Santorican

Originally Posted by BeornAgain

I'd really LIKE to have it tomorrow... That'd be very cool!

Originally Posted by Steelclaw

Not to start a rush on the Devs to create this or anything but...

Wouldn't it be supremely cool to have this as a cape option but when your character stood idle for a certain length of time they would automatically go into an emote where they wrapped it around themselves to get snuggly?

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow

Yes, I'm aware most of us are tired of the subject and the flame wars that tend to erupt around it, and I'm probably not qualified to talk about it, but the issue keeps being raised I feel for a reason, both in issues new and old, and I don't think we've ever actually addressed it generally outside of the context of any specific costume set or change. The practical reason I decided to post this now instead of, you know, playing the damn game like I should be in my time off, is this:

Movie Bob's "The Big Picture" video on "Gender Games," as he puts it.

Now, I'm not here to review the video itself, but there is one very specific point I want to draw from it: Poses. I consider myself an observant guy, yet for all the reasons the representation of females in modern fiction has bothered me, I've never been able to put my finger on it so specifically as "poses," and more generally the way body language characters use to communicate their personalities.

Now, to many it may seem absurd that people like me would cry foul of over something as simple as women having smaller weapons or getting "barbarian" stilettos or being stuck with a running animation which emphasises butt wiggle over everything else, or having a "muscle" slider that seems to concentrate on making their breasts and buts bigger, those being famous areas of muscle mass and... Where was I going with this? Right! To some, making a big deal of any of these, or even ALL of these, may seem absurd and uncalled for, but I think there's a reason this keeps happening, and I don't think we can really blame the game or the developers for this all the way. Consider that between the costumes women get, the costumes women tend to wear AND the demeanour their animations are given... Something ain't right.

But much as I want to dev-bash as I have been for a while now, I don't think I can, not without a lot of caveats. No, what strikes me every time a subject like this comes up is that actual unaffiliated players raise their voices to talk about femininity and how females SHOULD be represented as such. I don't necessarily disagree with this, but as Movie Bob says, men often get to represent a great many thing just in the way they look and act, not always even remotely related to masculinity, yet women still seem to somehow get saddled with exuding femininity before they exude anything else.

Again, I'm not laying the blame on the developers in general or the art team in particular. Hell, the latest set we got - CoT - is completely homogeneous between genders. For all the other things I hate about it, at the very least it's completely fair and equal, and that counts for a lot in my eyes. However, from my eyes the bigger problem of perception still remains because for YEARS now the bulk of my cosmetic suggestions have been for women and have aimed to make them appear more "butch" as someone said a while back. Now, I "get" the technical side of the problem with these suggestions, but what I honestly don't get is the... I don't want to say "moral" but let's say that I don't get the "philosophical" disagreement with the very idea. And it IS quite a serious disagreement, I should say, because I've been called a "pervert" over it, though that's a story for another time.

My point? Beyond just an idle examination of a topic I find interesting and an excuse to post an intelligent video, Titanic Weapons are coming. We don't know when, but they are. We've been promised that those would be giant for ALL genders, and that will invariably raise the question once more, possibly more so than ever before. Another poster joked about adding "Titanic Arms" to go with Titanic Weapons at my constant suggestion for Robotic Arms getting muscular human arm options, but that's kind of the point - all of these suggestions seem to be interpreted as jokes, or at best as niche appeal. Women appearing masculine, both in costume and mannerism (anyone remember the hatred for the "with weapon" run style for women?) is seen as something weird, unpopular and unnecessary for the most part, and this befuddles me. Men are allowed to cover the full spectrum of characters, right down to practically feminine, yet women representing anything other than femininity is... Niche?

I really don't mean to start a fight here, and I'd really appreciate if we could approach this with civility, but I also feel that this needs to be examined in a more abstract context than JUST the Barbarian set or JUST body sliders or what have you.

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow

There's something about a PG rating in there, and also something about different kinds of evil, only one of which is "disgusting." And people reading this, please don't bring Rogues up. Those aren't available until level 20.

Mass graves and piles of corpses may be legitimate villainy in some people's books, but as far as I'm concerned, I prefer to avoid that sort of thing. I prefer to write villains less obsessed with... Being Crosscut and more with achieving grandstanding objectives ruling the world.

Originally Posted by AmazingMOO

In various places, the game designers and developers have made it known that they dislike hoarding and try to prevent it from happening in the game. I've never really thought much about it other than a small, schadenfreude-fueled grin from time to time.

However, last night, I caught myself thinking, 'Of course I don't have enough incarnate salvage to make a new enhancer. I hardly ever do trials anymore. Those massive piles of Astral merits? What about them? Ah. Well. Yes... Er..."

I haven't spent a single empyrean or Astral merit on threads or salvage since well before the Incarnate Vendors were added to the game. Despite the fact that I've purchased all the costume pieces available from Astral Christy, I just KNOW there's a chance that the developers are going to lock more costume pieces behind the incarnate system and am, indeed, HOARDING, against the day whether it comes or not.


Why do people hoard? In the real world, people hoard because of fear or worry about possible shortages in the future.

Grandmother Schmidt hoarded canned food up until a few weeks before she died. As a young woman, she'd starved during a WW2-related famine in Europe. Despite the fact that a famine would likely never hit Montana during her lifetime, she'd be damned if she was going to go hungry again out of simple lack of preparation.

The rich hoard money to ensure that one day they and their descendants will still be rich.

Geeks hoard comic books because someday they may want them to reread or sell (despite there being massive DVD collections and a poor market for comics).

In game, players hoard because they perceive that, sooner or later, there's going to be a situation when the hoarded items will come in handy-- like me hoarding Astrals and Empyreans in case new costume pieces are locked behind the Incarnate content.

I had a buddy who played some time back. He was one of the i3-era fire tanks who'd herd vast numbers of enemies and kill the with burn patches. Even after i6, he'd spend hours soloing in the Crash Site (pre i9).

When I chatted with him about it, he was CONVINCED that he was hoarding experience points. As soon as the game developers raised the level cap, all those Rikti he'd been slaughtering would be retroactively be added to his experience bar, and he'd immediately be at the level cap again when everyone else would be struggling to reach 51.


A lot of the players I've spoken to are convinced that as soon as new incarnate abilities are added to game that they will be accompanied by yet ANOTHER currency. If we're very lucky, there will be a crushingly punitive exchange for Astrals or Empyreans to the new currency. Having looked at the above, I'm starting to agree with them.

Hoarding is a natural result of purchasable content. As long as there is content in the game in the form of costume pieces, new powers, or the like that is purchasable through the invention or merit system, players are going to hoard.

If the devs dislike hoarding as much as they indicate, the only way to stop players from using hoarded resources to buy this new stuff is by introducing a new kind of merit or game currency.

Originally Posted by Test_Rat

I have been wondering this for quite some time now:

What is the positives of Force Field that would make someone choose it over Time Manipuation?

Seeing as Time Manipuation can apply the same(SUPERIOR??!?!?!?) benefit that force field to its teamates with the sole exception of the mez protection bubble, AND deliver a full suite of buffs and debuffs on top of that...

Force Field is looking pretty sad.

I just am trying to understand what the point of the set is now.

Originally Posted by Laevateinn

How did you manage to get 95% DDR? With 3x Membranes in active defense and all the toggles ED-capped, I could only get 90% DDR.

Originally Posted by Clouded

Lots of people dislike being exemped.

Originally Posted by Combat

How much of a different would enhancement boosters make on a top end build? Say, having every useful enhancement at +5? I am thinking I might get that with the monthly allowance. After I buy Street Fighting of course.

Originally Posted by Obsidius

From where I sit, the value of a dedicated player to any game studio is the amount of money one gives to them. Does it really matter if they give the studio a few hundred dollars only to leave the game a few months later? Not really, as long as there are enough players paying to keep the game going and enough money management by the studio to bank funds for lulls in revenue / subscribership.

Mathematically speaking, ( $x / t) * t still equals $x, regardless of if t (time) is one day, six months, or one decade.

If you want to "set yourself" apart in an MMO, do so through experience, through actions, and through "being a mensch". The value of a player is not measured in Vet Reward badges; I've known plenty of good players with few Vet Rewards and plenty of crappy players who have been around for years.

What should a player "work towards" in an MMO? Having fun. Period. As long as it isn't at the expense of other players. Why should I care if someone dropped a boatload of money to get the Sands of Mu, so long as they're not kill stealing or griefing me?

I have to agree with SlickRiptide:


Because right now, I can't see anything to your argument but elitism, especially with the game going F2P.

Besides, if tenure were an accurate measurement, I have more of it, so according to your logic, my argument is better than yours