ShadowsBetween

Oh, and for games like WAR and Aion - you get "decent" PVP in those games because the game *itself* is basically like the PVP zones. I would suspect that *very* few people even try the games without knowing that they are based heavily on constant PVP. The fact that they even made an account is equivalent to zoning into RV. Yes, there will still be some that want to do everything PVE. But the vast majority have at least considered the possibility of PVP to be an acceptable tradeoff for whatever they're hoping to get out of the game. For some, it's the precise reason they *got* the game. It's also the exact reason why I'll never play either of them.

I did try a free trial of WAR. I got two characters to about level 10, or whatever the trial cap is. I tried the scenarios. I tried the RVR "lakes" or whatever the hell they're called. Every interaction with any PVP mechanic simply confirmed my utter loathing of it. And getting to level 10 made it abundantly clear that the game offered very little in the way of interesting or even playable PVE content.

I also tried the open beta of Aion for about three hours. I went to the forum and asked a simple question about the interface. Out of four *pages* of replies that piled up in less that two hours, exactly *ONE* was a terse response to my actual question. All the rest were either incoherant txtspk or l33t gibberish, or were insults on the lines of "QQ you little baby, if you don't like the game then f*** off and die."

In both cases, I made the attempt for the same reason I have watched a few episodes of "South Park" and "Beavis and Butthead" - to give them at least a chance to prove that I might have been mistaken in my initial opinion. In all cases, it simply confirmed that I was *not* mistaken.

Something I see occasionally from PVP players who aren't total jerks is the "green eggs and ham" mindset. IE, that I must hate PVP because I haven't given it a chance, and if I'd just *try* it, I'd love it, because they certainly do. Trust me, this is not the case. I have tried it. Every attempt simply reinforces the fairly long list of reasons why I utterly hate that form of gameplay. Trash-talking jerkwads who think insulting someone over broadcast is fun are a big part, but hardly the main one. And the simple fact is, that if someone likes PVP, it's pointless for me to explain why I hate it. The concepts just don't seem to translate, in exactly the same way as I fail to understand how someone could actually enjoy it.

Why would you assume someone has Hasten? Especially on a Mastermind. Personally I greatly dislike the power, and only have it on about three characters out of nearly 50. And at over eight minutes, Serum is still on a far longer timer than the six minute AOE Controller holds. Which many people skip because they're on such long timers that they're effectively useless except as a panic button.

And for "which other powers you'd go with" most of the ones on your list are also powers I consider to be completely skipable. I rarely choose to team, so none of my characters have "team only" powers like Resuscitate or Vengeance. I believe I have one character with the Leadership powers, which I'll probably drop the next time I play them. (If you're not stacking them in a full team of people that also have them, they really don't do a heck of a lot.) Between Stamina, which is often needed as much as I hate it, and a travel power (which for me is *never* Superspeed) I'm already short on slots, since I tend to choose powersets where I actually intend to take most of them. Even aside from my deranged preference for taking personal attacks on a Mastermind.

In any case, none of that changes the fact that Serum is a very poor power in a relatively weak set.

So... It's only even barely usable if it's six slotted, and stuffed with top-end IOs. And even then it's only available perhaps twice in a *long* mission, and still only lasts a very short time. Or you could spend the same six slots on a power that isn't junk. I know which one I'd go with.

Honestly though, the whole Merc set seems to need a balance pass. The "special abilites" on their attacks are all really long duration for the benefit they provide, and they seem to have fairly low damage overall for a bunch of loons with assault weapons. My level 50 Necro recently teamed up with a level 50 Merc, and all but the tier three seemed to be consistently out-damaged by my *zombies.* The Spec Ops seemed to be glitched and didn't even attack all that much, and the soldiers were always down a man because the first thing the Medic would do is throw a grenade at a boss and then run up and punch him.

I'm pretty sure that some cat behavior is learned. I have a relative that insists on only owning one cat at a time. (She lives in an area with a high owl and coyote population, so despite all precautions they still tend to only last a year or two.) The last three all have what I've started to call "only kitten syndrome." They want to play, but since they don't have another cat to give them signals they can recognize, they don't have any idea what the distinction is between playing and shredding. If a kitten plays too roughly with another kitten or adult cat, the victim can growl or bite back and expect for the message to be understood. People... not so much. So even interacting with these cats is risky, because it's likely at some point they *will* hurt you. (Or possibly all three were just completely evil. Since they are cats, I can't discount that possibility.)

As far as vocalizations, I've noticed that some cats do actually "converse" with people after a fashion. I know one cat that has makes different sounds when he's attempting to interact with people. This sound means his food dish is empty *and* he's hungry. That sound means he feels the litterbox needs to be cleaned. The other sound means he wants you to open the door. If he makes a given sound and you start to follow him, he will lead you to what he feels needs attention, and the associated sound is remarkably consistent. My cousin hadn't noticed it until I pointed it out. (I was house sitting for a week, and the cat was part of the deal.) So it's not a case of proper housecat training.

On the other hand, when I was growing up we had a nearly feral barn cat that had about four sounds he would bother to make around humans. A standard meow, which seemed to indicate that he was aware of your presence. The "don't touch my food" growl, which he applied to everyone except me who came within twenty feet of his dish. And a much more aggressive growl that indicated you had about five seconds to stop what you were doing and leave, normally applied to anyone besides me who tried to pet him. And in one case, to a neighbor kid who thought it would be funny to roughhouse when I didn't wish to. (As the one who refilled the food dish and handed out treats like bits of raw liver, the barn cats seemed to consider me to be, if not an honorary cat, then at least "mine!" and worthy of protecting.) He would also purr when he permitted me to pet him, but he did so quite roughly and erratically. Someone else who heard it commented that it sounded like the cat wasn't quite sure *how* to purr. Given the cat's personality, it's also possible that he had merely been injured somehow in a fight with something.

So... basically you're proposing to take the tiny existing PVP community, and fragment them into even smaller sub-groups? (And as pointed out, there's nothing stopping a vet from using a second character to bypass the "awesome gate." At best, you end up with small groups of "newbies" in each teir being mauled by experienced PVP players on brand new characters. At worst, you've set up a system that will make the old Mentor Tetris look simple by comparison. ("Hey guys, let's have a PVP night for the SG!" "OK, what tier? I don't have any characters that can do T3 RV." "Oh, crud, I don't have anyone that can do less than T3." "What's RV?" ..... "Oh, to hell with it. Who wants to beat up Romulus?")

At a guess, the easiest way to handle SGs would be to have it work the same way they're handling the markets - if you can use the market in an area, you can join a local SG. So, Super Groups would be Hero/Vigilante, and Villain Groups would be Villains/Rogues. There might be a way to allow Vigilantes/Rogues to join either a VG or SG, but that would be tricky. I'm more concerned with how they'll handle teleporters, especially if there's some way to tag a SG as "neutral friendly." Trying to be a Rogue and do missions in Paragon without access to a teleporter network would be a *huge* pain, especially solo. Of course if they do allow access to both sides, they *really* need to introduce advanced versions of the Teleporters. At least a "standard" model that can connect to four zones at once.

I'm also curious if they'll allow any access at all to Praetoria if you don't start there.

Really? I wasn't aware of that. I thought anything but defensive follow shut it down. Of course, most of the guides haven't been updated in a while. Is there any way to check in-game whether a pet is in bodyguard mode or not? Short of trying to get something to shoot me?

Bug: Animation issue with Shield Defense
Affects: Male and female models with at least the basic Shield toggle active

I have tested this on both of my Shield characters - when they have the shield toggle active, any elevation change appears to start the "jump falling" animation. (The portion of the jump animation that starts when the character is moving downward, where the arms are spread out to the sides.) Even stepping off of a sidewalk into the street is enough to trigger it. Moving through any of the cave maps causes it almost constantly, as does moving down a flight of stairs. It seems to happen whenever the shield is visible, and *only* with the shield. Since both characters are weapon-based as well, I checked with the weapon drawn and the shield hidden/toggled off. I also checked on a character that only has a weapon and a different defensive power (Dark.) It only occurs for the shields on the characters I tested.

This occurs with or without Sprint toggled on. However, Ninja Run seems to animate normally and does not display this particular issue. It also does not appear to affect Prestige Power Slide. I am not certain if it affect the Huge model type, as I do not have a character with that body type.

Thank you again. The boost to both groups will be very helpful.

I personally dislike CO's system. If you want to see why, go to their new character browser, and type in an easily thought of name. There will probably be at least twenty characters that use it. Also, unless you disable the option, everyone has their name displayed as "stupidlylongmisspelledname@209348209384HAH" Half the chat box is used up just to show the fracking name.

I don't find it terribly hard to come up with interesting names. I sometimes find it difficult to think of an interesting name that actually fits the character I want to make. And for the record, the ten zillion pound gorilla of MMOs also enforces totally unique names. Granted, as a fantasy MMO, names like "Tanislee" make a little more sense. However, you're still faced with coming up with some combination of letters that hasn't been used yet, and that you don't mind having attached to your character forever.

I don't buy the argument that not being able to choose any name you want will drive away new players. Personally, when I first started it became sort of a challenge to find a fitting name that wasn't already taken.

I noticed this after the last patch, since I was cycling through costume parts trying to find all the new Ninja options. As of the most recent live patch, the Sinister Shoulder plates are displaced about a foot behind the female body. They still appear to animate properly, they're just offset so that they're no longer attached to the character. Additionally, one appears to be higher than the other, so that even if they were attached to the shoulders, one would be about halfway down the character's arm.

I don't know if it's directly related to the Ninja Booster, but when I was cycling through the Shoulder options, I noticed that on female characters the Sinister Should plates are displaced about a foot behind the character. They still appear to move and animate properly, they just have an additional offset that causes them to be detached. Additionally, one of them appears to be higher than the other.

I'd like to take part, if there's still time. I have two groups that could use the help, both on Justice, one redside, one blueside. I've seen you a PM with my global. I'll be on until about 4 AM PST, and then again this afternoon (Friday.)

"Oh, look! We're saved! The Four Riders are here! Walking Plague, Devouring Hunger, Grim Harvest and Final Conflict will end this standoff! Wait... that doesn't sound very reassuring, does it?"