes, and I immediately regrtted it

Nah, it's not the people, the slowness or the number of deaths that really bugged me, nor indeed was the apparent chaos and people yelling at each other from time to time. It's a TF. I know how those go. I've done four-hour ITFs and had a blast, I've done eight-hour Faating TFs and had a blast.

No, what ruined the Tin Mage TF for me was the Tin Mage TF itself and everything it represents. I believe bAss will tell you I sent him tells to the effect of "never again" and "any TF that scales to 54 while capping me to 50 can go to hell" and so forth, and this is the sum total of what ruined it. It's a long, boring slog through demoralisingly tough enemies and insultingly difficult situations that had no excuse to be nearly this difficult. And they were difficult in precisely the dumbest way: Just throw more stats at the players, that'll motivate them to try harder.

Director 11 could easily have been the dealbreaker for me and made me ragequit right on the spot if I didn't feel bad about abandoning teams on a tough TF. Why the triple F is a dude with a gun powerful enough to punch me for 1000+ points and to shoot me for 400+ in a four-five round burst? You take these freshly-baked Incarnates who just ran through an arc where we soloed Ruladak the Strong and became even better than regular enemies like Malta... And now you're putting me up against level 54 Malta who can punch me for half my health? Go to hell, Tin Mage. You and all you represent.

Maybe one day when I've acquired four level shifts so that the TF doesn't cheat, maybe. But PURPLE ENEMIES!!! Is not difficulty, and I have a purple patch to prove it. Purple enemies is just cheating, and I don't like TFs that cheat me out of a fun experience.

Hey, what happened to the "private" part in "private tell?" Just kidding, though. What bAss is the following:

The Tin Mage TF put me in easily the worst mood that any game has put me in for... Pretty much as far back as I could remember, and I know why. The TF turned me off pretty much the moment I set foot in the first instance and exclaimed "So, we're not running at -4, but the enemies are still capped at 54?" Normally, I'd have had the presence of mind to just walk away and play something I liked, but you don't really walk out on a TF just on a whim. I don't know how much I actually contributed (I'm thinking "not much") but I always feel responsible to stick a TF through to the end, as I know that we depend on each other in these, and I didn't want to let people down. But this was a horrible experience that I did not want to do right from the get go, and it just got worse with every passing hour.

The Tin Mage TF pissed me off worse than the first time I tried riding the Hamidon and had to spend the bulk of my time sitting on my hands listening to childish bickerings and unfunny jokes for about four hours straight. And after that, I swore I'd never do a Hamidon raid ever again. And I haven't, though seeing what the new one might be like from the Lady Grey TF, I might have to reconsider.

Also what I said was that "if this is what end game is like, then I want nothing at all to do with it," and would much prefer to play regular story arcs. Since Incarnate story arcs do not exist, that's one of the things I really want to see, and I mean more than just one arc to unlock the slot. The Tin Mage TF yanked me right out of my World Wide Red story arc, for instance. In addition to already beating up on Malta and doing so just fine solo, the arc itself is interesting, well-written and on a really grand scale. Something like that, but on an incarnate scale, would be very appreciated. I20 looks to be really big, but if I had to put money on it, I would bet dollars to doughnuts one of the things it WON'T include is much of any soloable content.

One primary reason I was so pissed off is because this does indeed appear to be what the future is about: a future where we gain ever more power and become ever weaker against our enemies. I could fight my own fights alone and come out victorious before I became an Incarnate, but once I became one, then all the new Incarnate content put me as a completely helpless chump who needs seven other people to do anything and even then die about a thousand time in the process, three of which being getting hit by Bobcat for 7300+, 4800+ and 3500+, all on a hit points bar of around ~1800. Of all the ways to make me feel that something is epic, grand and exciting, having an enemy hit me for many times my total hit points three times in a row ain't one of 'em. Especially not when I slapped Bobcat around in a mission the day before.

"Epic" may be a lot of things, but Epic ain't this. Epic ain't an indistinguishable soup of colours like I'm having kaleidoscope dreams. Epic ain't a cacophony of colours like I were listening to music remixed by Neuron humself. Epic ain't a two ficking hour slog though resistant high-level enemies that take ages to kill where I spent half the time one hand on the keyboard and my head resting on my other hand. This is not Epic. This is BORING. It makes me feel like one of the grunts in that Stalingrad level in Call of Duty. It makes me feel like one more Marine in a StarCraft unit. It makes me feel like an insignificant gnat and the fights aren't even any fun because I don't know what the hell is going on.

Thank you, but if that's what Incarnate Content is going to be like, then I'll sit this one out and wait for something that makes me feel stronger, rather than making me feel like a wimp.

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There's your long post. Happy now?

Here's the thing - yes, you probably could. Proper RP excuses can explain everything. The question, to quote Jurassic Park - is if you SHOULD. Literally the only reference to a Carnival of Light that I can think of is that one mission... Well, those two missions, anyway... And that's a relic from a previous design for Praetorian Earth. You know, back when it was called Praetorian Earth, not the "Praetoria" that my spell checker refuses to recognise.

The existence of a carnival of obvious psychics who can travel through Devouring-Earth-infested broken wilderness and who always seem to avoid forces sent against them and yet can still maintain a cover of believability is just too unreal a concept to really be WORTH explaining, unless someone had a brainwave that even I can't fathom, and then managed to write an entire story around that, which I just don't see happening.

And then we're back to square one: The Carnival of Light is a known faction of Resistance operatives that the Clockwork are ordered to murder on sight, which leaves them as just Resistance members in ugly outfits, thus robbing this "Carnival" of any really compelling storyline elements to it. Especially when you can alter so much and make the faction significantly more interesting, if indeed one needs to exist, without being hamstrung by this one throwaway mission which accomplishes nothing, explains nothing and collapses into a singularity to return to nothing.

Shoehorning the Carnival of Light into that one mission for no reason other than... Well, they were there before, and we wouldn't want to change all that much... That's just hamstringing your writing staff into now having to account for that little useless trivia detail with far broader consequences than it deserves or, as I'm sure will happen, IGNORING it and creating still more inconsistencies.

I respect our developers for creating a great and very entertaining game. But there are things they do well and things they don't do well, and keeping their continuity continuous and avoiding snarls is NOT one of the things they have ever done very well.

Ow, ow, ow! Ouch, ooh, that stings! That man cuts like glass

Slice like a ninja cut like a razor blade!

I'm in general agreement, though. DPS is just too small a facet to devote a whole meter to, especially when you consider it's impossible to measure outside of breaking down to a dozen special cases.

This seems to ignore that there is no transportation between settlements, ESPECIALLY not for a travelling circus. Remember - the world outside the Sonic Barriers is completely ruled by the Devouring Earth creatures. Yes, perhaps a whole troupe of psychics could protect themselves and survive, but how much attention do you draw on yourself when you take a bunch of circus performers out in the middle of monster-infested nowhere and return unscathed? These things kill people.

You could have a permanent circus, I suppose, but all that does is draw attention, ESPECIALLY if the Clockwork already know all about the Carnival of Light and seem to be programmed to shoot them on sight. That's all I'm saying - you need to run a carnival like an establishment, and you can't when you stand out and when you're apparently marked for death.

And if Vanessa can't run her carnival as an establishment, then that just reduces the whole faction to Resistance members in funny hats. When you consider what this is replicating - that being a genuine, believable, official carnival on Primal Earth - it begins to seem like something that needs to be re-addressed in a whole different way.

Corporations do indeed exist, and they are, in turn, clandestine criminal organisations, seemingly the lot of them. But corporations tend to just blend in with the world. That's just how business goes. You HAVE to have corporations, and you only look into them for wrongdoing if you have reason to suspect any is taking place. A Carnival stands out, even on Primal Earth, even in the real world.

The notion of "hiding in plain sight" by being so obvious no-one would suspect you is, sadly, not realistic in any way, shape or form, as former intelligence agents will tell you. The best way to remain undetected is to convince the totalitarian government that you're just a grey nobody who's living a boring life and isn't at all out of the ordinary. Because if you stand out, no matter how "absurd" it might seem that someone would be "stupid" enough to do that, just gets you arrested and beaten into a pulp.

If Vanessa took her Carnival on the road, the VERY FIRST thing authorities would do is check the thing from top to bottom, looking for Resistance, Syndicate or any other reason to shut it down. If something new shows up, especially a form of entertainment that can influence people, you DO NOT shrug your shoulders and go "oh, it's too obvious to be a trick." Nothing is too obvious to be a trick. The more obvious it is, the more you want to check it out. That's the defining characteristic of a totalitarian regime, and I know a thing or two about that. I live in one of the former Soviet republics. My grandfather was sent to prison for not a whole lot just like that.

Besides, we know the Carnival of Light is a known entity because the Clockwork are instructed to shoot them on sight, which is why they get into a fight with the Carnival of Shadows.

No, getting a Shivan falls into tedious, teeth-grinding descent into mediocrity and sheer boredom. Any content designed to expect this is nothing more than a clear example of lazy problem-solving, to say nothing of poor choice, and offering this as the one-stop-shop solution is starting to sound like a broken record. How many years are we going to listen to the same "Just get a Shivan!" argument? This was old back in 2005.

Wanna' know what's challenging AND GOOD? Protean. Siege. Your typical War Waker. Even the new Incarnate arc, in the places where it's not just cheap or begging to be exploited. It's interesting mechanics that require a person to think, problem-solve and figure a way out, rather than just setting a minimum DPS requirement that you need a Shivan to exceed. Any time the need for a Shivan, be it perceived or real, shows up is a sign of a problem. It should never be viewed as a legitimate sole solution.

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And the argument that MMO = teaming is still just as empty as it has always been, ESPECIALLY in this game, and that's because it's not an argument. The only thing inherent in the genre is many people in a persistent world. How, and indeed IF they interact is entirely up to the specific developer. I do most of my interaction with the many other players via text chat and global e-mail and very rarely via the team mechanic. The developers of City of Heroes have chosen to not punish solo players in an attempt to re-educate them or evict them like most other MMO developers, and for that I commend them.

That's not what was said, though, at least not in general. Praetoria is a STRUCTURED place, one built on order, obedience and peace, where entertainment is state-controlled and programming is screened before airing. This isn't the kind of atmosphere where a free-spirited travelling circus would fit in. It's less a question of Praetoria being too dark for a carnival and more a question of it being too SERIOUS for a carnival, especially when Cole wouldn't really let free agents provide uncontrolled entertainment.

I'm not talking about those cardboard and cellophane monstrosities, no They handed us essentially Albert Wesker glasses, but those still had tint in them and, more than anything, blocked some light so they made everything darker. I've seen Avatar on DVD since, and the quality on my dinky 17'' crappy LCD was far, far, FAR superior to that I got from clearly the best, most expensive cinema in town, all because of those god damn glasses.

I have no idea what glasses you're actually talking about, I just know that's not what I got here.

I actually do know why it makes my head hurt. My brain does not process optical illusions well. I recognise them instinctively and my eyes refocus and move in order to compensate for them. I see the optical illusion as just that - an illusion, and I can never accept it as real depth. It looks like a hologram sticker.

This constant refocusing and readjusting makes my eyes hurt, makes the muscles in my eyes burn, and I get headaches when any of the muscles in my head start to hurt. That's eyes, cheeks, neck, anything. 3D is not and will never be real enough to fool my subconscious. All it will ever do is give me headaches.

I remember someone a while back posting one of those "holograms" that you had to "cross your eyes" to see. Not only did that make my eyes hurt like a SOB, but I was never actually able to see it. The first time I saw 3D of any kind, I just saw disconnected coloured lines that didn't meld into any sort of shape or form. I had to actually cross and refocus my eyes in order to adjust them into some kind of coherent image. I don't know how to see 3D and no - it does not happen instinctively.

And I sure as hell ain't gonna' bother learning how to watch my movies, especially since 3D DOES NOT NOT LOOK GOOD even when I can actually see it. It's a whole load of wasted effort and pretty much double the ticket price to see a worse version of a movie. I don't care if it's the crappiest movie that I'm going to see. I will not pay double the price for half the quality.

People on the last ITF I ran were reporting 10 and up.

Now if only I could figure out a way to run those alone and not depend on other people's availability and antics...

Thanks I remember back when we had rep, how I'd use that as a litmus test of how obnoxious I was being, and it wasn't nearly as negative as I thought it would be. The comments were always fun

Every 3D animated movie ever made, how about? There is no "passable" 3D. It destroys the colour of the movie as you're watching it through coloured filters, it makes me, personally, crosseyed and gives me a headache and the glasses always get covered in filth just as I watch even if I wiped them beforehand.

And all of that for a pretty shallow optical illusion that just on its own has the capacity to make my head hurt like I was dropped. There is nothing redeeming in 3D, and I am sick and tired of not watching movies because they air in 3D.

Do you have any idea how long I waited to watch a decent copy of Avatar without watching it in a confusing, colourless mess?

Praetoria is a nice example of a flawed utopia. It's a world that looks and feels perfect, but requires some pretty unpleasant sacrifices to keep it looking and smelling well, which makes it rotten at the core.

You're overdramatising. Text errors are not hard to fix if text is all you change, and especially if they're typos. That's what I've been doing for the past few days on my arcs and none of them have become unplayable or broken.

But even if we went with what you're saying - are you honestly telling me that the process is so long and arduous that it takes them SIX YEARS to fix a typo in a text box? Because that's how long Maria Jenkins' bio has had its typos.

No, they don't. Not a single arc ends with you preventing the invasion. It ends with you LEARNING about the invasion as it's being planned. In fact, the Loyalist Responsibility arc ends with you talking to Cole about how he shouldn't invade and he insisting that he should. The REASON you go to Primal Earth is to show the people of Earth that Praetorians are not all goatee evil monsters, and that there's no reason for Longbow to keep invading, such that the people of Praetoria will be less likely to support an invasion.

When you live a life of obscurity and mediocrity like I do, being cited by name without having specifically asked for it is, indeed, an ego boost like no other.

What did you expect?