Samuel_Tow
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Quote:Well, even if he wasn't entirely "correct" to a panda's patterns, he's one of the few that actually evoked the look of a panda for me. That's really the biggest thing for me - not girl in black-and-white spandex, but pandaOriginally Posted by MDanger
Thanks, Samuel! I think I was going for a Kung-Fu Panda like imagry there. (Fuller disclosure: he's a katana/sr.) I made him quite some time ago so I don't remember what I was looking at for inspiration. It may have been sneezing panda or it may have been Po himself. Probably Po, if I had to guess, as his name is pan-pan. I also made and deleted a version that used the Ominichi tights to get some texture on the body.
Well, aside from those faces (HATE! HATE! HATE SO MUCH!) and those hideous, atrocious, blighted shoes, that's actually something I, myself, have considered. I don't think there's nearly enough white on them, though. That was my problem with it. A panda is predominantly white with some black in its patterns, whereas this ends up being predominantly black with a white abdomen. And that's just further proof I can't deal with a human face on a "panda" body. It doesn't look creepy, it just doesn't look like a panda.Quote:I like the middle one the most, but I will readily admit to being biased. I also remembered I had a picture of triplet pandas sitting around somewhere. It looks like they used the Belly-Tee Long to get that stripe across the chest and the bikini brief bottom.
That's proof of one thing, though - the tights texture has changed. Notice their abdomens and how the texture has that brownish shading on it? A while back, people complained that using white tights made them look like wet t-shirt contestants because it seemed like their skin was showing through the fabric. It wasn't, that's just how the fabric shaded, but it seems to have changed. Check out my pics and notice the uniform, almost rubber-looking white. Something is up, and it feels intentional. -
Quote:Oh, certainly. Let people's opinions and fears be addressed, I've nothing against that. But when we start betting billions of INF that the game will introduce massive nerfs, I kind of draw the line at "sensible."Originally Posted by Slashman
I'll also say that while I will not jump on a DOOM-wagon, I will also not get out my pom-poms and cheer so loudly that I drown out any sensible criticism or concerns that people have over the coming expansion(all due respect to Golden Girl and her upbeat cheerfullness). Neither position is particularly desirable to me.
I'll stick to cautious optimism at this point. -
Hey, I have something I want to run by you, guys. I toyed around with the editor some and found a few more interesting parts I could use (and one part which is inexplicably missing), and I came up with this trifecta of possible pandas. Let me give you an explanation of what I used and I'd love to hear back from you on how each looks.
Leftmost: Diamond Blend top, Diamond Blend bottom. It's not ideal, as the patterns are all over the place, but that's the only option I have for blended, non-sharp-line patterns to use. Unfortunately, it feels like a little too much black to use on the model.
Middle: Bikini bottom, Tanker top. This one is clearly NOT a correct pattern for a panda (it lacks a stripe across the chest and back) but somehow looks the most like a cartoonish panda, at least to my eyes. I have no idea why. The problem with this is it looks a little bit like a jump suit, especially with that neck line between the white face and the white tights.
Is it me, or did they tweak white tights to look less like white skin? We had a huge discussion about that over at Suggestions, and things seem to have changed since then...
Rightmost: Sharp bottom and, err... I think Desire for the top. It looks pretty silly, actually, and I'm not sure why I went back to the Sharp bottom when I clearly didn't intend to use it. The Desire top is a little bit of a wildcard, too. Technically, it IS a black stripe across the chest, but it's very un-panda-like, in that it's clearly a push-up bra. The pants ruin the look, certainly, but does Desire even work with that?
And, for some odd reason, there are no Shorts (just shorts) in the Tights patterns. They only exist under Tights With Skin and Skirts and Short Pants. Why? They would have been perfect for my use here, but they just aren't here. Unpleasant.
As well, my problem here is the human form and my sliders choices. I prefer the aesthetic of longer legs, but because the legs on this girl make up about half her body length, that's just a LOT of black on the costume. Essentially, this girl is all legs and arms and very little torso, whereas an actual panda is mostly a big fat torso with smaller front and rear paws. Oh, and giant head. So a panda ends up being mostly white, but if I follow its pattern, my girl ends up being mostly black, so I may need to cheat somewhere, especially if I go with the Bikini pattern.
So, what do you think? I'm not marries to any of the specific top and bottom combinations, so I'm not at all opposed to taking the top from one and the bottom from another, or just taking the bottom from one and a top I didn't use at all. Let me know what you think. -
Quote:Yeah, I think that's what sold me on the whole walking thing. I can admit it when I like things for... Questionable reasons, and one of the biggest reasons I like walking is... Well, thisOriginally Posted by Ban_Sidhe
The female walk is very sexy. Maybe a little too sexy
Imagine a cat-walk model if you haven't seen it yet
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Quote:Now, if you're referring to something recent, you'd leave me scratching my head. If you're referring to something from a while back (and I think I remember what you're talking about) then I have to man up and admit it - I changed my mind. I'm not sure if I was wrong or right back then, but seeing what Going Rogue does with graphics, I have to say I completely changed my mind on wanting new and better graphics. Once upon a time, I expected "better graphics" to mean just more bloom and shiny filters, like every new console game has done, and I wasn't excited about that. I turn off Bloom and Depth of Field in City of Heroes for a reason. But what I've seen them work on is something quite on the contrary. Rather than just more flash that punches you on the face, they've gone with smoothing over the horrors of ye olde 3D graphics, and I've just been convinced to trust them.Originally Posted by Slashman
I just want to point out something you once said to me, Sam, in an argument we had over this game getting a graphical update a few months back.
You argued that you were absolutely not for this game getting graphical upgrades because you didn't completely trust the big wigs at the top to not screw it up with the overuse of (the dreaded)bloom feature and other things that would make the game look horrible because you were comfortable with its graphics as is.
Still you trust them now to make other smart decisions. Especially relating to the direction that the game goes and to properly allocate development resources. That's a bit of a turnaround is it not?
That, and there is one other thing. Have you ever heard the phrase "Trust him to be untrustworthy?" I don't really trust the PlayNC executives to be kind and generous fellows who'll pour money in my favourite game just because I asked them nicely. In fact, I trust them to look out for their business and their revenue and make financially sound decisions, even if they end up hurting me as a player. I don't like it, but that's reality, and I can't exactly fault them for it. But by the same token, I see supporting City of Heroes, a game which has proven both profitable and stable as a smart business move, and I trust them to look out for their business and take this move. It's not the kind of trust you have for a friend, confident he'd never to anything to hurt you. It's the kind of trust you have for your boss, in that he may not always have the best in mind for you, he's ultimately going to want to make money first and foremost, and you can count on that.
Really, I have no doubt PlayNC suffered financially from their failed games and saw City of Heroes as an investment with a predictable, stable return. As far as I'm aware, the game will remain a stable source of return as long as it remains profitable, even if it doesn't expand. I'll agree with the doom-sayers on one thing - it's far too late in the day to hope for City of Heroes to grow huge and pile up large numbers of subscribers. I don't think anyone with any business sense is going to expect that. -
Quote:More like welcome to I11. At least before then, it was restricted to Giant Monsters that were off in their own little corner and you had to go out of your way to fight them. Since I11 and the Rikti Invasions, it's been cloned over on zone-locking events which not only consume the entire zone and force you to participate or leave, but actually prevent you from doing anything else in the zone other than travel. Before the functionality of the GM code wasn't as intrusive because the events which used it weren't intrusive by much. Now...Originally Posted by Fleeting Whisper
Welcome to Issue 7.
Put it this way - Atlas Park residents have not a snowball's chance in hell of ever fighting off a banner invasion by themselves. Not unless you get 100 level 1 characters or some such. -
Quote:On the other hand, that is probably more along the lines of what that guy from the "Disappointed" thread sees in our future with Going Rogue.Originally Posted by Lemur Lad
Considering that for every expansion, the swg dev team visited two or more population crushing changes on the game, I'd argue that with you for a long time. Any positive effects from Jump to Lightspeed or the Wookiee expansion were largely masked by people leaving because of Yet Another Revamp of the Jedi System (tm) or the Combat Upgrade, or any number of other Class nerfs/ poor upgrades.
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Quote:I have no evidence towards either side doing it, and I couldn't really hazard a guess at that. However, we DO have Jack Emmert's testimony that it was NCsoft's decision in his interview here. Since I generally don't tend to accuse people of out-and-out lying and since we don't have any NCsoft execs denying this, it's very likely true.Originally Posted by Hyperstrike
Was it PlayNC that did it? Or was it Cryptic?
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I'm sorry, but I don't see the utility of this. Macros are already written in script, so all an interface would allow you to do is pick and icon to write the script for. If you need exact names, you can drag-and-drop powers and other objects into your chat line to use them, so that functionality you already have. You can even re-edit existing macros.
I've not see the Aion Macro editor, but I've seen the WoW one, and all it was was an icon selector, a name field and a code field. Having written a few macros, I don't see it as something that couldn't be written in the chat line, at least not in City of Heroes where we can't have several rows of commands like WoW can. That, and we don't have all the conditionals and complex operations. -
Ever been to a team where everyone but you is on voice chat? Yeah, it's not fun. Right now, such things are rare, restricted mostly to people who know each other. Build it into the game, though, and they will not be.
That, and I don't enjoy voice chatting with strangers. However, I KNOW there will be pressure to voice chat anyway. I voice chat with my friends and family. That's it, that's the extent of it. Since English is not my first language, I'd rather not resort to it over something as trivial as that. And I don't want people with English worse than mine to be pressured, either. Nor do I actually want to LISTEN to people with English worse than mine. -
Quote:A couple of reasons:Originally Posted by Mr. NoPants
Also I see this whole post is a joke but could someone explain to me the pitfalls of a PvP optional flag the player had control over (not talking about a duel option where you get a pop up request). Only problem I could see is two dinguses fighting it out while on mission...but anyone who does that would probably been the type to over pull for fun anyways.
First one is easy - certain people, myself among them, do not want to be exposed to active PvP. We don't go to the PvP zones for a reason. The mere presence of PvP changes attitudes and alters the nature of the game, even if you can avoid it.
Secondly, it's just ugly to have villains in hero zones committing crimes and destroying property and not be able to do anything about it because you suck at PvP. It'd yank me clear out of my state of immersion. Granted, high-level NPC villains sort of do that, too, but all they do is stand around. If we had villains UNDERCOVER in hero zones so you couldn't tell they were villains (which might be an option with Going Rogue) then I can see that, but PvP is, again, out of the question. -
Quote:Encourages nothing. It's suicide to be solo at lower levels. That's a mandate, not an encouragement.Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
Whoever thought it would be a good idea for a massively multiplayer online role playing game to have a holiday event that encourages teaming was nuts.
And in general, I'm getting a little disillusioned with all the "scaling" enemies in the game. Since the GM code scales the attacker to the target, it out-and-out shafts low-level characters. Low-level enemies have MUCH lower hit points compared to the damage of our attacks than high-level ones do, so when our low-level attacks get scaled up to high level enemies, they do diddly squat. High-level enemies, on the other hand, have plenty of hard-hitting attacks and nasty powers that most low-level enemies do not, and even when those attacks get scaled down to the low levels, they are still devastating.
If we're going to have an event that takes place in Atlas Park or Kings Row, it'd be nice if the people naturally in those zones could take part in it, rather than being completely ineffectual. -
Hmm... Since I don't want to quote entire pictures, here's a make-shift compound quote:
Willowpaw
Interesting design, to be sure, but I'm not sure I can see that as a panda, especially without the clothes. With the human face, the grey fur and only slightly black hands and feet, it actually looks a lot like a woman. Especially when you put her in the Tights with Skin clothes, it just looks very much like a pale woman in sexy lingerie. Which... Isn't actually a bad thing, just not what I'm after Not entirely, anyway.
The other big problem I have is that, which this pattern and, err... Fur tone, she actually looks more like a raccoon. Appropriate, I suppose, since my inspiration was a raccoon lady, but again, not what I'm after with this one.
Zekiran
Interesting. I guess the Huge model is a lot easier to make that "fat head" look with, as it comes without a neck right out the box, and it doesn't look nearly as bad without hair on. A bald man I can kind of see. A bald woman is... Ugh! I'm not sure I can work with the breather, though, or with the two sets of ears. That's part of why I had such a problem coming up with a hairstyle - I needed one that covered the ears.
Your pattern, on the other hand, is quite interesting. It's not exactly true to a panda, but it looks good and it has softer lines that would be more realistic. I'm not sure why you left him without a tail (is that how Pandas usually look?) but I don't think I can leave mine without one, since I like the cute little black bunny tail
I DO like your idea for wings, though. Sure, they're not typical panda biology, but then neither are boobs (or a waist, for that matter), so that's little concern. More importantly, I'm sort of rearing her to be a Blaster, and all my Blasters fly, so going with wings might actually be a pretty good idea. Interesting...
MDanger
Hey! You're probably the closest to what I had in mind The pattern is a little off a panda, but that looks is very much the most convincing one I've seen yet, in that when I look at this, my first thought is "Woah! Panda?" It's a little reminiscent of Po from Kung Fu Panda, which may or may not be what you were going for. I like it, anyway. What I find most amazing is that the pattern isn't right for a panda, yet it looks right nevertheless. I need to experiment!
That, and I actually think you have a good idea on the legs. I used Athletic Shorts to define the pattern on mine, but those are long, going down past mid-thigh. I'd probably be better off using the hotpants to bring the pattern up a little. Sweet, thanks!
mintmiki
Um... I'm not sure if it's the low-res textures or something else, but this looks a lot like a werewolf to me. And I know what the black pants were intended to represent, but that's just what they look like to me - black pants. The black on panda legs actually starts from upper thigh down. Their butts are white.
Interesting approach using Tech Crey to simulate a fur texture, though (when can we get a REAL fur texture?). I think the low texture resolution helps with the effect, however, as when I tried this on my end, it didn't look like fur so much as like armour.
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In any event, I'll go see if I can't tweak my panda a little. I want to see if I can't give her a white chest and still have her look right, and maybe give her a pair of Valkyrie wings
Thanks, guys
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Quote:If I had 2 billion to bet I'd out and out part with it just to shut you up. Tell you what - if you're so self-assured, how about you take comfort in that certainty and WAIT until it happens. If it does, you'll be vindicated, but until then, we'll do without your drama.Originally Posted by Frosticus
If you are so assured of yourself that I am wrong then give me 5:1 odds and I'll bet you 1 billion inf that DR appears with GR or if they drop an issue 2-2.5 months before it in that one.
Doesn't tickle your fancy, how bout 2 billion? -
Quote:Um... What outcry? The way I remember it, everyone pretty much agreed. I haven't read anyone say they would be against a facelift as far back as I can remember. About the most people may have said is they like the graphics well enough, but outside of the "will the game run on my computer" rhetoric, who ever said the game SHOULDN'T be made to look better? Hell, people have been asking for "a new engine" for years.Originally Posted by Frosticus
On a different note, there was an article posted a short while ago citing CoX as one of the top 5 games in need of a facelift. The outcry that generated on these boards was a good read. It would appear that someone important was feeling the same as said article writer.
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Quote:The funny thing, in my eyes, is that this is exactly what PlayNC did once already with CoV. They pinned high expectations on it, the "expansionalone" didn't deliver, so they slashed development to a skeleton crew, at least according to Jack. And we've all see what that led to - development of the game slowed down horribly and the money otherwise went into a couple of games that tanked pretty much as badly as a game can tank - they shut down.Originally Posted by InfamousBrad
Yes. Yes, indeed, that is "standard procedure" for the MMO industry ... for losers. If you look at just about every MMO that has ever shipped, you see that the subscriber numbers ramp up fast the first three or so months, then decline steadily from then on. Contrary to industry hopes, paid expansions followed by layoffs do not turn this decline around, they merely slow it down. Every. Single. Time.
Now, I like to think that the big shots at NCsoft are smart guys who know how to run a business, given that they're running a pretty solid one, and they're smart enough to realise that this was a mistake, and that investing in a game with proven long-term revenue and NOT cutting that funding to fund an untested gamble of a new game would be a smart move. City of Heroes may not be a smash hit, but at this point it has proven to be a survivor and a constant source of revenue, and turning your back on something like this not only bad business, but has PROVEN to be bad business before.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. -
Quote:But what does that have to do with walking?Originally Posted by Mr. NoPants
That's where you RP everything goes your way. Every time you do something it works, every time someone does something to you it fails (if it's negative).
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Quote:I've actually wanted to see that for a long time, but now that we'll have mixed ATs, it should be even easier. Just have heroes pretend to be villains, go there undercover and lose morality points if they help out. Villain-side would be the same.Originally Posted by EvilGeko
6) Ethos not causing ANY restriction on a characters ability to visit Paragon, the Rogue Isles or Praetoria
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Well, like in Need for Speed or Carmageddon, you will indeed spend the bulk of your time without anything worthy of replaying. To me, though, that is still worth having for that one oddball case of something truly spectacular which happens completely spontaneously. Like when you knock an enemy back and he lands butt-first in a box, Jackie Chan style, or your snipe pops someone right at the apex of his jump between two buildings, or you just go through a fight you can't believe you survived. It's there for when things happen, and they always do, sooner or later.
I do like the idea of seeing replays of your team-mates, as well. That'll both give you an idea of what happened, as well as give you an insight of what they did right and what they did wrong. A replay might also be a good way to solve disputes where the team wipes and it seems everyone's ganging up on the same person. "Why'd you aggro them?!?" "I didn't! They saw you!" That sort of thing. Instead of chest-beating, just check the replay and see what happened.
I understand something like this is probably rock bottom priority, but I still think we could get a lot of mileage out of it, and people who actually make CoH movies would get a kickass new tool for the job
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Quote:Actually, I don't think it's a good idea to have those be power picks at all. I'd rather underwater breathing and able swimming be some kind of tempermanent power granted right before entering the zone, similar to the O-Portal. If it's an ambiguous enough "There! Now you can breath underwater and swim as fast as you can run!" then it'll unify all concepts around it. Those whose concepts require scuba gear can make one using the costume editor and those who don't don't need to worry.Originally Posted by shodden
While breathing underwater and being a good swimmer seem useless anywhere else besides an underwater zone, what if they were only the 1st two tiers of a pool power
The 3rd being a travel power that allows you to create a wave underneath your self and surf on it. (kinda like Iceman)
Still, underwater breathing and swimming aren't the problem. Underwater combat is. Anyone's who's watched an old James Bond movie knows how awkward and silly underwater combat is, but that awkwardness and silliness gives you the sense of mass of water as an environment. That and a bunch of other things.
And here's the interesting bit - if you can swim as fast as you can run, then you're already swimming faster than you can Hover. Why take Hover at all, then? -
Quote:The way I read it, several PlayNC games tanked, games they'd invested not insignificant amount of money in. City of Heroes, by comparison, had been chugging along just fine on what amounted to severance pay and proved to be a game that, while it didn't have staggering numbers, wasn't going to keel over and die on them. As such, they invested in a stable game because it was a stable game.Originally Posted by Johnny_Velocity
I was under the impression that there was a relatively recent and significant ramp-up of of 30 or so professional staff. I'd hardly call that a pittance. But perhaps my information is wrong. It's possible. But I think my opinion is closer to the truth than yours.
If you think NCSoft can produce an expansion at roughly the same cost as using Cryptic as a development studio and letting them produce "issue" updates, while at the same time continuing to produce "issue" updates...well, I just don't find that believable.
Besides, our developers have repeatedly referenced the fact that NCSoft is reinvesting in the franchise. I think that more than implies additional money being spent.
As far as I understand it, the only way for disaster, doom and gloom to occur is if the game bleeds subscriptions badly, not if it doesn't expand. -
Precedent for this already exists. In shared zones, villains wake up at the villain reclimators and heroes wake up at the hero ones. They're always in the same room, so it usually doesn't matter, but I assume Praetoria will separate them.
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Quote:Granted, over-focusing on graphics to the exclusion of everything else is a bad idea, but I don't think Half-Life is a good example of that. Both the original Half-Life and Half-Life 2 were mostly about running around with only a few key events happening. Half-Life 2 is just significantly shorter and with more length to each segment, making it feel less diverse. Now, Half-Life 2 plus its episodes, that's a different story.Originally Posted by Nethergoat
and fewer resources are available for everything that isn't graphics.
I like graphics just fine, but using your example I'd much rather take Half Life with me to a desert island than Half Life 2.
I enjoyed them both, but for me the lengthy, in-depth storytelling of HL trumps the more immersive visual experience of HL2. -
Quote:Err... How would YOU make a panda?Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood
Is it wrong that the first thing that popped into my head is "sometimes when a mummy panda and a daddy panda love each other very much..."
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Quote:I'll still run through the arc at some point. I did go quite a long way towards collecting pictures of pandas from the Internet to study their patterns, though, and I was surprised to see that most pandas had the same pattern. It's odd, since I've had cats pretty much all my life, and I know just how unpredictably random their colours and patterns are. I mean seriously!Originally Posted by Canine
The pandaras aren't mechanical, but they do wear armour/clothing. However, the helmets they wear are a good approximation of a panda head, and they may have been of use to you in getting body patterning sorted. however, since you seem to have gotten something you like (which is all that really matters) now, then it's sort of a moot point.